THROUGH AFRICA ON A BICYCLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 261, 25 March 1911, Page 10

THROUGH AFRICA ON A BICYCLE.

A 5700-MILE JOURNEY. Two young Euglishmen h«ve just finished one of the most remarkable journeys ever made iu Africa. Mr. Frank H.' Melland and Mr. E. H. Cholmeley, both assistant magistrates in the service of the British South Africa Company in North-Eastern Rhodesia, started last July from their stations with two bicycles to go through the heart of Africa to Cairo. They arrived at Cairo on January 19, having travelled 570G miles in 170 days. Mr. Cholmeley arrived in England on Sunday. "Melland and I met on July 24 last year at Kasama, North-Eastern Rhodesia," said Mr. Cholmeley. "For fiftyone days we walked and bicycled to Victoria Nyanza. Melland's bicycle proved defective, so we shared mine, taking turns to walk. The roads were surprisingly good for that part of the world; the natives were hospitable and the German officials most obliging. "We ran across some interesting people during this part of our journey. One of the Rukwa Valley tribes we found has a ruling caste of totally different origin to themselves. This caste appears t« be the Galla stock from Abyssinia, and until recently observed' the same etiquette as prevailed in the families of the ancient Pharaohs of Egypt, For instance, they eould only marry their own sisters.

"The sport in parts of German East Africa is splendid. In two days on the Ugalla river we saw fifteen or sixteen different species of game and wild beasts. Three times we were visited by lion*, but they were not bold enough to attack our big camp. In two evenings we got sixteen crocodiles, and our bag for the trip included a leopard, three big Uganda elephants, reed-buck, topi and haartebeeste.

"On September 25 we arrived at the southern end of Lake Victoria Nyanza and took boats for Entebbe, and thence paid a visit to Nairobi. We went backto Entebbe and started north once more on a hcw route, which until quite recently had been closed. "The natives in this northern corner of Uganda treated ug extraordinarily well. One chief elactrified us by trotting out a small cadet corps, all quite naked boys ranging from ten to twelve. They had a cavalry bugle arid two sidedurms. and were commanded by a youngster who put them through the ordinary motions of company drill almost without a mistake.

"After walking and bicycling through Uganda we arrived at Gondokoro the day after Christmas. There we sold our bicycles and kit and took a Nile river steamer to Khartoum, and then to Cairo."