114 FEOM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



preter explained our pacific intentions. Finally tliey quieted 

 down, the chief came in and within half an hour's time 

 carriers and Kerri-Kerri were hobnobbing together as 

 if they had known one another for years. We were 

 very glad the affair had turned out so well, as the natives 

 were at bay on the hill, with their wives and children 

 behind them and no place for retreat. Had there been 

 a fight, one side or the other would probably have been 

 exterminated. 



A little later a girl, with wrists and ankles joined by 

 fetters, came hobbling or rather hopping up and begged to 

 be freed. We found that her history was much the same as 

 that of the girl at Alia, and as the chief to whom she belonged 

 was very glad to exchange her for some cloth, she also joined 

 the carriers' ladies — and in course of time captivated the 

 heart of one of the headmen. So friendly had our hosts 

 become before we left them, that they volunteered to show 

 us on our departure an easier way down to the plain below. 

 Even this route, however, was somewhat rugged, as can be 

 seen from the accompanying photograph. 



As a rule the Kerri-Kerri are a tall slim race, and, Uke 

 most Northern Nigerian tribes, have not very much of the 

 negro strain in them. They wear fine clothes made from 

 native cloth and are very good metal-workers. Their swords 

 have not the handsome scabbards of the Kanuri and Hausa, 

 but the blades are finely engraved. These are of a curious 

 shape, thick along the mid-rib and tapering to an edge on 

 each side. The designs on them are generally composed of 

 lines of dots, diamonds and veined leaves. 



From their own accounts they have lived on these strange 



