256 G0ND0K6R0 TO AGARU. 



character of the inhabitants, the slave-trade could not be carried 

 on here. Chief Maye, an old man, is still the nominal ruler 

 of this country. He devotes himself, however, mostly to rain- 

 making, whilst the real government rests in the hands of his 

 eldest son, a bright young man, who speaks Arabic fluently, 

 and who is in dress and manners the exact copy of a Khartum 

 dandy. Our military station is close to Khor Koz, which here 

 runs from south to north. The khor now contains good water 

 to the depth of three and a half to four feet, which has formed 

 wide sandbanks wherever possible. Fragments of granite and 

 quartz, felspar, and mica are found there. From the thick belt 

 of trees and underwood resounds the song of the Aedon, and 

 the strange bleating and cackling of SchizorMs leucogastra, such 

 as we had heard in Loronio from their relations, SchizorMs 

 zonura. They are strange, noisy fellows, now barking like a 

 dog, now cackling like a hen, now bleating like a sheep, espe- 

 cially when five or six of them are chasing one another round 

 the acacia and tamarind trees, wagging their long flexible tails 

 up and down. 



The acacia wood affords good tannin for curing skins, which 

 process the Latuka turn to good account in preparing the 

 small leather aprons so much worn by the fair sex. The soil, 

 though swampy in places, is very superior. It consists of a 

 soft yellow clay, mixed in many places with sand, and in other 

 parts of a very black vegetable mould. Its cultivation is very 

 easy, nothing more than the scratching up of the surface to a 

 depth of four or five inches, as neither stones nor luxuriant 

 vegetation afford any obstacle. Red durrah, a little sesame, 

 and a great deal of dukhn (Penicillaria), are grown. Sweet 

 potatoes, bananas, as also ground-nuts, were first introduced by 

 our soldiers. Numerous herds of cattle and very superior goats 

 and sheep pasture here, as Chief Maye has known how to pro- 

 tect them from the Danagla's love of plunder. The natives 

 live about half a mile from the military station, in two large, 

 well-built, but very dirty villages, full of watchtowers, dogs, 

 women smoking tobacco, &c. 



The Latuka are a peculiar race of men, quite distinct from 

 all other Negroes about here. Of slight, almost elegant figure, 

 with a medium height of five feet eight inches (average of twenty 



