various patterns, with red ochre and white pipe-clay;
their heads adorned with very tasteful ornaments of
cowrie-shells, surmounted by plumes of ostrich-feathers,
which drooped over the back of the neck. After the
dance, the old chief addressed them in a long and
vehement speech; he was followed by several other
speakers, all of whom were remarkably fluent, and the
resolution of the meeting was declared “ that the
nogaras were to be beaten, and men collected to accompany
the Turks on a razzia in the Madi country.”
Ibrahim started with 120 armed men and a mass of
Obbo people on the marauding expedition.
On the following day Katchiba came to see us,
bringing a present of flour. I gave him a tin plate, a
wooden spoon, the last of the tea-cups, and a tinsel
paper of mother-of-pearl shirt buttons, which took his
fancy so immensely, that my wife was begged to
suspend it from his neck like a medal. He was really
a very good old fellow—by far the best I have seen in
Africa. He was very suspicious of the Turks, who, he
said, would ultimately ruin him, as, by attacking the
Madi tribe, they would become his enemies, and invade
Obbo when the Turks should leave. Cattle were of
very little use in his country, as the flies would kill
them ; he had tried all his magic art, but it was of no
avail against the flies ; my donkeys would all assuredly