Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/363

 "My dear Dick," said the doctor, "had it not been for Joe, you would not be sitting there holding forth upon the mutability of human affairs."

"My brave friend," said Dick, extending his hand to Joe.

"Oh, do not mention it," replied Joe. "You would do. s much for me again, Mr. Dick; but I trust the opportunity to render me a simialrsimilar [sic] service will not arise."

"Ours is a poor nature," said Ferguson, "to allow itself to be overcome by so little."

"By so little water you mean, sir. That element is very necessary to life."

"Doubtless, Joe, and people deprived of food can exist longer than those deprived of water."

"I can quite believe it. Moreover, if necessary, one can eat anything, even one's fellow-creatures, although that would be a repast likely to last for a long time."

"Savages don't find it so, nevertheless," said Kennedy. "That is because they are savages, and accustomed to eat uncooked meat, but that is to me a disgusting habit."

"It is very distasteful, certainly," replied the doctor; "in fact, no one credits the accounts of the first African explorers, who have related that many tribes live on raw meat, and refused generally to admit the fact. A singular adventure happened to James Bruce under these circumstances."

"Tell us what it was, sir, we have plenty of time," said Joe, casting himself lazily upon the green grass.

"Willingly," replied the doctor. "James Bruce was a Scotchman, a native of Stirling, and who, in 1768-72, traversed Abyssinia as far as Lake Tyana, in his search for the sources of the Nile. He then returned to England, where he published his travels in 1790 or thereabouts. His statements were received with incredulity (an incredulity doubtless also in reserve for us). The habits of the Abyssinians appeared so very different from the British usages and customs, that no one would credit the accounts. Amongst other details James Bruce had stated that the tribes of eastern Africa were in the habit of eating raw meat. This statement raised a regular outcry against him. He might talk as he liked, they did not see it at all! Bruce was a very brave but a very quick-tempered man.