Ill 



TRAVELS m EASTERN AFRICA 



99 



A cool breeze was blowing, and soon to my intense 

 disgust I felt a chill creeping over me. 



In Africa a chill invariably foretells fever, and I knew 

 that ere the sun set I should be prostrated ; but it would 

 not have done to turn back. My men, unaccustomed to 



Acacia and Thorn Scrub 



travel in unknown countries with so small a command 

 as we had (forty-eight men), appeared to be anything but 

 comfortable at the prospect of meeting natives ; and had 

 I at this juncture turned back, their superstitious minds 

 would have interpreted it as an ill omen. 



In half an hour my scouts returned and reported that 

 they had found plantations near by in the forest ; and 



