Page 18 - Adventures in Africa

cutting into it with my knife. When I applied it to

my mouth, to my disappointment I found that, although
juicy in the extreme, it was perfectly bitter. I threw

it down in disgust. Jan soon afterwards, on coming
near, said :
“ Dis no good, but find oders presently ! ”

Hurrying along, he struck one after another, and
quickly handed me one perfectly sweet; when he col­
lected many more, with which we returned to where

my uncle had halted with the animals*
The fruit was far more gratifying to the taste than
the tubers. W e allowed the animals to eat as many

as they wished, and, loading* them with a supply in
case we should fail to find others further on, we

continued our journey.
Those melons lasted us another whole day and a
night, and afforded the only liquid which passed our

mouths. A s we were on foot our view over the level
desert was limited.
I was walking alongside my uncle, discussing our

future plans, having begun to hope that, in spite
of the difficulties we had to contend against, we
should get through, when I saw some objects moving

rapidly in the distance. They were coming towards
us.

ff They are ostriches ! ” cried my uncle; “ wc must
try and kill a few to obtain their plumes,"
W e halted, and remained perfectly still, hoping

that the birds might approach us. Now they ran
as fleet as a raee-horse, now they stopped and went
circling round. Two or three odd-looking birds, as

they seemed, were moving at a much slower rate.
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