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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa
+Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 2, by James Richardson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 2
+       Under the Orders and at the Expense of Her Majesty's Government
+
+Author: James Richardson
+
+Release Date: June 9, 2006 [EBook #18544]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISSION TO CENTRAL AFRICA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Carlo Traverso, Annika Feilbach and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at
+http://gallica.bnf.fr)
+
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+
+
+
+[Transcriber's note:
+This text contains the unicode characters a, a, e and o in a few
+places. If any of these characters do not display for you properly,
+please see the Latin-1 text version for a transcription.]
+
+
+
+
+
+NARRATIVE OF A MISSION TO CENTRAL AFRICA
+PERFORMED IN THE YEARS 1850-51,
+
+UNDER THE ORDERS AND AT THE EXPENSE OF HER MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT.
+
+
+BY THE LATE JAMES RICHARDSON,
+AUTHOR OF "TRAVELS IN THE GREAT DESERT OF SAHARA."
+
+
+IN TWO VOLUMES.
+
+VOL. II.
+
+LONDON:
+CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193 PICADILLY.
+
+MDCCCLIII.
+
+
+
+LONDON:
+Printed by G. Barclay, Castle St. Leicester Sq.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Description of Tintalous and its Environs--Palace and
+Huts--Bedsteads--Kailouee Race--Unhandsome Conduct of Mr.
+Gagliuffi--Proposed Journey to Aghadez--Dr. Barth starts--An obstinate
+Bullock--Present extraordinary--State of Zinder--Affability of the
+Sultan--Power of Charms--Scorpions--Dialogue with a Ghâtee--Splendid
+Meteors--Visit from En-Noor--Intrigues of the Fellatahs--A Sultan loaded
+with Presents--Talk of departing for Zinder--State of the Bornou
+Road--Division of a Bullock--Bottle of Rum stolen--More Visits from the
+Sultan--A Musical Entertainment--Curious Etymological Discussions--A
+wonderful Prophetess--Secret Societies--Magicians--The Evil
+Eye--Morality of Soudan--Magnificent Meteor--Stories of the Sfaxee.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Muslim want of Curiosity--Gossip on Meteors--A Family Broil--Rationale
+of Wife-beating--Abominable Dances--Evil Communications--Dr.
+Overweg--Kailouee Vocabulary--Windy Day--Account of Wadaï--Madame
+En-Noor--Profits of Commerce--The letter _Ghain_--Fellatah
+Language--Introduction of Islamism--Desert Routes--Trade in Agate
+Stones--A lively Patient--The Eed--A Visit _en masse_--Arrival of the
+Boat--Butchers--Exchange of Visits with the Sultan--Diet--A Shereef--A
+delicate Request--Information on Maradee--Tesaoua--Itinerant
+Schoolmasters--En-Noor's Territory in Damerghou--Unpleasant
+Communication--Amulets--The Foundation of a City in the
+Desert--En-Noor's Political Pretensions.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+News from Barth--Camels restored--Expensive Journey--Proposed Migration
+of Males--Supply of Slaves, whence--A new Well--Pagans and
+Christians--Tibboo Manners--The great Gong--When is a Tibboo
+hungry?--Hunger-belt--Queen of England in the Sahara--The Shanbah--A
+hasty Marriage--Saïd's new Wife--Wild Cauliflowers--Tolerance of the
+Kailouees--Men go to fetch Salt from Bilma--Approach of Dr.
+Barth--Lion's Mouth--Tibboos and Kailouees--Mysteries of
+Tintalous--Fewness of Men in Aheer--Trees preserved in the
+Valley--Bright Stars--Method of Salutation--Purposed Stars--Kailouee
+Character--Champagne at Tintalous--The Wells.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Dr. Barth's Journey to Aghadez--Description of the
+Route--Tiggedah--Luxuriant Scenery of Asadah--Plain of Tarist--Beautiful
+Valley--Buddeh--Small Caravan--Aghadez--its Inhabitants--their
+Occupation--The great Koku, or Sultan--Asbenouee Revolutions--Election
+of a Prince--Interview--Ceremony of Investiture--Razzia--Intricate
+Political System--Account of Aghadez--Mosque--Environs--Women--Tribes
+of Asben--The Targhee Family--Population of the Ghât
+Districts--of Aheer--The Oulimad and Tanelkums--Tribe of
+Janet--Haghar--Sagamaram--Maghatah--Extent of Aheer--Connexion
+with the Black Countries--Mechanism of Society in
+Aheer--Chieftains--Tax-gathering--Food of the
+Kailouees--Maharees--Amusements--Natural Features of
+Asben--Vegetation--Cultivation--Manufactures--Bags for Charms.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Projected Departure for Damerghou--False Start--Picturesque
+Caravan--Sultan's Views of White Skins--My Birthday--The Sultan fights
+his Battles over again--His Opinion of Women--Bragging--The Razzia on
+the Fadeea--Political News in the Desert--Cold Weather--Continue our
+Journey--Bornouese Fighis--Tin-Tagannu--Trap for a Lion--Mousa's
+Camels--A further Delay--Jackals and the Fire--Language of
+Signs--Tintalousian Coquettes--Departure of the Zinder Caravan--Natural
+Features--Languages--The Kilgris--Killing Lice--The Razzia to the
+North--Present of a Draught-board--Pagan Nations--Favourable Reports.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Medicine for Bad Eyes--A summary Proceeding--News from the
+Salt-Caravan--Towns and Villages of Tesaoua--Earthquakes--Presents for
+the Sultan of Maradee--Yusuf's Insolence--English Money in Aheer--A
+Razzia on the Holy City--Bornouese Studies--Gipsies of Soudan--En-Noor
+and the Marabouts--Ghaseb--State of the Weather--Calculations for the
+Future--Senna--Relations of Man and Wife in Aheer--En-Noor in his
+Family--Gouber and Maradee--Beer-drinking--Study of the Sau--Shara--The
+Oulimad--Lions--Translating Jokes--Digging a Well--Projects.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Razzia on the Fadeea--Haussa--Names of Places--Ant-track--Circular
+Letter from Mourzuk--Vast Rock--Mustapha Bey's Letter--Effects of
+Water--Butterflies--Aspect of the Country--A Slave advanced
+to Honour--Shonshona--Herbage--Birds--Appearance of the
+Salt-Caravan--Colours of Dawn--Bilma Salt--Mode of Barter--Pass the Rock
+of Mari--Granite--Indigo Plant--Presents at Stamboul--The Sultan begs
+again--Old Men's Importunities--Baghzem--Curiosities of the
+Route--People of Damerghou--Temporary Village of Women--Country begins
+to open--Barter Transaction with Lady En-Noor.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+We continue our Journey--Huntsmen--Gum on the Tholukhs--The
+Salt-Caravan--A Bunch of Gum--Games among the
+Slaves--Baghzem--Trees--Palm of Pharaoh--Deserted Villages--Birds'
+Nests--Wife of En-Noor--Unan--Lizards--Bad News--Christmas
+day in Africa--Christmas-boxes--Begging Tuaricks
+again--Bargot--Musicians--Speculations--Tribes at War--Parasitical
+Plant--Importance of Salt--Animals--Agalgo--Force of the Caravan--Beat
+of Drum--Approach the Hamadah--Giraffes--Poisoned Arrows--Ear of
+Ghaseb--Soudan and Bornou Roads.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Enter the Hamadah--Home of the Giraffe--Water of
+Chidugulah--Turtles--Cool Wind--Jerboahs--Centre of the
+Sahara--New-year's Eve--Cold Weather--Birds of Prey--Soudan
+Date--Burs--Animals on the Plateau--Young Ostrich--The
+Tholukh-tree--Severe Cold--Eleven Ostriches--Termination of the
+Desert--Inasamet--The Tagama--Purchases--People begin to
+improve--Fruit of the Lote-tree--Village roofed with Skins--Vast
+Plain--Horses--Approach Damerghou--Village of Gumrek--Rough
+Customers--Wars of the Kilgris and Kailouees--A small
+Lake--Guinea-hens--Vultures--Party of Huntsmen.
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+My Barracan--Spontaneous Civility on arrival in Damerghou--Ghaseb
+Stubble--Cactus--Water-Melons--Party of Tuaricks--Boban Birni--Huts of
+Damerghou--Tagelel--Women of the Village--Population of the
+Country--Complaisant Ladies--Festivities--Aquatic Birds--Dancing--A
+Flatterer--A Slave Family--A new Reason for Wife-beating--Hazna
+Dancers--Damerghou, common ground--Purchase of Ghaseb--Dethroned
+Sultan--Yusuf--Mohammed Tunisee--Ophthalmia--Part with Barth and
+Overweg--Presents to Servants--Sheikh of Fumta--Yakobah
+Slave--Applications for Medicine--Boban Birni--Forest--At length enter
+Bornou ground--Daazzenai--Tuarick Respectabilities--Detachment of the
+Salt-Caravan.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+March for Zinder--Enter the City--Reception--Delighted to escape from
+the Tuaricks--Letters from Kuka--Hospitable Treatment--Presents for the
+Sarkee and others--Visit the Shereef--His Duties--Audience of the
+Sarkee--Servility--Double-skulled Slave--Powder and Shot--Portrait of
+the Sultan--Commission from Kuka--European Clothes--Family of
+En-Noor--Tour of the Town--Scavengers--List of Sultans of Central
+Africa--Ancient Haussa--The Market--Money--Conversation
+with the Shereef--The Sultan at Home--Mixed Race of
+Zinder--Statistics--Personages of the Court.
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+Presents from Officials--Mode of treating Camels--Prices--Cowrie
+Money--Shereef Interpreter--Visits--Harem--Houses--Grand
+Vizier--Picturesque Dances--Tuaricks at Zinder--Kohlans and
+Fullans--Province of Zinder--Account of its Rebellions--Trees--Details
+on the Slave-trade--Prices--Mode of obtaining Slaves--Abject
+Respect of the Sultan--Visits--Interview with the Sarkee--The
+Presence--Curious Mode of administering Justice--Barbarous
+Punishments--Hyænas--Gurasu--Fighis--Place of Execution--Tree of
+Death--Hyæna Dens--Dancing.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+Brother of the Sultan--Trade of Zinder--Prices--The Sarkee drinks
+Rum--Five Cities--Houses of Zinder--Female Toilette--Another Tree of
+Death--Paganism--Severity of the Sultan--Lemons--Barth and
+Overweg--Fire--Brother of the Sarkee--Daura--Shonshona--Lousou--Slaves
+in Irons--Reported Razzia--Talk with the Shereef--Humble
+Manners--Applications for Medicines--Towns and Villages of Zinder--The
+great Drum--Dyers--Tuarick Visits--Rationale of Razzias--Slaves--"Like
+Prince like People"--French in Algiers--The Market--Old Slave--Infamous
+System--Plan of the great Razzia.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Family of the Sarkee--Converted Jew--Hard Dealings--How to get rid of a
+Wife--Route to Tesaoua--Influence of Slavery--Prices of Aloes and
+Silk--Medicine for a Merchant--Departure of the Sarkee for the
+Razzia--Encampment--Mode of Fighting--Produce of Razzias--Story of the
+Tibboo--Sheikh Lousou--Gumel--Superstitions--Matting--Visit
+of Ladies--The Jew--Incendiaries--Hazna--Legend of Zinder
+Well--Kohul--Cousin of the Sheikh--Female Sheikh--State of the
+Country--Salutations.
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Political News--Animals of Zinder--Sleepy City--District
+of Korgum--Razzias--Family of Sheikh Omer of
+Bornou--Brothers--Sons--Sisters--Daughters--Viziers--Kashallas--Power of
+the Sheikh--A Cheating Prince--Old Slave--Fetishism--Devil in a
+Tuarick's head--Kibabs--Fires--A Prophecy--Another Version of the
+Razzia--Correspondence between Korgum and Zinder.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+Sheikh of Bornou--Arab Women--News from the Razzia--Procession of
+newly-caught Slaves--Entrance of the Sarkee--Chained Slaves--My Servant
+at the Razzia--Audacity of Bornou Slaves--Korgum--Konchai--Product of
+the Razzia--Ghadamsee Merchants--Slave-trade--Incident at Korgum--State
+of Kanou--A Hue and Cry--Black Character--Vegetables at
+Zinder--Minstrel--Medi--Gardens--Ladies--Fanaticism--Americans at
+Niffee--Rich People--Tuaricks Sick--Morals--Dread of the
+Sarkee--Fashions.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+News from Tesaoua--Razzia on Sakkatou--Laziness in Zinder--The
+Hajah--Herds of Cattle--More Tuarick Patients--Gardens--My
+Luggage--Adieu to the Sarkee--Present from his Highness--Start from
+Zinder--Country--Birds--Overtake the Kashalla--Slaves for
+Kanou--Continue the Journey--People of Deddegi--Their Timidity--Horse
+Exercise--Cotton--Strange Birds--Occupation of Men and Women--State of
+African Society--Islamism and Paganism--Character of the Kashalla--A
+Dogberry--Guddemuni--Cultivation--Beggars--Dancing Maidens.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A Village plundered--Shaidega--Animals--Our Biscuit--Villages _en
+route_--Minyo--Respect for Learning--Monotony of the Country--A
+Wedding--Palsy--Slave-agents--Kal, Kal--Birni Gamatak--Tuaricks on the
+Plain--Palms--Sight the Town of Gurai--Bare Country--Bearings of various
+Places--Province of Minyo--Visit the Sultan--Audience-room--Fine
+Costume--A Scene of Barbaric Splendour--Trade--Estimate of Wealth--How
+to amuse a Prince--Small Present--The Oars carried by Men--Town of
+Gurai--Fortifications.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Fezzanee Traders--Sultan in want of Medicine--The Stud--Letters--Yusuf's
+Conduct--Architecture--Fragment of the History of Minyo--Politics
+of Zinder--Bornouese Fish--Visits--Two Routes--Dancing by
+Moonlight--Richness--Fires--Information on Boushi and Adamaua--The
+Yamyam--Liver Complaints--A Girl's Game--Desert Country--Gift Camel--Few
+Living Creatures--Village of Gusumana--Environs--The Doom
+Fruit--Brothers of Sultan of Sakkatou--Stupid Kadi--Showing off--Hot
+Weather--[Final Note--Death of Mr. Richardson.]
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+
+
+
+NARRATIVE OF A MISSION TO CENTRAL AFRICA
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Description of Tintalous and its Environs--Palace and
+Huts--Bedsteads--Kailouee Race--Unhandsome Conduct of Mr.
+Gagliuffi--Proposed Journey to Aghadez--Dr. Barth starts--An obstinate
+Bullock--Present extraordinary--State of Zinder--Affability of the
+Sultan--Power of Charms--Scorpions--Dialogue with a Ghâtee--Splendid
+Meteors--Visit from En-Noor--Intrigues of the Fellatahs--A Sultan loaded
+with Presents--Talk of departing for Zinder--State of the Bornou
+Road--Division of a Bullock--Bottle of Rum stolen--More Visits from the
+Sultan--A Musical Entertainment--Curious Etymological Discussions--A
+wonderful Prophetess--Secret Societies--Magicians--The Evil
+Eye--Morality of Soudan--Magnificent Meteor--Stories of the Sfaxee.
+
+
+I begin at length to consider myself as it were at home in this singular
+country of Aheer--without, however, experiencing any desire to dally
+here longer than the force of circumstances absolutely requires. It must
+be confessed, as I have already hinted, that the town of Tintalous,[1]
+in front of which we are encamped, does not at all answer the idea which
+our too active imagination had formed. Yet it is a singular place. It is
+situated on rocky ground, at the bend of a broad valley, which in the
+rainy season becomes often-times the bed of a temporary river. Here and
+there around it are scattered numerous trees, many of considerable size,
+giving the surface of the valley something of a park-like appearance.
+The herbage is not rich, but it is ornamental, and refreshes the eye in
+contrast with the black, naked rocks, which rise on all hands to the
+height often of two or three thousand feet. To the east, it is true, the
+country is a little open; and between the mountains run in numerous
+white sandy wadys, sprinkled with fresh green plants, or shaded by
+various species of mimosa and other spreading trees, under which the
+shepherds and herdsmen find shelter from the sun.
+
+  [1] Tintalous is 40 short and 30 long days from Ghât, N.N.E.;
+      60 short and 50 long from Mourzuk, N.E.; 20 short, 15 long,
+      from Zinder or Damerghou, S.S.W.; 7 long, 10 or 12 short,
+      from Bilma, E.; 38 to 45 days from Tuat, N.W. (_viâ_
+      Taghajeet). Maharees, of course, trot and gallop in half
+      the time. These are native statements.
+
+The principal feature of Tintalous itself is what may be called the
+palace of En-Noor. It is, indeed, one, compared with the huts and stone
+hovels amidst which it is placed. The materials are stone plastered with
+mud, and also the wood of the mimosa tree. The form is an oblong square,
+one story high, with an interior courtyard, and various appendages and
+huts around on the outside. There is another house, and also a mosque
+built in the same style, but much smaller. Of the rest of the
+habitations, a few are stone sheds, but the greater part are huts made
+of the dry stalks of the fine herb called bou rekabah, in the form of a
+conical English haystack, and are very snug, impervious alike to rain
+and sun. There are not more than one hundred and fifty of these huts and
+sheds, scattered over a considerable space, without any order; some are
+placed two or three together within a small enclosure, which serves as a
+court or yard, in which visitors are received and cooking is carried on.
+There is another little village at a stone's-throw north. The
+inhabitants of these two villages consist entirely of the slaves and
+dependants of En-Noor.
+
+All around Tintalous, within an hour or two hours' ride, there are
+villages or towns of precisely the same description, more or less
+numerously peopled. At Seloufeeat and Tintaghoda, however, we saw more
+houses built of stone and mud. This may be accounted for by the fact
+that the inhabitants are not nearly so migratory as those of Tintalous,
+who often follow in a body the motions of their master, so that he is
+ever surrounded by an imposing household.
+
+I must not omit mentioning an important article of furniture which is to
+be observed in all the houses of Aheer--namely, the bedstead. Whilst
+most of the inhabitants of Fezzan lie upon skins or mats upon the
+ground, the Kailouees have a nice light palm-branch bedstead, which
+enables them to escape the damp of the rainy season, and the attack of
+dangerous insects and reptiles like the scorpion and the lêfa.
+
+I shall hereafter make a few observations on the tribes inhabiting
+Aheer. Here I will note that they are all called Targhee, that is
+Tuarick, by the traders of the north; and that the predominant race is
+the Kailouee. To me the latter seems to be a mixture of the Berbers, or
+supposed aborigines of the northern coast, with all the tribes and
+varieties of tribes of the interior of Africa. This may account for
+their having less pride and stiffness than the Tuaricks of Ghât, who are
+purer Berbers; as well as for their disposition to thieving and petty
+larceny, of which I have recently been obliged to give some examples.
+The pure Berbers, likewise, are much less sensual than their bastard
+descendants, who seem, indeed, to have no idea of pleasure but in its
+grossest shape.
+
+The Kailouees are, for the most part, tall and active, little encumbered
+by bulky bodies; some having both complexion and features nearly
+European. At any rate there are many as fair-looking as the Arabs
+generally, whilst others are quite negro in colour. The women are
+smaller and stouter; some are fattened like the Mooresses of the coast,
+and attain to an enormous degree of _embon-point_. They are not
+ill-looking, but offer nothing remarkable in their forms.
+
+I have already set down many particulars of manners, and shall proceed
+to do so in the same disjointed way. At a future time all these traits
+must be collected to form one picture.[2] For the present I am anxious
+about the future progress of the Mission, and impatient, at any rate, to
+hear some news of our advance. We cannot do all the things we would. Our
+position is almost that of prisoners. We must depend entirely on the
+caprice of En-Noor, who, however, may already have laid out his plans
+distinctly, though he does not choose to communicate them to us.
+
+  [2] Perhaps the note-books of Mr. Richardson, in which facts
+      are set down fresh and distinct just as they presented
+      themselves, will be found to be more interesting than an
+      elaborate narrative. At any rate it has seemed better not
+      to attempt to do what was left undone in this matter.--ED.
+
+_Oct. 2d._--We have been lately discussing the practicability of going
+to Sakkatou, on a visit to the Sultan Bello; and this morning I looked
+over, for the first time, some "letters of credit" which Mr. Gagliuffi,
+our plausible consul at Mourzuk, had given me. I found that the amount
+offered for the use of the expedition in Kanou does not exceed a hundred
+and fifty reals of Fezzan, or about twenty pounds sterling, and that the
+agent is expressly requested not to advance any more! This extraordinary
+document induced me to look further, and it soon appeared that the
+documents on which I relied so much were mere delusions. The wording of
+the Arabic letter to Bornou was ambiguous; but in as far as I and my
+interpreter could make it out, Haj Bashaw, to whom it is addressed, was
+requested, if he had any money of Mr. Gagliuffi's in hand, to give me _a
+little_! I really did not expect that a person in whom I had placed so
+much confidence would play me this trick. But it seems that Levantines
+are and will be Levantines to the end of time. I have written to
+Government, complaining of this unworthy conduct.
+
+_3d._--Dr. Barth is about to take advantage of the delay necessarily
+incurred at Tintalous to visit Aghadez, the real capital of Aheer, to
+which the new Sultan has lately been led, and where his investiture will
+shortly be celebrated. This journey will extend our knowledge of this
+singular Saharan country, and may also be of advantage in procuring the
+signature of the Sultan to a treaty of commerce.
+
+_4th._--Dr. Barth started this morning in company with Hamma, Waled Ocht
+En-Noor (son of the sister of En-Noor). The departure took place in
+presence of the Sultan himself, who had come to take tea with me. The
+caravan was at first composed of bullocks, the camels being a little in
+advance on the road. Our friend the Doctor started astride on one of
+these animals, which are a little difficult to manage, especially when
+they have been out at grass for some time. Indeed, in the first place,
+it is no easy matter to catch them from amongst the herds; then it is
+hard to load them; and then, though not often, they refuse to proceed.
+On this occasion a powerful brute proved absolutely unmanageable.
+En-Noor, seeing its obstinacy, exclaimed that he gave it to me to kill
+and eat. He afterwards, however, modified his gift, and said that the
+bullock was also to be distributed amongst the Arabs of the caravans now
+in Tintalous; and that we were to give a turban as a present to the
+herdsman. I was told that, in the meantime, representation had been made
+to him, to the effect that it was unfair to distinguish the Christians
+in this manner. Soon after the animal was given it ran away, and no one
+could catch it.
+
+Well, the bullock caravan went off in good style; and Sultan En-Noor
+remained taking his tea and eating English pickles and marmalade with
+me. He drank the tea and ate the other delicacies with evident pleasure,
+not being afraid, like the greater part of his subjects, to eat the food
+of Christians. Possession of power seems to have one good effect--the
+destruction of prejudice; pity that it sometimes goes further and
+destroys belief. En-Noor told us that the Sultan of Asoudee had gone out
+on a razzia to the west. We are obliged to hope that it will be
+successful, as otherwise our affairs will most materially suffer. We
+talked also of the state of Zinder, which is represented to be a walled
+town, with seven gates built amidst and around some huge rocks. The
+governor, Ibrahim, keeps fifty drummers at work every night, but whether
+with a purpose superstitious or political I do not know.
+
+En-Noor admired much the portraits of the personages who figure in the
+accounts of the former expedition to this part of the world,
+particularly that of Clapperton. He had also a wonderful story to tell
+of this traveller's magic. He said that Abdallah (Clapperton's
+travelling name) had learned from his books the site of his (En-Noor's)
+father's house, that near it was a gold mine, and that he had intended
+to come and give intelligence of this treasure. "See!" exclaimed the
+Sultan, "what wonderful things are written in the books of the
+Christians!"
+
+My young fighi (or writer of charms) tells me, as a secret, that he
+cannot write a talisman for himself, but must ask another of the
+brotherhood to do this for him. Neither in this place can physicians
+heal themselves. This civil youth made me a present of a piece of his
+workmanship to-day, observing, "There is great profit in its power; it
+will preserve you from the cut of the sword and the firing of the gun."
+I pray not to have occasion to test its efficacy, but hope it may also
+serve as a protection from the bite of scorpions, which are so plentiful
+about here, and are said, at this season, to jump like grasshoppers.
+According to the people of Tintalous there are three species of them,
+each distinguished by a different colour--black, red, and yellow.
+Despite the talk of these disgusting reptiles I went in the evening to
+see the wells which supply Tintalous with water. They are nothing more
+than holes scooped out of the sand in the bed of the wady, and supplied
+by _ma-el-matr_, "rain-water," which collects only a few feet under the
+sand, and passes through no minerals.
+
+I afterwards proceeded to the encampment of the slave caravan, which is
+going in a few days to Ghât. A native of that place--the chief,
+indeed--was exceedingly rude at our first rencounter, and the following
+dialogue took place:--
+
+_The Ghâtee._ Where are you going?
+
+_Myself._ I am going to Sakkatou.
+
+_The Ghâtee._ What for?
+
+_Myself._ To see the Sultan, who is my friend.
+
+_The Ghâtee._ How do you know him?
+
+_Myself._ The English have known him for years past.
+
+_The Ghâtee._ Ah!
+
+_Myself._ Yes.
+
+_The Ghâtee._ Have you any dollars--large dollars? (making a large
+circle with his thumb and forefinger.)
+
+_Myself._ No: I don't carry money to Soudan, which is of no use to me.
+There I shall have wadâ.
+
+_Ghâtee._ Eh! Eh! But cannot you give me a turban?
+
+_Myself._ No, I am not a merchant, I don't bring such things; go to the
+Arab merchants and buy.
+
+_Ghâtee._ Um! Um!
+
+_Myself._ Do you know Mohammed Kafa in Ghât?
+
+_Ghâtee._ Oh, yes!
+
+_Myself._ He is my friend.
+
+_Ghâtee._ Allah!
+
+_Myself._ Yes; he sent me a fine dinner twice whilst I was in Ghât.
+
+_Ghâtee._ Allah! Allah!
+
+_Myself._ Do you know Haj Ibrahim? He is my great friend.
+
+_Ghâtee._ Allah! Allah! (greatly surprised).
+
+_Myself._ Why, how is it that you do not know me, Yakob, as I have
+been in Ghât many years before?
+
+At this some of the other people of the caravan cried out, "Yes, yes, we
+all know Yakob;" so that I left the rude slave-merchant quite
+crest-fallen. He evidently, at first, wished to assume the airs of a
+Haghar, and bully me out of a present.
+
+The caravan consisted of some thirty poor young women and children.
+There was also with them a small quantity of elephants' teeth.
+
+Now that the moon is absent and the nights are clear we have a most
+splendid view of the heavens, its stars and constellations. The number
+of meteors darting to and fro overhead is very great--nearly one a
+minute shoots along. Some are only a faint glimmer, and have but the
+existence of a moment, whilst others are very beautiful and last several
+seconds.
+
+_5th._--The weather is improving; the strong gusts of wind have ceased,
+and so has the rain. We have now calm and fine days with moderate heat.
+
+In the afternoon I received another visit from En-Noor, who came
+straight into my tent, like an old friend whom I had known for twenty
+years. He stopped with me at least an hour, drinking tea and smoking,
+chatting the while about his past history and present affairs. He
+reiterated again assurances of his friendship for the English, and his
+determination to remain the ally of the Queen of England! He referred to
+the time when the great Bello, sultan of Sakkatou, sent his ambassador
+to request him (En-Noor) and all his people to subject themselves to the
+Fellatahs. En-Noor gave him for answer, "I am under God, the servant of
+God, and shall not submit myself to you or to any one upon earth. My
+father, and grandfather, and great-grandfather, and all my ancestors,
+ruled here, and were the servants of God, and I shall follow in their
+steps." The Fellatahs then tried to seduce the people, but they all
+said, "We have one Sultan, that is En-Noor." All the other authorities
+of Aheer followed the example, and preserved their independence, the
+people everywhere arming themselves with whatever weapons they had in
+case a war should break out.
+
+After this narrative, En-Noor spoke again of the English, and said he
+should send a maharee for the Queen.
+
+I gave him a fancy ring of the value of threepence, with a mock diamond
+in it, which he immediately put on his finger with as much glee and
+pride as the gayest Parisian coquette. Yusuf and the Sfaxee, being
+present, swore it was _diamanti_; but I am quite sure the old Sheikh
+understood the compliment. I also gave him a pair of bellows, a basin,
+and a pint bottle with a little oil it; with all these things he was
+greatly delighted, continually admiring and trying the bellows. When he
+went out of the tent he himself carried all these articles away under
+his arm.
+
+With reference to our wish to start for Zinder, the Sultan says he will
+send immediately for the boat, that it may be ready by the time Dr.
+Barth returns from Aghadez, when he is determined himself to take that
+route. He seems now in the enjoyment of good health. I felt much
+satisfied with his visit. Certainly, when I reflect that in the northern
+frontier of Aheer we were pursued for several days, like monsters not
+fit to live, by armed bands, this appears to me extraordinary
+condescension on the part of En-Noor. I hope we shall part in a friendly
+manner. This worthy sovereign gives the present Sultan of Sakkatou, Ali
+Bello, the character of a miser, but says that his father was a man of
+liberality. He cannot exceed En-Noor himself in greediness.
+
+The bad state of the Bornou route is accounted for by the desire the
+Kailouees have to render it unsafe, so that they may have all the
+caravans come along their own route. The same thing is said of the
+Timbuctoo route from Soudan. The Haghar murder all who attempt to go
+from Soudan to Timbuctoo, in order that the caravans may pass Ghât and
+Tuat. This is called the natural explanation of the bad character of
+these routes.
+
+_6th._--I continue to record the few characteristic incidents of my
+residence at Tintalous. Our bullock has been at last killed. We could
+not catch him, but shot him down. The carcase was divided between no
+less than twenty persons, and the meat proved to be pretty good. Of my
+share I made steaks, which I washed down with some tea and rum. This is
+the first time we have had fresh beef since leaving Tripoli. The event
+created an immense sensation throughout the whole town of Tintalous, for
+the slaughter of a bullock does not take place there every day.
+
+This morning I administered two ounces of Epsom salts to a good-natured
+Kailouee, who, although perfectly well, would persist in begging for
+medicine. These people are continually asking to be doctored when
+nothing ails them. En-Noor seems to have taken a fancy to our morning
+beverages, and has sent for tea and coffee. I am afraid he will become a
+regular customer. Yusuf carried off a bottle of rum from the tent in the
+evening, which occasioned a disturbance between the servants and myself.
+This worthy is not to be trusted with the care of any strong liquor. The
+little Hamadee was privy to the theft. In the course of the evening the
+_new moon_ was seen by seven creditable persons, so that in eight days
+more we shall have the Feast of the "Descent of the Koran from Heaven,"
+and four or five days after that we hope to start for Zinder.
+
+_7th._--This was a fine morning, with the thermometer at sunrise in the
+tent 70°; outside, 66°. The water has been so cooled during the night
+that my hands ached when I washed them. Later in the season it will be
+yet colder; and all reports tell us that in Kanou after the rains it is
+often very chilly.
+
+His highness the Sultan again was attracted by my tea and marmalade, and
+gave me a call. He desired to see once more the portrait of Clapperton,
+and told me that Abdallah had five women in Sakkatou, and had left
+behind him three children, all boys. The Sultan was excessively friendly
+in manner, which induced me to make him another little present of a ring
+set with paste, and a small pair of gilt scissors for one of his wives.
+He calls me his brother, and manifests increased anxiety to be friendly
+with the English. According to him, a short time since the Sheikh of
+El-Fadeea, who commanded the attack made on us at the frontier, came
+here; and, in consideration of a few presents and compliments, had
+promised to exert himself to procure the restoration of our lost or
+stolen camels. En-Noor also again talked about the boat. I am in great
+hopes that we shall part from him on good terms, and that he will be
+true to his protestations. There is generally a companion with the old
+gentleman on these visits. This time it was an aged Tanelkum, who
+married a sister of the Sheikh and has been settled many years in the
+country. We gave him more tea, and also a piece of white sugar, to carry
+home.
+
+This evening the Fezzan and Tripoli Arabs had a musical entertainment,
+accompanied with dancing, at which Madame En-Noor and several
+distinguished ladies of Tintalous assisted. It was the usual singing
+business, with Moorish hammering on tambourines. The dance was performed
+by men, mostly in imitation of the women, and was also of the usual
+inelegant and indelicate description. However, there was a little mixing
+of the derwish dances. The thing went off to the great satisfaction of
+the Kailouees, and was kept up till midnight.
+
+_8th._--I slept little after the villanous dancing and riot of the
+preceding night, and rose late. My occupation this day was completing my
+vocabulary of the Kailouee language, of which I expect to collect a
+thousand words. My interpreter sometimes gives very curious explanations
+when I work with him. The Arabic word which we translate "Alas!" coming
+under consideration, he observed: "There is no corresponding word in the
+languages of these countries. This word belongs to the Koran and the
+next world." He means, that the word has only a relation to the torment
+of the damned. It is curious that this Arabic term agrees with, or is
+like, our word _wail_ (Ar. _weel_), and is the term used by our
+translators of the New Testament in describing the torments of the lost,
+"Weeping and _wailing_" &c.
+
+Of the term "chaste," Yusuf observed, "There is no such expression in
+these languages; all the women are alike, and equally accessible when
+danger is absent." It is also true that the men place no bounds to their
+sensual appetites, and are restrained only by inability. It may be,
+however, that the more religious would have some scruples about
+intriguing with their neighbours' wives.
+
+When we came to the word "school" Yusuf pretended there was not such a
+word in Kailouee. He asked, "Where in Tintalous is there a school?" The
+question, unfortunately, is put with too much truth. The Kailouees
+hereabouts seem entirely to neglect education.
+
+I myself observe that the Arabic _booss_ answers exactly to the vulgar
+word in English for _kiss_.[3] The name of a raven is one of many
+remarkable examples of a word being chosen to imitate in sound some
+peculiarity of the thing signified. In this case, _kak_ irresistibly
+reminds one of the raven's croaking voice; which we describe by _caw_.
+_Kass_, scissors, is also an imitation of the sound produced by this
+instrument in cutting.
+
+  [3] A good many similarities of this kind, accidental or
+      otherwise, might be pointed out: _ydrub_ is "to drub;"
+      _kaab_ would be translated, in old English, "kibe;"
+      _ykattah_ is "to cut;" _kotta_, "a cat;" _bak_, "a bug;"
+      _stabl_, "a stable," &c. &c. I have noticed, also, some
+      similarities with French words e.g. _ykassar_,
+      "casser"--ED.
+
+In the evening the Sfaxee and Yusuf came to pay us a visit, and related
+divers sorts of wonders of this and other countries of Africa. The first
+matter concerned us. Eight days ago died in Tintalous an old witch, or
+prophetess, a negress, who foretold our arrival, and said to En-Noor, "A
+caravan of Englishmen is on the road from Tripoli, coming to you." This
+woman for many years was a foreteller of future events. The next thing
+we heard referred to the secret societies of Central Africa. Some of the
+chiefs of these societies have the power of killing with their eyes. One
+of these fellows is known to have gone to a merchant, in whose arms was
+sleeping a pretty female slave, and to have entered into conversation
+with him, asking him how he was, &c. In the meanwhile the wizard cast
+his eyes upon the pretty slave, and its heart withered. This power is
+accordingly much dreaded. If, however, any one perceive the incantation
+of the wizard, and say, "Begone, you son of a brach!" he immediately
+flees, like a dog with his tail between his legs.
+
+In parts of Bornou, also, extraordinary things sometimes happen. There
+are men in those places who have the power of assuming the shapes of
+wild animals. This they do mostly in the nights. Under the form of lions
+and leopards, they go to the tents of strangers, and endeavour to lure
+them forth by calling out their proper names with a perfect human voice.
+If any one is so imprudent as to obey summons and issue forth, he is at
+once devoured.
+
+The Sfaxee pledges his word of honour that there was a female slave a
+year ago in Mourzuk who killed five of her companions with her looks. On
+this a council was held by the merchants and great people of Mourzuk, to
+know what to do with her, and the decision come to was to send her back
+to Bornou; a happy decision for the poor slave! Lucky for her that she
+was not born in some parts of Europe, with her marvellous power. Even
+our friend Gagliuffi has not escaped these superstitions of the people
+among whom he lives. On my seeing his young turkeys for the first time,
+in very considerable numbers, I exclaimed, "What a host of young turkeys
+you have got!" On this he became quite alarmed, lest I had cast a malign
+look upon them, and ejaculated a counter-exclamation, "Oh, God bless
+them!"
+
+The Sfaxee and Yusuf do not speak very favourably of some parts of
+Soudan as to morality. In some districts of Begarmi, Yusuf says, a male
+takes the first female he meets with, no matter how near the
+relationship. All the women, in fact, are in common. We must receive his
+asseverations for what they are worth, on this subject in general, and
+on the developements into which he entered. According to him, in those
+regions where scarcely any other roof is required but the heavens, there
+is no other couch spread than the earth, and no one shuns, in any act of
+life, the eyes of his neighbours.
+
+Whilst these wonders of witches and tales of African lewdness were being
+related, a thing happened which none could disbelieve, none call in
+question. This was the appearance of an immense meteor in the sky,
+shooting over half the heavens, with a slight curve, from east to west.
+It had a tail like a comet, and around its head burnt a blue light of
+excessive brilliancy. This phenomenon appeared at a quarter to eight
+o'clock in the evening. I never saw anything like it before, and perhaps
+shall never again see its equal. It might have been visible two minutes.
+We all cried out with surprise at beholding it. We had our faces towards
+the south, and the course of the meteor was across the south, but not
+very high, at about the third of the circle of the heavens. Afterwards,
+every few minutes, small meteors were seen sporting about in the same
+direction, some in a straight line and others descending.
+
+_9th._--The wind of this fine cool morning prevented a visit from
+En-Noor. That he might not be disappointed, however, I sent him his
+customary tea; and amused myself by hearing the Sfaxee discourse of that
+constant subject of conversation, the attack of the Fadeea. According to
+him, on that occasion great fear was felt by all the caravan. Most of
+our servants had formed the resolution to abandon us. There were,
+however, some honourable exceptions; amongst the rest, Saïd, the great
+mahadee, and another. Yusuf and Mohammed Tunisee proposed the plan, that
+we three, the Germans, and myself, should be mounted on maharees, and
+either conveyed back to Aisou or forward to Tintaghoda, during the
+night. Some of the Kailouees wavered, as well as the Tanelkums; but
+En-Noor (of our escort) always declared that he would never consent to
+our being given up. The next morning, two or three of the assailants
+were very bold, and came and called out in an authoritative tone, that
+we must be given up. It is curious that, in spite of all the force that
+was mustered against us, as soon as they saw that we were determined to
+resist them, they immediately began to parley. The Sfaxee is an immense
+talker, and great allowance must be made for what he says. In reality,
+we shall never be able to know the exact truth with respect to this
+affair. Dr. Overweg confesses that he was terribly alarmed as well he
+might be. For my part, I was more used to desert dangers, and slept all
+night. Dr. Barth very kindly refused to allow anybody to awaken me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Muslim want of Curiosity--Gossip on Meteors--A Family Broil--Rationale
+of Wife-beating--Abominable Dances--Evil Communications--Dr.
+Overweg--Kailouee Vocabulary--Windy Day--Account of Wadaï--Madame
+En-Noor--Profits of Commerce--The letter _Ghain_--Fellatah
+Language--Introduction of Islamism--Desert Routes--Trade in Agate
+Stones--A lively Patient--The Eed--A Visit _en masse_--Arrival of the
+Boat--Butchers--Exchange of Visits with the Sultan--Diet--A Shereef--A
+delicate Request--Information on Maradee--Tesaoua--Itinerant
+Schoolmasters--En-Noor's Territory in Damerghou--Unpleasant
+Communication--Amulets--The Foundation of a City in the
+Desert--En-Noor's Political Pretensions.
+
+
+_Oct. 10th._--My garrulous friend the Sfaxee has gone off this morning,
+to bring his merchandise from Tintaghoda. The little fighi came, as
+usual, to see me. I showed him the Arabic New Testament. He read a few
+sentences, and then laid the book aside. I offered it to him, but he
+refused to accept the inestimable present. He represents the feelings of
+all the Muslims of these countries. They have not even any _curiosity_
+to know the contents of the Gospel, much less the inclination to study
+or appreciate them. They remain in a state of immovable, absolute
+indifference. Even the beautiful manner in which the Arabic letters are
+printed scarcely excites their surprise. En-Noor paid me his usual
+morning visit, drank tea, and ate pickles and marmalade. We asked him
+about meteors. He recollects the fall of many. One, he says, fell upon a
+house, and terrified the inhabitants, who came running to him.
+Afterwards they dug to the depth of a man, and found nothing, for it had
+buried itself deep in the earth. According to him, a great profusion of
+meteors denotes abundance of rain and herbage: but these phenomena exert
+also a sinister influence like comets, signifying the death of some
+great personage. I have no doubt that extraordinary meteors are very
+frequent in this part of the Sahara. En-Noor was very condescending, as
+usual: no change is observable in his manners.
+
+It turned out that he had come with the intention of speaking on a very
+delicate subject, but had refrained. We learned what it was afterwards.
+Dr. Overweg was sent for in the course of the day to attend upon one of
+En-Noor's wives, who had been frightfully beaten by his highness the
+previous evening. This domestic broil formed the common topic of
+conversation in Tintalous. Every scandal-monger has got hold of one
+version of the story. From what we could gather, the great man was lying
+down quietly, when suddenly, without any apparent provocation, he
+started up, took a large stick from the fire, one of its ends still
+burning, and with this terrific weapon belaboured his wife over the
+face, striking especially at the mouth, and cutting the upper lip in
+two. The poor woman is now very ill. No cause can be discovered for this
+piece of brutality. En-Noor has, they pretend, two wives here, and one
+on his estate at Damerghou; but he has only one son and three daughters.
+No larger family has this great man, with all his wealth and slaves,
+been able to bring up.
+
+Beating a wife is so common in these countries, that, only when the act
+is attended with features of unusual atrocity, as in this case of
+En-Noor, does it excite any attention. There cannot be a question of the
+fact, that our friend the Sultan is a great despot in every point of
+view. Perhaps in no other way could he maintain any authority amongst
+these semi-barbarian Kailouees. This, nevertheless, cannot excuse the
+atrocity of beating his wife with burning fagots. Some say that the
+exciting cause of his brutality was the eternal loquacity of the woman,
+of which his highness began to be afraid. This may be true, or be only
+an excuse invented by his courtiers. Supposing, however, the cause to
+have been her _infidelity_, let us examine what can be reasonably
+expected from these African women. They are not allowed scarcely to
+believe themselves to possess souls; they have no moral motives to be
+chaste, and certainly none of family and honour, being mostly slaves.
+Then the greater part of the young girls of consequence are married to
+old men, who are worn out by their sensual habits and indulgence with
+innumerable concubines. These young women are thus left, though married,
+like so many widows, without education or religious motives, and with
+all their passions alive, to the first opportunity which presents
+itself. We know what they do, and we cannot expect anything else from
+them.
+
+We have often dancing now of evenings. Yesterday, hearing the
+tambourines and other instruments strike up, I went to the house of the
+Sfaxee to see what was going on. They were dancing again their Mourzuk
+dances before a number of delighted Kailouees, male and female; amongst
+the rest Lady En-Noor herself. The whole beauty and appropriateness of
+this exercise amongst the Moors consists, as is well known, in gross
+imitations of natural acts. No further description or comment can I
+permit myself. I have often thought that the present dance must be an
+inheritance from very ancient times. There seems to be a part of our
+nature to which it is adapted. The performances at European Operas are
+often nearly as indelicate.
+
+Evil communications corrupt good manners. One of our servants has
+learned to act the Tuarick. He quarrelled with Yusuf, and on being told
+to go away replied, "Yes. I will go; but when you get up to Damerghou I
+will bring down the people upon these Christians, and they shall be
+eaten up!"
+
+_11th._--Zangheema, En-Noor's principal slave, came early this morning
+for Dr. Overweg, that he might attend the "beaten wife." My privileged
+friend went accordingly, and visited at the same time all the women of
+the household. They received him in a very friendly manner: some of them
+proved nearly white.
+
+_12th._--This day I finished my Kailouee vocabulary, which contains
+about a thousand words. I have never yet collected so large a quantity
+of materials of any of the languages of Africa. I carefully packed up my
+vocabulary for England, and got it ready, with other matters, to send by
+the first opportunity.
+
+Dr. Overweg has again visited the belaboured wife this morning, and
+reports her to be improving. The Sultan seems now to repent what he has
+done, and is endeavouring to obtain forgiveness by kind and courteous
+behaviour.
+
+There was a great deal of wind to day, but it did not come in puffs,
+endangering our tents. I sometimes wonder, however, how the flimsy huts
+of which part of Tintalous is composed are not swept away. They are made
+of the dry stalk of that excellent herb bou rekabah, called in Kailouee
+_afada_.
+
+_13th._--No news stirring to-day; nothing said of razzias; so much the
+better. We are living very quietly here, and the climate agrees with me
+extremely well. Some of our people, however, are sick.
+
+_14th._--The mornings continue cold; 65° outside the tent, and a few
+degrees higher inside. This fresh weather, no doubt, accounts for my
+good health.
+
+According to a Tibboo merchant now here, and going with our caravan, the
+people of Wadaï would receive a Christian well, and allow him to visit
+their country. He represents Wadaï as a very rocky region, like Aheer,
+with two large rivers in it running from south to north--not season
+streams, but continual. He says that the people are all blacks, and a
+very tall race. They have a language of their own, which is difficult to
+learn. Warrah is the capital. The natives drink a great deal of _bouza_,
+and are nearly always intoxicated. Such is a summary account of Wadaï
+from the mouth of a Tibboo geographer.
+
+This morning, Madame En-Noor sent me by Zangheema a pair of pewter
+earrings, in exchange for some rings. It is extremely difficult to make
+a good bargain with these people. With respect to our merchandise, it
+all sells lower here than we paid for it at Mourzuk. The profits come
+from the purchase of slaves. A burnouse of forty mahboubs will sell in
+Soudan for little more than its cost, if dollars or money is to be
+given; but if slaves are taken in exchange, three slaves, perhaps, may
+be obtained, which, in Tripoli, may be sold at forty or fifty dollars
+each. Hence the profit of the Soudan commerce. The article which yields
+the greatest profit is loaf sugar, which, costing half a dollar in
+Mourzuk, is said to sell for a full dollar in Bornou. To be sure there
+is all the risk and the heavy freight of such an article, especially if
+conveyed up during the rainy season.
+
+I wrote yesterday a despatch to Government, requesting letters of
+recommendation to be sent up to me in Kordofan, pointing out the route
+of Egypt as the probable one by which I shall return to the
+Mediterranean. I had a long dispute with Overweg about the letter
+_ghain_, which he persists in pronouncing like a strong _k_. Yusuf was
+called in, and declared that the _ghain_ was the letter which
+distinguished Arabic from all other languages. In Kailouee Tuarick there
+is no _kaf_ or _ghain_. These Berber dialects have, however, the hard
+_g_ in a thousand words, and have also the _k_ in a great number of
+cases, but the hard _g_ and the _t_ are the consonants most frequently
+occurring. The Haussa has also the _g_ hard, as in _magaree_,
+"good;" and a great number of words with the sound _tsh_, as _doutshee_,
+a stone or mountain.
+
+The Fellatah language is said to resemble the Kailouee; in other words,
+to be a Berber dialect. If this be the case, the Fellatah people are
+probably of Berber extraction, and not Arab, as they are vulgarly
+supposed to be. This is a question requiring still further
+investigation. Others, again, say that the Fellatah language is quite
+different from the Tuarick. Overweg thinks Islamism was introduced into
+Bornou by the Shoua Arabs, who are found in Bornou in great numbers. The
+Fellatah, he thinks, received Islamism by way of Timbuctoo, from Moors
+and Arabs trading to that city from Morocco. There is considerable
+probability in both these opinions.
+
+_15th._--Four or five days after the approaching Eed, or festival, half
+the people of Tintalous will go for salt, and the other half prepare for
+their annual journey to Soudan with En-Noor.
+
+The inhabitants of Damerghou are reported to be half "_Kohlan_," blacks,
+and half Kailouees. It is the Kailouees in the neighbourhood of
+Damerghou who infest the borders and routes of Bornou. En-Noor is now
+very quiet, and there is a chance that he will not come down upon me for
+more money.
+
+According to the Fezzanees, Tuat is thirty days from Aisou and
+thirty-three from Taghajeet (short days). Ghât is forty short and thirty
+long days from Tintalous or Asoudee. Bilma is fourteen long and seven
+short days from Tintalous or Asoudee. There is no direct route from this
+(Tintalous) to Timbuctoo; from Sakkatou there is, however, a short route
+to Timbuctoo, and it is said to be a safe one. The number of days here
+mentioned are merely general numbers; they vary according to the good
+state of the camels, or the disposition of the people, or certain
+accidents on the road.
+
+The evening of the feast of the "Descent of the Koran from Heaven," all
+good Muslims ought to sit up all night to read the Koran, through and
+through again.
+
+There is a curious commerce of yamaneé, or agate stones, in
+Soudan. These yamaneé are originally brought from the eastern
+coast of Africa, from and near Mombas (Mozambique), where they pass as
+money, like the cowries. From Mombas they are carried, by the Muscat
+traders, to Yamen, and thence to Mekka; in which place they are blessed,
+and rendered doubly precious. From Mekka they are brought to Egypt, and
+from Egypt to Mourzuk; from which point they are distributed all over
+this part of Africa, and the souk of Kanou is stocked with them. They
+are much esteemed by all classes of the inhabitants of the interior of
+Africa, and are worn equally by the men and women.
+
+In this commerce we see the round-about-way in which some articles are
+conveyed for sale. If there were a road from Mombas direct to Bornou,
+this agate would be cheap enough. But then, perhaps, it would not be
+esteemed or valued at half its present cost. It would not be blessed at
+Mekka, and so lose all its talismanic and mysterious power. The name is
+derived from Yaman, evidently from the first country in Arabia, to which
+they were brought originally from Africa.
+
+According to Overweg, Madame En-Noor is still very unwell with her lip.
+It is cut right across under her nose, penetrating to the gums; she is,
+nevertheless, very lively, and is always pestering Overweg to read the
+fatah with, or marry a young girl, one of her relations. She endeavours
+to warm my worthy friend to comply with her match-making wishes by
+luxurious descriptions of the beauties of the proffered bride.
+
+As soon as the people hear I have a wife in Tripoli, they begin to ask
+how many children I have got. On receiving for answer, "None," they are
+greatly astonished, and ask me the reason of so strange a matrimonial
+phenomenon.
+
+This evening another fine meteor appeared in the south-east. Its head
+was like a blazing star, and it left behind it a train of sparkling
+light and flame. There were also numbers of smaller meteors.
+
+_16th._--The morning of the Eed. According to the Fezzanees, prayers are
+soon ended; because, they say, "these Kailouees know nothing of their
+religion."
+
+The Fezzanees asked me to hoist the British flag; to which I replied,
+"No; the flag belongs to the Queen, but I will give you a little powder
+for your matchlocks." All these Mahommedan feasts are celebrated on the
+northern coast of Africa by the discharge of gunpowder.
+
+No certain information can be obtained of the route from Zinder to
+Sakkatou, in this place. The people only say the present Sultan is not
+so strong as was his father; thereby intimating that the routes are not
+so secure as formerly.
+
+It is usual for the inhabitants of Tintalous to visit those of Asarara
+on the morning of the present feast. About sixty men, natives of this
+place, accompanied by a dozen Moors from Tripoli and Mourzuk, went,
+accordingly, to Asarara this morning. Then a number of the people of
+Asarara returned with them. Yusuf remarked, with some surprise, that
+even the women went out to pray, about forty in number. So that it would
+seem the Kailouees educate their women in religion more than the Muslims
+of the coast.
+
+The most interesting event to us, however, this morning, was the arrival
+of the boat from Seloufeeat. Our servants were very quick in their
+return. They came all night, to avoid any further attempts to carry off
+the camels. They were all alone. I welcomed the return of the boat as I
+would that of an old friend.
+
+There was no firing this evening, as was expected, En-Noor being very
+unwell-suffering rheumatism and fever.
+
+The most agreeable sight in all these Mahommedan feasts is to see all
+the people dressed out in their finery. The merchants have appeared in
+splendid burnouses, all more or less in good humour. The slaughtering of
+the sheep to-day was the dirtiest part of the business. All here on such
+occasions play the part of butchers-men, women, and children; and all
+attack, stab, skin, and maul the poor animals, in a way frightful to
+behold. The environs of the town were turned into dirty
+slaughter-houses.
+
+_17th._--I have determined to purchase no more things from the Sfaxee at
+present. He makes me pay double price. It will be better to wait and see
+what can be done at Zinder. An infidel traveller, who is known to be in
+possession of any property, is sure in these countries to be looked upon
+as a milch-cow. Does not "the book," according to the vulgar opinion,
+authorise the faithful to take our lives? "Our purses are more lawful."
+
+The festival being over, I went to pay my respects to Sultan En-Noor. He
+is much better in health than yesterday, but has still a bad cold, and
+continues to blow his nose and wipe it--pardon the _naïve_
+statement--with the sole of one of his sandals! The action struck me as
+rather uncleanly and undignified in a prince; but Kailouees are not
+punctilious.
+
+Mr. Gagliuffi had mentioned to me that he had given assistance to some
+shepherds who were begging their way to Soudan. One of these poor
+fellows had come to see the Sultan. He seemed, indeed, miserably poor,
+but tried to hide the fact, saying to them and Yusuf: "I have news for
+you; now I am your friend, as I was a friend to the Consul in Mourzuk."
+He was quite a young man, and excited my compassion.
+
+In the afternoon I received a visit from En-Noor, with a whole train of
+his people. The Shereef was absent. The Sultan came especially to see
+the boat, the pieces of which were put together that he might know its
+shape and size. Yusuf then drew for him a ship with all sails set, on a
+piece of paper. It was very well done; and excited the applause of my
+visitors. I treated them, as usual, with pickles, marmalade, and tea.
+Among other things I showed En-Noor the broad arrow, or government mark,
+on many of our things; as the guns, and pistols, tent, bags, and
+biscuits, which greatly surprised him.
+
+The Sheikh was in good spirits, and was pleased with his visit. I sent
+him during the day a piece of dark blue cotton print for a pillowcase.
+This little present delighted him much. I am much hampered with the
+"princesses," who first sent to buy sugar, and then to beg, forgetting
+to buy.
+
+We have a Tuat Tuarick changing camels for slaves now in Tintalous. This
+man belongs to the tribe called Sgomara, if I have caught the name
+correctly.
+
+_18th._--I rose early, having had a bad headache during the night
+through eating meat in the middle of the day. Whatever is eaten in the
+middle of the day must be taken very sparingly. I believe the greater
+part of the diseases with which foreigners in these countries are
+afflicted arise from want of sufficient attention to diet. We must take
+great care of our health just as we are entering Soudan. The weather is
+still cool, especially in the morning. The prevailing wind during these
+last twenty days has been E.N.E., which is very refreshing. The Moorish
+merchants pretend that in Soudan it is now very cold.
+
+I received a visit from the young Shereef, whose conversation smacked a
+good deal of a disagreeable curiosity respecting my movements and
+intentions in Central Africa. I therefore gave him a very ordinary and
+cool welcome. This fellow has been here some time, and never offered to
+pay us a visit before. En-Noor has been feeding him during his stay. He
+displayed a good deal of shrewdness, and is well acquainted with the
+Christians of the Mediterranean. He is going to visit his brother in
+Zinder, and then returns to Tripoli by the way of Bornou and Mourzuk.
+Like all these shereefs, or marabouts, he pretended that had he been
+with us, or had we travelled with him from Mourzuk to Tintalous, no one
+would have dared to molest us; an assertion wholly false, for the
+Tuaricks care little for marabouts when they are bent on plunder.
