OUR JOURNEY UP THE UBANGUI 231 



of my head, and it was immediately wet with blood. Mama 

 told me I had lain insensible for half an hour. The water 

 refreshed me, and then by easy stages I crawled back to 

 camp where I remained all the next day nursing a bad head- 

 ache, while Jose went about the work of collecting food for 

 our journey on the morrow. 



Pounded rogo was the food of the country, and* the 

 " boys " on the whole enjoyed the change. There are no 

 chiefs among the Banziri, and at each of the villages we 

 came to, where food was wanted, it was supplied in separate 

 portions by the different families. As I rested in camp 

 that day I watched the women come and go in twos and 

 threes to Jose's tent with calabashes of rogo. Galadima, the 

 quartermaster, was there to make the payments, doling out 

 into each empty calabash a spoon of salt or beads, whichever 

 was asked for : but the salt was in greater demand to satisfy 

 the craving that all these people have. It was amusing to 

 watch the women exerting all their charms upon the staid 

 old Graladima, who at times stretched the measure according 

 to his idea of female loveliness. At a little distance the 

 husbands waited to examine and approve the purchases, in 

 the process always managing to make a good deal of the salt 

 stick to their fingers, which they greedily licked after return- 

 ing the calabashes to the women. 



The next day we reached Luma and joined Gosling, who, 

 I was sorry to find, had suffered a bad time since we parted 

 from severe attacks of fever, the result of several drenchings 

 at night, for a tornado had destroyed his tent past repair. 



The island of Luma is three miles long by one broad, and 

 like other islands in the river, is neutral ground between the 



