Touch was kept with Koehl’s detachment in the neighbourhood of Medo by means of a system of relays. I thought it probable that the enemy, following his usual tactics, was preparing a great concentric movement against us which would not be ready for at least a month. We could thus rely on there being no considerable enemy activity until after the rains, which would end at the end of February. About this time I intended to concentrate my forces in the neighbourhood of Nanungu. Until then we must husband our supplies in this area and live as far as possible on what could be obtained in the outer fringe of our present locality. At first there was not much game shot at Chirumba, but the bag increased when we found considerable herds of antelopes on the east bank of the Ludjenda, and particularly further upstream. During the remainder of the dry season, while the river was low, caravans of bearers were continually crossing the river by several fords, carrying their loads to the dumps on the east bank. As well as the fords, canoes made from hollowed tree-trunks were used for crossing. Patrols were sent out for weeks at a time to collect supplies and reconnoitre. Lieutenant von Scherbening, with his patrol, made an expedition lasting months, marching from Chirumba via Mtenda, Mahua and finally south, via the Lurio river, then up the Malema, where they surprised the Portuguese Boma Malema. An Italian, who had been hunting elephants on the Ludjenda and had joined us in a ragged, starving condition, accompanied Lieutenant von Scherbening’s patrol. The man’s health was, however, so undermined by lingering malaria and his spleen so terribly swollen that he had to be carried from Mahua to a plantation near Malacotera. At the beginning of January, 1918, the English began to move. From the south-east corner of Lake Nyassa two battalions—the 1st and 2nd King’s African Rifles—began to advance towards Captain Goering’s detachment, which had joined up with us and occupied the acute angle between the Luhambala and Ludjenda rivers. He was covering the supply stores further up the Ludjenda. On 9th January, in the forenoon, a detachment of the enemy, attacking unsupported, was defeated. When, in the afternoon, the enemy returned to the attack after the arrival of his reinforcements, and at the same time an enemy force pressed forward in a northerly direction toward the supply dumps on the east bank, Captain Goering crossed to the east bank with the main part of his force. Only a strong patrol was left in the old camp on the west bank, and they held the enemy in check. At the same time an enemy force—the 2nd Cape Corps of South African half-breeds was identified—was advancing on Mwembe.