XXIX 
MAHOMETAN FAITH, ETC. 
257 
of the faith, and am finished with it now and 
forever! ’ 
With these words, he took his prayer-board from 
under his arm, broke it in pieces, and flinging the 
fragments on the fire, sat down to a right royal 
‘ tuck in,’ while my men, most of whom are 
Mahometans from the coast, and the Wangindos, 
unable to resist the humorous side of this little 
tragi-comedy, simply rolled in the sand and yelled 
with laughter. 
I’m afraid that the Mahometan religion has lost 
many of its adherents in Africa owing to the 
temptation of elephant meat, for I have, on many 
occasions, been present when this taboo and the 
teaching of the Prophet have fought a pitched 
battle in the arena of a native’s simple soul, to the 
complete discomfiture of Moslemism. 
s 