+
+A young woman has just arrived from a distant village, with the express
+object of procuring from the Taleb (Overweg) a medicine to produce
+abortion: she says she has been gadding, "barra" (out of her mother's
+house), and is frightened lest she should get a good beating. On
+Overweg's refusing to give her any such medicine she burst out into a
+pathetic lamentation, and talked loudly of what her parent would do to
+her. Young ladies often think of their mothers a little too late under
+these circumstances.
+
+A slave of the Sultan of Aghadez arrived this morning, in six days from
+the capital, to inquire after the health of En-Noor. He brings no
+particular news, but says he saw Barth at Aghadez.
+
+"Man is to man the surest, deadliest foe," has been quoted from the poet
+as most applicable to the moral and social state of Africa. It may truly
+be said to be our case, for hitherto we have suffered little in this
+town except from men. Looking also around us, the people suffer less
+from the arid country which they inhabit than from the violence which
+they inflict one upon another.
+
+I learned from Yusuf yesterday evening, that for every dollar I take
+from the Sfaxee, if I pay in Mourzuk, I must give two. I was greatly
+afflicted at this positive declaration, but scarcely believe it; if it,
+however, prove to be the case, I must by all means find money in Soudan.
+It will be a hard fight, indeed, to keep down the expenses of this
+expedition; however, every effort must be employed to effect this
+desirable object.
+
+Maradee, I learn, is three days west from Tesaoua; and this latter
+place is two from Zinder. There is another village, called Gazawa, one
+day south of Tesaoua. The inhabitants of these places are half
+Mahommedans and half pagans; the latter do not offer human sacrifices;
+their religious rites consist principally in worshipping trees, to which
+they sacrifice at certain seasons. The Fellatahs are always at war with
+the people of Maradee, but Gouber is at peace with Sakkatou. In
+Maradee there is one large stone-and-mud house for the Sultan; all
+the rest of the houses are bell-shaped huts. The place has a numerous
+population. Tesaoua is also independent and self-governed, as are most
+of the places hereabouts.
+
+I had a visit from two itinerant schoolmasters, natives of Bornou. From
+these I learned that there does exist a little education amongst the
+Kailouees. There is a village near called Amurgeen, three hours from
+Tintalous, where children are sent from all the places around, so that
+it forms a species of college or university. It is to this college that
+En-Noor sends his sons and grandsons. These itinerant pedagogues are
+negroes; and it is certainly a curious circumstance that from Central
+Africa instruction should migrate northwards. But the Kailouees have
+little pride in this respect; although boasting of the name of Tuaricks,
+and accounting themselves _white_ people, or allied with the whites,
+they do not scruple to receive education from the negroes of Bornou,
+whilst certainly it would be very easy to have Kailouee schoolmasters.
+
+I heard from my friend Tibbaou that En-Noor's territory in Tesaoua is
+simply a village at some distance from the medeeneh, or city, where
+there is a native and independent sultan of some power. His territory in
+Damerghou is also a mere village. Nevertheless, the possession of these
+places extends the political influence of the Kailouees in Soudan. The
+neighbourhood of Damerghou, especially the western side, seems
+celebrated for a tribe, or factions of tribes, consisting of bad
+Tuaricks. This race is evidently spreading in Soudan; there are great
+numbers in Gouber and the countries near.
+
+I purchased from the itinerant pedagogues of Bornou two of their
+ink-bottles, which are made of small calabashes. They wrote for me some
+specimens of their penmanship, a charm, _fatah_, or first chapter of the
+Koran. They wrote and formed their letters sideways, as some lawyers'
+clerks do in England.
+
+Dambaba Makersee took the liberty of informing me to-day, as if I did
+not know it before, that all the things of us Christians were considered
+by the Kailouees generally as common property, and that whoever could
+lay hold of any ought to do so without qualm or scruple; but, he added,
+when you arrive in Zinder, all will be changed. Let us hope so,
+_Inshallah_!
+
+Strings of charms are worn by the men occasionally under the arm, or
+suspended over the shoulders, as well as round the neck. The charm or
+armlet of the Moors and Tuaricks corresponds with the _Fetish_ of the
+ancient Kohlan, people of Soudan, and of the present negro races on the
+western coast.
+
+I finished the statistics of the towns and villages of Asben--after all,
+a very imperfect affair. Nevertheless, it is the best which I could make
+from my materials.
+
+En-Noor paid me a visit in the morning, and stopped gossiping two hours.
+From him I learnt that the Fellatah language has no relation to the
+Arabic or Tuarick, but is quite a language peculiar in itself. He also
+informed us that the Gouberites were still at war with the Fellatahs of
+Sakkatou; that they were united with the people of Maradee, ancient
+Kohlans like themselves, and that this united force had been lately
+gaining their lost ground against the new Muslim powers in Soudan.
+En-Noor seems to favour the re-establishment of these people against the
+Fellatahs. The latter he naturally hates, on account of their attempts
+on the independence of the Kailouees, and their perpetual intrigues at
+Aghadez.
+
+With regard to Tesaoua, En-Noor pretends that he founded this city. His
+statement is singularly suggestive and picturesque in its simplicity. He
+says that he met, on the spot where Tesaoua now stands, a forlorn man,
+with only two slaves.
+
+"What are you doing?" he said to the man.
+
+"Nothing," the man replied. "What can I do, naked as I am, with myself
+and two slaves?"
+
+"Oh!" rejoined En-Noor; "stop a minute, and I will bring you a multitude
+of people, and we together will make a large city." En-Noor kept his
+word, and brought a multitude of Kailouees, Kohlans, and their slaves.
+Now Tesaoua is a mighty city, and En-Noor has got a small town of his
+own near it, mostly peopled by his dependants. Such is the foundation of
+many African cities; these places springing up as mushrooms, and
+disappearing as soon.
+
+En-Noor also pretends, that through his father he is heir to the thrones
+of the ancient Kohlans, about Kashna, Gouber, and Maradee, and that he
+ought to come into possession after the death of the present occupants.
+This, I should think, is incorrect; but his highness has undoubtedly
+great political influence in those countries. We learn that several of
+the men of Tintalous have wives and families in Damerghou and Tesaoua,
+but none of them have large families--only one or two children.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+News from Barth--Camels restored--Expensive Journey--Proposed Migration
+of Males--Supply of Slaves, whence--A new Well--Pagans and
+Christians--Tibboo Manners--The great Gong--When is a Tibboo
+hungry?--Hunger-belt--Queen of England in the Sahara--The Shanbah--A
+hasty Marriage--Saïd's new Wife--Wild Cauliflowers--Tolerance of the
+Kailouees--Men go to fetch Salt from Bilma--Approach of Dr.
+Barth--Lion's Mouth--Tibboos and Kailouees--Mysteries of
+Tintalous--Fewness of Men in Aheer--Trees preserved in the
+Valley--Bright Stars--Method of Salutation--Purposed Stars--Kailouee
+Character--Champagne at Tintalous--The Wells.
+
+
+_Oct. 22d._--A letter was received this morning from Dr. Barth. It
+appears that the treaty will not be signed, nor even presented to the
+Sultan. En-Noor paid me a visit, as usual, this morning. I presented to
+his highness some old boxes, with which he ordered a door to be made for
+his palace. His politeness does not cease, and the graciousness with
+which he receives my presents is really remarkable.
+
+The man sent after our camels brought back my poor white maharee, and
+demanded ten dollars (as good as twenty to me) for his trouble. I
+refused to give them, preferring to let him have the camel, which is
+hardly worth ten dollars. This manner of recovering our lost or stolen
+camels amounts to buying them over again. But it has been our misfortune
+all along, that our friends, and those who profess to be such, and all
+who attempt to aid us--every one of them, have profited by our losses,
+and the disasters which have befallen us. This dispute has been referred
+to En-Noor, and they have accepted five dollars, which I offered them.
+
+I this day made out the statement of the principal items of expenditure
+which the expedition has incurred from Mourzuk to Tintalous, including
+the escort to Zinder. It amounts to the enormous sum of three thousand
+mahboubs, or about six hundred pounds sterling!! If we do not proceed
+better than this on the future part of the journey, the expedition will
+at any rate be bankrupt and ruined for want of funds.
+
+_23d._--Yusuf and I brought before Overweg this morning the necessity of
+his assisting in relieving the Government from the double payment of the
+sums advanced by the Sfaxee. He agreed that it was highly important to
+save this money, and promised to place his goods at my disposal for sale
+in Soudan.
+
+On the departure of the caravan for Zinder and Kanou every male
+inhabitant will leave Tintalous, some starting with it and others going
+for salt, leaving only the women and children behind. This is considered
+by the Moors as preferable to leaving a few men behind, because these
+few would occasion quarrels amongst the women, and, besides, excite the
+jealousy of the absent husbands.
+
+Most of the men who go with us to Damerghou and forward to Tesaoua will
+find another wife and family in both these places. This is a regular
+emigration of males, not the accidental departure of fathers and
+husbands. These gentlemen pass half the year in Soudan and half in
+Aheer. The system does not appear to be advantageous to the increase of
+population: the wives of these birds of passage hardly bear two children
+a-piece. Indeed there are very few children in Tintalous. We have not
+yet sufficient data or experience for a conclusion on this part of
+statistics; but, up to the present, all that we have seen in Africa
+during this journey exhibits it as singularly miserable and destitute of
+population. We can hear of no man, not even a sultan with his fifty
+female slaves, having more than four or five children. As for the poor,
+one or two are all that they can bring up.
+
+Whence, then, comes the supply of slaves? So far as this part of Africa
+is concerned I may observe, in reply, that the annual number of slaves
+brought is exceedingly limited, amounting only to a few thousands. When
+we get nearer the western coast, we shall probably be able to account
+for the supplies of slaves which are transported across the Atlantic.
+
+This afternoon a well was commenced near our tents. The digging of a
+well is an important matter; his highness En-Noor, therefore, vouchsafed
+his presence. A number of the excavators came to me to beg for sugar. I
+brought out a piece of white loaf sugar, and broke it into thirty pieces
+or so; then ordered one of them to divide it fairly amongst themselves:
+but this was impossible. Anything like fairness amongst the Kailouees,
+all of whom are addicted to thieving (a habit acquired from Soudan), was
+out of the question. As soon as I rose from the ground, after breaking
+the sugar on a leathern apron, there was a general rush upon it, and
+some got a great deal and others none. Was not this a fine miniature
+picture of mankind?
+
+_24th._--En-Noor paid me a very early visit, and drank coffee. I heard
+that a courier to Mourzuk would cost forty dollars. I begin to learn a
+little Soudanese; there are some beautiful soft words in it. Yusuf says
+there is no name for God in this language; but his statement requires
+further examination.
+
+From what we learn respecting Barth's reception at Aghadez, it would
+appear that the people were disposed to look upon him with the same
+complacency as they are wont to regard the pagans, or En-sara as they
+call them, of Gouber and Maradee. Indeed, the Tanelkums and Kailouees
+consider that we shall be well received by our brethren, the pagans of
+Soudan.
+
+Here is a most extraordinary trait of the barbarity of the Tibboos. It
+often happens that they are out foraging for twenty days without finding
+anything to eat. If they light upon the bones of a dead camel, they take
+them and pound them to dust; this done, they bleed their own living
+camels (maharees) from the eye, and of the blood and powdered bones they
+make a paste, which they eat! This is somewhat analogous to what Bruce
+relates of the Abyssinians cutting out beefsteaks from the rump of a
+live bullock. The Tibboos possess the finest maharees; and the breed in
+the rest of the Sahara is always being improved or kept up by a constant
+supply from their country.
+
+I continue to supply his highness En-Noor with either tea or coffee
+every day. I sent him some early this morning. He is a greedy old dog,
+and will not buy a loaf of sugar because I will not give it him at the
+price of Mourzuk, and thus lose the freight. I hold out, and we have
+sold him none for the present.
+
+Overweg is making a small commercial lexicon of the things brought to
+the market of Kanou: a most excellent idea. I myself intend, if I go to
+Kanou, to make a list of all the things I find in the Souk, with some
+account of their produce and mode of importation into that mart.
+
+The great gong sounded throughout the village this afternoon, to give
+note of preparation to all the people, that every one of the males must
+be ready to leave this place in the course of three or four days. The
+Sheikh says he is determined to leave in three days, whether the people
+come from Aghadez or not. Yusuf laid before En-Noor this evening the
+necessity of our sending a courier to Mourzuk, stating that we had
+nothing left. His highness pitied our case, and said he would look about
+for a courier; observing, "The Consul has need of much money and many
+presents in Soudan." He said, also, that he would recommend us to go to
+Bornou.
+
+_25th._--The days are now pretty hot, and the nights correspondingly
+cool. We have a good deal of wind. I wrote a letter to Drs. Overweg and
+Barth jointly, calling upon them to assist me in case the Sfaxee would
+not wait for his money until the return of the courier. Dr. Overweg
+consents. I wrote out the Tuarick alphabet.
+
+The account of the Tibboos pounding the camels' bones and bleeding their
+animals to make paste, is confirmed by the Gatronee of the Germans.[4]
+He says, moreover, that this is the way in which they proceed. Every
+Tibboo must fast three days before he thinks about eating. If on the
+fourth day he do not arrive at the _belad_, or country, he then takes
+his left sandal from his foot, and stews or soddens it, making something
+of a soup. These sandals being leather, or untanned hide, it is,
+perhaps, not impossible to make of them a palatable soup! If on the
+fifth day he find no village, he then devours the sandal of his right
+foot. After this, still not finding a village, he collects bleached
+camels' bones and bleeds his camel as before mentioned.
+
+  [4] People are called here by the nation, and even town, to
+      which they belong, or in which they were born, as sometimes
+      in Europe.
+
+A Tibboo always has a girdle with seven knots, and when travelling hard
+takes in, as the sailors would say, a reef every day; if after seven
+days he find nothing to eat, he is considered hungry and unfortunate.
+The three Tuaricks who followed us from the well of Aisou declared that
+they had had nothing to eat for fifteen days; and there cannot be a
+doubt of the fact, that both the Tibboos and the Tuaricks can, on a
+pinch, remain without food for a considerable time--say ten or twelve
+days.
+
+A Tuatee, who knows Algiers well, arrived here this afternoon, and is
+going with us to Zinder. He brings an extraordinary report about the
+copy of the treaty which I left with Haj Ahmed at Ghât. He says he heard
+it read, and from it learned that "the Queen of England is now in
+Tripoli, and wishes to come and live in Ghât, and has offered to buy
+half Ghât." Such is the nature of Saharan reports.
+
+More authentic intelligence arrived to-day by a courier, who made the
+journey from Ghât to Seloufeeat in fourteen days--sufficiently quick.
+This courier brings a warning from Khanouhen to the caravans now
+proceeding to Ghât, not to come in twos or threes, as they were wont,
+but to come altogether, as he fears reprisals from the Shanbah and the
+Haghar.
+
+The history of the thing is this:--A tribe of Tuaricks has always acted
+as the guides of the Shanbah in their foraging parties--on the Tuarick
+territory, for example--always pointing out to them the camels of the
+people of Ghât. Khanouhen has chastised this treacherous tribe,
+destroying a great many of them; but the Shanbah and Haghar not choosing
+to desert their old friends, have determined to take vengeance upon the
+Ghât Tuaricks. It is this revenge which Khanouhen fears. He anticipates
+a combined attack on the caravans. The wonder is how these routes are
+kept open at all, when these distant tribes, who have no interest in the
+commerce that moves along them, are notorious for their predatory
+feelings and education. It is now said that the Fadeea, our friends on
+the frontier, are in league with the Shanbah against the Ghât Tuaricks.
+
+En-Noor, it appears, had sent his son to salute the new Sultan of
+Aghadez, and to assist in establishing or placing him on his throne. He
+got as far as Asoudee, when he fell in love with a pretty woman of the
+town, and at once married her, proceeding no farther on his mission.
+Yesterday evening a man arrived mounted on a maharee, bringing with him
+all the finery of the bride, which he exhibited to the people, riding
+about the town! All were greatly astonished at the splendour of the
+bride's dowry. Are not these fit materials for an Arabian Night's
+entertainment? My servant, Saïd, also married the other evening, but not
+so romantically; taking up with the divorced wife of another freed
+black. I heard nothing of it until all was over. The parties guessed
+rightly that I should take no interest in the matter, or rather
+disapprove of it, as the fellow has abandoned his own and natural wife.
+This divorced negress, who has at last found a master, has gone the
+round of all the tents since she has parted from her former husband, and
+is a little intriguing wretch. The Sfaxee and Yusuf countenanced the
+affair, but kept it quite unknown to me. They, however, fetched Overweg,
+and presented him with a portion of the marriage-supper--bazeen. I felt
+much disgusted on hearing of the affair. The old wife is a native of
+Kanemboo, and is going thither. She will, of course, gladly take leave
+of her husband and this young wife and rival. Marriage is an excessively
+loose tie here, at any rate amongst the poor. The rich pretend to
+respect marriage.
+
+We have all done little in clearing up difficulties, or obtaining
+correct information of the Tuaricks of the Sahara. No good informants
+are to be found. From the Sheikhs of Ghât it is quite impossible to
+learn anything. We hope to get some information from a Tanelkum now
+going with us. Many tribes have been mentioned, casually; but the
+principal are--the three great tribes of Ghât, those to which Khanouhen,
+Shafou, Jabour, and Hateetah belong--a tribe in Janet--the Haghar of
+Ghamama--the Isokamara, located on the Tuat route from Aisou--the
+Tanelkums of Fezaan--the Maraga, a breed produced from the slaves of the
+Haghar and the Sorgou of Timbuctoo.
+
+_26th._--The sky is now frequently cloudy, but no rain falls. The valley
+of Tintalous is looking fresh, on account of the great quantity of wild
+cauliflower overspreading its surface, called by the Arabs _liftee_.
+This word _liftee_, is evidently derived from _lift_, "turnip." The
+vegetable grows in lines and circles, determined apparently by the
+action of the water, which deposits the seeds. No use is made of this
+wild cabbage; it is very bitter, and no animals even eat it.
+
+En-Noor paid me a visit this morning before I was up; he drank some
+coffee, and went off to see his camels. The Tanelkums were quite wrong
+in their surmisings about En-Noor and his religious fanaticism. He has
+shown less fanaticism than any prince with whom we have had yet anything
+to do during the present journey. All the Kailouees of Tintalous are
+equally tolerant. We have now three quasi-princes, or sons of sultans,
+in Tintalous, besides the son of En-Noor. We have Mousa Waled Haj-Ali,
+who takes our despatches to Mourzuk, with Yusuf my interpreter, and a
+Tibboo, the son of the Sultan of Kouïvar. As we proceed onwards, princes
+and sons of princes will thicken upon us.
+
+_27th._--I packed up and sent off all my despatches to Mourzuk, together
+with a few trifling things for my poor wife, by the hand of Mousa Waled
+Haj-Ali, the virtual Sheikh of the Tanelkums.
+
+_28th._--All the male inhabitants, with the exception of five or six,
+have gone off this morning to fetch salt from Bilma. They return here in
+the course of a month, and the greater part of the salt is transported
+from hence to Soudan by the next caravan. We have heard of our friends
+at Aghadez. They are expected here in a few days. The new Sultan of
+Aghadez is said--but there is little accuracy in these desert
+reports--to have gone on an expedition west, to settle some differences
+between some tribes in arms against one another. The people also say
+that the new Sultan is "hungry," and is glad of such an opportunity to
+get "something to eat." This is the way in which they would describe a
+Chancellor of the Exchequer planning a new tax.
+
+Some say the object of the razzia is to chastise the Fadeea for
+attacking us; but still the main object is to fill the Sultan's "own
+hungry belly." Such are Asbenouee politics.
+
+_Bakin-Zakee_, the Soudanese name of the Kailouee green cap, I know here
+means the "_lion's mouth_." This is the phrase with which I always
+salute Zangheema, En-Noor's chief slave; but the terms are much more
+appropriate for his master, as intimating his avaricious, nay voracious,
+disposition. Zangheema, however, might be called "Karen Zakee,"
+the jackal of the lion, or "the lion's provider," so anxious is he to
+minister to the voracious appetite of his lord.
+
+We have received the news that Dr. Barth is near. He is expected
+to-morrow evening, or early next day.
+
+_29th._--En-Noor paid me a visit at sunset to-day, and talked of how
+many children people had in this country. His highness said he knew a
+sultan in Soudan who had seven hundred children.
+
+_30th._--The Gatronee of the Germans confirms the report of the
+circumstance, that, when the Kailouees go to the Tibboos to trade for
+salt, all the male Tibboos run away, leaving all the business in the
+hands of the females; which latter, besides trading in salt with the
+Kailouees, make a good mercantile speculation with their charms. Each
+woman, in fact, has her Kailouee husband or lover, during the carrying
+on of this singular commerce. If the traders catch a single Tibboo man
+staying behind, they at once murder him, with the most marked
+approbation of the Tibboo women. Such is the state of connubial fidelity
+in this part of the Sahara.
+
+The Tibboos have been very greatly neglected by persons writing on
+Africa, chiefly on account of the slighting, summary way in which they
+are spoken of by the members of the former English expedition to Bornou.
+They are, however, divided into a great number of tribes, are spread
+over a considerable extent of country, and are partly the guardians of
+the Bornou route. We must pay them some attention when they come under
+our observation.
+
+There is a man come from Dr. Barth and his party. They are expected in
+the course of forty-eight hours. En-Noor is very angry that they do not
+mend their pace. We are all ready to start. An immense caravan is
+waiting for their arrival.
+
+_31st._--The people begin to pester me to marry another wife in
+Soudan,--one very young and with large breasts is the kind of article
+they recommend.
+
+The mysteries of Tintalous are celebrated at the well in the evening,
+under the bright, glowing light of Venus, which star is now seen a
+couple of hours above the horizon after sunset. On the margin of the
+well, which is on the other side of the wady, at the distance of a
+quarter of a mile, the damsels of Tintalous regularly meet their lovers,
+and spend with them half an hour of sweet communion. Some even retire to
+the shade of a large-spreading tholukh near, or behind blocks of rock
+rising on the edge of the valley, and indulge in lawful or unlawful
+embraces. The strangers who come here, the Moors of Tripoli and Fezzan,
+are freely initiated into these mysteries.
+
+I am told by our servants, who have been round to all the villages or
+towns in the neighbourhood of Tintalous for the purchase of ghaseb, that
+these places, small or large, are none of them equal to Tintalous,
+although the houses are much the same--bell-shaped huts, and the people
+are of the same character. What has greatly astonished our servants is
+the fewness of the men; indeed, in some villages they saw no other
+persons but women and children, and scarcely any children. What is the
+cause of this? It would seem that the men are consumed by the women.
+These women bear few children, and perhaps this may in part account for,
+if it be not produced by, their excessive licentiousness. Yet the men
+are on the wing a great part of the year. The Kailouees, however,
+wherever they go, have their women at hand, and during a journey many of
+them take two or three female slaves. How is this superabundant supply
+of the softer sex kept up? If I am noticing a mere temporary phenomenon,
+the destruction of men in the razzias may account for the disproportion.
+Besides, the Kailouees are always imparting fresh slaves into their
+country.
+
+The poor people of Tintalous are fed chiefly on the pounded grains of
+the herb _bou rekaba_. It is a real Asbenouee dish. Overweg made a
+supper of it one evening. I tasted it, and find it has a very strong
+flavour of herbs; that is to say, what is commonly imagined to be the
+flavour of herbs in general. The people now go a long way for wood. The
+tholukh-trees of the valley are not allowed to be cut down; they are
+always preserved as a resource for the time of drought and dearth, when
+the flocks can find no herbage in the valley. The boughs are at such
+junctures lopped off, and the flocks are fed on the leaves. Thus I have
+seen the goats and sheep fed on the tholukh-leaves on the plains of
+Mourzuk, as well as near this place. Another reason may induce En-Noor
+to save the tholukh-trees,--that there may be a perpetual shade and
+verdure in the valley of Tintalous. There are many finer valleys than
+this in Asben, and were the trees not preserved, it would be a very
+barren, unlively spot.
+
+This evening, two hours after sunset, Venus exhibited her most splendid
+phasis: the west, where she was setting, about half-an-hour before she
+disappeared, was lit up as if it was moonlight. On concealing the
+planet, the effect produced was that of the setting of the moon. Every
+star was eclipsed in the western circle of the heavens, I never saw
+anything before equal to this. I could here fully realise the words of
+Scripture, that the stars were made also "to give light upon the earth."
+
+The manner of saluting and shaking hands amongst the Kailouees deserves
+notice: they first hold up the right hand with the palm outspread, like
+the Tuaricks of Ghât. Afterwards, when more companionable and familiar,
+they take hold of hands, and press them lightly some five or six times
+or more, if great friends, and conclude this pressing of the hand with a
+sort of jerk, drawing quickly off each other's hand. In taking hold of
+the hand of your friend, you fit your thumb in the circle formed by his
+thumb and fingers, and every time you press his hand, and he presses
+yours, you separate the hands from each other.[5]
+
+  [5] This mode of shaking hands is common among the Fellâhs of
+      Egypt.--ED.
+
+_Nov. 1st._--The month has set in with wind,--not gusts, but steady
+wind, continually blowing from E.N.E. It is stated positively that we
+leave here to-morrow morning, whether the people return or not from
+Aghadez. I register all reports as I hear them, though perfectly aware
+that we have not been yet quite let into the secret of the singular
+migration in which we are about to bear a part. The greater number of
+the men of Tintalous have gone to Bilma in search of salt; and I
+originally understood that the great annual caravan was for the
+transport of this necessary article. Perhaps En-Noor means to go slowly
+on, just to keep us in good humour. Our intercourse with the Kailouees
+has taught us to consider them a very mild, companionable race. Often
+indeed, like children, I wonder what the Tibboos can see in them to make
+them so desperately afraid, for I am told ten Kailouees will frighten
+away fifty Tibboos of Bilma. But the Tibboos of Tibesty are considered a
+braver race. It is worthy of remark, that these cowardly Tibboos have a
+bad character, and, like most cowards, are very treacherous.
+
+I determined not to carry the little box in which the two bottles of
+champagne were packed any further; so I, Overweg, Yusuf, and the
+servants, set to work and drank a bottle of it, to the toast, "that we
+might have better luck higher up than all have hitherto experienced."
+The other bottle I have stowed away in reserve for the Lake Tchad, to
+drink the health of Her Majesty when we launch the boat, if we are
+fortunate enough to arrive there.
+
+I went to the wells to see the people get water this morning. A number
+of little children came,--some naked, and others with small pieces of
+leather round their loins: they all wore very large necklaces of charms
+sown up in leather bags.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Dr. Barth's Journey to Aghadez--Description of the
+Route--Tiggedah--Luxuriant Scenery of Asadah--Plain of Tarist--Beautiful
+Valley--Buddeh--Small Caravan--Aghadez--its Inhabitants--their
+Occupation--The great Koku, or Sultan--Asbenouee Revolutions--Election
+of a Prince--Interview--Ceremony of Investiture--Razzia--Intricate
+Political System--Account of Aghadez--Mosque--Environs--Women--Tribes
+of Asben--The Targhee Family--Population of the Ghât Districts--of
+Aheer--The Oulimad and Tanelkums--Tribe of
+Janet--Haghar--Sagamaram--Maghatah--Extent of Aheer--Connexion
+with the Black Countries--Mechanism of Society in
+Aheer--Chieftains--Tax-gathering--Food of the
+Kailouees--Maharees--Amusements--Natural Features of
+Asben--Vegetation--Cultivation--Manufactures--Bags for Charms.
+
+
+Dr. Barth[6] has made a very interesting journey to Aghadez. He says the
+track lies either through fine valleys or over mountain-chains cut up by
+defiles. Here and there were charming spots, green with herbage and
+trees. In going, the shallow wells at Eghelloua were found to be full of
+water; but a month later they were all dry. Beyond is the Wady Chizolen,
+overlooked by a mountain that rises abruptly to the height of two
+thousand feet. Then comes the valley of Eghellal, with its rivulet, and
+beyond swell the famous mountains of the Baghzem. The worthy Doctor
+seems to have been too much occupied in collecting geographical data to
+preserve many picturesque facts by the way. On the third day he encamped
+at Tiggedah, where numerous species of trees and bushes tufted the
+valley, which was clothed also, near the margin of its streams, with
+grass as fresh and green as any in Europe. At that time, however, the
+place, with the exception of the cooing of wild doves and the cry of a
+solitary antelope, seemed perfectly unvisited by man. Afterwards, it was
+found full of flocks and herds, and enlivened by the encampment of a
+salt-caravan, with a string of young camels bound for Aghadez. The tribe
+to whom the valley belongs are nomadic, and shift from one place to
+another, as their fancies and necessities suggest. Amidst the trees,
+however, may be seen a small mosque, built of stone and roofed with
+palm-trees.
+
+  [6] See the papers read before the Geographical Society, in
+      January and March 1851. It appears to me that Mr. A.
+      Petermann slightly depresses the importance of the part
+      played by Mr. Richardson in this mission. However, this may
+      arise from the fact that the communications on which his
+      paper was founded were all from his German friends. It is
+      not necessary to be grudging of notice to any of the three
+      enterprising gentlemen who undertook this arduous journey;
+      but we must always remember who planned the Mission, and
+      who directed it with consummate prudence as long as life
+      and strength lasted. In Mr. Richardson's MS. an outline is
+      given of Dr. Barth's journey, and I therefore insert it,
+      with corrections and additions, from the papers just
+      alluded to.--ED.
+
+This agreeable place prefaces the still more luxuriant scenery of
+Asadah, where the vegetation is so rich, and the path so shut up by
+branches, that it is difficult to keep on the camel's back. What a
+contrast to the naked deserts of Ghât! It was from between the rich
+foliage of this valley that Dr. Barth obtained his first glimpses of the
+majestic mountain-chain of Dogem, estimated to attain the height of
+between four and five thousand feet. It is the loftiest range in Aheer.
+
+The plain of Erarer-en-Dendemu, which next succeeds, is covered with
+brushwood and low trees, and inhabited by lions--here called the Father
+of the Wilderness. Dr. Barth saw several, as well as a kind of ape about
+the size of a small boy, squatting in crowds on the lower hills. Beyond,
+overhung by the mountains of Anderas, is the rocky plain of Tarist,
+famous among the Arabs, as well as the Kailouees, on account of the
+remains of a mosque, indicated only by lines of stones on the ground. It
+was founded by a great saint called Sidi Baghdadi, and is a general
+resting-place for caravans. The basaltic formation here succeeds the
+granitic; and the plain is covered with loose black stones, about the
+size of a child's head.
+
+Escaping from this rough ground, the travellers entered a narrow valley,
+trenched by a broad watercourse, along the sides of which was a thick
+growth of palm-trees. There are two villages in this wady. Near one of
+them slaves were seen yoked to a plough, and driven like oxen, by their
+master. Further south the hoe replaces the plough in preparing the
+ground. This valley, inhabited by the Imrad (a Targhee tribe), is
+capable of producing not only ghaseb, but corn, wine, dates, and all
+kinds of vegetables. Fifty gardens adorn, it is said, the neighbourhood
+of Ifargen. But, in general, the rich soil is left uncultivated, and is
+covered by wild and sickly vegetation, which checks the progress of the
+traveller.
+
+In Wadi Buddeh grows a prickly plant called karengia; and a parasite
+(_griffenee_), producing a sweet but insipid berry of a red colour. A
+party of five lions were pursued like so many jackals. A small caravan
+of four persons, in Wadi Teffarrakad, were making use of four different
+modes of progression: one was on a camel, another on a buffalo, the
+third on a donkey, and the fourth used his own legs. In Wady Boghel were
+the signs of a field of ghaseb having existed last year. The ground was
+covered by a sickly wild melon; and in the thick foliage of the trees
+the guinea-hens were cackling. Here Dr. Barth saw the first specimen of
+the bauré tree, the trunk measuring twenty-six feet in circumference,
+and the thick crown rising to the height of eighty feet. Here and
+elsewhere wild beasts were observed. The whole country, indeed, abounds
+in lions, wild boars, gazelles, ostriches, and monkeys.
+
+On the seventh day the party reached Aghadez, which they entered about
+an hour after sunset, it being the custom in this country never to enter
+a town by day. Aghadez is situated on a hamadah, or lofty plateau of
+sandstone and granite formation. Around, although there is no arable
+soil, a good deal of herbage and wood is found in the depressions of the
+plain. It is not surprising, therefore, that this much-talked-of capital
+is nothing but a large village, as indeed are all the other places of
+Aheer, with the exception of Asoudee. Aghadez, which is mentioned by Leo
+Africanus, is said by tradition to have been founded or enlarged by
+settlements from the north, consisting of a people called Arabs, but
+probably Berbers, since expelled by the Tuaricks. It serves as a sort of
+rendezvous between the Kailouees and the tribes to the south and west. A
+peculiar language (Emghedesie) is spoken by the inhabitants in their
+private intercourse; but Haussa is the idiom of trade. There are about
+seven hundred inhabited houses scattered among the ruins; and of fifty
+thousand people who must previously have lived within the walls, scarce
+eight thousand remain.[7] The inhabitants are partly artizans, partly
+merchants; but few caravans now pass on this route, and commerce with
+Timbuctoo seems altogether to have ceased. The trade that exists is
+entirely in provisions, principally in ghaseb, or millet, which is
+imported from Damerghou. The system adopted is entirely one of
+barter--the Aghadez money consisting of turkedi,[8] or dark-coloured
+cotton for female clothing made in Soudan, Egyptian leather for sandals,
+English calico, white shawls, cloves, pepper, pearls, &c. All these
+objects are imported, the only manufactures of Aghadez being
+leather-work (sandals and saddles) and coloured mats. I do not know what
+materials are used in tanning. The Fezzanee gets assistance, according
+to my fighi, from four trees--the graut, the ethel, the pomegranate, and
+the essalan. The first and last are a species of acacia. Women and men
+work in their houses at the production of these articles, and merchants
+go and purchase _à domicile_, there being now no shops. There are three
+market-places or bazaars, where prices are very low.
+
+  [7] This is Dr. Barth's statement, which I have introduced from
+      his own account. It will have been seen that Mr. Richardson
+      (see vol. i. "Note on the Territorial Division of Aheer,")
+      makes a much lower estimate. I may here remind the reader,
+      that even when in his diary Mr. Richardson inserts two
+      different and contradictory statements, I do not undertake
+      to select one and suppress the other, except in the case of
+      an obvious slip of the pen. Nor have I thought it necessary
+      to burden the page by indications of slightly different
+      assertions. A diary must necessarily abound with imperfect
+      observations, which correct or complete one another; and
+      perhaps the general impression left on the mind of the
+      reader--who accompanies, as it were, the writer in
+      receiving its various elements--is more like truth than it
+      would be after the perusal of one absolute dogmatic
+      statement.--ED.
+
+  [8] As an illustration of the previous note, I will observe
+      that this word is spelt in several different ways in the
+      MS., and I do not know which is the correct one.--ED.
+
+The Sultan of Aghadez, the great Koku Abd-el-Kader, does not receive any
+direct contribution towards his revenues, from the people of Aghadez,
+but levies a kind of _octroi_ of ten mithkals on every camel-load of
+goods that enters the town, provisions being exempt. He has property of
+his own, however; receives presents at his installation; and can always
+raise a sum by making a razzia on any neighbouring freebooters.
+
+It is a fundamental law in Aheer, that the Sultan of Aghadez shall
+belong to a particular family, which is said to derive its origin from
+Constantinople. Therefore when, in consequence of some discontent,
+Abd-el-Kader was deposed last year, the malcontents chose a relative,
+Hamed-el-Argau; but he also displeasing, a rival was set up in Makita,
+also of the same family. This caused great confusion, and the Walad
+Suleiman took the opportunity to make forays against Aheer. The prudent
+then resolved to restore the old Sultan, and succeeded, as I have
+already said, in their endeavours. When Dr. Barth arrived in Aghadez,
+the investiture was about to take place. The Sultan is chosen by the
+Kilgris and Iteesan tribes, who nourish a deadly hatred against their
+kindred, the Kailouees. On the present occasion, however, a marabout
+proclaimed peace and good-will between these ancient enemies. It was
+necessary, indeed, that some understanding should be come to, as after
+the election the ratification of En-Noor and Lousou is required.
+En-Noor, especially, is greatly respected by the people of Aghadez, as
+the grand supporter of authority in Asben. The new Sultan is usually
+brought from Sakkatou in state by the tribes Iteesan and Kilgris. A vast
+crowd of them, with their families and flocks, had marched up and
+occupied a camp near the town; but they departed on the same day that
+Dr. Barth arrived--even before he entered.
+
+Early in the morning, Dr. Barth paid his respects to the Sultan. He was
+a stout man, about fifty-five years of age--benevolent-looking, as far
+as could be judged in spite of his face-wrappers. He sat in a large
+room, supported by two massive columns, and received his visitors
+kindly. The presents pleased him, and were acknowledged by the
+counter-present of a fat ram, and by meals sent every day.
+
+The ceremony of investiture took place on the 16th of October, and seems
+to have been an imposing spectacle. Certain intricate forms are used to
+express the combination of various Tuarick tribes in choosing this
+foreign sultan. Succeeding it was the great festival, on which a
+procession took place, in which the new chief, wearing the burnouse
+which I had sent him, took part, with a great number of Tuaricks in
+their best array. Immediately afterwards a razzia (of which both we and
+Dr. Barth heard various conflicting reports) was agreed upon against the
+tribes of the north, especially those who had molested our
+expedition--the Fadeea. It was highly successful, and may perhaps be
+useful in procuring respect for future travellers. Two thousand men went
+out upon this foray, in which Abd-el-Kader was accompanied by
+Astakeelee, the Sultan of the Kailouees. Some, indeed, say that the
+latter only acted. Very little resistance was made, and I hear of only
+one man being killed. The fellow who stole Barth's maharee was compelled
+to restore him. Dr. Barth, however, though well-pleased on the whole
+with his reception, did not venture to present the treaty. He obtained
+some letters of recommendation to Soudan. Many of the distinguished
+persons of Aghadez visited Dr. Barth during his stay, and altogether his
+reception was satisfactory.
+
+I have already mentioned that the Sultan of Aghadez, though elected and
+controlled by a kind of aristocracy of sheikhs of various tribes, is
+invested with the power of life and death. He is said to have a
+frightful dungeon, into which guilty persons are thrown upon swords
+sticking upright in the ground. In his warlike expeditions he is
+regarded, however, as chief of some tribes only. The Kailouees have a
+sultan of their own, and encamp apart. The Sakonteroua, or Sheikh of
+Aghadez, exercises considerable influence. He is obliged annually to
+accompany the great salt-caravan, which sometimes numbers ten thousand
+camels--Saharan statistics--to Sakkatou.
+
+The town of Aghadez was formerly divided into a variety of quarters, the
+names of which still remain, although the space they occupied--three
+miles in circuit--is now principally filled with ruins. With the
+exception of five or six rubbish-hills, the whole space is level. The
+houses are spacious, with large rooms and court-yards. They are of mud,
+whitewashed, and furnished with flat terraces. Doves, children, and
+young ostriches, enliven the streets. There are some mosques, but none
+of imposing architecture. One, however, has a lofty tower, almost
+pyramidal in shape, supported on a basement of pillars, and rising to
+the height of about ninety feet. There is a kind of ladder inside; but
+Dr. Barth was not allowed to ascend, being told that the entrance was
+walled up.
+
+The land around the town is slightly undulating, and covered in the
+depressions with the _Acacia Arabica_. Herbage and good water abound.
+There are no orchards near, except in Wady Ameluli; but El-Hakhsas,
+three hours distant, produces melons, cucumbers, and melochiyeh, and
+supplies the whole town.
+
+The women of Aghadez are reported to be free and easy in character, and
+let loose tremendously as soon as the Sultan had departed on his razzia.
+Dr. Barth had some difficulty in keeping them at a distance. There are
+more children, however, to be observed in Aghadez than in most Aheer
+towns.
+
+This journey of Dr. Barth's has considerably extended our acquaintance,
+both with the geography and the political state of Asben or Aheer. We
+see now that it is strictly a portion of the Sahara, intersected with
+fertile valleys, that towards the south begin to assume quite a tropical
+character. The inhabitants are various in origin and in name; but it is
+difficult to describe their subdivisions with any accuracy. According to
+the natives, there are only two great tribes--the Kailouees, which
+division includes the Kailouees proper, the Kaltadak, and the Kalfadaï;
+and, secondly, the Kilgris, including the Kilgris proper, the Iteesan,
+and the Ashraf. But, in questions of detail, numerous other names appear
+which it is difficult to arrange under any proper head. The Kailouees
+are, I think, of genuine Targhee origin, although, as I have already
+mentioned, with a mixture of the Soudan races. The Kaltadak and the
+Kalfadaï seem to be identical with the borderers who attacked us on our
+first entrance into this country. The Kilgris are located southward,
+beyond Aghadez, along the Sakkatou route, and even far into Soudan,
+where the influence of the Targhee races seems to be rapidly on the
+increase.
+
+According to some of the Tanelkum Sheikhs, the following are the names
+of the principal Targhee tribes scattered over the desert of Sahara,
+excluding the inhabitants of Aheer:--
+
+1. Ouraghen     family of Shafou.
+
+2. Emanghasatan   "    of Hateetah.
+
+3. Amana          "    of Jabour.
+
+These are Ghât Tuaricks--Azghers.[9]
+
+4. Aheethanaran, the tribe of Janet.
+
+5. Hagar (Ahagar), pure Hagars and Maghatah, who stand to them somewhat
+in the relation of the Kourglouss of Algiers to the Turks. They occupy
+the tract between Ghât, Tuat, and Timbuctoo.
+
+6. Sagamaram; located on the route from Aisou to Tuat.
+
+7. Oulimad; tribes surrounding Timbuctoo in great numbers. In
+conjunction with the Berebisheers, a tribe of Arabs, they shut up the
+road between Aghadez and Timbuctoo by their predatory character.
+
+8. Tanelkum, located in Fezzan.
+
+  [9] The three tribes of Ghât are called Azgher, in
+      contradiction to the Hagar. A Tanelkum explained the
+      meaning of this last word (which I have usually written
+      Haghar) to mean "wandering" or "wanderers." The word is
+      sometimes written Hogar.
+
+We have been making inquiries of the Tanelkums about the population of
+Ghât and its deserts. The Tanelkums say, that ten or twelve years ago
+Khanouhen brought up about ten thousand maharees against the then
+masters of Mourzuk, the Walad Suleiman, headed by Abd-el-Galeel. The ten
+thousand maharees were the whole force and strength of the Azgher,
+Khanouhen having called out every male; for every man of the Azgher is a
+warrior. The Arabs, seeing the number of the Tuaricks, deemed it
+expedient to make peace. From this circumstance, it would be supposed
+that the Azgher may number from five to ten thousand families, nearly
+all located west of the Soudan route, along the lines of the Ghadamez
+and Tuat routes; where, it is said, there are fertile valleys, in which
+dates and corn are cultivated. But at Ghât I could never learn anything
+of these wadys. During my last visit I had no time, and the people there
+had no inclination to give me information about this fertile portion of
+the Azgher desert. On the former occasion, I learned from Haj Ahmed that
+there was a running stream, on the banks of which corn was cultivated,
+at about four days west of Ghât. This is probably the locality of Janet.
+For myself, I do not believe the Azgher Tuaricks number more than two
+thousand families.
+
+Of the population of Aheer I have been able to learn nothing definite;
+that is to say, nothing which I can absolutely depend upon. Some make it
+reach above fifty thousand souls. There are, however, only forty towns,
+exclusive of Aghadez; and about twenty places where people live in
+tents. I wrote down a second list of them, with their directions, and
+some guess at the number of male inhabitants. The son of the Tanelkum
+Sheikh considers the Kailouee warriors to amount to about fourteen
+thousand; which, indeed, will make the whole population above sixty
+thousand. The accounts I have received, therefore, seem to be
+sufficiently exact for general purposes.
+
+The Tanelkum Sheikh says there are no other tribes of Tuaricks but those
+enumerated above. The largest and most powerful tribe is that in the
+neighbourhood of Timbuctoo, the Oulimad, answering, perhaps, to the
+Sorghou of Caillie; and the smallest and weakest, the Tanelkum. But the
+Tanelkums, if small in number, are great in pride, and consider
+themselves a race of marabouts. They certainly make long prayers, and
+several of them can write a little. The Turks treat the Tanelkums with
+great consideration, and every year the Pasha of Mourzuk gives their
+Sheikh a fine burnouse and other presents. They pay no impost, though
+living in the Fezzan valleys. They are devoted to peaceful pursuits, and
+are camel-drivers and small merchants. Formerly they were powerful; and
+gave a sultan to the town of Ghât. About a century ago, their Sheikhs
+and the greater part of the Tanelkums were destroyed by a razzia of the
+Tibboos. They had then a town, which was situate in the Wady Esaiyen,
+where there are still ruins to be seen, and which we passed near Berkat.
+
+Of the Oulimad I know but little, except that they are exceedingly
+turbulent, even ferocious, in the neighbourhood of Timbuctoo. They also
+extend their razzias from Timbuctoo to the south-western frontiers of
+the Asbenouee territories. A very short time ago they made a foray on
+the Soudan route, between this and Damerghou. The Ghât Tuaricks I have
+pretty well described.
+
+The tribe of Janet has been mentioned frequently in this journal, from
+the circumstance of their attempting to get up a razzia against the
+expedition.
+
+The Haghar are well known, even in Europe, for their freebooting
+propensities. They lie between the Oulimad and the Azgher tribes
+surrounding Tuat, and are some of them engaged in commerce.
+
+The Sagamaram (or Sgamara) are an interesting small tribe, located in
+the rocky valleys, along the line of the route from Aisou to Tuat. They
+are mostly dressed in leathern clothes, and trade with Tuat, taking
+their cloths and a fragrant herb called _debau_, which they exchange
+against dates, &c. They likewise come to Aheer and Soudan, and fetch
+slaves and goods for the souks of Tuat. They are a very pacific tribe,
+not unlike the Tanelkums, but carrying on more commerce.
+
+The Maghatah (or Maratah) are a thievish race, and have the vices of
+their mothers, those peculiar to Soudan, as well as the more ferocious
+traits of Berber bandits. Several of these people are in Janet.
+
+In concluding these imperfect general observations on the state of Aheer
+or Asben, I will only add that the country extends from north to south
+eleven days' journey, or about two hundred and twenty miles (twenty
+miles to the day); and east and west, eight days, or one hundred and
+sixty miles. Aghadez, the largest town or city, stands, as has been
+seen, alone; and may be considered as a kind of connecting link,
+politically and otherwise, with the black countries to the south. I have
+already endeavoured to explain the singular constitution of society in
+this large but thinly-peopled tract. We observe there a curious
+combination of the monarchical and patriarchal states, with a dash of
+democracy into the bargain. Several times I have been reminded of
+Homer's heroic age. The princes and the people seem alternately to
+appear on the scene, exercising sovereign sway. The great Sultan is
+elected from out of the country; but he is compelled to seek the
+ratification of the chiefs, the elders, and the populace within. Then
+there is the great chief of the Kailouees, whose town or camp is at
+Asoudee; with Sultan Lousou, a most influential man; not to speak of the
+great En-Noor himself, who has, perhaps, personally, the greatest
+political weight of them all. Each of these great men is perpetually
+surrounded by an army of retainers, dependants, and slaves; and public
+affairs are transacted, partly according to some old routine, difficult
+for a stranger to understand, partly after the fashion of "Arabian
+Nights," kings meeting casually at the head of great armies in some
+poetical wilderness. All these chieftains are both pastors and
+merchants. One of their chief articles of traffic is, I am sorry to say,
+their unfortunate fellow-creatures. They are the greatest slave-dealers
+in the Sahara; two-thirds of the whole commerce is in the hands of the
+Kailouees. The Sultans levy duties likewise on the caravans that pass
+through their territory--duties which, to our cost, we know to be
+neither regular nor moderate; but they have no right to apply taxation
+to their quasi-subjects. Sometimes, when they are "hungry," they make a
+razzia on a distant tribe, and find both slaves and cattle at their
+disposal.
+
+As might have been expected, the Kailouees--princes and people--are not
+very refined in their ideas or luxurious in their habits. Their food
+consists principally of the grains ghaseb and ghafouley, or guinea-corn.
+They have also flocks and herds of sheep, camels, and bullocks; but the
+bullocks are used chiefly for draft, and to carry goods from Aheer to
+Soudan. Asses are exceedingly numerous, and likewise go to Soudan to
+fetch guinea-corn. The population of Aheer, being scattered about in
+small towns and villages, a few hours journey apart, these animals are
+found very useful for the transport of the persons and effects of the
+poor. The richer people have camels of the maharee species, like all the
+Tuaricks; and in some respects it is the possession of this splendid
+animal which distinguishes the Kailouee population from the people to
+the south. For example, all their sports and pastimes would be exactly
+Soudanese, were it not for the introduction of the maharee. On the
+celebration of a wedding, the Kailouees ride round the groups of guests
+on their silent-treading camels, which measure their movements to the
+sound of a big rude drum. Such scenes would otherwise be perfectly
+Nigritian. The men dance, flourishing their lances; and the slaves both
+dance and sing. But I have already noted down all that I observed
+remarkable in manners, and need not here repeat myself.
+
+The great natural features of Asben, also, are doubtless by this time
+impressed on the mind of the reader. They consist of a series of naked
+granite rocks or mountains, some of them rising to upwards of three or
+four thousand feet, ranging in every direction, with many isolated
+peaks; and of picturesque valleys winding along between steep
+precipices--threads of green, in which the tholukh and all species of
+mimosa and acacia, with the souag and other trees, flourish in immense
+growth, sometimes adorned by garlands and festoons of luxuriant
+parasitical plants. Wild animals of various kinds range at will in
+unfrequented places, but do not seem to excite much terror. There are
+gardens and cornfields in the neighbourhood of some of the towns and
+villages, the cultivation being kept up during the dry months by
+irrigation; but only a few of the inhabitants, mostly slaves, cultivate
+the soil. Besides the grains I have mentioned, a few vegetables,
+principally onions, are produced. Date-palms bear fruit, which is good,
+but will not keep.
+
+I have already mentioned the chief manufactures of Aheer. They flourish
+to the greatest extent in Aghadez; but Tintalous also has its artizans.
+Working in leather was very popular during our stay, in consequence of
+the presence of a noted charm-writer--bags being necessary. A good many
+cunning blacksmiths ply their trade in various places.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Projected Departure for Damerghou--False Start--Picturesque
+Caravan--Sultan's Views of White Skins--My Birthday--The Sultan fights
+his Battles over again--His Opinion of Women--Bragging--The Razzia on
+the Fadeea--Political News in the Desert--Cold Weather--Continue our
+Journey--Bornouese Fighis--Tin-Tagannu--Trap for a Lion--Mousa's
+Camels--A further Delay--Jackals and the Fire--Language of
+Signs--Tintalousian Coquettes--Departure of the Zinder Caravan--Natural
+Features--Languages--The Kilgris--Killing Lice--The Razzia to the
+North--Present of a Draught-board--Pagan Nations--Favourable Reports.
+
+
+_Nov. 2d._--As this was the day fixed for our departure for Damerghou,
+it may well be imagined that we looked forward to it with some anxiety.
+Our delay in the neighbourhood of Tintalous had been unexpectedly long,
+and at times even the idea had crossed our minds that we should never be
+allowed to depart at all. Often we had desired to start alone; but had
+been withheld by our own prudence, as well as by the representations of
+our host, the venerable Sheikh of Tintalous. We had come by degrees
+scarcely to believe in the possibility of an advance, and to consider
+ourselves as the prisoners of circumstances in this advanced part of the
+Sahara, touching on the very borders of Central Africa. Now, however, we
+saw, by the bustle of preparation in the town, that, whether the
+salt-caravan arrived or not, we were to press forward. All night the
+town was in a bustle. We rose before sunrise, to complete what packing
+we had to do, and saw Jupiter and the moon in positions nearly
+resembling the Ottoman device. It was windy all yesterday and this
+morning, with a considerable degree of cold.
+
+To my astonishment when we had taken leave of Tintalous, we pitched tent
+after half an hour's journey. This was done, however, for a twofold
+reason: 1st, to see that all was right, and that we had left nothing
+behind; and 2d, to buy ghaseb,--a supply having arrived from Asoudee
+just in time for us to carry with us. Never was there a more picturesque
+caravan. Ladies on bullocks, children and women on donkeys, warriors on
+maharees, merchants on camels, the Sultan's horse harnessed going alone,
+and following steadily; goats and their kids, sheep, foals of camels,
+&c. running or straggling along! When we had pitched tent in the valley,
+still in sight of Tintalous, En-Noor paid us a visit, and vouchsafed to
+explain the reasons of our delay. His highness also related several
+interesting things of Aghadez. The Sultan of that place, he says, is a
+descendant of one of three brothers, Shereefs, who ruled in Africa over
+the negro and other races. The eldest brother was Sultan of the West
+(Morocco); the next was Sultan of Bornou; and the third and youngest was
+Sultan of Aghadez in remote times. But how remote, it is impossible for
+En-Noor to tell, and, of course, for me to relate. I was much amazed by
+the predilection of En-Noor (who is not absolutely a white man) for
+black people. He praised Overweg, because he was getting brown and
+black. As for me, his highness was almost inclined to express his
+disgust for the whiteness of my skin. Unfortunately, I happen to be what
+the people call in England "very fair," except in those parts of my skin
+which come in direct contact with the sun. I spent the day in compiling
+a Haussa vocabulary, and hope to make considerable progress by the time
+we arrive in Damerghou.
+
+_3d._--This was my birthday, but of course it was unkept, and, indeed,
+almost unthought of until it was past.
+
+En-Noor again visited us, and drank with us coffee. His highness is
+getting quite attached to my tent, and swears that when I return to my
+country I must become a great man, and be made, like himself, a governor
+or sultan of some country. Shall I say, Inshallah? I asked Yusuf to
+explain why the Sultan thought so, and I could only learn that it was
+the opinion which his highness had formed from my general conduct.
+
+Being in a very happy humour to-day, the Sultan related many things of
+his youth; his exploits, of course, which all men relate, and which I
+shall likewise do, I imagine, if I live to be old. Showing us his
+withered fleshless arms, and taking hold of his armlets, he observed:
+"The time was when these armlets could not slip off. Now, see how easily
+they come away." He then abused me for my leanness, and admired the
+Taleb (Overweg), because he had more flesh on his bones. His highness
+also stated that he and a single man went to Damerghou and back in
+thirteen days, bringing a caravan of ghaseb. They never stopped on the
+road, but travelled day and night. This garrulous gentleman also
+declared he was the maker of his own fortunes--that he would not receive
+anything from his father. When he was young, he would take no person's
+advice; he did everything himself and from himself: but on the death of
+his father he always kept to his post as Sheikh of Tintalous, and Sultan
+of two towns in Soudan. He never moved this way or that way. Thus he has
+remained to a good old age, respected and venerated by all, whilst all
+his compeers have disappeared--not one remaining. He looks around for
+the friends and companions of his youth, and finds not one--they are all
+gone! Even now he allows no one in Asben to be greater than himself.
+Even if a Sultan presumes to lord it over him, he (En-Noor) at once
+knocks him down, and he is no longer Sultan in Asben. He remains,
+however, friends with all if he can. He never takes notice of anything
+which is not done under his own eyes; but when he sees a bad thing
+committed, he then acts--killing the wicked people, if necessary.
+
+The opinion of his highness of women does not flatter the ladies. He
+recommended us never to listen to the advice of our wives; if we did, we
+should be lost. The women were very well to fetch water, pound ghaseb,
+and cook the supper, but for nothing else. He never, himself, paid any
+attention to what they said; they were awful talkers. His highness here
+touched on a tender point; for, as the reader remembers, he has been
+beating one of his wives shamefully lately, because he pretended he was
+alarmed at her continual talking--bewildered by the length of her
+tongue! Proceeding in his confessions, the Sultan next related wonderful
+stories of a wonderful maharee which he had in his youth. With this
+maharee he rode to Aghadez in one day. With this maharee he chased, and
+run down, and won gazelles, and then cooked and ate them, &c. Glorious
+old fellow! Our Tanelkum Mousa, however, afterwards observed, that this
+was _kitheb_, "a lie;" but that he knew a woman who could catch
+gazelles. Many other things of equal interest his highness related, and
+then left us in a good humour.
