2 I CHAPTER IV.

THE SHILLUK.S AND THEIR CHIEF :\IEK.

Hunters of wild beasts — Treason — Yussuf Eey — Nm/ar ■with elephant tusks — "Wau — The Sobat — Wild boars and lions — The Sheikh of Sobat— The Mek of the Shilluks-On board — Planners and customs of the Shilluks.

Sunday, June 7fh. — AVe set off again and arrived at Kaka by midnight on Monday. Kaka is a Sliilluk village, u'here fifty soldiers are stationed under the orders of a Jusbash or captain to raise the imposts. We provided ourselves anew with fuel, and just when we were about to start a man ran down to the shorp whom, from his beard, I judged to be a foreigner.

Calling him to me, he told me that he was a Greek and had been at Kaka for two years and a half hunting, and had a companion with him, a Bulgarian by birth, but that having run short of their ammunition, they were waiting for some vessel to take them to Khartoum, that they might get some more. His clothes and haggard face betrayed his semi-poverty, and I could not resist proposing that he should come with me, promising that he might continue his profession, and that I would do all in my power to help him. He consented, and I sent two soldiers with him to help to bring his baggage on board, while his companion was to return to Khartoum with the skins of lions, leopards, giraffes and buffaloes, convert them into money, and rejoin us in Balir-el-Ghazal.

We set out on our voyage, and my first care was to cure my guest of an obstinate fever that had tormented him for some time. He told me his story.