I laughed at the idea; he replied,
that we were most fortunate to have escaped an attack from the
natives, as they were far worse than wild beasts, and he
immediately pointed out several Base slaves who were present in
the crowd, who had been captured when children; they appeared to
be the same as the woolly-headed natives of the south bank of the
Blue Nile, and not at all peculiar in appearance. He cautioned me
against bathing in the stream, or drinking the water in the
neighbourhood of our camp, as it was extremely poisonous, and
would produce an irritation of the skin. I told him that I had
discovered copper, and that I attributed the poisonous quality of
the water to the presence of that mineral. This announcement was
received with a general expression of approbation. "That is very
curious," he said, "that we who live in this country are
ignorant, and that you, a stranger, should at once explain the
cause of the poison." He at once agreed to the suggestion, as he
said, that during the rains, when the torrents were full, the
water was not unwholesome, but in the dry weather, when the
supply was scanty, and the stream feeble, the strength of the
poison was necessarily increased.
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