With Great Solemnity Katchiba Broke A Branch From A Tree, Upon The
Leaves Of Which He Spat In Several Places.
This branch, thus blessed
with holy water, was laid upon the ground, and a fowl was dragged around
it by the chief; and our horses were then operated on precisely in the
same manner as had been enacted at Farajoke.
This ceremony completed, he
handed the branch to his brother (our guide), who received it with much
gravity, in addition to a magic whistle of antelope's horn that he
suspended from his neck. All the natives wore whistles similar in
appearance, being simply small horns in which they blew, the sound of
which was considered either to attract or to drive away rain, at the
option of the whistler. No whistle was supposed to be effective unless
it had been blessed by the great magician Katchiba. The ceremony being
over, all commenced whistling with all their might; and taking leave of
Katchiba, with an assurance that we should again return, we started
amidst a din of "toot too too-ing" upon our journey. Having an immense
supply of ammunition at Latooka, I left about 200 lbs. of shot and ball
with Katchiba; therefore my donkeys had but little to carry, and we
travelled easily.
That night we bivouacked at the foot of the east-side of the pass at
about half-past five. Ibrahimawa, the Bornu man whom I have already
described as the amateur botanist, had become my great ally in searching
for all that was curious and interesting. Proud of his knowledge of wild
plants, no sooner was the march ended than he commenced a search in the
jungles for something esculent.
We were in a deep gorge on a steep knoll bounded by a ravine about sixty
feet of perpendicular depth, at the bottom of which flowed a torrent.
This was an excellent spot for a camp, as no guards were necessary upon
the side thus protected. Bordering the ravine were a number of fine
trees covered with a thorny stem creeper, with leaves much resembling
those of a species of yam. These were at once pronounced by Ibrahimawa
to be a perfect god-send, and after a few minutes' grubbing he produced
a basketful of fine-looking yams. In an instant this display of food
attracted a crowd of hungry people, including those of Ibrahim and my
own men, who, not being botanists, had left the search for food to
Ibrahimawa, but who determined to share the tempting results. A rush was
made at his basket, which was emptied on the instant; and I am sorry to
confess that the black angel Saat was one of the first to seize three or
four of the largest yams, which he most unceremoniously put in a pot and
deliberately cooked as though he had been the botanical discoverer. How
often the original discoverer suffers, while others benefit from his
labours! Ibrahimawa, the scientific botanist, was left without a yam,
after all his labour of grubbing up a basketful. Pots were boiling in
all directions, and a feast in store for the hungry men who had marched
twenty miles without eating since the morning.
The yams were cooked; but I did not like the look of them, and seeing
that the multitude were ready, I determined to reserve a few for our own
eating should they be generally pronounced good. The men ate them
voraciously. Hardly ten minutes had elapsed from the commencement of the
feast when first one and then another disappeared, and from a distance I
heard a smothered but unmistakeable sound, that reminded me of the
lurching effect of a channel steamer upon a crowd of passengers.
Presently the boy Saat showed symptoms of distress, and vanished from
our presence; and all those that had dined off Ibrahimawa's botanical
specimens were suffering from a most powerful "vomi-purgatif." The
angels that watch over scientific botanists had preserved Ibrahimawa
from all evil. He had discovered the yams, and the men had stolen them
from him; they enjoyed the fruits, while he gained an experience
invaluable at their expense. I was quite contented to have waited until
others had tried them before I made the experiment. Many of the yam
tribe are poisonous; there is one variety much liked at Obbo, but which
is deadly in its effects should it be eaten without a certain
preparation. It is first scraped, and then soaked in a running stream
for a fortnight. It is then cut into thin slices, and dried in the sun
until quite crisp; by this means it is rendered harmless. The dried
slices are stored for use; and they are generally pounded in a mortar
into flour, and used as a kind of porridge.
The sickness of the people continued for about an hour, during which
time all kinds of invectives were hurled against Ibrahimawa, and his
botany was termed a gigantic humbug. From that day he was very mild in
his botanical conversation.
On the following morning we crossed the last range of rocky hills, and
descended to the Latooka valley. Up to this point, we had seen no game;
but we had now arrived in the game country, and shortly after our
descent from the rocks we saw a herd of about twenty Tetel (hartebeest).
Unfortunately, just as I dismounted for the purpose of stalking them,
the red flags of the Turks attracted the attention of a large party of
baboons, who were sitting on the rocks, and they commenced their hoarse
cry of alarm, and immediately disturbed the Tetel. One of the men, in
revenge, fired a long shot at a great male, who was sitting alone upon a
high rock, and by chance the ball struck him in the head. He was an
immense specimen of the Cynocephalus, about as large as a mastiff, but
with a long brown mane like that of the lion. This mane is much prized
by the natives as an ornament.
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