+
+Two of our camels strayed this evening. En-Noor's people soon brought
+them back. Our servants are very careless, and all our mishaps are a
+profit to the Kailouees. We have still, however, two camels lost, and, I
+imagine, shall not now recover them. But I was glad to hear the news
+that the Sultan of Asoudee was successfully chastising all the people
+who on the road attacked us. He had punished the people of Azaghar and
+of Seloufeeat, even the son of Haj Bashaw; and the Haj himself, who was
+said to be our friend, because he did not look after his son. The Sultan
+acts quite according to my opinion, making all the principal people of
+Seloufeeat and other places responsible for the conduct of the poorer
+and lower classes. It is said that the Fadeea have fled; but others say
+that they have been captured, and all our property which could be found
+seized in the name of the Sultan of Asoudee. All the steps taken by this
+Sultan have been directed, more or less, by En-Noor. He can muster, it
+is said, two thousand warriors--for every able-bodied man fights in this
+country. This expedition may be useful for future travellers from
+Europe, but I fear we shall get back none of our property.
+
+As a specimen of the political news strained through the brains of the
+people of Tuat, I may mention that the Tuatee, recently arrived here,
+reports that "the King of the Frenchmen has run away to England, and
+carried with him all the money of the French," and, moreover, that "as
+the French conquered Algiers by distributing large dollars to every one,
+and hold it by the same means, the French now having no money, must soon
+relinquish Algiers again to the hands of the Muslims."
+
+_4th._--The weather is getting colder and colder. The last few days have
+been quite chilly, with a strong wind blowing from the east. This
+morning it was quite uncomfortable, the thermometer having fallen for
+the first time to 60° at sunset. We started early, and made seven hours
+in a south-eastern direction. It was a nice ride; but as the day
+advanced we got much sunburnt. After three hours we passed on the left
+the little village Zouazgher. The caravan showed again very
+picturesquely, the burdens tumbling off from the donkeys in the most
+delightful confusion, and the girls squalling for help. I ate on the
+road some Soudan dates, as they are called by the Arabs, and found them
+pleasant--a sort of bitter sweet. The name of the tree and of the fruit
+is, in Bornou, _bitu_. In Haussa the tree has two names, _aduwa_ and
+_tinku_. Our course to day was up a fine valley, down which the water in
+the rainy season runs from east to west. There was abundance of trees
+and herbage. At this place, however, lions abound, and last night a
+camel was eaten by them. We encamped opposite a mountain, rising pretty
+high in sugar-loaf shape, called Adudai. Over the carcase of the camel
+hovered a small flock of eagles.
+
+A Bornouee fighi, called Mustapha, from the country Malamdi, west of
+Kuka, tells us he has been six months at Aghadez. According to him, the
+route from Aghadez to Timbuctoo is one month. It is open, and not
+dangerous. En-Noor, indeed, promised to send any of us by that route if
+we wished. There are few people on the route, and if you pay them a
+little money you pass unmolested. This Bornouese fighi is not equal to
+his brethren whom I saw in Tintalous. But I learnt from this itinerant
+pedagogue the interesting fact, that there are a great number of persons
+of his profession, all from Bornou, travelling about in Aheer. Light,
+therefore, is springing up from the interior, and spreading to the coast
+in an opposite direction to what it did in former times.
+
+_5th._--Warmer weather greeted us this morning. We stay here to-day. The
+place is called Tin-Tagannu, and is a large wady, full of herbage and
+trees. It is inhabited by a few shepherds. This place is said to have
+been the first of the inhabited localities in Aheer, although now
+shepherds only drive their flocks there; so that spots of earth have
+their seasons and fortunes in the Sahara as elsewhere. By the way, I
+must continue to call this Sahara. Although there are periodic rains, we
+are still without the influences of the Soudan climate, which begins at
+Damerghou and Zinder. At the present season no country can be more
+healthy than these Asbenouee valleys. I hear that nearly all the women,
+as well as the men, have left Tintalous, so that the town is a perfect
+desert. En-Noor has brought his wives and daughters, and our caravan is
+like the migration of the whole of the town going in quest of a new
+country.
+
+A trap was set last night for the lion, but the king of beasts was too
+wise to be caught. En-Noor borrowed a gun of us to make this trap, which
+was of the following description. It was expected that the lion would
+come again to the carcase of the camel; so a hedge of thorns was made
+round the carcase with one opening, where was placed the muzzle of the
+gun, with a large piece of meat tied to the trigger, so that when he
+seized the meat he might fire off the deadly weapon against himself.
+
+This is a fine place for doves, and Overweg shot half a dozen to-day.
+Our Tanelkum, Mousa, informs us of the right way of tending camels. They
+ought never to be tied, but allowed to roam at large. They require also
+to be led through the best valleys, being so far helpless in finding a
+good grazing-place for themselves. He showed us his camels, comparing
+them with ours. And certainly ours, which had their legs tied and were
+not guided to good herbage, could not bear comparison. But, of course,
+the business, the support, the riches of Mousa, are his camels. They
+occupy all his thoughts, and would appear, to a stranger, to be the end
+of his existence.
+
+_6th._--This morning at sunrise the thermometer was as low as 52°
+Fahrenheit. We shivered with cold.
+
+Dr. Barth arrived early by way of Tintalous. He confirms the news that
+the Sultans of Aghadez and Asoudee have completely chastised all those
+tribes who stopped us on the road and levied black mail on us.
+
+En-Noor paid us a visit in the morning. After shaking us all in a very
+friendly manner by the hands, he expressed his regret that he could not
+go with us now to Zinder. The country was not tranquil, and the people
+would not consent to his going; but if we wished to proceed immediately
+with his principal slave, Zangheema, he assured us we should go safely.
+He then left us to reflect upon what we would do. We decided, without a
+dissentient voice, that we could not venture to go with Zangheema, and
+that we must wait for En-Noor, be the time ever so long. We forwarded
+this decision to his highness, who seemed to receive it with
+satisfaction. His wife sent us word, "To be sure not to go without her
+husband;" a piece of advice from a lady we are anxious most religiously
+to respect. Dr. Overweg made an application, through Daubala and Yusuf,
+to go to the salt-mines of Bilma with the Kailouees. But either the
+applicants betrayed the thing, or En-Noor was unwilling to grant
+permission. Our friend, therefore, is disappointed of this most
+interesting geological excursion.
+
+We are to remove a little further to the west, to a valley more
+convenient than this for pitching tents, and under some shelter. We
+still hope we shall not be obliged to await the return of the
+salt-caravan from Bilma (that is, a month, or forty days) before we
+start. Probably, when good news comes from the camp in the west we shall
+go on. It will be a sad trial for our patience to wait so long, after
+having already dallied more than two months in Tintalous.
+
+_7th._--The thermometer at sunrise stood at 51°--very cold. There are no
+signs yet of Zangheema's starting to Damerghou. The people, when sitting
+over the fire in the evening, relate jocosely that the jackals, not
+being able to come near the flame, and nevertheless feeling the cold
+very much, hold up their fore-paws, in a sitting or squatting position,
+in imitation of men, towards the fire, be they at ever so great a
+distance, and so screw up their imaginations to the belief that they are
+warming themselves. The language of gesticulation and signs, by the
+movement of different parts of the body, is quite a study in this part
+of the world. The most singular gesticulation, and yet the most
+significant, is that by which a person begs a thing. He holds the object
+in one hand (the left) before the owner, then gives the right hand and
+arm a swing round, and at last places the right hand to his bosom--the
+meaning of all which is, that he seeks to ascertain if the owner has any
+other article of the same description as that which he holds in his left
+hand, and whether he is willing to give it to him. When a Kailouee says
+a thing is good, he puts the forefinger of his right hand into the
+clasped palm of his left, and so, as he pronounces the thing good,
+_nagari_, he turns his imprisoned finger round within the closed left
+hand. When he says there are many persons, he clasps together the
+fingers of his left hand, and forms a good English fist, holding the
+hand thumb upwards. He then strikes, with the palm of his right hand,
+the fist of his left hand, held in that particular position. This sign
+also represents a more indelicate idea, and is used in the same way on
+the coast.
+
+The women, from the shepherdess to the princess, of Tintalous, are as
+fond of the bustle as European dames; but the important difference is,
+it is the natural bustle which they here delight to exhibit to the
+admiring male population. If a woman be called to, going off to the well
+for water, she does not turn round to see who is calling, but
+immediately draws her frock tight round her form, and imparts to it a
+most agitated and unnatural swinging motion, to the great satisfaction
+of the admiring lookers-on. Thus we see how the coquettes of London and
+Paris meet at opposite poles with these of the Sahara and Central
+Africa.
+
+Additional applications were made to En-Noor by my colleagues, to go
+respectively to Bilma and to Zinder--Dr. Barth wishing to go on with
+Zangheema--but without effect. The old Sheikh remained firm in his
+refusals: Zangheema, however, was the first to start objections to
+Barth's accompanying him. As to Overweg, we think he lost his
+opportunity by not treating directly with En-Noor, instead of Hamma his
+son-in-law. His highness will do nothing extra for us unless paid.
+
+_8th._--We rose early, and found a large portion of the caravan destined
+for Zinder already gone. This is very tiresome to see the people
+starting with whom you were to have gone, and to know that you have
+still thirty or forty days to wait; and as for expenses, living at
+almost as dear a rate as in Tripoli. Our boat has gone with the caravan.
+
+Hereabouts grow a great quantity of wild water-melons, _delaâah_. They
+are very small and bitter, but the people, nevertheless, eat them
+occasionally. If cultivated they would, of course, soon yield an
+excellent supply. Barth represents the road between this and Aghadez as
+very woody, and also that the country is everywhere mountainous. Baghzem
+is not high, but is, nevertheless, a very large mountain, seen several
+days' journey. The high plains without water are also covered with
+trees. I hear, also, that the road between this and Damerghou is
+exceedingly woody, and the trees of "the scratching or rending
+description," like the tholukh. Aheer also abounds in senna.
+
+Yusuf says that all the people of Soudan are red, with the exception of
+the inhabitants of Tesaoua, Kanou, Kashna, and Maradee.
+
+Barth represents Gouber as stronger than ever, and united in alliance
+with Maradee against the Sultan of Sakkatou. He has written all the
+towns. Gouber appears amongst the towns described by Leo Africanus.
+
+_9th._--This morning En-Noor paid us a visit, to tell us to move after
+him in the wady near, under the shade of the trees. His highness was
+very polite and friendly, as he has now been for some time past.
+
+The weather continues cold--thermometer, 49° at sunrise in the air. This
+cold weather ought to strengthen or restore our health. It certainly
+would do us good, much good, if we could get meat and soups.
+
+I sent on our boat yesterday to Zinder, with three of our servants,
+together with some other heavy baggage. I was occupied to-day in
+compiling the Haussa dictionary. Kashna is represented to be the
+fountain of the Haussa language, the Florence of Soudan. Kanou is a
+place of foreigners, and the language of the city must be much
+corrupted. According to En-Noor, _Kal_, in the names _Kal_fadaï,
+_Kal_tadak, _Kil_gris, and _Kail_ouee, signifies _country_. There are to
+be added to the zoology of this country the monkey and the _mohur_, or
+fine large gazelle, as large as a deer, called in Haussa _maráia_.
+We already find great differences in the pronunciation of the Haussa
+language, but especially in the following letters:--_sh_ is confounded
+with _ch_ or _tch_, _l_ with _r_, and _r_ with _l_, _o_ with _u_, &c.
+Letters are also frequently unnecessarily doubled. These differences,
+however, will never much affect the conversation, when the parties are
+well agreed upon what subject they are conversing.
+
+_10th._--This morning we are removing to the shade of the trees, near
+En-Noor. Dr. Barth describes the Kilgris as very fine, tall men, and
+much lighter in complexion than the Kailouees: they dress very simply,
+having only the black turkadee on their heads, having neither a bakin
+zakee under it, nor any white shash, or fotah, to wind upon it, in the
+fashion of the Kailouees. They are, like all these tribes, very proud,
+and nourish a deadly enmity towards the Kailouees, of whom they take
+precedence in Aghadez. Barth gave away a black-lead pencil in Aghadez,
+and afterwards everybody came to ask him for one. A person got one
+pencil, and begged another, saying, "the two would last him his whole
+life."
+
+_11th._--The weather is increasingly cold in the morning; three-quarters
+of an hour after sunrise the thermometer was 45° in open air.
+
+His highness vouchsafed this day to sleep in my tent, and yesterday he
+did the Germans the honour of slaughtering lice in theirs. It is a grand
+piece of etiquette in this country, that every man has the privilege of
+murdering his own lice. If you pick a louse off a man's sleeve, you must
+deliver it up instantly to him to be murdered, as his undoubted right
+and privilege.
+
+The Sultan of Aghadez has returned from his razzia against the people of
+Seloufeeat, of Azgher, and the Kalfadaï. Those whom he caught he
+chastised: but most of the Fadeea fled. I register these varying
+reports, because they show the state of uncertainty in which we were
+always kept, now hearing one thing, now another. But the true state of
+the case seems to be, that though the great Koku of Aghadez did take the
+field for a razzia, the actual operations were conducted by the Sultan
+of Asoudee. It must be remembered, however, that with their maharees
+these desert-princes can march to and fro with surprising rapidity, and
+that rumour finds it difficult to follow their footsteps. En-Noor now
+thinks the country sufficiently tranquil to move on two days further. He
+says he shall do so in the course of fifteen days.
+
+_12th._--His highness paid me a visit as usual, and I gave him a box
+containing a looking-glass, with a lid, on which is painted a
+draught-board, for the wife of his highness, who recommended us not to
+leave En-Noor, but continue with him until he carried us safely to
+Zinder. His highness expressed great satisfaction for the present; and
+when I told him to take care it was not broken, he observed: "I will
+take especial care of this thing, because there is none like it in this
+country, and it cannot be repaired." He told us also that his ladies
+could play at draughts. I gave him, besides, a piece of green silk for a
+shade for his eyes. He went off immediately, gratified with these little
+presents.
+
+The weather is very pleasant for the study of languages, but the days
+are too short and the nights are too long. Nevertheless, I sleep nearly
+all night this cold weather.
+
+_13th._--Thermometer at sunrise in the open air was 41° 30' Fahr., so
+that the cold increases, this being the lowest which I have yet taken.
+The Germans have had a deal of trouble with Mohammed of Tunis; they
+would send him back, but there is no opportunity of doing so.
+
+Máguzáwa and Azna are the names of the pagan nations of Soudan, denoting
+the same people, and not different races. The names answer to the word
+_Kurdi_, in Bornou. These pagans say, in derision of the Muslims, when
+it rains, "Allah must have a large belly," that so much water falls from
+him.
+
+En-Noor describes pagans of Maradee drinking large quantities of _gia_
+(beer, or fermented liquor).
+
+This evening a Gadamsee arrived at the tents, bringing two or three
+slaves from Damerghou. He says the news of our arrival had already
+reached Damerghou--that it was reported there that the Sultan of Aghadez
+had given Barth a black tobe; not, by any means, a bad rumour. He sends
+his slaves to Ghât from this place, and returns immediately to
+Damerghou, taking letters for us to Zinder.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Medicine for Bad Eyes--A summary Proceeding--News from the
+Salt-Caravan--Towns and Villages of Tesaoua--Earthquakes--Presents for
+the Sultan of Maradee--Yusuf's Insolence--English Money in Aheer--A
+Razzia on the Holy City--Bornouese Studies--Gipsies of Soudan--En-Noor
+and the Marabouts--Ghaseb--State of the Weather--Calculations for the
+Future--Senna--Relations of Man and Wife in Aheer--En-Noor in his
+Family--Gouber and Maradee--Beer-drinking--Study of the Sau--Shara--The
+Oulimad--Lions--Translating Jokes--Digging a Well--Projects.
+
+
+_Nov. 14th._--I wrote this morning, by the slaves going to Ghât, to Mr.
+Bidwell and my wife. En-Noor paid us a visit in the afternoon, and was
+exceedingly civil. He promises me letters for Sakkatou, and to forward
+Overweg to Maradee.
+
+Our servant shot a large vulture to-day. En-Noor having bad eyes,
+ordered the eyes of this bird of prey to be scooped out for a medicine.
+This is not the first time that I have heard of the various parts of
+animals being eaten, or otherwise used, to cure or strengthen the
+corresponding parts in human beings. It seems to be an idea natural to
+people in a rude or semi-barbarous state.
+
+En-Noor related a pretty anecdote of himself and his younger days in our
+tent to-day. After saying, that formerly the Asbenouee people were the
+only folks considered bad in these parts, he observed, that now he
+himself and the Asbenouee were certainly much improved in their manners
+and dispositions; "for," added he, "there were once four fighis
+(charm-writers) who employed people to speak against me, and bring me
+into disrepute. What did I do? I called them to me, gave them fine
+presents of burnouses and a great supper, with an apartment in which to
+pass the night. But when they were fast asleep I dug a large hole,
+fetched them all out of the room, killed them, and covered them up in
+the hole. Now, however," continued his highness, "we do not go so far as
+this, but content ourselves with taking away an enemy's camels."
+
+_15th._--Weather cold this morning. Thermometer at sunrise, 43°. I hang
+the thermometer on the tent-ropes, just outside, at about a foot from
+the ground.
+
+Hamma (son-in-law of En-Noor) returned this morning from the
+salt-caravan. He marked on the sand that the caravan would be
+thirty-five days before it returned; so, I imagine, we have still from
+this time some thirty days to wait here. He left the caravan on its
+entering the Hamadah, between this and Bilma.
+
+
+TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF TESAOUA.
+
+(_From Amankee's relation._)
+
+1. Tesaoua: people 1400; residence of the governor. Two large wells and
+one small one.
+
+2. Harmaua: 500. A little water.
+
+3. Ungua Korna: 400. One well, much water.
+
+4. Haidaua: 500. One well, and much water.
+
+5. Nuwala: 500 or 600. No water; but only half an hour from Haidaua.
+
+6. Nachira: 800, scattered about in small groups. Much water.
+
+7. Ungua-guka: 500. One well.
+
+8. Ungua-tallai: 400. Much water.
+
+9. Gindaua: 1000. Large wells; few trees.
+
+10. Saulawa: 40 or 50.
+
+The capital and nearly all this country is full of trees. Not a stone is
+to be seen, and the soil is sandy.
+
+The Sultan, or Governor of Tesaoua, is subject to the sovereign of
+Maradee, who is the only independent black prince in this part of
+Africa. The inhabitants are mixed, pagans and Muslims, but these last
+are not bigoted.
+
+En-Noor visited us this evening, and I asked him if he recollected
+earthquakes in this country. The old Sheikh emphatically replied,
+_Babo_, "There are none."
+
+_16th._--Barth has picked up a good many words in Aghadez, mostly
+correct.
+
+_17th._--It was colder this morning, although yesterday was very
+pleasant. Thermometer at sunrise, 41°.
+
+It is expected that we shall still remain here thirty days, which time,
+if divided half between Haussa and half between Bornouee, will help me
+on in these languages, the principal of the interior of Africa. Mohammed
+Tunisee is now the servant of Barth alone. Overweg has given him up.
+
+Yesterday morning I gave Overweg the presents for the Sultan of Maradee,
+to whom he intends to go on a mission, in the same way as Barth went to
+Aghadez. The presents consist of a fine burnouse, a fine shasheeah (five
+mahboubs), two pieces of coloured cotton cloth, two heads of white
+sugar, knives, scissors, cinnamon, looking-glasses, beads, &c. I hope he
+will not return without bringing back the treaty signed. He is also to
+make some arrangement for the establishment of the missionaries in
+Maradee.
+
+To-day we had prayers in Overweg's tent. I read several short prayers
+from the Church of England prayer-book, and also the Gospel and Epistle
+for the Sunday.
+
+_18th._--Yesterday evening it was cloudy, and the moon had, for several
+hours, an immense elliptical ring round it--a common phenomenon in the
+northern Sahara.
+
+To-day Yusuf got up in a rage, and threw down his writing, because I
+told him he did not take pains to obtain from the people the several
+meanings of the words. This has been the case for most of the time we
+have been occupied with the vocabulary. I have therefore left him to
+himself, since he insulted me in this manner before the servants, and I
+fear I cannot trust myself to go with him to Sakkatou. It is a great
+inconvenience, but I must search for a kateb (writer) at Zinder. There
+are many poor men of this profession in Bornou, and very faithful
+people.
+
+_19th._--His highness En-Noor continues to visit us. Yesterday I gave
+him an English silver fourpenny piece, an English farthing, and a small
+French silver coin, with all of which he was greatly delighted. He
+summed up their value in wadâ; fifty wadâs are an English penny. He
+admired her majesty's face on the silver fourpence; but his shadow, the
+man who generally comes with him, said,--"Oh, no, the face of the woman
+for a Sultan is not good. _This_ is good," pointing to the head of Louis
+Philippe.
+
+The news came yesterday evening that a razzia had just been made on
+Tintaghoda, the assailants carrying away everything before them, and the
+inhabitants of the town fleeing to the mountains. This razzia was made
+by the people whom the Sultan of Aghadez has lately punished for the
+depredations committed on us and other caravans on the road. When this
+took place there were a few people at Tintalous, who, on hearing the
+news, came off immediately to us after En-Noor, so that now there does
+not remain a single inhabitant in the village. The people of the razzia
+were much disappointed at finding no more camels, all those of the
+villages hereabouts, and indeed through all Aheer, being gone to fetch
+salt from Bilma. They wished to make up the number of camels which the
+Sultan of Aghadez took away from them. Of course, when the salt-caravan
+returns, an effort will be made to avenge this insult on the holy city
+of Aheer--this profanation of the abode of marabouts! It is singular,
+nevertheless, that only a year ago some neighbouring tribes, thinking
+these holy men had too much wealth, carried off a large number of their
+camels. This is the much-vaunted place amongst the credulous Moorish
+merchants of the coast, where theft and robbery are unknown!
+
+_21st._--A foggy _November_ morning! But this change of the atmosphere
+is very rare, and soon passes away. It is amazing how steady the seasons
+are, and how they roll, each bringing its accustomed weather and tunes.
+
+Yesterday I began my Bornou studies, not knowing whether I shall go
+first to Bornou or Soudan. I intend, if my health be preserved, to make
+a dictionary of the Bornou and Soudan languages together, for the sake
+of commerce and general information. I hope Government will print it, or
+if not Government, the Philological Society.
+
+_Abizgen_ is a fruit which abounds in Aheer. It is half the size of
+small currants, and has not a disagreeable taste--a sort of bitter-sweet
+clammy taste. This fruit may be called Aheer currants.
+
+In the neighbourhood of our encampment have been seen gazelles,
+ostriches, and monkeys, in considerable numbers.
+
+_22d._--En-Noor went off yesterday morning early, to visit a great
+marabout in the neighbourhood. This will enable us to apply ourselves
+closely to the languages, all day long. Occupied as I am with Soudanese
+and Bornouese, all the days fly away swifter than arrows shot by the
+most expert archers. En-Noor is expected to return in the course of four
+or five days. We have now all the village of Tintalous with us. It is
+Tintalous encamped out in the valley.
+
+_23d._--The orient sky flamed this morning with a pure yellow flame,
+amidst a somewhat murky atmosphere.
+
+Most of the people have a fire all night. In the morning they cower over
+it like inhabitants of the poles. Of course we as well as they, having
+been baked in the summer's sun, now feel the cold most acutely.
+
+There is a species of people scattered through Soudan which correspond
+to our gipsies, called Máguzáwa (sing. Bámaguzai). These are
+essentially a merry, care-nothing people, always half tipsy, and always
+full of fun. They, however, work a little in agriculture; differing from
+our gipsies, who are little more than itinerant tinkers. A boy was shown
+to me to-day, whom his parents had christened _Butu_, "worthless." It is
+related that his mother had many children before him, all of whom died,
+and when he came into the world the people or neighbours all cried,
+"_Butu! Butu!_" i.e. "He will come to nothing." Then, it is added, "God
+seeing the people gave him a bad name, determined in compassion to
+preserve his life, and so his life was preserved to this day."
+
+En-Noor returned this evening from his visit to the marabout.--It is my
+intention to send home fifty thousand African words for this expedition.
+What future expeditions may do, if my life be spared, I cannot tell. I
+speak for this. I imagine I have already sent to the Foreign Office six
+thousand. I shall have five thousand, I hope, by the time I get to
+Zinder--three of Soudanese, and two of Bornouese. I must try to get a
+few words of the Aghadez language. These I can get, probably, at
+Sakkatou. I must have another writer, or fighi. My present Bornouese
+fighi is a very poor fellow.
+
+_24th._--The Sunday soon came again, with the study of languages. Now
+the time of our waiting here does not appear to be long enough. I have a
+commercial dictionary to make.
+
+En-Noor came to us after his return from his visit to his marabout
+friend. He says of the late razzia at Tintaghoda, that the marabouts of
+that town brought it all upon themselves, being the first to begin to
+countenance attacks upon caravans (that is, ours). He does not pity
+them; he does not care for them; and, he added, "They have now lost all
+their reputation amongst the people." The fact is, when we came the
+marabouts did not know what course to take, whether to attack us or to
+receive us; so they chose the former, in their blinded judgment, and
+brought all this evil upon their heads.
+
+The Fadeea, or Kalfadaï, have decamped with their booty and their
+families to the Hagar, beyond the reach of recapture or revenge.
+
+A scorpion was found in my tent to-day, running across the sandy floor.
+We look upon them now as nearly harmless, whilst the cold weather has
+deprived them of all force.
+
+_25th._--Occupied with the languages. Time passes quickly.
+
+_26th._--Began the Bornou grammar.
+
+_27th._--A visit from En-Noor. He put on one of my gloves, and was much
+amused with it. He held out his hand, and put it on the face of his
+courtiers--showing fight. It was very white, which gave him occasion to
+pass to my skin, and pity my being so white. I made several useful
+remarks on Haussa grammar, and begin to understand the genius of the
+language.
+
+A caravan of ghaseb has arrived from Damerghou, by which we learn that
+the Sfaxee and Fezzan merchants are arrived in that country. We have
+been trying to buy ghaseb of the people, or of En-Noor; but it appears
+we were too late, for it is said to be all gone. The dollars are worth
+only 1750 wadâs here, whilst in Kanou they pass for 2500. Every article
+is depreciated in value in Aheer, because food is scarce. We have,
+however, managed to purchase a bullock--a great beast.
+
+_28th._--I did not feel so well after the meat-eating; we have had so
+little of it, and so seldom, that a little extra quite upsets me, and
+the gnawing it makes all my teeth bleed. Thermometer, 50°. The weather
+has changed to mistiness, haziness. It is now reported that we still
+remain here twenty-five days longer, the caravan arriving only in twenty
+days, and five being allowed to rest the camels. So we have time enough
+for the Haussa and Bornou languages. I wish to master the grammar of
+each, so as to superintend some translation of the Scriptures.
+
+_29th._--The weather is still hazy, and warmer; but whilst it is warmer
+in the morning it is cooler in the mid-day, on account of the clouds and
+haze. Half an hour after sunrise, thermometer 56°.
+
+En-Noor says we shall start in seventeen days, but ten days more or less
+for these people are nothing. Our courier for the money has just been
+gone thirty-three days. If, happily, he arrive to day, he will save a
+week of the Shantah from Mourzuk to Tripoli. If we remain here now
+twenty-five days, and are thirty-five days more before we arrive at
+Zinder, that will be sixty days. I shall then have only twenty days more
+to wait till the expiration of the four months, when I may expect the
+courier to return. Thus I hope to have the money to pay the Sfaxee
+before I go to Sakkatou. But, alas! such calculations are extremely
+uncertain, and we cannot tell what a day may bring forth. For our
+support and safety we must repose firmly in the goodness of an Almighty
+Providence.
+
+_Nov. 30th to Dec. 3d._--The weather has been mild these last few days;
+this morning, half an hour after sunrise, thermometer 51°.
+
+En-Noor has been to pay a visit to the Sultan of Asoudee, meeting him at
+some neighbouring village. There was a council respecting the affairs of
+the tribe of the Iteesan, who are fighting amongst themselves; but no
+news has transpired since his return. The old sheikh is in good health
+and spirits, which he attributes partly to drinking my coffee twice and
+thrice a-day. He says we shall leave here in the course of twelve days.
+
+Senna is grown, or rather collected, in all the districts of Aheer; but
+it is cheap now, and does not fetch the price in Tripoli which it
+formerly did; many other as suitable purgatives being found in Europe, I
+suppose. Senna is, besides, procured from the district of the Tibboos of
+Bilma, and some of this is still sent to Tripoli. Bornou has also much
+senna, but it does not pay the expense of forwarding it to Tripoli.
+
+The relations of man and wife in Aheer are curious, if not
+extraordinary. A woman never leaves the home of her father! When a man
+marries a woman, he remains with her a few weeks, and then, if he will
+not take up his residence in the town or village of his wife, he must
+return to his own place without her. When a man sees a woman who pleases
+him, he offers the parents a price for her--say, four camels. If the
+parents agree that the price is adequate to the charms or the rank of
+their daughter, the bargain is concluded. These four camels remain
+always the property of the wife, with which she supports herself,
+sending them to Soudan or to Bilma, fetching ghaseb or salt. Many of the
+women have a large property obtained in this way. When their husbands
+visit them, they give them something to eat, and they remain a few days
+or weeks; and again depart to their own native towns, leaving the wife
+with her property, and any chance lover. But the men marry two or three
+wives, and so are constantly in motion, first going to visit one wife
+and then another. Thus the male population of this country is kept in a
+continually restless state of activity--roaming about here and there,
+marrying another and another wife, if their means will permit them. The
+women, of course, left in this way, and unrestrained by any high moral
+motives, take as many lovers as they dare, or can secretly dispose of.
+It appears that En-Noor always disapproved of this strange system, and
+swore he would never marry a wife, because he should be obliged to go to
+another town to reside there, and so be exposed to having an inferior
+position, the authorities of the town of his wife pretending to exercise
+jurisdiction over him. All his women have ever been slaves. His highness
+is now living amidst his daughters and their children--the men who
+married them being all away in their own native countries. A daughter of
+En-Noor costs ten camels, and this is considered a very high price for a
+woman. With two or three camels, a woman manages to support herself and
+children. If the husbands of En-Noor's daughters be ever so poor, he
+never gives them anything but a little food. They must come and reside
+in his town. His highness passes all his evenings amidst this circle of
+women--his female slaves, his daughters, and granddaughters.
+
+The population of Gouber and Maradee together may be about 1500.
+
+_Marádee_, capital of Maradee, and residence of the Siriki.
+
+_Jinubakai_ is the second division of the country, inhabited wholly by
+the pagans or gia-drinkers (beer-drinkers); not, therefore, Mahometans.
+
+_Gouber_ (Gubar), is the name of the country, of which the capital and
+residence of the sultan is _Chibri_. This country consists of a large
+city (Chibri), and several small villages, some fifty or sixty; two are
+here mentioned, Gomer and Sanna.
+
+These two countries of Gouber and Maradee are now in alliance against
+the Sultan of Sakkatou, i.e. of the Fellatahs, and mutually inflict
+razzias upon one another. Tesaoua is in close connexion with these
+ancient Kohlan countries, and is, indeed, a province of Maradee. There
+are mixed up with the population a number of people, emigrants from
+Aheer, called Buzai; but these Aheer Tuaricks have lost both their
+language and nationality, retaining merely the name, to denote their
+origin. So, in all probability, were more people and of other countries
+to emigrate to Soudan, they would soon become Soudanee, and lose their
+nationality. In these countries of Soudan above-mentioned, Mahommedanism
+has been but lately professed. But the great distinguishing mark between
+paganism and Mahommedanism appears to be the drinking or not drinking
+gia, the latter being the people who of course abstain from this
+intoxicating beverage.
+
+Overweg says, that within three-quarters of an hour's walk are found
+hereabout granite, sandstone, and basalt, a variety of stones somewhat
+remarkable.
+
+The study of _sau_, "footsteps" of men and animals, is quite a science
+in this part of the world. The Fezzanee are reckoned the most expert in
+this knowledge; they are said to be able to distinguish the footsteps of
+people when printed upon the trunk of a palm, the print-step being made
+by dipping the feet in water! As to animals, the people observe near the
+neighbouring rocks the sau of the lion--a very deep, heavy impression of
+his five claws, of the monkey, the hare, the gazelle, the fox, the
+jackal, the hyæna, the mouse, &c. &c. Indeed, we appear to be
+surrounded with animals; and in the morning I found the sau of the dog,
+the cat, the hare, and the mouse, on the sandy floor of my tent. It is
+my intention, before I leave Africa, to draw the forms of the footsteps
+of the more remarkable animals. _Inshallah!_
+
+_4th._--Visit from his highness the Sheikh every day. He is now kind
+enough to send me every morning--at the suggestion of his principal
+wife--a small can of milk, which, besides the value of the milk itself,
+saves my sugar, enabling me to drink tea and coffee without sweetening.
+This evening the _shara_ was brought of the arrival of couriers from the
+salt-caravan, to say it was near. Like the Arabs, for this shara or
+news, or first advice of the coming of something good or agreeable, the
+Kailouees ask some present. We gave a little bit of sugar to the slave
+who brought the welcome intelligence.
+
+_Dec. 5th to 9th._--I was occupied with vocabulary of Haussa and Bornou.
+Weather mild and misty, but a little cold this morning; thermometer, at
+three-quarters of an hour after sunrise, 43°.
+
+Nearly all the salt-caravan has arrived, and proceeded in advance,
+coming in small detachments. They rendezvous in a fine wady full of
+herbage, with water higher up. We are expected to leave in a few days,
+three or four at most. Nothing seems now to detain En-Noor. But the
+Fadeea have returned from the Hagar, finding themselves not pursued.
+They very naturally prefer their own fine valley in Asben to the stony,
+desert wilds of Hagars. I suppose a razzia will be executed against
+them, for the restoration of the camels of Tintaghoda, on the return of
+the salt-caravan from Soudan.
+
+En-Noor gives a tremendously unfavourable account of the Oulimad, who
+occupy the desert of Sahara between Aghadez and Timbuctoo, and keep the
+road there shut against caravans. He says, they would sleep in our tents
+in the day, eat and drink with us; but in the night they would carry
+away the tent, and make themselves clothing with it. In fact, En-Noor
+considers them the veriest barbarians in this region of Africa. There
+may be a little exaggeration in this, and the Oulimad may not be worse
+than the Hagars of Ghemâma, or even than some of his own people. The
+Kailouees do not hunt, nor do they cultivate the soil; so that this
+country abounds with animals. Some of the country is extremely wild and
+rocky, and affords many a retired den for the lions, who descend from
+the rocks and prowl abroad for prey in great numbers. Their footmarks
+frequently cover the length and breadth of the wadys. Barth himself saw
+(very fortunately, for it is a sight seen by very few persons indeed) as
+many as five together. Monkeys also abound in great numbers. I related
+to En-Noor the anecdote, as a joke, of the monkey shaving the cat in
+Paris; but this he took seriously, for he observed, "That is nothing; I
+have seen the monkeys crack lice just like men." It is always a
+difficult matter to translate a joke to these people. Overweg has been
+out these last two days hunting for ostrich eggs, in the places which
+these birds frequent. He saw their footprints, dung, feathers, &c., and
+two specimens, but found no eggs. It appears this is a most difficult
+bird to catch.
+
+En-Noor continues to be very friendly. I get milk now every morning, for
+which I pay sugar and coffee. His highness and his people went out
+yesterday to dig a well, about two hours distant. All the water in this
+place is exhausted. It appears to be merely a deposit of rain-water
+under the sand, at a depth of from four or five to eight feet. It
+becomes, as in this case, entirely exhausted before the commencement of
+the next rains; but of course there are some springs, and many wells
+which are not dried up during the whole year.
+
+N.B.--If I remain a month at Zinder, I must make a little excursion
+amongst the Bornou villages and see the rustic life of the people; but I
+fear it will be a bad place to hear the pure Bornouese language. I still
+hope to go off early to Sakkatou, and finish quickly with Soudan. In
+these matters the Germans are better off than I am, and have not to wait
+for money.[10]
+
+ [10] Nearly the whole of this long account of a residence in
+      Aheer consists in the journals of Mr. Richardson of
+      disjointed fragments, jotted down almost without any
+      connexion. This was necessarily the case. Few incidents,
+      save an occasional visit from thieves, or a dispute with
+      that strange old gentleman, Sultan En-Noor, diversified
+      this period. However, the simple commonplace book of a
+      traveller in a totally new country can never be without its
+      interest. No doubt Mr. Richardson would have attempted, had
+      he survived, to throw all these observations into a
+      picture; but any attempt to do so on my part would have
+      probably resulted in the omission of characteristic traits,
+      and the introduction of extraneous ideas. The following
+      chapters appear to me to increase in interest, page by
+      page.--ED.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Razzia on the Fadeea--Haussa--Names of Places--Ant-track--Circular
+Letter from Mourzuk--Vast Rock--Mustapha Bey's Letter--Effects of
+Water--Butterflies--Aspect of the Country--A Slave advanced
+to Honour--Shonshona--Herbage--Birds--Appearance of the
+Salt-Caravan--Colours of Dawn--Bilma Salt--Mode of Barter--Pass the Rock
+of Mari--Granite--Indigo Plant--Presents at Stamboul--The Sultan begs
+again--Old Men's Importunities--Baghzem--Curiosities of the
+Route--People of Damerghou--Temporary Village of Women--Country begins
+to open--Barter Transaction with Lady En-Noor.
+
+
+_Dec. 10th._--I rose before the sunrise; the coldest morning we have
+had; thermometer at half-an-hour after sunrise, 38°.
+
+It is reported that we leave here to-morrow, or the day following. There
+is arrived from Aghadez the first man of that city after the sultan,
+called Amagai. He is come here respecting the affairs of the Fadeea.
+En-Noor also asked to-day for a list of all the things taken by force
+from us on the frontiers. It appears the Sultan of Aghadez had captured
+the Sheikh of the Fadeea, or some one sheikh, and allowed him to go out
+of prison on the promise that he would restore all the things taken from
+us--but not to us; so these Sultans and Sheikhs of Aheer will probably
+get all these things back, and divide the spoil. But, nevertheless, it
+is better that the people in authority should have them, than that they
+should remain in the possession of the robbers, the lawless plundering
+tribes of the frontier. Probably these people will be more cautious how
+they plunder another caravan of Christians. It will always be a
+satisfaction to us that the robbers were made to disgorge their booty. I
+have also heard that a small camel was brought in exchange for my large
+lost one; and En-Noor sent it back, ordering them to restore the large
+camel of the boat. My camel has been to fetch salt from Bilma.
+
+The children call Tesaoua, and the countries thereabout, Haussa, and say
+it is near, and that they go on donkeys. From this it is certain this
+portion of Soudan still has the ancient name of Haussa. Afaou is merely
+the Bornou name for Haussa, there being no place or district of that
+name. All these countries have most of them two names, or two
+pronunciations of the same name; one by the natives, and one by the
+Moorish merchants and other strangers. Thus the village of En-Noor is
+called by strangers Tintalous, and by the people themselves Chintullus.
+Travellers had better adhere to the name the place has amongst the
+strangers and foreign merchants, otherwise their narrative might be
+questioned by the people abroad, who do not know the native name.
+Maradee has its native name of Mariadi, but if you were to mention this
+name in Mourzuk and Tripoli none would know the country of which you
+were speaking. In fact, it is just the same as calling Florence Firenza,
+when speaking to persons who have not travelled in Tuscany, or who are
+unacquainted with Italian. I continue much occupied with the Bornouese
+and Haussa languages, and am now collecting the names of insects and
+animals. This is extremely difficult, as for many of the animals of
+Soudan there are no Arabic names.
+
+I measured an ant-track, and found it 125 feet. The ants were fetching
+the cottony dried blossom of a withered plant, and were amazingly busy.
+The tracks did not wind much. I noticed, also, in my walk, the footmarks
+of hares and many other animals. This country is full of live things.
+
+_11th._--I rose before sunrise; this is the coldest morning I have yet
+had, according to the thermometer, which was only two degrees above the
+freezing point (34°).
+
+A circular letter arrived to-day from Aghadez, addressed to all the
+Tuaricks, written by Mustapha Bey of Mourzuk, recommending them to
+render us all necessary protection. It is dated back two months.
+Probably this letter was written on account of the unfavourable
+intelligence which reached Mourzuk respecting us. To-morrow, please God,
+we start for Soudan.
+
+_12th._--Thank God! we left our encampment of Chintagawna this morning.
+And oh, most gracious God! give us a prosperous journey, and may we be
+useful to ourselves and our fellow-creatures.
+
+We started about eleven o'clock, and went on about three hours and
+a-half. The day was very cool; the thermometer in the morning, at
+sunrise, being only three degrees above the freezing-point. We expect to
+see the water freeze on the high plains through which we are about to
+pass, before arriving at Damerghou. Our encampment is a pleasant wady,
+under a conical-formed rock of considerable elevation, perhaps 1500
+feet. We are also in a high situation, some 1000 or more feet above the
+level of the sea. There is near this rock a lower one of an oblong form,
+its sides fluted with pillars; these columnar masses are basalt. Dr.
+Overweg examined the rocks, and found the outer crust a new species of
+rock, a sort of trachite or brachite; and the interior a sort of basalt,
+or volcanic substance. The large rock is also of the same formation. Dr.
+Barth ascended the large rock.
+
+I am now told that I made a great mistake about the wording of the
+circular letter of Mustapha Bey. This letter begins by thanking the
+Tuaricks of Aheer for exterminating the Walad Suleiman! It then hints
+broadly at the necessity for the Turks in Mourzuk and the Tuaricks of
+Aheer being friends; and to maintain this friendship one important
+condition is required--that they, the Tuaricks of Aheer, shall protect
+all the merchants or other travellers passing through their country, and
+coming from Mourzuk. In the event of their committing a bad action, the
+Bey says he may be compelled to make reprisals; so it is quite clear the
+letter is written entirely on our account, and perhaps is a preliminary
+measure to making reprisals. _Nous verrons._ This letter is only
+addressed to the people of Aheer.
+
+If water be the sustaining and even the generative force of vegetation
+in the desert, it is also the destruction of trees and herbage; for
+along the line of the current of the wady are seen immense numbers of
+dead and overthrown trees, torn from their roots by the force of the
+water in the rainy season. En-Noor paid me a visit this afternoon, and
+took a nap in my tent.
+
+_13th._--We rose early, but did not start till about nine o'clock. This
+was the coldest day we have yet experienced: the heavens were overcast
+with clouds. We came five hours; our course irregular, but always
+south-east; the track through wadys filled with the usual trees of the
+tholukh species. Yesterday were seen numbers of large butterflies, but
+to-day, on account of the cold, few. Flies innumerable follow the
+caravan. The rocks were, as yesterday, many conic-formed, and others
+rounded or appearing in ranges, like huge haycocks: granite, sandstone,
+and trachite. We have in the distance before us, a peculiarly shaped
+rock of considerable height, called _Mari_, in the midst of a range. We
+are encamped in the bed of an immense broad valley, and camels are
+feeding about in considerable numbers. The salt-caravan is very near. We
+are not yet in the regular caravan route, _viâ_ Asoudee, but expect to
+reach it after to-morrow. En-Noor has with him as a guest the principal
+man of Aghadez, before mentioned. This man was once a slave, but by his
+address has risen thus high, as the slaves frequently do in Turkey: so
+widely do similar manners prevail. Many slaves in Soudan rise to the
+highest consequence.
+
+The _shonshona_ (or practice of scarifying the face or neck) prevails
+everywhere in Bornou, Soudan, and all this part of Africa; the Tuaricks
+and Fellatahs being the only people who abstain from this barbarous
+practice. Each device of scarifying denotes the peculiar nation of the
+blacks. I have now got three sketches of faces thus disfigured, and
+shall get as many as I can.
+
+The Mahommedans of the coast usually teach that this way of marking the
+body is a sin, but nevertheless the black Muslims will not abandon the
+peculiarities of their nation.
+
+_14th._--Started early, but made only two hours and a-quarter, through
+the expansive valleys of yesterday. Here we found the salt-caravan,
+there being in this place abundance of room, herbage, and a large well,
+all necessary for such an assembly of people and beasts. On the road we
+put up a covey of partridges, and a splendid solitary bird, the _hobara_
+of Soudan. Footprints of the hares and of the gazelle were observed _en
+route_.
+
+By this opportunity we have got a few dates from Bilma; but they are
+very poor, some of them little better than dried wood. The salt-caravan
+has nothing attractive. The salt is all tied up in small bales or
+bundles, the outward wrapper being matting or platting of strips of the
+leaves of the doom-palm, called by the people _kabba_. Our caravan
+resembles the march of a wandering tribe, there being camels, sheep,
+oxen, asses, dogs, with all the paraphernalia of tents, cooking
+utensils, &c. Some of the animals are laden, some unladen, playing,
+running, and skipping about. Then come the human animals, men, women,
+and children of every age. Our own caravan is mostly composed of the
+household and slaves of En-Noor, with two or three strangers. But now
+all changes to the salt-caravan, and we shall probably be soon absorbed
+in it.
+
+Yesterday morning I observed the dawn of day, and witnessed a degree of
+redness and red clouds, or, more poetically, rosy-tinted clouds, which I
+never before observed in all the Sahara. Probably now the sky will
+change to a colouring more like England. Sunset and sunrise in the
+Sahara are essentially different from those of England, the colours in
+the desert being exceedingly light and bright; and often in the summer
+time, at daybreak, there is a full, blazing sun in the course of three
+quarters of an hour; so that, that rich colouring of the summer's dawn
+in England is never here observed.
+
+I visited the salt-caravan, or that portion of it which belongs to
+En-Noor. The salt is prepared in Bilma, by the Tibboos, in three
+different manners. There is, first, the _canto_, a kind of pillar or
+pedestal, about 16 inches high, and 3 or 4 broad in its widest part. As
+to weight, 10 of these are a good camel-load, 8 a load for a small
+camel, and 6 for a weak camel. Then there are two cakes, one of refined
+salt and the other coarse. These coarse cakes are about 5 inches in
+diameter, and the refined ones 7 inches, the former being about 3lbs.
+and the latter 5lbs. in weight. When a caravan of Tuaricks arrive at
+Bilma, they find the salt all ready for them, and they pay a barter for
+it in this way,--a zekka of ghaseb is exchanged against twenty of the
+coarse cakes; a zekka for six of the refined cakes, and three zekkas of
+ghaseb for two of the pillars. Ghaseb appears to be the only staple
+thing which the Tibboos receive for their salt; they may also take now
+and then turkadias, or black turbans, and on the other side the Tuaricks
+bring a few dates with them: the fruit, even those of the best quality,
+are not very good or fine. This commerce of barter is managed almost
+solely by the women: the men remain in their houses, whilst the women go
+to the salt-pits or lakes, and transact this important business; but the
+men do not run away, as is commonly reported. At least, so say the
+Tuaricks. The supply of salt is inexhaustible. It is, probably, on
+account of the weight of the salt, and the fatigue of the camels which
+carry it, with the distance, that this commerce is not very profitable
+to the Tuaricks; but this can only be ascertained in the markets of
+Kanou, and other large cities of Soudan. There are only six months to
+the rainy season, so I have just time to go to Sakkatou and return,
+without waiting long at any of the intermediate places between Sakkatou
+and Kuka.
+
+Our encampment is under some rocks, where are seen the dens of lions. At
+the mouth of these caves or holes are bones of animals and the dung of
+the lions.
+
+_15th._--I rose early, but we did not start till two hours after
+sunrise. The caravan was a considerable time in loading. We have only
+with us En-Noor's detachment of the salt-caravan, about 130 camels. We
+may be quicker in our movements to-morrow. The first morning of starting
+is always thus slow. We came to-day five hours: passed the picturesque
+rock Mari, like a camel couchant, and entered after three hours the
+Asoudee route, or the direct caravan route from Ghât to Damerghou,
+through Aheer. Another detachment of the salt-caravan passed or crossed
+us, and took another route to the east. Our course was always
+southwards, now S.E. now S.W., through wadys filled with trees, mostly
+tholukh and its varieties; the rocks were all granite. Aheer appears to
+be a region essentially of granite, although here and there are volcanic
+cones striking up, composed of basalt, or a variety of this stone. The
+weather was very cloudy and cold, only a little warm in the middle of
+the day. We have not come to water or wells for three days, because our
+journeys are very short. To-day I saw, for the first time, the indigo
+plant--_neela_ in Arabic, and _bala_ in Soudanese. I was glad to make
+its acquaintance. It grows amongst the other herbage, and may be easily
+confounded with it as a common herb. It is now in seed, the pods being
+small and very hard. This is one of the products capable of working the
+regeneration of Africa, if Africa is to be civilised by legitimate
+commerce.
+
+En-Noor asked to-day if, on entering Constantinople, we English made
+presents. I told him very positively, "No;" but, on the contrary,
+everything which the English demanded of the Sultan of the Turks he did
+for us; and because the Sultan was weak, England was obliged to protect
+him against the encroachments of the other Christian nations.
+
+I was much surprised to hear to-day that En-Noor begged a black burnouse
+from Barth. The old Sheikh is a Tuarick every inch of him. Nevertheless,
+it is too bad to beg the things which we wear to protect us from the
+cold and the heat. Barth, I believe, has not yet made the Sheikh a
+present, and he is coming Hateetah over my worthy friend. Overweg has
+given the Sheikh a cloth jacket, which he could ill spare. I feel most
+determinedly disposed to give nothing more; but in justice I have to
+add, that his highness sends regularly the milk in the morning, that he
+gave me a piece of gour-nut on the road, and that he sent me a few dates
+at my request! These are great things for Tuaricks; so, "patience."
+
+_16th._--I rose at daylight; the cold was moderate, morning foggy as
+yesterday. People say we shall be only nine days from this going to
+Damerghou, but I will give them twelve. All the old men in this country
+apply to the Taleb for medicine to restore their powers. They very
+unwillingly relinquish the exercise of the functions which give them
+most delight; but nature is stronger than all things, and they must
+submit to its inevitable course. In a country like Africa, where woman
+is only thought of for one purpose, it chagrins these old fellows to see
+all their nice plump slave-girls about them, and to find themselves past
+and gone, so far as this state of existence is concerned. En-Noor and
+Hateetah both made this kind of application to the Taleb. When I was
+alone in my former journey in the desert, I had also the same kind of
+experience.
+
+We came two hours to-day to the well of Anfesas, before the mountain of
+Baghzem. Our course was through valleys and rocks, as yesterday, and,
+indeed, always in this country; for there is very little variation in
+the landscape. Baghzem, instead of being the high mountain pictured to
+me by the Ghadamsee merchants, is, at this view of it, only a low range.
+Two little things observed to-day were, first, a "traveller's sharpening
+stone," on which every person passing by sharpened his dagger or his
+sword: next, were heaps of sand scraped together, and sticks or stalks
+of herbage stuck on the top, as frail marks of the route, corresponding
+to the heaps of stone which mark in line the routes of the Sahara. There
+was also a mosque formed of boughs of trees; that is, a low wall of the
+groundplan of a mosque made of boughs of trees, like the walls of stone
+in other places. The trees were as before, always those full of thorns,
+like the tholukh; many of the species bearing what is called the date of
+this country. No animals of game were seen, except a solitary hare; but
+there were marks of the foot of the mohur, or large gazelle.
+
+The lading of the camels in the morning takes always an hour and a-half:
+we have few people, compared with the number of beasts of burden.
+
+However, under the leadership of En-Noor, who has now decked himself in
+a fine yellow burnouse, a sort of ensign of authority, the caravan
+marches in great order and tranquillity.
+
+The inhabitants of Damerghou are said to be a mixture of Kohlans and
+Tuaricks; the latter, however, receding into the interior. But if the
+Tuaricks have dispossessed the Kohlans, they have almost become Kohlans
+themselves, forgetting their own language and their own customs and
+manners. This would naturally result from their habit of taking female
+slaves from Soudan. Women, of course, always teach their children their
+own language. In this way the population becomes in a few years
+amalgamated, the blacks with Tuaricks.
+
+_17th._--We stopped here all day, occupied with Bornouese. The place is
+pleasant enough, there being a good well of water. A little temporary
+village stands near, composed of the women and children belonging to the
+salt-caravan.
+
+_18th._--We halted again another day. After this rest of three days for
+the camels, we are to go on quicker. Overweg paid a visit to the
+temporary village, principally to see the women, taking with him the
+Mâlem Ibrahim. He was pleasantly received, and notes the fact as the
+first specimen of Soudan hospitality. I also made an excursion of an
+hour to a neighbouring eminence, where I had a view from the top of a
+quartz rock of the surrounding landscape of stony hills and valleys. On
+the east and west were ranges and groups of mountains; on the north-east
+and towards Bilma, and on the south-west round the mountain of Baghzem,
+the country appeared open. North and south were rocks. In the direction
+of our route (south-east) the rocks seem scattered and at wide
+distances, so I expect we shall soon bid farewell to the mountains of
+Aheer. The celebrated mount of Baghzem is a mighty mass of rock, not
+high, but apparently of immense breadth. The town of Baghzem is on the
+western side, and out of our route.
+
+I had a little clandestine transaction with Madame En-Noor to-day. She
+sent me cheese and milk, and I sent her a ring. The slaves brought the
+cheese stealthily: so, I suppose, the Sultan was not to know of it. But
+they say that all the goats belong to the women, and, consequently, the
+milk and cheese; but the camels to the men; some women, however, have
+camels. There is a sort of division of male and female property in this
+country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+We continue our Journey--Huntsmen--Gum on the Tholukhs--The
+Salt-Caravan--A Bunch of Gum--Games among the
+Slaves--Baghzem--Trees--Palm of Pharaoh--Deserted Villages--Birds'
+Nests--Wife of En-Noor--Unan--Lizards--Bad News--Christmas
+day in Africa--Christmas-boxes--Begging Tuaricks
+again--Bargot--Musicians--Speculations--Tribes at War--Parasitical
+Plant--Importance of Salt--Animals--Agalgo--Force of the Caravan--Beat
+of Drum--Approach the Hamadah--Giraffes--Poisoned Arrows--Ear of
+Ghaseb--Soudan and Bornou Roads.
+
+
+_Dec. 19th._--We started early, and journeyed on eight hours and
+a-half--the best day we have had since leaving Tintalous. Our course
+still towards that immense block of mountain, the celebrated Baghzem. We
+are now encamped along its side. We crossed a large wady with
+ancient-looking trees, having antiquity, in fact, stamped on their
+trunks, all of the tholukh species. The sand of this desert is covered
+with the footsteps or marks of the gazelle and hare; but we saw only one
+gazelle and one hare. The gazelle was followed by a stupid mongrel-bred
+dog; it jumped high in the air, and was soon out of sight. The Kailouees
+are no huntsmen. I question whether they have ever caught a gazelle or
+any full-grown animal in their lives; they are a stupid set, and their
+dogs worse still in field-sport, though always living in the desert.
+There are huntsmen amongst the Haghars. The Kailouees prefer running
+down men, or rather women. All they think of is riding or straying from
+place to place after the women--this is their sport.
+
+This may be called a country of dry wadys. The name is appropriate all
+the year round, except on the few days when the floods are seen pouring
+down these seeming beds of rivers. Hereabouts are the largest tholukh
+and other trees found in Aheer. Those that grow on high ground are
+small, but from their trunks are picked off, by the slaves, pieces of
+gum. To-day, however, I could not succeed in getting a piece. What was
+found was carried to En-Noor. I shall soon get a taste of it. We
+continue with our same number of camels; no other detachments of the
+large salt-caravan have yet joined us. En-Noor is still very active,
+riding before and behind, seeing that all is right. He is followed by
+his shadow. He wears his yellow burnouse. I have heard of no town on
+this side of Baghzem.
