the sentries alone being on the outside. There is a
species of. ironwood that is very inflammable, and
being oily, it burns like a torch; this grew in great
quantities, and the numerous fires fed with this vigorous
fuel enlivened the bivouac with a continual blaze.
My men were busy, baking then? bread. On such
occasions an oven is dispensed with. A prodigious fire
is made while the dough is being prepared ; this, when
well moistened, is formed into, a cake about two fèet in
diameter, but not thicker than two inches. The fire
being in a fit state of glowing ash, a large hole is
scraped in the centre, in which the flat cake is laid, and
the red-hot embers are raked over it ; thus buried it
will bake in about twenty minutes, but the dough must
be exceedingly moist or it will burn to a cinder.
On the following day we arrived at Latooka, where I
found everything in good order at the dépôt, and the
European vegetables that I had sown were all above
ground. Commoro and a number of people came to
meet us.
There had been but little rain at Latooka since we
left, although it had been raining heavily at Obbo
daily, and there was no difference in the dry sandy
plain that surrounded the town, neither was there any
pasturage for the animals except at a great distance.
The day after my arrival, Filfil was taken ill and
died in a few hours, Tetel had been out of condition
ever since the day of his failure during the elephant
hunt, and he now refused his food. Sickness rapidly
spread through my animals; five donkeys died within
a few days, and the remainder looked poor. Two of
my camels died suddenly, having eaten the poison
bush. Within a few days of this disaster my good
old hunter and companion of all my former sports in
the Base country, Tetel, died. These terrible blows
to my expedition were most satisfactory to the La-
tookas, who ate the donkeys and other animals the
moment they died. It was a race between the natives
and the vultures as to who should be first to profit by
my losses.
Not only were the animals sick, but my wife was
laid up with a violent attack of gastric fever, and I
was also suffering from daily attacks of ague. The
small-pox broke out among the Turks. Several people
died; and, to make matters worse, they insisted upon
inoculating themselves and all* their slaves; thus the
whole camp was reeking with this horrible disease.
Fortunately my camp was separate and to windward.
I strictly forbade my men to inoculate themselves,
and no case of the disease occurred among my
people, but it spread throughout the country. Smallpox
is a scourge among the tribes of Central Africa,