THE FEVER LEAVES ME 



279 



well-considered plan. The Count started with the disabled 

 men, I being carried in a hammock, and we struggled on for 

 two days in a south-easterly direction up the gently ascending 

 slope of the mountain to the saddle, beyond which we halted 

 to wait for Qualla and his booty. 



Count Teleki had to bear the terrible responsibility of these 

 few days alone, for I was completely prostrated by fever. I 

 will quote a few extracts from his journal : — ' 



' July 22, 1888. — We started late through having so many 

 animals to load. The march, three hours long, was over the 

 saddle of the mountain chain. At mid-day we suddenly came 

 upon a little herd of zebras in a wood, and glad indeed was I 

 to shoot three, which provided us with food for the day. The 

 next day men and loads were lying here, there, and everywhere, 

 and were only collected and got under way again by degrees. 

 Heavy rain in the afternoon. Not till midnight were we all 

 together again. Two loads were lost ; three men died. 



' July 23. — Climbed the pass, the vanguard in little more 

 than half an hour, whilst the rest of the caravan took till one 

 o'clock to do the same distance. But for the efforts of the 

 Somal and our own men, who were equal to every emergency, 

 and the game secured yesterday, we should have lost half our 

 party here. We camped at five o'clock, but it was eleven at 

 night before every one was in.' 



There is a complete gap in my own journal here. 



After raging for five days, during which my temperature 

 was very high, the fever suddenly lefo me, but I was still so 

 weak that I could hardly stand. 



We were now at the foot of a slope beside a little stream. 

 The soil was stony, and, unlike the fertile western sides of the 

 mountain chain, bore only thorny bushes, cacti of different 

 kinds, aloes, euphorbias, and other plants characteristic of 

 barren districts. We met with one tree here which we saw 



