TRACKS IN THE WILDS 



I had seen so far ; all kinds of cacti now covered the 

 ground beneath the thorn trees, and the latter were 

 different in shape and more attractive. The road 

 twisted and turned in a most fantastic manner, 

 rendering my mapping a very tedious affair, so that 

 we averaged scarcely more than a mile and a half 

 in the hour. I was here obliged to resort to a plan 

 first put into practice, I believe, by Mr. G. F. Archer, 

 during his valuable surveys of the Northern Frontier 

 District. In order to get the bearing of the general 

 direction of the road, I sent on a couple of camels 

 with bells attached, and the rest followed behind. In 

 this way I was able to get both forward and back 

 bearings of the track by pointing my compass in the 

 direction from which the sound of the camel bells 

 proceeded, for it was impossible to see them. 



At one time we passed through a series of little 

 open places covered with short green grass, and 

 surrounded by dense bush on all sides, at another 

 through a real tunnel formed by the interlacing of 

 the thorn trees above our heads. Continually I 

 caught sight of a dainty little form bounding across 

 the path, and heard the frightened whistle of a dik- 

 dik as it vanished in the jungle, or the loud whirr of 

 wings as a covey of guinea-fowl rose in alarm. To 

 the lover of nature there is unending pleasure in 

 noting all the innumerable sis^ns and tracks that 

 abound in the wilds, and in reconstructing the story 

 they can tell to those whose experience and bush-craft 

 are sufficient to enable them to read them. 



In this way the hours passed pleasantly and quickly 

 till we reached Jara, which consists of three small 

 water-holes and a shallow swamp. In the latter 

 water can generally be obtained by digging, and there 



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