SKETCHES IN THE SOUDAN 73 



of the village, who had hospitably entertained Gr., and four 

 others, had come down with him, but not wishing to meet our 

 men, had to be left at our old camp. There they now were, 

 waiting for Gr. to return with food, &c. ; and presently he started 

 to join them, accompanied by our interpreter, the Abyssinian 

 boy, Wasa, and our minstrel camel-man none of the others 

 daring to go. I went out to kill the fatted calf, or rather buck, 

 to celebrate G.'s arrival, and found him on my return on the 

 point of starting for the second time to meet his Dembela friends, 

 provided with various presents, tobacco, handkerchiefs, knives, 

 scissors, whisky, &c. Gr. had been asked to bring a Bible, as 

 the " shoum " (Abyssinian Christian) was desirous to swear on 

 it that we were his friends, and that he would guarantee our 

 safety in his territory for one fortnight, but not for longer, as a 

 famous bandit chief, now a long way off, over whom he had no 

 control, would probably return to this part of the frontier after 

 that time had elapsed. Now, I fear, a Bible had not been 

 included in our kit, so the shoum being very anxious about the 

 matter, to which he seemed to attach great importance, some 

 other book had to answer the purpose. I think it was the second 

 volume of " The Channings " which was selected, and carefully 

 wrapped in a red handkerchief to show its value and the care 

 we took of it, to be afterward unfolded in the presence of the 

 shoum with all due ceremony. 



To pay a visit to the strangers I joined Gr., and on the way 

 he gave me an account of his adventures on the road. This is 

 about what he told me : 



" After leaving you I rode up the river-bed, past the water, 

 where I saw many tetel and other antelope, and then we struck 

 across a flat, stony plain, which eventually ended at the foot of 

 some broken hills. While crossing this plain one of the men 

 suddenly exclaimed, ' fil ' (elephant) , pointing to a grey mass 

 about fifty yards away, which certainly also seemed to me exceed- 

 ingly like one of those ponderous animals. For a moment or 

 two I thought I could even distinguish the head and his big 

 ears ; but, on creeping up to a bush half-way, discovered to my 

 disgust that what we had taken for an elephant was a curiously 

 shaped grey-coloured rock. Having been thus taken in, we 

 continued our way among low, rocky hills, my guide twisting 

 and turning in a somewhat remarkable manner, until at 1 p.m. 



