he floods are
pouring down upon us! The wady is coming!" Our people, however,
contented themselves at first with shouting, and made no preparations
for the advancing flood; but in a short time they found it necessary to
bestir themselves, and began to make dams and dykes, with the aid of
sticks and hatches. These expedients proved of no avail. The waters
swelled wildly up, higher and higher, and sheets of foaming waves came
whirling in amongst us. I called out to Yusuf to select some high ground
at once, to which our goods might be conveyed. He calmly replied, "The
people still stay where they are;" implying that there was no danger,
that the inundation would subside like the former one, and that we
should escape with a wetting. Not so, however. All the low parts of the
valley were already covered with a turbid stream, that broke fiercely
round the trunks of the trees; and at length the mounting tide
threatened our tent. Yusuf then made a little child's dam around, as if
in sport; but in a few minutes this was swept away, and we found
ourselves standing in the water.

It was now absolutely necessary to move; and our people, who seemed
until then to have been paralysed by the humidity, as we in northern
climates sometimes are with cold, began to bestir themselves, and to
transfer our tents and baggage to a piece of ground which rose
considerably above the level of the valley, and was surrounded with
rushing waters. The remainder of the caravan imitated us, and we soon
saw them all occupying the summits of little islands, whither the
camels, at least such as did not instinctively take refuge there
themselves, were also driven. This was a good opportunity of seeing a
specimen of African character. The Kailouees made no preparation for the
deluge until the last moment, and then seemed absolutely to make the
worst possible. They rolled their bales of dry goods in the water as if
they were so many logs of wood, although by lifting them up a little all
might have at first been saved quite dry. Meanwhile the black servants
were dancing, singing, and rolling about in the waters, as if some
sudden blessing had overtaken them.[12]

[12] The black people of Central Africa, whose character and
opinions we do not yet understand, seem to take peculiar
delight in those very natural phenomena which civilised
nations regard as disastrous. Among other instances, I have
seen an old negress, usually gloomy and tac