176 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



threshold of relief. For untold gold I would 

 not undergo another such experience. 



But the journey came to an end at length, and 

 the long drink which followed was unspeak- 

 ably delicious. Soon the wagon was emptied 

 of its contents and, with a team of eight fresh 

 horses, despatched to fetch in the game. It 

 was nightfall when the wagon returned with 

 its heavy load, — the carcases of two large oryx 

 bulls. 



The morrow we spent at Brabies for the pur- 

 pose of giving the horses a rest. We occupied 

 ourselves in the prosaic process of cutting up 

 and salting the oryx meat. On the following 

 day we would start for home. The water of 

 the vley was rapidly drying up under the fierce 

 heat; in another week there would not be a 

 drop left. 



There were several features of interest con- 

 nected with the vley. The water had shrunk 

 to a series of small puddles. Swimming about 

 in every one of these were large numbers of 

 tiny organisms, each with a single, immense 

 eye. These creatures belonged to a species of 

 " Apus," — a genus of one of the crustacean 

 sub-families. On a trip undertaken during the 

 previous year I had found an Apus of another 

 species in a vley less than thirty miles from 



