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Updated: June 6, 2025
Thus I was now looked upon by the Turks as an ALLY, and at the same time I was regarded by the Latookas as their friend for having saved their man; and they grinned their approbation in the most unmistakeable manner as I rode past their line, shouting, " Morrte, morrte mattat!" There was no sign of my men and animals, and I began to think that something had gone wrong.
We had just started with the Bari guide that I had engaged at Belignan, when we were suddenly joined by two of the Latookas whom I had seen when at Gondokoro, and to whom I had been very civil. It appeared that these fellows, who were acting as porters to the Turks, had been beaten, and had therefore absconded and joined me.
There was a division among his own people, some wishing to fight and to serve the Turks as the Latookas had served the party of Mahommed Her, and others yielding to his advice, and agreeing to remain quiet. I inquired whether the chief, Moy, intended peace or war. He said, "That Bokke, his wife, had made him very angry against the Turks by describing their conduct towards the women."
Within a few days of this disaster my good old hunter and companion of all my former sports in the Base country, Tetel, died. These terrible blows to my expedition were most satisfactory to the Latookas, who ate the donkeys and other animals the moment they died. It was a race between the natives and the vultures as to who should be first to profit by my losses.
Iron ore of good quality exists on the surface throughout this country. The Latookas, like the Baris, are excellent blacksmiths, producing a result that would astonish an English workman, considering the rough nature of their tools, which are confined to a hammer, anvil, and tongs; the latter formed of a cleft-stick of green wood, while the two former are stones of various sizes.
"Food for the vultures," he observed. "Better for them had they remained with me and done their duty." He had before told his men that the vultures would pick the bones of the deserters. From that moment an extraordinary change took place in the manner both of his own people and those of Ibrahim towards him. Unhappily, however, the Latookas exhibited a change for the worse.
It is not surprising that the robber traders of the Nile turn this spirit of discord to their own advantage, and league themselves with one chief, to rob another, whom they eventually plunder in his turn. The natives say that sixty-five men and women were killed in the attack upon Kayala. All the Latookas consider it a great disgrace that the Turks fired upon women.
She told us that Mahommed Her's men were very bad people; that they had burned and plundered one of her villages; and that one of the Latookas who had been wounded in the fight by a bullet had just died, and they were to dance for him to-morrow; if we would like to we could attend.
All remembered the bitterness of my prophecy, "The vultures will pick their bones," and this terrible mishap having occurred so immediately afterwards took a strong hold upon their superstitious minds. As I passed through the camp, the men would quietly exclaim, "Wah Illahi Hawaga!" Unfortunately a great change had likewise taken place in the manner of the Latookas.
Chokkore. The Obbo natives were a great and agreeable change after the Latookas, as they never asked for presents. Although the old chief, Katchiba, behaved more like a clown than a king, he was much respected by his people. He holds his authority over his subjects as general rain maker and sorcerer.
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