Hardly Were The Horses
Watered At A Well In The Dry Bed Of The Stream, When Aggahr Was
Taken Ill With Inflammation.
I left two men to attend upon him,
with orders to bring him on if better on the following day:
We
started on our journey, but we had not proceeded a quarter of a
mile when Gazelle, that I was riding, was also seized with
illness, and fell down; with the greatest difficulty I led the
horse back again to the village. My good old hunter Aggahr died
in great agony a few minutes after our return, and Gazelle died
during the night; the natives declared this to be the horse
sickness that was annually prevalent at this season. The disease
appeared to be inflammation of the bowels, which I attributed to
the sudden change of food; for months past they had lived
principally upon dry grass, but within the past few days they had
greedily eaten the young herbage that had appeared after a few
showers; with this, may have been poisonous plants that they had
swallowed unawares. We had now only one horse, Tetel, that was
ridden by my wife; I therefore determined to start on foot on the
following morning, and to set the pace at four miles an hour, so
as to reach the Rahad by a forced march in one rapid stretch, and
thus to eke out our scanty supply of water. Accordingly we
started, and marched at that rate for ten hours, including a halt
when half-way, to rest for one hour and a half. Throughout the
distance, the country was a dead flat of the usual rich soil,
covered with mimosa forest. We marched thirty-four miles,
steering due west for a distant hill, which in the morning had
been a faint blue streak upon the horizon.
"Upon our arrival at the hill, we found that the river was some
miles beyond, while a fine rugged mountain that we had seen for
two days previous rose about fifteen miles south of this point,
and formed an unmistakeable landmark; the name of this mountain
is Hallowa. We had marched with such rapidity across this stretch
of thirty-four miles, that our men were completely exhausted from
thirst, as they had foolishly drunk their share of water at the
middle of the journey, instead of reserving it for the moment of
distress. Upon arrival at the Rahad they rushed down the steep
bank, and plunged into the clear water of the river.
"The Rahad does not exceed eighty or ninety yards in breadth. The
rain that had recently fallen in the mountain had sent a
considerable stream down the hitherto dry bed, although the
bottom was not entirely covered. By dead reckoning, this point of
the river is fifty-five miles due west from Gallabat or Metemma;
throughout this distance we had seen no game, neither the tracks
of any animals except giraffes. We were rather hard up for
provisions, therefore I took my rod, and tried for a fish in a
deep pool below the spot where we had pitched the tent.
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