THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 179 



natives of nearly everything, so that it was impossible to buy 

 either cows or oxen. Soon after their return Baker's last horse 

 died, and both himself and wife became excessively ill from 

 bilious fever, so that neither could assist the other. The kind 

 old chief, hearing that they were dying, came to charm them 

 with his magic. He found the invalids lying helpless, and imme- 

 diately procured a small branch of a tree, and filling his mouth 

 with water, he squirted it over the leaves and about the floor of 

 the hut, he then waved the branch around his patients' heads, 

 and completed the ceremony by sticking it in the thatch above 

 the doorway ; he told them they should now get better, and per- 

 fectly satisfied, he took his leave. The hut was swarming with 

 rats and white ants ; the former racing over them during the 

 night, and burrowing through the floor, filled their only room 

 with mounds like mole-hills. As fast as the holes were stopped, 

 others were made with determined perseverance. Having a 

 supply of arsenic, Baker gave them an entertainment, the effect 

 being disagreeable to all parties, as the rats died in their holes 

 and created a horrible effluvium, while fresh hosts took the place 

 of the departed. Now and then a snake would be seen gliding 

 within the thatch, having taken shelter from the pouring rain. 



The animals were no better off, for they were attacked by the 

 dreadful tsetse fly, so that they soon had no hair left on their 

 bodies, and died one after another. 



A VISIT TO KATCHIBA. 



AFTER two months of severe illness, Baker and his wife were 

 sufficiently recovered to be out again, and they decided to pay a 

 morning call to chief Katchiba. He received them very politely, 

 and begged them to enter his principal residence. Creeping on 

 all fours through the narrow doorway, they found themselves in 

 the presence of one of the chief's wives, who was preparing 

 merissa beer. The whole establishment appeared to be devoted 

 to the brewing of this drink, of which Katchiba was excessively 

 fond. The apartment contained several immense jars, holding 

 about thirty gallons each, in one of which the chief had stored 

 the presents that he had received, among the rest a red flannel 



