114 ALONG THE RIFT VALLEY TO BARINGO part ii 



to find water. It was our last chance that day. But, to our 

 intense disappointment, it contained nothing but sand. Never 

 before did I realise so fully the sad truth of the line in the 

 missionary hymn — 



" Where Afric's sunny fountains roll down their golden sand." 



All the fountains we passed that day rolled down nothing but 

 sand. To add to our annoyance, we could see rain pouring 

 down on the other side of the lake. It had rained every day 

 but two since we had left Mombasa, and we therefore hoped 

 that it would yet do so ; but, as I feared, the hot cliff beside 

 us kept the rain-cloud away. By this time the porters were 

 too exhausted to go farther. Several of them had already 

 fallen far behind, and some of these had to be almost carried 

 on. We were too tired to pitch the tents, so our camp that 

 night was a very dismal one. After dark it became cooler, 

 and the pangs of thirst became more tolerable ; but later on 

 it became intensely cold, and several of us were seized by an 

 attack of fever. The men clamoured for medicine, but as 

 there was no water they could not have any, and we spent a 

 miserably feverish, restless night. 



Dawn came suddenly ; a dim tinge of grayish pink tinted 

 the western sky, and almost before I was certain what it was, 

 the sunlight caught the summits of the Kamasian hills. We 

 prepared to march at once ; every man who had the strength 

 to do so picked up his load ; I nodded the order to start, and 

 without a word being spoken we resumed our march. The 

 scrub here came down to the water's edge, and we had to chop 

 a way through it. Fundi and I, with an Askari, led the van 

 to cut the path ; but every jerk sent such a pang through my 

 shoulder, that I had to let the others do the work. Progress 

 was very slow ; the slightest extra exertion produced an awful 

 feeling of sickness and weakness. We could stagger along on 

 the level fairly well, but if we had to climb a few feet to cross 

 a ridge, the men would fall exhausted upon it. Rests became 

 longer and more numerous ; at ten o'clock we found the heat 

 of the sun unbearable, and it seemed as if the whole caravan 

 were on the point of complete collapse. A little way ahead 

 there was a gap in the jungle, so I let the men drop their 

 loads and hasten on to this. I intended to put up the fly of 



