268 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



there lay a weary stretch of desert country, Lieutenant 

 von Hohnel set out early on the following morning 

 in search of water, with all the men, with the excep- 

 tion of my two tent-boys, who remained with me to 

 guard the camp. Late that night they returned, hav- 

 ing watered all the animals, and filled the goat-skin 

 bags and camp kettles. It was by mere chance, how- 

 ever, that Lieutenant von Hohnel found water. For 

 hours they searched in every nook and cranny. At 

 length, late in the afternoon, they came upon a well- 

 beaten rhinoceros path, which they followed until they 

 arrived at what had once been a pool of water, but was 

 then empty. The soil at the bottom was not yet dried ; 

 so by working with sharp sticks and the bayonets of 

 the porters, a little w^ell was soon dug, into which at 

 the slowest possible rate water trickled. There proved 

 to be just sufficient in this hollow to satisfy the imme- 

 diate wants of the caravan. Had we failed in finding 

 water that day, we should have been forced to retrace 

 our steps to the headwaters of the Mackenzie, fill our 

 water-skins there, and set out afresh. 



On the loth of June we reached Ngombe crater, and 

 there camped. Our Wanderobbo guide said that the 

 water in the crater was at all times drinkable. This we 

 doubted, as we had tasted it on our former visit ; never- 

 theless, the men were sent down to verify or discredit 

 his statement. They returned with water strongly im- 

 pregnated with sulphate of magnesium, yet drinkable. 

 This water was not taken from the main hole in the 

 centre of the crater, but from a small and well-con- 

 cealed spring which rose in a fissure between two rocks 

 on the side. 



