Niger

passing life of unbearable Benowm, at the Moors
who fed their horses on milk and starved their
slaves, at the play of this alien life in all its heat-
ridden drab aspects. On the 3rd of April a child
died in the tent next door to Mungo’s. Thought¬
lessly, its parents neglected to accuse Mungo of
having killed it by magic or the evil eye. The
mother howled. Visitors came. These howled.
Cool and professional, Mungo peered at the funeral
in the hope of observing and reporting upon the
ceremonial of the burial.
The heat he found almost unbearable. Even the
currents of air blowing infrequently through the
crevices in his hut were warmed as though from a
furnace-mouth. It was impossible to walk out of
doors bare-footed : the sands scorched the feet.
Night brought little ease, but cloudings of flies
and restless tossing in the sweating dark.
One day a great sandstorm hit the camp and
half-wrecked it, blowing down one side of Mungo’s
hut. The glaring blue placidity of the sky was
broken. A steady wind arose and blew from the
jungles of the south. Next day the thunder and the
lightning wove a garment of cloud over Benowm,
and brought the blessing of rain, sweetening the air.
Benowm lost its sickly appearance and smell for a
day.
On the evening of the 10th a Moorish wedding
took place. Mungo went to witness it, and was
soon bored by the screaming and drum-beating.
He returned to his hut and was just lying down to
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