HOW WE CURED THE CHIEF 



piece of cloth. Ten minutes later he returned from the 

 village with the bandage ripped off and worn as an apron 

 hung on a piece of stripped bark. 



At one village the huts were surrounded by a strong 

 reed palisade and thorn hedge, while on poles around the 

 barricade were numbers of grinning bleached skulls that 

 bore ample evidence of the habits of the pointed tooth 

 community. 



On the downward journey I was on several occasions 

 attacked by fever and had to get the tent erected in 

 uninviting spots. On one occasion I lay for two days 

 with a high temperature in a country of notoriously 

 hostile people. The following morning, about six miles 

 from where our camp had been, I came across some 

 deserted huts, broken earthen jars and gourds. As I 

 was alone I was anxious not to delay in reaching the 

 Nile, and thereby run greater risk of being attacked. I 

 noticed under a bunch of trees a large frame of stout 

 poles some six feet square on which the half-decomposed 

 corpse of a man was fastened in a standing position by 

 cords of bark and skins. I was surprised that the 

 vultures and other carrion eaters had not been there, 

 but my boys were of the opinion that the body had only 

 been there a few hours, for they pointed to recent im- 

 pressions of naked feet on a path running at right angles 

 to that on which we were travelling ; moreover, there 

 were fires close by which though apparently dead were 

 still warm, and from one of these Salem took some tiny 

 pieces of ash which when blown on for a few moments 

 showed a faint spark of life. Apparently we had 

 narrowly escaped contact with some raiding tribe. We 

 were midway between two villages and far from huts 

 of any description. It was a mystery, and one that I 

 turned from and quickened my pace to the east where 

 lay the great Nile nearly 200 miles away. 



The graves one sees occasionally are indeed curious 



199 



