THE SURVEY CONTINUED 139 



a group of trees, which commanded the narrow exit at the 

 rear of the village, and began shooting into our party.* 

 A few of the carriers fell back for a moment, but soon rallied 

 and a rush was made, in which they swept everything before 

 them right up to the top of the hill, where the grass was'short, 

 singing a very fine war-song as they charged. 



As an example of the state of civihsation in which even 

 the Hausas still are, it may be mentioned that my gun-boy, 

 who belonged to this race, came up and pohtely asked if I 

 would like the head of a Marragi killed by one of the soldiers ! 

 The carriers, whose blood was up, now wanted to pursue the 

 enemy, and were only with difficulty prevented from doing 

 so. At this juncture some of the Kanuri appeared and 

 offered to act as peacemakers, and that evening brought 

 in our sheep with some others as a peace-offering. They also 

 told me how pleased they were that the Marragi had had this 

 little reverse, as there would now probably be a short respite 

 from the murders and robberies which had been continually 

 taking place. The district had not then been brought under 

 British control. 



The men had behaved so well that they richly deserved a 

 feast, so some of the recovered sheep were devoted to this 

 purpose. They had been doing hard marches for months 

 past, over swamps and up mountains, sometimes with very 

 little food, and almost without a murmur. They had now 

 shown that they were not only good carriers, but good 

 fighters as well. Their charge up the hill was quite an 

 inspiriting sight. They were affectionate fellows too, for, 



* It was during this fight that one of the Hausas was severely wounded by 

 a poisoned arrow. Without the slightest hesitation, Talbot sucked the 

 wound and so saved the life of his follower. 



