JUNE 27, I085 
THE GRAPHIC 
66 l 
A JOURNEY TO MOUNT KILIMA-NJARO, AFRICA 
111 Jfour flatts ilut 111. 
THE SECOND ASCENT 
DRAWN AND WRITTEN BY MR. H. H. JOHNSTON, ER.G.S, 
F OR NEARLY FOUR MONTHS I chafed under ray 
sense of impotence. Here I had come to Kilima-njaro 
expressly to visit and collect the fauna and flora living at 
high altitudes near the snow line, and owing to the obstacles 
arising from the hostility and suspicion of the natives I was con¬ 
tinually repelled in my various attempts 
■"s to ascend the mountain 
and make my habi¬ 
tation in the 
upper re- 
. . gion 
HEAD OF GREAT-BILLED RAVEN 
above the inhabited zone. At one time I was detained a semi-prisoner 
by Mandara, at another, when I had regained his good graces, and 
endeavoured to ascend with his guides, Mandara’s enemies, the 
Wa-Kiboso, came in force and turned me back. If I sent my 
followers to collect they fared even worse than I did, being too 
timorous and apprehensive to do any work, and falling constantly 
into ambushes, where they nearly fell victims to the wiles of 
the savages. 
At last deliverance came. My convoy, which I had despatched 
to Zanzibar soon after my arrival, returned with reinforcements, 
but not until we had anxiously awaited their coming for many 
weeks. I then took leave of Mandara and our charming settlement 
in Moshi, and changed my headquarters to Taveita, thinking thus 
to proclaim my neutrality in the quarrels of the rival tribes of 
Kilima-njaro, for Taveita is a peaceful republic, on good terms with 
all the neighbouring states. Without loss of time I sent messengers 
to the Chief of Marang’u, informing him that I wished to pass 
through his country as a friend and ascend Kilima-njaro to the snow, 
promising to pay liberally any guides who might volunteer. My 
embassy was well received, and returned to Taveita with a fine fat 
sheep as an offering of the “Sultan’s.” I went to Marang’u (a 
state lying on the south-east flank of Kilima-njaro), gave its 
sovereign handsome presents and magnificent promises to slake his 
exorbitant greediness, procured three guides, and at length, nearly 
worn out with worry and hard work—for remember, gentle and 
sympathetic reader, that all the burden and responsibility of the 
Expedition lay on my shoulders undivided—I had the satisfaction of 
starting for the third or fourth time to reach the snow, not 
any longer apprehensive of native hostility, for besides 
the protection now accorded me by my whilom 
foes, I had what was more valuable—a little force 
of forty well-armed resolute men. 
Marang’u so much resembles in its 
physical features the country of 
Moshi, already described in the 
Graphic, that I will not reiterate 
my former descriptions of banana 
plantations and tidy lanes bordered 
with dracrenas and aloes. Imagine that 
we have spent all one afternoon climbing through the well-cultivated, 
inhabited zone, and have at length reached the heathy wilderness at an 
altitude of 6,500ft., where, beside a lovely fern-choked brook, we 
encamp for the night. As soon as morning breaks we strike the 
tents, swallow a hasty breakfast, and recommence our climb, and 
soon enter the dense virgin forest, which within the limits of 7,000 
and 10,000 ft. clothes all the southern face of Kilima-njaro. The 
woodland scenery here is very pretty and English-like, though fine 
timber is rare, the trees being short and twisted, and choked with 
dense undergrowth. The wild flowers are beautiful. Parasitic 
begonias trail their lovely pink bells in long festoons, magenta- 
coloured balsams gleam out from among the fern fronds, and every 
now and then we come across clumps of crimson and salmon- 
RAVEN SOARING 
coloured gladioli that provoke expressions of admiration even from 
my followers, whose eyes are caught with the rich displays of 
colour. The tree trunks, even to the minor branches, are densely 
hung with moss, orchilla-lichen, or delicate epophytic ferns. Other 
species of ferns grow luxuriantly at the side of the path, some of 
them actually British in their extended range. There are polypodies, 
holly, ferns, bracken, maidenhair, identical apparently—I have since 
found at Kew they were actually the same—with those we know in 
England, Unfamiliar, though, to our English scenes are the mag¬ 
nificent tree ferns (of the species Lonchitis pubescens), which rise 
grandly above the dense undergrowth, with fronds of a shiny, 
bluish green whenever the pale green light of the forest falls athwart 
their downy leaflets or silky stems. At a greater altitude than 
8,000ft. these tree-ferns are rarely met with; indeed, they are 
mostly confined to a zone round the mountain between 7,000 ft. and 
8,000 ft. above sea-level. 
