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The down tree qf Wad Hamid i 7
what was going on around us except that our arms were aching
with all the handshakes we had been receiving from those
Presidents and Members of Parliament.
Then they wok us off in a great mass to the place where the
down tree and the tomb stand. The Prime Minister laid the
foundation stone for the monument you've seen, and for the
dome you've seen, and for the railing you've seen. Like a
tornado blowing up for a while and then passing over, so that
mighty host disappeared as suddenly as it had come without
spending a night in the village—no doubt because of tl'e horse-
flies which, that particular year, were as large and fat and
buzzed and cvhirred as much as during the year the preacher
came to us.
One of those strangers who were occasionally cast upon us in
the village later told us the story of all this fuss and bother.
Mie people,' he said, 'hadn't been happy about this government
since it had come to power,. for they knew that it had got
there by bribing a in mber of the Members of Parliament. They
therefore bided their time and waited for the right opportunities
to present themselves, while the opposition looked around for
something to spark things off. When the doum tree incident
occurred and they marched you all off and slung you into
prison, the newspapers took this up and the leader of the
government which had resigned made a fiery speech in
Parliament in %aid) he said
'To such tyranny has this government come that it has
begun to interfere in the beliefs of the people, in those holy
things held most sacred by them.' Then, taking a most
imposing stance and in a voice choked with emotion, he
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