THE JOURNEY OF THE BOATS TO YO 165 



The next day Gosling reached his destination at Gaidam 

 on the Komadugu or Yo river ; not a very cheerful-looking 

 place, standing in flat sandy plains that are the skirts of 

 the Sahara. Square mud houses, very Egyptian in appear- 

 ance, dusty and scorched by the sand-laden breath of the 

 harmattan, and looking whiter for the contrast of the dark 

 green palms and their sharp shadows upon the walls. There 

 are camels too, that tell of the desert as the masts of ships 

 speak of the ocean. A day north, and the next is a waterless 

 journey of ninety miles. The native does this in two nights 

 and a day on his pony, which he has trained to go without 

 water. 



Here he had a bad time with fever, so was obliged to 

 take things easy for a few days. 



Jose came in with the rest of the transport on the 20th, 

 and the next few days were spent in putting the boats together 

 and lading them. One hundred and fifty-six loads were got 

 into them, so it was possible to disband the bullock trans- 

 port, and the rest of the loads were taken by the fifty per- 

 manent carriers. The object of the expedition now was to 

 get the boats and stores down to Yo, a small town, six miles 

 up the river from its mouth, where it falls into Lake Chad. 

 And from there to select a site ard establish a camp on the 

 shores of the Lake, whence to carry out its exploration. 



A start was made on the 24th, Gosling going overland - 

 with the carriers and meeting Jose with the boats each 

 evening at a prearranged point on the river. 



The Yo is a beautiful little river, that takes its very winding 

 course to Lake Chad through the thirsty plains of Northern 

 Bornu. What Uving green there is concentrates along the 



