Already there are patches of bush several miles in extent where the stream eddied, stayed by some extra strong clump of trees, and so wonderful is the tropical growth produced by the combination of damp and fertile soil, that in another twenty years all obvious trace of the great eruption will have been erased. The trees on all the higher spurs which were above the level of the streams were snapped off short by the wind, and lie in regular rows towards the main centres of disturbance. The eruption must have been accompanied by considerable seismic waves, huge rents occurring in the surrounding forests; and very beautiful these rents are, being already converted by a luxuriant nature into exotic ferneries. After leaving the lava the path led west into the bush, and about 4 p.m. we reached a pool of water formed by an old crater. My inquiry as to the death-rate caused much merriment, and the evening passed with howls of joy and those unearthly noises which in Africa pass current for song. Here we were joined by numbers of natives coming from Mushari with loads of food. On inquiry I found that they were refugees, having been driven out by the Baleka or Bareka, a tribe of cannibals from the Congo who had raided their country. They told me that those who had survived were living in the forest, and that great numbers were dying every day of hunger. On the morrow we skirted along the base of the new volcano for about fourteen miles through the most beautiful glades, coming across several pools of water. Dead natives lined the path, showing that the tales of our last night’s companions were only too true. Towards evening we reached the great western stream, and here we met several natives who were living amongst the stones in the most awful misery, hardly daring even to make a fire. They said that they had been living thus for six months. When driven to despair by hunger, they would make a dash for an armful of half-ripe grain, each time losing some of their number by the Baleka, who were watching all the paths. I lined their bellies and warmed their hearts (identical organs, I believe, in the African and perhaps some others) with beans; and in the morning we advanced into the dreaded land. All the paths up the hills that led to the uplands of Mushari were lined with grain and torn skins, relics of those unfortunates who had been caught; and dried pools of blood, gaunt skeletons, grinning skulls, and trampled grass told a truly African tale. On arriving at the top of the ridge a beautiful rolling country opened out before us, dotted with clusters of grass huts and stately trees; russet patches of ripening mtama contrasted with the emerald green of the wild banana, range upon range of purple hills melted into the nether-world of a tropical horizon. But we were not to enjoy the scenery long, for distant howls showed that we had been observed, silhouetted as we were against the sky; and strings of black figures,