— 24 —
us to procure her a hippopotamus. Nur Angara
and a man called Rabeh, accordingly, shot one
for her, as the men she had with her knew not
how to handle a rifle with accuracy and precision.
While we were at the village of Shol one of the
Senhora's maids and her dog died; she caused
them to be embalmed and put in a box; then she
despatched them to Khartoum, whither she shortly
afterwards directed her steps.
We reached the land of the Nyam-Nyams early
on the twenty fifth of July 1864. I presented a handsome gift to the King Tikma of a soup basin
decorated with a device of gold : so pleased was
he with the present that he would place it upon
his head, and use it as a crown on state occasions :
in return he made a great repast for us, killing a
hundred of the fattest dogs that were being prepared
for his own personal use. I then repaired to the
house of my wife Ranbu, and commenced to buy
and sell. In this country it was the custom to
expose for sale in the markets all those criminals who had committed such offences as theft and
adultery. These are then slaughtered like goats
and sold for food. I redeemed all such men as I
could find who would be able to carry arms, until I
had a force of five hundred men, whom I armed
with firearms, teaching them how to make use of
them. But the Sultan Tikma was afraid of me,
because of my power, and consulted his priests who