THE SHARI 193 



evening meal. At night they slept side by side with 

 Mandara, round huge fires, for there was danger from 

 leopard and jackal for those little babies. 



The country was beautifully green, and we passed 

 through regular forests of acacia and mimosa. One of 

 the former contradicted itself, for its leaves, though on 

 the same stem, were totally unlike. I thought I had 

 made a discovery, but my learned friends told me it is 

 the habit of acacias. The bush itself was beautiful, for 

 it was covered with seed-pods which, when they break 

 open, disclose a pyramid of white silk, clear and clean. 



We had been misinformed as to distances, and were 

 agreeably astonished to find that we had arrived so 

 soon at a dilapidated little village just opposite Gulfei 

 itself Masses of rotting fish were gathered in heaps 

 over the ground, proof of the industry of the inhabitants. 

 We sincerely wished they had been a lazier people, for 

 it seemed impossible to elude the smell that resulted 

 from their occupation, and we were obliged to sit and 

 wait till the Sultan, or Jeggara, of Gulfei, as he is 

 called, graciously permitted canoes to be sent to fetch 

 us over. There is great jealousy between the peoples 

 on the opposite banks, for the rival jurisdiction of 

 French and Germans has set a barrier between them. 

 The miserable little village where we were waiting 

 had suffered sorely : from a once thriving town it had 

 dwindled to a mere hamlet, and though the people are 

 allowed to fish near their own banks they do not dare 

 to cross the Shari. 



In due course two superb canoes came out from 

 Gulfei to bring us thither. They were made of many 

 pieces of wood sewn together with hide, and the 

 interstices were filled up and made watertight with 



N 



