CHAPTER XXVI
INCIDENTS ON TREK
The changed seasons—End of the rainy season—Bush fires—Rolling downs and kopjes—A 25-miles march without food or drink—Return journey commenced—Ascent of the escarpment, 2,200 feet—A Hausa and Pagan affray—An ugly situation.
Leaving Naraguta and making direct south, about four miles along an excellent broad road, Jos is reached, past which one takes either a branch, still wide, road or a path which can scarcely be termed a bush one, for the character of the country is changing. There are granite boulders of moderate size. The merely undulating plains with small hills correspond to the impressions one has gained from the descriptions of Transvaal scenery, with its expansive veldt and kopjes around.
Travelling is no longer amidst torrential downpour and flooding tornadoes. The rains have ceased. No more will fall for at least three months, probably four. The rains ended with the advent of the October new moon. They stopped almost as automatically as the municipal turncock checks the supply from the main to the household pipes in English towns. A storm came and, continuing during the evening preceding the new moon, a bet was made at 8 o’clock that the fall of water would last over the astronomical change, which was to occur between 1 and 3 a.m. The man who backed the affirmative lost. The shower ceased at 11 p.m.
The roads just here are new, smooth and hard. Bridges of earth and wood, easily swept away by the swollen, rushing streams of the wet season, have been rebuilt, and therefore there is no wading across rivers of doubtful depth with deep holes in the bed or large rocks under water.
No need to watch for the sign of a storm. The sky is generally clear, blue flecked by a little white. The surrounding land is altering its appearance. The universal green, hitherto freshened by the rains, has largely become russet, with fields of light yellow grass. This dry, long grass has already provided the running ground for bush fires, too frequently started by a lighted object thrown thoughtlessly among quick-burning material. You can see these bush fires at night, sharp and distinct against the blackness around. They may be small and easily beaten out by the natives using sticks. Sometimes the fire will extend to a half-mile front. Then it must proceed until a large river or other barren space gives it no passage and it dies away. At the end of the rains, the European will clear the space round his house for hundreds of feet. So will the careful native. Should he have neglected, his dwelling may be smouldering in a flash; and whether from the bush or by internal cause, when a fire lays hold of a village scores of families are homeless in a few minutes.
These bush fires of Northern Nigeria are not, however, of that wild, devouring character seen in Canada and Australia, where the fierce roar can be heard a mile away and where everything staying within the line of advance must be destroyed entirely. Though here there is the sharp unpleasant crackle and uncomfortable heat as the flames roll onwards, the grass is not very high and being comparatively sparse does not give the fire that firm grasp which makes it invincible to subdue.
Over the blackened ground where it has run, within a few hours you will notice new blades of grass sprouting, so wonderfully ready to respond to nature is this soil, poor though it is judged by the soil more to the north, the west and the east.
There are other signs of the changed season. The harmattan haze hangs on the hills, and presently will come those dust storms which in no slight degree make themselves felt however you may try to protect yourself in a dwelling of any kind.
There is little cultivation along the route we are passing. Dwarf guinea-corn, about four feet in height, and similar millets nearly constitute the whole. There are a few flowers bearing rich yellow petals which easily transport one’s fancy to English counties. The impression is emphasised by rolling downs, which remind you of Sussex scenery.