At the top of the second terrace we found a little stream which was refreshingly cool, for the quartzose rocks and gneissic boulders were scorching. That the column suffered terribly was evident by the manner it straggled in fragments over the slopes and terraced flats, and by the streams of perspiration that coursed down their naked bodies. It was a great relief that our sharp-shooters held the brow of the hill, for a few bold spearmen might have decimated the panting and gasping sufferers. At the top of the third terrace there was a short halt, and we could command a view far down to the rear of the column, which had not yet reached the summit of the first terrace, and perceived the twelve natives steadily following at about 500 yards' distance, and one by one they were seen to bend over an object, which I afterwards found from the commander of the rear-guard was our second sick man. Each native drove his spear into the body. Observing their object, it was resolved that their hostility should be punished, and Saat Tato the hunter and four other experts were posted behind some large rocks, between which they could observe without being detected. In two and three-quarter hours we reached the brow of the plateau, and were standing by the advance-guard, who had done excellent service in keeping the enemy away, and as the rear-guard mounted the height we heard the sharp crack of rifles from the ambushed party, who were avenging the murder of two of their comrades. One was shot dead, another was borne away bleeding, and the ferocious scavengers had fled. During the short breathing pause the advance-guard were sent to explore the village near by, which, it seems, was the exchange place between the plateau natives and Lakists, and the gratifying news of a rich discovery soon spread through the column. A large store of grain and beans had been found, sufficient to give each man five days' unstinted rations. [Illustration: CORN GRANARY OF THE BABUSESSÉ.] At 1 P.M. we resumed our march, after giving positive command that close order should be maintained in order to avoid accidents and unnecessary loss of life. From the front of the column, the aborigines, who had in the interval of the halt gathered in vast numbers, moved away to our flanks and rear. A large party hid in some tall grass through which they supposed we should pass, but we swerved aside through a breadth of short grass. Baffled by this movement they rose from their coverts and sought by other means to gratify their spleenish hate.