very near the same latitude we were then in, our course thither was due
west; and as we were assured we should meet with rivers, we doubted not but
that by their help we might ease our journey, especially if we could find
means to cross the great lake, or inland sea, which the natives call
Coalmucoa, out of which it is said the river Nile has its source or
beginning; but we reckoned without our host, as you will see in the sequel
of our story.

The next thing we had to consider was, how to carry our baggage, which we
were first of all determined not to travel without; neither indeed was it
possible for us to do so, for even our ammunition, which was absolutely
necessary to us, and on which our subsistence, I mean for food, as well as
our safety, and particularly our defence against wild beasts and wild men,
depended,--I say, even our ammunition was a load too heavy for us to carry
in a country where the heat was such that we should be load enough for
ourselves.

We inquired in the country, and found there was no beast of burthen known
among them, that is to say, neither horses or mules, or asses, camels, or
dromedaries; the only creature they had was a kind of buffalo, or tame
bull, such a one as we had killed; and that some of these they had brought
so to their hand, that they taught them to go and come with their voices,
as they called them to them, or sent them from them; that they made them
carry burthens; and particularly that they would swim over rivers and lakes
upon them, the creatures swimming very high and strong in the water.

But we understood nothing of the management of guiding such a creature, or
how to bind a burthen upon them; and this last part of our consultation
puzzled us extremely. At last I proposed a method for them, which, after
some consideration, they found very convenient; and this was, to quarrel