PAUL LOST AND FOUND 
81 
with all the necessary details, sitting up all night after a hard 
day’s inarch to obtain star observations, correcting calculations, 
etc., his work resulting in the excellent map we are able to place 
before the public. 
On July the 9th we reached the ‘ Sunda ’ or ‘ Sunta ’ river, 
so named by Livingstone—a foul swamp, for which only abhor¬ 
rence remains in my recollection. It may be banked with 
magnificent vegetation, and extend itself unknown lengths into 
the desert, and pride itself on having a current to which different 
travellers accord different directions. I ruthlessly laid its secret 
bare after three days’ investigation, involving much hard exer¬ 
tion through its foul reeds and stinking bed. Yes, Sunta, your 
mystery is explained. When the river rises, the water flows 
upward; and when the river falls, you reluctantly part with your 
ill-gotten fluid, contaminated by your contact, to lower levels. 
This have I done for you in return for your clammy attentions, 
and for the separation from Paul, who carried all the expedi¬ 
tion’s available cash, my last £200, that should have seen us 
right through to the West Coast. 
While exploring the Sunta, Paul got separated from the 
expedition by accident, and disappeared. He had been chosen, 
as the most trusted servant we had, to carry the expedition’s 
money and a few light valuables in a small portmanteau, for the 
better protection of which he had also been intrusted with a 
muzzle-loading gun and ammunition. We feared that by some 
process known only to himself he had discovered the value of 
his load, and decided to appropriate the lot. Bitterly did we 
wrong poor Paul, who, being lost, found a log on which he safely 
navigated the Sunta at its comparatively narrow though deep 
mouth, trusting that when we had found a crossing we would 
come down the left bank to its junction with the Chobe, in 
which conclusion he was justified; for on the third day after 
his disappearance we came upon him despondently sitting by a 
small, strong log hut he had fashioned for protection; and judg¬ 
ing from his tale, the hut was none too strong for the purpose 
for which it was built. It appears that Paul, on a previous 
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