200 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



Invariably just before a town was reached some would start 

 game legs and limp painfully along. On this particular 

 occasion Lowi adopted other tactics and came to tell me that 

 there was " plenty wash " ; which meant he would advise 

 our patronising the local laundry and so wait the time 

 necessary for our linen to be got up. 



The next place we stopped at was a dirty Httle village 

 called Laminga, ruled by a mean old chief, who sent me out 

 a " dash " of two pigeons and four eggs. The former were 

 too young and the latter too old for my liking, so I sent 

 them back to him with a message as bald as the pigeons 

 and as pungent as the eggs. This had a good effect, for 

 the chief came out himself with two fine fat pigeons and 

 some milk and yams. 



We left Laminga early the next morning, following the 

 road through undulating country where each succeeding 

 crest marked a gradual rise, till after four hours' march 

 the top of a ridge was gained, whence Keffi appeared midway 

 up the slope of the next hill ; a long line of white houses 

 surrounded by strong mud-walls. Kefii was once an impor- 

 tant city before it got " hammered " by a British expedition, 

 which was sent to avenge the murder of Captain Maloney 

 in 1902. The Magaji of Keffi had been causing trouble, and 

 Maloney, contrary to the warning of his men, impulsively 

 entered the former's house where his women were. This 

 breach of native custom infuriated the Magaji and he caused 

 Maloney to be set upon and killed with spears. A mud 

 wall that crowns a little green hill above the town is said to 

 mark the place where his bones rest. 



The houses of Kefii are large and well-built. I stayed in 



