moisture. In the evening it was always necessary to
keep a blazing fire within the hut, as the floor and
walls were wet and chilly. .
The wet herbage disagreed with my baggage animals.
Innumerable flies appeared, including the Tsetse, and
in a few weeks the donkeys had no hair left, either on
their ears or legs ; they drooped and died one by one.
I t was in vain that I erected sheds, and lighted fires ;
nothing would protect them from the flies.' The
moment the fires were lit, the animals would rush
wildly into the smoke, from which nothing would
drive them, and in the clouds of imaginary protection
they would remain all day,'refusing food. On the
16th of July my last horse, Mouse, died ; he had a very
long tail, for which I obtained a cow in exchange.
Nothing was prized so highly as a horse’s tail, the hairs
being used for stringing beads, and also for making
tufts as ornaments, to be suspended from thé elbows.
It was highly fashionable in Obbo for the men to
wear such tufts, formed of the bushy ends of Cow’s-
tails. I t was also “ thé thing” to wear six or eight
polished rings of iron, fastened so tightly round the
throat, as to almost choke the wearer, somewhat resembling
dog-collars.
On 18th July, the natives held a great consultation,
and ended with a war-dance ; they were all painted in
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