SWAMPY LAND 



never parted from those cartridges ; they were always 

 somewhere about his person — in his hair, behind his 

 ears or in his mouth. 



We marched to the north-east at first through the 

 open bush. There was no trail, and we were often 

 up to our knees in the mud ; for the whole place is 

 like a swamp, for there is not sufficient slope to carry 

 the water off. But I was told that for the last two 

 years there had been no rain, and as the country is 

 chiefly sandy and the feed poor, it is generally 

 uninhabited, except after a good rainy season. As 

 regards the Bisahu Hamu, marked on almost every 

 map as an important swamp, its name is unknown to 

 the natives, but north of Bussa Berora, about twenty- 

 five miles north-east of Gulola, there is a large plain 

 covered with coarse grass that no doubt becomes 

 swampy during the rains, but it cannot be relied on 

 even as a temporary water-hole. We soon reached a 

 ofood trail running east and west. This is the native 

 trail that runs between Hadamamel Dabassa and 

 Gulola Swamp. The former place is an important 

 water-hole situated immediately to the south of the 

 Lak Quran, twenty-three miles due east of Gonia- 

 iddu. We followed this path going westwards, 

 though not without difficulty, for the camels were 

 continually slipping in the mud, and were compelled 

 to walk very slowly. The country, however, was 

 lovely ; giant acacias stretched out their spreading 

 branches towards each other, enshrouding the under- 

 growth in perpetual shade, while dense tropical 

 vegetation overran everything, dripping in airy 

 festoons from the trees above, and running riot over 

 the earth beneath. A profound silence reigned, 

 unbroken save for the occasional "tap-tap" of a 



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