348 GOK TERRITORY TO RIVERS ROA AND YALO.

evening, when all had assembled for an evening entertainment, the villagers seated themselves in a group, surrounded by our porters, and began to sing a chorus. All of a sudden one of them sprang out of their midst and began to load my porters with opprobrium, notwithstanding that they belonged to their own tribe. This very insolent attack, which was interspersed with all kinds of very low jokes, was given in the quickest time, and accompanied by the clapping of sticks and the shrill trills of the women. Our porters appeared to take the whole affair in good part, and laughed at the jokes and the obscenities quite heartily. When at last the singer was tired and stopped, one of the company seized a green durrah-stalk and began to beat him on the back, as a sign of the greatest satisfaction and appreciation. Our people then took their turn in the performance, and after they had returned the comphments in the same manner, the others commenced a perfect wildfire of the most horrible invectives against their friends and compatriots, who only laughed, and apparently had no cause for displeasure. As soon as one party was tired, the other party took up the song, and this amusement continued until far into the night. Such scenes often occur between the inhabitants of different villages, at a place which has been previously determined upon, and all parties appear to greatly enjoy the fun.

The country which joins Bauru is covered with red ferruginous clay and intersected by many rain-gutters, along which bulbous plants abound. The country is beautiful and well cultivated. Village follows village, only separated from one another by corn-fields, thickets of bamboo, and sometimes small stretches of park-land. Grass steppe proper is first noticed again on the borders of Gumro, where broad depressions favour the growth of grass. Passing through the cornfields of the village of Dubre, in which were great numbers of shrieking parrots, we arrived at a small swampy “hor called Chongo about here, but known farther north as Gulmar and Lila. Notwithstanding the existence of a number of pools of standing water among the high reeds, we were almost able to cross the khor with dry feet. In good time we reached the small station of Lobaledé, which is situated on the eastern