The Turks Had
Several, And I Hoped That On The Return Of Ibrahim From Gondokoro I
Might Induce Him To Lend Me A Bari Lad For Some Consideration.
For the
present I was obliged to send to the Turks' camp and borrow an
interpreter whenever I required one, which was both troublesome and
expensive.
Although I was willing to purchase all supplies with either beads or
copper bracelets, I found it was impossible to procure meat. The natives
refused to sell either cattle or goats. This was most tantalizing, as
not less than 10,000 head of cattle filed by my camp every morning as
they were driven from the town to pasturage. All this amount of beef
paraded before me, and did not produce a steak! Milk was cheap and
abundant; fowl were scarce; corn was plentiful; vegetables were unknown;
not even pumpkins were grown by the Latookas.
Fortunately there was an abundance of small game in the shape of wild
ducks, pigeons, doves; and a great variety of birds such as herons,
cranes, spoonbills, &c. Travellers should always take as large a supply
of shot as possible. I had four hundred weight, and prodigious
quantities of powder and caps: thus I could at all times kill sufficient
game for ourselves and people. There were a series of small marshy pools
scattered over the country near the stream that ran through the valley;
these were the resort of numerous ducks, which afforded excellent sport.
The town of Tarrangolle is situated at the foot of the mountain, about a
mile from the stream, which is about eighty yards wide, but shallow. In
the dry weather, water is obtained by wells dug in the sandy bed, but
during the rains it is a simple torrent not exceeding three feet in
depth. The bed being sandy, the numerous banks, left dry by the
fluctuations of the stream, are most inviting spots for ducks; and it
was only necessary to wait under a tree, on the river's bank, to obtain
thirty or forty shots in one morning as the ducks flew down the course
of the stream. I found two varieties: the small brown duck with a grey
head; and a magnificent variety, as large as the Muscovy, having a
copper-and-blue coloured tinselled back and wings, with a white but
speckled head and neck. This duck had a curious peculiarity in a fleshy
protuberance on the beak about as large as a half-crown. This stands
erect, like a cock's comb. Both this, and the smaller variety, were
delicious eating. There were two varieties of geese - the only two that
I have ever seen on the White Nile - the common Egyptian grey goose, and
a large black and white bird with a crimson head and neck, and a red and
yellow horny protuberance on the top of the head. This variety has a
sharp spur upon the wing an inch long, and exceedingly powerful; it is
used as a weapon of defence for striking, like the spurred wing of the
plover.
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