The Ruwenzori Mountains 



Drs. Schubotz and Nildbraed of the Duke of Mecklenburg's 

 Expedition, 1908. The second bottle, although strongly 

 corked, contained a small amount of water in which floated 

 what had once been a piece of paper ; how such an amount 

 of water accumulated in one bottle and not in another it 

 is difficult to say. 



After nearly losing ourselves in the dark, the two guides 

 and myself finally arrived at the camp and much to my 

 chagrin I then found that the carriers had collected little 

 or no firewood, and neither had my instructions been carried 

 out with regard to the canvas covering I had brought for 

 the men : this lay flapping in the wind, affording no kind of 

 protection in the event of a blizzard. Luckily this night 

 was fine, but if we had then experienced the hail-storm that 

 set upon us the following night, without doubt every man 

 would have been frozen to death. As it was, the early part 

 of the night saw the fire-wood all finished, with the result 

 that two of the carriers were unable to move in the morning, 

 in spite of their blanket coverings, and had to receive stimu- 

 lants to bring them round. 



Although not realising it at the time, this was Christmas 

 Eve, and it passed uneventfully, save for the attentions 

 of a large fox-bat around my tent and the prolonged booming 

 of an avalanche or landslide in the valley near by. 



Christmas Day can be spent midst snow and ice, even on 

 the equator, by those who would wish it. It was no plan 

 of mine that I did so on this occasion — it just happened, 

 and as the climbing of the Ruwenzori Mountains was in a 

 way the culminating point of the expedition, I took it as a 

 good omen. The day turned out fairly fine, although it 

 was not until eleven o'clock that the mists began to clear, 



141 



