VII 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



271 



eight inches. For the latter we had three lenses, one 

 for landscape, another, a rectilinear, and the third, tele- 

 objective. The latter is a very useful invention, and 

 with it one is able to take photographs at great dis- 

 tances, as the lens possesses magnifying power. We 

 had 900 plates with us, and took over 500 photographs 

 during our journey ; but on account of the poor quality 

 of the water we did not deem it well to try the develop- 

 ment of these plates in the interior. So we carefully 

 packed and soldered them in air-tight tins, and, as 

 opportunity occurred, we shipped instalments of them 

 to Europe, where they were developed by Mr. Thom- 

 son, of London. Unfortunately, more than one-half 

 of our plates turned out poorly, and from these, of 

 course, Mr. Thomson was unable to get good results. 

 This may have been due to faulty packing; or, what 

 is more probable, to the fact that the gelatine upon 

 the plates may have decomposed, as they were kept 

 for a long time before developing — some of the nega- 

 tives having been kept nearly two years. 



Whenever occasion offered, Lieutenant von Hohnel 

 made use of the photographic apparatus, and it is a 

 matter of deepest regret that we were unable to pre- 

 serve more of the plates in sufficiently good condition 

 to obtain worthy results. It is difficult to obtain good 

 results from photography on one of these journeys, as 

 the opportunities for giving attention to development 

 are few, when the caravan is on the march. Upon 

 my former journey I carried a small kodak and took, 

 with some pains, and not a little danger, 100 photo- 

 graphs of camp scenes, natives, and big game. What 

 was my disgust, upon reaching Europe and delivering 