+
+An immense quantity of stone is scattered over the route hereabouts.
+Overweg believes it to be basalt, or a species of volcanic stone of
+similar character.
+
+I am preparing myself for my Soudan journeys, and, _en route_, take as
+much rest as possible. Cold winds prevail night and morning, but the sun
+burns a few hours in the day. Certainly now is the best season for
+travelling in this country. What it is in Soudan it is impossible to
+tell.
+
+_20th._--We rested to-day. There is a well a short distance off, called
+Tilya. This morning early filed by a large division of the salt-caravan,
+about three hundred camels. We passed them yesterday. They had also a
+little merchandise besides salt. Some of the people inquired of me if I
+had found my camels. I told them two were still missing. They were all
+strangers, but were, nevertheless, civil. I made a short excursion in
+search of gum amongst the tholukh-trees. I was fortunate enough to find
+one piece, or, rather, a small bunch of pellucid drops, of a bright
+amber-colour. The bunch was scarcely exuding from the tree on which it
+was found, and was ready to drop when touched, hanging by the slenderest
+connexion. It was even somewhat disposed to become liquid. This gum is
+found only on the small young trees. The taste was very pleasant. It is
+astonishing how little gum has been picked off these trees by our
+people, although we have passed tens of thousands of them _en route_.
+
+The slaves of the caravan were having a game amongst themselves this
+morning. They brought into my tent a man bound as dead, and I was
+obliged to pay a handkerchief to relieve myself of the bad omen. Such a
+thing is considered a horrible thing if you do not buy away the ill
+effects of it. This is certainly an easy way of collecting money and
+goods. It was, however, amusing to see the fellow, how still he lay;
+truly it was as still as death. The ceremony itself arose out of the
+culprit, or man bound, having lost our camels, a circumstance which has
+detained us here to-day. The herdsman was thus punished for his neglect;
+and so all these African people have an amusing way of turning their
+misfortunes into fun, as well as of making a profit out of them. I have
+already observed before, that every misfortune we have suffered has been
+a benefit to the Kailouees. This has made them so careless about what
+might happen to us.
+
+_21st._--Our course was generally nearly south, but often a little
+winding. Baghzem was always on our right, until we left it behind us, on
+the north-west. This mountain has, probably, been so much celebrated in
+all past times, because it is the most conspicuous object on the return
+route from the south to the north. Overweg conjectures that it is
+granite. He had no servant at hand yesterday to visit it with him, and
+he did not like to go alone, because it swarms with lions.
+
+We passed to-day mostly through undulating country, a sort of ground
+which, in the Sahara, lies generally between the plateaux and the high
+rocky ranges. From one of the lesser heights we had a magnificent view
+of Baghzem. We passed also through and along several fine wadys, lined
+with ancient trees. Perhaps, in some places, full half of the trees were
+decayed, and many only naked stumps. The trees were so thick in certain
+places as to deserve the name of forests--primeval forests--but, I
+imagine, not to be compared with those of America.
+
+Amongst the trees to-day appeared most conspicuously the doom-palm. This
+is the first day we have seen it in such numbers. This "palm of
+Pharaoh," as the Moors call it, according to their habit of coupling all
+strange things with those ancient monarchs, is found in groups as well
+as isolated trees. When isolate, and also when in groups, it very
+frequently assumes a double-shaped trunk, or two large arms spread out
+or divided from a low stump.[11] Of the leaves, which are called
+_gabba_, the people make all their rope.
+
+ [11] I believe the trunk of the doom is always thus divided and
+      subdivided.--ED.
+
+These trees are now laden with fruit, not ripe. The abundance of them
+gives to the place of our encampment a truly tropical aspect. We
+journeyed on to-day eight hours and a-half--a good, fair day. The
+weather was warm, even a little sultry. As to inhabitants, we passed
+many isolated huts, but saw no villages in groups. We also passed the
+ruins of many villages, whose houses were better built than any I have
+yet seen in this part of Aheer. This country has seen its best days; for
+the huts which now take the place of these houses, high and well-built
+of stone and mud, are, indeed, miserable. Probably these deserted places
+are some of the towns whose people were carried off to Bornou in the
+recent razzias. At the bottom of most of the wadys to-day, water was
+found at a foot depth, though not a copious supply. People were at the
+wells in numbers, watering their cattle.
+
+En-Noor paid me another attention to-day, when on camel-back, in
+presenting to me a piece of gour-nut. This is considered a very great
+compliment. As to the fruit itself, I have not yet acquired the taste;
+it is only agreeable if you are thirsty, and after chewing it drink
+water.
+
+_22d._--We remain here to-day. It is not so cold as it has been.
+
+I am sorry Madame En-Noor has left off the milk, though I never cease to
+send coffee twice a-day. I must now, however, send but once, as my sugar
+is getting low.
+
+I observed the beautiful bird's nest which I mentioned the other day. It
+is a perfect piece of architecture, far superior to the huts made in
+this country. The only apparent deficiency is, that it seems to hang on
+nothing, or is suspended sometimes on a slender straw, at other times on
+a thin twig. The nest is built of straw inside and outside, but the
+inside is of a finer straw. I have not seen the bird who is the
+architect of this wonderful piece of mechanism. I observed two species
+of parasitical plants, one of which has a slender trunk, and has its
+root in the earth; and the other, which is entirely dependent on the
+tree over which it spreads for all its support and nourishment. Its
+roots are in the very boughs of the tree which bears it. Some of our
+blacks, who were carried over the desert when young, and had not seen or
+observed this phenomenon before, burst out laughing. These comicalities
+of vegetation amused them exceedingly. What excites the serious
+attention of cultivated minds often produces only laughter in vulgar and
+untutored people. Parasitical plants would be a complete study for the
+botanist here. The doom-tree has a smaller and rounder-shaped head than
+the common date-palm; the leaves are spread out very like a fan, but I
+know not whether the doom is called the fan-shaped palm.
+
+We are to stay at this place some time--there appears to be no hurry. We
+shall probably be here three days more. The Sultan of Asoudee is
+visiting amongst us, and has concerted with En-Noor that all the
+caravans shall go together, in order that no one portion of it shall
+arrive before the other in Damerghou, and so get the ghaseb cheaper; as,
+of course, the early arrivals generally get the better bargains. At
+first I could not understand the reason of our all going together; now
+the thing is clear enough.
+
+En-Noor called at my tent in the evening, and was very civil. I got a
+little milk afterwards for the tea sent him. The royal family appear now
+to be short of milk. I find that his royal highness has in reality only
+one wife, who is a slave. In an African point of view, however, even
+this is too much. His highness confessed to Overweg that God gave man
+his limited time in this as in all things. Had the beating I have
+recorded any relation to this bitter reflection?
+
+When the sun is down, the landscape around begins to look like Old
+England, the species of trees not being visible. The doom reminds me of
+the shorn elms along the hedges.
+
+_23d._--The Sultan of Asoudee sent this morning for powder, and was
+thankful for a small quantity. We remained here this day. All the
+valleys and country around are called _Unan_. This is also the name of a
+well near us, but water is usually obtained by scooping out the sand in
+the bed of the valleys, and there are few regular wells; those which are
+dug are destroyed as soon as the rain returns. Such alone remain entire
+as are out of the reach, or beyond the range of the periodic floods.
+
+_24th._--We were not to come on to-day; but En-Noor changed his mind,
+and we journeyed on five hours, up the valley of Unan. The eternal
+sameness of the tholukh and doom--for dooms are now in great
+numbers--would be wearisome, had we not had so much desert before; but
+we are still delighted with the continual occurrence of trees, be they
+of what species they may. There is, besides, a great abundance of wild
+water-melons, which the people sometimes eat. They are very small, but
+hard and sound. The lizard, which almost through the whole desert was
+found darting about and around the camels' feet, has now disappeared. It
+would be a curious inquiry for a naturalist to endeavour to account for
+its disappearance, for the nature of the soil has not so much changed.
+The only difference--but perhaps this is great for the lizard--is that
+hereabouts occur periodic rains, which deluge the land for a few days in
+the year; and during these few days, probably, all the land lizards
+found in low places would be destroyed.
+
+This is Christmas-eve; a sorry one for us all! We receive no news but
+bad news. For to-day a man came up to us, who said he left Tripoli three
+months ago, and that the cholera had been very severe in Tripoli, making
+many victims; but he brought no particular news for us. He came by the
+way of Ghadamez and Ghât, and yet had heard nothing of our misfortunes
+on the frontier. I suppose the people of Ghât had already ceased to talk
+about us and our affairs; for here in the desert, as elsewhere, things
+are soon forgotten. We saw little of the rest of the caravan _en route_,
+but if we ever see the whole of the camels going with us, and the
+division of Aghadez, I am quite sure they will never reach the
+exaggerated number of 10,000! All numbers are dreadfully exaggerated in
+Africa.
+
+_25th._--Christmas-day! My second Christmas day in Africa during this
+journey. We have nothing to make a merry day of; but we must try and
+cheer ourselves up by the thought that we are still spared, after
+passing through so many dangers, and amidst a people naturally hostile
+to us, and only softened by fear of the Turks, and by possession of the
+goods of the Government, which they have taken one way or other. Yet
+some of the people appear of a more kindly nature, and Overweg has
+experienced a little hospitality in the huts retired from the road, or
+sequestered in the surrounding valleys.
+
+Gracious God! make us all thankful for health and strength: may we ever
+praise thy protecting care of us and our mission. For the sake of our
+Saviour, born on this day, pardon all our sins; give us grace to lead a
+new life, and a most willing mind to receive Jesus as the Lord our
+righteousness! O God, have mercy upon all our friends and relations, and
+give them the will to receive the Saviour, born on this day, as their
+only chance of salvation! O God, have mercy upon Africa, and on all men!
+
+Some musicians came this morning to salute us with a little of their
+rough music, a drum and a clarionet. I gave them three rings and a
+little sugar. I have very little to bestow, and were I to be more
+generous, or to make an effort to give them anything like a Christmas
+gift, I should then have all the people upon me, begging everything I
+had left. Yesterday I spoke a few words to Hamma, son-in-law of En-Noor,
+and he immediately asked me for a turban. I had not spoken to him for
+several weeks, or only saluted him with a few words, in order to avoid
+his begging. This man has already had from me presents to the amount of
+fifty dollars! Thus I am cut off from all conversation with these
+people, and have no practice in speaking the languages of the interior.
+I must try to get on better than this. Overweg, as doctor, is better
+off. The sick, and the people who bring the sick, must talk to him, and
+must receive a favour from him. And he frequently gets a few cheeses in
+return. The women make extraordinary propositions. The other day they
+offered him a slave or a bullock for a medicine to produce a child.
+
+The place of our encampment is called Bargot, which I believe is also
+the name of a well, near or about an hour and a-half distant. I have
+also heard the name of Bergu. Yesterday we passed some ruins of houses,
+built of stone and mud. I am glad that Barth borrowed my Bible, and is
+reading to-day. Overweg also was the first to propose prayers on Sundays
+when we are staying long together in one place.
+
+We are now near the Hamadah, which is a journey of full four days
+without water. We arrive at the water on the morning only of the fifth
+day. I gave a Christmas-box to all the servants of the expedition, seven
+persons, each a cotton handkerchief and a ring. This is all I could
+spare. Yusuf had a silk handkerchief and no ring. The kind of ring
+esteemed here is one having a good imitation of a stone, and the metal
+is as good as gold for these people. With the exception of the Gatronee
+and my mahadee, the rest ill deserved their Christmas-box, but it is
+necessary to forget and to forgive. However, I am now more strict with
+them, as we are leaving the Tuaricks, amongst whom some of our servants
+became almost Tuaricks themselves in manners.
+
+The Sultan of Asoudee is still with us, and keeps up a sort of state
+about him, although he is a poor weak fellow indeed, compared to
+En-Noor. He has not paid us a visit, and we have not seen him. En-Noor,
+probably, does not wish to bother us with such a visit. The musicians
+who saluted us this morning came from him, but they did not know it was
+a feast-day of Christians, and only came to pick up what they could get.
+I sent Madame En-Noor a piece of white loaf-sugar, and told her it was a
+Christmas-box. She received it with many thanks; so I have chronicled
+all our doings this day. I read the two first chapters of St. Luke in
+Arabic. We had no provisions, or anything with which we could produce
+the resemblance of a plum-pudding. As to roast beef, we have some bits
+of preserved beef, which we eat with our baseen and hamsa.
+
+Amidst so many uncertainties in Central Africa we may not see another
+Christmas-day. O God! whenever the time of our departure is come, may we
+be found relying for salvation on that Saviour, thine only-begotten Son,
+born on this day.
+
+Overweg and I conversed late at night on the mechanism of the heavens,
+and the antiquity of the world, according to the received theories of
+astronomers and geologists; the dark and black vault above, sprinkled
+over with brilliant points, being the object which first set our
+thoughts in motion. The stars are time itself, and also illustrations of
+the passage of light through the universe. The earth was once a hotter
+orb, passing successively from a vaporous to a fluid, and then a solid
+state. The northern climes were once torrid zones, from the evidence of
+the fossil remains and from coals, which are masses of tropical trees.
+Such were the speculations in which we indulged.[12]
+
+ [12] I have not thought it advisable to abridge or alter this
+      _naïve_ account of a Christmas-day on the southern borders
+      of the Sahara. Mr. Richardson seems already to feel certain
+      presentiments of the fate that awaited him. In other places
+      I have omitted devotional passages; but in this it seemed
+      to me that it would be unjust to the memory of this amiable
+      traveller to do so.--ED.
+
+_26th._--We stay here to-day. There is some trouble amongst those
+restless tribes, the Kaltadak and Kalfadaï; and Yusuf was sent for this
+morning by En-Noor to write some letters for him to these marauding
+tribes. They are fighting amongst themselves. The route from the North
+will never be safe for Europeans until these tribes are properly
+subjugated; and when will that time come? It is now reported that we all
+go to Zinder. I shall be glad of this opportunity to get a few dollars,
+and then make the best of my way to Sakkatou. But our delay here renders
+this trip always less certain, and seems to point out that I shall go
+first to Bornou.
+
+The most frequent parasitical plant, which is found upon nearly all the
+tholukhs, is called _koushi_ in Haussa, and _barango_ in Bornou. It is a
+fine plant, and its flower is not unlike the woodbine or honeysuckle,
+but devoid of all fragrance. The leaves are succulent, full of moisture,
+in shape a long oval, the longest not more than an inch and a quarter.
+This parasite also fastens itself on other trees, and often kills the
+branches from which it draws its strength--a real sap-sucker. The
+karembo frequently dies in its embraces.
+
+Hamma, the son-in-law of En-Noor, is not to go with us, on account of
+the quarrels with the Kalfadaï and the Kaltadak. He is exceedingly
+disappointed, for it deprives him of making anything for himself in
+Haussa; and En-Noor keeps him very poor indeed, as his highness does
+everybody about him.
+
+The salt-caravan is the affair of life and death for Aheer; and the
+reason is now clear to me why it is that En-Noor goes every year with
+it, and directs and superintends its movements. This is the greatest
+service he can render to his country, and the Kailouees generally.
+Without this salt the population of Aheer would soon all perish, or
+emigrate to Soudan. The other commerce of the country could not suffice
+for the support of the inhabitants.
+
+_27th._--We had a visit from the people of the country before starting;
+they appear to be a fine race of men, whiter than most of the Kailouees,
+and nearly all tall. In these nomade districts the weakly children
+generally die off, leaving only the robust. We journeyed on southwards
+five hours, through wadys formed by the force of the waters, gradually
+approaching the great Hamadah. The doom now disappeared, and most of the
+trees dependent on much water; for here the wadys are all shallow.
+Footmarks of the ostrich, gazelle, hare, habara, and some other
+interesting animals, cover this portion of the desert. The gazelles have
+more room, and the ostriches also. The former, besides, are out of the
+way of the lion; for this beast seldom pursues its prey across the
+desert plains.
+
+People say we shall see many animals in the Hamadah, because the lion
+does not come there. A large gazelle was taken this evening by some of
+the caravan.
+
+A few locusts and many fine butterflies were busy about. We are encamped
+at a place called Agalgo, or Agallegu. There is a well at the distance
+of an hour; so that the number of days during which no water is found is
+reduced to three: but this water is a sort of collection from the rain
+remaining beyond its time, and is not always found.
+
+We are now on the edge of the plateau. En-Noor said to-day, "There are
+five thousand camels with us;" but I question whether there be more than
+two thousand. It is of great importance to ascertain this, for thus only
+the force of the country may be estimated. We are now said to be eight
+days from Damerghou.
+
+The Sultan of Asoudee has detained many of En-Noor's young people, to
+protect the country in case there be any troubles with the Kalfadaï.
+
+Several pieces of scoria, or lava, were found on the road, showing a
+district here once to have had active volcanoes. The granite begins to
+disappear, to be replaced by sandstone. This sandstone, generally,
+according to Overweg, forms plateaux; whereas granite is found in rocks
+and ridges in the midst of valleys.
+
+_28th._--We started early. The camels move on at the beginning of their
+day's work to the beating of the _kanga_, or drum. We have two or three
+drums, but the drummers have little skill, and the beating is always the
+same monotonous sound. Our course varied from S.E. to S.W., but lay
+always southward, through shallow valleys, or low, indented, or
+scooped-out plains; the whole country being what the people call
+_hamadah_, or plateau. All the large trees have disappeared with the
+doom-palm. Nevertheless there are everywhere the marks of water. Yet the
+rain cannot fall here so much as in the mountainous regions which we
+have left behind, for it is high ground only which brings down the rain
+in Africa; except, indeed, near the equator. As yesterday, the sand and
+soft earth are covered with the footmarks of gazelles, ostriches, the
+habara, and even the giraffe. The people, in fact, say we shall see the
+giraffe before we arrive at Damerghou. But of these animals, who have
+left thus the impression of their feet on the sand, we saw not one.
+Indeed it is quite a matter of luck to fall in with animals in the
+desert. I have seen but very few. My colleagues have both encountered
+lions and monkeys, neither of which have I seen.
+
+We have come to-day seven hours and a-half, a very good march for
+En-Noor. The nights are cold enough; there is also a fresh breeze,
+generally from north-east, every day: nevertheless, the sun burns hot.
+The sky has always now a few clouds, and the atmosphere is a little
+thick and misty. We have with us various queer characters; amongst the
+rest, a fellow who boasts of his having killed many people with poisoned
+arrows. When I come near him I always attack him, not, indeed, with his
+favourite weapon, but with irony. I tell him, "Ah! poisoned arrows kill
+many people.--What matters it?--There is no God" (looking up, and saying
+_Babo Allah!_) This has had its effect once or twice, and he has
+confessed it is not so very fine to kill people with poisoned arrows.
+
+Evening came on, but I heard nothing of water. We are encamped near a
+small hill. I looked to-day again attentively at our strings of camels.
+Instead of five thousand, I do not believe there are more than five
+hundred. We have few people with us in comparison with the number of
+camels, and these are many of them slaves of the masters who are
+remaining behind in Aheer. The disturbed state of the country has
+prevented many persons of consequence from joining us. To-day, my
+mahadee brought me an ear of ghaseb, of immense length--about three
+times the length of the ghaseb grown in Ghadamez and other oases of the
+Sahara; nine times the length of an ear of wheat. This was found growing
+on the road, and intimates that we are approaching Soudan very fast. I
+also picked up to-day camomile flowers and the senna-plant.
+
+Explanation of Soudan and Bornou common words for articles of dress,
+food, instruments for manufacturing:--
+
+_Jebus_, leathern bag.
+
+_Foofoo_, paste of Indian corn.
+
+_Bouza_, a species of beer. In Waura, near the western coast, it is made
+of guinea-corn, honey, Chili pepper, a root of coarse grass; in Kanou
+and Wadaï it is made of only ghaseb and honey, and is therefore more
+pure and agreeable. It is called by some, acid beer.[13]
+
+_Kolla_, the gour-nut, called "African," or "Soudan."
+
+_Shea_, the butter-tree.
+
+_Manioc_, root. The main article of food in Congo, used as flour.
+
+ [13] In Egypt it is made of rice.--ED.
+
+I trust, under the auspices of a good Providence, to arrive strong in
+Soudan. There our greatest enemy is fever! I walked a little to-day, and
+found myself better for the exercise; but, as a rule, I avoid exposing
+myself to fatigue.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Enter the Hamadah--Home of the Giraffe--Water of
+Chidugulah--Turtles--Cool Wind--Jerboahs--Centre of the
+Sahara--New-year's Eve--Cold Weather--Birds of Prey--Soudan
+Date--Burs--Animals on the Plateau--Young Ostrich--The
+Tholukh-tree--Severe Cold--Eleven Ostriches--Termination of the
+Desert--Inasamet--The Tagama--Purchases--People begin to
+improve--Fruit of the Lote-tree--Village roofed with Skins--Vast
+Plain--Horses--Approach Damerghou--Village of Gumrek--Rough
+Customers--Wars of the Kilgris and Kailouees--A small
+Lake--Guinea-hens--Vultures--Party of Huntsmen.
+
+
+_Dec. 29th._--About five hours after we started, the route opened into a
+_bonâ fide_ hamadah. All around us stretched a limitless plain. Our
+course lay always south, and we journeyed ten hours, with sand in the
+evening.
+
+Yesterday I had observed a few footmarks of the giraffe, but to-day they
+were everywhere visible. They were double, as this animal does not move
+its feet one after another, like the camel or the horse, but two of its
+feet together, or simultaneously. We saw the footprints of young as well
+as old ones. This plateau is the real home of the giraffe. No place
+could be better adapted for such an unwieldy creature. There is
+abundance of small tholukh, on which it feeds; all the country is open
+around to it, and it is out of the reach of ferocious animals. Towards
+the evening the marks of the giraffe disappeared, and were succeeded by
+the footprints of what is here called the wild ox (but which Overweg
+believes to be a large species of gazelle), so that one animal appears
+to have made room for the other. The day was cool and cloudy.
+
+The plain is intersected with shallow beds and streams, and in some
+places evident marks of an abundance of water in the rainy season.
+
+_30th._--We started early for the well, but did not reach it till late
+in the evening, after a march of nine hours. The well is called
+Chidugulah, and is situated on the side of a valley of some depth. In
+the bed of this valley Overweg found some infusoria, clay or stone.
+
+Many people started in the night to get water, and give their animals a
+drink. There is but a small supply, and what there is has a muddy,
+chocolate colour. The last water we took up from the valleys of Asben
+had a milky hue, so that when the coffee was made of it, it looked like
+_café au lait_.
+
+Bandits and hostile tribes frequent this well of Chidugulah, and rest
+hereabouts to pillage caravans. Our people spoke of the Oulimad, and
+Overweg dreamed he was fighting with them. I dreamed the same night of
+large turtles, for it had been said they are found in this plateau, and
+their marks had been traced to-day. I learn now that large turtles, two
+feet and a-half long, and one foot and a-half broad, are found here. The
+back shell of one was used for a watering trough by the people we met
+_en route_. We had sand all day, rising occasionally in considerable
+mounds. I observed the prevailing winds in the formation of these
+mounds; for there is always an inclined plane towards the quarter whence
+the wind blows; whilst to where it blows the mounds are scarped. The
+winds prevailing now are E.N.E.; and the wind has nearly always come
+from this direction since our arrival in Aheer. In another season,
+however, there may be a total change. In full summer it may be south,
+for what we know. In fact, Amankee says, in summer the wind always comes
+from the south. At this season the sand is covered with nice herbage in
+some places, but in the hot weather it must be all dried up. This is, in
+truth, the spring time in this country; the birds are all laying. There
+are also young birds fledged. In Haussa there is no word for "fledged."
+
+This route must really present, in some parts, for many hours together,
+an ocean of sand; as, I think, it is described in the Itinerary procured
+by Davis. To-day the footprints of the giraffe have entirely
+disappeared.
+
+In summer it must be very difficult for large caravans to obtain water
+from this well, for our people were full half a day filling four or five
+skins. What a blessing, nevertheless, is the existence of the Chidugula,
+for there is no water for three days farther. The boys killed this
+morning a jerboah, or what the Germans call a jumping mouse. I saw one
+yesterday, jumping before my camel's feet. There are a great number
+here. This jerboah is of a different colour from those I have seen in
+Tunis; being white all over the lower part of the body and neck,
+straw-coloured on the top of the head and along the back; whilst those
+in Tunis are nearly of the same colour as ordinary mice. This species is
+also small, three inches and a-half long, and the tail is double the
+length of the body. The hind legs are nearly as long as the body, and
+the fore legs not half an inch. Near the tip of the tail there is an
+inch of black. Many young jerboahs were caught, all of the same
+description. The Haussa people call it a mouse, but have besides a
+special name.
+
+We are now about the middle of the Sahara, including the radii of the
+western and northern coasts, and we here find an immense plateau,
+stretching many days north and south, east and west. So far Le Brun's
+conjecture is right, that the central parts of Africa are plateaux, or
+one vast plateau. But more of this hereafter. This plateau extends to
+the Bornou route, and how much further east is yet to be ascertained. In
+the west we yet also want information. North and south it extends along
+the territory of Aheer some eight days, or about one hundred and sixty
+miles. Overweg reckons the height of the plateau, above the level of the
+sea, at some fifteen hundred feet.
+
+_31st._--The last day of the year! One year gone in Africa this tour!
+How many more are to pass? Alas! who can tell?--We came to-day nine
+hours, always south, over a perfect desert-plain, mostly sandy. A cold
+north-east wind was blowing all the day. The people dread it as death
+itself; as well they may, for they are nearly naked. Their Soudan cotton
+clothes afford them little or no protection against such a bleak
+north-easter. Europeans are astonished to see these people shivering
+with cold in this bleak weather, and forget that they themselves are
+well clothed. This remark is very applicable to the northern coast,
+where hundreds of the poor are seen shivering, with only a thin blanket
+thrown around them in the coldest day of winter. When they see a
+European well covered with tight cloth clothes, and flannel underneath,
+they may well call out _sega_, "cold," as they often do; and we are
+ready to laugh, and forget they are naked.
+
+In this part of the desert birds of prey abound. We passed to-day some
+twenty large vultures, feeding on a dead camel. When the caravan filed
+by they all took wing, and perched themselves in a row on a rising mound
+of sand, and there waited until we had passed before them, like so many
+soldiers. These were black vultures, and of enormous breadth of wing.
+Many wild oxen, or what are so called, were seen, and everywhere the
+footprints of ostriches and gazelles. His highness En-Noor made us a
+present of two ostrich eggs, and we supped on this out-of-the-way
+delicacy the last day of the year. The date of the black country
+(Soudan) is deserving of notice. It is called in Bornou, _bitu_; and in
+Haussa, _aduwa_ and _tinku_, both tree and fruit. Its kernel, or stone,
+is very large, and the little pulpy matter upon it has the taste of a
+bitter sweet. It is about the size of an almond, and covered with a
+green husk, a little thick. This fruit is now ripening fast in Aheer.
+The tree is covered with thorns, very large, and projecting in every
+direction. The leaves are small, almost without veins, and with a thick
+stalk.
+
+To-day we had the karengia, or bur, with a vengeance. En-Noor had
+already advertised us of its appearance hereabouts two days ago. It is
+certainly the most troublesome thing that can well be conceived for all
+travellers, and more so for Europeans. This bur is from a species of
+herbage bearing grain, very small, and which the people make bazeen of,
+like ghaseb and other grain. All feet of men, women, and animals, were
+to-day covered with this teasing bur.
+
+The animals seen on this plateau, it will be seen, are in reality mostly
+of the harmless kind. The giraffe, the wild ox (considered a species of
+immense gazelle, or stag), the gazelle, a large and small species, the
+ostrich, the guinea-fowl, the hobara (in Haussa, _tuja_), various kinds
+of vultures, the crow, many small birds, the lizard (in small numbers),
+the jerboah, the locust, butterflies, and other insects, the thob, the
+large turtle, &c. Overweg says the footmarks of the hyæna were also
+seen.
+
+En-Noor's people caught a young ostrich, only a few hours hatched. It is
+now kept as a pet. Several eggs have been also picked up. The ostrich
+has been seen feeding on the gum of the tholukh-tree.
+
+As to trees, we have still the eternal tholukh, or mimosa. What an
+omnipresent tree is this in Africa! The mimosa is found at the Cape,
+with the ethel; it is found in all the northern Sahara, and the ethel
+with it, wherever there is some water, as in the wadys of Fezzan. In all
+the western Sahara it abounds, producing the finest gums. Consider also
+the gum-trade at Mogador and Senegal! In the plain of Timbuctoo, the
+mimosa is found in scattered forests. Our people pretend, however, that
+the tholukh does not occur in Soudan, its place being filled up by
+various thorny trees, much resembling the mimosa. We have around us some
+other stunted shrubs. All trees are dwarfish in these plateaux.
+
+Various distinguished characters are amongst the servants and slaves of
+En-Noor. One fellow is called the "King of the Donkeys," another wench
+is styled the "Queen of the Goats;" Zumzug is properly named _Proban
+berau_, "a great thief," from his thievish propensities. Then there is
+the "Lad of the Arrows," the fellow who is always boasting of how many
+people he has killed with arrows, &c. &c.; but Zumzug requires especial
+notice from me, on account of his having run off to Aghadez with a
+caftan of mine; and also from the curious circumstance that En-Noor
+keeps such a thief amongst his slaves, so confounding the honest with
+the thievish servants.
+
+_January 1, 1851._--A strong, bleak, north-east wind ushers in the New
+Year. It began yesterday, and is likely to continue for some time. Most
+comfortless and disagreeable weather is this for the caravan. The people
+do not like to move, and show a decided tendency to hibernation. Some
+camels are also lost--escaped from the numbed fingers of their drivers.
+I, too, feel it cold; and yet there is so much of home in this
+weather--this keen, bracing air--that I cannot complain.
+
+Our people caught the camels at length, and we proceeded still
+southwards. After three hours' travelling we appeared to have passed the
+most barren portion of the plateau, and came upon a new species of tree,
+called in Haussa, _tadana_. We have this day had a splendid sight of
+ostriches--eleven feeding in a troop near us, quietly like so many
+sheep--eccentric birds of their species, showing no tendency to scud
+away. Perhaps I shall never see so many again together. They were all
+black, with maybe a white feather or two underneath the sombre plumage.
+
+The small tholukh-trees are full of birds' nests. In the Northern Sahara
+a bird's nest was not to be seen, but here the trees are all covered
+with them. Amongst the various smaller ones, we came upon a huge
+vulture's nest on a very small tholukh, which seemed to bend and look
+unhappy beneath the weight of this den of rapacity and violence. There
+are hereabouts no rocks for the eagles to build upon. We halted amidst
+abundance of herbage and small trees, which afforded a little shelter
+from the wind.
+
+It is, perhaps, as well that we begin the year with this most bleak and
+unlovely day. We may have a better one to terminate 1851. I was obliged
+to increase my travelling clothes, and put on an extra holi on account
+of the cold wind; and yet the temperature was not very low, it being
+only 46° at sunrise. The wind evidently comes over an immense extent of
+plain towards the east, perhaps some forty or fifty days' journey. We
+made six hours and a-half.
+
+_2d._--We started early, and moved at first to the beat of the drum.
+Already yesterday we had seen symptoms that the desert was drawing to a
+close. To-day we fairly got out of it, and entered upon a wilderness of
+small trees. The vegetation has not, however, yet improved in proportion
+to our nearness to Soudan; for this dwarf forest of tholukh and various
+other trees cannot be compared to the splendid desert vegetation in the
+Aheer valleys; these are pigmy mimosas in comparison with those of
+Aheer. The surface of the ground is now undulating sand and red earth,
+and every trace of stone has almost disappeared; the soil is also
+covered with karengia and other herbs, all dry and sapless. We seem to
+be traversing a limitless stubble-field, covered over or sprinkled with
+small trees. Few animals enliven the scene; a crow here and there struts
+or flies. All the small birds seem to have sought covert from the cold.
+The same north-east wind as yesterday blows with remorseless strength.
+
+I observed great numbers of ant-hills, and very large ones, too. Some of
+the paths from these hills are straighter than the roads made by man
+over the Sahara. So, also, the birds in Aheer, and on this route, build
+better houses for themselves than men do. We halted amidst karengia, and
+had great difficulty in finding a place clear of them. En-Noor suffers
+dreadfully from the cold, and we help to keep him alive by our coffee,
+which he drinks shivering, and then admits to have given him renovated
+heat and strength. This coffee keeps the old fellow in a good humour,
+and he is extremely civil to us.
+
+_3d._--We started early, and made four hours and a-half, when we stopped
+at the village Inasamet, or Unwessemet. The weather is still the same,
+and the route continues to wind through a scattered wilderness of small
+trees, amongst which Overweg thought he had discovered a species of wild
+orange.
+
+We now see signs of approaching habitations, such as flocks of sheep
+straying, and droves of oxen feeding begin to appear. There seems to be
+a great number of birds of prey hereabouts. I counted at least thirty
+vultures, who watched the passing of the caravan, in hopes to see a
+camel fall and be abandoned.
+
+We encamped a stone's throw beyond the houses. The well is called by the
+same name as the village. The inhabitants are Tuaricks, and some of them
+of a very pure race, almost white; whilst others, again, are dark: they
+are called Tagama. The women and children all came out to sell their
+cheeses, and a few other things. I purchased two small fowls and a good
+number of cheeses, which seem to be the principal articles of produce:
+they are made quite square, three or four inches a side, and a quarter
+of an inch thick. I purchased these with imitation silver rings, of
+which the people are immensely fond, preferring them to the imitation
+gold ring. I got two cheeses for a ring--a plain hoop: the fowls cost
+each three of these toys. The women and girls bothered me much with
+their curiosity and their bartering. Some of them are as stout as the
+Mooresses of the coast, and nearly all are well-looking; many with very
+good features, and fair for this country. All are polite enough, men,
+women, and children. We are glad to find the people more civil, the
+nearer we approach to Soudan. We pray and hope this amendment may
+continue; for hitherto, since we left Mourzuk, we have always had the
+people, with the exception of those of Tintalous, more or less hostile
+towards us. Some of our customers came to ask if the rings were really
+silver, for the blacksmith of the village had said they were only
+pewter. We replied, they were _de-de_ silver; that is, looked like it,
+or equal to it. They are, indeed, a most excellent imitation of silver,
+and answer quite as well the purpose of adorning these Targhee beauties.
+
+I saw to-day, on a single bough of tholukh, and a very small bough,
+three birds' nests suspended in a festoon. I tasted the wild
+water-melons of this part of the Sahara, and found them bitterness
+itself. But I am told by our Gatronee, that the Tibboos have a method of
+extracting the bitterness from this wild fruit. The people brought me
+_en route_ some fruit, called in Bornou _kusulu_, and _mageria_ in
+Haussa; that is, the _nebek_ or fruit of the sider or lote-tree. They
+were dry, but sweet and nice, and of a pleasant, acid sweet. Provisions
+thus are becoming more plentiful and varied. Dr. Barth has bought some
+meat of _el-wagi_, the name given by Yusuf for the bugar wahoush, or
+wild ox of the Arabs.
+
+The greater part of the trees in this region are of the species called
+in Haussa, _tadani_, and in Bornouese, _kabi_. Were these trees adorned
+with leaves--they are now fallen off, in consequence of the cold--the
+country about would seem covered with a dense forest.
+
+Our arrival amongst the Tagama is a new era in our journeying, it being
+some time since we saw any men besides Kailouees. Overweg thinks the men
+thieves and bad, and the women lascivious; but I observed in their
+conduct nothing different from other Tuaricks. A man, however, offered
+several women to Barth. I have never yet had such offers. Amongst the
+things brought for sale are young ostriches and the eggs of ostriches. I
+ate in the evening some flesh of the giraffe; it is pretty well tasted,
+and something like beef. Hunting the giraffe is a great occupation with
+the people of this village, and the flesh of the animal a source of
+subsistence for them. They have, however, besides, cattle and flocks;
+and the karengia, which has proved such an annoyance to us, is the
+principal farinaceous food of these Tagama, as the bou rekaba is the
+principal food of poor families in Aheer. Inasamet has, perhaps, a
+hundred huts, covered with the skins of the bullock, and probably of the
+giraffe. The latter animal is hunted by men mounted on horseback, who
+throw their spears at it, and wound it under the belly. This is said to
+be the only way of killing it, for the rest of its body is covered with
+a sort of rhinoceros hide, of great thickness. Of this hide they make
+famous sandals, which wear long.
+
+It is difficult to decide how far this immense plain--which extends as
+far as Aghadez on the N.W., to Gouber on the S.W., perhaps as far as the
+plain of Senezrouft, on the route of Timbuctoo--passing, besides,
+eastwards across the route of Bornou,--how far this vast space of desert
+is a plateau to the surrounding countries; that is, whether higher or
+lower than their level. We do not think it is a plateau in reference to
+Aheer. There is another route to Damerghou, westward of this, on which
+is situate the forest of Kob-kob, the place mentioned in the itinerary
+which I procured from the people of Ghadamez.
+
+_4th._--The morning was cold, with wind. The Tagama, I observe, have
+many horses. Like their more civilised brethren in Europe, these people
+find this the most tractable and convenient animal in every case where
+the desert does not interfere.
+
+We came south seven hours and a-quarter; after four, the wavy country
+broke up into a deep valley; in another hour, on the right, was seen a
+pool of rain-water--a small lake, stretching nearly a mile long. The
+country, as yesterday, was undulating, and covered with a dwarf forest;
+but the trees were thicker, and the ground was covered with dried
+herbage, mostly karengia. It is our constant occupation, morning and
+evenings, for half an hour, to pick the burs out of our clothes. The
+animals seen were mostly small birds; some flights of blackbirds,
+two-thirds the size of the English blackbird; and crows and doves in
+numbers. Near the water I picked up the feathers of the guinea-fowl, and
+the piece of a shell of a large turtle. Burrows of the hyæna and the
+ant-eater dotted the ground. En-Noor told me that lions also abound in
+the thickets. The lions conceal themselves in the trees, and the hyænas
+burrow under ground.
+
+Our people are now on the threshold of Damerghou, and do not know yet
+what route they will take from this country to Kanou; whether by Tesaoua
+or Zinder. Even En-Noor seems quite undecided what he shall do.
+
+_5th._--We came well on to-day, eight hours and twenty minutes. After
+four or five hours we passed on the roadside a dozen huts, with
+skin-roofs or coverings. The people are some light, some dark;
+variegated, like most of the Tuaricks. The children of eight or nine
+years go quite naked. After two hours more we came upon the large
+village of Gumrum, or Gumrek. I saw many people, light and dark; the
+women are fat and bold, free in their conversation; and the men
+evidently fanatical. The latter shouted that we ought not to pass,
+because we were infidels. One fellow was very savage, and cursed me; he
+was an old grey-headed gentleman, and seemed quite excited. These people
+are also of the tribe of the Tagama. Amankee came up to me, whispering,
+"These are like the Kalfadaï, they would rob you as they did, only they
+are all in the hands of the Sofo (En-Noor)."
+
+The inhabitants of Gumrek have much cattle. We ourselves saw some five
+or six hundred head, and they must have more than double this number,
+besides flocks and horses. The men mostly ride horses, but their breed
+is miserably small and ill-looking. People in poor circumstances mount
+bullocks, as do all the women.
+
+To the west, lately, there came off a great razzia. All this country
+around, for some hundred miles, is the noted theatre of such
+expeditions, which are mostly undertaken against the salt and other
+caravans, where there is considerable booty expected. The smaller
+caravans escape. When the Kilgris and Kailouees are in open hostility,
+they generally make this the theatre of their battles; the former
+carrying off the salt of the latter. This hostility is, like that of
+most of the wild tribes, of ancient date. The Kilgris have been driven
+from all this part of Asben by the Kailouees. The houses we passed in
+ruins are said to have been once occupied by the Kilgris. If so, they
+evidently were in former times powerful and opulent, and have since
+become relaxed and pusillanimous. At any rate, they have been expelled
+by the fiercer and more ferocious Kailouees. The Oulimad also come here
+to plunder occasionally. At Gurarek we saw a phenomenon which, after so
+much desert, gladdened indeed our eyes. This was a fine sheet of water,
+of great extent, covered with a forest of luxurious trees. It was a
+genuine Soudan picture, and we gazed at it with delight. I nevertheless
+thought of the pestilential exhalations of the stagnant pools further on
+in Soudan. The ground holds the water tightly, for wells are sunk near
+it of some depth before water is reached. This pool, or lake, dries up
+during the heat of summer, as is proved by the existence of wells sunk
+in their beds.
+
+The country to-day was extremely pleasant, like some parts of the
+undulating county of Essex, after the harvest is gathered. I scarcely
+expected to find such reminiscences in Africa, on the frontiers of
+Pamerghou. If the vegetation were all in leaf, the scenery would be
+quite cheerful and happy-looking. The trees to-day thickened into
+forests down some slopes--but there is nothing tropical in all this
+verdure; one or two plants, at most, are all that could be considered as
+such. Many gazelles glanced on either hand as we proceeded: the
+guinea-hen was in great numbers, thirty or forty together, old ones and
+chickens. They run very quickly through the forests, and cannot be taken
+in the day. At night, however, some are snared. They feed on the
+karengia, and get immensely plump. Their flesh is greatly esteemed.
+Doves showed themselves in flights; and many beautiful small birds, some
+strangers to my eyes. One especially, a little black-and-white fellow,
+with an immense bushy tail. Vultures, in company with a variegated crow,
+were feeding on a dead camel. This curious crow has a white neck and
+breast. What a truly Saharan group is that which I have just noticed.
+The vulture feeding on a camel fallen in the desert, towards the end of
+an arduous journey!
+
+We met a party of huntsmen, with three bullocks to carry their ghaseb.
+They had six dogs, and told us they were off after the giraffe. A few
+lizards now and then glanced over the path, and at every thirty or forty
+yards rose a busy ant-hill.
+
+En-Noor and I converged to-day from the backs of our respective camels.
+He asked me particularly if I liked stout women, and whether stout women
+were found in England. I replied, gravely, that this species occurred in
+all Christian countries; a piece of zoological information which seemed
+highly to gratify him. His highness still pretends he does not know
+where he is going--that is, whether to Zinder or Tesaoua.
+
+We encamped near a shallow wady, the first we have seen in this part of
+the country; i.e. a well-defined dry bed of a river.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+My Barracan--Spontaneous Civility on arrival in Damerghou--Ghaseb
+Stubble--Cactus--Water-Melons--Party of Tuaricks--Boban Birni--Huts of
+Damerghou--Tagelel--Women of the Village--Population of the
+Country--Complaisant Ladies--Festivities--Aquatic Birds--Dancing--A
+Flatterer--A Slave Family--A new Reason for Wife-beating--Hazna
+Dancers--Damerghou, common ground--Purchase of Ghaseb--Dethroned
+Sultan--Yusuf--Mohammed Tunisee--Ophthalmia--Part with Barth and
+Overweg--Presents to Servants--Sheikh of Fumta--Yakobah
+Slave--Applications for Medicine--Boban Birni--Forest--At length enter
+Bornou ground--Daazzenai--Tuarick Respectabilities--Detachment of the
+Salt-Caravan.
+
+
+_Jan. 6th._--We came seven hours. The weather is always thick, as for
+many days past; but the wind not so strong, nor the air so cold. We had
+even some drops of rain; and, probably, the rain here is not so
+constant, in its fall in summer-time, as is generally supposed. I took
+out my last barracan, as some precaution against the threatening clouds.
+This barracan excited everybody's attention; every one admired it, and
+asked for it. I was plagued to death by the people, and I vowed I would
+not take it out again be the weather what it might. The same demand had
+been repeatedly made for my poor carpet; so, on the following day, I
+took it off from the camel.
+
+An hour before we pitched tent; we passed a town on the top of a hill
+composed of huts, some covered with skins, and some made of straw. Our
+encampment is in a wady, near a cluster of hovels. The people came
+running to welcome us, by offering ghaseb for sale. Two volunteered to
+assist us in clearing a clean place for our tents. This being the first
+act of spontaneous assistance which we had witnessed from Tripoli to
+Damerghou, I gave them each a ring. We are now fairly in Damerghou; and
+to-day we saw the first specimens of the culture in this part of Africa.
+The ground is cleared by burning, as on the coast; which burning serves
+partly to supply the place of manure. The people, apparently slaves,
+were burning and raking up the ashes and stubble, with rakes made of
+fallen branches of trees. We passed through wide tracts of ghaseb
+stubble. Some of the stalks were seven or eight feet high, but the ears
+were not larger than those seen at Ghadamez--about eight or nine inches.
+
+Amongst the plants observed yesterday was the cactus, with a smooth
+leaf. Water-melons were also found in the road, mostly quite good and
+sweet, but some white ones perfectly tasteless. None, even those
+cultivated, are equal to the melons of the coast; there are no mealy
+ones here.
+
+We were met by a party of Tuaricks, who came to salute En-Noor, mounted
+on horseback. As we had had some very rough customers amongst the
+Tagama, I took little notice of them, and continued eating my bread and
+cheese. At this the people of the caravan laughed. They thought we ought
+always to receive these strangers, Tuaricks, with fear and trembling. I
+deemed the contrary plan more politic. However, had I known they were
+official persons, and one son of a sheikh of a town, I should have given
+them a more civil welcome.
+
+_7th._--We came eight hours and a-half south, over an undulating
+country, intersected with small wadys, and through ghaseb stubble. All
+was wavy ground, and bare of trees. There is, however, a small hill, at
+a distance of some ten miles from our encampment, called Boban Birni,
+"Great City," of conical form. Numerous villages were scattered along
+the whole line of route, a few of some size. The form of the huts is
+like that of beehives. Around them are small magazines of ghaseb,
+supported on wooden stakes, very like corn-stacks. The inhabitants of
+these Damerghou villages are blacks, with features like the Bornouese.
+In fact, they speak the Bornou languages, and are said to have been the
+product of past razzias in that country by the Tuaricks.
+
+Damerghou is the granary of Asben, and seems to be entirely in
+possession of the Asbenouees, nearly all these villages being peopled by
+the slaves of the Tuaricks. Some villages, indeed, contain nothing but
+slaves.
+
+Few animals were noticed to-day, but we saw four gazelles feeding
+together, and some hares. Not many birds appeared, on account of the
+fewness of the trees. Only a small portion of the ground is cultivated,
+but the camels and cattle are taken to be fed in the waste lands.
+
+We encamped at the village of En-Noor, called Tagelel. The capital of
+Damerghou is on the west (N.W.) from this, and is called Olleloa. The
+place is governed by Tuaricks.
+
+People say there are two or three hundred towns and villages in the
+country. Damerghou is not considered as part of Soudan, because it is
+possessed by the Tuaricks; but the country and climate are undoubtedly
+the same as all the neighbouring Soudanee territories. The weather was
+very warm and oppressive to-day. I fancied I suffered from the change of
+climate. I felt not quite well, and was much annoyed by the disobedience
+of the servants. Mohammed Tunisee has spoiled them all, and even Yusuf
+has done his share of mischief.
+
+_8th._--The weather was warm again this morning. I had a visit from the
+female slaves of the village of En-Noor, introduced by the wife of his
+highness. I gave them rings and sugar, and sent them off in a good
+humour. The country around looks exceedingly bare, almost free from
+trees. There is a little herbage for the camels. Ghaseb stubble,
+however, spreads all over, which looks well for the industry of the poor
+slaves. The karengia has disappeared.
+
+The news of the day goes that En-Noor will take me himself to Zinder. He
+probably wants to make acquaintance with the new governor of that place,
+as well as to see us safe there. The Tuaricks paid me a visit. I gave
+them a bit of sugar, showed them a gun, and got rid of them. A present
+of leban from a daughter of En-Noor induced me to give her a ring.
+
+Amankee says the population of this country is very various, but the
+Tuaricks of Asben are the masters. The villagers are not all slaves;
+there are many free people amongst them,--also Buza in numbers; Tuaricks
+who, having settled in Soudan, have forgotten their own language,
+speaking only Haussa. Many visitors trouble us, but we hope for a
+diminution to-morrow. The people of Damerghou are reported as enormous
+thieves, but we have seen as yet but little of their propensities this
+way, having, happily, lost nothing.
+
+I made a visit to the village, and was well received by the principal
+slave of En-Noor, who presented me with ghaseb-bread, cheese, and furd,
+or ghaseb-water. The ladies were singularly complaisant, and one offered
+me her friend; another was offered by a man. I believe these offers made
+in the way of compliments. In the East, it would not be prudent to take
+him at his word who should say, "Everything I have is yours." The huts
+of the village are very clean, and are inhabited entirely by slaves of
+En-Noor. These villages of Damerghou, at a distance, have the appearance
+of Chinese villages, such as I have seen drawn, with eaves cocked up
+like the rim of a French hat. The evening was given up to festivities,
+the slaves of the caravan uniting with those of the Tagelel. A regular
+procession brought the supper from the village to the people of the
+caravan, and then the music and dancing began. We had no supper sent.
+His highness is amazingly shabby in this respect. He fancies, perhaps,
+he could send us nothing better than what we have ourselves got, but he
+might try the compliment. We are, however, obliged to him for preventing
+others from levying contributions upon us in this new region. The
+Tuaricks here--all the strangers--are very civil; on account, I believe,
+of our being with the old man. He is of great negative utility.
+
+Overweg went to a lagoon, with little green isles in the midst of it,
+and shot some ducks. Ducks! This convinces us that we are now in the
+country of water. A wader was shot, and a fine plump bird something like
+a partridge, which Mohammed Tunisee calls _poule de Carthage_, but it is
+much smaller than those that I have eaten in Tunis. Many aquatic birds
+were flying or floating about the lake.
+
+The dancing in the evening was after this fashion. Two men beat drums,
+standing on one side of a circle marked. The dancers advanced towards
+them with shy and coyish gesture, and then swung round and round to the
+opposite side of the circle in a sort of time kept by the beating of the
+drum. They threw up their legs, but not in an indecent manner. It was a
+kind of simple waltzing. The men were not more violent in action than
+the women. Each sex danced separately, the women beginning first and
+then retiring. During the performance a song was kept up, a continually
+recurring rhyme. When it became dark the male and female slaves made
+love, and coquetted together. We, too, had our music; a strolling
+minstrel came to our tent by appointment to play on his guitar. He sang
+all our praises in very nice Haussa words, and indulged in the most
+extraordinary flattery I ever heard. I was Sultan, and had the riches of
+the world at my command. _Over_ was the great doctor, and what he could
+not cure, God himself could not cure. _Bar_ was the wise man, knowing
+all languages and all things. We tried not to be pleased, but in vain.
+Flattery is sweet, especially when enveloped in song.
+
+The weather was hot to-day, and sultry. I made many little presents,
+some to a fighi of Bornou, a Shoua Arab, who repeated the fatah to us.
+It is reported that a great deal of the salt goes with En-Noor to
+Zinder, from which we are separated by two days' journey, one of
+villages and another of forest.
+
+_9th._--The morning opened with wind, as usual, from the N.E. The
+weather was cooler than yesterday. I visited a group of cottages, or
+rather huts, and received a present of a korna for holding water. The
+thatch of these primitive habitations was of bou rekaba stalks. The
+korna is allowed to twine itself over the roofs, as the woodbine over
+our cottages, and looks very pretty. This group of cottages was
+inhabited by a single family,--alas! all slaves.
+
+According to Overweg, the reason En-Noor beat his wife in the terrible
+manner mentioned in this journal was, because she was accustomed to
+glide out of her chamber at night to witness the dances--the beastly
+dances of the north coast. I certainly was surprised to hear that she
+was present at these filthy exhibitions. "Have I not bought you?" his
+highness remonstrated with her. "Are you not my slave?" "No." she
+replied; "I am your wife, not your slave." So the lady continued, till
+she aggravated his highness into a great fury. Many Europeans, it must
+be confessed, would beat their wives for a less cause.
+
+It is now said, his highness goes first to Tesaoua. We start all
+to-morrow, at any rate. The bells which cover the horses are without
+clappers, but being close together they make a great jingling noise by
+dashing one against another. Suppers were brought this evening, but the
+singing and dancing were not continued. We had, however, at sunset, a
+visit from a Hazna dancer,--a perfect specimen of African buffoonery and
+jingling. He danced and sung with the wildest barbarity. He had two
+followers, to pick up the offerings of the people. They beat two pieces
+of stick together to the motion of his legs, hung with bells. The upper
+part of his body was naked, whilst the lower part was covered with a red
+and yellow apron. This man is said to drink beer, and is a professed
+pagan.
+
+I went to the wells, which are bored through the hard red clay, in the
+shape of small circular holes, of about fifty feet in depth. There is
+very little water at this season, but it is sufficient for the wants of
+the village when the salt-caravan is not here.
+
+The inhabitants of Damerghou consist of Kailouee Tuaricks--Bornouese
+runaways and slaves--Haussa people, free and slaves--Bousa, or the
+descendants of Tuaricks by slaves, and a few Fullanee. This is also the
+refuge of dethroned sultans, as well as runaway slaves. There is now
+here the Kailouee prince called Maaurgi, who exercised authority some
+years since in Aheer. Damerghou, indeed, appears to be common ground,
+where every one who pleases, and is strong enough, comes to establish
+himself. Many runaways, freemen from Bornou, who had committed some
+misdemeanour, being found in this country weak and unable to protect
+themselves, were reduced to slavery by a Tuarick prince. The slaves here
+answer to the serfs of Russia, with the exception that they may be taken
+away and sold in other countries.
+
+_10th._--The morning was cool because of the wind. They held a souk, or
+market, to-day near us. Provisions were very cheap. I was greatly amused
+to see the small quantities of sunbal which Mahadee had laid out for two
+zekkas of ghaseb. For myself I was much plagued by the women, who all
+admire my beard; not, certainly, my red nose, which is terribly scorched
+and peeled by the sun.
+
+Overweg visited the dethroned Sultan of Asoudee, who is living here in
+state, in the midst of his slaves. He holds a sort of court, and,
+contrary to the free customs of the Tuaricks, he permits slaves who
+approach him to prostrate themselves and throw dust on their heads. He
+is the uncle of the present Sultan of Asoudee, and is called Masouarji.
+In his fallen condition he gave Overweg a hospitable reception, and a
+present of dates, which was duly acknowledged.
+
+Yusuf, refusing to do some translation which I requested him, now
+forfeits all claims to my service. I told him, to-day, to go off to
+Kanou. Afterwards I arranged with him to go with me to Zinder, where,
+before the governor, I hope to get clear of him; for he is now of little
+use, and costs me more than all my servants together.
+
+Mohammed Tunisee has done him great harm; but, nevertheless, this chap
+continues to improve since the arrangement made, by which he becomes
+only the servant of Barth. The Germans, however, are still afraid of
+him. Yusuf is trying the same system with me, but will probably find
+that it will end in no good affair for himself. Mohammed Tunisee and
+Yusuf seem hitherto to have combined to spoil all our people. The
+liberated slaves from Tunis, brought up by me, have turned out the best
+and most faithful servants. I am much pleased with this.
+
+All the people of Damerghou are afflicted with ophthalmia, which is said
+to arise from the winds that prevail constantly over this open and
+unsheltered country. Some of the people pretend it is caused by drinking
+ghaseb-water, which appears absurd enough. The Moorish and other
+merchants attribute the greater part of their diseases to drinking
+water,--especially the fevers. How much truth there is in this assertion
+is not easy to be determined.
+
+_11th._--It has been agreed that I and my colleagues should here part
+for a time, Dr. Barth going to Kanou, and Dr. Overweg to Tesaoua and
+Maradee, whilst I proceed with En-Noor direct to Zinder. Dr. Barth
+promises to be in Kuka in two months; and Dr. Overweg says he will
+immediately correspond, that is from Tesaoua to Zinder. The latter has
+the more difficult journey before him; but even Dr. Barth's visit to
+Kanou may turn out a more serious business than perhaps he anticipates.
