EXPLORATION OF THE RIVER YEI 355 



drawn up out of the water, a fire lit, the wax melted and the 

 wedges renewed. 



In this part of the river there are several picturesque 

 bends where the banks are steep and form little knolls that 

 are thickly covered with creeping vegetation. Here we 

 often saw couples and sometimes small schools of hippos, 

 and their closely cropped feeding-grounds by the riverside 

 afforded us excellent sites for our camps. The hippos were 

 not always successfid in getting out of our way in time. On 

 one occasion, as the boat was coming down at a rapid pace 

 into a pool, we were all thrown together by a tremendous 

 bump and for a moment thought we had struck on a rock. 

 But the rock snorted and plunged out of our way. 



That night we were soaked to the skin by a drenching 

 rain, and the next morning Lowi came to me for matches 

 saying that all the fires had been put out by the rain. I 

 had one box left, but on looking found the matches were 

 thoroughly damp, and not one would Hght. The " boys " 

 were shivering like aspens, but without fire we could cook no 

 food to warm them ; we did not know whether there was a 

 village in front and we had left Kapi fifteen miles behind, 

 so our prospects were anything but bright. Then we happily 

 hit upon a plan. I had a few cartridges which a Belgian 

 officer had given me and in the box of odds and ends I found 

 some cotton-wool. Withdrawing the shot I fired a cartridge 

 into a lump of the wool ; it smouldered and went out but 

 left a spark that kindled the hope that another try might be 

 successful. At the second shot the " boys " dropped down 

 on their hands and knees and blew with all their might, but 

 with no success. Then at my third shot Audelai and Bukar, 



