176 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



ceremony had to be performed by Katchiba, whose brother was 

 to be their guide, and who was to receive power as deputy-magi- 

 cian to control the elements during the journey. With great 

 solemnity the dear old sorcerer broke a branch from a tree, upon 

 the leaves of which he spat in several places-. The branch thus 

 blessed with holy water, was laid upon the ground, and a fowl 

 was dragged around it ; he then handed the branch to his brother, 

 accompanied by a magic whistle of antelope's horn, both of 

 which were received with great gravity. All the natives wore 

 whistles similar in appearance, but none were supposed to be 

 effective unless previously blessed by the great magician. The 

 ceremony being over, the travelers took leave of Katchiba, 

 promising soon to return, and departed on their journey amidst 

 a din of " toot-too-too-ing " from rain whistles and horns. 



POISON YAMS. 



BORDERING a ravine, near which they camped that night, were 

 a number of large trees covered with a thorny creeper, the 

 leaves of which resembled those of a species of yam. These 

 Ibrahimawa, the traveled Bornu man who claimed to be a 

 learned botanist, at once pronounced to be excellent food, and 

 digging at the roots of the vines he soon procured a basketful 

 of fine-looking yams. The rest of the men, not being botanists, 

 left the search for food to Ibrahimawa, but when he produced 

 the basketful of tempting-looking food they made a rush for it 

 and helped themselves. The scientific botanist was left without 

 a yam ; but he had his revenge. The roots were soon cooked, 

 and the men ate them voraciously ; but in a few minutes they 

 began to disappear one by one, and from a distance came smoth- 

 ered but unmistakable sounds similar to those produced by sea- 

 sick passengers on a rolling ship. All who had dined from 

 Ibrahimawa' s botanical specimens were suffering from a powerful 

 "vomi-purgatif." They were intensely sick for about an hour, 

 but no further inconvenience was experienced from the poison 

 yams, although Ibrahimawa's reputation as a botanist fell to a 

 very low grade. 



Upon reaching the Latooka valley, where game was abundant, 



