THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 53 



river wound from side to side leaving a flat, first to right, 

 then to left. This meant finding a ford every mile or so, 

 and getting the donkeys through it — no small task, as 

 they remembered their former experience and did not 

 care for water at all, at all ! We were alternately wet 

 to the waist and baked by the furnace heat. When 

 we had had enough we camped in the scrub. 



Five hours thirty-five minutes; 6 miles; elevation, 

 3,800; morning, 50; noon, 90; night, 58. 



July 25. — Resumed the struggle without the slightest 

 idea of how much longer we were to keep at it. There 

 were no especial indications that the character of the 

 country would change. We kept bucking thornbush 

 across the flats until we were forced by the bend of the 

 stream to ford; then we repeated the performance on 

 the other side. This kept up for four hours. Then 

 at one of the bends, instead of the usual f ordable shallow 

 rapids, we found a crude dam made of woven saplings 

 and earth. First signs of settled human habitation on 

 this side of the mountains. 



A friendly native — the first human being in the New 

 Country — appeared on the opposite side and shouted 

 at us. Since he seemed to know of no way of crossing 

 to his side, I struck off to the left, soon found a rhino 

 trail along the hills, and signalled the men to come on. 

 Across the river I saw from my elevation bananas and 

 other signs of cultivation. Without waiting for the 

 safari, I pushed on ahead, blazing a way. It was hard, 



