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 great leech, was gradually loosening its hold. Before the astonished spectators could take any measures to destroy it, it had dropped off and disappeared in the grass; but the next day the farm-servants managed to creep up, after it had had its fill, and killed it without injury to themselves.

In the interests of geographical science it was always my wish to ascertain the depth of the various rivers I explored. Having no boat, or other apparatus, my only resource in order to get the measurements I wanted was to wade right into the streams. I persevered in doing this wherever I could feel perfectly secure from the attacks of crocodiles, until an adventure befell me which gave me such a distaste for experiments of this kind that I abandoned them altogether. It was a hazard that almost cost me my life. I was anxious to find a fording-place for the waggon somewhere near our encampment by the Harts River, which, where we were, was some twenty feet wide. After I had found what appeared a suitable spot, where the shore was high and dry, and the water only eighteen inches deep at the edge, I undressed, threw my clothes across the stream to the opposite bank, and then proceeded to wade through the water. At my very first step my foot sank into mud, but I proceeded cautiously till I reached the middle of the stream. I there found myself standing in two feet of mud and two feet of water, and every farther step I took showed me only too plainly that the mud was getting deeper and deeper, and that I could not reach the bottom.