CHAP. IX.] 
MARAUDING EXPEDITION. 
255 
16th of July my last horse, Mouse, died; he had a very 
long tail, for which I obtained a cow in exchange. 
Nothing was prized so highly as a horses tail, the hairs 
being used for stringing beads, and also for making 
tufts as ornaments, to be suspended from the elbows. 
It was highly fashionable in Obbo for the men to 
wear such tufts, formed of the bushy ends of cow’s- 
tails. It was also “the thing” to wear six or eight 
polished rings of iron, fastened so tightly round the 
throat, as to almost choke the wearer, somewhat re¬ 
sembling dog-collars. 
On 18th July, the natives held a great consultation, 
and ended with a war-dance; they were all painted in 
various patterns, with red ochre and white pipe-clay; 
their heads adorned with very tasteful ornaments of 
cowrie-shells, surmounted by plumes of ostrich-feathers, 
which drooped over the back of the neck. After the 
dance, the old chief addressed them in a long and 
vehement speech; he was followed by several other 
speakers, all of whom were remarkably fluent, and the 
resolution of the meeting was declared “ that the 
nogaras were to be beaten, and men collected to accom¬ 
pany the Turks on a razzia in the Madi country.” 
Ibrahim started with 120 armed men and a mass of 
Obbo people on the marauding expedition. 
On the following day Katchiba came to see us, 
bringing a present of flour. I gave him a tin plate, a 
wooden spoon, the last of the tea-cups, and a tinsel 
paper of mother-of-pearl shirt buttons, which took his 
fancy so immensely, that my wife was begged to 
suspend it from his neck like a medal. He was really 
a very good old fellow—by far the best I have seen in 
Africa. He was very suspicious of the Turks, who, he 
said, would ultimately ruin him, as, by attacking the 
Madi tribe, they would become his enemies, and invade 
Obbo when the Turks should leave. Cattle were of 
very little use in his country, as the flies would kill 
them ; he had tried all his magic art, but it was of no 
avail against the flies ; my donkeys would all assuredly 
