THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 



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quit, until compelled by approaching dissolution, the 

 post which he considered his duty to hold. He was a 

 loss to his country, an excellent linguist, a ripe oriental 

 scholar, and a valuable public servant of the old 

 Anglo-Indian school ; he was a man whose influence 

 over Easterns, based upon their respect for his honour 

 and honesty, his gallantry and determination, knew no 

 bounds; and at heart a " sad good Christian," — the 

 Heavens be his bed ! 



On the 8th of July we fell into what our Arab 

 called Wady el Maut and Dar el Jua — the Valley 

 of Death and the Home of Hunger — the malarious 

 river-plain of the Kingani River. My companion was 

 compelled by sickness to ride, and thus the asses, now 

 back-sore and weak with fatigue, suffered an addition of 

 weight, and a " son of Ramji" who was upon the point 

 of deserting openly required to be brought back at the 

 muzzle of the barrel. The path descending into a dense 

 thicket of spear grass, bush, and thorny trees based on 

 sand, with a few open and scattered plantations of holcus, 

 presently passed on the left Dunda Nguru, or " Seer-fish- 

 hill," so called because a man laden with such provision 

 had there been murdered by the Wazaramo. After 

 2 hrs . 45' a ragged camping-kraal was found on the 

 tree-lined bank of a half-dry Fiumara, a tributary of 

 the neighbouring Kingani : the water was bad, and a 

 mortal smell of decay was emitted by the dark dank 

 ground. It was a wild day. From the black brumal 

 clouds driven before furious blasts pattered rain-drops 

 like musket-bullets, splashing the already saturated 

 ground. The tall stiff trees groaned and bent before 

 the gusts; the birds screamed as they were driven from 

 their perching places ; the asses stood with heads de- 

 pressed, ears hung down, and shrinking tails turned 



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