DISCOMFORTS 



lighted ; everything was steaming ; although the rain 

 had stopped, the heavy clouds hung low, and light- 

 ning flickered now and then to the northward. All 

 through the evening the distant rumbling of thunder 

 foretold rain for the morrow. My bedding was wet, 

 my clothes wet, and I had no more meat, so after a 

 frugal dinner of rice and tea, I went to bed. 



The following day I started off before dawn, still 

 going to the north-north-west. I walked, as my 

 saddle was sodden with water and my mule could not 

 stand up in the mud. It soon began to drizzle, half 

 mist half rain, and it was rather a depressed caravan 

 that marched on through the bush. The trail too 

 was growing worse and worse, the wait-a-bit thorn 

 thicker and thicker, and I soon saw the guide had 

 lost his way. Although considerably annoyed I 

 could not do anything, but, calling up my men and 

 setting an example myself, I started to cut a way 

 through the bush for the camels. This was slow and 

 painful work, hands, arms and face getting badly 

 scratched by the thorn, but in two hours we reached 

 a huge swamp, across which I led the way by an old 

 elephant path. The grass rose high above our heads, 

 and the water came up to our knees as we sank in 

 the mud. Great difficulty was experienced in getting 

 the camels across ; each had to be unloaded and the 

 things carried by the porters, who then returned to 

 lead the camels over to the other side. Once we 

 were all across, the guide knew where he was, but I 

 decided to camp while he went on to find out where 

 the Sultan's village was, for I depended on him for a 

 guide to take me to the Lorian. 



There were some beautiful umbrella trees here, 

 so I chose a nice spot, and my tent was soon up. 



132 



