; CHAPTEE XXVI 



EXPLORATION OF THE BAMINGI 



We camped for two nights at the Togbau hills, and 

 the last was a broken one, for heavy rain on our now 

 much-worn tents made us very uncomfortable. We were 

 further disturbed by a leopard that came and took two 

 of our fowls, and then had the boldness to come back for a 

 second helping, which left Jaggra sole survivor of the poultry 

 pen. 



Soon after starting in the morning, Gosling's boat 

 rudely roused from his slumbers a hippo, which plunged and 

 scrambled up the bank and gave " Biri," the monkey, a 

 terrible fright. Our journey as far as Fort Archambault, or 

 Tounia, was uneventful, nor was the country interesting, 

 being very open and flat on both sides of the river, and 

 already much inundated by the rains. 



Our next camp was about eighteen miles from the Togbau. 

 and here we stayed two days, as Gosling shot a couple of 

 elephants and it took a long time to get the meat into camp, 

 which was six miles distant. The elephants were not very 

 large ones. When all the meat had been brought in, none 

 of the Kotoko men would touch it, for they said that if they 

 ate elephant meat, they would fall sick and their arms and 

 legs drop off. 



A letter from Captain Stieber, at Kusseri, overtook us 



