Chap. LXII. MARCH OF RED WORMS. 
323 
can be no doubt that all this time the crafty Arab 
himself was hesitating as to the course which he 
should take, and this was evidently the reason of 
his great delay, as he probably thought that he 
might have a chance of getting rid of me, and taking 
possession of my property ; but we did not become 
aware of this treacherous conduct till we arrived at 
the place of our destination, when we learned how 
providentially we had escaped all his wiles. 
At the western end of the village of Kiibo there is 
a suburb of Fiilbe cattle-breeders, consisting of about 
sixty large huts of reed. As soon as we had left 
this place behind us, we were quite horror -struck at 
observing all the paths full of those small red worms 
which I have mentioned before, marching in un- 
broken lines towards the village ; even my servants 
were quite surprised at such a spectacle, having 
never before seen any thing like it, and they gave 
vent to their feelings of astonishment, and at the 
same time of commiseration for the natives, in reite- 
rated exclamations of " Wolla, wolla ! " I am not 
acquainted with the reason of this curious pheno- 
menon, but it seems peculiar to this region. Yet the 
ground was not quite barren, and was even sprinkled 
with violets here and there, the surface being undu- 
lating, not unlike the sandy downs of Kanem, the 
parallel of which country, namely about 15° of 
northern latitude, we had here reached. 
Proceeding thus, we reached after a march of 
about four miles a higher point, from whence we had 
Y 2 
