238 GONDOKORO TO AGARU.

warded by many a wound, and yet one rarely sees maimed people in the villages. If a company of people Join together in a hunt, the booty is brought home, and the flesh of buffaloes, elephants, and large antelopes is divided amongst the inhabitants of the village. The chief receives, should he desire it, the head of the slaughtered animal. If a man goes out hunting alone, he keeps all that he kills. If a wounded animal escapes, it belongs to the finder; but if a wounded elephant dies in a neighbouring district, one tusk belongs to the finder, the other to the man who first wounded it, and its flesh must be divided in the village to which the finder belongs.

The breeding of sheep and cattle was once very actively carried on here, but now, with the exception of Chief Maye’s numerous herds, only large flocks of sheep are to be seen. Cattle are only milked by men; the dirty habit practised by the Dinka, Bari, and others, of washing the milker’s hands and face, as also the cow’s udder and the milk-pot, with urine does not exist here. Butter is chiefly used for anointing the body, sesame oil being preferred for use in cooking. Blood is freely eaten. Durrah beer and tobacco are the only narcotics used. The tobacco is smoked in curiously formed pipes, and is mixed with two parts of charcoal, either for economy’s sake or to increase the strength. Salt is an article in great request, and is obtained from the ashes of plants; saline clay is said to exist farther to the east, but the method of extracting salt from it is not understood. With the exception of iron, no metals are, apparently, found in the country. Copper and brass are imported chiefly from Khartum, sometimes from the south, as also are cowries. There is no communication with the east except on the frontier of the country (Latuka). The Ber country occupies a position to the north-north-west and northwest of this district; its inhabitants, several of whom I saw, are certainly Shuli. Irenga is the nearest district towards the east; it is also called Arenga, or even Renga. Its striking rugged mountains are partly visible from here; they are said to be distant three days’ good march, and the road which leads to them passes over the Logere mountains, the inhabitants of which carry on a flourishing trade with those of Irenga. The language spoken in Irenga is quite distinct from the Latuka