1 68 Incidents of Foreign Field Sport. 



about four feet high, made of mud, which when 

 dry is as hard as stone. 1 Bida proper is about one- 

 and-a-half miles square, rudely fortified, with but 

 four gateways, one in each face. It is densely popu- 

 lated. A small stream runs through it, the only water 

 the people have for drinking ; yet so filthy are the 

 population in their habits that they use the banks for 

 purposes of nature and lave their persons in it ! It is 

 disgusting to approach the stream ; you have to pick 

 your way to avoid the ordure scattered about, and 

 the stench is dreadful. If a pony, a dog, cat, or 

 other beast die, it is left to rot, and were it not 

 for the vultures, no one could exist in the place, for it 

 is worse than the interior of the Parsee towers near 

 Bombay. 



We had no liquor. Milk we could not obtain, 

 and although about a mile from our dwelling a 

 market was held daily, none of my comrades had 

 visited it, so left the catering to a Lagos nigger, 

 who did not give us the best of fare. I volunteered 

 to take that duty in hand, so I went to the market 

 the next morning. The walk there was enough 

 to give one the cholera, so I could account for 

 the other Europeans not having performed it, for the 

 filth all round was abominable, with crowds washing 

 in the stream, and that the only water in the place. 

 This river wound so about that I had to wade it 

 three or four times before reaching the market. 



The people in this part of Africa have a very large 

 dash of Arab blood in their veins and are strict 

 Mussulmans. I found dozens of zebu cattle for 



1 When a person dies in Bida, he is buried underneath the floor 

 of his house, and the household continue to live in it, all the same. 



