3L4 
KATCHIBA, CHIEF OF OBBO. 
[chap. VIII. 
uninteresting country, as there is no possibility of 
traversing it except by the narrow footpaths made by 
the natives. 
The chief of Obbo came to meet us with several of 
his head men. He was an extraordinary-looking man, 
about fifty-eight or sixty years of age; but, far from 
possessing the dignity usually belonging to a grey 
head, he acted the buffoon for our amusement, and 
might have been a clown in a pantomime. 
The heavy storm having cleared, the nogaras beat, 
and our entertaining friend determined upon a grand 
dance; pipes and flutes were soon heard gathering 
from all quarters, horns brayed, and numbers of men 
and women began to colleet in crowds, while old 
Katchiba, the chief, in a great state of excitement, gave 
orders for the entertainment. 
About a hundred men formed a circle; each man 
held in his left hand a small cup-shaped drum, formed 
of hollowed wood, one end only being perforated, and 
this was covered with the skin of the elephant's ear, 
tightly stretched. In the centre of the circle was the 
chief dancer, who wore, suspended from his shoulders, 
an immense drum, also covered with the elephants 
ear. The dance commenced by all singing remarkably 
well a wild but agreeable tune in chorus, the big 
drum directing the time, and the whole of the little 
