the centre of the village to he milked, the calves tied
alongside the mother, the cow, on seeing her milker
arrive, makes water into his hands, when, having
scrubbed them, he commences to take her milk in a
neatly-made oval basin or tureen of wood. The other
domestic animals about the village were stupid-looking,
long-tailed sheep, with reddish-brown hair. Goats
jumped about the rocks, feeding on the leaves of the
Indian jujube tree; and dogs were occasionally met
with.
Ten hours’ marching in two days brought us from
Gani to a camp of Egyptian ivory-traders, whose acquaintance
Bombay and Mabrook had made some
weeks previously.
The small quantity of baggage we had left was
carried from village to village, after the manner of the
“ Begaree ’’ system of India. Our Seedees could have
done this, but the villagers, coming forward voluntarily,
generally enjoyed the labour. On arriving at a
palisaded village where porters were to be relieved,
we usually gathered under a tree waiting for the relief.
The head man of the place, when wishing to
show politeness, had the skin of a wild animal spread,
and upon this he placed a wooden stool or two;
liquor of the country or sour curd was offered, and
after enjoying his hospitality we proceeded on the
march. The appearance of the country, with its
forests and undulations of grass, and with clusters of
habitations every three or four miles, was very pleasing,
particularly as it was often intersected by running
streams from the hills. Some of these were
torrents, and the largest was a river knee-deep, with
steep banks and bed of gravel. All flowed to our right.
We met with two new trees, both handsome, and
one of them, the Sheabutter, called “ Meepampa ” by
Manua, resembled an oak in girth and general outline;
its flowers scented the air and were covered
with the honey-bee. The other we found to be a
new species of Boscia, with long lanceolate leaves
and terminal inflorescence. The people here, though
differing very little in their mode of painting themselves
from the Gani, are called “ Madi.” Their
women have the same small fringe in front, and the
same appendage behind, formed of fresh green weeds,
plucked daily from the edges of water, and hanging
from their waists to their knees. Their arms are
spears seven feet long, bamboo bows, bound round
with leather thongs, and arrows of reed. As many
as ten arrows, each with a different-shaped barb, are
sometimes carried by one man; their peculiarity is
that they have no feathers, and their barbs are as
straight as a nail, lance-shaped, or like a broad arrow
having hooks; and though none of those we saw were
poisoned, all were cruelly notched, to make them more
difficult of extraction. The interiors of their palisaded
villages are kept very clean; idol horns and
miniature huts, near which grow medical plants, such
as Bryophyllum calycinum and Amaranthus (love
lies bleeding) are always to be seen. The houses are
cylinders of bamboo wicker-work, plastered inside to
make them warm, and have steep roofs of bamboo and
grass. Game-nets, arms, two-feet-long horns (made
of gourd, the shape of a telescope), buffalo foot-traps,
slabs for grinding grain, &c., are in the interior. The
mode of roosting hens is novel; a five-feet-long stick,
having three prongs, is stuck into the floor of the