266 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chai». XLVI. 
strength with a small remnant of mastico which I 
had with me. The heat was so intense that I felt 
very grateful when, later in the afternoon, a slight 
breeze sprung up. My poor animals, however, fared 
still worse than myself, being tormented by a large 
blood-sucking fly. 
Major Denham travelled, on this route, along the 
south side of the lake : but the road which he took 
is now entirely given up, on account of the insecurity 
of the country, and the place or rather district Kes- 
kari mentioned by him, lying from three to four 
hours' march north-east from this place, is entirely 
deserted ; we therefore followed a more southerly 
road. 
The first object which attracted our attention here 
was a herd of wild hogs, an animal which I had 
very rarely seen in these regions, but which I after- 
wards found frequenting in great numbers the country 
bordering on the river Shari ; it even seems to form 
a substantial part of the food of the natives, not ex- 
cepting the Mohammedans. 
While we were winding along the narrow path 
leading through the forest, the vegetation all at 
once exhibited an entirely new and very remarkable 
feature ; for here, all on a sudden, I saw a group of 
perhaps ten or twelve large trees of arborescent 
Eupliorbiacece. I have mentioned small specimens of 
euphorbia, on my journey through Damerghii, and 
even in Hausa ; but I had afterwards almost entirely lost 
sight of it in Negroland. Here, however, this plant 
