Effect of the Rains 



wonder that I hesitate at the idea of handing her 

 over to the mercies of a Nubian "shensi" savage, 

 who could or would never understand her ? And 

 so the heart was sad. The Roman writer truly 

 stated that the dog was the most faithful of beasts 

 to man ; but what a pity the converse is not 

 equally true. The author is seen in the picture 

 standing on the parapet of one of the trenches and 

 holding his terrier dog in his arms. 



We had now to experience the full effect of 

 the rains. Terrible thunderstorms became a daily 

 occurrence, and I will briefly describe a typical 

 instance of the approach of one of these. From 

 the top of the hill I suddenly beheld a section of 

 the landscape black as ink. It gave me really quite 

 a creepy feeling — a sort of inferno sensation. It was 

 restricted to a comparatively small portion of ground, 

 and outside its compass the view had the ordinary 

 appearance of a quiet summer's evening. Inside the 

 pitch black mysterious streaks of sheet and forked 

 lightning gambolled in ecstasy, playing round the 

 tops of the mountains, and paying not the slightest 

 attention to the ear-crashing claps of thunder which 

 went pealing after them. I turned about to look 

 at the lakes. What a contrast ! The setting sun 

 had lighted up some cumulus clouds on the far side, 

 and these, reflecting themselves in the lake, lent 

 it the appearance of a mirror of silver — a truly 

 magnificent sight, and how different from the other : 

 the one smilingly white, and the other black with 

 anger. It seemed hardly possible for the two 



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