DOWN THE NILE; THE GIANT ELAND 445 



unnecessary in the way of baggage; the only impedimenta 

 which we could not minimize were those connected with 

 the preservation of the skins of the big animals, which, of 

 course, were throughout our whole trip what necessitated 

 the use of the bulk of the porters and other means of 

 transportation employed. 



From the neat little station of Redjaf, lying at the foot 

 of the bold pyramidal hill of the same name, we marched 

 two days west, stopping short of the river Koda, where 

 we knew the game drank. Now and then we came on 

 flower-bearing bushes, of marvellously sweet scent, like 

 gardenias. It was the height of the dry season; the coun- 

 try was covered with coarse grass and a scrub growth of 

 nearly leafless thorn-trees, usually growing rather wide 

 apart, occasionally close enough together to look almost 

 like a forest. There were a few palms, euphorbias, and 

 very rarely scattered clumps of withered bamboo, and also 

 bright green trees with rather thick leaves and bean pods, 

 on which we afterward found that the eland fed. 



The streams we crossed were dry torrent beds, sandy 

 or rocky; in two or three of them were pools of stagnant 

 water, while better water could be obtained by digging in 

 the sand alongside. A couple of hours after reaching each 

 camp everything was in order, and Ali had made a fire of 

 some slivers of wood and boiled our tea; and our two 

 meals, breakfast and dinner, were taken at a table in the 

 open, under a tree. 



We had with us seven black soldiers of the Belgian 

 native troops, under a corporal; they came from every 

 quarter of the Congo, but several of them could speak 

 Swahili, the lingua franca of middle Africa, and so Kermit 



