SEARCH FOU FALLS ON MAO KABI 69 



the top a series of steep stony canons, such as the one 

 we had just mounted, stretched before us, but neither 

 sight nor sound of water. It was evident, however, 

 that the Falls were above, and to fortify ourselves for 

 the prolonged scramble that now lay before us, we 

 called for the water-bottle, but it had sprung a leak, 

 and not a drop remained. Then began a time of 

 real hardship, for we had to force our way through 

 grass that left its dust in our eyes and noses, and 

 its spiked barbs in our legs and bodies ; over granite 

 boulders that caught and reflected every ray of sun, 

 till the heat was like that of a furnace, and our feet 

 and hands swelled, and face, eyes, and lips blistered, 

 while our throats became so parched that we could 

 hardly swallow and grew sick. We slithered and 

 scrambled on in desperate effort to reach the river, 

 torn by mimosa thorns, and barely able to resist the 

 desperate temptation to grasp the poisonous cactus 

 lianes that hung alluringly down, as if to offer a 

 supjDort which, if accepted, would irritate the skin 

 beyond all endurance. We were almost at our last 

 gasp when Mr Talbot remembered that he had brought 

 a tin of apricots for luncheon, and in a trice that tin 

 was open and its juice gulped down. He was heroic, 

 and insisted on my having the lion's share. I was 

 not heroic, and accepted it. What it meant to us no 

 words can ever say ! Assuaged, though not satisfied, 

 we pressed on, for we knew well that the sweet sticky 

 juice could not give us relief for long. 



At last, from the brow of a hill, we saw the river 

 lying some 400 feet below, and our hearts leaped with 

 joy. A man was sent for water at once, but after 

 half an hour he returned empty-handed. The cliff 