+We took leave one of the other with some emotion; for in Central Africa,
+those travellers who part and take divergent routes can scarcely count
+on all meeting together again.
+
+I also here parted with Amankee, my Haussa servant. He had behaved
+indifferently lately, but nevertheless, as he rendered us some service
+in the acquirement of the Haussa languages, and in other matters, I made
+him a present of four dollars for one extra time he had remained with
+us. He had been paid his wages at Mourzuk to go with us to Zinder, but
+then we expected to be only three months _en route_. In a moment, just
+as we were starting, he changed his mind, and would go to his home at
+once. This is his character,--levity and instability,--otherwise he is a
+good fellow enough. He is one of those Tuaricks who have settled in
+Haussa and forgotten their native tongue. I have been often obliged to
+use harsh language to him, to curb his levity. In parting with the
+servants of the Germans, I promised them each a present of six dollars
+if I heard a good report of them on their arrival at Kuka. This present
+is held out as an inducement because it is impossible to tell what may
+happen, as the Germans will nearly always be without any special escort.
+En-Noor, however, sends one of his slaves with Overweg to Maradee, and
+Barth goes with the salt-caravan to Kanou.
+
+I was much disappointed that we made but one hour this morning (south).
+To pass the time, I determined to visit some of the villages with which
+Damerghou is overscattered. I went first to a place called Fumta Bou
+Beker, twenty-five minutes from our encampment. Here I found the Sheikh,
+who had just returned from Kanou,--a considerable merchant. He received
+me with great hospitality, and gave me ghaseb-water, and some little
+pieces of meat, roasted, besides milk. I was accompanied by my stupid
+mahadee, who is, nevertheless, not a bad market-man. He purchased a
+large calabash of milk, and a peck of beans, for some small pieces of
+jaui, or benzoin. I then administered caustic to all the eyes of the
+village--at least sixty persons--including men, women, and children,
+with the Sheikh. Bad eyes were the only pressing complaints of the
+place.
+
+The villagers all spoke Bornouese. I believe this is the general
+language of Damerghou. There were only two or three Tuaricks present.
+Most of the people were free. The Sheikh, of course, had several slaves;
+amongst them a Yakobah slave, with straight lines cicatrised in curious
+patterns all over his body. The poor fellow seemed remarkably stupid,
+and I believe that many of these poor fellows brought from the more
+distant countries of Soudan become half idiots from continually
+regretting their beloved country. Alas! what can be done for Africa,
+when the greater part of its social system is constructed on slavery?
+
+Curious applications are made for medicines to cure various afflictions,
+moral and physical, amongst these people. A woman, to-day, begged for a
+medicine to prevent her children from dying. She had had many children,
+and all had died. Another woman applies for a medicine to prevent her
+husband from liking her rival, and to make him place his affection on
+her. A man demands medicine for good luck, and says he is always
+unfortunate.--Good people, I am not the physician to be called in in
+these cases.
+
+It is night, and En-Noor has not made his appearance. I am travelling
+with his wife and the other women; besides, there are a number of male
+slaves and some thirty camels of salt. Probably his highness will go
+another way to Zinder.
+
+I believe that Fumta Bou Beker is quite an independent village, and that
+all the great towns and villages here have an independent jurisdiction
+of their own. According to a slave of En-Noor, there are two sultans.
+
+_12th._--The morning was cool and windy. We started pretty early, and
+moved one hour through huts scattered amidst the ghaseb stubble. Then
+came three hours of undulating ground, uncultivated. Afterwards we fell
+in with huts again; and in two hours more reached the conical-shaped
+mount called Boban Birni. It consists of a sort of coarse sandstone and
+is in part overgrown with herbage. From the encampment to Mount Boban
+Birni was a distance of six hours S.W. It can be seen from afar off,
+though in reality not very lofty. We passed the mount for two hours
+through a forest of dwarf trees; the country still billowy, as it were.
+We advanced in all about eight hours, braced by a pleasant north-east
+wind. As we advanced we saw ostriches quietly feeding at no great
+distance, not heeding our caravan as it murmured by. Partridges rose as
+we advanced; together with guinea-hens, blackbirds, crows, black and
+white, and several long-tailed flutterers.
+
+_13th._--The morning was overcast, with cold wind. We started early, and
+made a long day of nine hours and a-half, and did not encamp until an
+hour after dark. Our course, as we ascended from Mount Boban Birni, was
+S. 3° E. The country still undulated through the same forest, which in
+many places was quite dense, whilst in others the trees were scattered.
+
+When we reached the camping-ground a pleasant announcement was made. We
+were at length upon Bornou soil! I could hardly believe my ears. Oh,
+marvel, after all our dangers and misgivings! Thanks to Almighty God for
+deliverance from the hands of lawless tribes! I shall never forget the
+sensation with which I learned that I was at length really in Bornou,
+and that the robber Tuarick was in very truth definitively left behind.
+
+Our encampment was near a little village of twenty huts, called
+Daazzenai, placed under a rock of red stone. The country of Damerghou,
+in this direction, is separated from Bornou by about eleven hours of
+forest, or some thirty miles English--a sufficient distance to divide
+two countries, especially in Africa. The trees were larger to-day, and
+some of considerable altitude. Many pretty yellow blossoms, glowed on a
+species of shrub not unlike the laburnum.
+
+I observed scattered in the forest small mounds of mud, wasting away to
+the level of the ground; there were many of them; the birds perch
+thereon.
+
+We have seen a few nice families amongst the Tuaricks and their slaves,
+but these are mostly foreigners. There is the family of the Tripoline
+slave; her husband is a pleasant, quiet man, and one of En-Noor's
+household; she has a daughter and one cade-lamb. Then there is the
+Bornou fighi and his wife. These people are so affable, that they always
+have visitors near their little tent. They have also a cade-lamb. Their
+tent is a curiosity. It is just large enough for one of them to creep
+in--not for two. I suppose the fighi enters at night, and leaves his
+wife to sleep at the door.
+
+A detachment of the salt-caravan passed us to-day for Zinder. The whole
+force of the salt-caravan this year could not be more than fifteen
+hundred. Two divisions were with us of Kailouees, one in advance, each
+of five hundred, and the Kilgris' division of five hundred. So much for
+the boasted ten thousand camels which were gone this year to bring salt!
+From En-Noor one could not possibly get correct statistics, for, being a
+thorough Kailouee and a Tuarick, he magnifies everything connected with
+his people before strangers, and particularly to us. It was very amusing
+to see all the little children warming themselves in the evening at the
+fire, or feeding the flames with brushwood, which they easily collected.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+March for Zinder--Enter the City--Reception--Delighted to escape from
+the Tuaricks--Letters from Kuka--Hospitable Treatment--Presents for the
+Sarkee and others--Visit the Shereef--His Duties--Audience of the
+Sarkee--Servility--Double-skulled Slave--Powder and Shot--Portrait of
+the Sultan--Commission from Kuka--European Clothes--Family of
+En-Noor--Tour of the Town--Scavengers--List of Sultans of Central
+Africa--Ancient Haussa--The Market--Money--Conversation
+with the Shereef--The Sultan at Home--Mixed Race of
+Zinder--Statistics--Personages of the Court.
+
+
+_Jan. 14th._--We started early, in hopes to reach Zinder in the course
+of the morning. Our course of five hours was S. 10° E. from the
+encampment. The route from En-Noor's palace in Damerghou is two good
+days and a-half. After two hours and a-half we came to huts in a valley,
+and a village of thirty or forty houses, called Boban Tabki. In three
+quarters of an hour there were villages again. I was pleased to see the
+corn-stacks or field-granaries standing in the open country, apart from
+all houses or habitations, illustrating the security of property in
+Zinder and its neighbouring districts. The country all around is
+pleasant, nicely undulating with ridges of green hills--the horizon
+bounded on every side with rounded green hills.
+
+We sighted Zinder after four hours' march; and entered the town within
+another hour. I was somewhat impatient to get rid of the Tuaricks, and
+place myself in the hands of the Bornou authorities; so I rode off
+myself to the town, leaving the suburbs, where the family of En-Noor
+have their residence, deaf to all their cries to stop. I found a
+friendly Kailouee, who conducted me straight to the house of the
+governor. His servants took me to the Shereef, and the Shereef sent me
+to Saïd, my servant, where I found a house and everything prepared for
+my reception; and here, also, I found a slave sent from Bornou by the
+Sheikh, to conduct me to Kuka: so all things wore a happy aspect after
+so many miseries and uncertainties.
+
+I was delighted with the appearance of Zinder, its picturesque
+situation, and its unexpected size. It is much larger than I was led to
+expect. As soon as I was domiciled I received visits from several
+merchants of Mourzuk, besides the authorities of the town. All the sons
+of the Sultan of the place came to salute me; I gave them each a little
+sugar, and off they went highly pleased. Provisions now poured in at
+such a rate, that after the starvation of the desert I became nauseated
+at their sight. These were sent by the Sultan and the Shereef.
+
+Thankful satisfaction for my deliverance from the wild tribes, the most
+hostile to Christians of all this part of Africa, and fond anticipations
+of what I may do in Bornou; the good news I already heard, and the
+anxiety of the Sheikh for our safety, with my comparatively robust
+health;--thoughts of all these things prevented me from sleeping during
+the night.
+
+I learnt from Saïd, servant of Haj Beshir, that letters had arrived from
+Mourzuk for us in Kuka, and one was addressed to the Sheikh, which had
+determined him to bring us all at once to Kuka, and prevent us going
+first to Soudan. Upon this advice, the Sultan of this place had sent
+four persons to Tesaoua, to bring my colleagues from that place. But
+whether they will come on the demand of these persons is very
+questionable. I learned that the Sfaxee, as I expected, was laid up with
+fever in Kanou, for he is emphatically a man of fever; and, besides, he
+has no control over himself, but gorges himself with food when an
+opportunity presents itself; and this, after the privations of the
+desert, is sure to bring on disease. Yusuf Moknee came to me this
+evening, to know what was to be done on the next morning. He finds it
+necessary to alter his conduct, as he sees now that I could do without
+him. I determined to go on with him for the present. I do not wish to
+leave him here with En-Noor, for he may do us harm with that subtle
+Kailouee prince. I must take him away from the Tuaricks altogether.
+
+I found all the Mourzuk people very friendly--everybody friendly; the
+world seemed turned upside down after our treatment from the Tuaricks. I
+began to make little presents, for I am determined our friends shall
+have a portion of her Majesty's goods as well as our enemies; which
+latter, indeed, took them away from us by force. I must not forget to
+remark, that when I entered Zinder there was not a single person bold
+enough to whisper the name _Kafer!_ so immense is the difference between
+this Bornou country and the Tuarick territories.
+
+_15th._--I rose early, having slept little. The weather was cool, the
+thermometer at sunrise being at 59°. I began to prepare our presents for
+the Sultan and the Shereef. After much debating as to quantity, it was
+determined to keep all the best things for Kuka, and give small presents
+here. In this respect I must praise Yusuf and his friends amongst the
+Mourzuk people.
+
+I prepared a present for Sarkee Ibrahim, sultan of Zinder, consisting of
+a piece of muslin for turban, a red turban, three heads of sugar, two
+glass drinking-cups, painted, a cup and saucer for coffee, a few rings
+in imitation of gold, cloves, two handkerchiefs (cotton), powder and
+shot, fifty bullets, two or three small looking-glasses. The present for
+the Shereef consisted of a carpet (hearth-rug), used here for kneeling
+upon in performing prayers, three white sugar-loaves, cloves,
+handkerchief (cotton), powder and shot, with some other trifles. The
+present for Saïd, sent by Haj Beshir from Kuka, consisted of a cloth
+caftan (coarse), a cotton handkerchief, and a piece of cotton stuff to
+make a pillow.
+
+I am happy to add, that all were content and satisfied; but we made them
+understand--indeed, they knew it before we arrived--that the Tuaricks
+had taken away nearly all my property.
+
+I must add the present of the Shereef Saghir (little Shereef), who acts
+as interpreter for the Sultan: a glass painted drinking-cup, a
+handkerchief (cotton), a little sugar, jani, senbal, a few cloves, and
+two or three rings; with which he was well satisfied.
+
+Before noon I waited on the Shereef to deliver my present. I was much
+struck with this man's appearance. He was quite an European--white as
+myself. His countenance seemed full of thought and meaning. He is a
+native of Fez, and has lived long in Algiers. He has served in the war
+against the French under Abd-el-Kader, and has only been two years in
+Bornou and in Kuka, and once in Zinder. He is here as the _nather_,
+"looker-on;" one who watches over the interests of the country,
+particularly in its foreign relations. To speak plainly, he is a spy of
+the Sheikh of Bornou over the authorities of Zinder, including the
+Governor. All the people say, "Without the Shereef nothing can be done
+in Zinder;" and well they may, considering that he is in the entire
+confidence of the Sheikh. The Shereef is also the agent of all
+foreigners, and our goods were directed to his care from Tintalous--that
+is, those things which we sent up before us. The Sultans of Zinder are
+always a little disaffected; and to check them, and watch their conduct,
+the Shereef has been sent here. This personage is also universally
+respected for his learning, piety, and almsgiving; so that, apparently,
+the Sheikh could not have intrusted his interests to a more able man.
+The Shereef knows well the use of arms, for it is reported here in
+Zinder that he has killed _forty thousand_ Frenchmen with his own hands!
+The people actually believe this most marvellous report!
+
+After leaving the Shereef we went to salute the Sultan Ibrahim, and
+deliver to his highness our present. We were conducted into a species of
+fort, built of clay, with walls exceedingly thick. Here in a sort of
+anteroom, or open skifa, or hall, we found some fifty soldiers of the
+Sultan, unarmed and bare-headed, with one or two governors of
+neighbouring places, all squatted upon the ground. I was requested to
+squat down amongst them, which I did near a raised mud-bench. There was
+little light, the place being built to shut out the glare and heat of
+the sun. Here I waited a quarter of an hour, till the Sultan was
+announced by the cries of the soldiers, slaves, and domestic officers.
+His highness took his seat upon the mud-bench; and whilst so doing his
+attendants all squatted down, many of them taking up the dust from the
+ground and throwing it over their bare heads, and crying, "Long live the
+Sultan! God bless him!" This is the first occasion on which I have
+witnessed this degrading custom, this abject worship of the
+representative of power. The scene was perfectly African and negro.
+
+I was squatted amidst a number of courtiers, one of whom had a sort of
+double skull, another smaller skull raised above the larger one,--a
+protuberance which came from an accident in infancy. This double-skulled
+man was the chief of the domestics.
+
+The Sultan was in a merry humour, and smilingly asked after my health.
+We then read our letters of recommendation, which pleased him. He
+observed that the route _viâ_ Aheer was good. "How good," asked Yusuf,
+"when we are arrived here naked, and stripped of everything?" At which
+his highness burst out, laughing, with all the people. There was now
+observed a little bustle behind, and his highness called out "Silence!"
+like a sheriff in a court of law. I begged the interpreter to tell the
+Sultan that our present was small, for we had been stripped by the
+Tuaricks. This he whispered in his ear; after which I slipped a packet
+of powder and shot into the hands of one of the principal courtiers,
+telling him it was for the Sultan, and he carried it off. I did not
+place it with the other presents, because the servant of Haj Bashaw,
+sent from Kuka, forbad my giving his highness any powder and shot,
+alleging, that this Sultan was always disaffected, and the Sheikh would
+disapprove of my giving him munitions of war. But I was determined to
+give fifty bullets and two dozen charges of powder, believing that he
+could do the Sheikh little harm, whilst it would make him my personal
+friend. No person knew what I gave the Governor.
+
+The powder and shot being delivered, I took leave of his highness,
+raising my cap and shaking hands with him. At this doffing off the cap
+all the people were highly gratified, thinking great respect was thereby
+shown to their prince.
+
+Ibrahim is a negro, a native of Zinder, a man of fifty years of age,
+with a countenance sparkling with good humour, and I believe I may add,
+intelligence. He has been Sultan here some thirty years, so that he must
+be a man of character. This day he received a renewal of his commission
+from Kuka, a ceremony that takes place every year; and so he was in a
+happy humour. There was also a sort of feast at the palace, and his
+highness rode out with a detachment of cavalry. The persons who brought
+our camels from Kuka also brought the renewed commission, or a man, from
+the Sheikh. Haj Beshir has sent us ten camels, to bring the boat and our
+baggage, in the event of our camels being stolen, or having become weak
+with the journey from Mourzuk. I have, therefore, only to sell my camels
+and turn them into ready money, which I much need, and then start.
+
+We afterwards called again on the Shereef, and had a laugh about the man
+with two skulls. I told the Shereef "two heads were perhaps better than
+one," at which they all burst out laughing. The Shereef was surrounded
+by foreign merchants, all chatting in good humour. These Moors were
+friendly to me. To-day I dressed in my European clothes; first, because
+unless you have very good clothes, such as worn by the people of the
+country, you cut a very bad figure; and secondly, and principally, to
+show the Kailouees, and other strangers, that I was now in a friendly
+place, and that no one dare say anything to me in the way of insult. In
+fact, as yesterday, there is not even a whisper of the word _Kafer_. His
+highness and all the people admired my European gear. I told them that
+now the Turks dressed in the same manner, or nearly so; at which they
+were greatly surprised. I had on a black surtout, tight trousers, and
+varnished boots, gloves, neckerchief, waistcoat; everything European but
+the hat, wearing instead of this the fez cap or shasheeah.
+
+In the evening I paid a visit to the family of En-Noor, who were greatly
+astonished at my transfiguration from a bad Moorish dress into an
+European suit. They were much disconcerted at this change, and my happy
+humour. Madame En-Noor rated me for running away from them yesterday. I
+told them I wished to get to my friends of Bornou as quickly as
+possible. My interpreter also informed them that the Sheikh had sent
+camels, and enlarged on the anxiety of everybody here for our safety.
+They were all displeased at this news, as a reflection upon them and the
+conduct of the Tuaricks. They now beheld quite a change in everything. I
+was anxious to mark this change in our circumstances, that they might
+reflect how they treated Europeans again when fallen into their hands.
+At the same time I showed a desire not to hurt their feelings, wishing
+to be on friendly terms with them whilst here.
+
+The Kailouees are all excessively quiet now. All feel the power of the
+Sheikh, and are almost as submissive as if they were at Mourzuk.
+However, the family of En-Noor still keep begging. But I believe now I
+must finish with them. The Sultan is said by his servants to have gone
+to Tesaoua. I am extremely glad I came without him to this place.
+Perhaps he also was ashamed to bring me. From Tesaoua he will be here
+after some days. People call him, as in Aheer, An-Nour, and not En-Noor.
+The prince of Zinder asked, where is An-Nour? The people are still at
+work preparing this chieftain's apartments, consisting of a circular
+wall of matting, enclosing a number of huts; there is a mud-house in the
+middle, but it is now fallen into ruins.
+
+I made a tour of the town, and was still more pleased than before with
+its size. It is said to contain 20,000 inhabitants. There are many
+divisions, separated by blocks of granite, and small hills. We visited
+the Kaïd of a district. He immediately brought us ghaseb-water and milk.
+Really the world seems turned upside down when the conduct of the people
+here is compared with the hospitality which we received from En-Noor,
+although he personally paid us some attentions not vouchsafed by others.
+We came through the souk, where were the sticks of meat roasting, and
+lots of people. No one whispered _Kafer_! The Shereef sent me a horse to
+ride on when I go out, and recommends me to do so.
+
+The scavengers of Zinder are a multitudinous host of a small species of
+filthy-looking vultures, brown and black in colour: they are exceedingly
+tame, for the people never touch them, and they walk about the streets
+tamer than the fowls. I believe the same species of vulture are also the
+scavengers of Kanou. At Zinder they take their evening exercise by
+flying in circles over the city, a hundred or two together. There are a
+few white ones amongst the flock. The Sultan sent for a piece of camphor
+this morning. I gave him some, with a silver French coin and a new
+English farthing.
+
+The news is, that I must stay here ten days, to oblige the slaves who
+have been sent from Kuka to carry the baggage. We are also to stay at
+Minyo a few days, _en route_ four days from this.
+
+I spent the evening gleaning information of the interior. There is now
+no war in any part of Central Africa, i.e. no great wars. Probably the
+princes of Africa, like those of Europe, find that war will not pay. At
+any rate, all is peace for the present. This will facilitate our
+progress. I had a visit from the son of the Kadi of Kuka, an intelligent
+young man, who has promised to come to-morrow to write the routes from
+Zinder to his native place.
+
+I have obtained a list of the names of the principal sultans in this
+part of Africa:
+
+1. Bornou--The Sheikh Omer, the son of the sheikh who reigned in the
+time of the first expedition. He has now reigned fourteen years. He has
+a good character.
+
+2. Sakkatou--Sultan of the Fellatahs, Ali. He is not so great as his
+father Bello, celebrated in the time of the first expedition.
+
+3. Asben, or Aheer--Abd-el-Kader.
+
+4. Maradee--Binono.
+
+5. Gouber--Aliou (Ali).
+
+6. Niffee--Khaleelou. The name of the capital is Gondu. The Sultan is a
+Fullan, but independent of Sakkatou, as are many other Fullan princes.
+
+7. Adamaua--Lauel. He is called by the Fullans Madubbu-Adamaua, i.e.
+Sultan or Kakam of Adamowa. He is a Fullan, but the people whom he
+governs are all Kohlans, or negroes.
+
+8. Yakobah--Ibrahim. His father was called Yakobah, and the country has
+probably derived its recent name of the late sultan; the capital is
+called Baushi. The rulers are Fellatahs.
+
+9. Kanou--Osman Bel-Ibrahim.
+
+10. Kashna--Mohammed-Bello.
+
+11. Zaria--Mahommed Sani.
+
+12. Kataguni--Abd-er-Rahman.
+
+13. Kadaija--Ahmadou.
+
+14. Timbuctoo--Mohammed Lebbu, a Fellatah.
+
+15. Jinnee--
+
+16. Begharmi--Burkmanda.
+
+17. Mandara--
+
+18. Lagun--
+
+19. Zinder--Ibrahim.
+
+The alliances and enmities, the wars and the intrigues of all these
+princes, will one day, perhaps, form materials for some
+semi-mythological history, when civilisation has removed its camp to
+these intertropical regions. Regular annals, however, there never can
+be. No record seems to be kept, except in the unfaithful memories of the
+natives; and even if the contrary were the case, posterity would
+willingly consign to oblivion all but the salient points of this period
+of barbarism and slave-hunting.
+
+Daura is a city of great antiquity, but I have never seen it on the
+maps. It is two days from Zinder on the route to Kanou, and has now
+about the same number of inhabitants as Zinder, or from 20,000 to
+25,000.
+
+Ancient Haussa, according to the Monshee, consisted of seven cities,
+viz.
+
+1. Kanou.
+
+2. Kashna. This city is now about three times the size of Zinder.
+
+3. Daura.
+
+4. Zaria.
+
+5. Gouber.
+
+6. Maradee.
+
+7. Zanbara. This city is now about the size of Kashna. It lies beyond
+Gouber, not far from Sakkatou.
+
+I went to see the souk. There are two market-days in Zinder: the great
+souk on Thursday, and the little one on Friday, the days following one
+another. I rapidly passed through it; it was full of people and
+merchandise; all things in abundance; no one called after me, but I did
+not like to stay long to expose myself. The principal provisions and
+domestic animals offered for sale are cattle (oxen), sheep, camels,
+asses, goats, beef, mutton, samen, honey, ghaseb, ghafouley, a little
+wheat, dried fish (rather stinking, because no salt is used in drying),
+kibabs or roasted pieces of meat, beans, dankali or sweet potatoes;
+which last are brought from Kanou, as also is the fish, &c. I purchased
+three sweet potatoes for a fifth of a penny. There was, besides, also a
+good quantity of merchandise of every sort, and slaves in numbers. Honey
+also is brought from Kanou to this souk. In Kanou, twelve pounds and
+a-half are sold for four thousand wadâs, or four-fifths of a dollar. In
+Zinder, the same quantity sells for about double the price. They
+adulterate here and send it to Aheer.
+
+In the evening I went with the Shereef to his garden. He has brought
+with him the tastes of the people of Morocco for gardens, and has
+introduced into Zinder tomatas from Kuka. His beds contain onions,
+peppers, cucumbers, wheat, lemons, date-palms, and some other small
+things. There is a little wheat also, but merely as an ornament. The
+date-palms bear twice a-year, but the dates do not dry in this country.
+There is a part of Soudan where the dates are said to become dry as
+those of Fezzan. The lemons are as good as those on the north coast, but
+they are found only in Soudan. But two or three trees have been seen in
+Bornou. Onions are in abundance, and it is said that those people who
+eat onions do not catch the fevers of Soudan. The Shereef considers the
+horses of this country to have little strength--not to be compared with
+those of the north coast. He has sent me one to ride round the environs.
+We conversed upon Algerian affairs. The Shereef said nothing against the
+French in general; he only complained of the non-fulfilment of the
+treaty of capitulation with Abd-el-Kader and his fellow-prisoners. I
+told him Bou Mâza was liberated, which news surprised him. He said Bou
+Mâza was a fool, and had no followers. All the conversation of the
+Shereef was marked with good sense. He had been in Malta, and resided
+there two months. His native place is two days' journey from Tangiers.
+He is well acquainted with Christians. He speaks with a strong Mogarbi
+accent. As to this country and the Tuaricks, he observed the Sheikh was
+determined to keep them down, and was not afraid of them.
+
+The Shereef possesses a fair amount of women--some twenty, but only one
+son. I sent this evening presents of rings to the ladies.
+
+Yusuf paid a visit to the Sultan this morning, to carry him a present on
+his part. He entered the interior of the building, and found it full of
+dirt, and bare of every species of furniture. The Sultan himself had
+only upon him a Soudan tobe and a white cap. All the rest of his people
+were bare-headed, and were covered with dirty tobes. This contempt of
+dress arises from the fact that the prince was a slave of the ancient
+Sultans of Bornou. There are, besides, other sultans _en route_ to Kuka,
+of the same stamp; but he of Minyo is said to dress excessively,
+changing his costume five times a-day. We are to remain some days in
+Minyo, of which I am glad, because there we shall see the Bornouese
+population, in a purer state. Here it is mixed somewhat with the
+Kailouees and other tribes. At any rate, the manners of the people are
+somewhat influenced by the great number of foreigners. En-Noor and
+Lousou have both houses in Zinder, which the people dignify by the name
+of _belad_ or "villages," but which are simply enclosures of a few huts.
+
+I have been endeavouring to collect materials for the statistics of
+Zinder. The following note exhibits a partial result:--
+
+Various persons give the population of Zinder at 25,000 or 30,000 souls.
+Let us take the number at 20,000.
+
+The military force consists of cavalry and foot--two thousand cavalry
+having swords, spears, and shields; and eight or nine thousand bowmen,
+having only bows and arrows. This force is commanded by one Shroma Dan
+Magram, who receives the enormous pay of half the land taxes of some
+fifty towns and villages in the circle of the province of Zinder. The
+officers of the Sultan of Zinder are mostly slaves.
+
+The principal personages are Shroma Dan Magram; the Kady, Tahir; the
+Bash Kateb, or Secretary, Dang Gambara; the chief of the Treasury,
+Nanomi; of the Custom-house, Fokana. There are four officers of the
+Treasury, and four of the Custom-house; and, moreover, four Viziers, the
+principal of whom is Mustapha Gadalina.
+
+The Arabs do not pay any custom duties, but all the blacks and the
+Kailouees and Fullans pay as follows:--
+
+A camel, laden or unladen -- 5000 wadâs.
+An ass    "         "     --  100  "
+An ox     "         "     --  100  "
+
+There is no duty on goods, and, whether the camels are laden with rich
+burnouses or salt, it is all the same thing.
+
+Camels are very cheap in this country, and the best of all will not
+fetch more than 40,000 wadâs, or about sixteen Spanish dollars. The
+Shereef is to purchase ours, four of them for 120,000 wadâs; they cost
+about three times the sum in Mourzuk. Horses are not quite so cheap; the
+best will fetch 100,000 wadâs.[14] The exchange here is the same as in
+Kanou; 2500 wadâs is the value of the large dollar, or douro ghaleet, as
+it is called amongst the Moorish and Arab merchants.
+
+ [14] See p. 216.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+Presents from Officials--Mode of treating Camels--Prices--Cowrie
+Money--Shereef Interpreter--Visits--Harem--Houses--Grand
+Vizier--Picturesque Dances--Tuaricks at Zinder--Kohlans and
+Fullans--Province of Zinder--Account of its Rebellions--Trees--Details
+on the Slave-trade--Prices--Mode of obtaining Slaves--Abject
+Respect of the Sultan--Visits--Interview with the Sarkee--The
+Presence--Curious Mode of administering Justice--Barbarous
+Punishments--Hyænas--Gurasu--Fighis--Place of Execution--Tree of
+Death--Hyæna Dens--Dancing.
+
+
+_Jan. 17th._--The Sultan this morning sent me an ox. I made him my
+personal friend by giving him the powder and shot, in spite of the
+servant of Haj Beshir from Kuka. The Shereef is excessively generous;
+whether at his own cost or that of Kuka I do not know. I suppose the
+latter, as he had orders from head-quarters to supply us with
+everything. He sends rice, honey, fowls, eggs, milk, tomatas, and all
+things in abundance. I repeat, for the third time, that the world is
+turned upside down, so far as the supply of provisions and hospitality
+is concerned. It is true that the Tuaricks are desperately poor, and
+their generosity must always be very limited.
+
+Our maharees of the salt-caravan went very well, and ate little on the
+road, so that much time was saved in this way. The Tuarick camels are
+far better travellers than the Arab, which sometimes are allowed to eat
+all day long. The females and the young ones are the most troublesome. I
+was much amused to see one of the Kailouee camel-drivers overcome the
+obstinacy of a young camel. The fellow actually bit the loose skin which
+hung over the muzzle of the rebel, and in this manner dragged it to the
+string, and there tied it to the rest. All the male camels are gelded,
+whilst many breeding maharees carry no weights, but follow their
+burdened kind with their foals.
+
+To-day, for the first time, I received cowrie money, viz. four cases,
+made of matting, each containing 30,000. This was the price of four of
+my camels. The Gharian brute I sold to one of the servants for 8000. It
+is quite a labour to count this money, but I perceive that some persons
+are exceedingly expert at it, and count 5000 in a few minutes. There
+would appear to be always some mistakes made; one case was found to have
+ninety-eight short. This certainly is not much out of 30,000, and when a
+dozen people were counting. The small and large shells are all alike,
+and of the same value. But I shall be able to say more of this money
+afterwards. Thirty thousand of these shells are many pounds in weight,
+and not very conveniently carried about.
+
+I visited some of the principal personages this afternoon, with the
+interpreter of the Sultan. This interpreter is a Shereef, and has been a
+sailor, in which capacity he has seen Malta, and many European
+countries. He is now married to a daughter of the Sultan of Zinder, and
+is established here in the confidence of his father-in-law. It appears,
+then, that even common Moorish sailors make their way in these black
+countries.
+
+The first person we visited was one of the viziers, called Mayaha, a
+native of Damagram, a place one day east, from whence the greater part
+of the population of Zinder is drawn. This personage was sufficiently
+polite. He gave me permission to see the interior of his house, and his
+harem. The harem was full of fine, handsome Haussa slaves, attending on
+his four wives; they were all polished, and apparently clean, lying
+about on the floors of the huts, and in the court-yards, in the most
+strenuous idleness--one cleaning, polishing, and decorating another. One
+was bolder than the rest, and beckoned me to come to her.
+
+This house of this vizier contained many huts of bee-hive shape; one or
+two were built of sun-dried earth, but all were small. Few carpets, or
+even mats, were seen: these people of Zinder are most dearly fond of
+squatting on the naked dust.
+
+Afterwards I visited the Grand Vizier, or Mustapha Gadalina (a title).
+This personage, a man of great age, was polite, but did not permit me to
+enter the interior of his house. We then went to see the
+Commander-in-chief--a funny fellow. He was very civil to us, and to all,
+joking with his soldiers, amidst whom he was squatting. These Zinder
+troops have no arms in their undress, and only wear a loose tobe, with
+bare heads. The General told us he would visit us in the morning.
+
+After a climb to the summit of one of the granite rocks of Zinder to
+have a view of the town, I went to see and hear the drummers hammering
+on their kangas. There were three of them, surrounded by a group of
+Zinder maidens. One fellow had two long drums, very narrow, on which he
+laboured with all his might. The maidens approached the musicians by
+twos, dancing or stepping forward, and retreating with great apparent
+modesty. Whilst I was looking at a couple, one of them ran up to me, and
+struck me lightly with her hand. For this attention I was obliged to
+give her a present of gour-nuts, which are equally current with the
+cowries on such occasions. The drum is the national music of the people
+of Zinder, and they hammer away at it from morning to night. They say
+that in the palace it never ceases all day, beginning at dawn. Perhaps
+it may be esteemed useful in supplying the place of silly conversation.
+
+Very few Tuaricks are to be seen in the streets of this city. They
+rarely show themselves, except on market-days, when they come from their
+houses in the suburbs. Little cordiality exists between them and the
+Binder people. They owe one another, like all neighbouring people, many
+grudges. I jocularly told the commander-in-chief to kill all the
+Tuaricks. He naïvely replied, "I would, but when I attack them they all
+run away!" I am informed by the Moors here the Tuaricks have a wholesome
+dread of the Sheikh, and are on bad terms with the Fullans. They are,
+however, for the most part, friendly with the ancient Kohlans, the
+people of Maradee and Gouber. This accounts for the fact that En-Noor
+always spoke in the most amiable way of these remaining kingdoms of
+Soudan paganism. The town of Zinder is inhabited chiefly by the blacks
+of the Bornouese province of Damagram, who, though speaking the same
+language, are not considered Bornouese. In fact, properly speaking, it
+is situated in that province. The Zinder folks are easily distinguished
+from the natives of Kuka, and those more eastern provinces, by a lighter
+complexion and the smaller breadth of their nostrils.
+
+Zinder has always enjoyed much liberty as a province, though it has
+fallen successively under the influence of Bornou and Haussa princes.
+Anciently it was ruled by the former; then it lapsed to the Haussa
+princes and the Fullans, and finally it was again recovered by Bornou.
+The present prince, Ibrahim, has been sultan twenty-five years. Under
+his rule a rebellion took place against the Sheikh, who removed him,
+made him prisoner, and promoted his brother to the governorship of the
+province. But this new prince also rebelled; upon which the Sheikh came
+with a large force a year ago, and restored the former governor,
+placing, however, several persons here as a check on his authority. I
+have already mentioned the influence of the Shereef of Morocco. But no
+people in the world detest central government so much as the Africans,
+and these rebellions occur yearly and monthly.
+
+The facts which have been mentioned to me connected with the last
+rebellion of Zinder, and its reduction by the Sheikh of Bornou, are
+interesting, as illustrative of the present condition of these
+out-of-the-way countries. The re-conquest proved to be no easy matter,
+and required three months' siege, and sixty thousand men, commanded by
+the Sheikh's best officers and the sultans of the neighbouring
+provinces. When the revolted people had notice of the approach of this
+force, they threw up a wall of earth round the city in the brief space
+of three days only. Even Africans can be energetic when compelled by
+necessity. The siege lasted three months, and many people were killed on
+either side.
+
+Before hostilities commenced the Sheikh sent for the brother of the
+deposed prince, whom he had placed in power at Zinder; but the answer
+was refusal. "If you want money," said the rebel chieftain, "here it is;
+if you want slaves, here they are;--but I will not come to Kuka."
+Ibrahim, the former and present sultan, had meanwhile gone to the
+capital, and covered himself with dust in the presence of the Sheikh,
+and obtained his pardon and the promise of his restoration to power. His
+brother knew this well, and, of course, would not go to the capital. It
+is surprising, however, that the rebellion could hold out so long
+against so large a force; the people of Zinder must be framed for war.
+The Tuaricks during the struggle stood by and looked on. The displaced
+brother is now at Kuka, having there obtained the pardon of the Sheikh.
+He fled to the Tuaricks after the capture of the town.
+
+There are several pretty shady trees scattered through the town of
+Zinder, planted mostly in the gardens of the grandees. The names of
+three of these are, in Bornouese, rimi, jaja, and ilbug.
+
+I have obtained some information on the slave-trade, which I here give
+in its crude shape. Slaves are classed as follows:--
+
+MALES.
+
+1st. Garzab: those who have a beard.
+ 2d. Morhag: those with beard beginning.
+ 3d. Sabaai: those without beard.
+4th. Sadasi: grown children.
+5th. Hhamasi, or children.
+
+
+FEMALES.
+
+Ajouza, old women, not classified.
+1st. Shamalia: those with the breasts hanging down.
+ 2d. Dabukia: those with the breasts plump.
+ 3d. Farkhah: those with little breasts.
+4th. Sadasia: girls, smaller.
+5th. Hhamasiah, or children.
+
+The best of the slaves now go to Niffee, to be there shipped for
+America; they are mostly males, of the class 2d, 3d, 4th, and are
+minutely examined before departure. From all reports, there is an
+immense traffic of slaves that way exchanged against American goods,
+which are driving out of the markets all the merchandise of the north.
+
+
+_Prices:_--I. MALES.
+
+1st. From 10,000 to 15,000 wadâs.
+ 2d.      30,000 and under.
+ 3d.      35,000    "
+4th.      30,000    "
+5th.      20,000    "
+
+II. FEMALES.
+
+1st.  10,000 and under. (Ajouza.)
+ 2d.  80,000    "
+ 3d. 100,000    "
+4th.  40,000    "
+5th.  30,000    "
+6th.  20,000    "
+
+The above are the prices of Kanou; there is sometimes a difference of
+5,000 or 10,000 wadâs. A remark suggested by this list of prices is,
+that the value of human merchandise is determined by its present
+adaptation for consumption. No allowance is made for capability of
+development, intellectual or physical. Slave-drivers and slave-holders
+believe as little in a future here as hereafter.
+
+I give another account of the prices of slaves at the principal markets
+in this part of Africa, and at Smyrna and Constantinople. A good male
+slave is sold, at
+
+Kanou, for 10 or 12 dollars.
+Zinder, the price varies little.
+Mourzuk, for 40 dollars.
+Tripoli, from 60 to 65 dollars.
+Smyrna, 90 to 100 dollars.
+Constantinople, 90 to 100 dollars.
+
+A good female slave is sold, at
+
+Kanou, for 32 dollars.
+Zinder, a little more, or the same.
+Mourzuk, 85 dollars.
+Tripoli, 100 dollars.
+Smyrna, 130 dollars.
+Constantinople, 130 dollars.
+
+This is merely to show the difference of prices at these various places
+of slave traffic, and so enable the reader to form some notion of the
+profits of the commerce.
+
+I am very sorry to hear of the iniquitous manner in which slaves are
+captured for the supply of the north at this present time. It appears
+that, now all these populations are Muslims, it is difficult to get up
+the war-cry of _Kafers!_--"Infidels!" What is then done? The sultan of a
+province foments a quarrel with a town or village belonging to himself,
+and then goes out and carries off all the people into slavery. Thus acts
+the present Sultan of Zinder, and so did his brother during his year of
+administration. To appease the Sheikh of Bornou they send him a portion
+of the spoil. Indeed, the Sheikh countenances the system, so detrimental
+to his interests as a sovereign, and so immoral in its character. The
+brother of the present sultan was accustomed to go out every month, and
+bring in razzias of slaves, particularly to Dura, a country which
+belongs half to the Sheikhs of the Fullans. The real Kerdi people are
+now very distant, and you must go many days' journey if you will catch
+genuine Kafer slaves.
+
+On Friday, Yusuf paid his respects to the Sultan at noon, being the
+Sunday of the Muslims, when visits are made by true believers to the
+princes. He found his highness surrounded by his court, in a cloud of
+dust, which the people raised by throwing it in handfuls upon their
+heads, and thus doing homage to their prince. Yusuf and some other Moors
+obstinately abstained from such a grovelling mode of "rendering to
+Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's," and contented themselves with
+saluting his highness in the Moorish fashion. Yusuf observed, "Our
+religion does not teach this servility." The natives salute their Sultan
+by the cry of "God give you victory!" (i.e. over your enemies.) In
+Soudanee this phrase is "_Allah shàbáka nasara_;" and in Bornouese,
+"_Kábunam sherga!_"
+
+_18th._--I sent letters for Government and my wife _viâ_ Kuka, as
+caravans are expected to leave Bornou for Moursuk about this time. My
+rooms were full of visitors to-day. First came the commander-in-chief,
+Shroma. I showed him all my treasures, portable peepshow, kaleidoscope,
+&c. &c. He was marvellously pleased. I treated him also with sugar, but
+coffee he positively refused as too bitter. He brought with him some
+twenty of his troops and a chosen aide-de-camp. He is just the man for a
+negro commander, full of cunning and address, very active if necessary,
+and on familiar terms with his men, pleasing them by low fun and
+buffoonery. Afterwards came the sons of the Sultan, all of whom I
+treated with sugar and coffee: that is, as many as would venture to
+taste of it. Then followed a host of Fezzan merchants, with the son of
+the Kadi of Kuka--a very nice, pleasant young fellow, who writes pretty
+good Arabic. He is to make out for me the route from Zinder to Kuka.
+
+I afterwards went to the Sultan himself, to show him my treasures, viz.
+peepshows and kaleidoscope. These barbarians are nothing but great
+wilful children. I also took the compass. We entered the interior of the
+building, where we found a number of officers, courtiers and slaves,
+squatted together on the sand, chatting most familiarly on all subjects.
+The building is all made of mud, mixed with large grains of granite.
+They say all the buildings of Bornou are built in the same manner, and
+very few of stone, on account of the rain; for the stone, not being well
+cemented together, falls during the great rains of the tropics.
+
+After we had been kept waiting about half an hour his highness made his
+appearance, the courtiers and slaves throwing dust on their heads,
+prostrating themselves on the ground before him, crying, "God give you
+victory over your enemies!" Whilst the Sultan took his seat upon the
+raised mud-bench, the slaves held up two wrappers or barracans, to
+shield his highness from public view whilst he took his seat. All the
+floor of the apartment was covered with a dense mass of people, and
+amongst the number several Tuaricks, including the Sheikh Lousou, and
+Haj Abdoua, another distinguished Tuarick. Lousou is a tall thin man, of
+light complexion, with European features--a perfect Targhee. His manners
+were very mild, and indeed all this tribe are gentle enough here in a
+foreign country. The Sheikh shook me cordially by the hands. I then
+commenced business as showman to the prince and this mass of people. At
+first his highness was timid, and would not look through the glasses of
+the peepshows, but when the people began he followed, and acquired the
+knack of looking through in a very short time. My compass and watch and
+keys were then all examined, and produced great amusement. What pleased
+him much was the screw by which the compass was stopped. I was
+dreadfully frightened lest the watch should be broken as well as the
+compass, and indeed the former has received some damage: such machines
+should not be handled by these negro grandees.
+
+Whilst this examination was going on, his highness, as if he had little
+time to lose, continued to administer justice. Several cases were
+settled whilst the worthy Sultan was looking through the peepshow and
+kaleidoscope. Among others, a man came forward in great agitation, and
+cried, "O Sultan! my wife will not live with me, and has run away to her
+father. I will give you three bullocks if you will fetch her back and
+make her live with me!" The Sultan smiled, and observed only, "Hem, your
+wife won't live with you! Well, what can I do?" Another man came forward
+and cried, "O Sultan! I am a thief, but you must pardon me. I stole this
+mat because I was a poor man" (holding up the mat). "I restore the mat."
+His highness observed, "Leave it; I will see what can be done." A
+collection of stolen articles was restored also by another person. Then
+came a man more bold, and brought a present from a neighbouring village,
+consisting of two large bowls of ghaseb and a bundle of wood. The man
+made a great clamour, holding up the present. His highness looked at
+him, and said, "Good, good; put them down."
+
+I am told his highness is much feared by all the people of the
+provinces. He has the character of being impartial. But the way in which
+he carries out capital punishment is truly terrible, and beyond
+conception barbarous. He neither hangs nor beheads. This mode of
+punishment is too mild for him. No; he actually cuts open the chest, and
+rips out the heart! or else hangs up people by the heels, and so
+inflicts upon them a lingering death. I am astonished that the Sheikh of
+Bornou permits such barbarity, but imagine that the Sheikh is still
+afraid of his vassal, and shrinks from endeavouring to deprive him of
+this awful power. Here, then, we have a specimen of the negro character,
+with all its contradictions; soft and effeminate in its ordinary moods;
+cheerful, and pleasant, and simple, to appearance; but capable of
+acting, as it were without transition, the most terrible deeds of
+atrocity. Say what you will of the barbarism of the Tuaricks, such a
+mode of inflicting capital punishment is unknown amongst them. I took
+leave of his highness, promising to come again another day and bring
+other things.
+
+This evening we were disturbed by the cries of the hyæna; a large one
+had come down upon the calves belonging to a drove of bullocks, and
+carried off one as big as itself. The brute seizes its prey by the
+throat, and so prevents the animal from giving intelligence to its
+pursuers. The place of execution is near my house, and when the Sultan
+executes any criminal the body is left unburied. At such times, troops
+of hyænas, old and young, come down in the night, from the rocks and
+open country, and devour the body in a few minutes. The jackal does not
+visit this place, but is found in the open country. There are also many
+lions on the road between this and Kuka.
+
+A very simple mode of salutation is prevalent here in Zinder, said to be
+the custom of Wadaï--that of merely clapping the palms of the hand
+together; the hand being held forward flat, not edge-ways.
+
+Gurasu is an interesting Tuarick territory, three days' journey
+north-east from Zinder, and two days from Minyo. This country consists
+of a number of small villages, scattered upon the rocks, or mountains.
+The inhabitants are especially those banditti who, from time to time,
+plunder the caravans on the route from Bornou to Mourzuk. Gurasu is
+seven days from Kanem, and Kanem is three days from the Bornou route.
+Kanem is mostly a desert country, and has now only a few inhabitants.
+
+Gurasu and Damerghou are the only Tuarick countries adjoining the
+provinces of the Sheikh of Bornou, and Gurasu is the last country east
+in this part of Africa. There is but very slight communication between
+it and Zinder; and little is known of the people, except that they are
+Tuaricks.
+
+_19th._--I again entertained visitors, who are still numerous, of all
+classes; and also paid a visit to the Shereef, and took with me the
+kaleidoscope, as he expressed a wish to see its revolving glowing
+beauties.
+
+Zinder is full of half-crazy fighis, who can just write the Arabic
+alphabet. They go about the streets begging piteously, with a calabash
+inkstand and reed-pen in their hands. I have been pestered with two or
+three every day since I came here. They also wander through the country
+parts of Damerghou. Bornou is the nursery of these silly pedagogues, in
+whom learning and madness are most cordially united; but, as I have
+already mentioned, it sends out a few instructed ones to redeem the
+reputation of these ignoramuses.
+
+In the afternoon I went to see the place of execution, and found it
+covered with human bones, the leavings of the hyænas, whose dens are
+close by. Proceeding a little further I came to the Tree of Death! a
+lonely tree springing out of the rocks, some forty or fifty feet in
+height, and of the species called here _kanisa_. My guide would not
+approach it very near, for he assured me that if any person went under
+its boughs, there must instantly come an order from the Sultan to put
+him to death, or hang him heels upwards upon its branches. "Don't you
+see the place is swept clean underneath its boughs? This is done every
+day, and by the executioner alone: no other person dare go there, for if
+he do he must die!" I certainly began to feel sick myself at the recital
+of various horrors perpetrated at this place by the executioner, and
+don't know whether, if any one had offered me some great reward, I would
+have ventured to place my feet upon this accursed spot of mother earth.
+Never in my life did I feel so sick at heart--so revolted at man's
+crimes and cruelties. The tree itself was a true picture of death--a
+tree of dark, impenetrable foliage, with a great head, or upper part
+larger than the lower one, and this head crowned with fifty filthy
+vultures, the ministers of the executioner, which eat the bodies of the
+criminals! The number of executions here performed is very great--some
+two or three hundred in a year. Since we have been here a man has been
+butchered in the night, scarcely a hundred yards from my house; so that
+I am in a pleasant neighbourhood, what with the executions and what with
+the hyænas. The people pretend that for a small offence the Sultan
+inflicts capital punishments: for example, merely speaking bad language.
+
+Turning from these disagreeable scenes, we went to see the dens of the
+hyænas, which are beneath the rocks, extending far under ground. Here
+we saw bones and dung enough. The scavengers of Zinder are, therefore,
+the vultures and hyænas: the former wing the air and dart on their prey
+by day, and the latter prowl the streets by night.
+
+In the evening we refreshed our fancies by witnessing the kanga, or
+drums beating to the dances of the maidens of Zinder. It is always the
+same thing, two or three fellows thumping upon their drums, dancing
+round them occasionally themselves, and the maidens approaching these
+drummers with timid steps. To-night they had a sort of hopping-dance, on
+one leg, keeping time to the beating of the drums. These coy maidens
+soon approached, or rather ran at me, and touched me with the hand; this
+done, they claim the right of a present. It is considered a favour to be
+so distinguished.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+Brother of the Sultan--Trade of Zinder--Prices--The Sarkee drinks
+Rum--Five Cities--Houses of Zinder--Female Toilette--Another Tree of
+Death--Paganism--Severity of the Sultan--Lemons--Barth and
+Overweg--Fire--Brother of the Sarkee--Daura--Shonshona--Lousou--Slaves
+in Irons--Reported Razzia--Talk with the Shereef--Humble
+Manners--Applications for Medicines--Towns and Villages of Zinder--The
+great Drum--Dyers--Tuarick Visits--Rationale of Razzias--Slaves--"Like
+Prince like People"--French in Algiers--The Market--Old Slave--Infamous
+System--Plan of the great Razzia.
+
+
+_Jan. 20th._--I received visits as usual, and one from a younger brother
+of the Sultan, whom I treated with coffee; and I also gave him a cotton
+handkerchief and a ring, so that he went away highly satisfied. He had a
+numerous train, all of whom had a peep at the show and a bit of sugar.
+This brother of the Sultan is a pleasant-looking fellow, a very
+different character from the man in power. He asked for saffron to
+colour charms with; but I had none to give him.
+
+Those who expect to find Zinder a great commercial dépôt will be much
+disappointed. The principal merchants here are the Sheikhs En-Noor and
+Lousou, and the other Tuarick of Asben, whom I have mentioned, called
+Haj Abdoua. Of Zinder merchants there are but two of consequence, the
+Morocco Shereef, Konchai, and Haj Amurmur, a Tibboo. The latter is
+always resident; but Abd-Effeit, or Shereef Konchai, goes abroad and
+trades. Both these are foreigners. There are, besides, a number of small
+traders, Tibboos and Fezzanees, who drive a few hard bargains with the
+Governor. At the present moment his highness has no money. All the
+specie is quickly carried off to Kuka. The Tuaricks have the goods and
+the money, and often make their own prices; but as they always demand
+ready cash, are obliged to wait long before they can dispose of their
+goods. Burnouses alone bring a great profit; for these are sold to
+sultans, who require a credit of several months. I am afraid I shall
+have to give a very poor account of the commerce of this portion of
+Africa, with reference to its being profitable to Europeans. The greater
+part of the goods in Kanou are cheaper than those found in the markets
+of Fezzan, or even Tripoli. The only way in which this commerce pays the
+Moorish merchants is by the purchase of slaves; and this, from casual
+circumstances _en route_, frequently turns out a loss. All the traders
+found on this road are mostly poor fellows, with small capitals: there
+is no equal to Waldee.
+
+Here is a statement of the prices of provisions in the market of
+Zinder:--
+
+An ox, 10,000 wadâs (for riding).
+
+A cow, for food, 8000.
+
+(N.B. Cows only are eaten, bullocks being used for riding and carrying
+burdens.)
+
+A sheep of the first quality, 1500 wadâs.
+
+A goat of the first quality, 1000.
+
+A good fowl, 100.
+
+A horse (of the best kind and condition), 1,000,000.[15]
+
+An ass: he, 8000 wadâs; she, 6000 wadâs.
+
+A zekka of ghaseb: large, 10 wadâs; small, 6 wadâs.
+
+(N.B. When there is but little rain, a zekka of ghaseb consists only of
+two handfuls.)
+
+A pound of samen, 40 wadâs.
+
+A pound of honey, 60 wadâs.
+
+A zekka of wheat, or one handful, 10 wadâs.
+
+A zekka of rice, or about six handfuls, is 20 wadâs.
+
+A canto of salt, of the weight of about a quarter of a cantar, is now
+sold for 1200, because the salt-caravan has just arrived; but after two
+or three months it will fetch 2500 wadâs.
+
+ [15] 83_l._ 6_s._ The price mentioned in a former page, viz.
+      1000,000 wadâs is evidently erroneous.--ED.
+
+His highness the Sultan expressed the most ardent desire to see and make
+himself acquainted with the rum, and other strong drinks of the
+Christians, having heard from his son-in-law and interpreter, the little
+Shereef, that I had a supply of these liquors with me. After resisting
+some time, I delivered up to his highness half a bottle of mastic, with
+which retiring to his innermost chamber, and taking with him his
+son-in-law, he made himself very merry; so much so, that he was unable
+to make his appearance in public or justice-hall all this day.
+
+The immediate territories of Bornou contain five large and important
+capitals, viz. Zinder, which belongs to Haj Beshir, the prime minister.
+
+Mashena, belonging to Mala Ibrahim, second minister.
+
+Minyo, belonging to Abd-Er-Rahman, brother of the Sheikh.
+
+Yumbi, belonging to the mother of the Sultan.
+
+These capitals are the centres of large populations and provinces.
+
+The taxes are appropriated by the various personages to whom they are
+given by the Sheikh, but these personages are expected to give up to his
+highness the greater part of the funds which they derive from them.
+
+_21st._--I made various routes, and got a statement of the principal
+articles of commerce, as current in Zinder and Kanou, Mourzuk and
+Tripoli. I repeat, there is no chance for an English merchant in this
+part of Africa.
+
+The houses of Zinder are mostly built of double matting, but a good
+number have mud walls and thatched roofs. Others are all built of mud.
+There are no nice mosques with minarets. The residence of the Sultan is
+a fort of mud, with walls of some height; it overlooks all the other
+buildings. The Shereef Kebir has also a mud house, with walls of some
+height. There are two principal streets, running from the south to the
+north; one terminating at the castle of the Governor, and the other in
+the market. These are of some width, there being space for a dozen
+camels to pass abreast. There are, besides, many little squares before
+the houses of the grandees, where the people lounge: the streets are
+always full of idle people.
+
+Instead of _suak_, the women used here the calix of a flower, called
+_furai_, for staining their teeth with a deep amber colour. It is the
+fashion for ladies to dress their hair in solid knots, two of which fall
+over the temples, one over the ear, and the other at the back of the
+head. Some of the women have hair tolerably long. I noticed to-day the
+shonshonah of Daura. It consists of two thick cuts, forming an angle at
+the corner of the mouth, with a few small ones on the temples.
+
+I went to see another Tree of Death, where his highness slaughters
+criminals in the same way as mentioned under the other tree. The space
+beneath the boughs is also swept clean. This tree is more spreading, and
+of another sort; it is crowned with the filthy vultures, which roost day
+and night in considerable numbers on its upper branches. Yusuf tells me
+the history of these trees, when the inhabitants were pagans. It was
+under them that the people sacrificed their oxen and sheep to the deity,
+who was supposed to reside in these trees. Scarcely a generation has
+elapsed since this was the case, so that the people may well dread to
+venture where, in the time of old men yet living, sacrifices, some
+perhaps human, were offered up.
+
+The Sheikh is obliged to keep a tight hand over the inhabitants of
+Zinder, to prevent them from lapsing into paganism. His father made them
+Muslims, and he holds them to the profession of Islamism.
