I suppose that its inhabitants had been warned of our coming by runners from the huts I have mentioned.

At any rate the moment we appeared the men, to the number of thirty or more, poured out of the south gate armed with spears and other weapons and proceeded to ring us round and behave in a very threatening manner.

I noticed at once that, although most of them were comparatively light in colour, some of these men partook of the negro characteristics of the Black Kendah from whom we had escaped, to such an extent indeed that this blood was clearly predominant in them.

Still, it was also clear that they were deadly foes of this people, for when I shouted out to them that we were the friends of Harut and those who worshipped the Child, they yelled back that we were liars.

No friends of the Child, they said, came from the country of the Black Kendah, who worshipped the devil Jana.