HALF A DAY’S REST 
195 
and clad with thin strips of mimosa trees at the edges of which, 
wherever we gazed, troops of large game could be seen—eland, 
buffalo, giraffe, hartebeest, and others, and we also crossed the 
tracks of elephants and rhinoceros. The harsh call of the grey 
khoran, which we had last heard in Natal, and the cry of the 
red-breast lark, also a native of that country, delighted our ears 
as we stepped out of the bush into the flat, and as we all had 
been carrying fearful loads, a vote for half a holiday met with 
general approval. But as there was no water about, we had 
to send back some boys to a pan we passed to fetch a supply. 
While they were gone, Paul, who had been sniffing suspiciously 
about some longish, green-bladed, coarse-looking grass in the 
neighbourhood, came back for the spade, and without attracting 
attention disappeared to the spot. Shortly after, he came for 
a calabash, which he brought back to us full of good water from 
a little well he had made by the grass. We of course went 
to look at the ‘ find,’ and carefully noted the kind of vegetation, 
which had served Paul as an indication of water. It is a well- 
known fact among the Boers and travellers in the interior that 
water can always be obtained by digging for it in localities 
where this particular grass grows, which for that reason is called 
c water grass,’ and Paul’s discovery was only an incident demon¬ 
strating this fact. 
The Okavango boys, were overjoyed at getting a good share 
of the wildebeest, and it was now principally owing to their 
assertion that there was no water for a long way ahead that 
we decided to rest for the day. This night lions roared around 
us frequently, but there was that in their tone that indicated 
only curiosity, and no desire to attack, so with good fires going 
all night we paid no further attention to them. What struck 
us as worthy of remark on these open fiats, was the absence 
of tsetse fly, hitherto plaguing us at every camping ground until 
driven away by the smoke from our fires. 
