132 
BARI CHIEF'S REPORT . 
[chap. hi. 
“ lie liacl been anxious to see the white man who clid not 
steal cattle, neither kidnap slaves, but that I should do 
no good in that country, as the traders did not wish 
me to remain.” He told me “ that all people were bad, 
both natives and traders, and that force was necessary 
in this country.” I tried to discover whether he had 
any respect for good and upright conduct. “Yes,” he 
said; “ all people say that you are different to the 
Turks and traders, but that character will not help 
you; it is all very good and very right, but you see 
your men have all deserted, thus you must go back to 
Khartoum ; you can do nothing here without plenty of 
men and guns.” I proposed to him my plan of riding 
quickly through the Bari tribe to Moir; he replied, 
“Impossible! If I were to beat the great nogaras(drums), 
and call my people together to explain who you were, 
they would not hurt you; but there are many petty 
chiefs who do not obey me, and their people would 
certainly attack you when crossing some swollen 
torrent, and what could you do with only a man and 
a boy ? ” 
His reply to my question concerning the value of 
beads corroborated Bicharn’s statement; nothing could 
be purchased for anything but cattle; the traders had 
commenced the system of stealing herds of cattle from 
one tribe to barter with the next neighbour; thus the 
