The melancholy death-howl was
now raised by all the women in the village, while the men
explored the river in search of the missing body. On the
following morning the sheik appeared at my tent, with a number of
Arabs who had been unsuccessful, and he begged me, if possible,
to suggest some means for the discovery of the girl, as her
remains should be properly interred.
I proposed that they should procure a log of heavy wood, as near
as possible the size of the girl, and that this should be thrown
into the rapids, in the exact spot where she had disappeared;
this, being nearly the same weight, would be equally acted upon
by the stream, and would form a guide which they should follow
until it should lead them to some deep eddy, or whirlpool formed
by a backwater; should the pilot log remain in such a spot, they
would most probably find the body in the same place. The men
immediately procured a log, and set off with the sheik himself to
carry out the experiment. In the afternoon, we heard a terrible
howling and crying, and a crowd of men and women returned to the
village, some of whom paid us a visit; they had found the body.
The log had guided them about two miles distant, and had remained
stationary in a backwater near where I had shot the bull
hippopotamus; in this still pool, close to the bank, they almost
immediately discovered the girl floating slightly beneath the
surface.
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