To Lake Albert Edward 
175 
having followed the blood trail, I espied the spotted skin of 
the dangerous cat gleaming through the foliage of a bush, and 
as I took aim it sprang out at me like a flash of lightning. A 
very lucky snap-shot, which pierced its neck, settled the matter, 
and it rolled dead almost at my feet. 
We now shifted our camp further north. In order to reach 
the spot, Veriter and Weidemann had occupied themselves with 
the Askari for a few days previously in throwing a bridge very 
dexterously over a small but very deep tributary of the 
Rutschuru. This had proved itself to be necessary for the con¬ 
veyance of the loads. Shortly before, Raven had been com¬ 
pelled to reach the further bank by swimming. 
The landscape to the north of this small river had some¬ 
thing of a park-like character about it. We pitched our tents 
very widely apart under some fine old acacias, and connected 
them by narrow paths which we cut through the knee-high grass. 
Light groups of acacias dotted about almost conjured up visions 
of some fine old English park. 
The land became more densely overgrown towards the eastern 
side. Near the Sultan Kikamero’s village the vegetation at times 
assumed the character of a forest preserve. In these places we 
often caught sight of hamlets encircled by barricades of thorn. 
In earlier days the western margin of the steppe is stated to 
have been much more thickly populated; and it is said that the 
lion pest drove the people away. As a matter of fact, we passed 
by many places where potsherds and fragments of all sorts lay 
scattered around, and where the ground plan of a former village 
was still recognisable in spite of the choking brushwood. 
Towards the north the ground, which is much riven with 
clefts, falls away gradually to Lake Albert Edward, and there 
again assumes the aspect of the steppe. Numerous shell remains 
indicated that we were on the ancient sea-floor, and that the 
waters of the lake must at one period have completely covered 
the district. From here we could already recognise the sparkling 
surface of Lake Albert Edward, and, aided by a telescope, we 
could descry the vast hosts of pelicans which inhabit the white 
