OUR JOURNEY UP THE WELLE 277 



In two days Gosling had recovered, but he looked fearfully 

 worn, and was very depressed at the loss of his little pet. 

 Afterwards at Amadi, however, he was much cheered by 

 the glad surprise of the truant Pasi's reappearance ; it was 

 brought in by the chief of Bodo who had caught it after 

 we left. 



We next broke our journey at the Angba hill which 

 abuts on the right bank. It is about 120 ft. high and 

 contains much iron ; the surface is covered with grass and 

 scrubby trees. This is the country of the Madi tribe, and 

 a few hours' journey from the hill brought me to a large 

 village where I stayed a few days to collect and get more 

 wax, or " dunko," as the Hausas called it, for mending the 

 boats. 



It was an interesting place, and I got on friendly terms 

 with the chief, who gave me a good square-built mud house to 

 live in. There were a number of these as well as the round huts 

 surrounding a large space crowned by some handsome cocoa- 

 nut palms. From the branches hung a great many nests of 

 weaver birds whose gay plumage of yellow and black en- 

 livened the scene. This is the village square where the great 

 chief sits at evening time surrounded by his headmen, and 

 here he holds talk with his people, hearing all that they 

 have done or seen during the day, while his special spy comes 

 and reports to him what the " Masungu," or white man at 

 Amadi, is doing, every detail of whose life is chronicled 

 faithfully before him from day to day. Towards sunset a 

 slave boy comes to him with a jar of palm wine fresh drawn 

 from the trees, and when the great chief raises it to his hps a 

 roll sounds on the large wooden village drum, and as the 



