336 FKOM THE NIGER TO THE NH^E 



Yo mouth the day we left, where Budumas were exchanging 

 their fish for corn, which they do not grow themselves, and 

 which the Mobburs brought down on donkeys from their 

 villages along the river. 



I must not forget to mention the pelicans again before 

 we leave this part of the Lake. In the morning we watched 

 them fishing in the channels of the river mouth, where the 

 belated fish were coming down in great numbers, many to 

 be cut off and left behind in the pools. Here they were 

 beating the river in two columns, which advanced, one up, 

 and the other down the stream. As they met, they started 

 up with a flapping of wings, and having formed a circle 

 round the fish, were soon employing the same tactics as I 

 have described in the last chapter. 



There is little to say of our journey to Kaddai, for we were 

 working too closely, mapping the western shore-line, to allow 

 of the occurrence of fresh incidents. Ordinarily, when there 

 was a wind for sailing, the boats accomplished the distance 

 in a day, but this time we took five over the journey. Talbot 

 travelled in the boat, while I went along the shore, mapping 

 its outline. We kept one another in sight, and he landed 

 each evening in time for " chop," and to camp the night. 

 We lived for the most part on fish, for we had got a good 

 supply of the dried sort for the "• boys," and some fresh for 

 ourselves, which we replenished the second day from a 

 fishing-station on a small island, whence the Budumas 

 had, as usual, disappeared on our approach. On the third 

 day we arrived opposite Arregi, a village four miles inland, 

 where we sent in and got corn and fowls. That night 

 the harmattan brought the water up 500 yards, causing 



