It Was In Vain That I Erected Sheds And Lighted Fires;
Nothing Would Protect Them From The Flies.
The moment the fires were lit
the animals would rush wildly into the smoke, from which nothing would
drive them; and in the clouds of imaginary protection they would remain
all day, refusing food.
On the 16th of July my last horse, Mouse, died.
He had a very long tail, for which I obtained A COW IN EXCHANGE. Nothing
was prized so highly as horses' tails, the hairs being used for
stringing beads and also for making tufts as ornaments, to be suspended
from the elbows. It was highly fashionable in Obbo for the men to wear
such tufts formed of the bushy ends of cows' tails. It was also "the
thing" to wear six or eight polished rings of iron, fastened so tightly
round the throat as almost to choke the wearer, and somewhat resembling
dog-collars.
For months we dragged on a miserable existence at Obbo, wrecked by
fever. The quinine was exhausted; thus the disease worried me almost to
death, returning at intervals of a few days. Fortunately my wife did not
suffer so much as I did. I had nevertheless prepared for the journey
south, and as travelling on foot would have been impossible in our weak
state, I had purchased and trained three oxen in lieu of horses. They
were named "Beef," "Steaks," and "Suet." "Beef" was a magnificent
animal, but having been bitten by the flies he so lost his condition
that I changed his name to "Bones." We were ready to start, and the
natives reported that early in January the Asua would be fordable.
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