378 
SAAT BECOMES SCIENTIFIC. 
[chap. tx. 
die. He said that the losses inflicted upon the various 
tribes by the Turks were ruinous, as their chief means 
of subsistence was destroyed; without cattle they 
could procure no wives ; milk, their principal diet, was 
denied them, and they were driven to despair; thus 
they would fight for their cattle, although they would 
allow their families to be carried off without resistance; 
cattle would procure another family, but if the animals 
were stolen, there would be no remedy. 
Flies by day, rats and innumerable bugs by night, 
heavy dew, daily rain, and impenetrable reeking grass, 
rendered Obbo a prison about as disagreeable as could 
exist. 
The many months of tiresome inaction that I was 
forced to remain in this position, I will not venture to 
inflict upon the reader, but I will content myself with 
extracts from my journal from time to time, that will 
exhibit the general character of the situation. 
“ Aug. 2d .—Several of my men have fever; the 
boy Saat, upon receiving a dose of calomel, asked, 
‘ whether he was to swallow the paper in which it was 
wrapped ? ; This is not the first time that I have been 
asked the same question by my men. Saat feels the 
ennui of Obbo, and finds it difficult to amuse himself; 
he has accordingly become so far scientific, that he has 
investigated the machinery of two of my watches, 
