CHAPTER XxX Vitrl 
Across A BARREN COUNTRY TO THE TANA RIVER—ON THE EQUATOR — 
AT LAST WE REACH THE TANA — OUR JOY AT MEETING THE REv. ROBERT 
ORMEROD — A GREAT CHANGE FOR Us — A DELIGHTFUL JOURNEY HOME- 
WARD — THREE HUNDRED MILES IN CANOES — WITU AND MKANUMBI — 
Capr. A, L. Rojers — Lamu — THE Last oF OUR AFRICAN Home — 
AN ErcuT Days’ Sait To ADEN — My Boys AnpD I Parr. 
FTER passing the green, bushy country near the 
river, our journey led us for six marches, of nearly 
eleven hours each, across an indescribably desolate and 
monotonous region. Once only did we find water in suf- 
ficient quantity to give the animals a drink and to half-fill 
our water-barrels. On another occasion we found just 
enough by digging deep in the bed of a tug, to allow 
each of the boys a quart of water. There were no paths, 
no signs of animal life, and no indications of there ever 
having been human beings in this dried-up, flat, sandy 
country. 
Except an occasional hornbill, there were no birds to 
relieve the death-like oppressiveness of the picture. There 
was no vulture even in the heavens, and no movement 
upon the baked, glaring earth in this land of despair. Only 
the fury of the sun was felt, casting its heartless rays upon 
the caravan as it wound its way in and out among the half- 
dead acacias, struggling onward with a determined energy 
engendered by the dread of death from thirst. 
There was, however, one thought that encouraged us, 
and that was that this period of toil, discomfort, and anxiety. 
