CHAPTER XV 



WHERE A MAN CAN RAISE A THIRST 



The dry season, which, in Equatorial East 

 Africa, roughly extends from April to December, 

 though favourable for hunting, owing to the com- 

 parative sparseness of foliage in the bush and the 

 decay of the giant grasses which afford such excellent 

 cover for all kinds of game, is often rendered 

 by the terrible scarcity of water a most trying time. 

 Only he who has lived the strenuous life of a hunter 

 and seen the conditions that exist during a period 

 of exceptional drought in that Continent of the Sun, 

 can justly estimate the preciousness of this element 

 which, when in the form of rain, is so often looked 

 upon by those living in northern climes as an 

 unmitigated nuisance. Picture to yourself a land- 

 scape held in the grip of a pitiless, blinding sunshine, 

 the trees denuded of green foliage, the grass sere 

 and yellow, and at times stretches of country, 

 varying in extent from ten to thirty miles, without 

 a drop of water. Imagine tramping all day long 



