Many days had passed by, during which the usual incidents of African
travel had occurred; but I need not stop to describe them, except to say
that Mr Fraser had been successful in killing several elephants, which
he did for the sake of their tusks, and also in purchasing a large
quantity of ivory from the natives who visited our camp to trade, or
inhabited the villages near which we passed. Thus he had no reason to
complain of the long journey he had made to rescue us, although we were
not the less inclined to be grateful to him.
The country ravaged by the locusts had been passed at last, but not till
our cattle were almost starved, and we and they had suffered greatly
from want of water. The dried and pounded locusts had assisted to
support our people, but we were now greatly in want of provisions.
Stanley had borne the journey remarkably well, and was rapidly
recovering from the hurts inflicted upon him by the lion; while Leo and
Natty were completely themselves again. Stanley was very anxious once
more to mount his horse and to assist in hunting, in order to supply the
camp with food; but of this David would not hear, and declared that it
would be equivalent to fratricide if he allowed it. Donald, Timbo, and
I, and sometimes Senhor Silva, therefore scoured the country in every
direction in search of game. Donald and I were riding on ahead one day,
when he observed on a bush a fly somewhat smaller than the common
blue-bottle fly--so annoying to the butcher--but with rather longer
wings. Begging me to hold his horse, he jumped off and caught it.
Instantly leaping into his saddle, he told me to turn and ride for my
life, with an expression of consternation in his countenance which made
me fancy that he had suddenly gone out of his mind. However, as we rode
on he explained that the fly which he held in his fingers was the tsetse
fly (David called it the _Glossina morsitans_), and that it was more
dangerous to cattle and horses than all the lions and snakes in the
country. Fortunately our horses had not been bitten by it. He told me
that had such been the case their death would have been certain. It
attacks, however, only domesticated animals, for wild beasts range over
the country infested by it with impunity; while human beings are
scarcely more annoyed by it than they are by flea-bites. It is confined
to certain localities, and is never known to shift its haunts. He told
me that it was found generally in the bush or among reeds. Though the
insect is small, yet the poison it contains is of so virulent a nature
that its bite is as deadly to horses and oxen as that of the most
venomous serpent. Donald said he had ample reason to be afraid of it,
for on one occasion, not believing in its power to injure him, he had
attempted to pass through a district infested by it, when he lost all
his oxen and horses, and very nearly his own life and that of his
companions. They were in a wild and uninhabited district, and were
barely able to secure provisions and water sufficient to support
themselves, till they could obtain assistance. He said that four or
five flies were sufficient to kill a full-grown ox. The animal,
however, does not die so rapidly as when bitten by a snake. Sometimes,
indeed, it exists for some weeks or months afterwards, gradually losing
its strength, and perishing ultimately of exhaustion. Frequently,
however, oxen die, especially should rain fall, soon after they are
bitten. In the case of one of his horses which had been bitten, the
head and body swelled, its eyes became so swollen that it could not see,
and it was painful to hear it neighing for its companions, who stood
close to it while feeding. A remarkable feature with regard to the
poison of the tsetse is that calves, and other young sucking animals,
are safe so long as they suck; but it has been remarked that dogs though
reared on milk die if bitten, while a dog which was reared on the meat
of game accompanied his master when hunting in the districts infested by
the fly without suffering.
We had now entered a far more desolate-looking country than any we had
yet passed through. Vast sandy plains extended round us, broken here
and there by clumps of low bushes or coarse long grass, with occasional
patches of more nutritious verdure, from which our oxen plucked their
scanty meals. Still, occasionally, herds of deer passed us in the
distance, but they were so wary that we could not approach them. The
open nature of the country made stalking in the ordinary way impossible.
Every night, however, Donald, accompanied by Timbo, spent two or three
hours, and sometimes longer, in lying in ambush, hoping to get a shot at
a passing animal, but their success had hitherto not been sufficient to
supply us with as much meat as we required. Water too was very scarce.
