Untrodden Paths 
29 
tents hard up against a mass of rock rising out of the buga and 
opposite Mount Ndama, two hundred kilometres from the river- 
course, with an unparalleled view of the country lying in front 
of us. Whilst en route to our new headquarters we observed a 
number of people on the summit of Mount Njerubanga, appar¬ 
ently occupied in the construction of a signalling station. In 
order to attract their attention and to determine whether they 
were members of the caravan, we took drastic measures. We set 
the steppe on fire. Our signal did not fail of its effect, for we 
were soon answered by a similar illumination. A patrol ascer¬ 
tained later that the party belonged to Wiese’s caravan, the 
Askari leader of which did not know the whereabouts of his 
chief. 
It proved, generally speaking, an extremely difficult matter 
to maintain steady communication with the other column in this 
undulating region, in which some of the hill summits achieved an 
elevation of 1,500 metres. The district is deserted, and the 
inhabitants at the back of the mountain fringes were very shy of 
Europeans. This quite unjustifiable timidity gave rise to many 
mistakes, often of a decidedly disagreeable nature. The people 
furnished lying or inaccurate reports, so that the patrols often 
lost their way and returned with their missions unaccomplished. 
At first we used to mark the position of the camp by signalling 
with lights in the evening hours, a method which was then 
successful; but later on our signals were obscured by the denser 
foliage in the south and hilly country, and we thus often 
remained without tidings of one another for some length of time. 
This lack of a connecting line of communication once landed 
Lieutenant Weiss and Kirschstein in a highly critical position. 
They had crossed the Kagera at the Kanjonsa ferry in one and a 
half days in a folding boat, and were journeying southwards for 
survey purposes. Weiss in reporting the episode wrote: 
“ I was assisted in my signal constructing and topography by 
Lieutenant von Wiese. In order that we might work together, 
Wiese and I had arranged to meet near the Kakitumbe at a point 
where we had determined to construct the new signal station at 
