MUCH SUFFERING FROM THIRST. 347 
take more water with us, as the country we were going 
through looked parched and desolate, but the camels were 
too weak to carry any more weight. On August 28 we 
watered all our animals and started in the afternoon on 
our most risky undertaking. 
No one can form any idea how rough the country was, 
without having actually seen it. It appeared as though 
oceans full of large rocks had dropped from the skies and 
deposited their burden in chaotic masses upon the earth’s 
surface; and besides the mounds and hills of iron ore, lava, 
and volcanic aédris, there were innumerable rents and 
fissures on all sides. Over such a country as this we 
plodded for several hours. There was scarcely a bush or 
a blade of grass visible, and we had the greatest difficulty 
in getting our camels along. 
The next day the same hardships continued. The sun’s 
rays beat down on us with relentless fury as we worked 
our way over the rocks from morning until night. Nor 
when we camped at sunset were there the slightest signs 
of any water in all this wilderness. Before starting in the 
morning of the third day, I sent out boys in all directions 
in search of water. We were in a very dangerous position, 
as our drinking-water would not last another twenty-four 
hours; and we were obliged to march through such a 
fiery furnace that our systems craved the precious fluid 
continually. 
Haji Idris and five boys went to the left of the caravan, 
while others scoured the country to the right about the 
foot of Mt. Kulol. Idris and the boys with him were 
attacked by two rhinos, who came upon them so suddenly 
from behind a bush that they had scarcely a chance to 
shoot. One of the animals knocked down my boy Kimbar 
and then tried to probe him with his horn; but Kimbar 
pulled out his knife as he lay on the ground, and kept 
