were the tracks of all sorts of beasts,-monkeys, bush-cow, leopards, lion, rhinoceros, elephant, hippopotami, and giraffe, -and as we crossed, baboon grunted from either side.

We were carried over those larger streams that still contained a good deal of water, balancing on a black man's shoulder, which we tried to sit with 8 simulation of ease. This the bearer seldom permitted us to maintain, for he jerked us steadily backwards till it became a question of knee-grip and endurance. M. Bertaut saw and took pity, and lent me an enormous Senegalais sergeant, sergeant, whose gentleness and strength robbed the passage of its horrors. His comrades say of him that when a bull causes him annoyance he has merely to remove it by the leg, and the animal recognises the power behind and says nothing. M. Bertaut suffered for his generosity, and was almost dropped into the water by his less-skilled carrier—as P. A. was quite; but the former hastened to reassure us by the words, "Moi je n'ai pas eu peur.

Our camp was pitched on a narrow strip of ground raised out of a swamp that encircled three sides of it, while the fourth side was girt with a clear shallow river that ran swiftly over a rocky bed. Here we remained till the sun had lost its power, and we could start on a preliminary search for the falls.

M. Bertaut led the way, but showed great courtesy, for he paused that we might all be

together whenever he thought that it was possible to light upon some discovery. His consideration was all the more generous, as the natural wish to be the first to discover the oft-sought falls must have been intensified in his own district, and also we were of different nationality. Together we broke through high spiky grass, which concealed sharp granite rocks, and picked our way in and out of scattered mimosas and low scrub in pursuance of the sound of water. We struck the river at a point where two streams joined, to race in wild precipitancy down some rapids. On the opposite shore trees crept down to the river's brink. We followed its course until, at a sharp bend in the banks, a tributary from the other side added its waters to the main stream, which thus united in the form of a St Andrew's cross. To a daughter of Scotland such a symbol at the outset must needs be of good augury, though, had we never seen the falls, these rapids in their beauty and interest of position would have rewarded a far more arduous journey.

We renewed our search the next day, when our party was sadly diminished, for Dorry had strained her leg in the scramble, and M. Bertaut was, unfortunately, obliged to return to Léré.

Our plan of campaign was to follow a more distant tributary than that we had just explored till it joined the Mao Kabi, and then walk right up to the St Andrew's cross, s0

as to put beyond doubt whether it was by a series of rapids, or a big fall, that the water reached the lower level.

Baboon temptation assailed us early in the day, and because it was early P. A. yielded, and left the straight and narrow path in their pursuit, to be tempted still further by the fresh spoor of every kind of game. The sun recalled us to the business in hand, and we made our way down the river bed, where lovely blue and pink flowers grew beneath the luxuriant foliage of water-fed trees. In the rainy season this rivulet must be still more beautiful, for then the water would sweep in gay cascades down four walls of rook, from 20 to 40 feet in height, at the bottom of which we confidently expected to find the main stream. Disappointment awaited us, for the Mao Kabi had spread into an immense swamp that extended as far as the eye could see. Evidently the falls now lay above us, and to fortify ourselves for a prolonged soramble up and down the steep stony cañons, two or three hundred feet high, that had now to be negotiated, we called for the water-bottle, but it had sprung a leak and not a drop remained. Then began a time of real hardship, for we had to force our way through grass that left its dust in our eyes and noses, and its spiked barbs in our legs and bodies; over granite boulders that caught and reflected every ray of sun, till the heat was like a furnace, and our feet and hands

