J. TELGONA 223 



world. England was a tiny country owing allegiance 

 to a mere woman. England was so poor that she 

 could give nothing ; France so rich, as the monthly 

 payments to the Sultan showed, that she did not 

 know what to do with her wealth. " We hear, how- 

 ever," shrewdly remarked the sheikh, " that taking, 

 not giving, is the rule in French Congo, otherwise 

 it would be a good thing to follow the givers of 

 presents." 



J. Telgona, with its five peaks, looks like a giant 

 hand emerging from its wrist upwards from the earth, 

 and is situated in a vast tree-covered plain. We passed 

 between the thumb and forefinger, and halted at a 

 village which drew its supply of water from wells. 

 Abdulahi was much put out at my paying for the 

 water. Water and growing wood are always free. I 

 wished, however, to make my payment wages in 

 advance for making new wells. Heedless generosity 

 defeats itself. An officer I knew was known as 

 Abudahab (father of gold), as he dispensed such 

 a lot in presents. Those who followed in his foot- 

 steps found the natural civility of the inhabitants killed 

 by the lust for gold. 



The trees about were not large, and clumps of bushes 

 were frequent. Near Telgona I gathered a lot of fruit 

 from the hemeid, a tall tree with a silver bark. The 

 fruit, in appearance like a yellow plum, consisted of 

 a tough bitter skin, containing a large stone, covered 

 with a grape-like substance that tasted like stewed 

 apples. 



On the road I learned a lot about Gessi, Lupton, 



