120 THROUGH UNKNOWN AFRICAN COUNTRIES. 
very severe. We passed over a plain where there was only 
one small row of bushes visible, far off in the distance, 
which seemed to be planted in a great lake. Whenever 
we saw such a mirage we became thirsty at once; but we 
had to check our desires in this respect, as we carried 
but very little water. There was no halting in this dry 
desert, so we had to continue marching to long past mid- 
day, when we found afew bushes with a little green on 
them that the camels could eat; but there was no water 
as had been reported. We now had to turn our course 
almost northeast in order to find water. The country 
continued to look dry and barren as the arid plains of 
Mexico, until we arrived at a tug where there was a little 
grove of cedar trees, and under these water. To the east of 
us rose the long chain of mountains along which the James 
brothers and Lord Wolverton had marched on their sepa- 
rate expeditions to Bari. 
There were several natives at the water-holes, poor 
wretches who had fled from the Abyssinians, and among 
them was a little boy not over three years old, who amused 
me very much by begging for a little leather to make san- 
dals for himself. On handing him a knife and some oryx 
hide, the youngster set to work like an old shoemaker 
cutting strips off the leather for laces, and fashioning the 
sandals wonderfully well. One of the first things that 
strikes a stranger in Africa is the wonderful rapidity 
with which children develop. Real childhood is unknown, 
although manhood is also never reached. The little ones 
are thrown on their own resources at such an early period 
that they quickly learn to act for themselves in providing 
for the passing hour, and little more than this is attained 
in after life. Our little visitor said that he had no relatives 
in the country, and no one to look after him, but he coolly 
intimated that he was going to follow the caravan till it 
