SHEIKH CHABINDJI 249 



seen, he was to be hunted. Bwado hves on the river 

 Mana. When the bird Torogbo (white tail and beak, 

 blue body, its cry '' watch-r-r-r, watch-r-r-r ") comes to 

 a village the sheikh makes him marissa ; if not made, 

 sickness is sent. Angbwa, also called Kabiarga, sends 

 a snake to a man's house. The latter has then to build 

 a house for himself in the forest. B'quara is a god of 

 sorts. A big tree called Kubu grows on the Biri River. 

 It has a priest, and is rain-producing when living 

 sacrifices are made to it. 



There are, of course, a thousand and one more 

 beliefs and customs which my successors, much longer 

 in the district than I was, no doubt have made a 

 record of. 



My escort and carriers turned up just as I was leav- 

 ing the village. At Sheikh Chabindji's village the party 

 I had left at J. Migi rejoined. They declared that their 

 marches of sixty miles a day to catch me up were 

 made in order to march into Dem Zubeir with me as 

 they had marched out. 



Chabindji, when I saw him first, was seated, very 

 lightly clad, under a big tree that bears a bean-like 

 fruit. The pods contained a seed buried in a flowery- 

 yellow matter, that had a saffron taste. He was 

 almost stone-blind. I promised to send him a pair 

 of spectacles, and, on my return to Wau, did all I 

 could to redeem my promise — at my own expense, of 

 course. I still grow hot with anger when I remember 

 that, dependent as I was on those who would tell me 

 what to buy, they failed to help me. To them, I fear, 

 it was but the case of ''some d — d old buck nigger," 



