reason convinced me that there was a perfectly natural explanation for the phenomenon, but, nevertheless, I had a very nasty sensation in the small of my back. I was irritated, also, at being unable to discover the cause of the noise. The next day we marched over the now familiar desert country to our old “Swamp Camp.” Remembering the midges, we did not stop there, but pushed on for another mile, and camped on the top of a cliff overlooking the river. Opposite us the cliffs of red gneiss rose to a height of over 300 feet. The face of the cliff was inhabited by thousands of monkeys and baboons, who chattered excitedly over our arrival, an excitement which was not allayed by a bullet I sent through a group of them, which flattened itself against the cliff wall with a sharp smack. They at once scattered to various places of safety behind the rocks, and from thence made rude remarks in monkey language. We went out after lunch to make a short survey of the route ahead. The result was most discouraging; a more barren and desolate landscape I had never seen. Soft brown earth, into which we sank over our ankles, was strewn with volcanic _débris_ in the shape of our old enemy the lava blocks. Vegetation was scarce, and game conspicuous by its absence. It seemed rather a hopeless task to attempt to cross such country without guides, but we determined to make a supreme effort. We were now beginning to suffer a little for want of salt. I had a nasty sinking feeling in my stomach, with a tendency to vomiting, and I always felt empty inside, even immediately after a very full meat meal; but this wore off after a week or two. We were restricted to a few ounces of native meal (m’wele) per diem, which our _chef de cuisine_, the indispensable Ramathani, made into little flat cakes, fried with meat, which was the only other item on our menu. For some days we ploughed over the rotten brown earth just described. It was a painful experience, as the sharp blocks of quartz and lava bruised our ill-shod feet. The sun was intensely hot, and distant objects danced and shimmered in the heat-haze.