366 THE EXPLORATION OF THE NIGER copy-book paper, which had evidently been taken off our presents, he had written the most awful curses, imploring Allah seven times over to exterminate the Kaffirs, as he called us, and having washed the paper in water he made a goat drink the decoction thus produced. He then sent that goat to us, thinking we would buy it ! But we were warned in time.

The awful grisgris did, in fact, arrive in camp yesterday in the form of a black goat. The poor creature did not look as if she were charged with venom. She was plump not too old, and would make a first-rate stew.

All our men were, however, afraid to have anything to do with her, for in their eyes she was indeed a grisgris endowed with unholy powers by Amadu. The negroes are all superstitious, and their imagination often quite runs away with them. On the other hand, faith is sometimes wanting amongst the Mussulmans. Putting on an air of ver}' great wisdom, therefore, we generously offered two cubits of stuff, worth about threepence-halfpenny, for the goat filled with spells against us, and when the trader who had brought her looked confused, yet almost willing to let us have her at that ridiculous price, we explained to him emphatically that our own grisgris the tubabu grisgris had revealed to us the black designs of Amadu, and we intended to have him and his goat taken back to the other side of the river, vianii militari, I very nearly said kicked back.

The Kurteye marabout who had warned us, was evidently a friend, unless the whole story was made up to get a present from us. Every evening now regular tornados broke near Say. Up-stream and down-stream, at Djerma and at Gurma, torrents of rain fell constantly, and the lightning flashed from every point of the compass ; but, strange to relate, there was no rain at Say itself, and when there is no rain there is no harvest. The report was now spread that we