220 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



of the old king, who returned to Mamaidi a gladder and a 

 wiser man. 



It was here that the " boys " brought in for my inspection 

 three wild looking men, who struck even them as being 

 very curious. They wore no clothes on their lean bodies, 

 except an ample loin cloth. They were of very low type 

 and belonged to a tribe called Tingali, inhabiting a range of 

 hills near Mamaidi where they lead a precarious existence, 

 raising no crops and living for the most part on dogs. When 

 hunger drives them, they come down to the villages of the 

 plain and work for food. 



At a place called Gaddam, which is about two days' march 

 from Ashaka, I witnessed a Hausa wrestling-match for the 

 first time. Towards sundown the whole of the population 

 repaired to the market-place where a large ring was formed. 

 On one side sat the king, surrounded by the whole of his 

 court in their bright -coloured bernouses and turbans, and near 

 to him, round the ring sat the big men with their friends. 

 Every one had put on some gay covering or ornament for 

 the occasion, and the women had tired their hair and painted 

 their eyes with blue. All were in merry mood and the 

 scene was pretty and gay. The bright colours of the crowd, 

 blue and white predominating, with here and there a patch 

 of red, mingled harmoniously in the soft hght, and the mass 

 was made more beautiful by a sprinkling of half -nude forms. 

 There were groups of slaves with their masters' horses outside 

 the ring by the palm-trees, and the arched heads and necks 

 of two stock-still camels stood up hke monstrous carved 

 idols against the white walls of the palace. Beyond, the 

 eastern sky was the purest sapphire blue, fast deepening to 