swelled, and face, eyelids, and lips blistered, while our throats became so parched that we could hardly swallow, and grew sick. We slithered and scrambled on in desperate effort to reach the river, trying not to scream from the pain of the mimosa thorns, and to resist the desperate temptation of grasping the poisonous cactus lianes that hung alluringly down, as if to offer a support which, if accepted, would irritate the skin beyond all endurance. We were almost at our last gasp when P. A. remembered that he had brought a tin of apricots for luncheon, and in a trice that tin was open and its juice gulped down. He was heroio, and insisted on my having the lion's share, and I was not heroic, and accepted it. What it meant to us no words can ever say! Assuaged, though not satisfied, we pressed on, till presently, from the brow of a hill, we saw the river lying some 400 feet below. A man was sent for water at once, but the cliff was precipitous, and he returned, having found the climb impossible, and we were forced to proceed till a place was reached where descent was practicable. Then we sat at last and drank in bliss: hippo' crashed through the bush below, and a fish-eagle circled over a pool, so girt with sheer cliff that it is wellnigh impossible that a human being should ever penetrate its solitudes.

When we continued it was to slither down two or three hundred feet of precipitous

gorge and scramble up another in ever-increasing intimacy with the sharp grass and jagged rocks, though encouraged by the mighty sound of rushing water to which we drew ever nearer and nearer. I found my heart thumping. In a few minutes our toil was to be rewarded, and the Falls of the Mao Kabi, for thousands of years unseen, would be revealed to us. Another moment and we were on the summit of a cliff that overlooked the river as it rushed tempestuously between its granite walls, gathering impetus for a plunge of 60 feet down either side of a huge boulder into a rock-girt basin below. The reverberation was tremendous, and spray rose in drenching clouds, and, as if to promise peace to their turbulence, a rainbow shone through the glistening drops, making a radiant bridge of hope across and through the stormiest strife of waters. Scrub trees had partially veiled it from our sight, and as we sought a way down the precipice, a strong

smell of baboon indicated we were passing by one of their fastnesses. Two big snakes glided away as we approached. Whether it were the sheer descent, with nothing between us and the seething torrent below, or the anger of the Djinn of the falls that he feared, we do not know, but our attendant Kukawa lifted up his voice and wailed aloud until we had once more returned to safety.

Not many obstacles lay between the falls and the St Andrew's cross, and as we retraced our steps to camp that night we were able to congratulate ourselves that the work of exploration was complete.

M. Bertaut has kindly expressed his wish to name the Falls after me-"Les chutes MacLeod"-and as Commandant Maillard, then acting for the military territory of Chad, confirmed his suggestion, I can only say how greatly I appreciate the honour they have done me.

I LIKE soldiers and sailors very much, said the Moon. In Harvest Week last year I saw quite a lot of them, and it was really quite interesting.

For days and nights the country had been crowded with soldiers. There were swarms of them everywhere. They would start, thousands of them, a long way apart, and they would crawl and crawl for hours until they ran into each other, and then they would lie flat on the earth and point guns at each other, and their guns would make a loud noise and give the stars headaches. And then, hours and hours after, men on horseback with white caps would gallop over fields and up roads on to hilltops, where they would look all round and talk earnestly to each other. After that some one would blow a trumpet, and all the noise would cease at once. The soldiers would then give a feeble little cheer, and would orawl slowly into fields, where they would huddle together in the wet grass till the morning, when everything started again in the same

the summer. "Manœuvres " I think he called them. He said that often just before turning in he used to see the soldiers lying exhausted on the ground, and in the morning the first things that met his eye were the same men still lying just where they had fallen the night before. Often and often he thought them dead, so still did they lie-quite frightened him, he said, more than once, and made him cold all over.

I made up my mind I would try and see one night for myself, and, as I had been feeling rather gibbous for some time, I thought a change would do me good. me good. So I got up rather earlier than usual one evening, meaning to have a good look round.

I looked down, and saw a field in which hundreds and hundreds of soldiers were lying with their faces turned up towards the sky, all with the expressionless look of men in the last stages of exhaustion. Although it was very cold they seemed to have no bedding or blankets, and they were huddled together in groups, just like the way I have seen wild animals in Siberia and Patagonia. And they were so young, too! Most of them were mere boys, and their lips and hands were blue with cold. I could not help thinking how silly they were to