During a tour of inspection in April to Lindi, where I saw the Third Field Company, I fell into a rocky hole and got water on the knee so that I could not start my next long journey till the end of May. Although the Central Railway was open for public traffic only as far as Tabora, the construction had proceeded so far that I could reach Kigoma (on Lake Tanganyika) by rail, and was thus already enabled to acquire a superficial knowledge of this important means of communication which connected our coast directly with the Lake and the rich countries bordering on it, and indirectly with the Congo basin. At Kigoma the steamer _Coetzen_ was still building, and to reach Bismarckburg I made use of the small steamer _Hedwig von Wissman_. At Baudouinville, in the Congo Territory, I paid a short visit to the Bishop of the White Fathers, without suspecting how soon we would be at war with that country. The wonderful church would be an ornament to any of our towns. It had been built by the Fathers themselves and the interior was decorated with rich carvings. Extensive, splendid orchards surround the station. The plague of lions must, however, be very great; the Fathers told me that a short time before a lion had one night jumped the wall into the court and killed an ox. Our reception was very friendly, and we were made welcome with a glass of fine Algerian wine. We were also well received at Mwasyl Mission Station in German territory, where there were also White Fathers, mostly Belgians. During the war, however, we captured correspondence which proved that the French missionaries, who also lived at stations in the Tanganyika country, by no means confined themselves to spreading Christianity but intentionally carried on a national propaganda as well. One missionary’s letter defines the difference between a _missionnaire catholique_ and a _missionnaire français_, remarking that the latter is bound, in addition to spreading the Christian faith, to carry on French national propaganda. It is well known that this national propaganda is a work from which the German missionaries generally refrained. These missions, which are naturally to be found in the densely populated and well-cultivated countries, exercise a remarkable influence on the education of the natives. The missionary is mostly the only permanently settled white man; he becomes well acquainted with the country and people, and wins their confidence. The missions have deserved extremely well by introducing European handicrafts; everywhere one finds carpenters’ shops, shoemakers’ shops and brickworks.