CHAPTER VIII 



THE JOURNEY OF THE BOATS TO YO 



Gosling arrived at Gabai in the evening ; a big-walled, 

 Kanuri town with a very hospitable king, who gave him a 

 goat, a sheep, two fowls, and eight good eggs. Here he 

 found a note from my brother, who had passed through 

 two days before on his way south to join Talbot. This town 

 appeared to be very flourishing and abounded with flocks 

 and herds, and various kinds of grain crops growing in 

 a broad stretch of open land that had been cleared from the 

 surrounding bush. 



His next stopping-place was a large, prosperous town, 

 called Mutwe, ruled by a cheerful and youthful king. All 

 around the land was very swampy, and a tremendous music 

 from crickets and frogs filled the air which was blackened 

 by a threatening thunderstorm, that broke heavily the next 

 morning and delayed his departure. The last part of the 

 journey to Gujba, where he arrived the same day, Septem- 

 ber 1, led through very fine bush with numbers of big baobab 

 (or kuka) trees. Thousands of butterflies feeding in bunches 

 upon the road were a very remarkable sight. Butterflies 

 in Africa, and bees also, are often to be found feeding on 

 rotting carcases, from which they fly up in clouds on being 

 disturbed. I suppose the scarcity of flowers in the dry 

 season has cultivated the more robust taste in them. 



