The Americans

tion;-the cause was a funeral dance, and I joined the crowd, and soon found myse

nally in the height of his excitement. These instruments produced a sound partaking of the braying of a donkey and the screech of an owl. Crowds of men rushed round and round in a sort of "galop infernel," brandishing their lances and iron-headed maces, and keeping tolerably in line five or six deep, following the leader who headed them, dancing backwards. The women kept outside the line, dancing a slow stupid step, and screaming a wild and most inharmonious chant; while a long string of young girls and small children, their heads and necks rubbed with red ochre and grease, and prettily ornamented with strings of beads a

he dead; and as many friends had recently been killed

the confidence of Loggo, as my success depended much upon information that I might obtain from the natives; therefore, whenever I sent for him to hold any conversation with the people, I invariably gave him a little present at parting. Accordingly he obeyed any summons from me with great alacrity, knowing that the interview would terminate with a "baksheesh" (

at I had seen in these countries, and the tribe paid far more deference to his comman

conversation with him on the customs of his country. I wished if possible to fathom the origin of the extraordinary custom

ing stools like the other White Nile tribes. I commenced the conversation by complimenting him on the perfection of his wives

e ceremony being observed for every person without distinction. I asked him why those slain in battle w

bones of those whom you have already buried,

fathers," he answered, "theref

death? Is not some idea expressed in the act o

How can that be? Can a dead man get ou

s like a beast, tha

; but he dies, and his bones last longer; they ar

ense to an ox? Has he not a

Men must sow corn to obtain food, but the ox

you not dream and wander in thought to distant places in your sleep?

ccount for it? It is a thing I cannot u

d, but the mind is uncontrollable; the body will die and will become

ere will the

in the wood. Has not that fire, that lies harmless and unseen in the sticks, the power to consume the whole country? Which is the stronger, the small stick that first PRO

have myself been lost, and wandering in the dark, I have seen a distant fire; upon approachin

ts superior to either man or beast? Have yo

and other animals when in the jun

hen you die it will be the end of body and spirit; that you are like other animals; and

"Of cours

d bad actions?" Commoro.-"Yes, there

and a bad must share the same

they do? How can they help

he bad in misery. If you have no belief in a future state, WHY SHOULD A

take from the weak. The good people are all weak; they

n example of a future state. Making a small hole with my finger in the ground, I placed a grain within it: "That," I said, "represents you when you di

produced is not the same grain that we buried, but the PRODUCTION of that grain: so it is with man-I die, and decay, and am ended; but

which to found a religious feeling; there was a belief in matter; and to his understanding everything was MATERIAL.

ent as a failure, I resolved

oduced the cowrie shell; but I observed that every helmet was ornamented with this species

he had no idea from whence they came. The direction was sufficient to prove that they must be sent from th

to explain the intention of my journey. He said, "Suppose you get to the great lake; what will you do with it? Wh

o unknown countries by instituting legitimate trade, and introducing manufactures from England in exchange for ivory and other productions. He replied that the Turks would never tr

ry where the plant exists that is well known by the Arabs as the "camel poison," watchers must always accompany the animals while grazing. The most fatal plant is a creeper, very succulent, and so beautifully green that its dense foliage is most attractive to the stupid victim. The stomach of the camel is very subject to inflammation, which is rapidly fatal. I have frequently seen them, after several days of sharp desert marching, arrive in good pasture, and die, within a few hours, of inflammation caused by repletion. It is extraordinary how they can exi

verse, and the males are frequently dangerous. They are exceedingly perverse; and are, as before described, excessively stupid. For the

astured upon succulent and dewy herbage. During the hottest season, when green herbage ceases to exist in the countries inhabited by camels, they are led to water every alternate day, thus they are supposed to drink once in forty-eight hours; but when upon the march across deserts, where no water exists, they are expected to carry a load of from five to six hundred pounds, and to march twen

sun that drives all other beasts to shelter. The peculiar spongy formation of the foot renders the camel exceedingly sure, although it is usual to believe that it is only adapted for flat, sandy plains. I have travelled over mountains so precipitous that no domestic animal but the camel could have accomplished the task with a load

or five days, carrying only his rider and a small water-skin or girba. His action should be so easy that his long ambling trot should produce that peculiar movement adopted by a nurse when hushing a child to sleep upon her knee. This movement is delightful, and the quick elastic step of a first-cl

, and the death of this camel was equal to minus five cwt. of luggage. My men were so idle that they paid no attention to the animals, and the watcher

permitted within the stockade or fence. Thus the outside, especially the neighbourhood of the various entrances, was excessively filthy, and my donkeys actually fattened as scavengers, like pigs. I remembered that my unfortunate German Johann Schmidt had formerly told me that he was at one time shooting in the Base country, w