OUR FIRST VOYAUB ON LAKE CHAD 329 



get any nearer to finding the passage of tlie Lake, with 

 always the endless islands on our left, and to our rij^ht the 

 monotonous low land, where once or twice again similar, 

 deserted cattle-stations enticed us from our course on the 

 same laborious fool's errand. 



We had now spent a week upon the [Lake, working hard 



j^ 



A EUDUMA CATTLE-STATIOX UN LAKE CHAD 



to make progress, taking observations and mapping the 

 route the wlicjle way. Yet we were still completely in the 

 dark as to our whereabouts and not much nearer than 

 when we started to a better understanding of the Lake. 

 And now a more serious trouble presented itself, for we 

 found our provisions had run out, and our gorges rose at the 

 thought of having to eat the rotten fish that the Budumas 

 left behind in their canoes. Nor had we the means to 

 catch fish for ourselves. Our pHght seemed alarming and 

 we began frantically wading up to our waists in the mud 

 after duck. But our efforts were attended with no success, 

 for the birds took to flight instantly before so strange an 