+
+No news from Tesaoua respecting the four persons who were sent to bring
+Drs. Barth and Overweg first to Bornou, before they went to Soudan. I
+have had several patients, but ophthalmia does not prevail here as in
+Damerghou.
+
+A constant succession of visitors troubled me all day long. Another son
+of the Sultan came this morning--quite a young man--and a dozen of boys
+from the palace, some sons of the Sultan, and others of his ministers. I
+gave them all a little piece of white sugar, and sent them off. This is
+the cheapest present.
+
+I am told that all the Tuaricks are dreadfully afraid of the Sultan of
+Zinder, for whenever his highness catches an offender, let him be of
+what tribe of Tuaricks he may, he cuts off his head with as much
+unconcern as a poulterer of Leadenhall market does that of a goose.
+
+I hear now that, since the dispersion of the Walad Suleiman, the route
+of Bornou, from Kuka to the Tibboos, is quite secure.
+
+Some lemons have been brought to me, equal in flavour, though small, to
+those of the north coast. In Soudan they are marvellously cheap; ten are
+sold at Kanou for the fiftieth part of a penny, viz. one wadâ; for the
+same single wadâ forty can be had at Kashna. There are forests of
+lemon-trees in Soudan.
+
+The news has arrived from the salt-caravan, that Barth says that he will
+not return even if they threaten to cut his throat. En-Noor is at
+Tesaoua, and says they should return; but the salt-caravan is distant
+from him, and the communication between the two places is difficult.--I
+had scarcely written these words when the four people sent to bring back
+Drs. Barth and Overweg returned without them, and brought letters from
+my colleagues, each one stating that he should continue his journey as
+previously determined. Ferajee, one of the messengers, pretends that
+En-Noor is going with Overweg to Maradee; which is very unlikely. Dr.
+Barth seems very angry, but his comrade takes matters more easily.
+
+The Shereef Kebir is said to be the only person who has money in Zinder.
+This man monopolises all the power and all the money. I do not know how
+long this will last, but I should think it will soon make both the
+Sultan and the people of Zinder disaffected. As it is, all the merchants
+of Zinder are foreigners, and so have the disposal of all the goods most
+coveted by the blacks, who have only the ghaseb and the cattle.
+
+_22d._--The morning is hazy and mild, the thermometer standing at 57°.
+
+A fire broke out close to us early this morning, and two or three huts
+were immediately consumed. However, the people quenched the flames in a
+very short time. I wonder half the town is not burnt down every now and
+then. Visitors pour in upon me as soon as I am up and dressed; and some
+patients likewise.
+
+The brother of the present Sarkee of Zinder, who ruled a year in Zinder,
+is called Tanimu. He has a great military reputation, and is a brave
+man. During his administration he razzied no less than thirty countries.
+Daura, or Dura, was the principal theatre of his exploits. This Daura is
+a country consisting of about a thousand towns and villages; four
+hundred belonging to the Fullans, and six hundred to the Sheikh of
+Bornou. The Fullanee Sultan is called Mohammed Bello, and he of the
+Sheikh, Sofo Lukudi. The nearest place in Daura is not more than one day
+S.W. of Zinder. The people of the country are remarkably expert in the
+use of the bow and arrow; and their arrows are very strong, piercing
+through, as the people say, _three_ boxes, and afterwards killing a man.
+The wound of these arrows is fatal, the flesh of the smitten part rising
+up immediately into an enormous swelling. The brother of the present
+Sarkee brought in hundreds of slaves from Daura, the people at the same
+time having risen against the authority of the Sheikh.
+
+The blacks of Kanou--not the Fullans--do not scarify their faces like
+their neighbours. The form of the shonshona of Zinder and its provinces
+is four cuts on each side the cheek, but not drawn very near the corner
+of the mouth; that is, rather towards the ears. In Tumbi and Gumel,
+provinces of Bornou, they draw four on the left side of the cheek and
+five on the right side; the cuts not drawn very near either the corner
+of the mouth or the ears. Maradee and Kashna have six cuts on each side
+of the cheek, drawn from the top of the ears down to the corner of the
+mouth. Gouber has four small cuts close to the corner of the mouth. The
+people of the Sheikh of Bornou have two small cuts drawn down the face,
+under each eyelid, and one in the forehead, between the eyes. Even Mekka
+has its shonshona. One of the shereefs here in Zinder, who was born in
+that holy city, has three small cuts on each side his face, drawn down
+the fleshy part of the cheek. It is only in Mekka that the shonshona is
+seen. The other countries of Arabia do not use this disfigurement.[16]
+
+ [16] Many Egyptians, men and women, practise tattooing; and if I
+      mistake not, I have seen evidences of the existence of the
+      practice mentioned in the text in some parts of Egypt.--ED.
+
+The Sheikh Lousou sent his slave to salute me on his part. They say,
+that had we been committed to his care, he would not have fleeced us
+like En-Noor. But I almost question if he would have been strong enough
+to protect us. I observe, again, that all the Tuaricks are well behaved
+in Zinder, and have a wholesome dread of the Sheikh.
+
+Many of the domestic slaves in Zinder are constantly ironed, for fear
+they should run away to the neighbouring towns and villages. The poor
+people live just like convicts. It is only when they are taken to Kuka,
+or to a great distance, that their irons are struck off.
+
+The report is now current in Zinder, that the Sarkee is going, in the
+course of seven or eight days, to razzia some neighbouring place in the
+direction of Daura. They say, even, that he will not scruple to razzia
+some of the villages of Meria if necessary; that is to say, a part of
+the province of Zinder. My informants observed merely, "Oh, he must have
+slaves to pay his debts; and as the largest fish eat the little fish, so
+the great people eat the small people." Thus the protection of Islamism
+is now come to nothing, and the cry is,--"To the razzia!" without
+mentioning even the name of Kafer or Kerdi. In the end this will retard
+the progress of Mahommedanism; for the blacks see that it is now no
+protection for them against their more powerful neighbours and their
+periodical razzias.
+
+I visited several personages this afternoon; first, the Shereef Kebir,
+with whom I ate some broiled fish brought from a neighbouring lake, and
+some fine Bilma dates, soaked in milk. I asked him how it was that the
+Sheikh committed to the governors or sultans of the provinces the awful
+power of life and death. "Oh," replied he, "the Sheikh has given them
+this power that he might not be bothered with their reports about
+criminals. It is far better to finish quick with these people." Where
+there are periodical razzias the sacredness of human life is unknown,
+and the Shereef has been, besides, many years in the camp of
+Abd-el-Kader, where a good deal of sanguinary work was carried on. He
+thought it, therefore, quite right that the Sheikh should not fatigue
+his sovereign conscience by deciding on the lives of criminals and other
+suspected persons, and that the sooner they were hung or slaughtered the
+better.
+
+From the Shereef I passed on to the brother of the Sultan, a young man
+of mild manners. I entered the inner part of the house, where were the
+women. Verily the Zinder people have a strange love of dust, dirt, and
+bare mud walls. In the two or three beehive huts which I explored, there
+was not a single article of furniture, nor a mat to lie down upon. The
+brother of the Sultan was sitting by his sister, and both on the dust of
+the ground, without a mat. I am told, however, that they sleep on mats
+and skins, which are, indeed, cheap enough; two or three pence, or two
+or three hundred wadâs, would purchase a good one. The sister of the
+Sultan was coloured well with indigo, the dark blue of which replaces
+the yellow ochre of the ladies of fashion in Aheer. This Zinder lady had
+also the end of the tufts of her hair--I cannot call them curls--formed
+into clayey sticks of macerated indigo. For the rest, she had little
+clothing, her arms and bust being quite bare. All the other ladies with
+her were coloured in like fashion, and had their hair dressed in a
+similar manner.
+
+Afterwards I visited an old Tripoline Mamluke, who has been up here
+twenty-two long years. He came alone, and has now a household of
+twenty-eight persons, including wives, children, and slaves. He is
+called Mohammed El-Wardi, knew Dr. Oudney, and even mentioned his name,
+recollecting it after so many years. He knew also the other travellers.
+Some of his family are in Kuka.
+
+Various applications are made me for remedies to avert certain evils,
+and one man applied for a means to make him sell his goods quick: this
+was a Tibboo trader.
+
+It would appear that some of the routes from Zinder to neighbouring
+places are not very safe; that from this place to Kanou, even, is
+somewhat dangerous for small parties, there being woods on the road, in
+which lurk banditti, who lie in wait for unprotected caravans. With good
+travelling, Kanou is only eight or ten days from Zinder, and Kashna four
+or five. It is not easy to get the route here by hours, for the people
+are ignorant of this way of reckoning the routes. By days, something may
+be done.
+
+The Moorish merchants resident here pretend that the territory of Zinder
+contains no less than two thousand _belad_, or inhabited spots, towns,
+villages, and hamlets, and some of these are large towns--as large, or
+larger, than Zinder. Damagram is a populous place, more so than Zinder;
+but the whole of the province of Zinder has this name, the people being
+all Damagrama. The town of Damagram was once the capital of the
+province. The large towns are:--
+
+Damagram, one day and a-half south-east.
+Dakusa, five hours south.
+Termeni, three hours south.
+Washa, two days and a-half west.
+Goshi, two days east.
+Bidmuni, one day east.
+Andera, one day east.
+Jegana, one day south.
+Jermo, one day south.
+Guria, one-half day west.
+Meria, six hours south-east.
+Konchai, one day and a-half west.
+Gorgahn, one-half hour.
+Mageria, two days south-west.
+Fatram, two days south.
+Dalladi, six hours north.
+
+All these are towns, some larger than Zinder.
+
+I expect to see the great drum brought here, and to hear it beaten. It
+has led the people of Zinder to the razzia during the time of twelve
+sultans. The drummer, when he beats the drum in leading on the people to
+the razzia, repeats the perpetual chorus of _Jatau chi geri_--"The red
+(Sultan) eats up the country." He is afraid to mention the name of the
+Sultan, and so repeats the word red, as distinguishing royalty; but
+whether in the same way as purple distinguished the Roman emperors, or
+because kings delight in blood, does not appear.
+
+I went to see the process of indigo dyeing. The dyers bore circular pits
+of about fifteen or twenty feet deep, and three feet in diameter, in
+which they throw the things to be dyed, and leave them there. The pits
+are full of the dye, produced by the leaves and the seed of the plant
+called _nila_, sodden in water. They dye tobes and raw cotton, and
+cotton twist; the work is carried on in the open air. About thirty
+people were employed at the pits which I saw. They also prepare indigo
+in a better way than what I saw at these pits.
+
+_23d._--I have not quite done with the Tuaricks, and had many visitors
+of that tribe to-day; amongst the rest, our old friends and robbers,
+Ferajee and Deedee. I told Ferajee I had my boxes full of gold and
+silver, and asked him to buy. He replied, "Ah, el-Consul did not say so
+in Asben; he said _babo_ (there is none)!" At this, all our visitors
+burst out in a roaring laugh. I rejoined, "Oh, no, Ferajee; because I
+was then amongst thieves and robbers." (Continued laughter.) I went to
+see the souk;--everybody was very civil;--no calling Kafer!--Tuaricks
+all as still as mice.
+
+I called upon the Shereef Kebir, and drank with him tea and coffee,
+which he makes in Magrabi fashion, putting the sugar in the tea-pot. I
+observed, "How is this? I hear the Sultan is going soon on a razzia."
+Somewhat disconcerted, he replied, _Allah yâlem!_--"God teaches!" After
+some time, he explained that the Sheikh left his vassals great liberty
+in this matter; that the Sultan of Zinder was permitted to go to Daura
+and eat up the Kohlans, but not the Fullans, between whom and the Sheikh
+there was peace: that is to say, the Fullans were not to be made slaves,
+but the Kohlan subjects of the Fullans might be captured. The Sheikh was
+not friendly to Maradee, and wished the Sultan of Zinder to attack that
+country; but the Sarkee was a friend of Maradee, and would not, &c. &c.
+So it is quite clear these Sarkees, or at any rate the one in Zinder,
+have great latitude of action. After hesitating still more about these
+razzias, the Shereef said, "Oh, you see the strong devour the weak;
+there are no regular governments here."
+
+In the souk to-day, it was proved beyond all doubt that the Zinder
+people sell themselves into foreign slavery. Many of the slaves for sale
+had the Zinder scarified marks on their faces. There were also specimens
+from Maradee. Slaves are sent from Zinder to Niffee. Indeed, it now
+appears that all this part of Africa is put under contribution to supply
+the South American market with slaves.
+
+Zinder is considered within the circle of Soudan, and not to be Bornou,
+but only a Bornouese province. The Sheikh has in this province several
+Tuarick subjects, i.e. Tuaricks settled in the Zinder provinces.
+
+The souk to-day was full of people, but goods of value were wanting.
+Indeed, Zinder is now a poor place. Only the foreigners have any at
+their command. The Sarkee is at this moment desperately poor, and is
+going on this approaching razzia to raise money to satisfy his
+creditors. Verily, this _is_ a "new way to pay old debts."
+
+I heard a curious explanation of the reason why the people of Zinder do
+not use mats or skins to lie down upon in the daytime. It is said they
+are afraid, because the Sarkee does not use them, and they must not
+display a luxurious taste not practised by their prince. This is the
+explanation of the Shereef and the little court of Arabs and Moors by
+which he is surrounded. "Like people like prince" is a proverb which I
+think I have heard.
+
+The Shereef told me this morning that he had made war with France, in
+Algeria, fourteen years, and he had been a prisoner of the French seven
+months. He said the French were people without religion, or faith in
+their words and promises, and could not be trusted. He showed me his
+French passport. However, he seems to have soon forgotten his troubles
+in Algeria, and is quiet now. He writes well, and has received a good
+education. His country is one day east of Tetuan, in the Rif mountains.
+He is likely to be very useful to the Sheikh in Zinder.
+
+I visited the souk again in the evening, and made a few small purchases
+of curiosities; but there are very few things to be got in this market,
+and those mostly come from Kanou. What things are made here are of the
+rudest manufacture.
+
+I passed the slave-market, and was greatly shocked to see a poor old
+woman for sale amongst the rest of human beings. She was offered for six
+thousand wadâs, about ten shillings in English money. It is quite
+impossible to conjecture of what use such a poor old creature can be.
+The Shereef Kebir made a present of a little boy to Saïd of Haj Beshir
+this evening. The poor little fellow looked very pitiful. He was stolen
+from Daura. He has only one cheek marked with the shonshona, because his
+mother lost all the children which she bare before him; and the custom
+is, when a mother thus loses her children, to scarify only one cheek.
+
+The mode of supplying the slave-markets of the north and south is truly
+nefarious, and perhaps surpasses all the wickedness of the Tuaricks. The
+Sarkee of Zinder wants gour-nuts, and has no money to purchase them; he
+sends his servants or officers to a neighbouring village, and they steal
+in open day two or three families of people, and bring them to the
+Sarkee. These poor wretches are immediately exchanged for the gour-nuts.
+A boy steals some trifling articles--a few needles; he is forthwith sold
+in the souk; and not only he, but "if the Sarkee wants money," his
+father and mother, brothers and sisters: and "if the Sarkee is very much
+pressed for money," his familiars search for the brothers of the father,
+and all their relations. Indeed, crime is a lucrative source of supply
+for the prince, and what his vengeance spares from the executioner is
+sold into foreign slavery.
+
+In the approaching razzia, the Sarkee is expected to take the common
+route of Daura, and carry off the villagers subjected to the Sheikh;
+for, contrary to the opinion of the Shereef Kebir, the Sarkee will not
+attack the Kohlans, who are the subjects of the Fullan, but the _bonâ
+fide_ subjects of the Sheikh. He will probably bring back one thousand
+slaves or captives. He will send two hundred to the Sheikh, with such a
+message as this:--"I have eaten up the Kafers of Daura; here is your
+offering of two hundred Kafers." Should the Sheikh receive a
+remonstrance from the Bornou governor of Daura, that the Sarkee of
+Zinder has come upon him and carried off Muslims, his subjects, he will
+shut his ears. In all these razzias the lesser chiefs act an important
+part, and each gets a share. A chief who fights under the Sarkee
+captures fifty slaves, and gives up to the Sarkee twenty-five or thirty,
+keeping the rest for himself and people.
+
+If a single undistinguished man captures five, the Sarkee gets two of
+the five; another captures two, the Sarkee gets one, and the captor one.
+So all have a common interest in these nefarious razzias, and all start
+off with the utmost glee to capture their neighbours, their brethren,
+and to sell them into bondage. The Sarkee of Zinder will take with him
+about five thousand cavalry and thirty thousand foot (bowmen), drawn
+from these portions of the provinces against which the razzia is not now
+directed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Family of the Sarkee--Converted Jew--Hard Dealings--How to get rid of a
+Wife--Route to Tesaoua--Influence of Slavery--Prices of Aloes and
+Silk--Medicine for a Merchant--Departure of the Sarkee for the
+Razzia--Encampment--Mode of Fighting--Produce of Razzias--Story of the
+Tibboo--Sheikh Lousou--Gumel--Superstitions--Matting--Visit
+of Ladies--The Jew--Incendiaries--Hazna--Legend of Zinder
+Well--Kohul--Cousin of the Sheikh--Female Sheikh--State of the
+Country--Salutations.
+
+
+_Jan. 24th._--The thermometer stood last night at 74° after dark. This
+morning it is, as usual, about 56°. The weather is still hazy; but the
+town is remarkably healthy, and there are very few cases of fever at the
+present time. Zinder, by the people, is said to be always cool.
+
+His highness the Sarkee of Zinder is a prince of true African and
+Asiatic calibre. He has three hundred wives, one hundred sons, and fifty
+daughters; but his women are not prisoners in a harem. His wives and
+daughters are seen about the streets walking alone, and the daughters
+are given in marriage to the grandees of the court. His wives, likewise,
+are often found with paramours outside the palace.
+
+I went to see a Jew who has been some time resident in Zinder. This Jew
+is one of those three who came to Mourzuk with Abd-el-Galeel, and after
+his death turned Muslims, and came up to Soudan and Bornou. He is called
+Ibrahim. The one now in Tesaoua, and who is going with Overweg to
+Maradee, is Mousa; and the other is called Isaac. The Moors put no faith
+in the conversion of these Jews: they say, "These men are always Jews in
+their hearts; they turned Muslims on speculation." It is certain that
+they got handsome presents at Mourzuk from the credulous believers. Of
+others, the Moors say they became Muslims to prevent the Tuaricks from
+killing them. I asked Ibrahim how he passed the Tuarick countries, and
+was informed that the Ghâtees treated him the worst. They swore he was
+not a Muslim, but still a Jew, and demanded one hundred dollars from him
+to pass. He got off with fifty; whilst to the Aheer people he paid about
+twenty dollars. A Christian or a Jew must never think he will be able to
+save his money, or, much less, his credit, by apostatising, for these
+Tuaricks will always swear his conversion is sham, however real it may
+be. He will always have to pay the same money, whether he keep his
+religion or sell it for the chance of saving his worthless gold and
+silver.
+
+All these Jews, however, seem to have thriven in their apostasy. Ibrahim
+of Zinder is worth about six or seven thousand dollars, and, besides
+being a working-jeweller, is a merchant. I tried to exchange some of my
+imitation rings for his silver ones, but it was useless. He had the
+conscience to demand thirty of my nicely-made rings for one of his
+trumpery, ill-made silver ones--silver with a very bad alloy. Then he
+wanted a pretty cotton-print handkerchief for a miserable silver bead.
+With such people it is impossible to strike a bargain. These Barbary
+Jews are the hardest and most tricky dealers in the world. Ibrahim has
+been laid up with a bad leg for five months, and intends going to Kuka
+when he gets better. He wanted me to sell him some mastic, but I
+refused. He said he wished to have one jolly day, but the fellow is
+almost a skeleton with his ulcerous leg.
+
+The Shereef Saghir is quite a character. He has been over the greater
+part of the world, and along the Indian coast--has seen the English in
+India, and the Christians in many ways and manners; and so is free from
+all sort of fanaticism. He wants now to return with me to England. He
+says--Soudan is _bâtal_ (worthless), and that if he take his wife, the
+daughter of the Sarkee of Zinder, with him to the north coast, he will
+sell her, and so finish his connexion with the negroes! I forgot to
+mention that Ibrahim has brought with him a Muslim wife from Mourzuk,
+and has now two or three black wives, and several children.
+
+From the courier who came from Dr. Overweg I have obtained the following
+account of the route from Zinder to Tesaoua:
+
+From Zinder direct west to Tus, 1 hour; village: to Termini, 5 hours;
+village: to Dambidda, 1 hour; a large village: to Babul, 5 hours;
+village: to Gumda, 4 hours; village: to Kurnaua, 4 hours; village: to
+Garagumsa, 5 hours; village: to Shabari, 7 hours; village: to Maizirgi,
+1 hour; large village: to Tesaoua, 5 hours.
+
+Along this route there is abundance of herbage and trees, but no running
+water or wadys. There are wells of great depth. The distances between
+the various villages being in all, when summed up, thirty-eight hours,
+we must consider the whole length of the route three long and four short
+days' journey, as the caravans generally arrive on the fourth day.
+
+Slavery is the curse of all these countries. My Soudan servant, Amankee,
+would not come with me to Zinder, on account of his longing desire to
+see his mother and brother and sisters; and yet, although these feelings
+are deep in the bosoms of all the blacks, they can see their neighbours
+torn away from their houses and carried off in irons with the greatest
+indifference. The slaves of the Sarkee of Zinder are double-ironed, like
+convicts, and in this condition jump through the streets, for they
+cannot walk. The backs of these poor slaves are all ulcerated with the
+strokes of the whip.
+
+I received a visit this morning from the Jew Ibrahim. After a good deal
+of wrangling I exchanged three handkerchiefs for three beads of silver,
+but one of the beads I made him a present of. I was much surprised to
+hear from him that the aloe wood, _aoud el-Komari_, sold in Bornou for
+its equal weight in silver. He also stated that twelve rubtas of raw
+silk sold for one real in Mourzuk and Zinder, whilst fifteen could be
+purchased in Kauou for the same money. What will become of the goods of
+the Germans?
+
+En-Noor's wife, Fatia, sent this morning for medicine to enable her to
+bring forth a child. I maliciously recommended to her a younger husband.
+A Tibboo has continued to pester me to death for a medicine to make him
+profit in his mercantile transactions. To get rid of him, being in a
+merry mood, I scribbled over a piece of paper, and he swallowed it. A
+great number of people come for medicines who are not sick. I generally
+content myself with a bare refusal, explaining that there is no
+necessity; but there is nothing so difficult as to convince a man that
+he is well when once he has persuaded himself of the contrary.
+
+The Sarkee went out this morning to his razzia and does not return for
+some days, so I shall not be able to take leave of his highness. The
+gossips persist in saying that he is dreadfully in want of money, and
+must go out to bring in some slaves to pay his debts. He was attended by
+about one thousand cavalry, and a good number of maharees. He is gone
+southwards. They report that he is indeed gone to Daura, but nothing is
+known positively as to whether he will capture the Sheikh's subjects or
+those of the Fellatahs. The Sarkee, on a former occasion, captured a
+great many people belonging to Germal, one of the Sheikh's provinces,
+and an order was forthwith sent to him to restore them to their homes
+and lands. He was compelled to comply. Besides slaves, the Sarkee will
+bring in bullocks and horses; but the sheep taken are eaten by the
+troops of the razzia. His highness is expected to gather an army of 2000
+horse, and 10,000 on foot, besides camels for provisions and water, when
+completed. The plan and route of the expedition are kept a profound
+secret, so that the army will fall upon the unsuspecting population by
+surprise.
+
+After about three or four hours' ride the Sarkee usually encamps, and a
+souk, or market, is opened at the camp for provisions. "There are no
+women with the _yaki_ (or army of razzia), the men cook and do all the
+work," says my informant. At night the Sultan calls round him his chosen
+troops, and distributes gour-nuts, and makes presents of provisions. He
+then sleeps a few hours, and probably starts at midnight, or as soon as
+the moon rises. A slave, a soldier of the Sarkee, who has been to a
+hundred razzias, tells me, that three years ago this Sarkee went to
+attack him of Daura in his capital. On arriving before the town the army
+of Zinder set fire to all the ghaseb stubble and the garden-trees around
+it. This done, they commenced a regular battle with the besieged. The
+fight continued till night, when the Sarkee of Daura fled. The Zinder
+people carried off a large booty: the share of the Sultan alone was nine
+hundred.
+
+This freebooting prince does not fight himself, but sits down at a
+distance from his troops and overlooks their conduct and manoeuvres; his
+generals command and lead on the attack, whilst a body-guard surrounds
+the sacred person of the monarch. On the occasion referred to, this
+body-guard was covered with mattrass-stuffing to shield off the terrible
+arrows of the Daura people. The greater part of the troops of Zinder
+have only a spear; a few have shields and swords, but none have muskets.
+All the Daura people have bows and arrows. There are numbers of petty
+traders here waiting for the booty of this razzia, and some of the
+creditors of the Sarkee went this morning to wish him God speed. I am
+glad I did not go out to see him start on such a nefarious expedition.
+It appears, however, that we are not to leave for Kuka until the return
+of the army. They intimate that a portion of the spoil will be sent with
+us to the great Sheikh of Bornou: so that after all, however unwilling,
+we shall seem to countenance this bloody work.
+
+_26th, Sunday._--We have still to remain here another week at least, so
+I must make what use I can of the time of this delay, caused by the
+nefarious razzia, now in course of operation. In the extravagant manner
+that this government of Zinder conducts its affairs, it can only support
+itself by periodical expeditions of this kind. There is one Fez merchant
+here, to whom the Sarkee owes four millions of wadâs, or about two
+thousand reals of Fezzan; and other creditors claim in a like
+proportion. Now, indeed, we begin to understand how the slave-markets of
+quasi-civilised countries are supplied by the surplus produce of these
+expeditions.
+
+The route from Aghadez to the country of Sidi Hashem, now governed by
+his son, is three days' journey, and from the country of Sidi Hashem to
+Wadnoun, three days: there is also a route of five days, a little more
+direct; and the route direct from Aghadez to Wadnoun is four days'
+journey.
+
+The story of the Tibboo is going the round of the town, and becoming the
+daily gossip. This story has now assumed a substantial historical shape.
+The facts are, as I have already intimated, that the Tibboo persecuted
+me to give him a medicine to enable him to trade with profit. I
+scribbled over a bit of paper, cut in the shape of a dollar, the number
+10,000 dollars, and told him to swallow it, and afterwards to bring it
+me in the same state. The price for this was a fowl. He swallowed the
+paper, and went off to get the fowl. Not succeeding in the souk, he went
+to the Shereef Kebir, and requested him to give him a fowl for a sick
+person. The Shereef gave him what he asked, and the Tibboo brought it to
+me. This story since has been greatly embellished at the expense of the
+Tibboo, and affords infinite amusement to the Moorish and Arabic
+merchants of Zinder.
+
+I have just noticed some sable ladies, with their hair all twisted into
+three or four great points--vain attempts at curls. The back parts are
+all covered with a paste of indigo. The hair is well dressed, and free
+from any woolly appearance.
+
+Yesterday the Sheikh Lousou paid me a visit. I presented him with a loaf
+of sugar, and a cotton handkerchief. He received them with manifest
+pleasure, and promised to write a letter to the Queen, that, in the
+event of other English people or Europeans passing through the Tuarick
+country of Aheer, he would render them all the protection in his power.
+Lousou is esteemed by some persons as great a man as En-Noor in Zinder,
+but this estimation is exceedingly out of place. Lousou could give
+protection to European travellers and merchants, but not in an equal
+degree to En-Noor. As he is a younger man than En-Noor, however, it is
+desirable to secure his friendship, and, if possible, that of the
+Sarkee. Lousou wore the bag of camphor which I gave him, showing it to
+me with great satisfaction.
+
+According to the information of a slave of the Sarkee, Gumel is a large
+Bornouese province, the capital of which is Tumbi: the Sultan's name is
+Dan-Tanoma. Gumel is one day and a-half from Zinder, but the capital is
+three days by horse and five days by camel travelling. Gumel has twelve
+great officers. Bundi is a large province of Bornou, the capital of
+which is Galadima: the Sultan's name is Kagami. Galadima is three days
+from Zinder. Aoud, a large place, is one day from Galadima. Alamaigo,
+also a large village or town, is half a day from Galadima. Meria, is
+three days from Galadima, and three from Zinder.
+
+According to strict Muslims, it is a sin to write Jebel Mekka, "the
+mountain of Mekka." I have lately noticed several instances of
+superstition. A Moor of Fezzan, to whom I gave a small portion of
+camphor, showed me the paper and piece of cotton cloth in which he had
+wrapped it up, and swore that during the night the ginns, or evil
+spirits, had eaten it. Many other Moors asked me if it was possible to
+preserve camphor from the ginns? They said they knew a man who one
+evening locked up a piece of this substance in an iron box, and in the
+morning it was gone; the ginns had eaten it.
+
+I went to see the manufacture of the matting which is used for making
+houses. There were thirty slaves at work, all belonging to one man; over
+these were three masters (also slaves), to keep them at their task. They
+certainly did not hurry themselves, and very few people hurry themselves
+in this country. These slaves were all Hazna, or pagans. The Sarkee of
+Zinder, besides Tuaricks, has many pagan subjects. Some of the blacks, I
+was surprised to see, had breasts as full and plump as many women. In
+other respects these pagans do not differ from their Muslim brethren.
+The matting is woven thirty or forty feet long, and eight feet broad,
+and is used to enclose a cluster of huts. It is all doubly-woven. I gave
+each of them a small looking-glass, having nothing else to dispose of.
+
+According to a Moor here, the land revenues of Zinder are divided into
+three portions; one of which goes to the Sarkee, one to the Sheikh, and
+one to the Bashaw. This is the new arrangement. The Sarkee makes up his
+accounts, or fills up his exchequer by razzias.
+
+_27th._--The weather continues mild, but thick. The thermometer now
+stands at about 60° at sunrise. The people are mostly healthy. We do not
+hear of cases of fever, or any other periodical complaints. As soon as
+up, I received a visit from a number of old ladies, who came to see the
+Christian, and to bring him a bowl of milk. One of them had been the
+nurse of the Sultan of Zinder; so that I was bound to feel duly honoured
+by this attention.
+
+Everybody now says the Sarkee will return in the course of five days,
+and besides slaves, will bring store of cattle and horses, the spoils of
+the poor people. I certainly never heard of a more iniquitous
+expedition, for it is believed he has gone against the pacific and loyal
+subjects of the Sheikh--not tribes or villages under another power.
+
+I went to visit the renegade Jew Ibrahim. I had prescribed a regimen for
+him, to assist in the cure of his bad foot, but yet he had done nothing.
+These kind of people are most eager to get prescriptions, but very lax
+in following them. Probably in secret they expect a magical cure, and
+have no confidence in any specific less expeditious than the waving of a
+wand. I repeated everything again to him, without expecting compliance.
+It is, however, cheap to express condolence in this manner.
+
+The streets are almost deserted; only a few beggars and poor people show
+themselves about. There was a fire last night in the market-place, said
+to be the work of an incendiary. The thieves here set fire to the huts,
+and profit in the confusion by carrying off the goods and chattels of
+the alarmed; as, indeed, they do in London and other cities of Europe.
+The devices of roguery are marvellously monotonous.
+
+In the forenoon I received a visit from the Iman of the mosque of
+Zinder. I asked about the Hazna, or pagans, thinking to get a little
+information; but I only learnt what I knew before, that the Hazna make
+their offerings, which consist, of milk and ghaseb, under trees. These
+Hazna are mostly peasants--little farmers; and, like Cain, they offer to
+their deity the fruits of the earth. The Iman said their deity was
+Eblis, or the Devil; an accusation commonly bandied between rival
+creeds. He informed me, also, that there are a good number of Hazna in
+both Zinder and the other towns and villages of the province. He
+despaired of their ever becoming Muslims, but added, "The great men
+amongst them must become Muslims by order of the Sheikh, whilst the poor
+people are left to do as they please, and so furnish a constant supply
+for the home and foreign slave-mart. It is not the interest of the
+Sarkee or the foreign merchants that they should become Muslims."
+
+I have heard of the names of two other Tuarick tribes, viz. the
+Ezzaggeran, near Gouber, and the Daggera, near Minyo, belonging to the
+Tuarick country of Gurasu. These, apparently, are fractions of tribes.
+
+I register the following legend, which seems to imply that Zinder, like
+many of the towns of this part of Africa, is of comparatively modern
+origin.
+
+Twenty years ago there was a fine spring of water bubbling from under
+the largest granite rock of Zinder. It was this spring which first
+attracted a population to settle here. Suleiman, father of the present
+Sarkee, one day harangued the people, and told them, "This water is not
+necessary for us; the Sheikh of Bornou will hear of this prey, and come
+and take our country from us. Now let us fetch a fighi, who shall write
+a talisman; and we will put this talisman upon the mouth of the spring,
+and with it a large stone, and the water of the spring shall immediately
+dry." The people consented to this; the charm was written and thrown
+into the spring, and the stone was rolled on to its mouth; since which
+the spring has in reality ceased to flow.
+
+The population of Zinder is now supplied with water from three wells,
+about half an hour distant from the spring, now dry. Upon the stone over
+this dried spring are several marks, like the footprints of camels and
+horses. Other people add, "the marks of a man when he kneels down to
+pray."
+
+The Shereef Kebir says, that Lousou brought a piece of magnetic iron to
+him, which he sent to Haj Beghir in Kuka. Lousou reports that there is
+an abundance of magnetic iron in Aheer. Kohul is very cheap in the
+market of Zinder. In Kanou it can be had for ten reals (Fezzan) the
+cantar; and in Yakoba, whence it is brought, for three reals. There is a
+whole rock of kohul in Yakoba, the property of the Sultan. The Fellatahs
+rule Yakoba as well as Adamowa. They are still very powerful in all this
+part of Africa. Individual Fellatahs have as many as five thousand
+slaves, who work partly for their masters and partly for themselves.
+
+I visited this evening Sidi Bou Beker Weled Haj Mohammed Sudani, cousin
+of the Sheikh of Bornou. He was surrounded with all the objects of
+Bornou luxury,--carpets, guns, pistols, swords, umbrellas, &c. &c. He
+was busy looking over a book containing an explanation of dreams, with a
+vastly-knowing mâlem. They both made pretensions to great learning. In
+other respects, the cousin of the Sheikh was very affable. He said,
+Bornou is the only good country hereabouts. All the rest are full of
+fever or bandits. "There were two English," he observed, "came to us (in
+Bornou), and were very well until they went to Soudan, where they died."
+These persons were Oudney and Clapperton. I told him I must return by
+way of Wadaï, which he disapproved of. I added, that Abbas Pasha would
+write to Darfour and Wadaï, to give me protection. He then said, "Oh, if
+the Sheikh writes to Wadaï, you can go in safety."
+
+This cousin of the Sheikh is a great merchant, and comes backwards and
+forwards to Zinder from Kuka.
+
+_28th._--The nights are still rather cool, but the days not so. The
+weather continues heavy, with a south-east wind. I went to the cousin of
+the Sheikh to administer to him a dose of Epsom salts. I have often been
+surprised to see how greedily these people drink off this nauseous
+medicine, and smack their lips as if it was something excessively
+delicious.
+
+Afterwards I had a visit from a great sister of the Sarkee, a woman who
+is a Sheikha (female Sheikh), and receives the revenues of fifty
+villages for her own private use. She was quite well, but begged hard
+for medicine. At last I gave her some tea, which she drank off, after
+laughing a good deal.
+
+A small caravan has arrived from Ghadamez in three months, but brought
+no news, except that Aaron Silva is living, and not dead, as reported.
+These merchants make continual inquiries respecting the state of the
+country (i.e. of Soudan), and are answered, "_Afia, afia._" However, it
+is these same slave-dealing merchants who occasion the greater part of
+the wars and troubles in these countries, by their perpetual demand for
+slaves.
+
+I am told that many cantars of indigo can be purchased in Soudan (in
+Kanou), at a price which would bring a great profit in Tripoli; but the
+merchants refuse to engage in this commerce. I think I shall make a
+trial of it.
+
+The cousin of the Sheikh recommended me to dress in my English clothes
+on my arrival in Kuka. By doing this, he observed, "you will please the
+people, and get many presents." It was ever my intention to dress in
+European clothes in Bornou.
+
+The common mode in which a poor person salutes a great man, is by
+kneeling down and throwing dust upon the bare head. The degree of
+humility and respect is expressed by the quantity of dust thrown! The
+Sarkee, of course, gets a great deal of dust, and every personage under
+him his portion, according to his rank. The beggars throw the dust about
+in clouds. At first, it is painful to see this custom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Political News--Animals of Zinder--Sleepy City--District
+of Korgum--Razzias--Family of Sheikh Omer of
+Bornou--Brothers--Sons--Sisters--Daughters--Viziers--Kashallas--Power of
+the Sheikh--A Cheating Prince--Old Slave--Fetishism--Devil in a
+Tuarick's head--Kibabs--Fires--A Prophecy--Another Version of the
+Razzia--Correspondence between Korgum and Zinder.
+
+
+Some political news has arrived to-day by the caravan from Ghât.
+According to the gazette of the caravan there is peace now between the
+Porte and Musku (Russia), and Musku is to restore to the Porte the one
+hundred countries taken by her, as also to pay the expenses of the war.
+Hostilities have broken out between the Emperor of Morocco and the
+French; a Shereef has appeared to recommence the holy war, and Muley
+Abd-Errhaman supplies him with the means to fight the French. Thus the
+news is all fashioned to Muslim tastes. Also it is said, that in future
+the red colour in flags is always to be uppermost. This seems likewise a
+compliment to the Muslim power in Europe and Africa. It is very curious
+to see how dexterously the caravan-newsman has coined his wares.
+
+The shonshona of Gouber is very faint, and consists of nine very small
+cuts.
+
+Gouber is full of Tuaricks, Kilgris, and Iteesan. It is said the Sarkee
+will bring an immense number of Hazna, or pagans, with him, on his
+return from the razzia.
+
+_29th._--At sunrise, when the thermometer is at 57°, I feel the cold. I
+am told that, though Kuka is very hot, it is quite free from fever,--in
+fact, from all periodic epidemics. So we may expect to do well, if we
+escape the fever of Soudan.
+
+The household gods of Zinder are a large species of lizard, who make
+their dwelling-places in the walls and roofs of the huts. These are in
+great numbers. Cats are the principal nuisance and the thieves of the
+place--attacking and devouring fowls. Of rats and mice I have observed
+none. But few small birds show themselves. The small filthy vulture is
+everywhere, and a few eagles of a diminutive white species are seen
+amongst them. Some few dogs are kept, ill-looking and mongrel in their
+breed. The domestic cattle are horses, asses, oxen, sheep and goats, and
+a few camels.
+
+The life of the male population of Zinder seems to pass in dreamy
+indolence, varied continually by the excitement of a razzia. The women
+divide their time between the kitchen and the toilette. No amusement is
+sought, except from drum-beating and the attendant dance. Thus time
+lapses with these black citizens. As for the foreign merchants and
+traders, they, too, drowse away the period of their residence in this
+sleepy city. They sell their goods in a lump, on trust, to the Sarkee,
+and then compose themselves to slumber whilst he goes forth on a razzia,
+and brings them slaves in payment. The thick, heavy atmosphere--at any
+rate during this season--appears to forbid any other kind of life. It
+weighs upon the eyelids, and oppresses the soul. Existence passes away
+in a tropical dream, and death finds its prey, as Jupiter found Maia,
+"betwixt sleep and wake," in this poppied climate. Altogether--as far as
+I can see through my own winking eyes--Zinder is a most unlovely place;
+by no means desirable for a stranger to live in. I manage, however, now
+and then to grasp at, and hold, something like definite information. In
+looking over the itineraries of Captain Lyon, I find that the razzias
+have obliterated many towns and villages from the map. At any rate, the
+people now are ignorant of their names.
+
+Korgum, half-a-day's distance from Konchai, two days from Zinder, is,
+according to a report come in this afternoon, the place or theatre of
+the present razzia. The pretext is--for I now hear of a pretext--that
+they will not pay tribute to the Sheikh. Korgum consists of three
+villages and a town, upon and under some rocky hills, which are visible
+during three days' march. The district is the residence of a sultan. Ten
+years ago it belonged to Maradee, but since then has been wrested from
+it, though it has ever shown a doubtful allegiance. When the former
+chief fled to Maradee, he stopped to drink water at Korgum; but the
+sultan refused to grant him permission. The present Sarkee, on being
+restored to his government,--though he made war upon his
+brother--nevertheless determined to avenge this barbarous inhospitality.
+He went and attacked the Sultan of Korgum, captured several of his
+people, and cut off, it is pretended, eight hundred heads. Not satisfied
+with this slight vengeance, the chief of Zinder seems to have remained
+anxious to pick a quarrel. He next sent for wadâ; in other words, for
+tribute. The Sultan of Korgum forwarded some. The Sarkee despatched a
+message, that what he had received was "few." The Sultan replied, "Why
+should I send many?" A pertinent question, that seems to have closed the
+correspondence, but not brought the affair to a conclusion.
+
+The Sarkee of Zinder heard that the Sultan of Korgum had just gone out
+on a razzia, united with the people of Maradee, and has taken this
+opportunity to make a foray. It is probably with reference to some
+rumour of this expedition that Overweg writes to me.
+
+It is said here that the Sarkee never captures all the people, but
+leaves a few to breed for another razzia! All the inhabitants of Korgum
+are Hazna, a fact strongly insisted on as a salve for the consciences of
+my Muslim friends. The Sarkee is expected back on Friday.
+
+I received a visit from the two Shereefs that were at Mourzuk in our
+time. They left after us; had remained three months in Ghât, and, of
+course, detest the Tuaricks. I gave them coffee, and each a cotton
+handkerchief.
+
+_30th._--The following are given me as the names of the family of the
+Sheikh Omer, of Bornou:--
+
+
+_Brothers._
+
+Abd-Er-Rahman is the eldest brother after the Sheikh, and generalissimo
+of the army; the province of Minyo belongs to him.
+
+Yusuf, a very learned man, a great fighi.
+
+Othman, also a fighi. His mother is a native of Mandara.
+
+Bou Beker, also a fighi; to him belongs Limbaua and many estates.
+
+Mahmoud, also a fighi; to him belongs Kalulwa and many estates.
+
+Abdullah Manufi; to him belongs Gubobaua, consisting of 220 countries or
+villages.
+
+(Gubobaua is one day west of Kuka.)
+
+Bashir: fighi; resides with his brother Abd-Er-Rahman, and has a small
+village.
+
+Hamed Rufai; by the same mother as Abdullah Manufi.
+
+Mustapha; a great man, having much influence in the country: he has many
+estates.
+
+Ibrahim; fighi, and has estates.
+
+Anos.
+
+Khalil.
+
+Ahmed.
+
+Hamed Zaruf, a young brother.
+
+Hamed Bedawi, a young brother.
+
+Abd-el-Kader, a young brother.
+
+Abd-el-Majed, a young brother.
+
+Mohammed el-Kanemi; young.
+
+All these my informant knows. What a family! Verily we are in Africa!
+
+
+_Sons._
+
+Bou Beker, aged about fifteen years.
+
+Ibraim.
+
+Hashemi.
+
+Kasem.
+
+Tahir.
+
+Taib.
+
+Rufai.
+
+Abdallah.
+
+Mohammed Lamin (name of his grandfather).
+
+Kanami.
+
+The mother of the Sheikh is called Magera, a native of Begarmi.
+
+
+_Sisters of the Sheikh._
+
+Nafisa; to her belongs the country of Kumalewa (same mother as
+Abd-Er-Rahman).
+
+Maimuna; to her belongs the place of Wameri (same mother as above).
+
+Aisha; to her belongs Koba.
+
+Maream.
+
+Fatema.
+
+Mabruka.
+
+Hamsa.
+
+Alia; to her belongs Hamisah, a village.
+
+Halima.
+
+Zainubo; to her belongs Furferrai.
+
+Mussaud.
+
+Fadula.
+
+Rabia.
+
+Sinnana.
+
+Mubarka.
+
+Rihana.
+
+These are all he recollects among the number. A copious royal family!
+
+
+_Daughters of the Sheikh._
+
+Rukaia (married), about twenty years of age; to her belongs Balungu.
+
+Fatima, a young girl.
+
+No doubt there are others. It is curious to compare this knot of near
+relations with the scanty families among the Tuaricks. The fertility of
+the human race seems to be as that of the soil on which its several
+tribes are located. Deserts may produce conquerors, but the fat lands
+produce subjects.
+
+I may now add a further list, obtained at the same time as the above.
+
+The great vizier (or prime minister) is Haj Beshir; but there are other
+viziers of more or less power:--Shadeli; Ibrahim Wadai; Rufai (cousin of
+the Sheikh); Hamza, and Mala Ibrahim. These form the council of the
+Sheikh.
+
+The chief kady is Kady Mohammed, and another kady of influence is named
+Haj Mohammed Aba.
+
+The principal slaves (that is to say, the principal favourites in these
+despotic countries) are Kashalla Belal and Kashalla Ali. The word
+Kashalla corresponds to the title Bey. The brother of Abd-el-Galeel,
+lately killed, is living at Kuka, and is called Sheikh Ghait. There is
+also there a brother of the ancient sheikh killed in Fezzan, called
+Sheikh Omer, uncle of the above.
+
+According to my informant, the power of the Sheikh has immensely
+increased since the days of the first expedition. The Sheikh has now
+more than 100,000 cavalry, and a great quantity of muskets. Certainly I
+have ocular proof that Zinder, an important province, has been added to
+the territories of this most powerful prince. I may as well mention,
+that my authority is Omer Wardi. His father, Mohammed Wardi, went with
+Clapperton to Sakkatou.
+
+The Sheikh, according to this seemingly well-informed person, is
+paramount sovereign of Begarmi and Mandara,--these states paying each a
+tribute yearly of one thousand slaves, to which Mandara adds fifty
+eunuchs,--a most costly contribution. This seems to be the country where
+eunuchs are made in these parts.
+
+Lagun is also under the Sheikh, and has become a province of Bornou.
+
+In this country, it is said, there are pieces of cannon. Also, there is
+another country, Kussuri, four days south of Begarmi, now united to the
+Sheikh's territories; and besides, Maffatai, four days south-east from
+Kuka (a country of a sultan).
+
+Dikua, two days south from Kuka; a province with a powerful sultan, who
+has the power of life and death.
+
+Kulli, one day west of Dikua; Blad-es-Sultan.
+
+En-Gala, two days south of Kuka, country of a sultan; belonging to
+Yusuf, brother of the Sheikh.
+
+I went to see the renegade Jew; he was busy in a quarrel with a servant
+of Lousou, to whom he had given eight slaves to take to Ghât, to be sold
+on his account. Lousou had sold the slaves, and rendered no account to
+the renegade--a most unprincely proceeding, to say the least of it; if,
+indeed, it would not be more African to say princely proceeding: for
+there seems no vice, whether violent or mean, which is not exaggerated
+by the holders of power in these parts.
+
+The souk is almost deserted to-day, on account of the Sarkee being
+absent. I passed the slave-stalls, and saw another poor old woman for
+sale, upwards of fourscore years of age. The slave-merchants offered her
+for four thousand wadâs, about eight shillings. People purchase these
+poor old creatures that they may fetch wood and water, even until their
+strength fails them and they faint by the way.
+
+I made other inquiries about the Hazna of Zinder. It seems the Sarkee
+himself is still half pagan, for at the beginning of every year he
+proceeds with his officers to a tree, the ancient god of paganism, and
+there distributes two goffas of wadâ (about 100,000), three bullocks and
+sheep, and ghaseb, to the poor. These things are really offered to the
+deities of his ancestors, though the poor of the country get the benefit
+of them. There are four or five trees of this description, at which such
+annual offerings are made; but there is only one Tree of Death where
+malefactors are executed, the one mentioned in a former page.[17] The
+Muslim converts of Soudan find the Ramadhan excessively burdensome, as
+well as many other rites of Islamism, and for this reason the greater
+part of the population of Soudan, who profess Mohammedanism, are still
+pagans in heart. It is vain to expect a nation to pass from loose to
+ascetic practices without some moral motive, such as that which
+sustained the Muslims at their first brilliant start in the world.
+
+ [17] See pp. 211 and 218. Probably the second Tree of Death
+      described was in reality only a fetish tree.--ED.
+
+A Tuarick came this morning and said the devil was in his head, and that
+he wanted some medicine to drive him out. I gave him an emetic of
+tartarised antimony, which I hope served his purpose.
+
+N.B. The news of the Sarkee having "eaten up" four countries of Korgum
+is confirmed to-day.
+
+The preparation of kibabs is quite a science here. The kibab cook makes
+a conical hillock of dust and ashes, flattened on the top. The edge of
+this mound he plants with sticks, on which is skewered a number of
+little bits of meat: then a fire is kindled between this circular
+forest, and the sticks are twisted round from time to time, so that
+every part may be well roasted. To us these kibabs are cheap enough,
+five or six cowries a stick.
+
+The wall of Zinder has no gates, only openings. I went to the garden of
+the Shereef. The vegetation does not look very flourishing in this
+season. The Shereef has planted some horse-beans; "the only beans of the
+kind," says the gardener, "in all the territories of Bornou."
+
+_31st._--The weather is increasingly cool; therm. at sunrise, 50°. The
+atmosphere of Zinder never clears up. I was awakened this morning,
+before daylight, by the cries of "Fire!" A fire of huts was raging close
+upon us. This is the third accident of this kind which has taken place
+during the sixteen days we have been here. The people take them, as a
+matter of course, with Californian indifference, and it is likely that
+there are two or three fires every ten days.
+
+A merchant from Kanou (native of Tunis) called to see me. He says the
+English (Americans) now bring calicoes, powder, dollars, rum, wadâs,
+guns, and many other things, to Niffee, which afterwards are sent up to
+Kanou. The slave-trade, therefore, must thrive here; and we get the
+credit of it, because the ruffians by whom it is carried on speak our
+language.
+
+A great fighi called also to-day to explain any dreams which I might
+require the interpretation of, bringing with him his Tifsir El-Helam. I
+told him that last night I dreamt I saw "two persons fall to the ground
+upon (from?) the boughs of a tree." He searched his book and produced a
+passage, the pith of which was, that anything which I undertake will not
+be accomplished. Very agreeable information! I thought we had had bad
+news enough. The passage made to apply prophetically to me ran literally
+as follows:--
+
+"And whosoever sees (in dreams) a tree fall, or any thing fall from
+it,--then will not accomplish itself the thing which is between the man
+who thus dreams."[18]
+
+ [18] The unhappy event which soon after this interview occurred,
+      no doubt confirmed the belief of the natives in the powers
+      of this great fighi.--ED.
+
+I hired to-day Mohammed Ben Amud Bou Saad, at a salary of ten reals of
+Fezzan a month.
+
+I have heard another version of the plan and cause of the present razzia
+of the Sultan of Zinder. "Our own correspondents" cannot be more
+versatile in finding out rumours than the gossips of Zinder. It is now
+said that the Sultan of Korgum wrote to the Sarkee of Zinder, and asked
+him if he should make a razzia on or with Maradee.
+
+The Sarkee said, "Go." But as soon as the news came that the sultan was
+gone, this prince, in whom that other put his trust, immediately set out
+to make a razzia on the country deserted by its sultan.
+
+"_Compos!_" cried my Moorish informant; and certainly it was a clever
+negro trick. It is difficult to know whom to pity or condemn in this
+iniquitous affair. We may be certain, however, that the poor women and
+children, the principal sufferers by the razzias, are guiltless in these
+transactions; and we may, without fear, bestow our sympathies upon them.
+At the same time it is allowable to admire the profound secrecy with
+which the Sarkee planned his razzia. Not a soul in Zinder, besides
+himself, knew where he was going. The general opinion was to Daura,
+which affords scope for a thousand razzias.
+
+The correspondence which I have mentioned between the vassals of Korgum
+and Zinder illustrates the abominable system on which the Sheikh of
+Bornou permits his provinces to be governed. Really it is difficult to
+compare the condition of this extraordinary region to anything but a
+forest, through which lions and tigers range to devour the weaker and
+more timid beasts--to which they grant intervals of repose during the
+digestion of their meals.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+Sheikh of Bornou--Arab Women--News from the Razzia--Procession of
+newly-caught Slaves--Entrance of the Sarkee--Chained Slaves--My Servant
+at the Razzia--Audacity of Bornou Slaves--Korgum--Konchai--Product of
+the Razzia--Ghadamsee Merchants--Slave-trade--Incident at Korgum--State
+of Kanou--A Hue and Cry--Black Character--Vegetables at
+Zinder--Minstrel--Medi--Gardens--Ladies--Fanaticism--Americans at
+Niffee--Rich People--Tuaricks Sick--Morals--Dread of the
+Sarkee--Fashions.
+
+
+_Feb. 1st._--It is said that we shall leave this for Kuka on Monday
+next, whether the Sultan of Zinder returns from his razzia or not. It
+certainly is a shame that I should be kept here waiting the pleasure of
+a fellow gone to heat up for slaves to pay his debts.
+
+The merchants from Kanou represent the power of the Fellatahs as very
+strong, if not increasing. From Sakkatou to Kanou, and Kanou to Niffee,
+Yakoba, and Adamaua, everywhere along these lines of towns and populous
+districts, are found Fellatah chiefs or sultans. Bornou is, however, now
+much stronger than during the time of the first expedition. The Sheikh
+has two thousand muskets; so says the Shereef Kebir; whilst in the time
+of Denham he had only fifty. Certainly two thousand muskets is a
+progress beyond fifty. The Asbenouee Tuaricks carried away some
+half-dozen Arab women when they slaughtered the Walad Suleiman. One of
+these women has been seen, and the Sheikh and the Shereef Kebir are
+trying to get her back. The Sheikh has sent word that all the Arab women
+must be restored to their homes.
+
+The Shereef Kebir says the powder of this country is all bad, but that
+Haj Beshir and the Sheikh get English or American powder from Niffee.
+Leaden bullets are scarce; they use zinc bullets: but these will not go
+far, resisting the force of the powder; nor will they penetrate deep
+when they hit a person. Nitre is found at a place one hour from Zinder,
+called Kankandi.
+
+It is supposed that the Sarkee, not having found slaves enough in
+Korgum, has gone somewhere else. The Shereef Kebir would scarcely
+mention the subject of the razzia to me for shame. At length a Moor
+present said, "Fish eats up fish, so it is with the Sarkee." This
+brought forth a laugh, and seemed to be thought a sufficient salve for
+all their consciences.
+
+A cry was raised early this morning, "The Sarkee is coming!" Every one
+went out eagerly to learn the truth. It turned out that a string of
+captives, fruits of the razzia,[19] was coming in. There cannot be in
+the world--there cannot be in the whole world--a more appalling
+spectacle than this. My head swam as I gazed. A single horseman rode
+first, showing the way, and the wretched captives followed him as if
+they had been used to this condition all their lives. Here were naked
+little boys running alone, perhaps thinking themselves upon a holiday;
+near at hand dragged mothers with babes at their breasts; girls of
+various ages, some almost ripened into womanhood, others still infantine
+in form and appearance; old men bent two-double with age, their
+trembling chins verging towards the ground, their poor old heads covered
+with white wool; aged women tottering along, leaning upon long staffs,
+mere living skeletons;--such was the miscellaneous crowd that came
+first; and then followed the stout young men, ironed neck to neck! This
+was the first instalment of the black bullion of Central Africa; and as
+the wretched procession huddled through the gateways into the town the
+creditors of the Sarkee looked gloatingly on through their lazy eyes,
+and calculated on speedy payment.
+
+ [19] Mr. Richardson interchanges the words _razzia_ and _gazia_;
+      the latter, I imagine, is the correct word, but the former
+      is better known to European readers.--ED.
+
+In the afternoon I was informed that the Sarkee was really about to
+enter the town.
