12 
In the Heart of Africa 
anchor in the murky dawn after a heavy thunder-shower on the 
9th of June, to push on to the starting point of our wanderings. 
And again day had passed into darkness when we at last beheld 
the lights of Bukoba in the distance. Excitement, easily to be 
understood, seized us all as we endeavoured to pierce the dusk 
with our telescopes. We approached closer and closer, and as 
the smart little craft glided through the narrow straight between 
the “Toteninsel” and the mainland of Bukoba, rockets and 
Bengal lights shot up from the shores, conjuring up as if by 
enchantment phantom-like silhouettes in a most effective way. 
The Sybil still glided on a short distance, then the siren shrieked, 
the anchor rattled down into the deep, and the ship shivered 
and lay still. We had reached our goal. 
Presently we heard the measured strokes of the oars of a 
cutter, and a few moments later we were able to welcome aboard 
our Bukoba hosts, Captain von Stuemer, First Lieutenant von 
Wiese, First Lieutenant von Einsiedel, Lieutenant Lincke 
(recently furloughed), and Dr. Marschall. There was simply 
no end to inquiries and reports, and it was far into the night 
before we separated. 
An imposing entry had been planned to take place on the 
morning after our arrival. Going up on deck at sunrise, accord¬ 
ing to my custom, glass in hand, to scrutinise the river banks 
of the country that was now to be our home for twelve months, 
a most charming spectacle lay before my eyes. 
From the fort of Bukoba and from the houses lying farther 
back, which were used as residences by the sultans of the 
district when visiting the town, long, regular processions 
gradually resolved themselves from a huge jumbled throng of 
human beings. The people, clad for the occasion in long white 
kansu* marched with a fanfare of trumpets and the music of 
native bands down to the landing-stage. The sultans, who led 
their own troops, rode at the head. The processions appeared 
simply endless, new columns constantly coming up. It was 
indeed a proud manifestation of the development of Germany s 
* Kansu, long Arabian shirt. 
