EXPLORATION OF THE RIVER YEI 353 



When this difficult twenty miles is past the river decidedjy 

 improves with steep banks of soft loam which are often the 

 nesting-places of a pretty red-throated bee-eater {Melitto- 

 phagus frenatus). After a smooth stretch of fifteen miles 

 we reached the Azandi town of Kapi, which was the first 

 well-populated place we had come to. It is in a country of 

 plenty; Indian corn, millet, ground-nuts, sweet potatoes, 

 and a delicious bean about the size of a small potato, called 

 " kwandi " by the Azandi and " kwalulu " by the Hausas, 

 plentiful also in Bornu, were great luxuries for us. With 

 these people cloth appears to be a cheap commodity, owing 

 to Arab traders who come to buy ivory. One man who 

 brought me sixteen bananas wanted cloth for them, and 

 two yards were asked for a fowl. 



The town is much scattered and the people five in small 

 communities. The Azandi (or Bazandi, as they shotdd be 

 called in the plural) are not a bad-looking race ; they have 

 kind faces with good eyes, and noses somewhat blunt and 

 splayed. The women reminded me very much of the Kanuri 

 in their way of doing the hair in plaits Hke ridges, which are 

 terminated by a fringe sticking out all round the head. The 

 forehead is ornamented with a band of small beads, generally 

 red and white, and the back of the head with brass rings 

 fixed into the closely woven hair. 



Many of the men and women bear the slave marks of the 

 Dervish chief, Otrusi, which are three deep diagonal incisions 

 on each cheek below the cheek-bone. 



It was at this place I saw the interesting ceremony of 

 the making of a treaty between the chief and his ancient 

 foe. They met, each surrounded by his followers, and their 



11 z 



