160 
CAMP AT TARRANGOLLE. 
[chap. y. 
stupid as to beat tbe drum or nogara before tlie attack, 
as it naturally gives the alarm, and renders a surprise 
impossible; nevertheless, the war-drum is always a 
preliminary step to hostilities. 
I now resolved to camp outside the town, so as not 
to be mixed up in any way with the Turks, whose 
presence was certain to create enmity. Accordingly 
I engaged a number of natives to cut thorns, and to 
make a zareeba, or camp, about four hundred yards 
from the main entrance of the town, on the road to 
the stream of water. In a few days it was com¬ 
pleted, and I constructed houses for my men, and two 
good huts for ourselves. Having a supply of garden 
seeds, I arranged a few beds, which I sowed with 
onions, cabbages, and raddishes. My camp was eighty 
yards long, and forty wide. My horses were picqueted 
in two corners, while the donkeys and camels occupied 
the opposite extremity. We now felt perfectly inde¬ 
pendent. 
I had masses of supplies, and I resolved to work 
round to the south-west whenever it might be 
possible, and thus to recover the route that I had 
originally proposed for my journey south. My present 
difficulty was the want of an interpreter. The Turks 
had several, and I hoped that on the return of Ibrahim 
from Gondokoro I might induce him to lend me a Bari 
lad for some consideration. For the present I was 
obliged to send to the Turks' camp and borrow an 
interpreter whenever I required one, which was both 
troublesome and expensive. 
Although I was willing to purchase all supplies with 
either beads or copper bracelets,! found it was impossible 
to procure meat. The natives refused to sell either cattle 
or goats. This was most tantalizing; as not less than 
10,000 head of cattle filed by my camp every morning 
as they were driven from the town to pasturage. All 
this amount of beef paraded before me, and did not 
produce a steak. Milk was cheap and abundant; 
fowls were scarce; corn was plentiful; vegetables 
