142 
In the Heart of Africa 
orderly. As a matter of fact, these consist mainly of mutton, 
goat-flesh, poultry, milk, eggs, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, 
mangoes and fafaya. 
As the rain was coming down in torrents the ascent of 
Mikeno promised to be very difficult in consequence of the 
slippery state of the ground. So we decided to take only the 
most absolute necessities with us, and thus limit the escorting 
caravan as far as we possibly could. However, we took reserve 
carriers with us to relieve the bearers of the heavy tent loads. 
Kirschstein declared Mikeno, like Sabinjo, to be a volcanic 
mass consisting essentially of lava discharges pouring one over 
the other. Captain Herrmann’s declared supposition that 
Mikeno was possibly the remainder of an imposing crater wall 
is therefore hardly confirmed. 
Early on the morning of the 6th of October our party was 
pushing its way towards the small, circular, marshy plain 
which lies at the foot of Mikeno. A narrow path leads for 
some distance thence up the mountain slope. This path, which 
had been made by the missionaries of Njundo when attempting 
the ascent, at least indicated the way for us, although it was 
scarcely recognisable, and bearing this in mind Barthelemy had 
given us his former guide for a help. The latter, however, lost 
his way quite at the start and it was a considerable time before 
he became aware of the fact. We were forced, therefore, to 
retrace our steps downward from the height we had so laboriously 
climbed, until we regained the marshy plain. After a little 
while we struck the proper road. 
At first we passed through bamboo, but this soon gave way to 
a lighter tree zone. The road was very steep, and the innumer¬ 
able roots that covered the slippery path hindered us so that 
we progressed but slowly. Stops were rendered constantly 
necessary. After ascending for some hours we reached a height 
of 3,000 metres, and by that time the carriers were utterly ex¬ 
hausted and we had to camp. There was not a single spot 
where a tent could stand, for the mountain side showed an 
incline of thirty degrees all round. Further progress was out 
