212 
KAT CHIB A, CHIEF OF OBBO. 
[chap. VIII 
withered stems ; thus the firing of the prairies does 
not absolutely clear the country, but merely consumes 
the dry matter, and leaves a ruin of charred herbage, 
rendered so tough by the burning, that it is quite 
impossible to ride without cutting the skin from the 
horse’s shins and shoulders. Altogether, it is a most 
uninteresting country, as there is no possibility of 
traversing it except by the narrow footpaths made by 
the natives. 
The chief of Obbo came to meet us with several of 
his head men. He was an extraordinary-looking man, 
about fifty-eight or sixty years of age; but, far from 
possessing the dignity usually belonging to a grey 
head, he acted the buffoon for our amusement, and 
might have been a clown in a pantomime. 
The heavy storm having cleared, the nogaras beat, 
and our entertaining friend determined upon a grand 
dance; pipes and flutes were soon heard gathering 
from all quarters, horns brayed, and numbers of men 
and women began to collect in crowds, while old 
Katchiba, the chief, in a great state of excitement, gave 
orders for the entertainment. 
About a hundred men formed a circle; each man 
held in his left hand a small cup-shaped drum, formed 
of hollowed wood, one end only being perforated, and 
this was covered with the skin of the elephant’s ear, 
tightly stretched. In the centre of the circle was the 
chief dancer, who wore, suspended from his shoulders, 
an immense drum, also covered with the elephant’s 
ear. The dance commenced by all singing remarkably 
well a wild but agreeable tune in chorus, the big 
drum directing the time, and the whole of the little 
drums striking at certain periods with such admirable 
precision, that the effect was that of a single instru¬ 
ment. The dancing was most vigorous, and far supe¬ 
rior to anything that I had seen among either Arabs 
or savages, the figures varying continually, and ending 
with a “ grand galop” in double circles, at a tremen¬ 
dous pace, the inner ring revolving in a contrary 
