74 SPORT BY THE RIVER for us, and passage was difficult through entanglements of thorns and fallen branches. Tlie mimosa thorns projecting from twin bulbous bases were of great size as compared with the starved product of the drier soil. The foliage was dry as tinder, and many ripened gourds of varied shapes hung from the vines ; in the rich, moist warmth of the wet season the bush must present in itself a dense, impracticable obstacle.

Low-placed on a mule as I was, the passage was trying ; the lower thorns caught one, but 1 ducked easily under the boughs. How then fared Abid the cook, perched high on his camel, dodging festoons of creepers, the spikes of mimosa, and branches which seemed to reach over to him with malicious intent, or the half-naked cameldrivers, whose skin seemed impervious to pricks, and the stumbles of their steeds of no consequence ?

All rejoiced when the ground began to rise, miles later, and the bush thinned. As we emerged on the burnt-out forest we appeared to have driven game in front of us, for the first roan antelope (Abu Ooruf ) we had seen evinced their acquaintance with our presence by moving off.

But we found our rejoicing premature ; there came a dreadful trek across a breezeless, burning, shadcless furnace. It oppressed even the camelmen ; the heat and glare struck us from the naked, blistering ground. The hardiest became quiet, all talking ceased ; man and beast braced