Chap. XLVIII. 
OVERTAKEN. 
323 
ble field for the sportsman ; but I could not think of 
sport, for I was conscious that something was going on 
to stop my progress. 
Perhaps it would have been more prudent to have 
gone on without stopping ; but I felt the heat of the 
sun very much, and, seeing that I could not traverse 
the country by force, preferred resting during the 
heat of the day under the shade of a fine wide- 
spreading ngabbore or ngato (fig-tree) at the side of 
a Shiiwa village. I here endeavoured in vain to 
barter a few things with the inhabitants ; but, to my 
great astonishment, neither milk nor anything else 
was to be had, though cattle were seen grazing in 
every direction. But the people told me that the 
great number of cattle collected together on so nar- 
row a slip of pasture-ground was the very reason they 
had so little milk. These Shiiwa people, who belong 
to the tribe of the Welad 'All, call this shallow water 
Msel el Iiaj e AH, after the name of their principal chief. 
I was quietly reclining in the cool shade, although 
not without some sad forebodings, when the head man 
of Mele, accompanied by seven or eight armed Shiiwa, 
was seen approaching. They first addressed them- 
selves to my horseman Grema, who had made himself 
comfortable in the shade of another tree a short dis- 
tance off. Having finished their business with him, 
they came to me, protesting that they could not allow 
me to continue my journey, as they were compelled 
to wait for an order from the capital, when I did not 
hesitate to declare on my part that I was willing 
Y 2 
