240 WHERE LIVES PRIMITIVE MAN Following the wise principle of not pauperizing the people by gifts, the method was adopted of bartering dhurra for oxen, of which there were plenty. Many a time in America an invisible " city " is reached, marked on the railway-line by a name-plate, but with no house to be seen. Much the same was the circumstance here : after a short stay at Ajiung, our farthest point, 144 miles from the mouth, Kodni was halted at, probably the first visit of white men in its history. There was naught on the bank to evince it, not even the American name-plate. But its rights to an individual designation were proved on inspection of the horizon, where some twenty or thirty huts, scattered widely over the country, gave more title to the description of " city " than the American example.

So recently had any kind of relations been established between Government and the important chief Diu — already referred to in the previous chapter as the Sheikh of Gaweir—that some interest was felt in the disposition of folk toward the white men in this more remote section of country. But the fact was well known, though so recent, and touch was immediately, if not freely, affected. I noticed a distinct difference in type and manner between these people and those lower down. They were generally shyer and surly, and did not respond in the manner which was exhibited below. The type of countenance was not so open, and the general disposition less agreeable. This was the first time they had been visited since the old slave-