30 
In the Heart of Africa 
Mount Mpungu. Kirschstein remained behind in order to pro¬ 
ceed with his geological investigations at Mount Oregero. As, 
however, we only sported one cook between the two of us, and as 
I hoped to reach von Wiese’s hospitable quarters the same 
evening, the cook and his kitchen remained behind with Kirsch¬ 
stein. After an eight hours’ march, during which I stopped 
occasionally for an hour or more to take observations, I reached 
the Kakitumbe opposite Mount Mpungu. Here I commenced a 
fruitless search for Wiese, but neither the alarm shots of my 
Askari nor the ascending fireballs brought any return signal. 
“ Utterly exhausted and incapable of continuing the march, I 
encamped with my thirty men. It was ten o’clock at night. In 
fond expectation of Wiese’s flesh-pots, I had eaten nothing since 
midday. Endeavouring to appease my grumbling interior with a 
final cigar and a cognac, I wrapped myself in a blanket and fell 
asleep. Early next morning, before daybreak, we were up and 
off again. First we had to cross the Kakitumbe over a peculiar 
bridge; the natives had felled the biggest tree growing on the 
banks in such a manner that it lay across the water with its crown 
on the further side. Surely one needed the agile shoeless feet of 
a nigger in order to pass safely over the narrow bridge, bearing 
fifty or sixty pounds’ weight on one’s head! 
“Arrived at Mount Mpungu, I found a newly constructed 
trigonometrical signal, but, alas! no living beings. In vain I 
searched for a note of some sort bearing on the absence of the 
amiable constructor. In the meantime the noonday hour had 
crept along. I took all the required measurements from the 
mountain top. As I considered a further search for Wiese to be 
hopeless, I was on the point of marching back to Oregoro, when 
my men directed my attention to a few dark specks on the bound¬ 
less expanse of straw-yellow grass steppe. By the aid of my 
Voigtland glass I was soon able to make out an Askari patrol, 
who, upon our firing an alarm shot, crossed over to us. The men 
had been hunting three days for me with a letter from Wiese. I 
learnt his whereabouts from them; he had proceeded further 
south, and camped with the Sultan Katreia. I immediately 
