Lake Victoria 
19 
noticeable feature of the Bukoba province^ the country now 
gradually began to assume a more steppe-like character, and 
game was met in abundance. We camped in the centre of a 
steppe on which candelabrum-shaped euphorbiaceous^ plants grew 
almost exclusively, which were more typical than any I had seen 
before. You could scan the horizon on all sides. Here and 
there a graceful Swala antelope started up from the low-lying 
grass, and now and then a startled rietbock flew away from us 
across the plain. The little ducker* whisked off in alarm from 
cover to cover, and sharply defined against the golden-red glow 
of the setting sun, which was bathing everything in an indescrib¬ 
able flood of splendour, could be seen the unlovely form of the 
lyre antelope eyeing us in perplexity and bewilderment. 
Our route now lay via Kiangwe, Kenschambi, Niawatura to 
Kesimbili, where in 1902 the Anglo-German Boundary Com¬ 
mission laid the stones which mark the limit of British territory. 
This march was one of the most interesting in the whole of this 
province, and certainly the finest as regards scenery. The path, 
which rose up steeply over high masses of rock, led directly to 
the rapids of the wild-rushing Kagera, whose banks, bordered 
with broads bands of papyrus and phoenix palms, would have 
enchanted any artist's eye. The temperature, corresponding to 
the altitude, was very cool in the early morning and evening 
hours, the average record at sunrise being 8 degrees, 28 degrees 
at noon, and 20 degrees Celsius at seven in the evening. These 
temperatures conduced in a marked degree to the capacity for 
work of both Europeans and carriers. The evening hours beneath 
the starlit heavens were almost cold, and a warm European coat 
was decidedly welcome. We were exceedingly glad to experience 
this weather, as it indicated the close of the rainy season, which 
had commenced almost simultaneously with our arrival at 
Bukoba. It was most fortunate in respect to our collections, as 
we were thus enabled to send away our zoological and botanical 
specimens in first-class condition. 
At the boundary of the Bukoba province Captain von Stuemer 
* Dticker, dwarf antelope. 
