about nine o’clock
in the morning
The travellers were then directly following the course of the Shari . The charming banks of this river were hidden beneath the foliage of trees of various dyes ; lianas and climbing plants wound in and out on all sides and formed the most curious combinations of color . Crocodiles were seen basking in the broad blaze of the sun or plunging beneath the waters with the agility of lizards , and in their gambols they sported about among the many green islands that intercept the current of the stream . It was thus , in the midst of rich and verdant landscapes that our travellers passed over the district of Maffatay , and about nine o'clock in the morning reached the southern shore of Lake Tchad . There it was at last , outstretched before them , that Caspian Sea of Africa , the existence of which was so long consigned to the realms of fable -- that interior expanse of water to which only Denham 's and Barth 's expeditions had been able to force their way . The doctor strove in vain to fix its precise configuration upon paper . It had already changed greatly since 1847 .