+
+Expecting to see other captives, and anxious to be an eye-witness to all
+these atrocities attendant on the razzia, I went to see him pass with
+his cavalry. After waiting ten minutes, there rode up single cavaliers,
+then lines of horsemen, all galloping towards the castle-gates to show
+the people their equestrian skill; then came a mass of cavalry, about
+fifty, with a drum beating, and in the midst of these was the sultan.
+There was nothing very striking in this cavalcade; a few cavaliers had
+on a curious sort of helmet, made of brass, with a kind of horn standing
+out from the crown; others wore a wadding of woollen stuff, a sort of
+thin mattrass, in imitation of a coat of mail. Its object is to turn the
+points of the poisoned arrows. The cavaliers thus dressed form the
+body-guard of the Sarkee. Amongst these troops were some Bornou
+horsemen, who rode with more skill than the Zinder people. The best
+cavaliers resembled as much as possible the Arab cavaliers of the north.
+There were no captives with these horsemen; the slaves had only come in
+to the number, it was said, of some two or three thousand during the
+day. Although I wished to see them, I was, nevertheless, spared a
+repetition of the misery and indignation which the sight in the morning
+produced in my mind. I have been told positively that the poor old
+creatures brought in with the other captives will not fetch a shilling
+a-head in the slave-market. It is, therefore, a refinement of cruelty
+not to let them die in their native homes,--to tear them away to a
+foreign soil, and subject them to the fatigues of the journey, and the
+insults of a rude populace, and ruder and crueller slave-dealers. Many
+die on the road during the two or three days' march.
+
+It is exceedingly painful to live in a place like Zinder, where almost
+every householder has a chained slave. The poor fellows (men and boys)
+cannot walk, from the manner in which the irons are put on, and when
+they move about are obliged to do so in little jumps. These slaves are
+ironed, that they may not run away. There are many villages and towns, a
+few days from Zinder, to which they can escape without difficulty, and
+where they are not pursued. It was exceedingly horrifying to hear the
+people of Zinder salute the troops of the razzia on their return with
+the beautiful Arabic word, _Alberka_, "blessing!" Thus is it that human
+beings sometimes ask God for a blessing on transactions which must ever
+be stamped with his curse. The Italian bandit also begs the Virgin to
+bless his endeavours. It is evident that nothing but the strong arm of
+power and conquest will ever root out the curse of slavery from Africa.
+
+The slave whom Haj Beshir sent from Kuka to Zinder, to accompany me to
+Kuka, went with the Sarkee, and took one of my servants with him. I did
+not know anything about it until they were gone. But this evening, on my
+return from seeing the Sarkee, I found a woman and child, a boy and a
+young man, tied together, lying not far from my hut, in the enclosure
+where we are residing. I was excessively indignant at this conduct of
+Haj Beshir's slave, although certainly done in ignorance. These captives
+were the fruits of the part he took in the expedition. I have not made
+up my mind whether I will go to Kuka with this fellow, for it is not the
+first time he has shown something like an insolent behaviour. As to my
+servant, I had already discharged him, but the Shereef Kebir persuaded
+me to let him go with the boat to Kuka, as he knew how to place it on
+the camels better than the other servants. I scolded him well for going
+with the razzia, because he himself was once in bondage, and had
+returned free under our protection. But I fear my words will have little
+effect; for in Zinder, at least, the great concern and occupation of the
+black population is, to go and steal their neighbours, and sell them
+into slavery. I repeat again, nothing but foreign conquest by a
+non-slaveholding power will extirpate slavery from the soil of Africa.
+
+I read Milton's "Comus" and other portions of his poetry, and find it a
+great relief in drawing my mind a little off African subjects. I am
+sorry I did not bring with me a copy of Shakespear. I have very few
+books with me of any kind, and fewer maps. I received a visit of fighis
+from the villages around, also from a sister and niece of the Sultan of
+Zinder, and gave them all a bit of sugar and sent them off.
+
+Around my house exists a swarm of fighis, who can copy charms and a few
+passages from the Koran. I procured some of the _bonâ fide_ specimens of
+their calligraphy. There are four different hands. These fighis are all
+blacks of pure blood. They write sideways.
+
+A courier arrived to-day from Kuka, bringing a despatch for the Governor
+of Zinder, to the effect that, in the event of his finding any people of
+Bornou committing misdemeanours of any sort, he, the Sultan of Zinder,
+was at liberty to treat them as he chose. I am told that the Bornou
+slaves, as well as the free people of that country, when they come to
+Zinder, have the audacity to seize on whomsoever comes in the way, and
+take them and sell them as slaves in the souk. This kidnapping is mostly
+done in the villages around Zinder, but even in the city itself it has
+been ventured; and the Sultan has hitherto been afraid to arrest these
+Bornouese miscreants. What a glimpse into the state of the empire of
+Bornou do such facts afford!
+
+_2d._--This morning the slave of Haj Beshir came to declare that the
+slaves which he brought here yesterday were not his booty, but belonged
+to another person, a volunteer. There is no getting at the truth in
+these countries. The theatre of the late razzia is westwards from Zinder
+about two days. Korgum is one day from Tesaoua. Konchai is a
+neighbouring country, about four hours from Korgum. The Sarkee attacked
+four villages of Korgum, but got few slaves. The people, though without
+their sultan, defended themselves well with their renowned arrows, and
+when they could hold out no longer they ascended the rocks and escaped.
+The wounds of arrows, though poisoned, are not always fatal, and often
+cured by the remedies known in these countries.
+
+The villages of Korgum are called Tangadala Agai. Not getting many
+slaves there, the Sarkee attacked two or three villages of Konchai. This
+province contains some three hundred villages. Ganua and Tanbanas were
+the places razzied. From the latter place six hundred slaves were
+obtained, nearly half of the whole captured. The total product of the
+razzia is about fifteen hundred; a thousand for the Sultan's share, and
+five hundred for the troops and volunteers. It is said this thousand
+will not suffice to pay the Sultan's debts, and it was on account of the
+fewness of slaves the Sarkee was obliged to bring with him the halt, the
+blind, the maimed, and the aged, stooping to the earth with age. Besides
+human beings, the Sarkee captured eight hundred and thirty bullocks, and
+flocks of sheep; seven hundred bullocks he gave to the troops and
+volunteers, and one hundred and thirty have been reserved for himself.
+Four men were killed, and one hundred horses, belonging to Zinder; but
+the enemy are said to have lost a good number. All the villages made
+resistance but one, where the poor people were busy cooking their
+suppers; when the Sarkee and his famished crew rushed upon them, seized
+them, and carried them into captivity. This, at any rate, is the report;
+but, according to others, the results of the expedition are much less
+important.
+
+All the country razzied is nominally subject to the Sheikh of Bornou, so
+that this Sarkee of Zinder has been pillaging the Bornou territories,
+and carrying off their inhabitants, who are subjects of the Sheikh, to
+raise money to pay his debts. A certain enmity exists, it is said,
+between Konchai and Zinder, which formerly was subject to the province
+of Konchai.
+
+According to one authority, the booty of the razzia is greatly reduced,
+even to more than half of what was reported. The share of the Sarkee is
+four hundred slaves, and one hundred and twenty slaves he gave to his
+troops. Seven places were attacked, but the people had news of the
+movements of the Sarkee, and were prepared to receive him: they shot
+their arrows through their stockades, thick and fast, upon the Sarkee
+and his people, and then retired to the rocks and behind the trees,
+which are abundant. Only one country was fairly razzied. Also but few
+beasts were taken, the people having secured all their cattle and flocks
+beforehand. The Sarkee got about one hundred bullocks. He took with him
+no less than two thousand horse, a collection from all the petty
+governments in the surrounding provinces, with their chiefs. All these
+forces did little more than beat the air. The capture of five hundred
+slaves will not pay the expenses of the expedition, but these people
+never sit down to count the cost. Their reckoning-days are few and far
+between.
+
+There is a report here that the Sultans of Maradee, Gouber, Korgum, and
+Tesaoua, have all gone together on a razzia to the territory of
+Sakkatou, and a few of the people of Zinder have gone with them; and
+this is the reason given for horses being now scarce in Zinder.
+
+Haj Beshir has sent a message from Kuka, that I am to quicken my steps
+thitherward. The kafila from Mourzuk has arrived, and many Arabs from
+the north.
+
+Of gubaga, called by the people of Zinder, ferri, four draâs are sold in
+Zinder for one hundred wadâs, about twopence. This native cotton cloth,
+when doubled, makes tents impervious to the summer rain.
+
+There are about fifty Ghadamsee merchants in Kanou and Boushi, capital
+of Yakoba, the principal of whom (here described as Maidukia) are:--
+
+Haj Mohammed Bel Kasem.
+Haj Tahir.
+Mairimi.
+Haj Mohammed Ben Habsa.
+Hemed Basidi.
+Kasem Ben Haiba.
+Haj Ali.
+Mohammed Makoren.
+Haj Hoda.
+Haj Abdullah.
+
+There are some merchants of consequence from Fezzan, viz. Basha Ben
+Haloum, Mohammed es-Salah, the agent of Gagliuffi, Sidi Ali, and Fighi
+Hamit, who always goes to Goujah (_blad_ of the gour-nuts). This country
+of the gour is distant three months' travelling, making small stages
+south-west by west. Morocco, Tuat, and the countries of the west, are
+scarcely represented by merchants in Kanou--there being one or two of
+them at most. Nor are there any from Egypt or the East.
+
+According to my informant, a small merchant, but well acquainted with
+these parts, not more than one hundred and fifty or two hundred slaves
+pass through or from Zinder annually to the north, and about five or six
+hundred go by the route of Tesaoua to the north, i.e. Tripoli, and a few
+to Souf. After all, the great slave-market is Central Africa itself.
+
+An affecting incident is told of the people of Korgum during the late
+razzia. The Sultan of Zinder besieged one town four days, and would not
+allow the people to drink water. They then sent word that "they did not
+know either God, or the Prophet Mahommed, or the Sheikh of Bornou, only
+him, Sarkee Ibrahim of Zinder, as their ruler and lord, and prayed him
+to give them water and peace." The Sarkee replied, "When my brother fled
+to you, you also would not allow him to drink, nor will I now permit
+you; therefore surrender into our hands." The people of the town held
+out these four days, and then during a night they all fled to the rocks
+and escaped.
+
+There are but few places to make razzias upon around Zinder, except on
+the Sheikh's provinces, unless the Sarkee will go to Maradee, and there
+he is now in friendship, or else is afraid to move in that direction. In
+the account of the booty, it is to be understood that all of it was not
+brought to Zinder, some having been distributed amongst the troops and
+volunteers of the rest of the province. I am told that the greater part
+of the slaves will be sent to Kanou for sale. It has already been
+observed, that only a few slaves go to the north in comparison with the
+numbers captured. The bulk of the slaves of the razzias are employed as
+serfs on the soil, or servants in the town. In Kanou, a rich man has
+three or four thousand slaves; these are permitted to work on their own
+account, and they pay him as their lord and master a certain number of
+cowries every month: some bring one hundred, some three hundred or six
+hundred, or as low as fifty cowries a-month. On the accumulation of
+these various monthly payments of the poor slaves the great man
+subsists, and is rich and powerful in the country. This system prevails
+in all the Fellatah districts.
+
+At dusk, there was a hue and cry near our house. I ran out to see what
+it was: the noise and stir was nothing less than an attempt of a slave
+to escape. The poor fellow was surrounded by a mass of men and boys, all
+anxious to seize him and deliver him to his master, to obtain the
+reward.
+
+My sympathies certainly begin to cool when I see the conduct of these
+blacks to one another. The blacks are, in truth, the real active
+men-stealers, though incited thereto frequently by the slave-merchants
+of the north and south. It must be confessed, that if there were no
+white men from the north or south to purchase the supply of slaves
+required out of Africa, slavery would still flourish, though it might be
+often in a mitigated form; and this brings me to the reiteration of my
+opinion, that only foreign conquest by a power like Great Britain or
+France can really extirpate slavery from Africa.
+
+_3d._--The sky never gets clear here till late at night. I read several
+pieces of Milton's poetry. I went to the gardens to see the wells:
+people fetch water from the wells of the gardens, where the supply is
+sufficiently abundant. I observed in the gardens the henna plant, the
+cotton plant, the indigo plant, and the tobacco plant. All these appear
+to be commonly cultivated in the gardens of Zinder. There are scarcely
+any other vegetables but onions, and beans, and tomatas; but the people
+cultivate a variety of small herbs, for making the sauce of their
+bazeens and other flour-puddings. The castor-oil tree is found in the
+town and in the hedges of the gardens in abundance.
+
+A Tuarick woman was brought here to-day for me to cure. She had been in
+an ailing, wasting state, for the last four years; the husband said that
+the devil had touched his wife, and reduced her to this state. Another
+woman was brought with an immense wen upon her abdomen. I have given
+away nearly all my Epsom salts, and now supply emetics. It is necessary
+to purge these people immediately, in a few hours, or they think you do
+nothing for them, or will not or cannot do them any good. Many Tuaricks
+come from the open country. We have also frequent cases of ophthalmia,
+mostly from the villages around.
+
+This evening I was charmed by the vocal sounds of a strolling minstrel,
+attended by two drummers with small drums, called _kuru_, and a chorus
+of singing-girls collected from the neighbourhood. The chorus-singers
+sang like charity-school girls at church. Altogether the singing was
+more pleasing than the monotonous, plaintive sounds of the Arabs.
+
+It seems difficult to get off. Everybody is making preparations for our
+journey, from the Sultan to the lowest slave sent from Kuka to assist in
+the transport of the boat and our baggage, and yet nothing is done!
+
+I parted with my new acquaintance, Medi, to-day, a soldier and slave of
+the Sarkee. He has been occasionally my cicerone in Zinder. He had been
+captured from a child, and is now past middle age, and knows little of
+the loss of home. He was a friendly chap, and gave me all the
+information he could make me understand in Soudanee and Bornouee.
+
+The evening was warm; a most pestilential sort of mist usually covers
+the ground at dark. After an hour or so it clears off--a few meteors now
+and then.
+
+_4th, Dies non._--It is said we shall probably leave this to-morrow.
+Read Milton all day. Weather sultry hot; did not go out. Thermometer in
+the evening, at dark, 80°.
+
+_5th._--I had a visit from a number of Tuarick ladies from the villages
+around, all of whom put their hands to their stomachs, and pretended
+they were mighty ill. I gave them all round a cup of tea. The renegade
+Jew came this morning, and gave me a list of all the things sold in the
+market of Kanou.
+
+I went in the afternoon to see the Kaïd of Haj Beshir of Kuka, called
+Abd-el-kerim. He had a female slave afflicted with the leprosy, and sent
+for me to come and see her. He gave me some gour-nuts, and I found him a
+friendly man. Denham represents the Bornou people of his time as very
+fanatical. At present I have seen nothing of this. But we are in a
+province where there are many Hazna, or pagans; and the people of Zinder
+are but lukewarm Muslims. I have yet had no instance of fanaticism,
+either from people of Kuka or from residents here.
+
+I was amused by the relation of Haj Mohammed Ben Welid respecting his
+intercourse with an American vessel at Niffee.[20] He first describes
+the vessel as very large; the sides being ascended by a ladder. Then
+these Americans (English they were called) had a black interpreter, who
+spoke Arabic. Through this black fellow they inquired of the man of
+Ghadamez from whence he came. He replied, "Ghadamez,"--this they did not
+know; then "Trablous,"--this they did not know; then "Tunis,"--nor was
+this place known; and, finally, "Malta." "Ah!" they cried, "we have
+heard of this place." They then asked him what he traded in, and gave
+him some tobacco and rum. They were full of goods of every
+description,--calicoes, powder, shot, rum, tobacco, dollars, and _wadâ
+yaser_ (a great quantity of cowries), &c.
+
+ [20] See the Appendix. This Haj appears to have given some
+      useful information to Mr. Richardson.--ED.
+
+My room has been an hospital all this day, full of the sick, with
+various disorders. They come mostly from the villages around Zinder, and
+amongst them are a great number of Tuaricks, these people being more
+exposed to the weather, or more delicate, or more fanciful in their
+complaints. These poor devils all bring something--a little cheese, or a
+little milk; and I have received more of these trifling presents from
+them during the twenty days that I have been in Zinder, than in all the
+five or six months which I spent in their country. The reason may be,
+that in Asben they have nothing (or next to nothing), whilst here reigns
+abundance. Our servants say now that the Tuaricks always bring
+something, and the townspeople of Zinder nothing. Some of the Tuaricks
+are not sick; they come only to see the Christian, and stop, and look,
+and stare, and watch the minutest action of the said Christian,--more
+especially the women, who would never leave my room if I were not to
+drive them away.
+
+_6th._--I am told by a well-informed person, that morals are much
+relaxed here. To-day a black man came from the country to beg for his
+wife, who had been taken away from him and given to a Moor, who was
+about to send her to the coast for sale. She is to be restored to the
+man in exchange for two young girls, whom he has fetched from the
+country (probably kidnapped). The woman, however, has been given over,
+in the first place, to Shroma, the commander-in-chief; and after she has
+passed two or three days with him, she will be allowed to return to her
+husband. This woman was first kidnapped by the Sultan, and belonged to
+the Sheikh's dominions, to a village near Zinder, and was taken in a
+razzia. The Sultan gave or sold her to the Moor. This is a sample of the
+transactions daily going on there. I am also assured that the three
+hundred wives of the Sarkee himself are at almost everybody's disposal,
+two or three gour-nuts being the utmost which these ladies ask. But this
+is not all; for these women, wives of the Sultan, have intrigues with
+the slaves of the Sultan, with the brothers of the Sultan, and even with
+the sons of the Sultan. Whatever may be said of the Tuaricks and their
+freebooting, they do not practise such revolting immoralities as these.
+
+The Sarkee of Zinder is feared both by Fellatahs and Tuaricks,
+especially on account of the barbarous nature of his executions, which I
+have described. It may be supposed that a better system, both of
+government and morality, is practised in Kuka, and the more connected
+Bornou provinces.
+
+A man came to me to beg or buy some large beads for his wife; he said
+his wife was very anxious for them, to wear round her loins. Various are
+the caprices of fashion. Europeans show their finery, but here children
+and women wear beads round their loins under their clothes.
+
+It is now said we shall leave Zinder positively on Saturday next.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+News from Tesaoua--Razzia on Sakkatou--Laziness in Zinder--The
+Hajah--Herds of Cattle--More Tuarick Patients--Gardens--My
+Luggage--Adieu to the Sarkee--Present from his Highness--Start from
+Zinder--Country--Birds--Overtake the Kashalla--Slaves for
+Kanou--Continue the Journey--People of Deddegi--Their Timidity--Horse
+Exercise--Cotton--Strange Birds--Occupation of Men and Women--State of
+African Society--Islamism and Paganism--Character of the Kashalla--A
+Dogberry--Guddemuni--Cultivation--Beggars--Dancing Maidens.
+
+
+A Shereef has come here to-day from Tesaoua, and reports that Overweg
+left that place for Maradee, about eight days since, with a Tuarick of
+En-Noor. The city of Maradee is but an hour from Gonder, and is about
+twice the size of Zinder. The whole occupation of these two cities is
+that of razzia, and their subsistence and riches are all derived from
+this source. These places also swarm with Tuaricks, Kilgris, Iteesan,
+and Kailouees, who join the blacks of Maradee and Gouber in their
+slave-hunting expeditions. A grand razzia is being perpetrated by the
+united forces of the Sultans of Maradee, Gouber, and Korgum, with the
+assistance of a thousand Tuarick horse, on the territories of the Sultan
+of Sakkatou. The cavalry of the marauders consists of some five
+thousand, and there are more than this number on foot. My informant says
+they will go near Kashna, perhaps to its very gates. So it seems the
+Sultan of Sakkatou, with all his power and his great cities, is unable
+to check, or apparently even to avenge, the depredations committed upon
+his most important provinces. It is said that the product of this razzia
+will be some of the finest slaves in this part of Africa, many of them
+almost white. We are to leave here to-morrow. Inshallah! It is too bad
+to be kept so long here, when Haj Beshir has sent orders for us to come
+immediately.
+
+_7th._--The morning was cool; thermometer at sunrise, 58°. I slept
+little, being angry at being kept here so long. I read Milton to divert
+my mind awhile from African subjects.
+
+There seems to be little industry in Zinder. The education of the
+greater part of the males is to fit them for razzias, and this must be
+considered as the principal cause of the unfeeling manner with which the
+blacks hereabouts look upon, their captive brethren. These captives are
+their means of livelihood; they live on the products of the razzias,
+and, of course, the superior intellects with which they may come in
+contact countenance all their proceedings; for the foreign merchants are
+equally interested with them in their inhuman expeditions. Africa is
+bled from all pores by her own children, seconded by the cupidity of
+strangers.
+
+All the Moors and Arabs whom I conversed with extol the power of the
+Sheikh of Bornou, and represent him as the greatest sheikh in Central
+Africa. Nevertheless, the Fellatahs are everywhere, far and wide, from
+Sakkatou to Adamaua, a dominant people, though few in number compared
+with the population of the subjected kingdoms.
+
+One of the most remarkable women, perhaps the only remarkable woman in
+Zinder at the present moment, is a certain Hajah (i.e. a woman who has
+made the pilgrimage of Mekka). She is a native of Fezzan, and is now
+employed in the household of the Sheikh of Bornou. She is excessively
+free and easy with all men folks; and although such a saint, her
+chastity, I am told, does not rate high. She returns to Kuka with us--no
+great gain to our caravan.
+
+Near our enclosure is a long space full of bullocks and cows--some four
+hundred and fifty. These are distributed amongst the whole population by
+ones, twos, and threes. I have seen no herd but this, and if this is
+really the only one, it speaks little for the wealth of the people of
+Zinder. In fact, with regard to horses it is much the same,--the Shereef
+can hardly find me a horse to ride on in the whole town.
+
+Apparently, Zinder is a wretchedly poor place. All are needy, from the
+Sarkee downwards, and when they get any property it all comes from the
+razzias. The system of living on rapine and man-stealing seems to bring
+its own punishment along with it.
+
+A _posse_ of Tuarick patients assailed me very early this morning. The
+Tuaricks, who have more intellect than the blacks, let loose their
+imagination to fancy they have all sorts of complaints. Thus I have more
+patients from them than from the people of Zinder, and am quite
+undeceived as to my having done with this tribe when I entered the gates
+of this town. There is, however, this difference now, that they treat me
+with the greatest respect, and are very quiet, bringing presents instead
+of demanding presents.
+
+The Tuaricks of Gurasu, I hear, have a bad name, and are troublesome to
+the Sheikh.
+
+I went to the gardens this morning and yesterday morning--it is an
+immense relief from the enclosure of huts in town--but have not observed
+anything new. I am told that the suburbs of Kanou are full of palms.
+Zinder, if the people were industrious, could have its forests of palms,
+bearing luscious fruit twice a-year. But, alas! the excitement of the
+razzia destroys the taste for all rational industry. What bandit could
+ever settle down into a tiller of the ground?
+
+_8th._--The people came this morning, in a great hurry, to take off the
+luggage, and afterwards pretended that I should go to-morrow, whilst the
+baggage must be forwarded to-day. This arrangement I positively refused
+to comply with, being determined to stop no longer.
+
+I went to take leave of the Sarkee. His highness had nothing to say, and
+we as little to him. We just shook hands, and that was all. He is not
+very well pleased with his late man-hunt. He still owes twenty thousand
+dollars, which it will require a dozen such speculations to pay off. The
+castle outside was besieged with soldiers, all lounging and listening to
+two or three drummers. I am disgusted to see so many idle people. The
+only novelty was four or five singing-women, who sung choruses inside
+the walls to a drummer. All the soldiers in undress, or not going on
+razzia, are bare-headed, and also nearly all the inhabitants of the
+town. A few persons, mostly women, wear a piece of blue cotton cloth
+over their heads, tied tight, so as to have the appearance of a cap. The
+common sort of women go with their breasts bare; others, of higher rank,
+drag up their skirts to cover their breasts; and a few add a piece of
+cotton cloth, which they throw over their shoulders like a shawl.
+
+The Sarkee has presented Yusuf with a horse, blind with one eye, and not
+much bigger than a jackass, in return for the present Yusuf made to him.
+In fact, this potentate is now as poor as a rat, and has nothing to give
+away. When he has anything, he soon parts with it, being generous to
+prodigality. The title Sarkee is used for men of inferior rank, and is
+something like Bey.
+
+I waited till three o'clock, P.M., for my servants, and Saïd of Haj
+Beshir, to come and bring the oxen for the rest of the baggage--the boat
+and the heavy baggage left in the morning; and seeing no signs of their
+preparation, I determined to be no longer duped by them, and told the
+servant of Haj Beshir that I would start to-day, be the consequence what
+it might. So off I went to the Shereef, and told him I must go at once,
+to follow the Kashalla, who had taken away the box in which was the
+chronometer, and I must go to wind it up early in the morning. He
+immediately informed the Sarkee, and asked for a soldier. A soldier was
+forthwith brought, and a message from the Sarkee, that the horse which
+had been sent for me to ride upon was a present from his highness to me.
+This is the first present of the kind I have received in Africa; and
+after giving away about five hundred pounds sterling of Government money
+I have got in return, at last, a horse worth one pound fifteen shillings
+and fourpence, the current value of this country! The Sarkee of Zinder
+is miserably poor, but he was afraid to let me go to Kuka, to his
+master, without giving me a present.
+
+I started from Zinder, riding my "gift horse," about an hour before
+sunset, and arrived at Dairmummegai, a very large village, where the
+Kashalla had pitched tent, after three hours' ride. Our course was due
+east, through a scattered forest of dwarf-trees, in which were
+fluttering about a number of strange-looking birds, that reminded me I
+was in a foreign land. One solitary bird excited my pity; its form was
+something like that of a small crane, but, verily, it was most
+disproportionally thin, with very long neck and shanky legs. It was
+wandering about as if it had lost itself in the world; and yet a bird
+losing itself in the world is a strange notion! We met a couple of
+huntsmen, on the shoulders of one of whom was coiled a fine bleeding
+gazelle. These huntsmen had only bows and arrows, and they had managed
+to get a gazelle, whilst we, with all our matchlocks and muskets, had
+never been able to shoot one of these animals during our eight or nine
+months of passage through the desert. The Kashalla was exceedingly glad
+at my arrival, and got ready a bowl of new milk. He is a man of some
+fifty or sixty years of age, black, and with Bornou features, speaking a
+little Arabic. The greater part of the Bornou people know a few words of
+this language. The Sheikh sent him to bring the boat and our baggage. He
+is a friendly, quiet man, whilst the man sent by Haj Beshir, Saïd, is an
+impudent slave, and only thinking of what he can get by his journey.
+
+I saw, as I passed through the streets of Zinder this morning, a number
+of slaves chained together, going to the market of Kanou; so that this
+place is the great central dépôt of this merchandise. These were some of
+the fruits of the Sarkee's last razzia.
+
+_9th._--The morning was cool, and we started early, and made six hours
+and a-quarter in a general south-east direction, through a continuation
+of scattered forests, with open spaces, the wood being broken in upon
+here and there by a scanty ghaseb cultivation. Amongst the trees, some
+rose with giant arms and all the characters of tropical vegetation. The
+country was undulating, with ranges of low hills. Blocks of granite were
+scattered on the surface of the ground; in the deeper valleys lay
+stagnant water of the last rains, fast drying up; and here were
+water-fowls, waders, and some large, strange, black-and-white geese,
+with necks of enormous length.
+
+After three hours and a-quarter we came to the considerable village of
+Deddegi, where, on our appearance, all the inhabitants fetching water or
+tending cattle ran away. This I may remark, as the first time that the
+people ran away at our appearance amongst them. Hitherto we have always
+had the population pressing upon us for curiosity, or to attack and
+plunder us. Things change. But the flight of the people of Deddegi is
+easily explained. We were soon recognised as a Bornou caravan, and the
+Bornouese in coming to Zinder,--the Sheikh's people especially,--have
+been in the habit of plundering these villages, or carrying off the
+people and their cattle, the former into slavery. Recently the Sarkee
+has complained of this, and the Sheikh, to do him justice, has ordered
+the Sarkee to seize any Bornouese committing these misdemeanours, and
+execute what justice he pleases upon them. The Sarkee, now, will not be
+slack to obey his master's commands. Still it is not surprising the
+people ran away from a Bornou caravan.
+
+We encamped at the group of villages called Dairmu. My "gift horse" had
+given me most excruciating pain in riding, and I was obliged to dismount
+for half an hour. The saddles are very bad, and cut you raw before you
+are accustomed to them. But I must submit to this fatigue, for now I
+must ride horses and put away the camel, which is too slow for
+travelling in Soudan, where water and herbage are found for the horses
+every two or three hours.
+
+After I was somewhat recovered, I went to see the village, and found all
+the people working upon cotton; some cleaning it, some winding it into
+balls, and others weaving the gubaga, or narrow strips of cotton cloth,
+with which the greater number of the population are clothed. A small
+portion of the cotton-twist is dyed with indigo, and with this and the
+undyed a species of check-cotton cloth is woven; but all very rude. The
+Sheikh of the place supplied the caravan with bazeen. For myself I
+purchased a couple of fowls, which cost just twopence farthing in
+English money: they were, however, small; and I may remark that all
+fowls are small in this country, and most of the domestic animals, like
+horses, sheep, dogs, cats, &c. are diminutive when compared to those of
+Europe. The bullocks, however, are of a good size, with branching horns.
+The sheep have no wool, or rather, the wool takes the appearance and
+substance of hair, like that of a dog; and their tails, too, are like
+those of dogs; but, indeed, the Soudan sheep are well known. No fruit or
+vegetables are found in these villages: not even onions, common in most
+places. The birds have all a strange appearance. I am no naturalist, and
+wonder when I should examine. That filthy species of vulture, the
+scavenger of Zinder, is seen in twos and threes. The woods abound in
+turtle-doves. I gave the Kashalla a ring for himself and his female
+slave, or wife, as it may be. Very few men of this sort have wives: all
+their women are slaves. He was greatly pleased with the present.
+
+_10th._--My thermometer remains behind with the baggage at Zinder,
+expected to-day. Here we wait for it, and the rest of the caravan. I
+oiled myself well last night with olive oil, and feel much better this
+morning. During a walk through the villages, I observed that two-thirds
+of the male population, as in Zinder, are quite idle, lounging about, or
+stretched at their full length upon the dust of the ground. A third find
+something to do, either in working on cotton, or making matting, or in
+the gardens, where tobacco, pepper, cotton, and indigo are grown. These
+are the staple products of the gardens in this part of Africa. The women
+have always something to occupy their time, suckling their children,
+fetching water, cooking, or else picking cotton. All the males, I
+imagine, at some seasons of the year, find occupation, when the ghaseb
+is sown and when reaped. But, nevertheless, what powerfully solicits the
+observation of the European in looking into these villages is the
+downright livelong idleness of the male population.
+
+We begin, at length, to regard this region merely as the nursery-ground
+of slavery--of the system which takes away the idlers to perform their
+share of the curse pronounced on Adam, that in the sweat of his brow he
+should eat and earn his bread. Again it is to be observed, that the
+wants of these people are very few: they live on ghaseb and milk, eating
+little meat; these come to them almost without labour. The ground is
+tilled by burning the stubble of the previous year, or by burning the
+trees on new land. The seed is thrown in when the rain begins, and
+nothing more is done till the grain is ripe for the sickle, when it is
+gathered in. It is collected under small sheds made of matting, and
+eaten as it is wanted. The cattle are mostly driven to graze and to
+water, and this is all the attention they require. The cotton furnishes
+a scanty clothing, deemed sufficient; all the children go naked till
+they are ten years old, or only wear a piece of cotton, leather, or a
+skin round their loins. The men of some consequence buy a tobe brought
+from Kanou or Niffee; the women purchase a few beads and other ornaments
+with their fowls or ghaseb. The bowls or household utensils are made
+from gourds, in shape like a cucumber, but straight, with a knob at the
+end; they are slit in two, and thus form two spoons, the concave head of
+the gourd serving as the bowl, the other part as the handle. These
+calabashes, some of which are pretty, are hung up within the huts as
+ornaments. On peeping into these huts, nothing is seen but these said
+calabashes, except the strings or nets by which they are suspended on
+the sides of the huts. As you enter there is always a partition-wall on
+your right hand, and a round entrance at the further end of the hut to
+this part, partitioned off. This space, so divided off, is the
+sleeping-place, where there is a raised bench of mud, or a bedstead made
+of cane or wickers. A few utensils for culture, an axe and a hoe, may be
+mentioned, all made by native blacksmiths, of the rudest description.
+Iron is found in the native rocks of Soudan, and is not imported. The
+greatest skill of the African blacksmith is, alas! shown in forging the
+manacles for slaves. I must mention that many of the huts have walls of
+clay, and roofs only of thatch or matting. The grain-stacks are also
+raised a foot or two from the ground, on stakes, to prevent the ghaseb
+getting wet during the rainy season. Thus it is that these children of
+Africa live a life of simplicity little above pure savages, and I may
+add, a life of comparative idleness, and perhaps happiness, in their
+point of view.
+
+Yesterday our Kashalla made a move to say his prayers. He was surrounded
+by the people who came with him from Zinder and Bornou, and the
+inhabitants of Dairmu. He prayed, but prayed alone, none following his
+example! It is quite clear that all the black population hereabouts are
+only nominal Muslims, and remain in heart pure Hazna, or pagans. Those
+who do pray, pray very little indeed; there is no sensual charin or
+allurement in Mahommedanism for the African mind, whilst its fasts and
+commands of abstinence from strong drinks deter thousands from embracing
+the religion of the false Prophet. It cannot allure the African by
+polygamy, because the African has as many women as he pleases by the
+permission of his native superstition. Islamism, therefore, takes no
+hold of the native African mind. There are a few Tuaricks scattered
+amongst all this population, but living generally out of the villages by
+themselves; they are all subjects of the Sheikh, and have escaped the
+desert to lead an easier life in Soudan. It is strange that some of the
+Tuarick women are enormously corpulent, whilst a corpulent woman is not
+found amongst the blacks. I must add, that the morality of these black
+villages seems of a much higher and purer kind than that of the Tuarick
+villages of Asben. Here they do not look upon woman, as in Asben, simply
+in the light of an instrument of pleasure: but I fear this will soon
+change. What morality, indeed, can there be without higher and more
+binding motives?
+
+I was much pleased with the condescension of the Kashalla in furnishing
+me with information on routes, and gave him a head of sugar. He is a man
+of great generosity, and immediately divided it amongst his people. He
+says he never leaves the Sheikh's presence, and it was solely on account
+of me that the Sheikh sent him to fetch me from Zinder. If this be true,
+their sovereign has paid a high compliment to the Mission.
+
+The only character whom I could discover in Dairmu was the constable, or
+general police-officer. This was an ill-looking fellow, with one eye
+damaged,--a most unamiable Dogberry. He approached the Kashalla twice,
+keeping, however, at a timid distance, kneeling down and throwing the
+dust in handfulls over his head, in the most abject manner. Yet this man
+was the dread of the whole neighbourhood! The exercise of all
+disagreeable employments seems to debase man. Before his superiors he
+crouches and grovels in dust; with the people he commands, he is a very
+tyrant!
+
+_10th._--I was joined yesterday evening by the rest of the caravan,
+Saïd, and Moknee, and my new interpreter. Saïd brings goods for Haj
+Beshir. We started early, and made seven hours; our route varying
+between east and south-east, through a fine wavy country, rising at
+times into high hills, with few trees in comparison to what we have
+hitherto had, and a good deal of cultivation, all ghaseb. The sandy soil
+is well adapted for this kind of grain. A ridge of quartz rocks strikes
+up through the sand. The rocky hills are mostly granite. The atmosphere
+was cooled by an easterly wind. We pitched tent, or rather halted, at a
+cluster of villages of considerable size, the principal of which is
+Guddemuni. They are all placed on hills. In the deep valley near is a
+large lake, towards the east, about two hours long and half-an-hour
+wide. In the dry season the people cultivate, by irrigation from the
+lake, a quantity of wheat, which they export to Kanou. Besides wheat,
+they raise ghaseb on the hill tops; and in the gardens, cotton, indigo,
+tobacco, onions, pepper, dates (bearing twice a-year), henna, potatoes
+(_dankali_), the palm (_geginya_),--bearing a large fruit (_gonda_),
+like the mealy melon,--gourds, rogo, and gwaza; which last are two
+species of potatoes. Some large trees are planted like the kuka, the
+fruit of which is used for sauce.
+
+To-day the Kashalla rode up to several men wandering in the fields,
+hunting, and attempted to impose some labour on them. This was a signal
+for a general stoppage of all foot-passengers, who were met by his
+people, for one purpose or another, either to take from them any little
+articles, or to vex them. They did not, however, stop two people we met,
+but gave them full leave to pass. Who were these? One was a man who, by
+disease, had become all over of a light flesh-colour, his black skin
+peeling off. It was a perfect phenomenon--a man with strong negro
+features, entirely white, or of a light dull-red colour. The other man
+was a miserable, filthy, blind fellow, whom the first invalid was
+leading. They were, in fact, a couple of mendicants going to Zinder on
+speculation, having come from Kuka, begging through all the towns and
+villages. The trade of begging is coextensive with man, civilised or
+uncivilised, in towns or country. Africa has a good number of this
+industrious class of people.
+
+The language of this cluster of villages is Haussa, like that of Zinder,
+the "Haussa of the North," as it is called: it varies a little from the
+pure Haussa of Kashna and Kanou. The people of this place were all
+excessively civil. I walked out in the evening, and saw about thirty of
+the maidens of Guddemuni (one of the villages) encircling a female
+dancer, who kept pacing to the sound of a rude guitar. At the sight of
+me they all made off. The poor blacks in these villages always expect
+that the white man comes to bring them into slavery. Afterwards I went
+to salute the Sultan. We saw him during two minutes; he kept rubbing his
+hands, as if he were cold. He was a sinister-looking man, dressed in a
+white tobe; he had not the least suspicion of what a Christian might be.
+I made the acquaintance of the taste of the doom-palm, in a dish of
+pastry seasoned by it. The taste is something like rhubarb, only a
+little sharper.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A Village plundered--Shaidega--Animals--Our Biscuit--Villages _en
+route_--Minyo--Respect for Learning--Monotony of the Country--A
+Wedding--Palsy--Slave-agents--Kal, Kal--Birni Gamatak--Tuaricks on the
+Plain--Palms--Sight the Town of Gurai--Bare Country--Bearings of various
+Places--Province of Minyo--Visit the Sultan--Audience-room--Fine
+Costume--A Scene of Barbaric Splendour--Trade--Estimate of Wealth--How
+to amuse a Prince--Small Present--The Oars carried by Men--Town of
+Gurai--Fortifications.
+
+
+_Feb. 11th._--I rose early, and started as usual, as quick as possible.
+We made seven hours and a-half, and halted at a small village called
+Bogussa. After the fifth hour we came to the hamlet of Dugurka, which
+the Kashalla delivered up to plunder, because the people refused to give
+him some water. This is the story of my servants, which I do not
+believe. But certain it is, that, after the Kashalla passed the hamlet,
+his people, who loitered behind, commenced a general pillage of the poor
+little village. The inhabitants had all fled at our approach, save one
+old man. All the hut-doors were violently torn away and the insides
+ransacked. The spoils were leben, bowls or calabashes, bows and arrows,
+axes, and some other trifles. Of live-stock, all the fowls were seized
+and slaughtered on the spot; also a lamb. My interpreter tells me that
+all the slaves of the Government of Bornou are marauders, and that it
+was for this reason the Sarkee of Zinder complained to the Sheikh of the
+government caravans seizing the people and sacking their villages. In
+all my life I never saw such an instance of the triumph of might over
+right. My servants, most of them Bornouese, joined their brethren with
+great eagerness. To remonstrate with them is useless. I have had several
+quarrels of remonstrance already since I have been in the Sheikh's
+territory, about similar acts of brigandage; and if I go on, I shall
+quarrel with all the world of Africa, every hour of the day. I
+reproached my servants ironically. I told them some one would soon come
+and take their camels and bullocks, and they must not complain to me to
+get them redress. But it is astonishing to see with what zest these
+freed slaves from the north coast enter again upon their old habits of
+plunder and razzia. The education of Africa consists in preparing it for
+the razzia. All the fine-spirited youth of all the great families look
+forward to this as their only occupation.
+
+We reached the rocky hills called Shaidega, near which the lake
+terminates, stretching from Guddemuni. At the base of these rocky
+heights is a sprinkling of huts, and there are indeed many sprinklings
+of huts which cannot be mentioned all along this route. The hill tops
+have no longer the naked appearance of the Saharan rocks, but are
+clothed and crowned with trees. The country is very fine and park-like,
+and were it not for the doom-palm, would be more like some of the best
+parts of Europe than Africa is supposed to be. The animals seen to day
+were two wild boars and some wild oxen. A couple of lions, a male and a
+female, come out nearly every night and serenade the villagers of
+Bogussa at their hut doors. The filthy vultures of Zinder are spread
+through all this fine country. Many doves and water-fowl were seen. We
+forded several stagnant streams of water, but of very small magnitude.
+
+I sheltered myself in the afternoon under a magnificent tree, called in
+Bornouese _kamdu_, and in Soudanese, _samia_. We are beginning to see
+very fine trees, casting an impervious shade, under which the weary
+traveller deliciously reposes in the hot clime. To-day I suffered most
+dreadfully from my horse; with a camel I should have felt nothing, but I
+must submit: there is no remedy.
+
+I believe the Kashalla to be a very good man, and above his plundering
+countrymen generally, but habit induces him to wink at the acts of
+brigandage committed by his people. I observed him yesterday stop a
+little boy with a load on his head, and tell him to run away from the
+people coming up, and take another road, that the caravan might not
+plunder him.
+
+I had an affair with Yusuf yesterday morning: two boxes of biscuit had
+been left entire in his room at Zinder, and now one of them was found
+opened and a quantity of the biscuit taken out. He and his son have
+eaten nearly all the biscuit on the road, together with the Sfaxee and
+others. It is preposterous to think that Government sent these biscuits
+for them, who can eat ghaseb, ghafouley, and any grain of this country,
+and thrive on such food. The Germans gave away their biscuit,
+complaining that it was an embarrassment to them. This encouraged the
+people to plunder me of mine, and now I have little left for the rest of
+my travelling in Africa during the present journey.
+
+_12th._--We started early; the weather always cool, with fresh breezes
+from the east. All our people seem in good health. I got up rather
+stiff, having had a good fall from my horse yesterday. We made only
+three hours and a-half, part north-east and the rest due east. When I
+dismounted I felt less fatigued, and wrote up my journal. We passed
+several villages _en route_ during these few hours; they occur, indeed,
+only about half-an-hour apart: viz. first in order after Bogussa,
+Gerremari, then Lekarari, Algari, a village of fighi pedagogues,
+Giddejer, and then Collori, where we have halted. It is said we shall
+still be three days before we get to the Sultan Minyo, and we have to
+pass Gamatak, Barataua, Birmi, Wonchi, Tungari, and finally, on the
+third day, early, we are to arrive at Gurai, the capital, governed by
+Minyo or Minyoma. Bogussa is the first district under the sway of this
+personage. We have in his name a remarkable instance of how in Africa
+names of cities and countries are confounded with those of their
+provinces. Hitherto, I and my interpreter had always taken it for
+granted that Minyo was the name of the capital of the province, not of
+the prince; so we understood from everybody, and only to-day we learn
+that Gurai is the name of the capital, whilst the province is called
+after the name of the prince, i.e. Minyo, or Minyoma.[21]
+
+ [21] It is worth while leaving this mistake of Mr. Richardson
+      or his informants, as an illustration of the great
+      difficulty that exists in eliciting accurate facts from
+      natives of Africa and other uncivilised countries.--ED.
+
+Our route this morning lay through a remarkably fine district, teeming
+with fertility, and requiring only the hand of industry to render it the
+richest country in the world. Not a ten-thousandth part of the soil is
+cultivated. We met a troop of schoolboys with their masters; their
+boards, bedaubed with Arabic characters, would have been an effectual
+protection for them against a troop of horsemen a thousand times larger
+than ours. But, nevertheless, a poor woman, or a girl with a bowl of
+milk or a little butter, could not pass unscathed. Such is morality
+here. May there not, however, be some promise in this respect for
+education? A woodman left his axe a moment on the roadside; one of our
+troopers immediately went off and seized it. The woodman, returning,
+followed the trooper to the Kashalla, and falling down, and throwing
+dust over his head, begged for his axe as for his life. The Kashalla
+could not withstand the appeal, and ordered his trooper to restore the
+axe. The fellow had concealed the axe, and it was lucky the owner
+discovered the thief so soon. The poor man went away very thankful,
+thanking me also. I believe I may be some check on these depredations,
+for I told my interpreter last night that I never saw a village, or any
+people, pillaged in the Christian countries; in fact, that I could not
+have hitherto believed that men could do the things which I saw done
+that day by the servants of the Kashalla. It is probable he will mention
+what I said to some one, and it will get to the ears of the said
+Kashalla. The Africans, in plundering one another, appear as if they
+were avenging some old grudge; as if they remembered the various
+occasions when they themselves had been pillaged. They rob with
+wonderful _gusto_.
+
+A monotonous uniformity begins to prevail over all these tracts. I am
+afraid I shall soon get tired of this negro population and these towns,
+all built and all peopled in the same manner. They seem remarkably
+curious at first, but curiosity soon palls.
+
+We have with us the Hajah, mentioned before. She is very quiet, being
+_passée_, and also afraid of the Sheikh's people.
+
+I went round the village and found some five hundred or six hundred
+people nestled together. All the villages which we passed to-day have a
+similar population. I saw the preparations for a wedding; it was a most
+amusing sight. Two enclosures were crowded with people, all busy; but
+the busiest were those grinding corn for the marriage-feast. The
+bridegroom was with one group, haranguing them in the most persevering
+manner, and rattling a hollow gourd filled with small stones. The group
+replied in chorus, all on their knees, bending forward, rubbing grain
+between two stones. The other group went on by themselves. Then, in an
+enclosure close by, was the bride, attended with, all her maiden
+friends, jammed together in a hut, all busy, doing nobody knows what. It
+was with great difficulty I could get a peep at her. The bride and her
+friends were distinguished by having a sort of brass nail-head driven
+through the right nostril of their noses. Good big boys were running
+about quite naked. But the conduct of the people, old and young, was
+quite decent.
+
+The bridegroom followed me to my tent, rattling his calabash for a
+present, singing my praises cheaply enough, for I gave him a very small
+present indeed. They have no set songs; all their singing is extempore.
+
+Afterwards I saw a man afflicted with palsy in his head. He applied to
+me for a remedy, but I could only recommend him to bathe himself every
+day in warm water, which will never be done; for these people are too
+indolent to perform any labour of this kind, even if it be to save their
+lives.
+
+My new interpreter, Mohammed, pretends that slave servants, or agents,
+are thought more of, that is, are more useful, than free people in
+Bornou. This may be accounted for by the absolute control which a master
+can exercise over his slave.
+
+The thermometer at sunset ranges 84°. It was very warm this afternoon.
+
+Here and there an ostrich egg tops the conical roofs of the huts, from
+Damerghou to this place. I showed the people my watch, and put it to
+their ears that they might hear it tick, tick; and I may observe a
+singularity on this. The people did not say, "Oh! how it ticks!" but
+"Kal, kal!" so that kal, kal, is the sound which we express by tick,
+tick, in our language.
+
+_13th._--As usual, we rose before sunrise, and started as soon as
+possible. We made four hours in the forenoon, and rested at a well
+called Birni Gamatak. The village is near the well, but we did not go to
+it. From this place to the Tuarick country, Gurasu, there are four short
+days; but the road has no water in this season. The Kaïd of the village
+paid us a visit, and brought us ghaseb-water. I amused him and his
+people with my watch and compass. After resting till 4 P.M. we started
+again. At Birni Gamatak a zone of mountainous country begins, consisting
+of granite, gneiss, and other varieties of primitive rocks. We had a
+magnificent ride through a fine rocky country. After one hour and a-half
+we passed Wonchi to the right, or south of us; a small village. On the
+route we had a boundless vista through the hills, over a vast plain,
+covered with a scattered forest, extending without end towards the
+north. This country is overrun by Tuaricks; all, however, living in
+friendship with the Sheikh. We made five hours and a-half, always east,
+so that we did not arrive at Tungari till long after daylight. Tungari
+consists of two or three considerable villages, having a population of
+about two thousand. Here I saw a greater number of date-trees than I had
+yet seen in Soudan. There were larger plantations, and many gardens. I
+have nothing particular to observe respecting this place, except that
+the people showed more boldness than the population subjected to the
+Sultan of Zinder; because the Sultan of Minyo gives them more protection
+against the Bornou marauders, or Government servants, travelling through
+the country. I went to bed thoroughly fatigued.
+
+_14th._--We rose at daybreak and went off immediately, and made four
+hours north-east, and then from a fine rising ground had a splendid view
+of all the town of Gurai. Our route yesterday and to-day began in a
+south-easterly direction, and after continuing east for some time
+gradually turned round to north-east, so that we have our faces again
+toward the northern desert. Yesterday I felt, for the first time, this
+approaching warm season--a hot wind, which, curiously enough, now comes
+from the north, whereas before it always came from the south.
+
+Gurai is very bare of trees, the townspeople having burnt them all up. I
+kept a-bed all day, to recruit myself from fatigue. The Kashalla went to
+salute the Sultan, who inquired after me. They reported my state, and
+said I should come to see him in the morning (i.e. of next day).
+
+According to a Gatronee, Kellai, a country of the Tuaricks, is one day
+only north-west from Gurai. It is a small village. Gurasu is five days
+from this, north-west. Dallakauri, also a Tuarick country, is one day
+northwards, or north-east. This is a large place. Bultumi, another
+Tuarick country, small; one day, east. Malumri, one day and a-half east.
+Therrai, a small place, a day beyond Dallakauri, north-west, two days
+from this. Chokada, a small place, five or six hours from this. All
+these places are inhabited by the Tuarick tribe of Duggera, viz. Kellai,
+Gurasu, Dallakauri, Bultumi, Malumri, Therrai, and Chokada. This tribe
+infests the upper part of the route of Bornou, that between the Tibboos
+and Kuka. Formerly they were great bandits, but now they fear the Sultan
+of Minyo, and begin to desist from their bad trade and turn to more
+peaceful habits. Bunai is one day and a-half south from Buroi, formerly
+the capital of the province of Minyo, and where the father of the
+present Sultan resided. It is a little less than Burai. Here we are told
+that, after all, Minyo is _not_ the name of the Sultan, as before
+mentioned, but the name of the province, which is sometimes called
+Minyoma, as being more euphonic; but all people love harmony in
+language. This province is considered the most powerful of the empire of
+Bornou.
+
+_15th._--Having selected my present for his highness the Sultan,
+consisting of a piece of cotton velvet for a tobe (ten mahboubs), a head
+of sugar, a little cinnamon and cloves, a piece of muslin for turbans,
+and a cotton handkerchief, I paid my visit under the escort of the
+Kashalla, and the Sultan's major-domo, a man carrying a large stick with
+a great knob at the end. We went straight to the palace, a considerable
+building, built of clay, like the Sultan's house at Zinder, in the shape
+of a fort or castle.
+
+We were first ushered into an audience-room or hall, of large
+dimensions, with little light, adapted for an African climate. It is
+newly built, and indeed not yet finished. The architecture is the same
+as the public buildings or houses of the chief officers in Kuka. Here we
+waited a quarter of an hour, during which time the people poured in from
+all quarters. At length we were ushered into the presence. I found the
+Sultan to be a good-looking black, with features not much stamped with
+the negro character. He was about the age of forty-five or fifty. His
+costume was truly royal, consisting of a loose tobe of purple silk, and
+a black burnouse, embroidered, thrown over it. He wore a turban of
+Egyptian form, and very handsome. His highness received me very affably,
+and I took my seat near him, on a pic-nic stool which I have with me. I
+shook hands, and doffed my hat. There was no throwing of dust about, as
+at Zinder. But we found the Sultan already seated, with all his
+courtiers and officers around him. His highness asked about my health,
+and the Tuaricks. He observed, "The Tuaricks are afraid of you." Some
+persons of that tribe, perhaps, have given him this false view of the
+case, pretending that the Tuaricks are afraid I am come to spy out the
+country, to be taken possession hereafter by the Queen. His highness
+minutely scanned all my European clothes, making many inquiries about
+them. All the people were highly delighted to see me throw aside my
+miserable Soudan tobe, and dress in my European costume. In fact, I
+don't know what I should have done without these clothes. The people
+then pulled off my boots, and burst out into an involuntary exclamation
+of astonishment when they saw my white leg under my stocking. My face
+and hands are both pretty well tanned, and the quality of the European
+skin is not so visible as in the parts of the body covered. His highness
+then inquired whether there was war in Europe, and whether peace existed
+between England and the Porte. He was very anxious to continue his
+questions, but there being two or three hundred persons present, he was
+obliged to defer them till the evening. I was much gratified with the
+sight. It was really a scene of African state, but without deformities.
+There was no blood, no slaying of victims, no abject ceremonies; nothing
+to offend the eye of the European. We merely saw, seated on a raised
+platform, a black, robed in barbaric style of splendour, with a hundred
+courtiers and officers squatted on the ground him, all humble beings,
+but not abject.
+
+On returning, his highness sent our caravan four bullocks, to be
+slaughtered for our use. To-day was market-day, but there was no stock
+of consequence here, there being little foreign commerce. There may be a
+score of foreign merchants, nearly all from Fezzan, but they are mere
+traders, and only bring a few things for the Sultan and his chief
+officers. These merchants say that there is no money here, nor, indeed,
+in Bornou.
+
+The place for money is Kanou. All the wealth of Central Africa is,
+according to them, concentrated there. Kanou is, in fact, the London of
+Soudan. I asked a merchant here, who was accounted rich; that is, who
+was a _Maidukia_? He replied, "One with property to the amount of a
+thousand dollars." Even a man with five hundred is accounted a somebody.
+Such is the estimate of wealth here. I expect to find all Bornou
+miserably poor.
+
+In the evening I waited again on his highness, according to appointment.
+He had descended from his throne, and divested himself of all his
+splendour, being now dressed in a plain tobe and burnouse. He received
+us squatted on a carpet upon the ground, in an inner court, and reminded
+me much of a stage king who had undressed after the performance. I
+produced all my wonderful things to amuse his highness,--my compass,
+spyglass, kaleidoscope, spectacles, peepshow, &c. In this way I amused
+him for an hour, he the while asking questions about my personal habits.
+Our people then told him the sovereign of England was a woman. "_Kamo?_"
+To which I replied, "_Kamo._" I was then requested to read some English,
+which I did from Milton. I always exhibit a small edition of Milton's
+poetry, with gilt edges and morocco binding, which greatly surprises all
+people accustomed to the use of books. The Kashalla then told his
+highness that I washed my face and hands continually, but did not pray.
+I explained through my interpreter that now, in a foreign country, I
+read my prayers, and that we had the Gospel; and he added, "The Zebour,"
+Psalms of David. All educated Muslims are acquainted with or have heard
+of the Psalms of David. I take out a copy of the Gospel and Psalms in
+Arabic, that every educated Mahommedan may see that we English are not
+the En-Sara or Kerdies of Africa, but have a God and a religion. The
+inconvenience of this is, that it leads sometimes to talking and
+disputing on religion, not always in season. A prudent man, however,
+will evade all difficulties without compromising his belief. We had
+again present a hundred people, or more, and his highness was disturbed
+at the number, but did not like to send them away. He asked me how old I
+was; and of my servants, whether I was married, &c.
+
+I returned pleased with my visit, although I lost one of my peepshows;
+for the Kashalla was foolish enough to tell me to give it to his
+highness. This is the danger of exhibiting these things. I took to the
+prince a small present of rings, silk, bracelets, and a necklace of mock
+pearls for his ladies; and hope to get back my peepshow by exchanging it
+for some such trinkets. This was a cool day, with a fresh breeze
+continually blowing.
