Jan. i, 1880] 



NATURE 



199 



the performers covers all his face but his eyes with his 

 turban, seizes his spear and throwing iron (a curious 

 boomerang-like weapon with a long projecting prong on 

 the concave margin), and thus prepared the two approach 

 one another. At a distance of about six steps from one 

 another they squat on their heels with spear upright in 

 one hand and iron in the other. The one then asks 

 " How do you do ? " about a dozen times by means of four 

 different words having that meaning used alternately, the 

 reply being varied of the use of two words Laha, or 

 Killala. 



Then one of the two loudly sings the word " lhilla," 

 which is returned by the other in a similar tone. The 

 word is exchanged again and again, being commenced in 

 a loud high pitched note and gradually run down the 

 scale until it reaches a low bass murmur. When it has 

 become so low as scarcely to be heard, on a sudden it is 

 shouted again in high key and the gamut is run through 

 as before. This goes on for a very long while, the per- 

 formers going through it as a strict matter of ceremony, 

 and taking no interest in one another all the while but 

 looking round at the horizon or elsewhere during their vocal 

 exertions. After a while various forms of the question 

 "How are you?" and the answer "Well," are introduced, at 

 last questions or other topics are brought forward, although 

 now and again the " lhilla " bursts out in the midst of 

 them, but the series of notes in which it is shouted 

 becomes shorter and shorter. At last the lhilla is got rid 

 of altogether and ordinary conversation becomes possible. 

 Strangers do not shake hands, but acquaintances do. 

 The covering of the face when greeting or meeting 

 strangers is considered as a most important matter of 

 etiquette. 



In the Zuar Valley the large baboons {Cynocephalus 

 halnuii) were met with in great numbers climbing on the 

 rocks and trees, and, on account of their greenish grey 

 colour, hardly to be distinguished from the tree trunks 

 and stones. They tumble about amongst trees beset 

 thickly with thorns many inches long without hurt. The 

 Tubu do not molest them, partly because they are afraid 

 of their strength and partly from superstitious motives. 



On the cliffs bounding the river Udeno, near Bardai, in 

 the centre of Tibesti, the author found a series of rude 

 drawings of the same kind as those discovered by Barth 

 in the north-eastern Tuarik region. The drawings are 

 incised on the stone and represent almost without ex- 

 ception oxen with the horns bent forwards, all of which 

 have a rope attached to the horns and drawn forward as 

 if they were being led by it ; some have on their backs 

 the pack-saddle now used for oxen in Sudan. ^That the 

 drawings were not inspired by reminiscences of the pack 

 cattle of Sudan is shown by the circumstance that the 

 leading rope is attached to the nostrils of the oxen and 

 by the absence of the hump in them. The drawings 

 are probably very ancient and date back from a time 

 when cattle were used as beasts of burden in the country, 

 and camels as yet not introduced. Barth remarked on the 

 entire absence of the camel from amongst the very numer- 

 ous drawings examined by him, in the present instance 

 one drawing of a camel does occur, but Dr. Nachtigal 

 thinks it has been probably added by a later hand in 

 imitation of the ancient drawings. There is one figure of 

 a man, a warrior of life size, with a spear in one hand and 



in the other a shield of a different form from that now 

 used in Tubu and curiously enough divided into four 

 fields by a cross. 



Dr. Nachtigal had a hard time of it in Bardai, being 

 kept a prisoner in his camp and cruelly stoned by crowds 

 of girls of 12 or 14 years of age, if he attempted to move 

 out. The children evidently thought it good fun stoning 

 him as well as their religious duty to do so. They 

 watched him closely in case he should dare to steal out 

 during quiet hours and rallied one another with the shout 

 of "at the heathen.'' Sometimes a drunken man joined 

 in the sport with his throwing-iron and made matters 

 very serious indeed. It was of no avail for Dr. Nachtigal 

 to give the children sugar, or other presents, or to attend 

 the sick ; as soon as the presents were secured or the 

 visit to the patient completed, the volleys of stones came 

 flying as before. It was just before his flight from Bardai 

 that Dr. Nachtigal heard of the murder of Miss Tinne ; 

 the news hastened his departure, and he returned to 

 Fezzan. 



A chapter is devoted to the natural productions of Tu. 

 The best camels of the Eastern part of the Great Desert 

 are bred by the Tubu. They belong to that variety of 

 the animal which is peculiar to the Central and Southern 

 Sahara, and which is distinguished at first glance from 

 the Northern or Arab camel. The latter has short limbs, 

 stout body, heavy head and neck, and shaggy hair ; the 

 former is higher on the legs and lighter built with smooth 

 hair. The Arab variety looks built for weight-carrying, 

 the Tuarik animal for pace. 



The fat-tailed sheep of the coast does not occur in 

 Tibesti, the sheep of the region having long legs, a long 

 thin tail and pretty long black shining hair instead of wool. 



The throwing irons of the Teda are curious weapons of 

 boomerang form beset with projecting prongs of various 

 shapes. They are double-edged in parts and single-edged 

 with a stout back in others. The handle is bound with 

 leather to give a firm grip. 



The weapon is thrown horizontally with great precision 

 and terrible effect. Children practise with a piece of 

 bent flattened wood sharpened on one edge in imitation 

 of the throwing iron and carry also a wooden-tipped 

 spear. Being thus accustomed to carry weapons in their 

 hands all their lives, the full-grown men when they are 

 about their dwelling-places where they are strictly for- 

 bidden by custom to carry actual arms, return to the 

 weapons of their childhood and carry about the wooden 

 spear and throwing weapon. 



The illustration given by the author of his reception by 

 the Sultan of Bornu may be compared with the similar 

 reception accorded to Denham and Clapperton so many 

 years ago, and with their illustration of the ceremony. 

 The then Sultan when he received Denham and Clapperton 

 was concealed behind a lattice which was dispensed with 

 in Dr. Nachtigal's case. Amongst the presents conveyed 

 by the present author were life-sized portraits of the King 

 and Queen of German y and of the Crown Prince. 



We cannot follow Dr. Nachtigal further, or pick out 

 more interesting matter. The book seems to us rather 

 too long and somewhat spun out ; it is most sumptuously 

 got up, with two large maps, well bound, and is full of 

 good illustrations. Of these latter no list is given nor 

 any information as to the sources from which those which 



