382 THROUGH ABAKA COUNTRY TO GOSA.

Aulacodus Swinderianus, which are much hunted on account of their tender flesh. An otter (Lutra) is said to be found farther up-stream; I often saw the natives wearing pieces of its skin. The steppe cat (Melis maniculata) is also said to be very common all over this district. Three female cats were given to me in one day; they were very nice, dusky-grey creatures, with a few ereyish-black stripes and white paws; notwithstanding their small size, they spat horribly as soon as they were touched. It would be interesting to send a pair to Hurope in order to see what influence the climate and food would make upon the second and third generation. The Huropean wagtail (Budytes flava) had already come back to its winter quarters.

Chief Ansea, the ruler of the Abaka of Kanga, affects a greasy fez and a long Tibet robe, green with age, as also wide Turkish trousers, of a colour very difficult to describe; but although his authority extends far and wide, and many Negroes obey his commands, he has not yet been able to afford a shirt ; so it was my first business to renew his outer man, after which, on account of his light brown skin, exceedingly straight profile, scanty full beard, and his classic Sudan Arabic, he gave the impression of being rather an inhabitant of Dar-Mahas or Batn-el-Hajr than an Abaka prince. His zertba consisted of about forty huts and granaries, and as many very ugly women, with such enormous plates inserted into their lips that they almost looked like broad beaks. ‘This, together with the undulating movement of their hips when walking, called to my mind very forcibly the spoonbill. The people here carry a perfect arsenal of iron upon their bodies.

As the ground round Kanga is exhausted, Ansea intends shortly to remove his village to the Khor Meridi. This ‘hor, which is now a stream of from two or three feet in breadth, is usually seventy feet wide. Farther to the north it is called Roa. It was about two and a half hours’ march from Kanga. Masses of reeds and canes grow on the red ferruginous mud, where they appear to thrive. The other head-stream of the Roa, the Rasuba, also flows over this same ferruginous mud, which, in addition to the broad fringe of Pandanus, adds considerably to the unpleasantness of the ford. Iron appears to be very plentiful in this district, for I found that arrow-heads made of