The Ruwenzori Mountains 



to tornadoes of wind and rain that made travelling far from 

 comfortable, but as these usually occurred in the afternoon 

 one was pretty safe from their fury so long as camp was fixed 

 before then.- During our stay at Kasindi we had of course 

 been longing to get a good view of those great snow peaks 

 that we knew to be hidden in the thick clouds above us, 

 but owing to the stormy weather and the position of Kasindi 

 this we had not yet done. I was moreover anxious to push 

 on with all speed to Mbeni, from which place I hoped to 

 make the ascent of the Ruwenzori Mountains before the 

 heavy rains set in. Thus, there were several reasons that 

 made us glad that we were on the tramp again, when with 

 our new " safari " we found ourselves dropping down, from 

 the high ridge on which the post of Kasindi stands, to the 

 banks of the SemUki River. 



The Semliki, which carries off the overflow from Lake 

 Edward and following a winding course joins up this lake 

 with Lake Albert, is a river little known to any save a few 

 hunters and travellers by reason of its remoteness, and to 

 the fear of what a bite from one of the tsetse flies that 

 abound in its valley, may bring. This most dreaded of all 

 African scourges, which decimated the population of this 

 district during the commencement of the last decade, flies 

 abroad along its sinister euphorbia-covered banks and in 

 its fevered palm-hung swamps. However, Uke all such 

 places in Africa, the valley holds by the very nature of its 

 surroundings a great deal that is interesting and beautiful, 

 and even fascinating, as one looks back upon it. 



Where we crossed the river it was a good hundred yards 

 broad, with banks of great height cut out of the surrounding 

 plains, which at one time doubtless formed a bygone lake 



127 



