180 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



shirt which Baker had given him, and which he considered 

 exceedingly recherche. Several dressed ox-hides were spread on 

 the ground, and the chief invited his visitors to be seated, Mrs. 

 Baker on the right and her husband on the left. Then, after the 

 beer had been passed around, and Katchiba had taken enough to 

 warm himself up pretty well, the delightful old sorcerer called 

 for his harp, and after tuning it, politely asked his visitors " if 

 he should sing ? " Prepared for something comic, they begged 

 him to begin, and he sang, to their surprise, a most plaintive, 

 wild, but pleasing air, accompanying himself perfectly on the 

 harp. Music, dancing, and drinking beer were Katchiba's prin- 

 cipal amusements, and he excelled in all of them. The enter- 

 tainment over, he led a sheep in by a string, and begged his 

 guests to accept it; but they politely declined, saying they did 

 not expect a present, but had merely called on him as friends. 

 He accordingly handed the sheep to his wife, and they departed ; 

 but on arriving at their own camp, they found the sheep awaiting 

 them. The following day Katchiba returned their visit in great 

 state, carrying a large red flag made from a piece of cloth the 

 Turks had given him, and accompanied by two men beating 

 drums, and another blowing a sort of clarionet. 



NEWS FROM THE INTERIOR. 



WHILE waiting at Obbo, Baker's hopes were somewhat revived 

 by an Unyora slave woman, who gave him a very good account 

 of the Luta N'zige, which she described as a large lake, lying in 

 almost the exact latitude in which Baker expected to find the 

 Alb'ert N'yanza the object of his expedition, but the Asua river 

 was still too badly swollen to be crossed safely ; so he continued 

 in Obbo, oppressed with fever and the knowledge that the Turks 

 were stirring up the natives to war, on account of their thievery. 

 On the 17th of October, Baker concludes an entry in his 

 journal, chiefly descriptive of the symptoms of an approaching 

 fever, as follows: "My stock of quinine is reduced to a few 

 grains, and my work lies before me; my cattle are all dead. 

 We ar3 both weakened by repeated fever, and traveling must be 

 on foot." 



