[Illustration: CUTTING UP A RHINOCEROS FOR FOOD. (See page 190.)] We were up very early on the following morning, but it was not our own fault. At sunrise we were assailed by myriads of midges; they were very, very small, but they possessed a most venomous sting, the mosquitos being, in fact, quite harmless by comparison. They settled down in clouds on man and beast, and drove us all nearly frantic. Our faces, necks, and arms were soon covered with innumerable bites, which itched with a malevolence beyond anything I had hitherto experienced. George and I seized our rifles and fled from them as from a pestilence. We were out all the morning looking for game, and never once caught sight of a single animal. The men were badly in want of food, and we ourselves were in great need of raw hide wherewith to repair our boots. George and I had each attempted to buy an extra pair before leaving Nairobi, but there were no boots our size in the town at the time. We had been walking with our feet showing through those we were wearing, which were almost dropping to pieces. The country was so rough and stony underfoot that a long march was an event to be painfully remembered. Jumbi and his companions returned in the evening from M’gomba, having discovered no traces of salt! They brought us samples of carbonate of soda, which, they said, was the only kind of salt there, but there was plenty of that. They had seen no natives, which was both surprising and disappointing, as there are generally a few Wandorobbo wandering up and down the Waso Nyiro. We were the more anxious to meet some of these people, as they generally have news of the Rendili.