Chapter XVI: The Women Miners of Banjeli

Tschopowa to Kugnau--No roads--A careless guide--Schomburgk
loses his way--Crossing the Oti River--Mosquitoes at
Kugnau--Asmani and his "mosquito slaps"--A disconcerting
mistake--Messa and Asmani fall out--The Konkombwa and
their helmets--A too officious soldier--Anecdote about
the Duke of Mecklenburg--Crossing the Oti for the last
time--Arrival at Ibubu--A "Roman Fort"--In the Sokode
district--Small food rations--Truculent natives--We buy
a second ostrich--Lack of carriers--A serious dilemma--
The chief of Ibubu is impertinent--"I can't make carriers
out of mealie cobs"--I go on ahead with the few carriers
available, leaving Schomburgk to follow--The disappearing
women--On the road to Banjeli--Beautiful scenery--
Schomburgk orders the chief of Ibubu to be arrested and
brought a prisoner to Bassari--Women carriers--A glut
of green and gold beetles--Our mail arrives at Banjeli
from Bassari--News from home--I buy a pig--And am
disappointed--A native "cooler"--Our personal boys imbibe
not wisely but too well--A model punishment--Filming the
native iron industry at Banjeli--Slave women miners--A
pitiful sight--We obtain some most interesting pictures 227-248

CHAPTER XVII

IN A MOUNTAIN COUNTRY

Banjeli to Bassari--In a mountain country--Crossing the
Katscha River--Bush riding--Arrival at Beapabe--An
avenue of mango trees--We reach Bassari--Hospitality of
Mr. Muckè, the Sub-District Commissioner--He places the
"Massow House" at our disposal--Sleeping in a dwelling with
windows--Scarcity of water--The "King of Bassari"--
An Arab stallion--Native smiths at Bassari--The Mallam
Mohammed, a local Pooh-Bah--An open-air school--The
Mallam's eight wives--Their house and its treasures--They
pay me a return visit--A Jack-in-the-box baby--Native
jewellery--The District Commissioner from Sokode passes
through Bassari 249-262

CHAPTER XVIII

A WOMAN "PALAVER"

Native marriages--A matter of sale and exchange--Infant
betrothals--Native weddings--A Tschaudjo ceremony--
A trying ordeal--Polygamy--Childbirth--Infant diet
and infant mortality--Baby girls--A bush ordeal--The
"Women's Queen"--Fetish women--Secret rites--Status of
native wives--Widows--African death customs--Caravan
cookery--Native cooks--Monkey-nut soup--Potatoes a
coveted luxury--Bush delicacies 263-279

CHAPTER XIX

BACK IN SOKODE

Bassari to Malfakasa--Crossing the Kamaa River--A fearful
climb--Mountain scenery--Uro-Ganede-Bo--A royal
sanctuary--The last of our provisions--The outlaw of
the "Long Gun" mountain--On the road from Malfakasa to
Sokode--The Tim plains--Arrival in Sokode--In touch
with civilisation once more--A telegraphic orgie--We
say good-bye to our horses--Sending them down through
the tsetse-fly belt--Precautions--Sleeping sickness--
The Mallam of Dedaure--A splendid native--The native
Government school at Sokode--Mr. Kuepers, the schoolmaster
--Native scholars--Good manners of the children--Native
children apter to learn than white up to a certain age--
Herr von Parpart gives a farewell dinner--We meet Mr. and
Mrs. Dehn--The choir invisible--By motor car to Atakpame
--A breakdown on the road--Arrival at Atakpame--Kamina 280-295