GAME PLENTIFUL. 
69 
December 24 th, 25 th. —The camp was full of natives 
in the early morning, including a number of women, 
most of whom wore small red and white beads threaded 
in their hair, which produced the effect of a mop or 
big tassel. Our men were busily employed in filling 
gourds and calabashes with water, as w r e had a march 
of forty-five miles through a waterless country before 
us. We also filled two air pillows and our water¬ 
proof sheets ; the latter I used frequently for this 
purpose in the Nile expedition of 1884, when we had 
to cross deserts, and they are most excellent make¬ 
shifts if one happens to be short of vessels : the ordin¬ 
ary ground sheets will carry from two to three gallons, 
and may be used many times, before a leak is sprung, 
if protected by being placed in sacks. 
We started about 2 p.m., and the track led us 
W.N.W., through more thick bush, but after crossing- 
two slight elevations we emerged upon a more open 
country, consisting of a series of undulating slopes 
covered with short grass, in most places dry though 
here and there of a brilliant green, studded with clumps 
of mimosa and other thorn trees of good size, giving 
the whole landscape a park-like appearance. Here 
we were on the fringe of the big game country, and 
before long fell in with immense herds of zebra, harte- 
beest, Granti, and mpallab, feeding at no great dis¬ 
tance from the track, but we did not trouble to go 
after them, for fear of delay. After about three hours’ 
march we met a small caravan of thirty slaves, carrying 
ivory to the coast from Mandara, the chief of the 
