We remained here for several weeks. One detachment moved further upstream and took possession of the small station of Luambala. At the same time General Wahle marched to the prosperous station of Mwemba, already known to us. The richly-cultivated triangle Chirumba-Luambala-Mwemba and beyond the frontier was patrolled by our requisitioning and reconnaissance patrols. The natives of this district showed themselves for the most part intelligent and friendly; they already knew that they had nothing to fear from the German troops. In spite of that they had hidden their stores of food in the bush and would let us have little or nothing. Our men had, however, long since learned to examine closely, for example, a suspicious-looking tree stump, and often found that it had been put together by hand and was the hiding place for stocks of food. Others would drive their sticks into the hollow ground of a freshly laid-out garden and found stores of grain buried there. In short, many such hiding-places were found, and when, at Christmas, we sat down to dinner in a large grass-hut, we were relieved of the most pressing shortage of food. According to the descriptions of our men the Ludjenda river was, during several months of the year, so full of fish that they could be pulled out in basketfuls. Oddly enough, on this occasion only very few were caught. Most of them were sheat-fish, about eighteen inches long, and smaller fish which were best fried crisp. These, too, contributed their modest share towards the improvement of the rations.