for although the camels were sought after and brought in safe by the people, yet my servant Columbus, who was behind on a mule, did not make his appearance: we were in considerable anxiety, both on account of the wild beasts and these pits, which were almost equally frightful. Our alarm was a good deal increased when, after having sent people in every direction, giving them pistols, and desiring them to fire signals, and not return without him, the people of the village came running to the jujube tree under which we were resting, to tell us that Columbus and the mule had fallen into one of these blaquas,> and that they believed the mule was dead. We hastened to the spot, and found the poor mule indeed very near i t : she was sticking on four stakes, one in her flank, and two in her hind quarter, with her knees dreadfully torn by struggling. Had she been a larger and heavier animal, nothing could have saved h e r: the man had, by a violent exertion, thrown himself out, how he knew not, almost as soon as he fell in, and had escaped with his leg only bruised. He said he had lost his way hours before, and had climbed to the top of several tamarind-trees, in order to discover traces of our route, without success: once he thought he heard a gun, but having only two charges of powder with him, he kept them as a defence against the wild animals at night, and was afraid to answer the signal. After all our difficulties, it was some comfort at length to find that the sheikh was within only a few hours’ march of us, on the south side of the river ; and in the evening we determined on joining him. Again, therefore, crossing the Yeou at a dry spot, we came to the outskirts of the Bornou camp, on the banks of a large water called Dummasak, about five miles distant from the ford: at the river we again saw the footmarks of a very large lion, and also those of a hippopotamus. I t was after sunset when we arrived, and passing through numerous groups of the Kanemboo spearmen, who were lying about without any tents or covering, we came to the open space where the sheikh’s tent and the huts of his principal people were fixed. On learning that we had arrived, he desired our tents might be placed near Mady Gana, the manager of his household, who brought us his congratulations, and at the same time a very good supper of Guinea fowl, and a kind of paste, made of wheat flour, called fiat, which is considered a great delicacy. Our joy can with difficulty be imagined at learning here the arrival of a package from England, by a kafila of merchants from Fezzan. The pleasure of hearing of our country and friends, the greatest enjoyment our situation allowed us, we had been for a length of time deprived of; and this, added to our being entirely destitute of provisions of every kind, determined us to return to Kouka on the following morning. This our decision we desired might be made known to the sheikh, but, from some cause or other, the information was not communicated to him; and, to our great surprise, by daylight he moved off and we found ourselves again alone without a guide, and without even knowing what the sheikh’s wishes were with respect to our proceedings. This was a fresh dilemma; and upon the whole we were worse off than the day before, for the sheik-h’s negro was always a protection, and we were now at the tail of an undisciplined army, at least demi-savage, without any knowledge of the road. After three h6urs’ deliberation, and no intelligence arriving from the sheikh, we decided on making our way to Kouka alone; and having picked up a straggler, who assured us he knew the country, and left our wounded mule in -the care of some people in the neighbouring village of huts, we loaded our fire-arms afresh, and commenced our, route. We had proceeded, however, but a few hundred yards on our road, when Omar Gana, mounted on a miserable horse and in great distress, came up to us, entreating that we would follow the sheikh as quickly as possible; thqt on inquiring of him where we were, and finding that he had quitted us, he, the
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