in 



TRA VELS m EASTERN AFRICA 



99 



A cool breeze was blowing, and soon to my intense 

 disgust I felt a chill creeping over me. 



In Africa a chill invariably foretells fever, and 1 knew 

 that ere the sun set I should be prostrated ; but it would 

 not have done to turn back. My men, unaccustomed to 



Acacia and Thorn Scrub 



travel in unknown countries with so small a command 

 as we had (forty-eight men), appeared to be anything but 

 comfortable at the prospect of meeting natives ; and had 

 I at tin's juncture turned back, their superstitious minds 

 v/ould have interpreted it as an ill omen. 



In half an hour my scouts returned and reported that 

 they had found plantations near by in the forest; and 



