I have eaten almost everything; but although I have
tasted crocodile, I could never succeed in swallowing it; the combined
flavour of bad fish, rotten flesh, and musk, is the carte de diner
offered to the epicure.
That evening we saw an elephant with an enormous pair of tusks; he was
standing on a hill about a quarter of a mile from the boats as we
halted. I was aided to resist this temptation by an attack of fever: it
rained as usual, and no village being in the neighbourhood, we
bivouacked in the rain on the beach in clouds of mosquitoes.
The discomforts of this lake voyage were great; in the day we were
cramped in our small cabin like two tortoises in one shell, and at night
it almost invariably rained. We were accustomed to the wet, but no
acclimatisation can render the European body mosquito-proof; thus we had
little rest. It was hard work for me, but for my unfortunate wife, who
had hardly recovered from her attack of coup de soleil, such hardships
were most distressing.
On the following morning the lake was calm, and we started early.
