298 



DETENTION AT KAZEIL 



panion subject to African fever recurring every 

 fortnight. 



We were detained a month at Kazeh. Purple 

 sides, westerly gales, and furious thunderstorms, 

 showed that the Masika Mku, or Great Eains, 

 were about to break, and the change was evident 

 after the high cold easterly winds which, during 

 the six months of rainless season, sweep the 

 elevated basin. Our gang was paid off and an- 

 other was not easily collected : porters during 

 the dry, these men became peasants in the wet 

 weather. With infinite trouble, and only by the 

 aid of the Arabs, we were able to leave Kazeh on 

 December 8, during the lieight of the S. West 

 monsoon. The march of 180 direct geographical 

 miles was to us the most disastrous of all. The 

 downfall was copious and unintermitting, storms 

 burst over us with such thunder and lightning as 

 I have never witnessed before or since, the flood- 

 ing rivers necessitated ferry-boats, and the land, 

 declining and draining to the westward, became 

 one Great Dismal Swamp. Reduced in strength 

 by persistent fevers, we could not resist the 

 drencliings and sunburnings, the long day 

 marches and the nights spent in unhealthy and 

 sometimes deserted villages. My companion 

 complained of blindness which hardly permitted 



