546 
TRAVELS m AFRICA. Chap. XXXVII. 
swamp, it might be sown with the peculiar kind of 
holcus called " masakwa" (Holcus eernuus) ; and then 
these black, dismal-looking plains become one field 
of life and wealth. This remarkable change in the 
aspect of the country, and this second harvest, which 
takes place in the middle of the cold season, and by 
which the firki, or firgi, becomes a firgi mosog&be 
(masakwabe), I shall have to describe in another 
place. 
We then entered a well-cultivated and thickly-in- 
habited district called Yel6, where it was a novelty 
to be obliged to draw water from the well or bar- 
rem Yele ; for since reaching Uje on our journey out 
we had constantly met waterpools or small rivulets, 
from which we took our supply, and even the well at 
Maira was rendered quite superfluous by a large tank 
close by. However, I have already had occasion to 
observe that the water from these stagnant pools is 
anything but wholesome, particularly after the rainy 
season, when they receive no further supply; and I 
have no doubt that the drinking of such water is the 
principal, if not the only cause of that dreadful and 
wide-spread disease (the "farantit" or "arug" — 
" ngiduwi "in Kanuri— " the misery ") which disables 
the working man, and makes him a poor wretched 
being — the guinea worm, which is sure to be met 
with in at least one out of three persons who travel 
a great deal, through the whole of Central Africa. 
I never met with an instance of this disease in a 
woman. It seemed to me, too, as if the pagans, 
