Through fear of encountering the thick bush, instead
of pushing ahead the following day, I took two of my
men, and set out for the river, in the hope of finding a
Galla village, and there procuring guides. Four hours’
work brought me to the river; but when I reached it,
there was no sign of habitation to be seen, not even a
path along the bank. The bush was annoyingly thick,
and my clothing was torn in many places by the thorns.
My temper suffered also; and after resting an hour, I
returned to my disconsolate caravan. The men looked
at me with questioning eyes. They seemed to be losing
their confidence in me; and certainly the preceding
three or four days were likely to instil any opinion
rather than that we were good guides. The country is
so covered with swamps here, that without a native
guide it is positively dangerous to travel. A day or
two without water would ruin the most perfectly
equipped caravan; and this is a risk one runs.
Late in the afternoon, after more cutting, we reached
the desert, and at 6 p .m ., much to our joy, found a large
swamp filled with drinkable water.
Soon after starting next morning, we came upon old
trails, which indicated to us we were near habitations.
On the road I killed a large and hideous puff adder
about four feet in length, which was lying across my
path. We made camp early, and I took George and
100 men to the river, distant half a mile. From this
point on, we appeared to have left behind us the
impenetrable bush. We divided into two companies;
George went north, and I south.
* In my absence, Lieutenant von Hohnel went to a village
which one of the porters had discovered, and there,
greatly to his joy, found one of our canoes with three
days’ food. I joined them in half an hour. The village
proved to be Benayo, inhabited by Pokomo. My canoes
were safe, one day’s march farther up the river. This
was good news; for I had feared that without a European
there might be danger for them among the Galla,
as they were insufficiently manned.
After our days of toil and worry in the bush, we
hailed with delight the prospect of a little rest; so we
remained here one day. During the night it rained
continuously, and we congratulated ourselves on the
good fortune which prevented the fall of these rains
while we were in the bush.
The following day we broke camp at 6 a .m ., took two
Galla guides, and marched steadily for seven hours,
when we reached Tulu Kuleso, where we found our
canoes safely moored. The sight of our canoes all safe
and sound, and the hearty greetings of our men in them,
rendered our meeting a pure delight; for the separation
of the caravan from the river column for such a long
period had been a point of great weakness in the expedition,
freighted as the canoes were with twenty-five
days’ food and many valuable loads. It appears that
when the Galla first saw our boats, they threatened
violence; but the eloquence of Sadi soon persuaded
them of our peaceable intentions.
After our arrival at Tule, we received word from the
Galla chief that he would come to our camp on the
morrow, and pay his respects. Accordingly, early on
the following morning, we were not surprised to see
two tall, good-looking natives appear, who announced
through Sadi, our interpreter, that their father, the chief,