CROSSING THE KATOUN 



67 



luggage on a raft. As for the ponies, they were 

 pushed into the river, and made to swim across. It 

 was a curious sight to watch them paddling away 

 in mid-stream and landing on the opposite side about 

 200 yards lower down. In the water they look twice 

 as lono- with their tails floating on the surface behind 



CROSSING THE KATOUN. 



them. This operation presented no difficulty, how- 

 ever, and it took hardly an hour to reload the ponies 

 and make a fresh start. We followed the river up 

 its right bank for some time, and here first made 

 acquaintance with the so-called "bomas," the dangers 

 of which had been so much exaggerated. This 

 curious term signifies a place where the path becomes 



