66 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



Through fear of encountering the thick bush, instead 

 of pushing ahead the following day, I took two of my 

 men, and set out for the river, in the hope of finding a 

 Galla village, and there procuring guides. Four hours' 

 work brought me to the river ; but when I reached it, 

 there was no sign of habitation to be seen, not even a 

 path along the bank. The bush was annoyingly thick, 

 and my clothing was torn in many places by the thorns. 

 My temper suffered also ; and after resting an hour, I 

 returned to my disconsolate caravan. The men looked 

 at me with questioning eyes. They seemed to be losing 

 their confidence in me ; and certainly the preceding 

 three or four days were likely to instil any opinion 

 rather than that we were good guides. The country is 

 so covered with swamps here, that without a native 

 guide it is positively dangerous to travel. A day or 

 two without water would ruin the most perfectly 

 equipped caravan ; and this is a risk one runs. 



Late in the afternoon, after more cutting, we reached 

 the desert, and at 6 p.m., much to our joy, found a large 

 swamp filled with drinkable water. 



Soon after starting next morning, we came upon old 

 trails, which indicated to us we were near habitations. 

 On the road I killed a large and hideous puff adder 

 about four feet in length, which was lying across my 

 path. We made camp early, and I took George and 

 loo men to the river, distant half a mile. From this 

 point on, we appeared to have left behind us the 

 impenetrable bush. We divided into two companies ; 

 George went north, and I south. 



In my absence. Lieutenant von Hohnel went to a vil- 

 lage which one of the porters had discovered, and there, 