We had been travelling slowly all day, when our cattle began to move on
with greater rapidity than before, evidently believing that water was
near. Donald was riding ahead, looking about him, when suddenly he and
his horse disappeared. I was at no great distance behind him, and
before I could pull up I was very nearly following. I found that he had
slid down into a large sand-well, some twenty feet in diameter at the
top, and upwards of twelve feet in depth. As soon as he was extricated
from the pit, the men were called with spades to clear it out. However,
after digging some time, no water flowed into it, though the bottom
became thoroughly moist. We fortunately had some long reeds with us.
These were sunk into the sand, and immediately water began to rise. We
quickly got enough to quench the thirst of the people, but we had to
wait some time before a supply could be procured for the cattle. As
soon as water had been given to the horses, Timbo set out in search of
game. We were as unfortunate as we had usually been of late. Perhaps
this might have arisen from our want of skill. Donald was an inferior
hunter to Stanley, and had he been well, we should have met with more
success. Timbo was riding near me, when I found him eagerly examining
the sand on one side. Without saying a word he jumped from his horse,
and began scraping away. Presently he produced a huge egg, then
another, and another.
"Dere!" he exclaimed; "we no want food now. See, here are anoder dozen!
Dey eggs of ostrich!"
I looked into the nest, and saw that the eggs were arranged with their
ends uppermost, to occupy, I concluded, as small a space as possible.
"But, Timbo," I said, "do you think they are fresh, for otherwise I fear
they would be of little use?"
"Oh yes," he said; "de hen-ostrich only just laid dem. See! see! dere
she is, too, watching us!"
At that moment a loud roar saluted my ears. Instantly unslinging my
rifle, I prepared to fire, believing that a lion was about to attack us,
so similar was the voice to that of the king of beasts in a rage; but on
looking round I could see no lion, but instead I caught sight, in the
distance, of a huge long-necked bird, which I knew must be an ostrich,
evidently observing with anxiety the visit we were paying to her nest.
She had gone away, Timbo said, to feed, or otherwise we should probably
have found her sitting, as the flamingoes do, with her legs astraddle
above it. The poor bird did not attempt to fly, and accordingly gave us
time to secure the eggs in a way which we hoped would prevent their
being broken. Donald had by this time come up, and telling Timbo to
take charge of the eggs, started with me in chase of the ostrich. As we
approached the bird, under the idea perhaps of leading us from her eggs,
or alarmed, more probably, she set off at full speed. It seemed
hopeless, however, to me that we should ever catch her. Away she flew,
at first with small strides, increasing every instant, and extending her
wings like sails. Her feet scarcely seemed to touch the ground, and yet
we could see huge stones thrown up behind her, flying into the air.
"On, lad! on!" shouted Donald. "We will weary her out this hot day.
She will slacken her pace soon, and we may turn her maybe towards Timbo,
if we do not run her down." Instead of pursuing directly in the wake of
the bird, he turned on one side and I on the other; and at length she
began, as he had expected, to slacken her tremendous speed. We were now
moving up on parallel lines at some distance from her. At length we got
ahead, when the bird, wheeling round, started back towards her nest.
"Hurrah!" shouted Donald, "she is ours now!" Again we followed the
mighty bird, never for a moment allowing her to stop. It seemed a
question whether she or our horses would have to give in first. At
length a patch of the candelabra-shaped tree euphorbia appeared in
sight, and the hard-pressed ostrich darted towards it, endeavouring, it
seemed, to force her way through. Pressing on, we were soon close to
her, when Donald, raising his rifle, fired, and the bird fell over. I
was galloping up, when he called to me. "Stand back! You might as well
get near a dying lion! A kick from one of her feet would break your
horse's leg, and kill you, if you got within her reach." In a few
minutes the bird ceased to move, and jumping from our horses we
approached. The ostrich must have been nearly eight feet in height, the
feathers being of an ashy brown colour, slightly fringed with white.
And now, for the first time, I saw those magnificent large plumes of
beautiful white feathers which form the wings and tail of the bird.
