not the same grain that we buried, but the PRODUCTION of
that grain. So it is with man. I die, and decay, and am ended; but my
children grow up like the fruit of the grain. Some men have no children,
and some grains perish without fruit; then all are ended."

I was obliged to change the subject of conversation. In this wild naked
savage there was not even a superstition upon which to found a religious
feeling; there was a belief in matter, and to his understanding
everything was MATERIAL. It was extraordinary to find so much clearness
of perception combined with such complete obtuseness to anything ideal.

CHAPTER XVII

Disease in the camp--Forward under difficulties--Our cup of misery
overflows--A rain-maker in a dilemma--Fever again--Ibrahim's
quandary--Firing the prairie.

Sickness now rapidly spread among my animals. Five donkeys died within
a few days, and the rest looked poor. Two of my camels died suddenly,
having eaten the poison-bush. 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.

Not only were the animals sick, but my wife was laid up with a violent
attack of gastric fever, and I was also suffering from daily attacks of
ague. The small-pox broke out among the Turks. Several people died, and,
to make matters worse, they insisted upon inoculating themselves and
all their slaves; thus the whole camp was reeking with this horrible
disease.

Fortunately my camp was separate and to windward. I strictly forbade my
men to inoculate themselves, and no case of the disease occurred among
my people; but it spread throughout the country. Small-pox is a scourge
among the tribes of Central Africa, and it occasionally sweeps through
the country and decimates the population.

I had a long examination of Wani, the guide and interpreter, respecting
the country of Magungo. Loggo, the Bari interpreter, always described
Magungo as being on a large river, and I concluded that it must be the
Asua; but upon cross-examination I found he used the word "Bahr" (in
Arabic signifying river or sea) instead of "Birbe" (lake). This important
error being discovered gave a new feature to the geography of this part.
Acco