258 THROUGH TURK AN A AND SUK 



of our camp , Again and again the fatal necessity of sacrificing 

 the animals with us had been averted at the last moment, but 

 this time there was nothing else for it, and the Count gave 

 orders for four of the donkeys to be killed. Qualla, who knew 

 our people well and the loathing they had for asses' flesh, was 

 cautious enough first to shout out again, ' Who will have some 

 donkey meat ? ' Who P Not one man came forward. The 

 very men we had seen eagerly tear and eat the flesh of panthers 

 and hyenas, shrank from touching that of our beautiful grey 

 donkeys, saying they would rather live on berries and weeds, 

 or even starve than swallow a morsel of it. 



The men now talked together of a caravan driven to ex- 

 tremities, the members of which had killed and eaten their 

 donkeys. Every one of them had died after the meal. The 

 probability is that this fiction was started by some cunning 

 trader to avert the danger of his donkeys being killed and 

 eaten in an emergency. Trading caravans often suffer dread- 

 fully from famine, and but for some such superstition as this, 

 the invaluable grey donkeys would doubtless often find their 

 way into the flesh-pots of the men, Avhilst many costly loads 

 would be left in the lurch. 



We pushed on southward in the direction of the river, 

 throufdi a pretty light-green acacia wood, the soil of which was 

 unfortunately overgrown with a kind of grass, the sharp hairs 

 of which inflicted most painful wounds on the bare feet of our 

 men, some of whom nearly went mad with the irritation. Now 

 and then we came to quite impassable woods of young fan- 

 palms, which we had to go round. Sokoni, who was leading 

 us, o^ot quite confused and lost his way, but some natives, 

 who had joined us with the intention of disposing of their 

 hidden stores of ivory, took his place, and guided us by 

 tortuous paths back to the river, the bed of which, but for a 

 few little pools, was still dry, whilst its banks were fringed here 



