127 
In the Volcanic Region 
mass gushes out of the earth, and, flowing from the eruptive 
funnel, cools and congeals into a cone-shaped, craterless lava 
mountain. What Beringe and Herrmann doubtless took for 
crater walls are the broad V-shaped clefts, ‘ barrancoes,’ as 
they are called, formed by erosion, which in the course of time 
cut deep into the core of the volcano. The gnawed appearance 
of the mountain has doubtless given it its name, for in the 
Ruanda tongue ‘ Sabinjo ’ simply means ‘ tooth.’ ” 
After one more day’s sojourn we bade good-bye to these cold 
but beautiful mountain regions, and descended valleywards. 
The lower we got the more noticeable became the heat, to which 
we had now become unaccustomed. Then we had to get used 
again to the heavy marching over the ragged lava, which caused 
many a sigh. Generally speaking we followed the course of the 
Mkunga, which flows later on into the Kagera, the chief river 
of Lake Victoria. The march through this valley offered us 
quite a pleasant change from the toils of the past week, and 
the merry singing of the carriers showed that they fully ap¬ 
preciated it. Well-cultivated plots covered the country round, 
provisions were in abundance, and the demeanour of our 
over-fatigued followers soon altered for the better. We could 
hardly gaze enough at the glorious scenery. In the early morn¬ 
ings and late in the evening, when the vapours and mists 
floating down below us had dispersed, the peaks of the vol¬ 
canoes, amongst them the snow-capped head of Karissimbi, 
stood out clear and sent a farewell greeting through the valley 
which lay shut in by the surrounding high mountain tops. The 
only difficulties which we encountered, and which considerably 
impeded our progress, were the number of marshy, boggy water¬ 
courses which we continually had to cross, and in which the 
animals sank knee deep. 
We were not destined, however, to enjoy comfortable march¬ 
ing in the level valley for long. We had arranged a rendezvous 
at the Muhembe with the head of the Njundo Mission Station, 
Father Superior Barthelemy, who was intimately acquainted 
with the inhabitants and, in consequence of his long activity in 
