The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-17

seen, but no villages were encountered
 The land seemed dead and deserted.
 The members of the expedition hoped
 that farther on they would come upon
 friendly natives from whom they could
 get supplies of food. But in this hope
 they were doomed to disappointment,
 for the country beyond the swamp
 lands proved as inhospitable as the one through which the expedition struggled,
 When they had got around the
 sWamps they entered the Boma coun-
 try, a region where white face seldom
 had been seen before. The Bomas had heard of white men, and what they had
 heard had not been reassuring. So
 when the expedition approached viii
 lage the natives fed In village after village it was the same story; as soon as white face was seen approaching the inhabitants took to the woods.
 As the Bomas ran from the presence of the white men they either concealed or destroyed the food in the villages. A boycott is bad enough at any time, but a boycott in an African jungle is espec- ially so. After getting through the Bona country large desert was en- countered, barren and arid.
 For a whole month water was almost an unknown quantity. Even the Sou danese troops, accustomed as they are to the country and to undergoing its many hardships and privations, began to falter and fall upon the plain, where the tropic heat took the life out of the men and their leaders The English men tried their best to keep up the spirits of the men, but the SoudaneSe became ill and listless. The transport animals were still held by the major, though for days at time there was no water for them and they could just stagger along across the arid waste.
 It finally became matter of life and death for both men and beasts that wa ter should be reached. So Major Aus tin shaped his course for the little riv CT sacchi, to the westward of the Omo river As the pack animals fell down and died upon theweary way they were carved up and eaten. their blood serv- ing as a substitute for water, to cer- tain extent, for the thirst -maddened men. The river for which Major Aus tin was heading across the desert is a small stream which flows from Somali- land
 When the men of the expedition final ly saw shining in the distance the wa ters of the river, which was to them a veritable river of life, they were in pitiable condition. Their parched threats could scarcely make the sounds which they intended for cheers at the sight of the blessed water, and man and beast rushed for the stream to throw themselves into it and take long and deep draughts.
 As the banks of the river were ap- preached Major Austin found relic of a former expedition which had come to grief in that region It was silk Handkerchief which had belonged to an Italian explorer, Bottego, who some years ago was murdered with nearly all his men near the place where Major Austin picked up the memento. From the Sacchi river the expedition started out across country for Lake Rudolph, which lies in that part of Somalilond that is claimed by both Emperor Meme lik and the British. The members Of the surveying party had been for some time on half rations, and every day
 
 their deprivations and hardships. Nearly six months had passed since the party under Major Austin had set out from Omdurman. All that long time the major and his men had been lite rally in the wilderness. Disease and hardship were beginning to make hay oc in the ranks of the expedition, and when in May they finally came in sight of the shores of Lake Rudolph nearly every one of them was in state of al- most helpless prostration. The pack animals had all been slaughtered for food, and it seemed as if starvation would be the portion of those who had not already succumbed to the hardships of the journey. For ten weeks before Lake Rudolph was reached the only food which the members of the expedi- tion had was that which came from the slaughter of their pack animals.
 On the borders of the lake a halt of some days was made; for, anxious as the leader of the expedition was to press on to the coast. his men were in such a condition that for them to march farther without an interval of rest was impossible. Major Austin himself was seriously i'll with gastritis. It seemed as if all the hard luck which could happen to the party had hap pened, but it had not.
 The second night they were encamped on the shores of the lake an attack was made upon them by a band of naked giants. These giants belong to the Turkhana race and are almost unknown to white men. In their first onslaught upon the camp they killed three of the Soudanese troops. The black giants were driven off with considerable loss to themselves, but the next night they made more determined attack, which |. was repulsed with difficulty. The Sou danese soldiers behaved with the ut most gallantry in spite of their weak condition, and even made a counter attack upon the enemy. But the number of giants kept increasing and their repeated attacks became more and more determined. They generally at night and their immense forms suddenly would be seen looming through the gloom by the tired sentres while shower of spears and arrows would sweep over the sleeping camp.
 Major Austin determined to make a. break for the seacoast, as to stay where he was meant the gradual killing off of his men. The party left their encamp-