Untrodden Paths 
39 
antelopes, swala, zebras, reed-buck, and dwarf antelopes were to 
be seen. At last we found meat again in plenty for our fol¬ 
lowers, a circumstance which raised all our spirits. On arriving 
at Mount Lubona we pitched our camp. 
After the long stretching heights of East Ruanda had been 
passed early on the 28th of July, the narrow mirror of Lake 
Mohasi, which, according to the information given us by the 
natives, we had not expected to reach before the following day, 
suddenly burst into view. Wiese’s camp was supposed to be very 
near, and, as a matter of fact, an hour later we were shaking 
hands with him, after a separation of three weeks. He was no 
less surprised than we were, and he was also very glad, as he had 
been awaiting our arrival for fourteen days, after completing the 
road survey from the Kakitumbe up to the spot. He had pitched 
his quarters under the shade of a mighty pine tree growing on the 
banks of the lake, and here a whole colony of herons had settled, 
quite indifferent to the doings in the camp below them. Wiese 
utilised his stay to get together a fine collection of all sorts of 
tattooings and of very interesting ornamental skin markings, 
which he supplemented on his way to the Congo. 
The study of the tattooings and skin markings found in the 
whole of Central Africa is an extremely remarkable one. It 
demands very great diligence and very special and detailed 
investigation to trace the origin and significance of the custom. 
For instance, Wiese found patterns which constantly recurred, 
but were frequently accompanied by changing side-marks 
amongst the hundreds which he copied. According to the state¬ 
ments of the natives they betokened signs of lineage by which 
the various races recognised their own folk. The ornamental 
scarrings which are to be found more particularly on the 
bodies of the inhabitants of the Lake Albert Edward region and 
the whole of the Congo basin are brought about by an inflamma¬ 
tion or artificial irritation of the skin, which is scratched or 
incised with a knife, according to the pattern desired. The 
wounds thus made appear to be smeared over with all kinds of 
vegetable matter and dirt, of which soot is a conspicuous feature. 
