Ways.
Florian, being a stonemason, had of course built his hut of
stone; he was a fair blacksmith and carpenter, and was well
provided with tools; but his principal occupation was whipmaking,
from the hides of hippopotami. As coorbatches were required
throughout the country there was an extensive demand for his
camel-whips, which were far superior to those of native
manufacture; these he sold to the Arabs at about two shillings
each. He had lately met with a serious accident by the bursting
of one of the wretched guns that formed his sporting battery;
this had blown away his thumb from the wrist joint, and had so
shattered his hand that it would most likely have suffered
amputation had he enjoyed the advantage of European surgical
assistance; but with the simple aid of his young black lad,
Richarn, who cut off the dangling thumb and flesh with his knife,
he had preserved his hand, minus one portion.
Florian had had considerable experience in some parts of the
country that I was about to visit, and he gave me much valuable
information that was of great assistance in directing my first
operations. The close of the rainy season would be about the
middle of September, but travelling would be impossible until
November, as the fly would not quit the country until the grass
should become dry; therefore the Arabs would not return with
their camels until that period.
It appeared that this peculiar fly, which tortured all domestic
animals, invaded the country shortly after the commencement of
the rains, when the grass was about two feet high; a few had
already been seen, but Sofi was a favoured spot that was
generally exempt from this plague, which clung more particularly
to the flat and rich table lands, where the quality of grass was
totally different to that produced upon the pebbly and denuded
soil of the sandstone slopes of the valley. The grass of the
slopes was exceedingly fine, and would not exceed a height of
about two feet, while that of the table lands would exceed nine
feet, and become impassable, until sufficiently dry to be cleared
by fire. In November, the entire country would become a vast
prairie of dried straw, the burning of which would then render
travelling and hunting possible.
Florian had hunted for some distance along the Settite river with
his companions, and had killed fifty-three hippopotami during the
last season. I therefore agreed that he should accompany me until
I should have sufficiently explored that river, after which I
proposed to examine the rivers Salaam and Angrab, of which great
tributaries of the Atbara nothing definite was known, except that
they joined that river about fifty miles south of Sofi.
Florian described the country as very healthy during the dry
season, but extremely dangerous during the rains, especially in
the month of October, when, on the cessation of rain, the sun
evaporated the moisture from the sodden ground and rank
vegetation.