+
+_16th._--I rose in a quieter state, though I have been much fatigued
+these last few days. It is expected we shall be here two or three days
+more. Fifteen days is the time allowed for our journey from this to
+Kuka. The people display greater curiosity to see me than the
+inhabitants of Zinder, this province being more out of the way of
+strangers. Yesterday, on returning from the palace, I had a hundred
+people at my heels.
+
+The mode of salutation for a sultan is peculiar in these provinces. It
+consists in holding up and back the lower part of the arm, and moving it
+up and down--to denote strength, probably; an intimation of local
+strength, as well as that of the body generally. I have been often
+saluted in this manner, and the mode is employed to strangers or any
+distinguished person.
+
+N.B.--The people of Kanem have not the shonshona.
+
+The oars of the boat are now carried, as the people say, by Ben-Adam
+(children of Adam, i.e. men). It is certainly more difficult to get them
+through these African forests than over the rocks of Sahara on the
+camel's back. Five servants of the Sultan of Zinder left this morning,
+having brought them thus far, to return. I gave them a little present of
+wadâ and rings.
+
+Gurai is somewhat smaller than Zinder, having a population of perhaps
+seven thousand souls. I have overrated the population of Zinder: that
+city, probably, does not contain more than ten thousand souls, if so
+many. On emerging from the Saharan Desert, where we had been accustomed
+to bestow the name of town upon great scattered villages, with a few
+hundred inhabitants, Zinder appeared to me quite a capital city. The
+town of Gurai is scattered about on several hills, and down their
+slopes. These hills are bare of trees and vegetation.
+
+There is a dry ditch surrounding the town. It answers the purpose of a
+fortification, especially as its effect is aided by a thickset hedge. At
+some places this hedge is growing; at others, it consists merely of
+branches cut from various trees, but rendered almost impenetrable by
+being made broad and thick. These defences are quite effectual in the
+kind of wars carried on in these regions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Fezzanee Traders--Sultan in want of Medicine--The Stud--Letters--Yusuf's
+Conduct--Architecture--Fragment of the History of Minyo--Politics
+of Zinder--Bornouese Fish--Visits--Two Routes--Dancing by
+Moonlight--Richness--Fires--Information on Boushi and Adamaua--The
+Yamyam--Liver Complaints--A Girl's Game--Desert Country--Gift Camel--Few
+Living Creatures--Village of Gusumana--Environs--The Doom
+Fruit--Brothers of Sultan of Sakkatou--Stupid Kadi--Showing off--Hot
+Weather--[Final Note--Death of Mr. Richardson.]
+
+
+I had visits yesterday from all the Fezzanee traders. These people, as
+at Zinder, and everywhere at Soudan, sell their goods at a high price to
+the Sultan, and then are obliged to wait six or seven months for their
+money, eating up all their profits. No wonder the poor fellows rarely
+get rich, but remain, on the contrary, always miserably poor. The same
+is the case throughout all Soudan. To-day my tent was thronged with
+visitors, before whom I am obliged to exhibit myself, or show my
+curiosities. Among others, I had a visit from some people who came from
+Gobter, distant four hours south, on purpose to see me; and, moreover,
+had a call from some ladies nearly related to the Sultan. They all
+wanted medicine, but for what they could not tell; so I gave them each a
+taste of Epsom. This made them relish a bit of sugar, which I distribute
+to them afterwards, and which appeased their grimaces and disgust. I am
+pestered to death for medicines, and have visitors without number.
+
+The Sultan sent word this morning to know if I had anything to sell, any
+fine things from the Christian countries, for he wished to buy them. Our
+people returned for answer that I was not a merchant, but belonged to
+the Queen. He then begged me to give him a small quantity of my
+medicines, for he had heard I had most wonderful drugs;--would I favour
+him with some of every kind, that he might be prepared for all possible
+complaints which might attack him hereafter, when I was gone? For the
+present he is suffering from pains in all his joints; and requests, in
+the first place, to be relieved from them. Compliance with these demands
+was, of course, necessary. I therefore packed up small quantities of
+emetics, acetate of lead, worm-powders, and Epsom, and also a little
+camphor, and a little sticking-plaster, with a small bottle of Eau de
+Cologne. With these I went to pay my respects. We found the Sultan in a
+small private apartment. He was in an inquisitive mood, and began by
+asking me all manner of questions, the subjects ranging from the affairs
+of kings and princes down to the handkerchief round my neck. I should
+observe that the Sultan requested Yusuf to taste the medicines before he
+delivered them up to him, to see that there was no blood in them. So he
+tasted the salts and the jalap; but I told him that the acetate of lead
+was poison, and we wrote _sem_ upon all the packets. It surprised him
+that we should administer poison to the eyes.
+
+After the interview his servants showed me his horses. They were but
+ill-formed animals, some heavily built, and others miserable-looking
+creatures. Yet these are the pick of the whole country, and some have
+been lately brought from Sakkatou, as the best which could be exported
+from that quarter.
+
+In the afternoon another slave of Haj Beshir arrived from Zinder,
+seeking for me. He had brought a letter, but had orders if he did not
+find me to return it to Kuka; so that I shall be without news until my
+arrival. He, however, just knows that a caravan came from Mourzuk in
+thirty-nine days, bringing this letter, which was forwarded to me. It
+comes direct from Tripoli. There are three letters for me!
+
+This evening my new interpreter came with a long trumped-up story, as to
+what the Sultan had said respecting my quarrel with Yusuf. His highness
+was represented to have expressed a strong desire that we might be
+reconciled before we arrived at Kuka. I cannot tell whether this be true
+or false. Probably they have attempted to get the Sultan to speak to me
+about Yusuf. This is always the case. These people do you as much injury
+as they please on the road, and when they are near a place which makes
+them afraid, they get a number of people to come and persuade you to say
+that they are very good fellows. It is quite clear that Yusuf has stolen
+several things on the road. The last thing missed is a large quantity of
+cloves. It is difficult to know how to act on these occasions.
+
+_17th._--I took Epsom, and feel better.
+
+The architectural ornaments of the palace of Gurai resemble those of the
+houses of Ghât. The walls are covered with little recesses, of various
+shapes; the moulding consists of a series of lozenges; the pillars by
+which the ceiling is supported are of immense thickness. In these large
+halls, on a level with the ground, there are always raised seats of
+earth, on which are spread carpets, and lion and leopard skins.
+
+By the way, this country seems clear of animals. They are all either
+hunted down, or driven into thicker shades and forests.
+
+All these provinces have their histories preserved traditionally. The
+father of the present Sultan of Gurai, named Ibrahim, was a most
+determined fellow. He slew no less than seven sultans appointed to take
+his place. The Sheikh, in the first instance, sent a large army to
+dispossess him. Before superior forces he retired to a mountain, where
+he was unattackable. The new Sultan was installed, and the troops of
+Bornou returned to Kuka. As soon as they were gone, Ibrahim descended
+the mountains with his slaves, and fell upon the new prince, butchering
+him and his people. Then he wrote to Kuka: "I am under God and you." The
+Sheikh, enraged at this conduct, sent another force against him, as
+before. Ibrahim once more retired to his stronghold, and after the
+Bornou forces had returned to Kuka, again descended from his mountain,
+and butchered the new prince as before. And this he repeated seven
+times, so that at last the Sheikh, seeing the impossibility of
+continuing the war with such a vassal, allowed him to have quiet
+possession of the province of Minyo. His son Goso, now sultan, is also a
+very spirited fellow; but he is on good terms with the Sheikh, and
+observed to me, "What Kuka (the Sheikh) does, I do; as what Stamboul
+does, so does Tripoli." Goso, or Gausau, is certainly a very polite
+prince, and a very accomplished man. To him the Sultan of Zinder is a
+mere slave.
+
+There is some news about the Sultan of Zinder. It appears that Sarkee
+Ibrahim feels himself weak, and unable to conduct the government of the
+province prosperously, i.e. "to go on razzia;" so he wrote for his
+brother to come and undertake the command of the slave-hunts. The
+brother spoke to the Sheikh, who said "Go." But the brother said, "No, I
+will not go, unless you will give me the province to govern." The Sheikh
+replied, "Your brother will give you some town." "No," was the answer;
+"I will not go unless you will give me the whole province." This is now
+the great news in Zinder and Gurai, and was carried to the former place
+by two horsemen, who galloped from Kuka to Zinder in six days.
+
+I now write the names of the sultans of the province in Arabic, before
+them, with a black-lead pencil. This greatly astonishes them: first,
+that I am able to write their names and that of the countries which they
+govern; and secondly, with a black-lead pencil, which they call wood.
+
+_Names of several sorts of Fish (Buni) in Bornou._
+
+Yogari, a large flat fish, four or five feet long, and as many broad.
+
+Kagwi, a fish like a cod or ling.
+
+Haik, one foot and a half long, three or four inches broad.
+
+Kamudee, one foot and a half long, thick as the lower arm, and quite
+black.
+
+Karwa and Kagia, species of small plaice.
+
+Labun, of the size of a locust.
+
+Kadikadi, large thick eel.
+
+The Sultan is very anxious about my personal history, and hearing that I
+had my wife in Tripoli, inquired if I intended to take another in this
+country.
+
+I have had numberless visits all day long. The people display an intense
+curiosity to see the Christian, and would stop here for ever, gazing
+before my tent. Four sisters of the Sultan gave me a call. I taught them
+the use of pins, and pinned three of them together, which produced great
+merriment amongst the people. A Fellatah horse-dealer gave me two routes
+to-day; one from this (Gurai) to Sakkatou, and another from Sakkatou
+towards the west.[22]
+
+ [22] See Appendix.
+
+A quarrel has sprung up between the Kashalla and Saïd, Haj Beshir's
+slave, about the road we should take from this to Kuka. The
+north-eastern, or direct east, is the shortest, but there are three days
+without habitations: this is Saïd's road. The south-eastern is the
+longer route, and is the Kashalla's, but there are people every day. The
+latter is probably the better route for me. It is decided that we leave
+the day after to-morrow.
+
+This evening the Sultan sent me a camel, as a present. Not having
+experienced the difficulty of riding a horse, I had sold all my camels.
+The gift camel is a very good one.
+
+When the moon rises, about an hour after dark, the beating of the drums
+is heard, calling the people to assemble for the dancing--young men and
+maidens. In ten minutes, some hundred people are collected. The dancing
+then commences in full and grand style. This evening I went out to see
+the performance, and found it the most animating I had yet seen in
+Africa. The young men and maidens separated into parties, the maidens
+near the drummers, and the young men at a distance of some twenty paces
+around them. A circle is then formed. The ladies here choose their own
+partners, instead of waiting to be chosen. A maiden skips up awkwardly
+to the drummer, then glides off to the side of the young men, and
+touches the gentleman with whom she wishes to dance, and returns. The
+young man does not immediately accept, for two or three minutes elapse
+after he has been touched ere he starts off to join the lady who has
+honoured him in the presence of a hundred admiring or jealous
+spectators. They join, turning first face to face, then back to back,
+then face to the drummers, in the most lively style. The young men are
+dressed in their tobes, and throw them up and round so as to produce a
+moving circle, as women might do with their petticoats; but not moving
+their bodies so much as their circling tobes: this is the grand grace of
+the dance. Then there are parties of men and women dancing together; but
+the men with men, and women with women. The women trip up awkwardly, but
+modestly, to where the men are placed, and then fall back; upon which
+the men pursue them violently, overtaking them before they get to their
+places, and throwing their tobes around them: but there is nothing
+indelicate in all this. On the contrary, the whole dance is quite a
+pattern of modesty to the Europeans, the Arabs, and the Moors,--to these
+latter especially, whose dance, as introduced here, is of the most
+lascivious and beastly description. This entertainment takes place every
+night; it is the great solace and delight of the people: they have no
+other amusement. They are all passionately fond of the drum, which
+certainly makes a great noise, and stirs them up to exhibit their
+dancing powers.
+
+The whole population have suddenly become sick, and all want Epsom
+salts: a camel-load would not suffice. One old fellow wants a medicine
+to enable him to get children. I tell him he is now old, and must be
+satisfied with the strength God has given him in his past life.
+
+The Sultan has made presents to our people,--to the Kashalla, Yusuf, and
+others.
+
+_18th._--I was so beset with people that I could not use my thermometer
+this morning. The weather is fresh, with the wind from the north-east. I
+am obliged to give tea as medicine: everybody now pretends to be sick,
+from the Sultan to the meanest slave.
+
+In all these villages the people burn up the stubble in the evening,
+just outside the village, on the dung-heaps. They like to see the flame
+which whirls up from the dirty hay or straw; but, of course, they make
+their fire at some distance, to prevent its catching their huts. The
+mortar and pestle have disappeared: the people use here, for grinding
+their grain, two stones, as in some places on the north coast.
+
+The insects are beginning their depredations upon me, biting me all
+over, and raising on my flesh small ulcers.
+
+I have obtained from Nammadina, the Fellatah horse-dealer, a detailed
+account of the route to Yola, the capital of Adamaua, passing through
+Boushi.
+
+The Moors represent the latter place to be like Mourzuk and Tripoli; but
+they say the greater part of the inhabitants of Adamaua are infidels or
+pagans. The rulers are, however, Fellatahs, and therefore Muslims.
+Adamaua is a rocky country: a small quantity of grain is found here,
+with abundance of sheep, oxen, horses, goats, fish, samen, honey, and
+onions. The rivers of Adamaua have always some water in them.
+
+In the territory of Boushi will be found the celebrated name of Yamyam,
+where the Moorish and Arab merchants place the residence of the Ben-Adam
+eaters, or cannibals. I was greatly amused to hear my Fellatah informant
+most strenuously deny this calumny on the African race; he asserted that
+he had been in the country, and never had seen anything of this sort.
+The Moors as boldly affirmed that such cannibals exist, although they
+were obliged to confess they never saw the people of Adamaua or Yakoba
+(name of the sultan) eat human flesh. The whole story of the Yamyam is
+of the remotest antiquity, and has come down to us with many
+embellishments; but, if once true of the people hereabouts, it can no
+longer be authenticated by present facts, for as I have said, the Moors
+themselves represent Boushi to be like Tripoli.
+
+The people from Fezzan and Tripoli, the traders and all, complain of the
+liver complaint; most of them have been ten or fifteen years in this
+country, travelling through Bornou and Soudan. I gave them small doses
+of calomel. All people at this season, blacks and strangers from the
+north, are full of rheumatism, which they describe by saying they have
+pains in all their joints and all their limbs. The presence of a
+Christian having medicines heightens and multiplies these diseases;
+there is, however, in reality, a good deal of rheumatism, arising from
+the cold winds of the north-east.
+
+This evening we had again our drummers and the dancers, as on every
+preceding night. The girls have a laughable game amongst themselves, the
+boys, however, sometimes joining--that of throwing one another up and
+forwards by the arm-pits; the girl thus thrown forwards is expected, if
+she play her part well, to light firmly on her feet. If not, she rolls
+about and over, and the accidents that then occur are probably
+considered a great part of the amusement.
+
+_19th._--We were hurried off this morning early by the Kashalla, and I
+had no time to go and take leave of the Sultan. The weather is fresh. I
+mounted my gift camel; the second grand gift from the princes of Africa.
+We made a long day, from morning till after dark, about ten hours,
+through an undulating country. Some of the hollows were very deep, and
+enclosed stagnant reedy pools, of generally bad water, remaining from
+the past rains. For the first three or four hours of this march we had a
+scattered forest of dwarfish trees, mostly dwarf tholukhs. These are
+succeeded by small forests of the doom-palms, lining the pools and
+swamps in the valleys, and looking very fresh and pretty. I was
+astonished to see so few animals; indeed, we only observed now and then
+a small bird. What was the more strange, no water-fowl was seen in the
+pools.
+
+But the country to-day was all desert--no grain cultivating, which
+perhaps may account for the absence of birds and fowls. Saïd prevailed
+over the Kashalla, and we have taken the desert route, being five days
+nearer. There are, besides, but few trees, comparatively, which makes it
+easier to transport the boat.
+
+The Kashalla vexed me very much by taking my camel to transport a
+portion of baggage, his own camel knocking up. At first I refused to go
+on, but on the promise that he would get a bullock at the nearest place
+I mounted upon the luggage. Fortunately, my gift camel is a good one,
+not like the horse, and can carry a large weight. I cannot grumble much,
+as the Sheikh's camels are transporting many of my private things.
+Nevertheless you must show a stern resistance to all these liberties,
+otherwise you will never be able to get through Africa.
+
+No tent was pitched, but I made myself comfortable by drinking the
+remainder of a bottle of port wine, which I began yesterday. I felt a
+little queer, and fancied I had injured myself by drinking so much milk;
+so I took to a bottle of port wine, and finished it in three times. I
+have felt much better since. I could very well drink a bottle a-day, and
+believe I should be much stronger for it. However, such wine should be
+kept for convalescence after fever. I have still a bottle, and some
+Cyprus wine--very good wine.
+
+_20th._--We started as soon as the day broke and the sun showed himself,
+and made five hours south-east over country the same as yesterday. But
+the forests of doom-palms were larger and thicker, and valleys also were
+more extensive. What is strange, no wild animals show themselves, not
+even in these sedgy, reedy swamps. I could only see scattered on the
+ground the feathers of the guinea-fowl. One or two black-and-white crows
+were noticed. Our people say that all the crows are of this colour in
+Bornou. In Ashen there are both species, the black, and the
+black-and-white. Our people also tell us, that on the other route, which
+the Kashalla wished to travel, there are numbers of elephants, and much
+water. Here is water enough in the rainy season for all such animals. We
+had still the tholukh, as well as the doom, and a tree like a large
+sea-shore plant cropped by the camels.
+
+We saw no ghaseb cultivation, or any sort of grain, till we arrived at
+Gusumana, where we found wheat, cotton, and pepper in the gardens. The
+village of Gusumana is situated on a hill, overlooking a steep broad
+valley, full of the doom-palm. This village has therefore its houses
+constructed partly with the branches and trunks of this tree, which
+serve very well. I am housed in a most comfortable little hut made of
+this material, and nicely thatched; the door is composed of some thin
+strips of the leaves of the palm, which, as you enter, give way, and
+then return to their place, just as would a curtain. In this way the air
+always plays freely into the hut, murmuring sometimes between these
+fragments of leaves.
+
+I have felt much less fatigue since I mounted the camel, although I have
+made the longest day upon it that has been made since we left Zinder. I
+recommend to all travellers the camel in the desert, or in Soudan. I
+believe the ill-health of the former expedition was much increased by
+always riding horses. Thank God, my strength still keeps up.
+
+Taking Gusumana as a centre, we have around it several towns and
+villages. Thisi, one hour west; Gajemmi, one long day north-west; Parum,
+one hour east-south-east; Kadellebua, two hours south-west; Garua, one
+hour east; Gogora, two hours east; and, finally, in our road, Kanggarua,
+two days south-east. The town of Gajemmi is inhabited by the tribe of
+Duggera; but the Kaïd of this village pretends they are not Tuaricks. He
+means, probably, not the same as the Tuaricks of Ashen. It is quite
+clear that these Daggera inhabit all the northern line of Bornou, from
+Zinder to Kuka; skirting, in fact, all the left of our route. They join
+the Damerghou territory, and thus extend from that province west to
+Kanem, and the route of Bornou east. The Tuaricks are ever located on
+the confines of the desert. Here they roam free, and rob and plunder
+where they have opportunity, or when the princes of Bornou and Soudan
+cannot check them.
+
+Our people gnaw the doom fruit, but it is just like gnawing the bark of
+a tree, slightly flavoured with some aroma. They begin to eat them from
+childhood, and so keep on, as the gour-nuts are chewed by children; and
+so the taste is sucked in with their mother's milk. The gour-nut,
+however, is something, whilst the doom fruit is mere wood. The tree,
+nevertheless, is green, and in waving forests delightfully relieves this
+hot, burning, African landscape.
+
+The portion of the caravan consisting of bullocks is always much later
+than the rest; to-day they were four hours after us. I consider that the
+hours we now go are at least two and a-half or three English miles in
+length, as we advance at a speed quite equal to a horse walking at a
+good pace; nay, I might say, some hours we make three and a-half English
+miles.
+
+The following are the names of the brothers of the Sultan of Sakkatou,
+obtained from my Fellatah informant of Gurai. A difference of
+pronunciation will be observed in the Arab names, as they are
+transmitted through the Fellatah language. Aliu (for Ali), name of the
+Sultan himself and one of his brothers; Mallaidi; Amadu (Ahmed), Omeru
+(Omer, two of this name), Mahammedu (Mahammed), Mogari; Amadu Bedai;
+Alhattu; Moho; Isa (two of this name); Amadu el-Fai; Musa;
+Abd-el-Kaderi, and Abd-el-Walli. These are the names of all the brothers
+which he has heard. The first minister is called Galladima. The Kadi is
+El-Hali el-Haj; Inna is the generalissimo; Mohammed Wuddeggen, Muddebri
+Ali, Bu Beker, Manuri, and Gudundi, are names of other grandees and
+generals. The horse-dealer speaks of them with great familiarity, for he
+sells to them all. His own country is called Kabi, situated to the
+south-west of Sakkatou. He gave me the particulars of the route.[23]
+
+ [23] See Appendix.
+
+_21st._--This morning the weather was cool, the thermometer standing at
+56°, with a fresh wind. We had a visit early from the Kadi. I asked him
+why he did not plant date-trees in the fine valley under the village. He
+replied, "From whence shall I procure them?" I answered, "From Tungari
+(a place west, three days distant)." At this he looked very stupid.
+These Minyo negroes have no idea of improving their condition. His reply
+may serve for all the country hereabouts.
+
+Minyo and its large province is called by its aboriginal names Manga. It
+extends south-east to a river, on the other side of which begins Bornou
+Proper. But the people of Manga speak the same language as the
+Bornouese. Zinder belongs to the circle of Soudan, and its province is
+called Damagram.
+
+Mohammed, my interpreter, pretends he saw elephants to-day at a
+considerable distance, looking like black trees. Probably to-morrow we
+may fall in with some animals worth seeing. I observed two or three
+swallows, the first this year. We stop here to-day to rest. The animals
+are knocked up, and the Kashalla has lost a horse.
+
+It is from this Manga province that many of the villages of Damerghou
+are populated. Formerly the Tuaricks of that province made razzias on
+these out-lying provinces, with the produce of which they increased the
+number of their subjects.
+
+An European must needs show off in this country. Yesterday I was obliged
+to exhibit to all the village,--about a hundred people,--and to-day to
+as many more. It is very fortunate if you are not detestably ugly, and
+can pass muster; for if you are, you will have all sorts of faces made
+at you; and, besides, you will be considered to represent a whole people
+as an ugly race. I walked round the village. There may be two hundred
+huts, and about six hundred inhabitants. The sun burns at four P.M. most
+fiercely. I begin to be afraid of it; but the days are uncertain, and
+sometimes the weather is quite chilly.
+
+According to my interpreter, Mohammed Ben Ahmed Bu Saad, there is no
+money in Bornou, and the Sheikh could never obtain a strong army. We
+certainly find considerable difficulty all along to get an extra camel
+or bullock, and those to be obtained are very bad ones. The people
+cultivate very little, and have no resources to fall back on. They have
+just a little grain for themselves. The Sheikh of this place is a
+respectable man, and has been very civil to me. He, however, requires
+from me a medicine to procure him a good reception wherever he goes. He
+says he is frequently called to Minyo and other large places, and he
+wants a medicine to procure him the smiles, good-will, and friendship of
+all the people whom he meets. Especially he wishes always to have the
+favour of the Sultan. I had numbers of other patients all day; my Epsom
+is fast going. Thermometer at sunset, 82°; weather very troublesome
+to-day, blowing hot and cold with the same breath.[24]
+
+ [24] Here ends Mr. Richardson's journal, with words which
+      already hint the cause of the lamentable accident that
+      speedily followed. Spring was advancing with its uncertain
+      temperature in Central Africa. The thermometer varied
+      nearly thirty degrees between the morning and afternoon.
+      Doubtless, however, the unusual fatigue of horse-exercise
+      during the days that succeeded the departure from Zinder
+      may have contributed its share in breaking down Mr.
+      Richardson's strength. Something of a desponding tone may
+      be observed in the journal for many pages; but we do not
+      find that there was any cessation of industry. In addition
+      to what is found in the regular diary, a good many notes
+      were left written in pencil. Among the principal of them
+      are the following:--
+
+      "In Kanem, north of Bornou, it rains a month earlier in the
+      season than in that province; in Bornou, one month earlier
+      than in Kanou; in Kanou, one month earlier than at Niffee.
+      The heat of to-day, under a thatch hut, at one P.M., same
+      as yesterday, 96°. Sugar dissolved into a wash is a common
+      remedy in Soudan and Bornou for bad eyes; but, perhaps, it
+      is made an excuse for getting sugar from us."
+
+      "In the evening we marched two hours and a-half in an
+      E.S.E. direction. We were met by the Sheikh of the place,
+      with some fifteen horse, and a mounted drummer. No wild
+      animals are seen, on account of the fires in the desert
+      (made, however, by the people on purpose to catch them). No
+      water-fowls swim in the pools, probably because there is no
+      cultivation. But this is the real country of the elephants.
+      I saw the dung some two days before, and could not make out
+      what it was. These days the dung was more abundant, and the
+      people told me what it was. The people about here do not
+      hurt them, their spears being useless against the hide of
+      this great quadruped; the hunters, however, entangle the
+      smaller animals--gazelles, &c.--by means of a great wheel
+      made of cane. The animals put their feet in the middle,
+      which gives in, and holds them, whilst the top is secured
+      by strong cords."
+
+      "Mandemnia.
+
+      "Kangarwar, half the size of Zinder. First day, evening
+      march, seven hours, pitched in open country; course, S.E.
+      Second day, pitched in open country; course, E. Third day,
+      six hours, E.N.E. Fourth day, half-an-hour's morning march.
+      Mandemnia village people occupied in making salt."
+
+      I believe Mr. Richardson was sometimes in the habit of
+      jotting down observations in this way on loose pieces of
+      paper previous to inserting them in his journal, which he
+      evidently wrote in great part with a view to its being sent
+      to the press, though at others he breaks away into a series
+      of disconnected memoranda. We have no further account of
+      what happened between the 21st of February and the 4th of
+      March, than what is contained in the letter written by Dr.
+      Barth, Mr. Richardson's fellow-traveller, so often
+      mentioned in the foregoing pages (see Preface).--ED.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+LIST OF ROUTES, &c.
+
+
+_Route from Zinder to Kanou._
+
+From Zinder, starting S.S.E., Kankandi, one hour.
+
+Baban Tabki, a quarter of an hour.
+
+Dunai, four hours: large place, or village.
+
+Guna, one hour: large place.
+
+Karaiai, four hours: large village.
+
+Washa, seven hours: town and residence of a sultan.
+
+Kakibarai, three hours. This place consists of three villages; one upon
+the rocky hills, one on the slope, and one under the rocks. At Washa
+there are also rocks; the rest of the route is flat. From Washa to
+Kakibarai there is a most copious supply of water.
+
+Gordo, ten hours: large village.
+
+Eshkakato, two hours: large village.
+
+Tumbi, two hours: town and residence of a sultan. Omitting one place,
+the name of which was not remembered, then follows:
+
+Maidabara, one hour.
+
+Gumel, two hours: town and residence of a sultan.
+
+Tukkenzuru, one hour.
+
+Bermanaua, one hour: large village.
+
+Elladi, one hour. Here terminates the territory of Bornou.
+
+Garki, two hours: a very populous place, and said to be the residence of
+seven sultans (or governors). Here begins the territory of the
+Fellatahs.
+
+Dago, three hours.
+
+Kuka Maifurra, two hours.
+
+Kuka Mairua, one hour and a half.
+
+Gubbasaua, two hours.
+
+Souk (name not remembered), two hours.
+
+Gaizaua, two hours: a large place.
+
+Sharo, one hour. Here are three running streams, each separated by about
+a quarter of an hour's ride.
+
+Zango, a quarter of an hour. From Sharo to Kanou there are no less than
+thirty small villages.
+
+Kanou, a quarter of an hour. The whole of the route, with the exception
+of the rocks of Washa and Kakibarai, is flat, and trees are scattered
+along all the road. From Gumel to Dogo there is a forest, and from
+Kakibarai to Gordo the country is covered with the doom-palm. In all the
+towns and villages above enumerated is found a good supply of water. The
+portion of Bornouese territory is sandy, and that of the Fellatah's good
+earthy soil.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Routes from Zinder to Kuka: first route, viâ Minyo._
+
+From Zinder to
+
+Zarmu, half a day; village. (The half day is from four to five hours.)
+
+Ginnewa, half a day; village.
+
+Majia, seven hours; village.
+
+Minyo, half a day; town and residence of a sultan of considerable power
+and influence.
+
+Alkammaram, seven hours; well.
+
+Kadalafua, seven hours; large village.
+
+Birribirchi, seven hours; well.
+
+Kagarwa, half a day; large village.
+
+Karragu-fillai, three hours.
+
+Gurrutua, half a day; town, and residence of a sultan.
+
+Zangairi, name of a river and a village, three hours. Here is a large
+river, which, however, is dry in summer. Most of these rivers are dry
+during the two or three hot months.
+
+Miggeba, four hours; a village.
+
+Zaggatur, half a day; a village.
+
+Bua, four hours; a village.
+
+Bagusu, half a day; a village.
+
+Kuka, four hours; town.
+
+This route is usually reckoned at fifteen days' journey: trees are
+abundant on all the route, especially the doom-palm. There are, besides,
+many streams of water, on the banks of which are seen animals of every
+description.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Second Route, viâ Mashena._
+
+Miria, three hours; town, and residence of a sultan. Here is a small
+lake, where palateable fish are caught. Abundance of corn is also found
+here.
+
+Gushi, eight hours; town, and residence of a sultan.
+
+Gijemu, three hours; village.
+
+Zubaggeru, eight hours; large village.
+
+Funokam, three hours; village.
+
+Mashena, three hours; town, and residence of a sultan.
+
+Bundi, half a day; town, and residence of a sultan.
+
+Karimairi, three hours; town, and residence of a sultan.
+
+Zorikulo, eight hours; village.
+
+Kafi, three hours; village.
+
+Ganaua, half a day; village.
+
+Wadi, half a day; village.
+
+Gurrutua, eight hours; village.
+
+Miggeba, half a day; village. A river, in which water is found three
+feet deep during the summer.
+
+Fataganna, three hours; village.
+
+Dumrua, half a day; village.
+
+Shilaua, half a day; a village.
+
+Basher, half a day; a village.
+
+Kuka, three hours.
+
+This route abounds with trees, water, fruit, corn, and many animals.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Gumel to Kuka._
+
+From Gumel to
+
+Shafoa, half a day; large village.
+
+Taganama, half a day; large town, and residence of a sultan.
+
+Mashena, six hours; town, residence of a sultan.
+
+Gumsi, seven hours; large village.
+
+Zirku-Kura, ten hours; running water and wells.
+
+Enki-Kura (i.e. large water), twelve hours; a large lake, stagnant,
+having no communication with other water.
+
+Lauwanri, ten hours; large village.
+
+Diru, ten hours; large village.
+
+Chilumwa, ten hours; large village.
+
+Burburwa, twelve hours; a large walled town, and what is called
+_Biad-es-souk_, i.e. where a market is held.
+
+Daboko, twelve hours; small village, near a large river.
+
+Limbua, ten hours: this place consists of fifty or sixty little
+villages.
+
+Binaua, eight hours, comprising many small villages.
+
+Kamis-Ali, five hours, or place where a market is held.
+
+Basher, eight hours; village.
+
+Kuka, four hours.[25]
+
+ [25] In the former route, Basher is given as only three hours
+      from Kuka. In the next route, Bagusu is made eight hours
+      from Kuka, whilst a little back we have it set down at only
+      half that distance. These discrepancies, of course, set
+      geographers on their guard against placing any absolute
+      dependence on native reports. I remember once questioning
+      the inhabitants of a village in Egypt about the distance of
+      a particular place. One said, five or six hours; others
+      said, a short day; and others, a long day. However, by
+      comparison of various statements, perhaps something like
+      the truth may be reached.--ED.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Kanou to Kuka._
+
+From Kanou to
+
+Gaizaua, six hours; a large place.
+
+Kuka-Mairua, eight hours.
+
+Gerki, nine hours.
+
+Gumel, half a day; town, residence of a sultan.
+
+Ungua-Kalu, eight hours: this place includes two villages.
+
+Gullairi, ten hours; large village, or town without walls.
+
+Mashena, half a day; town, and residence of a sultan.
+
+Bundi, half a day; town, and residence of a sultan.
+
+Karremeri, four hours; a town, three times as large as Zinder.
+
+Zolikulo, eleven hours; village.
+
+Kafi, eight hours; village.
+
+Ganaua, nine hours; village.
+
+Dellella, half a day; village.
+
+Kashimwa, ten hours; large place, and a river.
+
+Miggeba, eight hours; village.
+
+Kassachia, five hours; villages: large river, dry in summer.
+
+Ura, eight hours; village.
+
+Kinchakusko, ten hours; village.
+
+Bagusu, ten hours.
+
+Kuka, eight hours.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Kuka to Mourzuk._
+
+From Kuka, north, to
+
+Urutua, half a day; small village.
+
+Karillewa, half a day; a well.
+
+Yau, half a day; walled town, large river.
+
+Burwa, twelve hours; walled town.
+
+Wuddi, twelve hours; stream, running into the Tchad (great lake).
+
+Gaigomai, four hours; small villages and rivers.
+
+Bir-Hamam, twelve hours; well.
+
+Kufai, nine hours; one tree; resting-place, formerly a well.
+
+Kibbu, fifteen hours; a well.
+
+Bel-Kashefferri, three days, and arrive the fourth day after six hours.
+
+Agdem, one day and a-half; well, large rocks and sandhills.
+
+Dubbula, two days; well, large rocks and sandhills.
+
+Zau, one day and a-half; well, large sandhills.
+
+Musguatin, seven hours; well, rocks.
+
+Bilma, four hours; large walled town.
+
+Shummenduro, eleven hours; town upon the rocks.
+
+Dirku, two hours; walled town, and residence of the Sultan of the
+Tibboos (capital).
+
+Ashennema, half a day; village and rocks.
+
+Amchumma, ten hours; village and rocks.
+
+Anai, two hours; village and rocks.
+
+Yuguba, twelve hours; a well.
+
+Sigdem, twelve hours; well and rocks.
+
+Maffarus, one day and a half; well.
+
+Lahmer, one day and a half; well and rocks.
+
+War, three days; well, and mountains of great height and magnitude.
+
+Meshru, two days; well and rocks.
+
+Oma, twelve hours. Here the traveller at length sees a forest of
+date-palms; and the first district of Fezzan begins.
+
+Tajerrhi, eleven hours; walled town.
+
+Kazraua, twelve hours; village.
+
+Mudrusai, half a day; village.
+
+Gatron, two hours; village.
+
+Hafari, twelve hours; well and date-palms.
+
+Mustutai, fifteen hours; well and date-palms.
+
+Bithan, twelve hours; village.
+
+Sidi Beshir, half a day; village.
+
+Mourzuk, three hours.
+
+_Obs._--All the Tibboo districts, like those of Fezzan, have forests of
+date-palms. Between Maffarus and Oma there is no herbage during seven
+days. The greatest quantity of sand in this route is found between Agdem
+and Zau.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Kuka, to Mandara._
+
+From Kuka, south, to
+
+Manguno, nine hours; a large town.
+
+Dikua, half a day; a walled town, and residence of a sultan.
+
+Gasa, ten hours; a village.
+
+Quondega, seven hours; a large village.
+
+Gamergu, five hours; a large village.
+
+Karaua, twelve hours; first country of Mandara, of great height.
+
+Izgai, four hours; village and rocks.
+
+Dulo, four hours; villages and rocks.
+
+Mora, three hours; a walled city, and capital of Mandara, a small city,
+containing not more than ten thousand souls. The Sultan has five hundred
+cavalry and one thousand eunuchs. These poor devils are made here. The
+Kerdies or pagans upon the neighbouring mountains are called Matacum.
+These mountains are said to be of considerable altitude.
+
+According to Omer Wardi there is no difficulty in going to Muzgu, south
+of Mandara, and seat of the nearest pagans.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route to Mandara from Kuka: Second Route, Eastern._
+
+TERRITORY OF BORNOU.
+
+From Kuka, south-east, to
+
+Gornu, half a-day; a walled town, larger than Zinder.
+
+Gulum, three hours; small village. Here is a river.
+
+Yaidi, four hours; large walled town.
+
+Martai, four hours; large walled town.
+
+Ala, three hours; large walled town.
+
+Diwa, eight hours; large walled town, and residence of a sultan. Here is
+a river.
+
+Abagai, two hours; small village.
+
+Kuddaigai, one hour; small village.
+
+Sokoma, one hour; a large walled town.
+
+Millehai, two hours; a small place.
+
+Magarta, three hours; a large walled town.
+
+Dellehai, half a day; a large place.
+
+TERRITORY OF MANDARA.
+
+Muddebai, a long day; a large walled town.
+
+Dulo, eight hours; a large walled town.
+
+Mandara, three hours; a city about the size of Mourzuk.
+
+A day's journey from Mandara is sufficient to make a razzia of slaves.
+Muzgu, a great Kerdi country, is three days' journey from Mandara.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Kanou to Sakkatou._
+
+From Kanou:
+
+Dal, three hours; several small villages, where tobes are dyed with
+indigo.
+
+Zalia (Zaria?), a walled town, containing some 20 or 30,000 souls, and
+residence of a sultan; one long day.
+
+Lariski, half a day; a small village.
+
+Gaia, eight hours; a large walled town, and residence of a sultan.
+
+Kafela, half a day; small village.
+
+Yakuba, five hours; a walled town, and residence of a sultan.
+
+Mukubi, three hours; a small town on the banks of a river, in which
+there is always water.
+
+Keskaua, half a day; a small village.
+
+Gala, eight hours; a walled town, and about the size of Zinder;
+residence of a sultan.
+
+Kusuri, one long day; a large walled town, and residence of a sultan. A
+river, having always water.
+
+Lokoui, one long day; a walled town, and residence of a sultan. The same
+river as at Kusuri.
+
+Sakkatou, eight hours. This journey is reckoned at twenty days.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Taghajeet to Tuat._
+
+From Taghajeet, on the northern frontiers of Aheer, to
+
+Asaiou, two days and a-half; water-station. (All the following names are
+water-stations, i.e. places where there are wells.)
+
+Logsur, three days and a-half; well: and so of the rest.
+
+Gharghar, three days; tents of wandering tribes of Tuaricks, principally
+Hagar and Maghatah.
+
+Yaizair, two days. From Gharghar to Tuat there are tents of Tuaricks
+along all this line of route.
+
+Aifak, one day.
+
+Tamaghaset, one day.
+
+Outur (or Utur), one day.
+
+Tairagin, one day.
+
+Tailak, two days.
+
+Ennimgal, three days.
+
+Tahalai-Oget, two days.
+
+Tisnu, two days.
+
+Minneat, two days.
+
+Tagajert, two days.
+
+Amasir, two days.
+
+Arak, two days.
+
+Tajmut, two days.
+
+Tegtamin, one day.
+
+Agmamar, two days.
+
+Loknaig, two days.
+
+Shab, two days.
+
+Hash-Lugwaira, one day.
+
+El-Gesser (Tuat), one day and a-half; a village.
+
+Ain-Salah, an hour or two.
+
+On this route there are no oases, no date-palms; the road lies through
+valleys and over plains, lined with rocky mountains, like those of Asben
+or Aheer. There is no region of sand, but now and then the earth assumes
+a sandy character. My informant is a Tuatee, who has travelled this
+route; in fact, no other persons but people of Tuat, unless Hagars and
+Maghatah, can do so in safety. I could not succeed in extracting more
+information from my informant. He was a mere barbarian, and pestered me,
+whilst writing the route, with demands for all sorts of things. Though a
+resident of the town of Tuat, he was in grain and mould a thorough
+Targhee bandit.
+
+
+THE DIFFERENT RACES IN KUKA.
+
+_Resident or Strangers._
+
+ 1. Shua (the first Arab settlers in Bornou).
+ 2. Arabs Bengazi.
+ 3. Arabs Misratah.
+ 4. Arabs and Moors of Aujilah; Mujabri, from Jalu, or Aujilah.
+ 5. Fezzanee, or people from Fezzan.
+ 6. Walad Suleiman, now domiciled in Kuka, and Wady Gazalahs.
+ 7. People from Tripoli; a very few.
+ 8. People from the west; a very few.
+
+
+_Belonging to the Sheikh._
+
+ 9. Bornouee, bulk of the population.
+10. Kanembu, north-east from Kuka.
+11. Qaiyam, around Kuka, within a few hours.
+12. Manga, west from Kuka.
+13. Baddi, west from Kuka.
+14. Kairi-Kairi, west from Kuka.
+15. Lari, west from Kuka.
+16. Gizzem, south-west from Kuka, twenty days.
+17. Gizzerai, near Gizzem.
+18. Engezer, south of Kuka, ten days.
+19. Kaiauri, south of Kuka, five days.
+20. Babur, south of Kuka, nine days.
+21. Figa, south of Kuka, fifteen days.
+22. Margi, south of Kuka, seven days.
+23. Kobchi, south of Kuka, seven days.
+24. Mulgwai, south of Kuka, ten days.
+25. Massafai, south of Kuka, fifteen days.
+26. Bogwai, south of Kuka, twenty days.[26]
+27. Umbum, south of Kuka, thirty days.[26]
+28. Fali, south of Kuka, thirty-five days.[26]
+29. Umbai, south of Kuka, twenty days.[26]
+30. Koua, south of Kuka, twenty-five days.[26]
+31. Butai, south of Kuka, thirty days.[26]
+32. Maudraui, south of Kuka, eight days.
+33. Begarmi, east of Kuka, twenty days.
+34. People of Logun, near Begarmi.
+35. People from Wadaï; travellers.
+36. Sara, a province near Begarmi, with its own sultan.
+37. Fitri, a province belonging to Wadaï. There is water in the lake of
+    Fitri. People of this province do not come to Kuka.
+
+ [26] These countries seem very far south, and yet are said
+      to be under the Sheikh. More information is required on
+      this point.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Tuat to Wadnoun._
+
+From Tuat, or from Ain-Salah, in Tuat, westward, to
+
+Timmemoun, a small oasis of Tuat, two days; date-palms, &c.
+
+Ourara (Urara), five days; an oasis of Tuat larger than Timmemoun.
+Between Timmemoun, and Ourara, date-palms and wells in abundance.
+
+Taffilelt, five days. Between Ourara and Taffilelt there are a number of
+small villages.
+
+Dra, nine days. From Tuat to Dra, passing through Taffilelt, the route
+is lined with forests of palms, and water everywhere abounds. Dra
+consists of some one hundred towns and villages.
+
+Weled Omer Ben Melouk, a tribe of Arabs, numbering some five thousand
+souls, and having maharees and horses. The whole tribe are notorious
+bandits. From Dra to the tents of this tribe there are some seven days'
+journey.
+
+Barraber, twenty days, consisting entirely of plains, with here and
+there wells. This is another tribe of Arabs, wandering in tents, and all
+bandits. They chiefly mount horses; they have, however, camels and
+flocks; the tribe consists of about two thousands souls.
+
+Tajakant, ten days; plains, with the mountains of Sous on the north. A
+tribe of pacific Arabs (i.e. not bandits), numbering about three
+thousand, having both horses and camels.
+
+Shurfa, or Weled Seba, three days; a tribe of Arabs, all Shereefs,
+numbering some four or five thousand, having many horses and camels, and
+flocks, and a few bullocks. Not bandits.
+
+Sakia Hamara, two days; a large walled, town, situated in a wady under a
+mountain: Shereefs and Marabouteen.
+
+Wad-Noun, three days.
+
+
+_Ain-Salah._
+
+South, from this point of departure we come to the
+
+Walad Bahammu, at a distance of one day; an oasis of two villages; all
+Tuatee bandits, riding maharees, wearing turkadees, like Tuaricks. One
+of these villages is called Akobli, known in the route to Timbuctoo.
+
+North, from Ain Salah are mentioned the
+
+Shellah, a tribe living in tents, speaking a Berber dialect; two days.
+My informant knows no more.
+
+East, from this point there is only desert towards Ghadamez.
+
+West, from the same, Timmemoun and Ourara.
+
+The person who gave me this information is one Haj Mohammed Ben Welid, a
+native of Ghadamez. Besides the above route from Tuat to Wadnoun, I am
+indebted to him for the Niffee route. Six years ago he was at Niffee,
+and saw there a large American vessel trading for slaves and other
+merchandise.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Kanou to Niffee._
+
+From Kanou, south, to
+
+Baibaishi, five days; walled town, and residence of a sultan; about the
+size of Zinder, situate amongst rocks: a river of continually running
+water.
+
+Zaria, two days; an immense walled town, of the size of Kanu: residence
+of a powerful Fullanee sultan.
+
+A wady, with continually running water, one day; no town.
+
+Agoi, three days; a number of small villages, situate under rocks of
+great height: a stream of running water.
+
+Agoi-Karama, one day; a small village, under lofty heights of rocks: a
+stream of running water.
+
+Kurmi-Wia (i.e. Difficult River), one day; a running river amidst dense
+forests; no town: here are immense bamboos, like ghaseb.
+
+Jangaru, three days, amidst forests of trees; a walled town, not quite
+so large as Zinder, having a Governor or Kaïd. Here the route divides
+into two branches: one west, going to Raba, in seven days; and the other
+south, to Gorji, one day, on the banks of the Niger; and on to Niffee.
+
+Gorji, one day, on the Niger; a large town.
+
+Ladai, two days; a large walled town, and residence of a sultan, called
+Masaba.
+
+Lori, five days and a-half; a large city, capital of Niffee: the Sultan
+a Fellatah, called Sita.
+
+From Jangaru, west, Akarri, one day; and from Akarri, seven days; then
+we come to Raba, passing through all sorts of country.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Kanou to Sakkatou._
+
+From Kanou, west, to
+
+Tofa, one day; small village.
+
+Kalenya, one day; small walled town.
+
+Sabonkashi, four days; a large walled town, and residence of a sultan.
+
+Kanya, three days; small village.
+
+Sabokafi, four days; a small village.
+
+Kogo, two days; a large walled town, situate between rocks; a small
+stream.
+
+Rafi, one day; a large walled town.
+
+
+_Zanfeirra._
+
+Kauralamoda, two days; a large walled city, and residence of a sultan: a
+running stream in winter.
+
+Gora, one day; a small village.
+
+Bakura, three days; a large walled town, and residence of a sultan:
+streams in rainy season.
+
+From Rafi to Bakura extends the province or kingdom called Zanfeierra,
+of which the capital is Bakura.
+
+Between Bakura and the city of Sakkatou, which comes next in order,
+after two days, there are a number of small villages. Before you reach
+Sakkatou from Kanou, distant an hour, is a large river, in which is
+found water during the dry season.
+
+On this route there are not many forests, but there is a good deal of
+grain and other cultivation, with very few rocks. The road is usually
+good, only now and then infested by the freebooters from Maradee. This
+route is travelled in from ten to twelve and fifteen days,--not above
+fifteen,--with anything like good travelling.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Zinder to Gomel._
+
+From Zinder, west, to
+
+Gogai, one day; a cluster of villages.
+
+Zerma, one day; a small village.
+
+Azbenaua, one hour; a small village.
+
+Kamai, one hour; a small village.
+
+Gomel, two hours; a large place, and residence of a sultan.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Kashalla has been so good as to give me the names of the towns and
+villages between Kuka and the capital of Begarmi; viz, from Kuka to
+Gornu, one day, but a very short day, three or four hours, and all the
+days following the same, three or four hours only.
+
+Gornu, one day.
+
+Mardai, one day.
+
+Yaidi, one day.
+
+Digua, one day.
+
+Mozzenai, one day.
+
+Sabala, one day.
+
+Gala, one day.
+
+Mabadai, one day.
+
+Wilgi, one day.
+
+Abadai, one day.
+
+Ngelbai, one day.
+
+Kutheri, one day.
+
+Logonai, one day.
+
+River Chari, one day.
+
+Mudba, or Dar-Begarmi, one day: first town of Begarmi. All the countries
+hereabouts are called Dar.
+
+After Mudba, in Begarmi:
+
+Gaui, one day.
+
+Joadai, one day.
+
+Derejebany, one day.
+
+Abuger, one day.
+
+Mazanya, one day; capital of Begarmi.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Gurai to Sakkatou._
+
+From Gurai, westward, to
+
+Tungari, four hours; large place.
+
+Bonai, three hours; large place.
+
+Mashena, four hours; large place; residence of a Sultan.
+
+Alamaiko, eight hours; large place.
+
+Kakori, one long day; small place.
+
+Murma, one long day; large place.
+
+Muddechi, half a day; large place.
+
+Hadayi, half a day; large place.
+
+Jafun, one long day; large place.
+
+Kadawauwa, half a day; large place.
+
+Gunfia, half a day; small place.
+
+Gammoji, half a day; small place.
+
+Gaia, one long day; large place.
+
+Birni-Kanou, nine hours; a great country.
+
+Karaü, half a day; large place.
+
+Dangani, half a day; large place.
+
+Kafi, one long day; large place.
+
+Waunakka, half a day; large place.
+
+Katturkoshi, half a day; very large place; river and rocky hills.
+
+Gaukisa, half a day; large place; river.
+
+Kauramoda, eight hours; large place; river.
+
+Pianchi, two hours; a sultan; river; large place.
+
+Kassara, half a day; small place; rivers.
+
+Gora, half a day; large place; a sultan.
+
+Bakura, half a day; a sultan; a river; large place.
+
+Wangara, one hour; large place; river.
+
+Danshaura, half a day; large place; the same river from Katturkoshi to
+this place.
+
+Sakkatou, half a day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Sakkatou, westwards, to_
+
+Wurmu, one hour; large place.
+
+Kaiua, half a day; large place.
+
+Kalmalu, half a day; large place.
+
+Maranu, half a day; large place.
+
+Kussub-Buni, one long day; large place.
+
+Chinaka, half a day; large place.
+
+Dawakari, half a day; large place.
+
+Laka, half a day; large place.
+
+Gauasu, half a day; large place.
+
+Bodinga, half a day; large place.
+
+Sifaua, half a day; large place.
+
+Danchadi, half a day; large place.
+
+Dinkadi, half a day; large place.
+
+Rekina, eight hours; large place.
+
+Chifaua, half a day; large place.
+
+Chuni, half a day; large place.
+
+Wababi, half a day; large place.
+
+Dankai, half a day; large place.
+
+Kajiji, half a day; large place.
+
+Chagari, half a day; large place.
+
+Salaha, half a day; large place.
+
+Zuondu, half a day; large place.
+
+Tamboel, half a day; large place.
+
+Kallamfaina, half a day: large place.
+
+Saiyinna, half a day; large place.
+
+These half days are about five hours. All that I could learn of this
+route is, that it goes westwards. The Fellatah tells me there is a good
+road from Sakkatou to Timbuctou, on which caravans are always going in
+great numbers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Kanou to Adamaua._
+
+From Kanou, south, to
+
+G.[27] Akwa, half a day, i.e. equal to about three or four hours.
+
+G. Del, half a day.
+
+S. Garwai, half a day.
+
+S. Tabti, half a day.
+
+G. Sabongari, half a day.
+
+G. Waram, half a day.
+
+G. Zarranda, half a day.
+
+G. Garu, capital of Boushi; name of the sultan Yokaba; half a day.
+
+S. Kaddara, half a day.
+
+S. Mankaiama, half a day.
+
+S. Yanyam, half a day.
+
+G. Serken Kuddu, half a day.
+
+G. Jab Jab, half a day.
+
+G. Bumanda, half a day.
+
+G. Jennowai, half a day.
+
+G. Kadduna, half a day.
+
+G. Binnoi, half a day.
+
+Zungwan-dunia, half a day; resting-place; not a town.
+
+Zungwan-Kano, half a day; resting-place.
+
+Zungwan-Mageria, half a day; resting-place.
+
+Chikaji, half a day; resting-place.
+
+S. Akam, half a day.
+
+Yungwan-Bauna, half a day; resting-place; no town.
+
+S. Gangomai, half a day.
+
+Kogimagurji, half a day; resting-place.
+
+Koginbaba, half a day; resting-place.
+
+G. Rumji, half a day.
+
+G. Kwancha, half a day; river. Here begins Adamaua.
+
+G. Laro, half a day; river.
+
+G. Chamba, half a day; river.
+
+G. Turwa, half a day; river.
+
+G. Gurrin, half a day; river.
+
+G. Maiyabatta, half a day; river.
+
+G. Yola, half a day; river; the capital of the territories of Adamaua;
+residence of the sultan, called Mohammed Lauel.
+
+The route is reckoned seventeen days from Kanou to Kwancha, and three
+days from Kwancha to Yola.
+
+ [27] G, large place, or town; S, small place, village. Dictated
+      by the Fellatah horse-dealer, Nammadina.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Route from Sakkatou to Kabi, S.W._
+
+Silami, 5 hours; large place.
+
+Quaido, 5 hours; large place.
+
+Ugi, one hour; a very considerable town.
+
+Argungu, 5 hours; large place.
+
+Gullema, 5 hours; large place.
+
+Sena, 5 hours; large place.
+
+Birni Kabi: large place.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Names of Places about Sakkatou, westwards._
+
+Jeka, half a day.
+
+Alieru, 3 hours.
+
+Maddadi, 4 hours.
+
+Margai, 4 hours.
+
+Magagin Kada, 2 hours.
+
+Gommu-gommu, 4 hours.
+
+Binji, 2 hours.
+
+Kandai, 2 hours.
+
+Silami, half a day.
+
+Yabo, 5 hours.
+
+Dundaai, half a day.
+
+Quallai, 3 hours.
+
+Dagga, one long day.
+
+Indaba, half a day.
+
+Assara, one long day.
+
+Zaia, one long day.
+
+Manni, half a day.
+
+Durgalai, 2 hours.
+
+Killarai, 2 hours.
+
+Fadaita, half a day.
+
+Kotuturu, half a day.
+
+Tofa, half a day.
+
+Gidan Majibta, 2 hours.
+
+Maikujaira, half a day.
+
+Kundus, 1 ½ hours.
+
+Quaquara, 2 hours.
+
+These are all considerable towns and villages. As to their relative
+position, I have merely written down how distant one is from the
+other.
+
+The following is a list which I have obtained of the Tibboo nations (or
+tribes):--
+
+ 1. Etteri, two days north of Kuka or Bornou.
+ 2. Gunda, seven days north from Bornou.
+ 3. Arinda, one day from Gunda.
+ 4. Yurimma, two days from Gunda.
+ 5. Wandala, three days east from Yurimma.
+ 6. Gaidua, four days east from Wandala.
+ 7. Mussaui, seven days east from Wandala.
+ 8. Sakkarta, seven days east from Wandala.
+ 9. Madema, two days east from Sakkarta (country of Kanum).
+10. Choiokkera, four days east from Madema.
+11. Tumbela, two days north from Gunda.
+12. Masella, eleven days north from Bornou (a country of dates).
+13. El-Wudda, one day from Marsella.
+14. Dummeya, thirty days east of Bornou (in Borgu).
+15. Zuaeda, the Tibesti people.
+16. Tamara, country of Bilma, &c.
+17. Tauwia, two days north of Bilma.
+18. Etmada, one day north from Bilma.
+19. Addubocha, fifteen days east of Bilma.
+20. Fuktua, one day east from Addubocha.
+21. Abuya, two days north from Fuktua.
+22. Belguda, eight days east of Bilma.
+23. Nuazma, three days east of Belguda.
+24. Karrai, three days east of Kameru, near the Chada.
+
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+LONDON: PRINTED BY G. BARCLAY, CASTLE ST. LEICESTER SQ.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative of a Mission to Central
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