CHAP. XVT.] 
LITTLE ABBAI. 
451 
equal in precocity to a European child of three; in 
form and strength he was a young Hercules, and, 
although so young, he would frequently follow me out 
shooting for two or three miles, and return home with 
a guinea-fowl hanging over his shoulder, or his hands 
full of pigeons. Abbai became very civilized ; he was 
taught to make a Turkish “ salaam ” upon receiving a 
present, and to wash his hands both before and after 
his meals. He had the greatest objection to eat alone, 
and he generally invited three or four friends of about 
his own age to dine with him; on such occasions, a 
large wooden bowl, about twenty inches in diameter, was 
filled with soup and porridge, around which steaming 
dish the young party sat, happier in their slavery than 
kings in power. There were two lovely girls of three 
and eight years of age that belonged to Ibrahim; these 
were not black, but of the same dark brown tint as 
Kamrasi and many of the Unyoro people. Their 
mother was also there, and their history being most 
pitiable, they were always allowed free access to our 
hut and the dinner bowl. These two girls were the 
daughters of Owine, one of the great chiefs who were 
allied with Fowooka against Kamrasi. After the 
defeat of Fowooka, Owine and many of his people 
with their families quitted the country, and forming 
an alliance with Mahommed Wat-el-Mek, they settled 
in the neighbourhood of his camp at Faloro, and built 
a village. For some time they were on the best terms, 
but some cattle of the Turks being missed, suspicion 
fell upon the new settlers. The men of Mahommed’s 
party desired that they might be expelled, and Ma¬ 
hommed, in a fit of drunken fury, at once ordered them 
to be massacred. His men, eager for murder and 
plunder, immediately started upon their bloody errand, 
and surrounding the unsuspecting colony, they fired the 
huts and killed every man,, including the chief, Owine; 
capturing the women and children as slaves. Ibrahim 
had received the mother and two girls as presents from 
Mahommed Wat-el-Mek. As the two rival companies 
G G 2 
