138 Seven Years in the Soudan.

earthquake, which made the plumes of the papyrus wave and strike one another as if tossed by a furious hurricane.

" T was able to ascertain that the Massanga cannot have a long course, but must lose itself in immense marshes lying to the north-east and formed by some river whose origin is yet unknown. The natives Avhom I questioned also said that the Massanga loses itself in neighbouring marshes.

" Meantime the men T had with me never ceased to complain of the privations and sufferings during this fatiguing journey. I therefore took counsel with their captain as to the course to be pursued, and we decided to return to the mouth of the river flowing from Lake Victoria and attempt to ascend it to the lake itself ; so Ave steered from the mouth of the Massanga to its entrance, crossing the smaller lake from east to west. But here we were all attacked Avith violent fever, caused as much by the unhealthy climate and continued rain as by the priAations we had endured. "Wherefore, unable to take any notice of the just complaints of my creAv, I was obliged, against my will, to order them to row back to ]\Irooli. They did their best, exhausted as they were, to hurry on ; and in fact, after a day and night of strenuous Avork, we reached the station of Mrooli on the evening of May 22nd, Avhen Ave landed, wearA' and emaciated, thinking ourselves fortunate in having lost no lives during the difficult and dangerous voyage." As Ave noAV knoAv, Lake Coja or Kapeki is nothing more than a widening of the Victoria Nile, AA'liich, at the height of the rainy season, assumed a vast AAdth, receiAing all the tributaries flowing from the north.