These the trader immediately began to pluck out with the greatest care,
and having done so, secured them to our backs, where they were likely to
be free from injury. He called me to assist him in hoisting the body up
on his horse. It must have weighed upwards of two hundred pounds, no
slight addition to the burden his tired steed had to bear.
On reaching Timbo we found that he had discovered another nest of eggs.
With these I loaded myself, and well satisfied with our prizes we
returned to the camp. "No starve now, Massa Andrew!" said Timbo, as he
gave an affectionate glance at the huge eggs. As we rode up David and
the two boys saluted us with shouts of laughter, at the extraordinary
appearance we cut with the ostrich feathers sticking above our
shoulders. Donald, I found, claimed them as his own property, and I did
not wish to dispute the point, though I should have liked to have
presented one to Kate and Bella. I could only hope to capture another
bird without assistance. As soon as we had deposited our burdens, Timbo
set to work to prepare the eggs. His process was a simple one. First,
having made a hole at the end of the egg, he introduced into it salt,
pepper, flour, and one or two other ingredients. He then shook the egg
thoroughly, so as to mix what he had put in, as well as the white and
yolk. He then placed the eggs he had thus prepared in the hot ashes,
where they were soon perfectly baked. Meantime the other blacks, having
skinned the bird, had cut it up, and began to roast it. We all quickly
assembled round our usual supper-table--a cloth spread under an awning
which projected a short distance from the waggon. The ostrich
egg-omelets were pronounced excellent. Although it is said that the
ostrich egg, prepared in the way I have described, is equal to that of
two dozen common fowl eggs, Mr Donald Fraser managed to eat a couple;
while I found no difficulty in swallowing the greater part of one of
them. David, Kate, and Bella, however, expressed themselves perfectly
satisfied with a single one divided among them.
As we were seated at our supper, various anecdotes were told of the
ostrich. Donald said he had seen the Bushmen stalk them much in the
same way that we had seen the blacks further north stalk the buffalo.
The Bushman stuffs the head and neck of the ostrich, into which he
introduces a stick, forming a sort of mantle for his shoulders with the
feathers, so as greatly to resemble the bird. As his legs are black and
the ostrich's white, he paints his legs with white, and taking his bow
and arrow in his hand, sets off for the chase. It is extraordinary how
admirably he mimics the ostrich--now stops, as if to feed, then turns
his head as if keeping a look-out for enemies. Now he walks along
slowly, then trots, just as the ostrich does, till he gets within
bow-shot. With seldom erring aim he then pulls his bow. Instead of
following the bird he has struck, however, when the others run away, he
runs also. Should any wary old bird suspect that all is not right, and
come towards him, he endeavours to escape; but if the bird approaches
him, to avoid a stroke of its claws, or a blow from its wing, he
sometimes throws off his disguise, which he leaves on the ground, and
runs away to a distance to be prepared to pull his bow. He generally
uses poisoned arrows, dipped in the milky juice of the tree euphorbia.
A slight wound from his weapon quickly brings the ostrich to the ground.
