462 ZAIDO AND HIS WASHING LAKE. 



long after the moon had risen, in the vain hope that 

 the hippopotami would come out to graze, as is usual 

 with them during the night. This, however, they 

 were prevented doing, being alarmed by loud 

 laughter and the clapping of hands which pro- 

 ceeded from our camp, for the younger people of 

 the Kafilah were amusing themselves with dancing 

 to celebrate their safe passage over the Hawash. 

 The unusual noise confined the unwieldy beasts to 

 their watery home, although the frequent rough 

 snort, and the ripple which followed their return to 

 the bottom of the lake, were evidences of the 

 interest with which they watched for the termina- 

 tion of the boisterous sounds that, so unaccountably 

 to them, broke upon the stillness of night, and 

 usurped with whooping yells the usual retreats of 

 solitude and silence. 



A sympathetic feeling we shared with the 

 hungry animals occasioned us to return to 

 camp, where Zaido excused himself for having 

 nothing ready to eat, save some sun-dried strips 

 of raw meat, by telling me that he had been 

 occupied the whole evening with washing his tobe 

 and that of Ohmed Mahomed. To interest me 

 more in the excuse, he entered into the details of 

 some great curiosity in the water w r ay, which he 

 described as lying more to the west than the 

 lake I had just been visiting. This he asserted 

 to be a natural reservoir of soap and water, and as 

 evidence of its cleansing qualities, pointed to the 



