take a day’s rest. CHAPTER VII ON GERMAN SOIL ONCE MORE BUT we could not afford many halts. The military position imperatively demanded that we should pass quickly through the districts to the east of the centre of Lake Nyassa, which were not fertile and had been largely stripped in the latest period of the war. Rapidity was all the more essential as it was possible for the enemy to move troops by sea to the north end of the lake and thus anticipate us by strongly occupying the district there. As we approached the river Lujenda, the ground became more mountainous and was scored with many water-courses and ravines. We could not simply march by the compass, but had to have regard to the watershed and keep along the mountain ridge. Fortunately, the leader of the advance guard, Captain Spangenberg, found some natives who acted as pathfinders and made it much easier to discover a good route. But a certain amount of doubling was unavoidable, and that retarded our progress, while the enemy were in a position to move troops and supplies swiftly from Malacotera along a good road to Luambala. I was somewhat anxious to know whether the water of the river Ludjenda would have fallen sufficiently to enable us to use the fords. It would no doubt have been easy to construct bark boats, but the transport of the whole force could hardly have gone smoothly forward, having regard to the violence of the current. In any case, I thought it most important that there should be no enemy opposition, and that again made haste essential. Fortunately patrols which we sent ahead found a ford below Luambala, where the wading of the river presented no difficulty. Several slaughtered hippopotami enabled us to prepare some fat again, and in the neighbourhood of Mwembe, which we reached on the 17th September, we were able to replenish our supplies once more. At this point we took our first day’s rest for a long time. It was here at Mwembe that the lung epidemic reached its crisis. Since the middle of August, 7 Europeans and about 200 natives had been attacked, of whom 2 Europeans and 17 natives had died. The stores at Mwembe had been destroyed by the weak enemy posts, but there were still ample supplies to be had in the district. The question of carriers began to cause anxieties. The men had been severely tested by the continual marching, by the epidemic, and by the carriage of the sick; and we were approaching their home districts. It was probable that the Wangoni carriers would desert the moment they reached their home, which lay to the north of the Rovuma. In the district of Mwembe and the well-cultivated valleys of the river Luscheringo, several patrols of the enemy “Intelligence Department” were encountered; true, they were easily driven off, but their presence showed that the enemy was in the main aware of our movements.