THE MARCH 179 



scored the flank of one of the baggage donkeys when 

 they turned up later. I lost no time in collecting fire- 

 wood. We carried flambeaux of grass when doing so. 

 Soon the lions made themselves heard, bolting when 

 the rest of the party approached, but returning at once. 

 All night long one heard them. At about 3 A.M. my 

 donkey emitted an earth-shaking bray. I bounded 

 out of bed, thinking a lion was in camp, but was 

 reassured by the sight of three or four huge bonfires 

 surrounding it. 



A dozen miles or more from the river, which, owing 

 to the state of my nerves (it was the anniversary of the 

 incident at Turda), I did not leave till daybreak, we 

 came to a piece of sloping forest country containing 

 many doleib palms. The view formed my breakfast, 

 for the remainder of the party lost the path. 



Four miles from Ragaa we came again on villages. 

 Except Tigilli, about fifteen miles from Kabalosu, 

 there were no other signs of habitations present or 

 past — babais the latter are called — on the road. 



The Sultan had asked me to search Ragaa, so I told 

 his uncle that I would do so. All along the road 

 from Kabalosu we had seen the tracks of a ridden 

 donkey, so the uncle's protestations, that our visit was 

 quite unexpected, to be disbelieved, needed not the 

 evidence of a man whom I had left sick in the village 

 as I had passed through on my way north. This man 

 had seen ivory, bundles of guns, and other goods 

 being hurried out of the town. Of course, on his 

 unsupported word I did not wish to act. Even when 

 at J. Zaka, a small hill 400 feet high, on the road 