Formerly, he told us, it was supposed that the ostrich left its eggs to
be hatched in the sand by the heat of the sun, as cold-blooded reptiles
are known to do, but this is not the case. The hen-ostrich sits upon
her eggs with great care, and as soon as the young are hatched, provides
them with nourishment; and as broken eggs are generally found outside
the nest, it is supposed that she keeps a certain number unhatched, that
she may feed the young birds on them. She generally hatches about a
dozen eggs; but the Hottentots play her a trick to induce her to lay a
larger number. As soon as they find out a nest, they watch till the
bird has left it to go in search of food, and then scrape out with a
long stick two or three at a time. On returning and finding the number
she expected deficient, she lays enough to supply their place, and thus
goes on from day to day, till she has laid upwards of forty in the
season. Timbo asserted that not only does man wage war against the
ostrich, but that a white vulture is particularly fond of her eggs. As
his beak is not sufficiently strong to break the shell, he seizes a
large stone between his talons, and soaring with it high into the air,
gets over the nest; he then lets it drop upon the eggs, seldom failing
to break a sufficient number to afford himself a repast. The young
ostriches, when they emerge from the nest, are about the size of
pullets. They are quickly able to follow the mother, who supplies them
for a considerable time with food. Their colour is a kind of pepper and
salt, resembling the gravel and sand of the plain over which they roam;
so that it is with the greatest difficulty they can be seen by the
hunter, even when close to them. They are clothed with a kind of
prickly stubble, which is neither down nor feathers, and which probably
defends them from the coarse vegetation and gravel which covers the
region where they exist. The Romans called the ostrich the _Struthio
camelus_, in consequence of its resemblance in many respects to the
camel of the desert. The ostrich, like the camel, is able, from the
formation of its interior, to exist for a long time without water,
feeding on the stunted and dried herbage of the desert. Its foot is
formed curiously, like that of the camel; and it has also excrescences
on its breast, on which it leans whilst sleeping. To complete the
likeness, it has the same muscular neck, which rises high above the
plain, and enables it to perceive the approach of an enemy, while its
body is out of sight.
We had already witnessed the care which a hen-ostrich takes of her nest,
and Donald told us that one day he was riding along, when he came near a
bird evidently sitting. She remained quiet till he advanced, when
instantly she sprang up and rushed towards him, hissing violently. When
he turned round, she retreated a dozen paces or so; but directly he rode
on she again rushed after him, endeavouring by her hisses to frighten
him off.
"Did you kill her, Mr Fraser, after her exhibition of maternal
affection?"
"I did," was the answer; "and got her feathers and her eggs, and I and
my people ate her up afterwards. Necessity has no law, I know; and if a
trader in these regions were to give way to sentiment, he might have to
go back with an empty waggon."
The ostrich has, properly speaking, only the rudiments of wings, which
are utterly unable to lift it off the ground. It is, however, those
magnificent white plumes in the tail and wings which assist it to run at
the rapid rate I have described. Both male and female possess these
white plumes. The body of the male differs from that of the female. It
is of a deep glossy black, among which a few whitish feathers are
mingled, but only visible when the plumage is ruffled.
While we were still talking about the ostrich, Leo started up,
exclaiming, "See! see! there is one just outside the camp. Run for your
gun, Andrew. You may get a shot at it."
There, sure enough, was an object moving slowly towards us, apparently
utterly fearless of the fire. Now it began to run exactly as the
ostrich does. Now it stopped and bent its head as if to feed.
Presently it stretched out its neck, and a loud roar, which sounded very
like that of a lion, burst from its throat.
"Do not fire, Mr Crawford," exclaimed Donald; "for if you do, you will
be apt to hit a friend;" and he and Stanley burst into a loud laugh,
echoed by Timbo and some of the black boys near us, and directly
afterwards the seeming ostrich came trotting merrily into the camp.
Some of Donald's servants had been amusing themselves in forming such a
disguise as I have already described, with the hope of catching a bird
or more by means of it on the following day.
While the waggon proceeded onwards the next morning, our friend Donald
again set out, accompanied this time by Chickango, to assist him in
carrying home any game he might procure. They were to proceed on a line
parallel with the caravan, while we ranged at a further distance. We
went some little way together. We were about to separate, when,
standing up, I caught sight of what I took to be the head of an ostrich
in the distance, and we rode towards it. We had not got far when Donald
exclaimed, "There is another! I hope there may be a family of them!"
Directly afterwards we saw the female bird scampering away, and the male
following at some little distance.
"I see no young birds," I observed. "I think you must have been
mistaken."
"They are there, though, notwithstanding," observed my companion. "I
know it by the way they run. Depend upon it, they would be going twice
as fast as that if they were alone."
