THE PARATOXXERRE. 



235 



account of its falls and rapids had been exagger- 

 ated. At daTVTL Wazira came from our party, who 

 had halted on the other side of the river, and 

 warned iis that it was time to march, jret 9 a. m. 

 had sped before the rugged line began to stretch 

 over the plain. Onr Baloch declared the rate of 

 walking excessive, and Hamdan, who represented 

 ' Master Shoetie, the great traveller,' asserted that 

 he had twice visited the Lake Eegions of the far 

 interior, but that he had never seen such hard- 

 ships in his dreams. 



The route lay along the alluvial flat before 

 travelled over : ia stead, however, of tiu-ning to- 

 wards the thinlv-forested waste to the north, we 

 hugged the Kuf u river's left bank, and presently 

 we entered familiar land, broken red groimd, 

 rough Tvith stones and thorns. Wazira declared 

 his life forfeited if seen by a Mzegura : with some 

 trouble, however, we coaxed him into coiurage, 

 and we presently joined on the way a small painty 

 bound for Panga-ni. At 1 p.m. we halted to bathe 

 and drink, as it would be some time before we 

 should again sight the winding stream. During 

 the storm of thunder and lightning which ensued, 

 I observed that our savage companions, like the 

 Thracians of Herodotus and the Bhils and Kulis 

 (Coolies) of modem India, shot their iron-tipped 



