"
Ibrahim started with 120 armed men and a mass of Obbo people on the
marauding expedition.
On the following day Katchiba came to see us, bringing a present of
flour. I gave him a tin plate, a wooden spoon, the last of the tea-cups,
and a tinsel paper of mother-of-pearl shirt buttons, which took his
fancy so immensely, that my wife was begged to suspend it from his neck
like a medal. He was really a very good old fellow--by far the best I
have seen in Africa. He was very suspicious of the Turks, who, he said,
would ultimately ruin him, as, by attacking the Madi tribe, they would
become his enemies, and invade Obbo when the Turks should leave. Cattle
were of very little use in his country, as the flies would kill them; he
had tried all his magic art, but it was of no avail against the flies;
my donkeys would all assuredly die. He said that the losses inflicted
upon the various tribes by the Turks were ruinous, as their chief means
of subsistence was destroyed; without cattle they could procure no
wives; milk, their principle diet, was denied them, and they were driven
to despair; thus they would fight for their cattle, although they would
allow their families to be carried off without resistance; cattle would
procure another family, but if the animals were stolen, there would be
no remedy.
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