soon learned that they had taken us for Tawárek, of whom a numerous freebooting party, consisting of 200 camels and about as many horses, had a short time previously carried away all the cattle belonging to the place. The state of the country was so insecure that the inhabitants would not allow Mr. Overweg to stay here, notwithstanding his earnest protestations, so that he was obliged to make up his mind to proceed with the caravan, although he was sensible of the danger connected with such an undertaking; and certainly, if we had met with a tolerably strong party of the Tawárek, our companions would have afforded us very little protection. We were so fortunate, however, as to pass through this infested track just at the time when an expedition, laden with booty, had returned homeward. We, however, met more than forty Búdduma half a day's journey beyond Ngégimi, armed with spears and shields, and clad in nothing but their leather apron. They had been occupied in preparing salt from the roots of the siwák or Capparis sodata; and when they saw the first part of our caravan coming through the thick forest, they commenced an attack, so that Overweg and I were obliged to fire a few random shots over their heads, when, seeing that we were stronger than they had supposed, and recognizing some friends among the Kánembú, they allowed us to pass unmolested. But our whole march from Ngégimi to Bárrowa, through the thick underwood with which the shores of the lake are here overgrown, resembled rather a flight than any thing else.

On the 10th we reached the komádugu, and after some lively negotiation with the governor or shitíma, who resides in the town of Yo, I and my companion were allowed to cross the river the same afternoon; for it has become the custom with the rulers of Bórnu to use the river as a sort of political quarantine-a proceeding which, of course, they can only adopt as long as the river is full. During the greater part of the year every body can pass at pleasure. Even after we had crossed we were not allowed to continue our journey to the capital before the messenger, who had been sent there to announce our arrival, had returned with the express permission that we might

The shores round the komádugu were greatly changed, go on. the river being now at its highest. Extensive patches were cultivated with wheat, being regularly laid out in small quadrangular beds of from four to five feet in diameter, which were watered morning and evening from the river by means of buckets and channels.

We reached Kúkawa on the 14th, having met on the road a party of about fifty Welád Slimán, who were proceeding to join their companions in Kánem. We were well received by our host, the Vizier of Bórnu.

We had already heard from the Governor of Yo that the sheikh and his vizier were about to leave in a few days on an expedition; and, being desirous of employing every means of becoming acquainted with new regions of this continent, we could not but avail ourselves of this opportunity, however difficult it was for us, owing to our entire want of means, to make the necessary preparations for another campaign, and although the destination of the expedition was not quite certain.

CHAPTER XLII.

WARLIKE PREPARATIONS AGAINST MÁNDará.

November 25th, 1851. Ten days after having returned to our head-quarters from the wearisome journey to Kánem, I left Kúkawa again in order to join a new warlike expedition.

The sheikh and his vizier, with the chief part of the army, had set out already the previous Saturday. The route had not yet been determined upon-it was, at least, not generally known: but Wándalá, or, as the Kanúri call it, Mándará, was mentioned as the direct object of the march, in order to enforce obedience from the prince of that small country, who, protected by its mountains, had behaved in a refractory manner. The chief motive of the enterprise, however, consisted in the circumstance of the coffers and slave-rooms of the great men being empty; and,

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a new supply being wanted, from whence to obtain it was a question of minor importance. There was just then much talk about a final rupture between 'Abd e' Rahmán and the vizier, the former having intimate relations with the Prince of Mándará; and it was for that reason that Mr. Overweg had at first thought it better to remain behind.

My means were scanty in the extreme, and did not allow me to have a mounted servant, my camp-followers consisting merely of the same naga or "jíge," as the Kanúri call the female camel, which had proved of the highest value to me on the journey to Kánem, and of two very indifferent Fezzáni lads, weak in mind and body-Mohammed ben Habib and Mohammed ben Ahmed.

