The irregulars in this station, which is in the district of
Foweera, number sixty-five men. If they remain faithful, they will form
a nucleus for the irregulars who will most probably follow their
example. I understand that a small party of seventeen men are now
staying with Kabba Rega. These people will join their comrades under
Suleiman, and raise the strength of the Foweera station to eighty-two
men. I shall thus be able to keep up a communication with my detachment
at Fatiko.
"April 9. - At the expiration of Agad's contract there were 188
elephants' tusks in the zareeba of Suleiman. These will remain in his
care.
"The natives collected were insufficient to convey all the loads. I
therefore sent off a division, escorted by Morgian Agha with ten men, to
await my arrival at the village of Deang. The sheik, Rahonka, killed a
man who attempted to evade the order to carry baggage.
"April 10. - Rain fell throughout the night, which makes everybody
miserable. During the middle watch, having been awakened by the heavy
shower, I heard the sentry outside my tent muttering a kind of low
chant: - 'This is the country for rain and potatoes; this is the place
for potatoes and rain. Potatoes and rain, potatoes and rain; rain and
potatoes, rain and potatoes.'
"Neither the rain nor the potatoes were esteemed by the troops. The
roots were almost as watery as the rain, and their sweetness was
excessive. A very uncomfortable result from this vapid food was extreme
flatulence. The waist-belts of the boys were obliged to be let out by
several holes at the buckles. As my men justly declared, 'They were
uncomfortably full after a meal; but half-an-hour's march made them feel
as though they had fasted for a day.'
"During the afternoon I was sitting beneath a shady tree, with my wife
and Lieutenant Baker, when a naked native rushed wildly past the
sentries, and, before he could be restrained threw himself on the ground
and embraced my feet, at the same time begging for mercy by the Arabic
ejaculation, 'Aman! aman!'
"He was immediately seized. On examination through an interpreter, it
appeared that he was a native of Koitch, near Fatiko, and that he had
attached himself to Suleiman's party at some former time, but now he had
just escaped from the Foweera station, as Suleiman wished to kill him.
"In a few minutes Suleiman himself appeared: he was pale with rage.
"Suleiman was a thorough brigand in appearance. His father was a Kurd:
thus his complexion would have been white had he not been for many years
exposed to the African climate. He was a powerful dare-devil-looking
fellow, but even among his own people he was reputed cruel and
vindictive.
