My Foot Receives Another "Wound. 
49 
marrow and forced me to give a shriek, suddenly c'liecked our haste. I 
liad trodden on a Aldocacfus, the three-inch long spines of which had 
stuck into my foot through the sandal, and liad Ijroken off there. Sup- 
ported on the shoulders of a couple of Indians I limped, bleeding, to the 
scrub where we not only found o\ir hopes fulfilled but where I managed 
to get the broken-off prickle-ends cut out and have the wounds washed. 
Tlie burning pain in the foot together with a recrudescence of the fever, 
twice as bad as before, forced me to sling my hammock in the shade be- 
tween two trees, so as to pull nVyself together a l)it before my lu'other's 
arrival. In the meanfime he had found a pretty Hclictcrcs on the top of 
Kiiipaiti : it was a new species, HclietcrcH ghihrr Scliomb. 
120. AVliat with my thirst, the bout of fever, and pain in the sole 
of my foot, I was so weakened that I could hardly jog along when we 
resumed our joui ney to-day, and it was rather a case of being dragged 
than going by m,yself. Added to this wan the ti'oublesome charcoal dust 
from the burning savannah which the IndSans can never omit tiring when 
they leave a rendezvous. The sea of flame, strongly fanned by an easterly 
wind, was being driven ahead in the direction we had to follow: a dense 
cluster of forest far afield had barred its furthei- progress which was 
recognised from the fixed columns of smoke that rose from! its edges. 
121. After crossing the oasis, and a small stream meandei'ing through 
it in thousands of liends, we once moi-e came upon the open savannah 
and at the same time onto a practically continuous marshy soil where 
the aliundance of water proved almost as tormenting as the scarcity of it 
had done in the for(^ noon. Rwanip followed swam]i, and all to be waded 
when the water would often reach up to our arms. On such occasions 
the hardened fitness of our Indians took us com]>letcly by surprise. Wlien 
after meeting with a longer and drier- interval, ^^'e again met with swampy 
spots, it was a case of our companions just wading in and through the 
water without a stop, dripping with perspiration under tlie weight of 
their loads. Had we, after every crossing, wanted to change our truly 
sim]de clothing which consisted of but a shirt and linen trousers, we 
sliould have required another wardrol)e than Avhat we carried with us. 
122. The dead silence that reigned, not only among our party, but 
also over the whole surroundings, was suddenly interrupted by a loud 
and distant barking: it came from a wooded hill on the slope of which 
rose an irregular mass of granite, but our eyes wei e unable to discover 
its source. As our companions rightly concluded that where dogs 
barked, men must also be present, they commenced shouting: everything 
remained silent and nothing living let itself be seen. The vanguard 
doubled their pace, climbed the crag and made their way through a thick 
border of Agave vknpara wdiich had forced its candelabrum-like flower- 
stalks high into the air, and closely adjoined the brushwood, when the 
foremost of them soon discovered an old Indian on a rocky bank between 
the Agaves. He was carrying a bow and arrow in his hand, and watched 
our movements with indifference. After exchanging a few words with 
our Indians he tunied in the direction of a dense scrub when — after 
calling in a loud voice — the brushwood parted and there caniie into view 
a frail young woman leading a pretty boy by the liand ; S!he was followedj 
C 1, 
