392 FUGITIVES AND THEIR DISTRESS. Chap. XIV. 



phants, took our course along the shores of the Lake 

 southwards. 



We have only been at the Lake at one season of the 

 year : then the wind blows strongly from the east, and 

 indeed this is its prevailing direction hence to the Orange 

 Eiver ; a north or a south wind is rare, and seldom lasts 

 more than three days. As the breeze now blew over a 

 large body of water, towards us, it was delightful ; but 

 when facing it on the table-land it was so strong as 

 materially to impede our progress, and added considerably 

 to the labour of travelling. Here it brought large quanti- 

 ties of the plant (VallisnericB), from which the natives 

 extract salt by burning, and which, if chewed, at once 

 shows its saline properties by the taste. Clouds of the 

 kungo, or edible midges, floated on the Lake, and many 

 rested on the bushes on land. 



The reeds along the shores of the Lake were still 

 crowded with fugitives, and a great loss of life must since 

 have taken place ; for, after the corn they had brought 

 with them was expended, famine would ensue. Even now 

 we passed many women and children digging up the roots, 

 about the size of peas, of an aromatic grass; and their 

 wasted forms showed that this poor hard fare was to allay, 

 if possible, the pangs of hunger. The babies at the breast 

 crowed to us as we passed, their mothers kneeling and 

 grubbing for the roots; the poor little things still drawing 

 nourishment from the natural fountain were unconscious 

 of that sinking of heart which their parents must have 

 felt in knowing that the supply for the little ones must 

 soon fail. No one would sell a bit of food to us : fisher- 

 men, even, would not part with the produce of their nets, 

 except in exchange for some other kind of food. Numbers 

 of newly-made graves showed that many had already 

 perished, and hundreds were so emaciated that they had 

 the appearance of human skeletons swathed in brown and 



