330 
CLOSE TO THE LAKE! 
[chap. XII. 
either the flesh of animals that have died, neither of 
those that are sick; nor will they eat the crocodile. 
They asked for no remuneration for bringing their 
heavy load so great a distance ; and they departed in 
good humour as a matter of course. 
Never were such contradictory people as these crea¬ 
tures; they had troubled us dreadfully during the 
journey, as they would suddenly exclaim against the 
weight of their loads, and throw them down, and bolt 
into the high grass; yet now they had of their own 
free will delivered to me a whole dead ox from a distance 
of eight miles, precisely as though it had been an object 
of the greatest value. 
The name of this village was Parkani. For several 
days past our guides had told us that we were very 
near to the lake, and we were now assured that we 
should reach it on the morrow. I had noticed a lofty 
range of mountains at an immense distance west, and 
I had imagined that the lake lay on the other side of 
this chain; but I was now informed that those moun¬ 
tains formed the western frontier of the M wootan N’zige, 
and that the lake was actually within a march of Par¬ 
kani. I could not believe it possible that we were so 
near the object of our search. The guide Rabonga now 
appeared, and declared that if we started early on the 
following morning we should be able to wash in the 
lake by noon! 
That night I hardly slept. For years I had striven 
to reach the “ sources of the Nile/' In my nightly 
dreams during that arduous voyage I had always failed, 
but after so much hard work and perseverance the cup 
was at my very lips, and I was to drink at the mys¬ 
terious fountain before another sun should set—at that 
great reservoir of Nature that ever since creation had 
baffled all discovery. 
I had hoped, and prayed, and striven through all 
kinds of difficulties, in sickness, starvation, and fatigue, 
to reach that hidden source; and when it had appeared 
impossible, we had both determined to die upon the 
