conquers. Both of these promises are sometimes too faithfully kept ; and one poor wretch, who had withstood thé attacks of a ponderous negro, much more than his match, from some country to the south of Mandara, for more than fifty minutes, turned his eye reproachfully on his threatening master, only for an instant ; when his antagonist slipped his hands down from the shoulders to the loins, and by a sudden twist raised his knee to his chest, and fell with his whole weight on the poor slave (who was from Soudan), snapping his spine in the fall. Former feats are considered as nothing after one failure ; and a slave, that a hundred dollars would not purchase to-day, is, after a defeat, sold at the fsug, maimed as he is, for a few dollars, to any one who will purchase him. The skin of a noble lion was sent me by the sheikh, which had been taken near Kabshary, measuring from the tail to the nose fourteen feet two inches. He had devoured four slaves, and was at last taken by the following stratagem: the inhabitants assembled together, and with loud cries and noises drove him from the place where he had last feasted ; they then dug a very deep blaqua, dr circular hole, armed with sharp pointed stakes ; this they most cun- ningly covered over with stalks of the gussub ; a bundle of straw, enveloped in a tobe, was laid over the spot, to which a gentle motion, like that of a man turning in sleep, was occasionally given by means of a fine carried to some distance. On their quitting the spot, and the noise ceasing, the lion returned to his haunt, and was observed watching his trap for seven or eight hours—by degrees approaching closer and closer,—and at length he made a dreadful spring on his supposed prey, and was precipitated to the bottom of the pit. The Kabsharians now rushed to the spot, and before he could recover himself, despatched him with their spears. Mr. Clapperton’s illness had increased to an alarming height : he had upwards of twenty-four hours’ fever, and delirium without cessation. These attacks, just about the time the rainy season is at an end, are very prevalent, and often fatal to the white people from the sea, as the Arabs are called. How much more violently must they effect the natives of more temperate lands ? Mr. Hillman was again assailed by ague, and disordered intellect, which th^ew him back into his former state of weakness. For two days out.of the last three, I had alone appeared at our mess bench for the evening meal. Two of my companions were quite delirious in bed; and Dr. Oudney, who had for a month taken nothing but a little sour milk, three times a day, never left his hut except from necessity. These were very trying moments, and sufficient to destroy the appetite of a more healthy person than myself: still I had much to be thankful for, and I endeavoured to bless God, and ate with cheerfulness. We had now been five days without rain; the thermometer was as high as 89 in the middle of the day in the shade, and we began to think summer was again coming. I t may appear incredible, that with such a temperature we should wish for an increase of he a t; but the dampness of the atmosphere, and the millions of flies and mus- quitoes, beyond all conception, that accompanied it, rendered it almost impossible to enjoy any thing like repose, either by day or night. The annoyance of these insects I had experienced at Lisbon, Naples, and in the other parts of Italy and Sicily, but neither in numbers, nor in peace-disturbing powers, were they to be compared with these. Towards the evening, a fire in the hut, made of damp straw and weeds, was sometimes the means of procuring a few hours’ tranquillity; but the remedy was in itself so disagreeable, that it was only resorted to in despair: a fire of this kind, however, seldom fails to expel the intruders, from the thick and suffocating vapours which arise from it. The horses also suffered dreadfully from the same annoyance; and to keep them from injuring themselves, wherever they can
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