THE SURVEY CONTINUED 127 



children were charming all over Northern Nigeria, but here 

 they seemed to me specially so. 



August 23 was spent on the top of Mount Zogabi, the 

 needle-like peak which we had seen from Mount Bagi. This 

 was our stiifest climb during the whole expedition, and it 

 was a wonder to me how the theodoUte could possibly have 

 been got up the last bit. From here we had the best view 

 of all. To the north lay a series of hills, one of which would 

 do very well for our next station. To the east could be seen 

 hills near the German border, and to the south, not far from 

 where the Benue must have been, was a mountain which 

 could never be mistaken by any one who had once seen it. 

 It was like a candle, hundreds of feet high, springing from a 

 still higher tall straight rimless candlestick. Not far of! to 

 the east, was a hill shaped like the dome of St. Paul's Cathe- 

 dral. Flowing past, to the south of Mount Zogabi, in the 

 direction of the Gongola, was what seemed to be a fairly big 

 river, called by the guide the Jaui river. The latitude of the 

 hill was got by a subtense to Kwaia. 



Next day we moved on again, getting to the small town 

 of Gurrbilla in the afternoon. Here the people did all they 

 could to persuade me from going on to the proposed moun- 

 tain. They said that it was a terrible place, the haunt of 

 very malignant spirits, and that there was no way of reaching 

 it, save through bush, rivers, and bad ground. Certainly 

 this latter statement was more or less true, though the way 

 was not so bad as some of the routes we had lately followed. 



On the way we had to cross a rather narrow river, only 

 about a hundred feet wide, but so swift that one could 

 hardly stand in it, even when only up to one's waist. After 



