298 TRAVELS IN AFRICA.

after ten we reached Conian-gee, or the water of Conian, where a town formerly stood, but ofwhich no vestige remained. It belonged loKas* son, and was destroyed by the Kaartans. The place appeared to be the resort of numerous herds of elephants and other wild animals, drawn there in search of water, in which, though muddy and of a bad taste, the place abounded. Some of our asses that had fallen and thrown their loads, in scrambling up those mountains fell to the rear, and were, with the men attending them, attacked by so dense a swarm of bees, that the former ran into the woods throwing their loads, and the latter were obliged to seek safety in flight.

It was not without much labour and loss of time that the loads were brought up, or the asses found.

Having made a scanty meal with some of our dried provisions, and filled our soofras with putrid water, we moved forward to the ene., at ve PM., and, travelling through close woods until eight, arrived at a place called Mama Niarra, where, to our no small mortification, the supply of muddy water we expected to meet was dried into mud itself. To increase the unpleasantness of our situation, some of the Kaartans who had gone on before set fire to the grass, which, being to windward of us, made rapid progress towards the spot where we had halted.