XL] 



A MISEEABLE CHRISTMAS. 



139 



Some good sport was to be had here, and when I rallied a 

 little I frequently took my gun into a rice swamp about iifty 

 yards outside the village, and bagged some snipe. The men 

 also constantly went shooting, bringing in on one occasion a 

 zebra, and on another a couple of gazelles. The zebra is the 

 best meat in Africa, and is eaten by all the Arabs and their 

 people, though not one of them would touch horse or donkey 

 to save his life. 



Christmas-day passed very miserablj. A heavy rain-storm 

 commenced with the day, and flooded the whole village. The 



December, 

 1873. 



I§^-- m^§M, 





ditch and bank round ni}'- tent were washed away, and I had 

 over six inches of water inside it. Every thing was wet, 

 damp, and muggy. ^ 



Then my dinner, for which I had kept a tin of soup and one 

 of fisli, besides one of the plum-puddings, was a failure. A vil- 

 lage dog stole the fish. Sambo upset the soup, and the pudding 

 was not boiled ; and I had to content myself with a scraggy 

 fowl and a bit of matama damper. 



A very curious superstition on the part of the natives was 

 noticeable here. One of my men came to me, shouting that 

 there was a large snake in a hut. I, of course, took my gun, in- 

 tending to shoot it ; but when I arrived, the natives would not 



10 



