104 ALONG LAKE EUDOLF 



base of Mount Nyiro. If so, this fissure must extend for some 

 forty miles. The declivity of the high-lying region along the 

 shore of the lake clearly formed one wall of the fissure, and 

 the only question to be settled was — where lay the corre- 

 sponding wall ? 



When Count Teleki sent our people to hunt for the missing 

 men the next morning, it was more to quiet our own con- 

 sciences than with any hope of finding them alive, for neither 

 the big fire we had kept up all night on their account nor the 

 man}" signal shots we fired had had the slightest result. We 

 could but conclude that they had succumbed to thirst and the 

 hardships they had endured, or that they had hopelessly lost 

 themselves. But we were wrong in one case at least, for soon 

 after we had settled down in camp one of them, Mpunga Balosi, 

 was brought in in triumph. He had fallen asleep and slept without 

 a break from noon the day before to dawn this morning, and this 

 had been his salvation, as in cases of extreme thirst sleep is the 

 best possible safeguard against fatal results, but it is, of course, 

 dreadfully difficult to go to sleep under such circumstances. 

 The second man, Saadalla, a bright young fellow of eighteen, 

 was never seen again. 



Thursday^ March 8. — We marched for a few hours only 

 along the shore, halting early on account of the difficulty of 

 getting firewood. The scenery continued as dreary as ever, and 

 there was still no sign of animal life. The heat of the sun and 

 the never-ceasing wind which often blew a regular gale harassed 

 us terribly, and at every moment some of the men would rush 

 of the track to the lake to wet their bodies at least, though 

 they could not quench their thirst with its unadulterated water. 

 We soon found that this water had a purgative effect, alike on 

 the men and animals, which added to the weakness of our 

 already enervated caravan. Many of the men, donkeys, and 

 oxen were lame with the long tramp over the sharp-edged 



