ifted right off his feet by the rush of the water and
whirled away. The river took a sharp bend in this gorge, and he was
round it and out of our sight in no time, the last glimpse we caught of
him showing him vainly trying to catch hold of an overhanging branch.
Although we at once made all the haste we could to get round the ridge
of rocks, it took us nearly half an hour to do it. I had almost given
up hope of ever seeing Mahina again, and was much relieved, therefore,
when we reached the river-side once more, to find him safe and sound,
and little the worse for his adventure. Luckily he had been dashed up
against a rushy bank, and had managed to scramble out with no more
serious damage than a bruised shin.

Eventually we arrived at the junction of the rivers and proceeded some
way down the Sabaki, beside which the Tsavo looks very insignificant.
Several islands are dotted about in mid-stream and are overgrown with
tall reeds and rushes, in which hippo find capital covert all the year
round. As with the Tsavo, the banks of the Sabaki are lined with trees
of various kinds, affording most welcome shade from the heat of the
sun: and skirting the river is a caravan road from the interior--still
used, I believe, for smuggling slaves and ivory to the coast, where
dhows are in readiness to convey them to Persia or Arabia.

After an early dinner, which Mabruki soon got ready, I left my
followers encamped in a safe boma a mile away from the river, and
started out with Mahina to find a suitable tree, near a hippo "run", in
which to spend the night. Having some difficulty in finding a likely
spot, we crossed to the other side of the river--rather a risky thing
to do on account of the number of crocodiles in it: we found a fairly
shallow ford, however, and managed to get safely over. Here, on what
was evidently an island during flood time, we found innumerable traces
of both hippo and rhino--in fact the difficulty was to decide which
track was the best and freshest. At length I picked out a tree close to
the river and commanding a stretch of sand which was all flattened down
and looked as if at least one hippo rolled there regularly every night.

As there was still about an hour before sundown, we did not take up our
station at once, but proceeded along the bank to see if any other game
was about. We had not gone very far when Mahina, who was a little way
ahead, signalled to me, and on joining him I saw a splendid-looking
water