This Boy Had Been In Their Service For Some
Years, And Had Learnt Arabic, Which He Spoke Fluently, Although With A
Peculiar Accent, Owing To The Extraction Of The Four Front Teeth Of The
Lower Jaw, According To The General Custom.
It was of great importance
to obtain the confidence of Loggo, as my success depended much upon
information that I might obtain from the natives; therefore, whenever I
sent for him to hold any conversation with the people, I invariably gave
him a little present at parting.
Accordingly he obeyed any summons from
me with great alacrity, knowing that the interview would terminate with
a "baksheesh" (present). In this manner I succeeded in establishing
confidence, and he would frequently come uncalled to my tent and
converse upon all manner of subjects. The Latooka language is different
to the Bari, and a second interpreter was necessary; this was a sharp
lad about the same age: thus the conversation was somewhat tedious, the
medium being Bari and Latooka.
The chief Commoro (the "Lion") was one of the most clever and
common-sense savages that I had seen in these countries, and the tribe
paid far more deference to his commands than to those of his brother,
"Moy," although the latter was the superior in rank.
One day I sent for Commoro after the usual funeral dance was completed,
and, through my two young interpreters, I had a long conversation with
him on the customs of his country. I wished if possible to fathom the
origin of the extraordinary custom of exhuming the body after burial, as
I imagined that in this act some idea might be traced to a belief in the
resurrection.
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