At Koeena, On The 2d July, They Were Much Annoyed By
Three Lions, Which, After Prowling About All Day, At Midnight Attacked
The Asses, Which Broke Their Ropes, And Rushed In Among The Tents.
One of
the lions approached so near that the sentry made a cut at it with his
sword.
They could not sleep, because of the noise of the hippopotami
which infested that part of the river. At this time several of the
soldiers strayed, and never came up with the party again, though muskets
were frequently fired to give intimation of the route. Next day one of
the soldiers became so exhausted that he could not sit upon the ass. He
was fastened on it, and held upright; he became more and more faint, and
shortly after died. His body was brought forward to a place where the
front of the coffle had halted to allow the rear to come up. "Here," says
Park, "when the coffle had set forwards, two of the soldiers with their
bayonets, and myself with my sword, dug his grave in the wild desert, and
a few branches were the only laurels that covered the tomb of the brave."
When Park came up to the halting-place, which was near a pool of water,
shaded with ground palm-trees, he found that two more of the soldiers
were missing. Lights were set up, partly to scare away the lions and also
to guide those who had not come up; and Park himself went back a
considerable part of the way in search of them, but only one came up,
who, next day, lagged behind through fatigue.
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