told, but has no more original ideas in his head than there are
in a chair leg. Kefalla, however, by scratching other parts of
his anatomy diligently, has now another argument ready, the
two Bakwiris are sick with abdominal trouble, that requires
rum and rest, and one of the other boys has hot foot.
Herr Liebert now appears upon the scene, and says I can
have some of his labourers, who are now more or less idle*
because he cannot get about much with his bad foot to direct
them, so I give the Bakwiris and the two hot foot cases “ books
to take down to Herr von Lucke who will pay them off for
me, and seeing that they have each a good day’s rations of
rice,, beef, &c., eliminate them from the party.
In addition to the labourers, I am to have as a guide Sasu,
a black sergeant, who went up the Peak with the officers of
the Hycena, and I get my breakfast, and then hang about
watching my men getting ready very slowly to start. They spin
some plausible yarns about getting food cooked, in case they
cannot get a fire when we reach the top of the forest belt;
where we are to camp. I never saw a forest yet in Africa
where you could not get a fire, but knowing that my previous
experiences have never been beyond 5,000 feet in elevation, I
let them have their way. Off we get about 8, and start
with all good wishes, and grim prophecies, from Herr
Liebert.
Led by Sasu, and accompanied by “ To-morrow,” a man
who has come to Buea from some interior unknown district^
and who speaks no known language, and whose business it is to
help to cut a way through the bush, we go down the path we
came and cross the river again. This river seems to separate
the final mass of the mountain from the foot-hills on this side;
Immediately after crossing it we turn up into the forest on
the right hand side, and “ To-morrow” cuts through an overgrown
track for about half-an-hour, and then leaves us.
Everything is reeking wet, and we swish through thick
undergrowth and then enter a darker forest where the earth
is rocky and richly decorated with ferns and moss. For the
first time in my life I see tree-ferns growing wild in luxuriant
profusion. What glorious creations they are ! Then we get
out into the middle of a koko plantation. Next to sweetpotatoes,
the premier abomination to walk through, give me
kokos for good all-round tryingness, particularly when they
are wet, as, is very much the case now. These gigantic arums
poise in their broad leaves little reservoirs of water, which you
upset over yourself as you pass through. The big round
roots are excellent things to fall over. They project above
the earth, and you can jam your foot against them and pitch,
forward, or you can step on one of them and fall backwards
or sideways. The entertainment they afford the wayfarer is
not monotonous, but it is exasperating. Getting through
these we meet the war hedge again, and after a conscientious
struggle with various forms of vegetation in a muddled, tangled1
state, Sasu says, “ No good, path done got stopped up,” so we
turn and retrace our steps all the way, cross the river,,
and horrify Herr Liebert by invading his house again. We-
explain the situation. Grave headshaking between him and
Sasu about the practicability of any other route, because there
is no other path. I do not like to say “ so much the better,’”
because it would have sounded ungrateful, but I knew from,
my Ogowé experiences that a forest that looks from afar a.
dense black mat is all right underneath, and there is a short
path recently cut by Herr Liebert that goes straight up
towards the forest above us. It had been made to go to a
clearing, where ambitious agricultural operations were being'
inaugurated, when Herr Liebert hurt his foot. Up this we
go, it is semi-vertical while it lasts, and it ends in a scrubby
patch that is to be a plantation ; this crossed we are in thè
Urwald, and it is more exquisite than words can describe,,
but not good going, particularly at one spot where a gigantic
tree has fallen down across a little rocky ravine, and has to be
crawled under. It occurs to me that this is a highly likely
place for snakes, and an absolutely sure find for scorpions, and
when we have passed it three of these latter interesting
creatures are observed on the load of blankets which is
fastened on to the back of Kefalla. We inform Kefalla of the
fact on the spot A volcanic eruption of entreaty, advice,
and admonition results, but we still hesitate. However, the
gallant cook tackles them in a sort of tip-cat way with a stick,
and we proceed into a patch of long grass, beyond which there