278 
TEAVELS IN CENTEAL AFEICA. 
three or four are worn by each individual; slightly concave in 
form, they fit well to the head, the fastening being a bunch of hair 
protruding through a hole in the centre and knotted on the outside. 
My hereto sturdy and valuable horse, ‘^‘^Arab,^^ had of late greatly 
fallen off, and when he was no longer able to be brought to me to 
judge for myself of his state, I was assisted to his shed to see him. 
To my sorrow I found the poor horse emaciated and evidently 
suffering from great internal pain ; mashes of dourra-bran were the 
only things in my power to prescribe for him ; but subsequently 
suffering from violent convulsions, to put an end to his agonies he 
was shot in the brain. The Doctor, upon opening him, found 
diseased lungs to have been his malady. The negroes succeeded 
the Doctor, and in the evening my neighbours’ pots contained 
every vestige of my once noble horse. There is not an animal or 
reptile, carrion not excepted, but w^hat is eaten by this people; 
and the rats caught in the trap in our tent, amounting gene- 
rally to three or four every evening, were eagerly waited for and 
monopolized by Neangara. He would sit outside, accustomed to 
the click of the trap, and himself announce the capture. So 
much did he relish them, that he would not even trust his wives 
with the cooking of them. On a few embers the fur coats were 
soon singed, and the roasting proceeded with; when done, and 
without any accompaniment, the chief’s supper was complete. 
When asked if he extracted and threw away the entrails, he seemed 
surprised at the question, and vehemently said, ^‘^No; that is the 
choicest part.” 
The next event worthy to be noted was the celebration of a 
marriage, according to Mussulman and Moro rites, between one of 
our men, an old stager in the country, and a tali, handsome girl, a 
niece of the chief. The dowry, if it can be so called, given by the 
