A NIGHT ALARM. 
219 
the delay entailed by this proposed ceremony, by 
saying that we had a long way to go and must hurry 
on, but that possibly on our way back we might see 
more of him; so with some reluctance he provided 
us with guides and gave us a present of twenty loads 
of bananas and a goat. 
In the night we had a slight excitement, as about 2 a . m . 
some of our men roused us with the information that a 
force of natives were approaching from Mandara’s side, 
and we certainly did hear a good deal of shouting ; but 
it turned out to be a false alarm, as it was only caused 
by some of Mandara’s scouts or vedettes , who, seeing 
our camp-fires, thought the Wa-kiboso intended to 
attack them, and were raising the war-cry of “ Wome! 
wome! ” (“ Men ! men ! ”) to warn their people. We 
therefore sent out Kicaga and one or two men to allay 
their fears, and to let them know that it was only our 
party going up the mountain. 
The following day we had another stiff march, all 
against the collar, up to an elevation of 8800 feet, 
through the most curious and beautiful forest imagin¬ 
able. At the height of 5400 feet the cultivation ceased, 
and we passed through a wide tract of low bush 
intermingled with a good deal of the homely fern and 
bracken. The denser forest here commences at a 
height of about 6000 feet, and, the atmosphere being 
excessively damp, the trunks and even the branches of 
nearly all the trees are covered with various mosses, 
while gigantic creepers, ferns, and floAvers of every 
variety combine to produce a most fairy-like effect. 
