Through the Semliki Valley 235 
drenched; but the storm reached us before long. Setting in with 
suddenness, it burst on the buildings of Irumu, tore and tugged 
heavy trusses of straw from the roofs, and swept them far away. 
The rain rattled at the doors and poured through the crevices 
into the rooms, so that all our writing materials were whirled and 
swirled around. Outside it was almost impossible to stand erect. 
The hurricane, however, disappeared as suddenly as it had come, 
and a quarter of an hour later the debris lying around was 
all that remained to remind us of our unwelcome visitor. 
It is futile to attempt a description of tropical tornadoes at 
their full force. One must see these phenomena to conceive an 
accurate idea of them. Their grandeur is then printed indelibly 
on the memory. In two or three quarters of the heavens inky 
darkness gathers, then come flashing lightning and crashing 
thunder, with such crackling that it seems like Hell let loose. 
Lightning flashes along the horizon and the whole firmament 
seems to be illuminated at times as though by gigantic torches. 
Watch in hand, I have counted one or two such electric discharges 
to the second. 
Czekanowski had found such noteworthy material for investi¬ 
gation during the Uelle expeditions in the territory of the 
Mangbettu that he harboured the wish to return there. As 
he asked for a further three months for this purpose, he foresaw 
the necessity of returning home alone. We therefore said good¬ 
bye a few days before our departure, with a confident auf 
wiedersehen in Europe.” 
As the time fixed for the rest of us to leave was drawing very 
close, and as we had no news of Kirschstein, despite various 
letters and written instructions that I had despatched, his silence 
began to cause us uneasiness. We thought that we should be 
deprived of the company of our kind and jolly comrade. I will 
state here that, unfortunately, our fears were confirmed. Almost 
immediately after we commenced our peregrinations into the 
shady interior of the great African forest news reached us of the 
catastrophe at Karrissimbi, which cost Kirschstein half of his 
