Not only my own men but the whole of Ibrahim's party were of opinion that I had some mysterious connection with the disaster that had befallen my mutineers. All remembered the bitterness of my prophecy, "The vultures will pick their bones", and this terrible mishap having occurred so immediately afterward took a strong hold upon their superstitious minds. As I passed through the camp the men would quietly exclaim, "Wah Illahi Hawaga!" (My God, Master!) To which I simply replied, "Robine fe!" (There is a God.) From that moment I observed an extraordinary change in the manner of both my people and those of Ibrahim, all of whom now paid us the greatest respect. One day I sent for Commoro, the Latooka chief, and through my two young interpreters I had a long conversation with him on the customs of his country. I wished if possible to fathom the origin of the extraordinary custom of exhuming the body after burial, as I imagined that in this act some idea might be traced to a belief in the resurrection. Commoro was, like all his people, extremely tall. Upon entering my tent he took his seat upon the ground, the Latookas not using stools like the other White Nile tribes. I commenced the conversation by complimenting him on the perfection of his wives and daughters in a funeral dance which had lately been held, and on his own agility in the performance, and inquired for whom the ceremony had been performed. He replied that it was for a man who had been recently killed, but no one of great importance, the same ceremony being observed for every person without distinction. I asked him why those slain in battle were allowed to remain unburied. He said it had always been the custom, but that he could not explain it. "But," I replied, "why should you disturb the bones of those whom you have already buried, and expose them on the outskirts of the town?" "It was the custom of our forefathers," he answered, "therefore we continue to observe it." "Have you no belief in a future existence after death? Is not some idea expressed in the act of exhuming the bones after the flesh is decayed?" Commoro (loq.).--"Existence AFTER death! How can that be? Can a dead man get out of his grave, unless we dig him out?" "Do you think man is like a beast, that dies and is ended?" Commoro.--"Certainly. An ox is stronger than a man, but he dies, and his bones last longer; they are bigger. A man's bones break quickly; he is weak." "Is not a man superior in sense to an ox? Has he not a mind to direct his actions?" Commoro--"Some men are not so clever as an ox. Men must sow corn to obtain food, but the ox and wild animals can procure it without sowing." "Do you not know that there is a spirit within you different from flesh? Do you not dream and wander in thought to distant places in your sleep? Nevertheless your body rests in one spot. How do you account for this?"