A HEECULEAX CHIEF. 329 



of their roofs decorated by star-shaped straw bundles. The 

 wealth of this district in cereals is very great, especially in 

 sesame, which we saw being hung up to dry ; it is on this 

 account that the Danagla have established zcribas here, which 

 form a great emporium for the slave-trade. 



The nearer we approached the hill, the more stony became 

 the ground and the more sparse the growth of plants. The 

 masses of rock between which we passed, and which formed 

 the hills, were mostly completely bare, and scorched by the 

 sun. It can easily be understood that in such a district the 

 natives were able for a long time to successfully withstand the 

 inroads of the Danagla. The descent to Dolla led through 

 high grass as far as the black alluvial bottom-land, where stalks, 

 of durrah, often more than two fingers thick, shoot up to the 

 height of twelve feet. Dolla is a large village, with many pile- 

 dwellings ; it belongs to the district of Jirri, which name 

 Petherick gives to a village. The men's straw caps reminded 

 me of the southern Nyaru-Nyani ; broad-bladed spears and 

 weighty wooden clubs, like those of the Dinka, constitute their 

 arms. In spite of their ornaments of fresh foliage and masses 

 of iron ornaments and lip plates, the women are, I think, 

 the most ugly that I have ever seen. Large beehives of the 

 usual shape hung on all the trees, the production of honey 

 being very large. The wax has up to the present been thrown 

 awav. 



In the open steppe wood, which extends as far as the small 

 village of Ngorre, there were hundreds of small mushroom- 

 shaped habitations of termites made from the thick grey clay. 

 The high red structures of the Termes bellicosus are hardly ever 

 found on such ground. The village was completely filled with 

 small fish, laid in the sun to dry, and giving out an intolerable 

 stench, which, however, did not seem to affect the Negroes. 

 A group of high doleb palms marks the situation of Moddo- 

 beri, the residence of Dojera, the chief of this district. He 

 was a man of herculean frame, and very well proportioned. 

 The form of his face, his expression, and his large beard gave 

 him the appearance of a Nubian. Report says that he once 

 killed a buffalo with a lance, and a sight of him makes it easy 

 to believe. Hospitality does not seem to be well understood 



