274 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



perience, or perhaps to the fact that there was no 

 gold there ; but be it as it may, my efforts were un- 

 attended with success. After two hours I gave up 

 the gold-hunting in disgust, having succeeded in ac- 

 cumulating but several handfuls of black sand. 



The next day an eight hours' march brought us to 

 a low gneiss hill, down the face of which trickled a 

 diminutive stream. It disappeared in the sand at the 

 base of the cliff, but after digging there we succeeded 

 in getting sufficient water for all the men and beasts. 

 Near our camp we found some rude shelters thrown 

 up by the natives. These, our guide told us, had 

 been built by the Jombeni range people within the 

 past year, while engaged in a raid upon the Wan- 

 derobbo. As the Wanderobbo possess no cattle or 

 goats, these raids are for the purpose of making 

 slaves of such natives as the raiders succeed in capt- 

 uring. According to our guide, the preceding raid 

 had resulted in the capture of a dozen women and 

 children. 



On setting out from this camp, our guide pointed to 

 a mountain ten miles distant, rising to a considerable 

 height, and told us that there we should find his people, 

 and be able to procure guides to lead us to the Rendile. 



On the march Lieutenant von Hohnel invariably 

 walked in the rear of the caravan, as it was his custom 

 frequently to take bearings of the different hills with 

 his prismatic compass. On this day, while making 

 such an observation, he saw, running at top speed 

 across the plain in front of him, four elephants. He 

 quickly seized a Mannlicher from his gun-bearer, and 

 fired three shots at the nearest animal, which happened 



