A savage holds to his cows, and his women, but
especially,to his cows. In a ra ^ ia fight he will seldom
Stand for the sake of his'wives, but when he does fight
it is to save his cattle. I now had a vivid exemplification
of this theory.
One day, at about 3 p .m., the men of Ibrahim started
npon some mysterious errand, but returned equally
mysterious at about midnight. On the following
morning I heard that they had intended to attack
some place upon the mountains, but they had heard
that it was too powerful; and as «discretion is the
better part of valour,” they had returned.
On. the day following I heard that there had been
some disaster, and that the whole of Mahommed Hers
party had been massacred.. The natives seemed very
excited, and messenger succeeded messenger, all confirming
the account that Mohammed Her had attacked
a village on the mountains, the same that Ibrahim had
intended to attack, and that the natives had exterminated
their whole party.
. . On the following morning I sent ten of my men
with a party of Ibrahim’s to Latome to make inquiries.
They returned on the following afternoon, bringing
with them two wounded men.
I t appeared that Mahommed Her had ordered his
party of 110 armed men, in addition to 300 natives,
to make a razzia upon a certain village among the
mountains for slaves and cattle. They had succeeded
in burning â village, and in capturing a great number
of slaves. Having descended the pass, a native gave
-them the route that would lead to the capture of a large
herd of cattle that they had not yet discovered. They
once more ascended the mountain by a different path,
and arriving at the kraal, they commenced driving off
the vast herd of cattle. The Latookas, who had not
fought while their wives and children were being
carried into slavery, now fronted bravely against the
muskets to defend their herds, and charging the Turks,
they drove them down the pass.
It was in vain that they fought ; every bullet aimed
,at a Latooka struck a rock, behind which the enemy
was hidden. Rocks, stones, and lances were hurled at
them from all sides and from above ; they were forced
to retreat. The retreat ended in a panic and precipitate
flight. Hemmed in on all sides, amidst a showet
of lances and stones thrown from the mountain above,
the Turks fled pêle-mêle down the rocky and precipitous
ravines. Mistaking their route, they came to
a precipice from which there was no retreat. The
screaming and yelling savages closed round them:
Fighting was useless ; the natives, under cover of the
numerous detached rocks, offered no mark for an aim ;