92 
In the Heart of Africa 
canoes are really excellent for calm weather travelling, though 
they are inadequate for coping with the storms not infrequently 
encountered on Lake Kiwu. 
We met with our first unhappy experience in this direction 
upon the occasion of our journey from Ischangi to Kissenji, 
which we undertook in a flotilla of ten boats in company with 
Captain von Grawert. The first day passed away most agreeably 
in the finest of weather. On the second, however, we were 
surprised by foul weather as we were crossing the open water 
(about twenty kilometres in breadth) between Kwidschwi and 
an island lying to the eastward of it. A violent breeze swept 
across the lake and swirled up waves which foamed and splashed 
high above the two-foot gunwales of the largest boats, in the 
bows of which we Europeans were sitting. Through the laziness 
of certain of the oarsmen the boats of the flotilla had drawn 
a good deal apart from each other during the course of the 
day. Thanks to our constant urging of our crew, we Europeans 
reached the safe shelter of the island without any greater in¬ 
convenience than a thorough drenching. By degrees the other 
boats, more or less filled with water, arrived, with the exception 
of two, which, being the last of the procession, met with the 
full violence of the storm. These, unfortunately, while yet some 
distance from the island, fell victims to the waves without our 
being able to render any assistance. Mildbraed’s “ boy ” Max, 
or “Maxi,” as the Wasuaheli called him, a typical coast boy, 
was seated in one of these boats. As a European’s “ boy ” and 
“ Daressalamer ” he always laid down the law and deemed himself 
far superior to the carriers and “washensi” (negroes of the 
interior). In this accident on the lake his shrewdness stood him 
in good stead. Recognising the gravity of the situation he 
speedily made up his mind and leapt into the water just at 
the moment when a rather bigger boat at the rear passed the 
one he was in, which was already half-filled with water. A 
few strokes of the oars made it possible for him to clamber on 
to the gunwale of the other boat. In this boat sat Amdallah 
Mjamwesi, an Askari, who, strange to say, exhibited lion-like 
