300 THE EXPLORATION OF THE NIGER somehow, provided with sixteen oars, and armed with the machine-gun belonging to the Davoust, all ready to advance to the attack or the defence whether to Say or to Dunga.

In a word, the urgent preliminary work was rapidly accomplished in a very few days, and then in comparative security we began building what the natives call the tata, that is to say, an earthwork such as surrounds sedentary villages, or a fortified redoubt serving as the residence of a chief.

Even if you had not been brought up a mason, you would very soon become one in the Sudan ; at least you will learn to build as the negroes do. There are neither stones, lime, nor sand, nothing -but water and more or less argillaceous soil. With that you must make bricks, mortar, and the mixture for graining, if graining you mean to have. The clay is kneaded with the feet, and when it is ready, what are called tufas are made of it, that is to say, flat or cylindrical bricks, which the mason or bare places horizontally between two layers of mortar. The bare sits astride on the wall he is building and chants the same tune over and over again, whilst his assistants silently pass up the Uifas to him. I have noticed that all over the world masons and tile-makers are as light-hearted as birds.

Our best mason in this case was a big Sarracolais named Samba Demba, who generally acted as groom to our bicycle Suzanne. When he was at work on the wall it grew apace, and we too grew gay as we saw it rise, for with it increased our sense of security.

When the building went on well, we felt that everything else would go well too. Our tata was a triangular wall, each of the three sides being from about eleven to sixteen yards long. It was thick enough to protect us from treacherous shots from old-fashioned rifles, and indeed also from the quick-firing