252 
VIOLENT STORM. 
[chap. IX. 
portion of such a snake with their hands : even its 
skin was supposed by these people to be noxious. 
Down came the rain ; I believe it could not have 
rained harder. Mrs. Baker in the palanquin was for¬ 
tunately like a snail in her shell; but I had nothing for 
protection except an ox-hide : throwing myself upon 
my angarep I drew it over me. The natives had 
already lighted prodigious fires, and all crowded around 
the blaze; but what would have been the Great Fire 
of London in that storm ? In half an hour the fire was 
out; such a deluge fell that the ravine that was dry 
when we first bivouacked, was now an impassable 
torrent. My ox-hide had become tripe, and my an¬ 
garep being covered with a mat, was some inches deep 
in water. Throwing away the mat, the pond escaped 
through the sieve-like network, but left me drenched. 
Throughout the night it poured. We had been wet 
through every day during the journey from Latooka, 
but the nights had been fine; this was superlative 
misery for all. At length it ceased—morning dawned; 
we could not procure fire, as everything was saturated, 
and we started on our march through forest and high 
reeking grass. By this circuitous route from Latooka 
we avoided all difficult passes, as the ground on the 
west side of the chain of mountains ascended rapidly 
but regularly to Obbo. 
On arrival at my former hut I found a great change; 
the grass was at least ten feet high, and my little camp 
was concealed in the rank vegetation. Old Katchiba 
came to meet us, but brought nothing, as he said the 
Turks had eaten up the country. An extract from 
my journal, dated July 1, explains the misery of our 
position. 
“This Obbo country is now a land of starvation. 
The natives refuse to supply provision for beads; nor 
will they barter anything unless in exchange for flesh. 
This is the curse that the Turks have brought upon 
the country by stealing cattle and throwing them 
away wholesale. We have literally nothing to eat 
