In Expressing My Thankfulness To God Among My Men,
They Were Much Offended With Themselves For Not Being Present
To Shield Me From This Danger.
The tree near me was a camel-thorn,
and reminded me that we had come back to the land of thorns again,
for the country we had left is one of evergreens.
-
* It is probably a species allied to the `Sternotherus sinuatus' of Dr. Smith,
as it has no disagreeable smell. This variety annually leaves the water
with so much regularity for the deposit of its eggs, that the natives decide
on the time of sowing their seed by its appearance.
-
JULY 27TH. We reached the town of Libonta, and were received
with demonstrations of joy such as I had never witnessed before.
The women came forth to meet us, making their curious
dancing gestures and loud lulliloos. Some carried a mat and stick,
in imitation of a spear and shield. Others rushed forward and kissed
the hands and cheeks of the different persons of their acquaintance among us,
raising such a dust that it was quite a relief to get to the men
assembled and sitting with proper African decorum in the kotla.
We were looked upon as men risen from the dead, for the most skillful
of their diviners had pronounced us to have perished long ago.
After many expressions of joy at meeting, I arose, and, thanking them,
explained the causes of our long delay, but left the report to be made
by their own countrymen.
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