34 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTRAL AFRICA 



with a violence that must have killed him had his 

 helmet not broken the force of the blow. Luckily 

 we were not far from our destination, and as we 

 neared Golombe deputies from the chief rode out to 

 give us welcome : but why do I say us, for again 

 Mrs Talbot and I were ignored, even as we had 

 been at Garua ? This time there was compensation, 

 for the natives all shook hands with Mr Talbot, 

 which is an honour he likes to reserve for very 

 big men ; but both Germans and French have in- 

 stituted it as a general custom throughout their 

 dependencies. 



On our arrival the Lamido ^ (chief) himself came to 

 salute us, and gratified us by his fatherly interest. 

 He asked if we were both Mr Talbot's wives, and 

 how many piccans we had, and showed a kindly 

 amazement at hearing me repudiated. He took us 

 to the rest-house, whence the view of the Kaa Chiu 

 and Herri hills was lovely. Star-shaped beds of bare 

 earth in the foreground prepared us for the squalor 

 of the building, which consisted of two dark and 

 fusty rooms, thickly populated with frogs and mos- 

 quitos, separated by a tiny dark corridor six feet in 

 width. 



Here we passed two quiet days, as we had to 

 wait for new carriers, which was just as well, for 

 we considered Mr Talbot an invalid, and at first 

 attempted to treat him as such. The day of his 

 accident Mrs Talbot busied herself in the prepara- 

 tion of an immense bowl of Benofer's Food for him, 

 and in addition a cherry tart for us. He did not 

 fall in with this scheme, however, and roles were 



^ A Fulani word derived from Arabic. 



