18 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTRAL AFRICA 



us into a broad, straight, sandy road that led through 

 the heart of the town, past the Sultan's palace, by 

 the school, where superior black boys laboriously learn 

 German, and past the market-place to the fort. It is 

 a magnificent and imposing building, made of bricks 

 from the local kiln, whitened with lime from a marble 

 quarry near-by. A deep trench and orderly shrubbery 

 separate it from the road, which, as I have said before, 

 runs straight to the river. Captain Schwarz came 

 out to greet us, welcomed us to the fort, and took 

 us in to tea. The place is homely, and is furnished 

 with a simple taste that lent the hospitality we re- 

 ceived there an additional attraction. Flies were the 

 only drawback, and they buzzed round with unwearying 

 persistency. There were house-flies, some of which bite; 

 large flying-ants that shed their wings without com- 

 punction ; globulous, slug-bodied insects that entangled 

 themselves in our hair ; sharp, hard-bodied little beetles 

 that slipped inside our dresses ; and sand-flies that 

 have driven men mad. These are almost invisible, 

 like wee midges, and bite with a ferocity that is out 

 of all proportion to their size. In a very short time 

 our hands and faces were covered with lumps, like 

 a bath-bun with granulated sugar, the result of their 

 assaults. These attacked us by day, and mosquitos 

 by night — though the latter came almost as a relief, 

 for when they were in such numbers as to be unbear- 

 able we could take refuge from them behind mosquito- 

 nets. Herr von Kanke, the doctor, kept toads, which 

 sat upon the table and shot out greedy tongues that 

 worked havoc amongst the insect tribes. 



After tea a carriage-and-pair swejDt round to the 

 door, followed by a dog-cart, and we were taken for a 



