thin the fortifications
being so limited, there was not room for all the people, and in
consequence many lay about in the streets and open spaces. The air was
poisoned by the numbers of dead bodies lying unburied, while the ditch
was half full of mortifying corpses. Scurvy and dysentery were rife; the
air was black with the scores of carrion-kites, which feasted on the
dead bodies; these ugly birds became so distended by constant gorging
that they could not even fly away, and were killed in numbers by the
soldiers, who devoured them with avidity.

Later on gum became the only food; there was a quantity of this, but it
brought on diarrhoea, and caused the bodies to distend--indeed,
numbers died from eating it. The ground was dug up in all directions in
search of the white ants' nests; and the food which they had collected
for the winter was greedily consumed. Some poor sufferers eked out a
miserable existence by living on the undigested food found in the
excrement of animals; all sorts of leather, shoes and sandals, were
boiled and eaten. It was a terrible sight to see these human
skeletons--their eyes sunk into the backs of their heads, wandering
about in search of food. The Mudir extorted all the corn and money he
could from the rich merchants, but of what good was a mere handful of
corn to the soldiers? They became desperate, all discipline was at an
end and they often broke into the houses by night in search of food.

During all this time the Dervishes outside kept on shouting out curses
and insults, deriding those within for eating dog's-meat, for, during
all this terrible famine in the city, there was abundance of food in the
Dervish camp, and this made the besiegers bolder and more insulting than
ever, for they knew that the town was practically in their hands. We
often tried to establish some sort of communication with our Mission
brethren in the city, but we never succeeded in getting any reliable
information about them. At length, towards the end of December, we
managed, through the kind offices of George Stambuli, to send in a
letter and received a reply from the Father Superior, Johann Losi, which
was brought to us by one of our female slaves. The news it contained was
heart-rending; all our brethren were down with scurvy--that is to say,
Father Rossignoli, brother Locatelli, and four sisters, whilst Father
Losi himself was on the point of death. For a month they had lived on
nothing but dokhn and rice; ever