I now followed slowly with the main body. Our rearguard, under Captain Koehl, had quite a series of little collisions, which in bulk caused the enemy not inconsiderable losses. One of our Askari patrols had been surprised and captured by a stronger enemy patrol when engaged in foraging for food. These Askari subsequently looked on while this English patrol fought quite a bloody action with another English detachment in the thick bush and the occurrence gave them their opportunity of escaping. The lack of caution which many of our Europeans continually showed, in spite of all warnings, caused us many unnecessary losses. There was one Askari, a particularly reliable and intelligent man, whose father, the old Effendi Plantan, had already been with Von Wissmann’s Zulu Askari, whom I had been only too glad to take with me on patrol. He never came back from some quite unnecessary mission on which he was sent, and was probably taken prisoner. It was a phenomenon common to both sides that a large part of the losses in the war in East Africa were unnecessary and due solely to thoughtlessness. Koehl’s detachment gradually came up with the main body, which had reached the Alto-Moloque-Inagu road at a European plantation which was well stocked with provisions. From this place it had rung up Alto-Moloque on the enemy’s telephone and received a reply, first from a Portuguese, then from Captain Müller. Müller reported that only a small amount of ammunition had been captured, and that the bulk must have been got away to the south-east just in time by several carrier parties. Strong patrols were immediately sent out after them. When the main body entered Alto-Moloque on June 16th we found some very fine and massive European houses. They were charmingly situated on a little hill, and had a view for miles over the neighbouring forests to the mighty rugged mountains in the distance. There were thousands of orange trees in full bloom and our coloured men immediately christened it the “Boma ja machungwa” (Orange _boma_). The numerous maps and documents of all kinds which were found at the station gave us a tolerably clear idea of the country towards Quelimane. We could see that there was a telegraph wire from Alto-Moloque to Quelimane via Ili. A large company, the Lugella Company, had its headquarters at the confluence of the Lugella with the Likungo. There were great plantations and factories and large supplies of food. Above all, it looked as if preparations were in progress to make this station a main supply depot for food and ammunition for considerable bodies of troops.