298 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



at Kukawa the sixteen oxen which we had collected at 

 Maifoni. These had been obtained for us by a chief in the 

 usual way ; that is, one summons a chief of the district and 

 tells him to supply a certain number of oxen. Thereupon 

 he sends word round the headmen of his villages, telling them 

 to send in, each a proportion of the number required. The 

 oxen come in, attended by their owners, and it may 

 happen that one man supplies two beasts. The men accom- 

 pany the transport for the journey, are paid of! at its end, and 

 return home with their oxen. The chief takes a proportion 

 of their earnings, and in some instances, if he is a rascal, 

 he commandeers, in the name of the white man, perhaps 

 double the number of oxen asked for, and when his people, 

 badly in need of the services of their beasts for carrying 

 their produce to the markets, have not enough to meet 

 both demands, and offer to pay a fine — generally about 

 three shillings per head — he accepts the alternative and 

 pockets the fruits of his fraudulent misrepresentations. 



At Kukawa we paid these men seven yards of calico 

 each, with which they seemed very pleased and took them- 

 selves off to the market at once to buy what they needed 

 for their return journey. 



Our camp here, or rather, sleeping-ground, for we had not 

 slept under canvas since leaving Maifoni, from which place our 

 tents had been sent with Gosling's column to Yo, was situated 

 under a large acacia-tree close to the market. The weather 

 had been glorious and no tents were necessary, and privacy 

 was obtained for our open dwelling by a screen of zana 

 matting, which the Shehu had caused to be put up for us. 

 This was well, for we were quite close to the market and 



