130 
TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 
and scatters far and near its flimsy contents. I fancied that 
some nse might he made of its snhstanee^ and on onr return to 
the Lady of the Nile/^ after carefully picking the seeds from the 
delicate fibre_, I commenced to spin it_, using the crude reel of the 
country^ and out of one pod produced four yards of something like 
thread or wool ; but the silky appearance was gone^ and there was 
no strength in the twist. 
A great disturbance had taken plaee on board : one of the sol- 
diers had missed from his bag some dates_, and he aecused his com- 
panions of stealing them ; a fight was about to come oflP, but the 
secretary proposed^, that_, if guiltless^ each in turn should swear 
upon the Koran_, and prove his innocence. All did so; but as 
the women were not called (they are always exempt) it rested with 
them. I entertained my own opinion that Halima was the culprit. 
She was very careful not to leave the cabins all day. 
We expeeted that at this point a Nouaer and his wife would have 
joined us. They were to have accompanied us yesterday; but we 
sailed rather suddenly^ and the promise to take the fugitives on 
board was for the time forgotten. Still the distance across country 
from the spot we had left was trifling. The Nouaer was in trouble. 
He had killed a man of his own tribe_, and the relations of the mur- 
dered man constantly pursued him^ to take his life. A vendetta fierce 
as in Corsica is held amongst these negroes. The chiefs were power- 
less to protect him_, and they had entreated Petherick to remove 
him from his village. The particulars of the murder_, as given by 
one of the chiefs to Petherick^ are these : The fugitive had a little 
plot of ground_, which he cultivated. The cattle of his neighbour 
constantly trespassed upon it ; time after time he had driven them 
off his land_, and he often expostulated with the owner_, who only 
laughed at him. This brought on angry words^ and then eame 
