Ill 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



8i 



steel target by the impact of a bullet. 

 Happily, even the mightiest pachyderm 

 is not possessed of a steel hide ; and if 

 the bullet of a 45/90 Winchester is suffi- 

 cient to break the leg of a rhinoceros, it 

 possesses sufficient penetration, at least 

 to my mind, for all practical purposes. 



On December 5, Lieutenant von Hohnel 

 and I, with eighty men and ten donkeys, 

 left Hameye. We took all the Soudan- 

 ese and four Somali, and, in order that we 

 might travel as quickly as possible, we 

 took only a few loads of trading-goods 

 and ammunition. It is astonishing how 

 even a slight rest from the fatigues of 

 marching will throw one out of condition ; 

 and so for the first day we made but little 

 progress. 



The rains had changed the appearance 

 of the desert so much, that it then ap- 

 peared almost a Paradise. What before 

 had been a desert, with a scant sprink- 

 ling of dried acacias, looking like the 

 skeletons of giant umbrellas, had now 

 become vividly green parachutes, every 

 leaf and twig of which gave forth a deli- 

 cious odour. Many little flowers peeped 

 up out of the sand, — one like a small 

 tiger lily, and others coloured white, blue, 

 and red. Butterflies were everywhere, and 

 from tree to tree stretched great spider- 

 webs. The desert was a desert no longer. 



