396 THE EXPLORATION OF THE NIGER cheeks, said in a choked and broken voice, " No, Modibo, no, you ha\-e read my heart wrongly ; when I saw you holding forth so vehemently, and shaking your grey beard, you reminded me of my old goat which I left at home in my hut to follow you. That is what made me sob," and he went on weeping.

This anecdote, which loses much of its piquancy in translation, is very typical cf the character of the nomad Fulahs, illustrating as it does their combined fanaticism and self-interest.

As I have said, we were all quite won over by the behaviour of Tayoro and Modibo Konna, when one fine