CHAPTER VII 



The Anuaks — A native officer stalks a tiang — The power of "litterae- 

 scriptae " — My crew — I am sent to explore the Pibor — My force and 

 personnel — The Sudd — Elephants and giraffe — Villages on the banks 

 — Cutting through the sudd. 



We stopped another day at Itang on our return. 



Sheikh Fagoi, the lame headman of that section of 



the Anuak tribe, again treated us to a dance. In the 



first one quite three hundred ladies took part. They 



were said to be all wives of his. After the dance they 



formed a large semicircle, and I had to pour beads 



into their hands. 



The poor Anuaks are an unfortunate people. Till 



the trading-post was established they were continually 



being raided by the Abyssinians. They were, however, 



a feckless lot. To get beads and wire they would sell 



all their grain, and then, famine-stricken, require relief. 



As one of the horrors of the slave trade, Count Teleki 



told us that he saw in the vicinity of Lake Rudolf 



mothers selling their children for a few gewgaws. In 



appearance they are of the weedy riverain build. One 



who struck me as being particularly fine in physique, 



as he marched along the bank naked but for a short 



cloak made of the hide of a tiang, I measured and 



found his chest to be 31I inches round, while he 



stood nearly six feet. An effort was being made to 



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