132 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



The houses of the station are good. They are built of 

 burnt bricks, which are made at the rate of 2000 a day. In the 

 market square a plain obelisk of white stone has been set up 

 to the memory of Major Lamy, the conqueror of Rabeh. 

 Round the monument at market-time, the crowd turns and 

 hums, overflowing as the sun grows hot into the neighbouring 

 stalls and shelters. The market is a large one, where most 

 things can be bought ; beef, mutton and goats' meat, fowls, 

 fresh and dried fish, butter, rice, beans, millet, maize, ground- 

 nuts and pumpkins ; and cloth, most of which is brought by 

 the Hausa merchants from Yola. Kanuri, as well as Arab 

 courtesans strut among the stalls, followed by slave girls 

 carrying the knick-knacks and cosmetics which they purchase. 

 The Kanuri wear "covers " of bright coloured prints thrown 

 picturesquely round their supple bodies, and the longer the 

 piece so that it can trail upon the ground, the more fashionable 

 is its owner. 



For payments smaller than the Maria Theresa dollar 

 which is here worth three francs, strings of blue beads are in 

 circulation. Each string contains eighteen beads, and forty- 

 five strings go to a dollar. The beads are good currency 

 everywhere in the country and strings of them are worn by 

 the women round their loins. As a monetary system they 

 are far better than cowrie-shells, which are clumsy and bulky, 

 or the threepenny-pieces of Northern Nigeria, which cannot 

 be divided to meet the small requirements of the purchaser. 



During the next few days we were busy sorting out our 

 stores and packing up for our forward movement up the 

 Shari. There was much to be done. The coverings to our 

 bales of cloth were nearly worn out and had to be repaired, 



