256 THROUGH UNKNOWN AFRICAN COUNTRIES, 
pantomime I have ever seen. He was a well-built and 
graceful savage, and absolutely naked except for a small 
piece of sheepskin that hung from his neck over his back. 
Around his ankles, knees, and arms, were rings of sheep- 
skin, with the white wool attached, and contrasting well with 
his black skin, while a large white ostrich feather waved to 
and fro on his head. He ran first to one side and then 
to the other, and at each turn would give a jump, swinging 
his body completely around in the air before he alighted. 
Every dash brought him a little nearer, until he got within 
thirty yards of where we stood. Then planting his thrust- 
ing-spear fiercely in the ground, he raised his javelin to 
throw it at us. He was such a fine picture of native 
prowess that I did not wish to kill him; but his javelin 
would very likely have hit one of us, and I was forced to 
do something out of protection, and ordered instantly one 
of my boys, who was carrying a shot-gun, to give him a 
charge of small shot. 
On the report of the gun, the native gave a spring into 
the air, doubled up, and ran away as fast as his legs could 
carry him. Neither he nor his companions stopped running 
before we lost sight of them in the dense bushes at the 
foot of the mountains. The little handful of men that had 
attacked us, we were told afterwards, belonged to some vil- 
lages that lay quite near to Lake Stephanie on the sides of 
the mountains, and although an offshoot of the Amar, they 
were at war with their relatives, as well as with the Arbore. 
These latter had not yet made their appearance, but they 
were not long in doing so. Most of the plain to the north 
of our camp was covered with their durrha fields, while 
three large villages of the Arbore lay a mile and a half 
to our west, separated from us by a good deal of bushy 
country. 