Putting our horses to their utmost speed, we at length nearly overtook
the ostriches; and then I saw a number of little brown duckling-looking
birds following at the heels of the female ostrich. Greatly to my
surprise, the male ostrich at this moment stopped short, and then
wheeling round, darted off on one side. As we were anxious to obtain
the young as well as the mother, we continued our pursuit of her. On
this he once more put on his utmost speed; but instead of going in a
straight line, kept wheeling round and round us, using every effort to
attract our attention. Instead of increasing, he decreased his circles,
till he got within twenty yards of me, when, to my surprise, over he
fell on the ground, and began to struggle desperately, and I thought he
would easily be our prize. I therefore dashed forward; but quick as
lightning he was on his legs again, running off in an opposite direction
to that which the hen had taken. "You follow him, and I will go after
the other," exclaimed Donald, perhaps thinking, from some remarks that I
had made, that I should not have the heart to knock over the mother and
her young brood. I had ridden some way in chase of the male ostrich,
when a bird appeared in the distance, towards which he immediately
directed his course, fancying, perhaps, that it was his own hen and her
young ones. He was a long way ahead of me, and I had lost all hope of
overtaking him, for my horse was already beginning to pant with
exertion, when the report of a rifle came from the direction where I saw
the other bird, and immediately my chase rolled over on the sand, the
stranger rushing towards him, while three black heads appeared from some
low rocks a little way beyond. Poor fellow! He deserved a better fate!
The stranger bird turned out to be one of Donald's Hottentots, who,
with his companions, had been fortunately in the right direction to
intercept him. I insisted on appropriating the tail of the bird,
asserting that the Hottentots would not have killed him had I not chased
him up to them.
My horse being by this time well tired, we set off to overtake the
waggon. Late in the day Donald arrived with the hen-ostrich over his
saddle, his back and head ornamented with the feathers, and half a dozen
young birds hanging from the crupper.
"Well, he does cut a curious figure!" exclaimed Leo, who saw Donald
approaching. "If I had seen him for the first time, I should have taken
him to be a fledged centaur--a mixture of man, quadruped, and bird."
Donald was inclined to claim the feathers I had appropriated; but Senhor
Silva coming to my support, it was agreed that they were mine by right
of conquest; and I had the satisfaction of presenting them to my fair
cousins--the first trophies of the chase which I had deemed worthy of
their acceptance.
We obtained, during the following days, a further supply of ostrich
eggs, which, with the birds we had killed, gave us as much food as we
required. We found it, when moving forward, very necessary to be
careful not to deviate from the right course. Frequently over the
country where there were no tracks, and often no landmarks, this was
very difficult. Often it was a long day's journey from one fountain or
pool to the next spot where water could be procured, and we knew well
that without the necessary supply we and our cattle would suffer
severely, even if we did not lose them altogether, in which case we
should be involved in their destruction. Though I much enjoyed my
gallops over the country, I was very thankful when Stanley was once more
able to mount his horse; and I had, in consequence, generally to proceed
on the back of one of the riding oxen, with Natty or Leo behind me. We
were now able to carry far more water than usual. I should have said
that the ostrich eggs were never broken. Their contents were extracted
through a hole in one end, and were carefully surrounded by a
basket-work of reeds, thus forming complete, and tolerably strong,
bottles. At each fountain we came to they were re-filled.
"We have a long day's journey before us," observed Mr Fraser one
morning as we were inspanning, as the colonists call yoking, the oxen to
the waggon; "and I wish I was sure that we should find water at the end
of it. We have not enough left for the oxen, as we must keep all we
have for the horses and ourselves."
He looked graver than usual, and not without reason. The heat was very
great, and we had a wide extent of country before us, the soil
consisting of light-coloured soft sand, which appeared incapable of
producing any green thing for the support of animals. Pass it, however,
we must, as it extended right across our path to the south, far away to
the east, from the very coast of the Atlantic. Notwithstanding this,
our party were in good spirits, from feeling that we were now making
steady progress towards home.
"We have encountered so many dangers, and escaped them, that we should
not mistrust the willingness of the kind hand of Providence to protect
us to the end of our journey," observed Kate.
