BEWARE OF BOTANISTS! 
[chap. VIII. 
boiling in all directions, and a feast in store for the 
hungry men who had inarched twenty miles without 
eating since the morning. The yams were cooked ; 
but I did not like the look of them, and seeing that 
the multitude were ready, I determined to reserve a 
few for our own eating should they be generally pro¬ 
nounced good. The men ate them voraciously. Hardly 
ten minutes had elapsed from the commencement of 
the feast when first one and then another disappeared, 
and from a distance I heard a smothered but unmistake- 
able sound, that reminded me of the lurching effect of a 
channel steamer upon a crowd of passengers. Pre¬ 
sently the boy Saat showed symptoms of distress, and 
vanished from our presence ; and all those that had 
dined off Ibrahimawa s botanical specimens were suffer¬ 
ing from a most powerful “ vomi-purgatif.” The angels 
that watch over scientific botanists had preserved Ibra¬ 
himawa from all evil. He had discovered the yams, 
and the men had stolen them from him ; they enjoyed 
the fruits, while he gained an experience invaluable at 
their expense. I was quite contented to have waited 
until others had tried them before I made the experi¬ 
ment. Many of the yam tribe are poisonous; there 
is one variety much liked at Obbo, but which is deadly 
in its effects should it be eaten without a certain pre¬ 
paration. It is first scraped, and then soaked in a 