The weather being temperate, and my spirits excellent, I followed cheerfully the Ngórnu road, with which I was well acquainted. The country looked much more interesting now than three months before, on my return from A'damáwa. Then all was dry and barren; scarcely a single fresh blade had started from the ground; and I was obliged to draw with immense exertion my supply of water from a deep well near Kaine; now the ground was covered with young herbs, the trees were in foliage, and near the very place of Kaine where the sheikh with his camp-followers had rested the first night, a large lake had been formed by the rains. This lake, which is surrounded by shady trees, retains its water until two or three months after the rainy season, when it begins gradually to dry up. I was therefore enabled to water my horse without any further trouble, after which I followed my people, who were in advance. Here I met with my friend Háj Edrís and Shitíma Makarémma, who were just returning from the camp. They told me that the sheikh had encamped that day at Kúkia, beyond Ngórnu. I therefore made a short halt at noon on this side of that town, in order to reach the camp during the evening without staying in the place; for the city, on all sides, at about an hour's distance, is almost entirely surrounded by fields devoid of trees. After I had enjoyed about an hour's rest, Overweg arrived with the disagreeable tidings that his camel, soon after leaving the gate, had

fallen, and was unable to get up again even after the luggage had been removed. He therefore sent his servant Ibrahím in advance, in order to procure another camel from the vizier, while he remained with me. When we set out again we took the direct route to the camp, the road being enlivened by horsemen, camels, and pedestrians. The country on this side was only cultivated in some places; we perceived, however, two miles behind Ngórnu, a carefully-kept cotton-plantation, and the fields near the village of Kúkia were well cultivated.

The whole of this fertile plain became a prey to the inunda tions of the Tsád in the year 1854, caused by a sinking of the ground, when the whole country was changed in the most marvelous way. Here we obtained a first view of the camp with its tents; but it made no remarkable impression upon me, being still in an unfinished state, including only those people who were in the most intimate connection with the court.

The " ngáufate" having its fixed arrangements, our place was assigned near the tents of Lamíno, at some distance east from those of Háj Beshír. As the greater part of the courtiers were taking at least a portion of their harím with them to the "kerígu," a simple tent was not sufficient for them; but, by means of curtains made of striped cotton stuff, a certain space is encompassed in order to insure greater privacy. For the sheikh and the vizier, as long as we remained in the Bórnu territories, at every new encampment an inclosure of matting was erected; for it is not the custom, as has been asserted, to separate the royal camp from that of the rest, at least not on expeditions into a hostile country, nor has it been so in former times. The common soldiers had no further protection, except some light and small huts with high gables, which some of them had built with the tall stalks of the Indian corn, which lay in great abundance on the stubble-fields.

But I shall first say a few words about our friend Lamíno, whom I have already occasionally mentioned, and with whom on this expedition we came into closer contact. This man furnishes an example how, in this country, notwithstanding the immense difference of civilization, in reality matters take the same

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course as in Europe, where notorious rogues and sharpers often become the best police functionaries. Lamíno, originally “El Amín," had formerly been a much-dreaded highway robber, but had now become chef de police, or, as the Hausa people would say, "serkí-n-karfi," being, in consequence of his hard-heartedness and total want of the gentler feelings, of the greatest importance to the vizier, whose mild character did not allow him. personally to adopt severe measures. Imprisoning people and ordering them to be whipped constituted one of Lamíno's chief pleasures. He could, however, at times, be very gentle and amiable; and there was nothing which afforded greater amusement to my companion and me than to hear him talk in the most sentimental manner of the favorite object of his affections, a woman whom he carried with him on this expedition. It caused us also great delight to witness the terror he felt at our comparing the shape of the earth to an ostrich's egg; for he seemed to be quite at a loss to understand how he should be able to preserve his balance on such a globe, with his great heaviness and clumsiness.

Wednesday, November 26th. Early in the morning the signal for the decampment of the army was given in front of the tent of the sheikh by the sound of the great drum, and in broad battle-array ("báta") the army, with its host of cavalry, moved onward over the plain, which was covered with tall reeds, and showed only here and there a few signs of cultivation.

This time I still remained with the camels and the trainoxen, which, mixed with pedestrians and some single horsemen in long unbounded lines, kept along the road, while single troops of Kánembú spearmen, in their light, fanciful garments, mostly consisting of a small apron of rags, or a hide tied round the loins, and armed with their light wooden shields, passed the luggage-train, shouting out in their wild native manner. Thus, after a march of about eleven miles, we reached the cotton-fields of Yédi, a town of considerable magnitude, surrounded by a clay wall in a state of good repair. We passed it on a rising ground to our left, while the country on the northwestern side spread out in one continuous sandy plain, dotted here and there by a