— 27 — him. I agreed to his terms and went out to the country of Golo, which I reached on the twenty seventh of May 1865. Here lived the king Addu Shakko, who had treacherously taken my brother Mansur and killed him, together with the men whom I had sent to trade in his country, depriving them of all their wealth. He doubted not but that I had come to take vengeance for my brother, wherefore he did not allow me to stay in his dominions but threatened me with war. I endeavoured to pacify him with gifts, and assured him that I had nothing in mind except the affairs of commerce, but he refused my gifts and insisted on my leaving his country with all speed. It was the winter-quarter when all the land was under water, so I asked him to bear with me and allow me to remain, until the rainy season should be over and the roads were once more fit for traffic. However he would not listen to my request, and I determined not to quit the place until I should have done battle with him.

With this in mind I made a fortress that covered an expanse of three feddans, f encircling it with a stockade built of interlacing trees so strong and large that shot could not break them down.

At this we laboured for three days and three nights, until we had naught to fear at the hands of the fApproximately three acres.