THE STRANGE VILLAGE OF KIYA BE 383 



talked Arabic, as did some of Iiis men. Greetings 

 were exchanged, and then I told them of our friendly 

 mission, simply that we wished to visit with them for 

 a few days, watch them dance, and talk to the women 

 who carried the disks in their Hps. 



It was of no use to explain we wanted to photograph 

 them, for they know nothmg of pictures, and without 

 doubt if they had been shown a reproduction of them- 

 selves, it would have caused trouble. When dealing 

 with primitive people who have no knowledge of 

 photography, I always remember what nearly happened 

 to me on the island of Zanzibar, when a huge Negro 

 tried to cleave me in two pieces with a big banana 

 knife, because he said I had stolen his spirit from his 

 body to carry away with me. It was only because of 

 quick action on the part of my boys that I was able 

 to save my own body to carry away. 



During the conversation I learned from the chief 

 of what had happened to the German of whom the 

 Frenchman spoke. He had been killed by crocodiles 

 while bathing m the river near the village of Balbedjia. 

 A horseman had brought the news two days before. 

 Crocodiles were very bad in all these streams and had 

 killed many people, said the chief. 



After the morning sun had peeped over the horizon 

 we had a chance to survey our surroundings, finding 

 that Kiya Be was really a cluster of several villages, 

 with one very IcO-ge inclosure in the center. This odd 

 place was a fort. The square was constructed of 

 double rows of matting, through which no arrow or 

 spear could penetrate. Inside the wall stood a large 

 building of red earth of about two-and-a-half stories 

 high, with two towers joined together by a passageway. 



