Through Ruanda to Lake Kiwu 8i 
waiting for us, who came from Tanganjika, chiefly Manjema, and 
who had been secured through the mediation of Captain Goring 
in Udjidji. We still had an abundant supply of stores and 
provisions. Two thousand loads were stored up here to meet all 
requirements, and we had sixty oxen and six hundred goats in 
our possession. 
The night which followed was nearly fatal to a successful 
continuance of our expedition. Through the carelessness of a 
carrier a house behind the depot in which the whole of the loads 
and all the valuable instruments were lying caught fire and was 
burnt down. We had hardly laid ourselves down to sleep when 
we were roused by shoutings and the sounding of the fire 
signal. Clad only in pyjamas, we made for the scene of the con¬ 
flagration at the double. The Askari and the carriers were all 
flocking to it, and by working hard together, and incessantly 
flooding the thatched roof of the magazine, our efforts to avert 
the threatened disaster were eventually successful. 
Grawert sailed off on the 22nd of August to the south end of 
the lake in order to inspect the post at Ischangi. We ourselves 
spent the day in paying a visit to Ngoma, the neighbouring Bel¬ 
gian post, whose leader. Lieutenant Ogg, had come to greet us 
on the previous day. We were welcomed in the most amiable 
fashion, and here we received our first experience of the lavish 
Belgian hospitality, for which we had good reason to be very 
grateful in later months. Ngoma cannot be compared in any 
way with Kissenji. It has a depressing influence, and with the 
exception of the officers’ house, which was in course of erection at 
the time, it consisted only of miserable thatched huts. It shares 
with Kissenji a position in the debatable territory. The powers 
of authority vested in the officer stationed at Ngoma are very 
small, and are limited to the place itself and the immediate sur¬ 
rounding district. It forms part of the Russisi-Kiwu district, 
and, like Kissenji, is built entirely on lava, which also forms the 
building material for the majority of the houses. 
Kissenji possesses an excellent climate, for by virtue of its 
1,500 metres altitude above the sea level all enervating heat is 
