E UNGER SA T1SFIED. 707 



though one of my men discovered a lion's den, and brought me two young 

 lions, which I killed and skinned. Returning to camp from the fruitless 

 hunt, I was so struck with the pinched faces of my poor people that I could 

 have almost wept if I might have done so without exciting fear of our fate in 

 their minds; but I resolved to do something towards relieving the pressing 

 needs of fierce hunger. To effect this, a sheet-iron trunk was emptied of its 

 contents, and, being filled, with water, was placed on the fire. I then broke 

 open our medical stores, and took five pounds of Scotch oatmeal, and three 

 tins of Eevalenta Arabica, with which I made gruel to feed over two hundred 

 and twenty men. It was a rare sight to see these poor famine-stricken peo- 

 ple hasten to that Torquay dress-trunk, and assist me to cook the huge pot 

 of gruel ; to watch them fan the fire to a fiercer heat, and with their gourds 

 full of water stand by to cool the foaming liquid when it threatened to over- 

 flow ; and it was a still better sight to witness the pleasure steal over their 

 faces as they ate the welcome food. The sick and weaker received a larger 

 portion near my tent, and another tin of oatmeal was opened for their sup- 

 per and breakfast. But a long time must elapse before I shall have the cou- 

 rage to express my feelings whilst I waited for the return of my people from 

 Suna with food, and fruitless would be the attempt to describe the anxiety 

 with which I listened for the musketry announcing their success. After 

 forty-eight hours' suspense, we heard the joyful sounds, which woke us all 

 into new life and vigour. The grain was most greedily seized by the hungry 

 people, and so animating was the report of the purveyors that the soldiers, 

 one and all, clamoured to be led away that afternoon. Nowise loath myself 

 to march from this fatal jungle, I assented; but two more poor fellows breathed 

 their last before we left camp. 



"We pitched that night at the base of a rocky hill overlooking a broad 

 plain, which, after the intense gloom and confined atmosphere of the jungle, 

 was a great pleasure to us; and next day, striking north along this plain, 

 after a long march of twenty miles under a fervid sun, we reached the dis- 

 trict of Suna, in Urimi. At this place, we discovered a people remarkable 

 for their manly beauty, noble proportions, and utter nakedness. Neither 

 man nor boy wore either cloth or skins ; the women bearing children alone 

 boasted of goat-skins. With all their physical comeliness and fine propor- 

 tions, they were the most suspicious people we had yet seen. It required 

 great tact and patience to induce them to part with food for our cloth and 

 beads. They owned no chief, but respected the injunctions of their elders, 

 with whom I treated for leave to pass through their land. The permission 

 was reluctantly given, and food was grudgingly sold ; but we bore with all 

 this silent hostility patiently, and I took great care that no overt act on the 

 part of the Expedition should change their suspicion into hatred. Our people 

 were so worn out with fatigue that six more poor fellows died here, and the 



