completely impregnated you if you touched it. I fished up
a pailful, and having thrown some alum into it I filtered
it over and over again, and having well boiled it made
some coffee and determined to try it. The coffee was
bitter, with a distinct ammoniacal taste, and in the evening
I was seized with violent vomiting. But if I had the
courage to drink it, I was not bold enough to wash in
it, the smell was too dreadful. Yet for three days I had
not passed a drop of water over my face or hands, and
I was covered with a thick layer of dust, which, as I freely
perspired, adhered to me all over.
The worst was that I was forced to remain near the
waggon, as the oxen could not return until the next day,
and then they would have to go back and fetch the other
waggon; so there still remained the prospect of three
more days without a wash, not counting that if I wished to
drink at all I should have to make the best of this putrid
water. Near the well we found half a dozen Bushmen,
two of whom were living skeletons, all shrivelled up, with
face and body covered with wrinkles; they were at least
eighty years old. Their hair was perfectly white, and
their bodies, almost mummified, covered with ulcers,
presented a striking contrast to the natives we had up to
then come across. After all there was nothing to be
surprised at in their appearance, when one remembered
that every day of their life they partook of this kind of
water; they consumed it without the slightest sign of
disgust. They begged us to give them some tobacco,
from which they might make snuff; they never smoke.
Their food consists of whatever they can find-||locusts,
dead animals, and even, snakes. One of my men having
shot a python, got the Bushmen to skin it, and this done
these men carefully took away the flesh and, after cooking
it, eat it. What is still more incredible, in the body of
the python was a small gazelle, covered with slime, and
this was also eaten up by the Bushmen.
The following day I sent the oxen to fetch the second
48
waggon, and when they returned I sent them once more
to Linokani, some six miles ahead, where they had been
watered before. My orders were to bring back the animals
as soon as they should have drunk, but as they had not
returned late in the day, I sent some of the men to the
place where the oxen were watering, and they returned
with the news that five of them were hors de combat—
one dead and four dying. It was absolutely impossible
MASARWA NOMADS IN TH E K A LAH A R I DESERT.
to go forward under these circumstances, and to go back
was equally difficult. On Friday, the 25th September,
the situation became still more serious, for having then
stayed the three previous days in the neighbourhood of
the stagnant pool I previously described, with nothing
but putrid water, I found myself down with a bad attack
of fever.
On Sunday, the 27th September, we shifted .our camp
to Linokani, and it became absolutely necessary to make
up my mind what I would do.
I needed at least fifteen fresh oxen before I could
h 49