Five years in the Sudan . llowed by an awful appari-tion, which appeared in the dusk to be growingin size each moment. By this time, however, othermen, attracted by his cries, came to his assistance,and it was only then discovered that the reptile ofhis imagination was in reality only his half-unwoundputtie. I believe that he is known as Snakes throughout the country now. I have always regretted that I did not keep someof the coloured snakes, they were well worth thetrouble of preserving; but as is so often the case,I had nothing handy to cure them in when chanceoffered, and I always thought t
Five years in the Sudan . llowed by an awful appari-tion, which appeared in the dusk to be growingin size each moment. By this time, however, othermen, attracted by his cries, came to his assistance,and it was only then discovered that the reptile ofhis imagination was in reality only his half-unwoundputtie. I believe that he is known as Snakes throughout the country now. I have always regretted that I did not keep someof the coloured snakes, they were well worth thetrouble of preserving; but as is so often the case,I had nothing handy to cure them in when chanceoffered, and I always thought that I would haveplenty more opportunities of getting them, with theconsequence that I left the country without a speci-men. The rainy season, unhealthy and fever-givingthough it is, is extremely fascinating by reason ofthe wonderful skies which it brings. It is impossibleto describe the splendour of the storm-ridden sky,as the clouds gather angrily before a heavy fall ofrain. There is every colour that it is impossible to. A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 85 imagine; from jet black to the lightest tint ofpurple. Restless and heaving, the clouds are awe-inspiring in their wonder; it is terrible, and in someway suggestive of an inferno. As the storm drawsnearer, the gleams of lightning, which have beenflickering away in the distance, grow each momentmore brilliant; the darkness of the grotesque andchanging mountains of clouds are lit up and renderedstill more magnificent by the broad sheets of light,as they strike the mass in twain and linger for thefraction of a second, eagerly licking the fringe ofthe cloud. The rain when it falls to the tune oftropical thunder and to the illumination of Hghtning,like that which cleaves the blackness of an Africannight in the storm season, falls with a directnessand force that is like the opening of the sluice gatesof heaven. Fierce and blinding, the first quarterof a minute is sufficient to saturate any district,notwithstanding the fissures and cracks in
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