460 ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY. 



him by the wounded leg, and severed the tendon at the knee- 

 jomt. The struggle between us now became severe. On 

 trying to lay hold of his horns, which were most formidable 

 weapons, with the intention of cutting his throat, he struck 

 out with so much violence as to upset me, and I was nearly 

 smothered with mud and water. But the poor creature's 

 course was run. His loss of blood and crippled state soon 

 enabled me to put an end to his miseries. He was a noble 

 old stag — the finest antelope of the species that I ever shot, 

 and tliey were many ; he well rewarded me for all my exer- 

 tions. 



After passing the bar at the mouth of the Teoge, the depth 

 of the water increased, and the current flowed with less ve- 

 locity — from two to three miles per hour, I should say. For 

 the first few days' journey the country presented a rather 

 dreary and monotonous appearance, being frequently flooded 

 for many miles, thus converting the land on both sides into 

 extensive reedy marshes, only occasionally relieved by a 

 pleasant group of the date and the fan-palm. The banks 

 were in many places so low that, when bivouacking on shore, 

 we often slept in the water. Even where the banks rose a 

 few feet above the surface, they were entirely undermined by 

 the stream ; and if a stick was thrust through, water imme- 

 diately appeared in the hole. Fuel was exceedingly scarce, 

 and could only be purchased from the natives (thinly scatter- 

 ed along its banks), who not unfrequently brought it from a 

 very great distance. 



On the fourth day the landscape assumed a more pleas- 

 ing aspect ; the banks of the river became higher, and were 

 richly covered with a rank vegetation. There was the fan- 

 palm, the date, the black-stemmed mimosa, the wild and 

 wide-spreading sycamore, the elegant and dark-foliaged mo- 

 shoma, and a variety of other beautiful, often to me new, 

 trees, many yielding an abundance of palatable and nourish- 

 ing fruit. Timbo, Avho accompanied me, recognized no leso 



