THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 159 



pated none so near the escarpment; but not a drop was 

 to be found even in the most likely places. Everybody 

 hot, tired, and dry after a hard march. Things looked 

 mean; but finally we found two gallons or so among the 

 stones of a donga. Energetic digging developed barely 

 enough to get on with. Saw three Wanderobo who 

 fled wildly, and would not be persuaded near us at all. 

 An old man later proved more friendly and allowed us 

 to give him a shoulder of Tommy, in return for which 

 he gave us the valuable information that there was no 

 other water, but that the swamp was just below. A 

 heavy storm with wind and rain swooped down on us in 

 the evening. 



Nine and a half hours; 20 J miles; morning, 51; noon, 

 96; night, 71. 



September 7. — Followed the dry donga down to the 

 swamp. It was a beautiful green jewel set in wooded 

 hills, about three miles long and one mile wide. Its 

 tall reeds swayed and rustled in the wind, and here and 

 there gleamed patches and glimpses of water. In this 

 dry and parched country it was a refreshment to the eye 

 and a delight to the spirit. Its shallows should have 

 been alive with the little waders, its deeps with water- 

 fowl, its whole area vocal with the delightful cries, 

 squawks, whistles, and eerie calls of the marshland ; over- 

 head should have wheeled innumerable birds stooping 

 to its myriad insects. There were none of these things. 

 Not one living creature did we see. It was the abode 



