138 
THE NATIVES OF LATOOKA. 
[chap. V. 
On the arrival of my vakeel he told me, in face of 
the men, that so many had deserted, and that the 
others had refused to assist him in taking the guns 
from them; thus my arms and ammunition had been 
forcibly stolen. I abused both the vakeel and the 
men most thoroughly, and as for the mutineers who 
have joined the slave-hunters, “Inshallah, the vultures 
shall pick their bones ! ” 
This charitable wish—which, I believe, I expressed 
with intense hatred—was never forgotten either by 
my own men or by the Turks. Believing firmly in 
the evil eye, their superstitious fears were immediately 
excited. 
Continuing the march along the same style of 
country we shortly came in view of Tarrangolle, the 
chief town of Latooka, at which point was the station 
of Ibrahim, We had marched thirteen miles from 
Latome, the station of Mahommed Her, at which 
place my men had deserted, and we were now 101 
miles from Gondokoro by dead reckoning. 
There were some superb trees situated close to the 
town, under which we camped until the natives could 
prepare a hut for our reception. Crowds of people 
now surrounded us, amazed at the two great objects of 
interest—the camels, and a white woman. They did 
not think me very peculiar, as I was nearly as brown 
as an Arab. 
The Latookas are the finest savages I have ever 
seen. I measured a number of them as they happened 
to enter my tent, and allowing two inches for the 
thickness of their felt helmets, the average height was 
5 ft. Ilyins. Not only are they tall, but they possess 
a wonderful muscular development, having beautifully 
proportioned legs and arms ; and although extremely 
powerful, they are never fleshy or corpulent. The 
formation of head and general physiognomy is totally 
different from all other tribes that I have met with 
in the neighbourhood of the White Nile. They have 
high foreheads, large eyes, rather high cheek-bones, 
