A Waterless Mountain 1)efile. 
53 
atism, when they pointed out a human Ueinj;- in this rock here, and some 
animal or other in that one there, I nevei theless now fancied that I had 
been transjiorted to a veritaltle fairyland A\here the woihi turned into 
stone was passi.^nately awaiting the Avizard's wand for deliverance so as 
to resume undisturbed once more the active life that a nv'sterious spell 
luid brought to a sudden stop. Tlie summits of the collective circle of 
hills ran out into bleak masses of granite, gneiss, and quartz, of the 
most peculiar shapes, Avhllst the quartz, on account of the rellccted solar 
I'ays over the dark foliage of the valley, shed a lustre that only increased 
the illusion still further. It was not long 1)efore the thought of losing 
oneself in this rocky labyrinth gave me an uncanny shudder, and yet one 
of our negroes, the silliest of them all, Ilandct, was alrc^ady linding him- 
self in this awful plight. 
131. Since leaving the savannah, lake we had not seen another drop 
of water, though to be sure the rocks and sunbeams had raised our thirst 
to fainting-pitcli. Added to my troubles, a violent attack of fever forced 
us to halt, the Indians being in the meantime instructed to disperse 
over the neighbourhood and tind if they could some swamp or baltbling 
brook. AMth how intense a longing I especially watched for each of these 
scouts to step out of the brushwood can only be appreciated )ty one who 
knows what it is to suffer from "intermittenl" to a very high degree, and 
yearns in vain for a drink wberewitli to cool Iiis altsolutely jiarched 
mouth and gums, after a journey of six hours' duration over red-hot 
rock and under a scorching sun . l>ut one after another returned ■w ithout 
having found a drop. SoniiO at least of the panting stragglers now put 
in an appearance, and, like ourselves, anxiously awaited the return of 
the remaining Indians wbo had been sent out to ex])lore, — but these 
brought Avith them notliiug but some ripe fruits of the Cucurit palm 
( MajiiniHa rr(/ia). This certainly possesses a somewhat sweetish sa]i, 
but gives rise to an unpleasant itching which, soon after eating, only 
still further increases the ])angs of thirst and yet Ave ate them so as 
just to moisten the ]ianting leaden tongue and dried-up mouth. 
l'S'2. Although the full complem'ent of negroes, as Avell as of the 
others, Avas ahvays A\'anting, Ave still had no real cause for alarm, and as 
the Avaiting onh' ])rolonged our agony, AA^e once more silently jogged 
along. The forest that Ave noAv traversed CA'er became more dense, the 
trees more gigantic, and soon the niiany deep siglis that spread from the 
foremost m,an to the next, and so on, showed that we had again reached 
the dried-up bed of a torrent. Directly A\e \<\\( ^y that water had preA'i- 
ously b( ( n present here, we scattered ourselves al)Ove and below tlu^ bed, 
to tind perha]>s a little moisture still left in some rocky recess: but the 
signal agiecd upon Avas never fori licouiing, and as one after the other 
came back, the s1o\a' rustle of the toliage scatt(>red in the channel over 
Avhich each one trod, notified those of us avIio, owing to failing strength, 
Avere the first to return to the starting point, that; they also had not been 
successful. After scA'ei-al vainless i-(qtetitions of these trips Ave des])aired 
of the riverbeds that Avere to folloAV. I did not care Avhat happened uoaa^: 
hoAV the Indians in this forest could follow the direction of our track, had 
no interest for me. With Idunted senses and no Avill of my OAvn I stag- 
