2 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



These people live principally without order, plundering each 

 other as well as their enemies, and their chiefs, who are 

 Kanuri, have no control over them. They are of Eastern 

 origin and closely resemble the Berbers in type. Also, their 

 method of cultivating wheat is the same as that found 

 among the peoples upon the Nile. All along the river-bank, 

 one's eye meets the patches of wheat, of which the beautiful 

 light green springs in refreshing contrast to the otherwise 

 barren-looking land beyond. These fields are irrigated by 

 channels cut close up to the river-bank, over which a calabash 

 swings at the end of a pole, weighted at the other end by a 

 lump of clay. Hour after hour, all day long, as one journeys 

 along the river in the dry season, one hears the see-sawing 

 creak and groan rise and fall like labouring breaths, as the 

 natives ceaselessly work their primitive pumps up and down, 

 dipping the calabash into the river and tilting the water 

 into the dykes. 



When the markets are being held at the different towns 

 in this part of the country the more treacherous of the Mobburs 

 take the opportunity of making profitable alliances with the 

 Tubus, for whom they act as spies, giving information as to 

 the roads by which their victims' flocks will travel, and often 

 assisting with more active aid, which is rewarded with a 

 proportion of the spoils. These acts of lawlessness are always 

 more rife when the falling of the river makes it easier for 

 the Tubus to get their plunder quickly over to the other 

 side, where pursuit is difficult. 



At this time the district was in a most unsettled state ; 

 natives were going about armed, and only travelled at night 

 for fear of the Tubus, who, owing to the dry season, were 



