3o6 THE EXPLORATION OF THE NIGER I must now introduce a few of these people. Two men played a very important part in our existence at Fort Archinard. These two were Osman and Pullo. The former was the man from Say, the Koyrabero who had been waiting for us before we reached Sansan-Haussa, no doubt to spy on us, and who had come down to Say with us on the Davoust ; a vulgar fellow, without either dignity or intelligence, he played the ignoble role of go-between all the time we were in the neighbourhood. Of Songhay race, with a dash of the Fulah in his composition, he had the duplicity of the latter, whilst retaining all the stupidity of the former.

He was physically a handsome fellow, with fine features, as black as a crow, but he was getting old now, and was afflicted not only with tubercular disease, but also with a kind of leprosy, which did not prevent him from shaking hands with us three times a day.

He often came with a marabout named Ali, who was further gone in consumption than himself.

Pullo, or Pullo Sidibe, to give his full title, was a very different kind of man. Tall, thin, with a comparatively pale complexion, he wore a filthy Chechia or native cap a little on one side. He had a way of moving his arms up and down like a semaphore, and really rather resembled a big scarecrow in rags. With a mysterious air, such as a Sibyl might wear, he was constantly taking one or another of us aside to some corner, or to an ant-hill or mound, far from indiscreet listeners, to impart in a solemn manner some utterly incredible false news of which we shall have an example to give presently. I must mention too, the way in which he used to smile when we pointed out to him in a friendly way the mistakes he had made.

" Ah," he would say to me laughing, " I shall never go back to my fields as long as you are here, I shall never