322 APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY OF MADI. 
the centre of the village to be milked, the calves tied 
alongside the mother, the cow, on seeing her milker 
arrive, makes water into his hands, when, having 
scrubbed them, he commences to take her milk in a 
neatly-made oval basin or tureen of wood. The other 
domestic animals about the village were stupid-look- 
ing, long-tailed sheep, with reddish-brown hair. Goats 
jumped about the rocks, feeding on the leaves of the 
Indian jujube tree ; and dogs were occasionally met 
with. 
Ten hours' marching in two days brought us from 
Gani to a camp of Egyptian ivory-traders, whose ac- 
quaintance Bombay and Mabrook had made some 
weeks previously. 
The small quantity of baggage we had left was 
carried from village to village, after the manner of the 
" Begaree " system of India. Our Seedees could have 
done this, but the villagers, coming forward volun- 
tarily, generally enjoyed the labour. On arriving at a 
palisaded village where porters were to be relieved, 
we usually gathered under a tree waiting for the re- 
lief. The head man of the place, when wishing to 
show politeness, had the skin of a wild animal spread, 
and upon this he placed a wooden stool or two; 
liquor of the country or sour curd was offered, and 
after enjoying his hospitality we proceeded on the 
march. The appearance of the country, with its 
forests and undulations of grass, and with clusters of 
habitations every three or four miles, was very pleas- 
ing, particularly as it was often intersected by run- 
ning streams from the hills. Some of these were 
torrents, and the largest was a river knee-deep, with 
steep banks and bed of gravel. All flowed to our right. 
