A TREK THROUGH BOENU 249 



donkeys travelling to or from some market. The 

 traders do not have an easy time, for water is scarce. 

 There are usually wells at the villages, but at the 

 township of Marguba there are none, and each carrier 

 is charged 3d. for one bowlful — a statute price that 

 is a heavy draft on the 9d. which he receives for a 

 full day's work. 



From Gujiba to Mutue there is a long march, 

 twenty-four miles, and there is no well on the way. 

 Nor are there trees big enough to give shelter in the 

 noonday heat. It would seem an easy matter to erect 

 shelters of zana mats, where travellers could rest for 

 the four hottest hours between eleven and three, but 

 there are none, and the caravan plods on, men and 

 beasts with downcast eyes and nodding heads, in dull 

 acceptance of an unpitying fate. 



Knives and spears are both carried, for there is no 

 security on the road, and every man goes armed. 



As we passed by a small knot of men were gathered 

 together at the corner of a field — they were burying 

 a trader lately murdered. He had paid the penalty 

 of prosperity. The people told us that the villagers 

 were responsible, but the Resident at Gujiba said it 

 was more probably due to a raid of the Maragi, who 

 are not yet fully subdued, and who often act highway- 

 men along the Bornu road. 



Between twenty and thirty miles from Marguba is 

 a beautiful town named Gabai. It is inhabited by a 

 tribe called Ngassar, who say they came from the 

 town of Ngusseri, near Constantinople, some 330 years 

 ago. They are Mahommedans, but they have a pecu- 

 liar practice of early morning worship. Each " good " 

 man has a pot let into the ground, which is exclusively 



