326 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



as the smile of Peace, herself ; but no sooner had the last 

 mosquito withdrawn his attack, than a new terror arose in 

 the swarms of foul flies that crawled out of their sleep in 

 the piles of rotten fiish and attacked with a heavy bite 

 that, compared with the mosquitoes', was as the hack of 

 a butcher's dirty knife to the clean rapier thrust of a 

 gentleman. 



Even the Buduma, inured by long use to the mosquito, 

 still treats him with respect, and his method of guarding 

 himself against attack is interesting. With the help of 

 his toga and two bent withies he makes himself a tiny 

 little tent like a gypsy's, under which he crawls and curls 

 up like a dog for the night in a most astoundingly small 

 space. 



In the morning we were up to breakfast by six, anxious 

 to run away from the new winged pestilence that had assailed 

 us. But before starting, we hung up cloth in one of the canoes 

 in payment for our entertainment, hoping that our hosts 

 would return and find it. 



The day arose to meet us with a high harmattan wind 

 which sent a cold mist upon the Lake and turned everything 

 to grey. As it was a head-wind, poling was harder work 

 and our going was made slower. But, " 'tis an ill wind that 

 blows nobody any harm," and it was not long before its keen 

 edge had paralysed the tenacity of the flies that had made up 

 their minds to accompany us. As we travelled on through the 

 morning hours the aspect of the Lake gradually changed 

 and the face of the water to our left became studded with 

 innumerable little islands of sand, overgrown with high 

 grass, and many of them strewn with shells. Our course 



