140 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



in the course of the evening, they were singing with such 

 enthusiasm that I asked what it was all about. They 

 answered that they had composed a song to say that they 

 loved the two white men (Alexander and myself) " bad " — 

 and would always do their utmost for us. 



Later, we had reason to fear that these same Marragi 

 captured and killed a messenger sent to me by Alexander 

 from Gujba with letters. Only two curios belonging to this 

 tribe have come into my possession. A bow and shield, the 

 latter made of very thick ox-hide hammered all over into little 

 bosses and more or less the shape of those used by the Roman 

 legionaries. Most of the Marragi are of remarkable physique, 

 and a large percentage of them are certainly over 6 ft. in 

 height. They are very black, with thin lips and beards. 

 They are good elephant hunters. It seems that parties of 

 about twenty mounted men are made up, who attack the 

 elephants with nothing but poisoned spears. When the 

 animal turns at bay, each one in turn tries to take off the 

 attention of the elephant from the man it happens to be 

 pursuing. It is very rare for the party to come back with 

 less than one or two men killed and wounded. 



The day after the fight we moved on to a hill near Arris 

 and found, as I had feared, that a dead level plain lay to the 

 north and north-east, not only without hills, but absolutely 

 devoid of conspicuous points. 



On September 11 we marched into Bornu territory. As 

 we left, one of the carriers received a last greeting from our 

 friends the Marragi in the shape of two arrows, which only 

 penetrated the long garments which he was wearing. This 

 was fortunate for him, as the poison used on these arrows is 



