328 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



was not broken till I landed once and set the grass alight. 

 Then there flew up, seemingly from nowhere, a number of 

 owls, which at once commenced to prey upon the small 

 rodents that the fire had set upon the run. 



That night there was room and to spare, as we made 

 our camping-ground upon one of the islands, and got good 

 sleep, for a strong wind during the day always scatters the 

 ranks of the mosquitoes, nor do they rally in time to attack 

 in full force the same night. Still they were never so scarce 

 as to make our star-work possible, so we always had to 

 take latitudes by day. 



On continuing our journey the next morning we dis- 

 covered that the wind had proved a mixed blessing, for to 

 our dismay we found that the water had sunk 10 in., having 

 been carried westward by the wind to leave a depth of 

 barely 7 in. So all that day we toiled heavily along, making 

 very little progress, with the boat often scraping upon the 

 thick mud. The little incidents on the way did not vary much 

 from those of the day before, except for one island where we 

 came upon a flock of pelicans fishing. For a long way on 

 our right the low fine of land continued unbroken by any 

 feature, and then our hopes were raised by the sight of what 

 we took to be a Buduma settlement. Here after much 

 difficulty we managed to land, but on approach the place 

 proved to be a deserted cattle-station. It consisted of a 

 ring of very small, round huts, not more than 4 ft. high, 

 built of reeds and plastered with mud on the sides that 

 faced the prevailing wind. All were quite bare, with no 

 trace of recent occupation. 



We passed several more days without seeming to 



