Bound for Khartoum Once More 



preserve. The head was a most welcome ac- 

 quisition, and another mask taken in a drier 

 climate would serve to adorn it, and make it a 

 thing of beauty and a joy for ever. 



Then we came to a horrid place to cross, the 

 Waipoka river, where the Reserve begins. This 

 took some doing. But though the water was up 

 to our necks and flowing very swiftly, we nego- 

 tiated it by making a double chain of porters — 

 one row forming line hand in hand to withstand 

 the force of the current, whilst the remainder 

 transported the loads by relays leaning up against 

 the human rope when they were carried off their 

 legs. The meat shot in the morning would stand 

 us in good stead until we should pass out of the 

 Game Reserve, which we expected to do on the 

 morrow, provided we had the good luck not to 

 meet any unfordable stream en route. Oddly 

 enough, little game was met with in the Reserve, 

 but towards the northern end oreat numbers of 

 footprints of elephants, deeply outlined in the 

 soft going underfoot, to say nothing of the torn- 

 down branches of the bushes, showed us that 

 there was a large herd in the neighbourhood. 

 Soon we arrived at the Waiga river, where the 

 Reserve ends. Although its banks were some 

 fifteen feet high it was a mere trickle, as there 

 had been no rain since yesterday, which shows 

 how soon these mountain torrents fill and empty. 



Camp was pitched without delay some three or 



227 



