The Rain Had Commenced Within The Last Few Days At Latooka, And
On The Route Toward Obbo We Should Encounter Continual Storms.
We were
to march by a long and circuitous route to avoid the rocky passes that
would be dangerous in the present spirit of the country, especially as
the traders possessed large herds that must accompany the party.
They
allowed five days' march for the distance to Obbo by the intended route.
This was not an alluring programme for the week's entertainment, with my
wife almost in a dying state! However, I set to work and fitted an
angarep with arched hoops from end to end, so as to form a frame like
the cap of a wagon. This I covered with two waterproof Abyssinian tanned
hides securely strapped, and lashing two long poles parallel to the
sides of the angarep, I formed an excellent palanquin. In this she was
assisted, and we started on June 23d.
On our arrival at Obbo both my wife and I were excessively ill with
bilious fever, and neither could assist the other. The old chief of
Obbo, Katchiba, hearing that we were dying, came to charm us with some
magic spell. He found us lying helpless, and immediately procured a
small branch of a tree, and filling his month with water he squirted it
over the leaves and about the floor of the hut. He then waved the branch
around my wife's head, also around mine, and completed the ceremony by
sticking it in the thatch above the doorway.
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