234 BREAD-BAKING ON THE MARCH. [chap. viil. 
species of ironwood that is very inflammable, and 
being oily, it burns like a torch; this grew in great 
quantities, and the numerous fires fed with this vigo¬ 
rous fuel enlivened the bivouac with a continual blaze. 
My men were busy, baking then* bread. On such 
occasions an oven is dispensed with. A prodigious fire 
is made while the dough is being prepared; this, when 
well moistened, is formed into a cake about two feet in 
diameter, but not thicker than two inches. The fire 
being in a fit state of glowing ash, a large hole is 
scraped in the centre, in which the flat cake is laid, and 
the red-hot embers are raked over it; thus buried it 
will bake in about twenty minutes, but the dough must 
be exceedingly moist or it will burn to a cinder. 
On the following day we arrived at Latooka, where I 
found everything in good order at the depot, and the 
European vegetables that I had sown were all above 
ground. Commoro and a number of people came to 
meet us. 
There had been but little rain at Latooka since we 
left, although it had been raining heavily at Obbo 
daily, and there was no difference in the dry sandy 
plain that surrounded the town, neither was there any 
pasturage for the animals except at a great distance. 
The day after my arrival, Filfil was taken ill and 
died in a few hours. Tetel had been out of condition 
ever since the day of his failure during the elephant 
hunt, and he now refused his food. Sickness rapidly 
spread through my animals; five donkeys died within 
a few days, and the remainder looked poor. Two of 
my camels died suddenly, having eaten the poison 
bush. Within a few days of this disaster my good 
old hunter and companion of all my former sports in 
the Base country, Tetel, died. These terrible blows 
to my expedition were most satisfactory to the La- 
tookas, who ate the donkeys and other animals the 
moment they died. It was a race between the natives 
and the vultures as to who should be first to profit by 
my losses. 
