The natives say that there
is no water on the road, and their accounts of the distance are
so vague and contradictory that I cannot rely upon the
information.
"I could procure only one water-skin, and none of my old stock
were serviceable; I therefore arranged to water all the animals,
and push on throughout the night, by which plan I hoped to arrive
by a forced march at the Rahad on the following morning, without
exhausting both men and beasts by a long journey through an
unknown distance in the heat of the sun. Hardly were the horses
watered at a well in the dry bed of the stream, when Aggahr was
taken ill with inflammation. I left two men to attend upon him,
with orders to bring him on if better on the following day: we
started on our journey, but we had not proceeded a quarter of a
mile when Gazelle, that I was riding, was also seized with
illness, and fell down; with the greatest difficulty I led the
horse back again to the village. My good old hunter Aggahr died
in great agony a few minutes after our return, and Gazelle died
during the night; the natives declared this to be the horse
sickness that was annually prevalent at this season. The disease
appeared to be inflammation of the bowels, which I attributed to
the sudden change of food; for months past they had lived
principally upon dry grass, but within the past few days they had
greedily eaten the young herbage that had appeared after a few
showers; with this, may have been poisonous plants that they had
swallowed unawares.
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