Dan Meinertzhagen's Diary. 55 



stopped by a small river coming out of the lake, 

 which was in flood ; but our first night's resting 

 place was near, so the Finn shouted at the top of 

 his voice for a boat, and, on none appearing, 

 I fired two shots across the lake. Still there came 

 no answer. The Finn then proceeded to light 

 a fire and make ready to sleep in the wood, 

 while I watched two Ospreys fishing in the 

 lake, calling out to each other occasionally, and 

 they evidently had a nest close by. After 

 about an hour, finding the place very damp, and 

 having nothing to lie on, I determined to try 

 again for a boat, and so fired several shots 

 and shouted as loud as I could. To my delight, 

 at last one came round the corner, rowed by 

 a very pretty little girl about fourteen years 

 old. 



Within half-an-hour, we were at the house 

 Sieppi, and got some milk, and they cooked 

 some excellent pike for me, after which I started 

 to write this. As I write, there are six children 

 ushered into the room to stare at me, for this 

 is the first, and may be the last time they will 

 see an Englishman ; the woman is describing 

 to them my good points. They particularly 

 fancy my beard, which is thicker than any 

 man's up here — nobody seems to grow more 

 than down. 