Her calm confidence gave us all courage, and we resolved not to allow
any anticipation of evil to oppress us. Kate had never relaxed in her
resolution to instruct Bella under all difficulties, and the greater
part of the day they sat in the waggon with their books before them, or
their work in their hands, labouring away as diligently as they would
have done in their home in the colony. Leo and Natty were far more
idle, though they occasionally took their seats near the young ladies,
and either read to them, or listened to their reading. The Bible was
their chief book, and happily its stores are inexhaustible. The other
works they had read over and over again, till they declared that they
could no longer look at them with patience. The heat was so great, that
we were compelled to camp during the middle of the day, finding that we
could make more progress by travelling early in the morning and again in
the evening.
We had travelled on since daylight, when a group of trees, which are
found here and there even on the desert, gladdened our eyes. We unyoked
our weary oxen beneath them, and sought such shelter as their branches
would afford; but not a drop or sign of water was to be seen round them.
It seemed surprising how they could exist in that arid spot. Fires
were lighted to cook the remnant of our provisions, though they also had
fallen very short. We were seated at our meal, when Stanley started up,
exclaiming, "We must have some of those fellows! Who will come with
me?" He pointed eastward--the quarter whence the wind blew--and there I
saw, moving slowly over the plain, and cropping the scanty herbage as
they went, a large herd of antelopes.
"I will," I said, "if I can have a horse."
"You shall have mine," said Senhor Silva.
"I must go with you!" exclaimed Donald Fraser, gulping down the largest
part of the contents of an ostrich egg.
Donald having giving directions for the caravan to move on, and
appointed their halting--place, we mounted our horses, intending to meet
it there at night, and galloped off towards the herd. I imitated my
companions' attitude of leaning down, so as to conceal my head as much
as possible, that we might get near without alarming the herd, keeping
to leeward. Some time passed before they were aware of our approach.
"They are hartbeests," said Donald, "and will give us a good chase; but
we may get within shot of them at last."
There was no shelter which would enable us to stalk them, and we
therefore had to trust to their not taking alarm at the appearance of
our horses. We rode on and on, and every instant I expected to see them
start off, and scamper away fleet as the wind. They were noble-looking
animals, with large horns rising on a line with their foreheads, and
then bending curiously backwards. We rode on till we got within a
hundred yards of them, when a wary old buck caught sight of us, and,
suspicious of evil, gave the alarm to his companions.
"On, boys, on!" cried Donald, who had been watching for their expected
start to put his horse at full speed. On we dashed, the hartbeests
going away directly from the camp. They kept close together, somewhat
impeding each other. They were now thoroughly alarmed, and away they
went at a speed which it at first appeared would make it utterly
impossible for us to come up with them. Not so, however, thought
Stanley and Donald Fraser. Our horses seemed to enter into our wishes,
and exerted themselves to the utmost. On kept the herd, throwing the
dust up behind them, which rose in the air like clouds of smoke. After
an hour's flight they began to slacken their speed, while our horses,
urged on by our spurs, redoubled theirs. At last we got within a
hundred yards of the hard-pressed herd. Stanley quickly threw himself
from his horse, and firing, a fine buck flew up into the air; and the
next moment, parting from the main body of the herd, darted off to the
right; while Donald, aiming at another animal, brought it to the ground.
I fired directly afterwards; but so excited had I become by the chase
and ride, that I suspect my bullet flew over the heads of the animals.
"Mount and ride after that fellow, Andrew!" exclaimed Stanley, pointing
to the hartbeest he had wounded.
I did as he directed me, while he and Donald Fraser, throwing themselves
on their horses, again made chase after the herd. The wounded animal
fled away by itself, and though evidently, by the flow of blood from its
side, severely hurt, it yet continued springing forward at a rapid rate.
