240 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT chap. 



from the spot where we had encamped during our 

 former visit to the Embe. The view from this camp 

 was lovely. It was surrounded on all sides but one 

 by high hills, covered either with soft green turf or 

 with thick growths of wild bananas, with here and there 

 a clump of dhum palms. To the northeast the view 

 was not shut in by hills, but stretched to the desert, 

 which even after the rains looked grim and forbidding 

 in contrast wdth the luxurious vegetation among which 

 we were. 



George had built a small zeriba for the donkeys, 

 around which he had placed the huts of the men, 

 which were thickly thatched with the leaves of the 

 wild banana. He reported that during his stay among 

 the Embe the natives had given him but little trouble ; 

 in fact, his only complaint was that they had not come 

 in sufficient numbers to trade. Upon one occasion, 

 however, he had heard loud shouts and cries ; where- 

 upon an old negro came to him and said that the 

 warriors of the Embe had decided to fall upon the 

 European and annihilate him ; but after he had fired 

 a couple of shots, the shoutings of the natives ceased, 

 and nothing further occurred. 



On the afternoon of the day of our arrival, a few 

 hours before sunset, a few elders came, among them 

 those whom we had held as hostages at Daitcho. They 

 seemed pleased to see us, and we explained to them 

 that we were unable to stop with the Embe for many 

 days, and therefore wished to make as soon as pos- 

 sible a treaty with the people of that tribe. They said 

 they would at once send out word to the farthest parts 

 of their territory, and that within two days at latest the 



