I would not do it, as no man in his senses could be
guilty of working his legs unnecessarily.
• Considering all the northerners were said to have
been dnven up here by the war, I was much surprised
to see so few habitations or .flocks in the valley;
all there were consisted in a few kraals scattered
over the plain, which were constantly moved as soon
as each plot of ground in turn was eaten up by*the
cattle. In changing ground, these nomads pack up
everything on their camels, mat and stick, hut and all,
and placing the wife, with perhaps a baby also, on a
donkey, march to any unoccupied watering-place they
can find. Their food is very limited, except in the
rainy season, when milk prevails: in consequence of
this, it being now the dry season, my servants accounted
for their increasing appetite for my dates.
Some of the poorer men are said to pass their whole
lives without tasting any flesh or grain, but to live entirely
on sour milk, wild honey, or gums, as they may
chance to come across them, and they are almost
naked • but notwithstanding this, disease is scarcely
known, and excepting in a few cases of endemic ophthalmia,
which appears to attack the country periodically,
at intervals of two or three years, I never heard
of any. The climate was very delightful at this season,
and the nights so cold I had to wrap myself well
up in flannels. But perhaps that which best illustrates
the healthiness of the country and pleasantness of its
atmosphere, is the fact that I, although I had no bedstead,
but always slept on the ground, never pitched
my tent a single day in the interior, and neither wore
a hat or shoe throughout the journey, save on one or
two occasions, when, severely stabbed with thorns, I
put on a sandal. I never knew a moment s illness.
25th.—This evening, Husayn Hadji, who I now
found out was brother-in-law to Sumunter, approached
me as I came in from shooting, and said, “We are
surprised to see you return alive; did you not meet
some armed men when you were shooting ? I replied,
“ No, not one.” “ Then,” said he, “ there are
many men come here, who from the first have forbid
your coming into this country; they are under no
control, but, in open defiance of the Gerad, do and act
just as they like: indeed, every head man is a Gerad
here, and those who are strongest carry the day.” This
was the prelude to another farce; presently the men
came of whom Husayn Hadji spoke, and, surrounding
my camp, boisterously demanded to know what I was
doing in their country against their orders. A violent
altercation then ensued. They must have all my property
given up at once, or they would take it by force;
and remained trying to bully me into compliance,
until I said I would sooner die than give them anything.
Seeing me determined, they then walked off,
saying I had not one night left to live, for they would
return and kill me after dark. The place was now
getting too hot to be pleasant, for the fact was, we
were so near the watering-place, that my camp offered
a convenient and tempting lounge for all the idle
blackguards of the country to assemble at.