io8 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



standing exactly behind the one he had first seen, and 

 hence was invisible to him, run forward a few paces, 

 and then fall to the ground dead. Incredible though 

 it may seem, one Mannlicher bullet passed through the 

 body of one animal, and penetrated sufficiently into the 

 body of the other to kill it also. 



Owing to our ignorance of the duration of our journey, 

 it became necessary for us to hoard our little store of 

 grain food ; so that at such times as the camp was 

 plentifully supplied with meat we fed the men on that 

 alone. Although the Soudanese had upon first tasting 

 meat expressed their love of it, and their preference for 

 that form of diet above all others, a week of nothing but 

 animal food forced them to turn from it in disgust, and 

 longingly to eye our sacks of beans and corn. On the 

 day of my recovery they came to me in a body, and 

 frankly told me that they could no longer eat meat, but 

 wished to indulge, for a short time at least, in a purely 

 grain diet. I did not yield to their solicitations, how- 

 ever, and they, like the children they had on many pre- 

 vious occasions proved themselves to be, refused to eat 

 anything. They swore they would starve themselves 

 to death ; but the next day they were found cheerfully 

 accepting with evident pleasure large hunks of rhinoc- 

 eros meat. 



Motio told us that the journey from this point to the 

 Guaso Nyiro led through an almost waterless desert; 

 that perhaps we should find one small water-hole, and 

 that he also knew of one pool of alkali water, which 

 at some periods of the year was drinkable. While in 

 Europe we had purchased a tin water-bottle, capable of 

 holding three litres, for every member of our caravan ; 



