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straw, only a few of the walls were standing, 

 whilst all the roofs and the greater part of the 

 verandahs had fallen in. All had gone to rack 

 and ruin ; all was totally destroyed. The few 

 fruit trees, planted and tended by the devoted 

 hands of Emin and his officers, remain in a 

 tangled wilderness by the river bank. The 

 beautiful avenue of lime trees and date palms 

 has been defaced by the destruction of many 

 boughs, while the ground beneath is literally 

 smothered in flowers that have seeded themselves 

 — year in and year out — and gone wild in the 

 process. 



We steamed on all through that night so as to 

 arrive by daybreak at a favourite wood station, 

 where we wished to put in a few hours' shooting 

 whilst the sailors cut fuel. A three-mile walk 

 brought us to some beautiful rolling downs studded 

 with a bush here and there and a scanty sprinkling 

 of trees. Underfoot it was like an English hay- 

 field. Elephants were known to be plentiful here, 

 so we were not surprised to come across their old 

 tracks. In the morning we saw nothing more 

 exciting than hartebeest and oribi, which we left 

 to try conclusions with on our return. And it 

 was well we did. When we sat down to investigate 

 the contents of the lunch basket, we found that it 

 had not arrived. Presently one of the men we had 

 left in charge of it rushed up and informed us 

 that he was sorry he was late, but that he and his 



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