448 Wanderings in Eastern Africa, 
colour of the water, the light-coloured stones at the 
water's edge, suggesting a mineral incrustation of 
some kind or other, had altogether produced the im- 
pression in my mind that I should find the water 
anything but drinkable. I said to myself, it will be 
salt, or sulphurous, or some other mineral will render 
it nauseous. The little lake looked like a miniature 
Dead Sea, But what if it should prove a reservoir of 
medicine, such as are found at Cheltenham, Tun- 
bridge, Matlock, Aix-la-Chapelle, and other places ; 
one of Mother Nature's precious mixtures, kept in 
reserve till now, and destined henceforth to banish 
disease from the face of the earth. What a great 
discovery this will be ! Only think of sending the 
inestimable fluid round the world at a guinea a bottle ! 
But all this was doomed like the baseless fabric of 
a vision." I tasted the water. It was as clear as 
crystal, as sweet as the sweetest spring I ever drank 
of, and as soft as the purest fluid ever distilled from 
the clouds. I drank deep, for I was thirsty, using the 
palm of my hand for a cup. We now reascended the 
clifl*, myself taking the lead. In one place I set in 
motion a large stone ; there was no stopping it, and 
Tofiki was behind. Tofiki," I shouted, take care ! " 
Fortunately he had room enough where he was to 
slip behind a jutting rock, and the stone rushed past 
him, falling with a bang and a crash upon the rocks 
below. By giving each other a " leg up," and putting 
a " leg down " here and there to the last man, we 
reached the rim again in safety, and the spell which 
had surrounded Chala for ages was broken ; — its 
mysteries, its fairies, and all its wonders had vanished 
into thin air. Altogether it is not surprising that this 
