A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT 



97 



ceaselessly. We were, therefore, evidently amongst still active 

 volcanoes ; and from the island in the lake also rose a whole 

 series of conical mountains, whilst the steep banks by the side 

 of the water were apparently also of volcanic origin. 



Almost at our last gasp, we hastened on towards the slightly 

 rippled sheet of water — the one bit of brightness in a gloomy 

 scene. Another hour of tramping through sand or over stony 

 flats, and we were at the shore of the lake. Although utterly 

 exhausted, after the seven hours' march in the intense and 

 parching heat, we felt our spirits rise once more as we stood 

 upon the beach at last, and saw the beautiful water, clear as 

 crystal, stretching away before us. The men rushed down 

 shouting, to plunge into the lake ; but soon returned in bitter 

 disappointment ; the water was brackish ! 



This fresh defeat of all our expectations was like a revela- 

 tion to us ; and like some threatening spectre rose up before 

 our minds the full significance of the utterlj- barren, dreary 

 nature of the lake district. Into what a desert had we been 

 betrayed ! A few scattered tufts of fine stiff grass rising up 

 in melancholy fashion near the shore, from the wide stretches 

 of sand, were the only bits of green, the only signs of life of 

 any kind. Here and there, some partly in the water, some on 

 the beach, rose up isolated skeleton trees, stretching up their 

 bare, sun-bleached branches to the pitiless sky. No living 

 creature shared the gloomy solitude with us ; and far as our 

 glass could reach there was nothing to be seen but desert — 

 desert everywhere. To all this was added the scorching heat, 

 and the ceaseless buffeting of the sand-laden wind, against 

 which we were powerless to protect ourselves upon the beach, 

 which offered not a scrap of shelter, whilst the pitching of the 

 tents in the loose sand was quite impossible. 



We now realised to the full that the lake districts were un- 

 inhabited, and terrible forebodings assailed us of days of hunger 



VOL. II. H 