Determined not to let it go, I urged on my horse in pursuit. At
length, greatly to my satisfaction, for my horse was nearly done up,
over the hartbeest rolled; and, springing from my saddle, I put an end
to its sufferings. When I looked round, neither the herd nor my
companions were to be seen. A long chase in that hot sun had made me
very thirsty, and not a drop of water had I with me. I was hungry too,
for I had only just begun my breakfast; though, if content to eat raw
meat, I had the means of satisfying my appetite. The animal was so
heavy that I could not lift it on my horse; and yet I did not like to
leave it to be devoured by hyenas and jackals, or other beasts of prey,
which it would, I knew, inevitably be very shortly, should I go away. I
therefore waited and waited, hoping to see my companions return. I
thought I remembered pretty accurately the direction I had come; but the
clump of trees was but a small object to guide me over that extensive
plain, on which, too, I knew that similar clumps existed. At length,
not seeing my friends, I decided to load my horse with a portion of the
antelope, and to try and find my way back to the camp. I had, as I
mentioned, suffered greatly from thirst before, but it did not equal the
pain I was now enduring. Not only did my mouth and throat feel dried
up, but my whole stomach; and faint and hungry as I was, though I had an
abundance of food with me, and might have collected grass and twigs
enough to cook a portion, yet I could not swallow a particle. I felt
growing weaker and weaker, and my head became so dizzy and my eyes so
dim that I could not distinguish objects clearly before me. I began to
fear that I had received a sunstroke, for the heat was greater than any
I had yet experienced. I knew the fatal effects which might follow.
Still, I managed to stick to my horse and ride on.
I had gone a considerable distance, and was trying to discover the
wished-for clump of trees, when my eyes fell on a glittering pool of
water, some way off to the left. I had not forgotten my experience when
before wandering in search of water; but I was convinced that I could
not be mistaken. By its side I saw several clumps of trees, and could
even distinguish their reflection on the calm surface of the lake. The
spectacle revived my spirits, and I urged on my horse, hoping soon to
quench my thirst, and put an end to the suffering I was enduring. He
too seemed equally eager to reach the lake. I was surprised that Donald
had not known of it, as he certainly would have moved there instead of
pushing on to the well, where he had doubts of finding water. I confess
that had any one told me that what I saw before me was not water, I
should have trusted my own senses rather than his assertion, and still
gone on towards it. Bitter, therefore, was my disappointment, when in a
short time I found myself standing on the margin of what I took to be a
lake, but which was merely a dry basin incrusted with saline particles,
which gave it, with the assistance of the existing mirage, thus exactly
the appearance of water. I turned away, suffering even more than before
from the fearful thirst which oppressed me. Still, I had been aroused,
and I hoped to be able to return to the camp before being quite
overcome. After going some distance, however, my spirits again sank,
and I could scarcely sit my horse. In another moment I believe I should
have fallen, when I saw a plant trailing along the ground, with large
leaves, and among them a large melon-like fruit. Yes, there before me
was a water-melon! I threw myself from my horse, and eagerly taking out
my knife, cut a huge slice. Oh! how deliciously cool and refreshing it
was! I let the juice trickle over my throat and down my mouth. I felt
that I could never eat enough of it; it seemed to cool me even far more
rapidly than water would have done. I did not forget my poor steed. He
put down his head towards the fruit, part of which lay on the ground;
and he seemed to relish it quite as much as I did. Having eaten my fill
of the melon, I felt greatly relieved. My horse, too, had leisure to
devour as much as he would. After riding on a little distance, I saw
another fruit of the same appearance. I felt an inclination for a
further supply; for when once the throat has become so dry as mine was,
the sensation of thirst very quickly returns. I cut a slice, but the
first mouthful I took made me throw it from me. It was perfectly
bitter; so bitter, that even had I not tasted the previous one. I do
not think I could have eaten it. My horse also, after licking it,
refused to eat it. I tried another; that was equally bitter. I cut a
third and a fourth; they had the same unpleasant taste. My horse also
refused to touch them. I began to fancy that I had discovered the only
sweet one. Still I persevered, and soon came upon another which was as
delicious as the first. Three or four others were of the same
character. My horse eagerly devoured them. Though loaded with meat, I
could not refrain from adding several water-melons to my burden; and,
thoroughly revived, set off in good spirits towards the camp.