3-021-719 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Travelling in Africa: two days without water,1869. 'It is scarcely needful to remind those who have ever perused any account of such expeditions that one of the most trying experiences of the wayfarers in that inhospitable region is the frequent want of water. The party whose toilsome march is shown in our illustration seems to be suffering under this painful infliction of drought and thirst, having already passed two days since its last supply of the necessary fluid. The drooping oxen, which will often toil on with their patient tug at the waggons till they drop dead and die - the half-maddened horses led along behind - the men, Europeans and savage Damaras, alike tormented with one fierce craving of nature, and eagerly looking for signs of a pool or spring - the herd of wild giraffes approaching this distressed party without fear, are represented in our engraving with characteristic truth'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.