A BAD PATCH OF SCRUB 



form. It is essential, if one wishes to travel far with 

 a minimum of discomfort, that everything should be 

 done to lighten their work, and now, by a careful 

 distribution of the weights, and by discarding all 

 but essentials, I managed to reduce their loads to 

 something under 250 lb. each. And I believe it was 

 owing to this careful preparation, and consideration 

 for the welfare of the camels, that I was enabled to 

 accomplish successfully the journey between Jeldez 

 and Lorian, in the face of difficulties and dangers 

 which no one can realise unless he has had some 

 experience of travelling in the interior of Jubaland. 



We left Jeldez shortly after three o'clock, in spite 

 of the terrific heat, marching along an old trail which 

 led directly towards the west. Almost immediately 

 we entered the worst patch of scrub it had yet been 

 my misfortune to encounter. Riding was out of the 

 question, so I walked, and shuddered as I thought of 

 what was going to happen to the loads on the camels, 

 for the scrub consisted almost entirely of wait-a-bit, 

 whose small crooked thorns cut through my clothes 

 like knives, and I foresaw that they would tear the 

 gunny sack coverings of the loads to pieces. As the 

 sun sank behind heavy storm-clouds, we reached a 

 rather more open country, the two hurricane lamps 

 were lighted, and we proceeded at a good pace. It 

 would be impossible to imagine a more hopeless and 

 desolate piece of country than that through which I 

 had been travelling for these last few days ; the soft, 

 sandy soil, the low, leafless scrub, and the stunted, 

 blackened mimosa, with which it is covered, only serve 

 to emphasise the aridity of the country and represent 

 another kind of desert common in East Africa, but 

 having but little charm either of colour or of oudine. 



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