CHAPTER X 



AARON AND ELISHEBA 



Four days after the death of Moses I secured a 

 passage on a trading-boat that came into the lake. 

 It was a small affair, intended for towing canoes, 

 and not in any way prepared to carry passengers or 

 cargo ; but I found room in one of the canoes to set 

 the cage I had provided for Aaron, stowed the rest 

 of my effects wherever space permitted, and em- 

 barked for the coast. 



Our progress was slow and the journey tedious, 

 as the only passage out of the lake at that season 

 was through a long, narrow, winding creek, beset 

 by sand-bars, rocks, logs, and snags, and in some 

 places overhung by low, bending trees. But the 

 wild, weird scenery was grand and beautiful. Long 

 lines of bamboo, broken here and there by groups of 

 pendanus or stately palms ; islands of lilies and long 

 sweeps of papyrus, spreading away from the banks 

 on either side ; the gorgeous foliage of aquatic plants 

 drooping along the margin like a massive fringe, 

 and relieved by clumps of tall, waving grass, formed 

 a perfect Eden for the birds and monkeys that dwell 

 among those scenes of an eternal summer. 



