Should a date be lost, you can always discover it by taking a lunar distance and comparing it with the Nautical Almanac, by noting the time when a star passes the meridian if your watch is right, or by observing the phases of the moon, or her rising or setting, as compared with the Nautical Almanac.

The rest of my work, besides sketching and keeping a diary, which was the most troublesome of all, consisted in making geological and zoological collections.

With Captain Grant rested the botanical collections and thermometrical registers.

He also boiled one of the thermometers, kept the rain-gauge, and undertook the photography; but after a time I sent the instruments back, considering this work too severe for the climate, and he tried instead sketching with watercolours--the results of which form the chief part of the illustrations in this book.

The rest of our day went in breakfasting after the march was over--a pipe, to prepare us for rummaging the fields and villages to discover their contents for scientific purposes--dinner close to sunset, and tea and pipe before turning in at night.
A short stage brought us to Ikamburu, included in the district of Nzasa, where there is another small village presided over by Phanze Khombe la Simba, meaning Claw of Lion.