Our path is very wet with the moisture that drips from the forest, 
and often obstructed with huge tree-trunks that lie across it. It is 
one of a series of tracks which converge from the different little 
kingdoms on the mountain up to a height of about 9,000 feet odd, 
where they join a path running nearly due east and west from Shira 
water is everywhere abundant. I catch a small chameleon and 
several beetles in this place. The next day we leave this camp at 
eight o’clock and journey eastward for about two hours, searching 
for a good site whereon to make my settlement, which must be close 
to water, and not too high up, so that my shivering followers, may 
not suffer unreasonably from cold. I soon fix on an admirable 
spot—a grassy knoll rising above the river of Ivilema, which takes 
its source near the base of Kimawenzi. The altitude of this site is 
nearly 10,000 feet. It is about four miles in a direct line from 
Kimawenzi, and about seven from Kibo. Directly my choice is 
made, so that no time may be lost, the men set to work at once 
cutting down the giant Ericas (heaths), and using their trunks' for 
building poles and their dry heather for thatch, while the coarse 
grass that here covers the ground is reaped, and also employed for 
roofing the huts and making snug beds on the ground. With such 
rapidity do the men work that before nightfall on the day of our 
arrival some fifteen cosy huts have been largely completed, and a 
rough kind of kitchen has been made for my behoof. For my own 
lodging the tent has to serve, as I am not yet confident as to the 
rain-proof character of the heather huts. That night they are to be 
roughly tried. 
to Useri. As 
the inhabitants of the 
Kilima-njaro States are nearly always at 
war with one another, and, consequently, have 
not free transit through the hostile territory of their 
neighbours, they all resort, by means of the up¬ 
ward road, to the neutral ground above, and, at 
varying heights above the inhabited district, pursue their journey 
round the mountain. They do not always do so peacefully, 
however, as it is the frequent custom of the mountaineers to post 
themselves occasionally in ambush at the cross-roads, and leap out 
on any passing travellers too weak to resist them, 
in which case the men are killed and the women 
carried off in triumph as slaves. 
On our former journeys up the mountain we 
had passed these dreaded hiding-places in ner¬ 
vous apprehension, and not without much stealthy 
scouting, for we were few in numbers, and knew 
that our enemies were lying in wait ; blit now 
we fear no man, and pass blithely along the 
ascending path, talking and laughing gaily, in 
pleasant contrast to the silent tread and cautious 
whispers which marked our previous excursions 
into the wilds of the Alpine region. The ascent 
is so gradual, that after walking from dawn till 
half-past eleven we still find ourselves at an 
elevation little exceeding 7,000 feet. By three 
o’clock a height of 9,000 feet has been reached, 
and here we proceed to camp for the night. On 
the way we have passed for some distance 
through a region clear of forest, and merely 
covered with open grass. At our camping place, however, we enter 
the woodland again, and here, fortunately, we find a little stream of 
water. Indeed, on the road between the mountain and Marang’u 
KILIMA-NJARO, SHOWING BOTH ITS SNOW-CAPPED PEAKS 
I have taken to my bed early in the afternoon, having severely 
hurt my knee, falling over sharp rocks in the stream-valley; but I 
can see through the tent door clouds of fearful portent rolling up over 
the upper slopes of the hidden mountain. In the early night growls 
KIBO CLOUD-CAPPED 
.of thunder begin to be heard, together with lurid quiverings of 
lightning, which shimmer through the awful complete darkness. 
Big drops fall one by one with thuds like pellets on the tightly. 
