We took as guide the son of the chief of the village, who was later to pay us a visit at Say. Thanks to him and with the help of his men we crossed the first rapids without too much difficulty; but, alas! the rope which was used to transmit to the rudder the movements of the helm broke just as we emerged from them. Had this happened thirty seconds sooner the Davoust could not have answered to her helm, and would have been flung upon the rocks. The damage repaired, we steered once more into the current, wending our way cautiously amongst the numerous islands, skirting the course of the reef, our good star bringing us safely into a quiet reach extending as far as Wataguna, where we again came to flints lining the bed of the stream.
In the evening we reached Karu, the Aube having struck once by the way, but without sustaining much damage; still all these shocks did not add to her waterproof qualities, and as she shipped more and more water our anxiety and fatigue became greater and greater. We had constantly to empty the hold, which did not conduce to the repose of the passengers, who were often woke up by the noise we made with our buckets.
FAFA.
Karu is a pretty little village with thatched huts, amongst which were many of the barns of a bee-hive shape used for storing millet alluded to by Barth. We had noticed a good number during the last few days. The inhabitants of this village are Rimaïbes or serfs of the Fulahs and Bellates or slaves of the Tuaregs.
The chief of the latter told us how glad he was to see some white men before he died. He added that he would like to give us some sheep, but he understood that we never ate anything except the flesh of black animals, and he had none of that colour.
I said that the colour of the wool did not trouble us at all; all we cared for was the quality of the flesh, and he went and fetched us a fine ram. It was the marabouts, who, to add to the probability of their report that we were sorcerers, had made this assertion about black animals. There is a custom in the Sudan that animals given as presents should be as white as possible, as a sign of peace between donor and receiver. We were now told that Bokar Wandieïdu, chief of the Logomaten, had assembled a column of troops and was about to attack us.
KARU WITH MILLET GRANARIES.
At Karu the mountains were pointed out to us which line the famous rapid of Labezenga, which we expected to reach the next day. A guide was given to us who was said to be wonderfully clever, but we saw no particular sign of his intelligence.