the fancied riches they were to be masters of, by Boo-Khaloom’s victories over the Iverdies, had vanished into air, and they were about to return to their families after a year’s absence, even poorer than they left them. That the desperation natural to an Arab should be excited by such circumstances was not to me a matter of surprise. I cautioned them, however, against returning to Tripoli with unclean hands: they promised fair enough, and even shuddered when I reminded them of the bashaw’s summary mode of punishing; all was, however, without effect; for, on arriving at the Tibboo country, they proceeded to the well Daggesheinga, a retreat which had been shown to Boo-Khaloom in confidence, on his last journey, by Mina Tahr, the road to which they too well remembered, and surprising the flocks of the Tibboos, and killing three of their people, marched oil' four hundred and upwards of their best maherhies: this had exasperated the Tibboos almost to madness; and they filled up all the wells, swearing they would be repaid, or that no kafilas should pass through their country. This news made us tremble for our supplies'; but evils seemed to be crowding thick upon us, from all quarters. W e discovered too, or thought we discovered, that the people now treated us with less respect, and were more lavish of the contemptuous appellations of kaflSr, kelb, insara, unbeliever, dog, Christian, both to me and to our servants than formerly; and as the opinion of the oi polloi in all these countries is usually governed by authority, I concluded we had also lost ground in the estimation of the chief. A Bornou boy whom I had taken some notice of, and who used to come to me almost every day to talk Bornouese, was hooted in the streets, and called insara; and when we turned him from the huts for stealing nearly two dollars in strips of cloth, the money of the country, the people all exclaimed against such an act, as, by kafliring with Christians, they said that the misfortune of being supposed a thief had come upon him. October 10.—We had to-day a fresh'breeze from the north-west, which was delightfully invigorating, and the natives promised us some few days of cold dry weather, which was to carry off all the fever and agues. This strongly reminded me of the Spanish villagers in Old Castile; who, during the sickly months of July and August were, upon an average, three out of four confined to their beds with a very similar complaint: like these people, they took no medicines, but always said, “ When the cold winds come we shall be better.” The winds in Bornou are regular and periodical: previous to our going to Munga, east and south-east winds were nearly constant ; when the rainy season commenced, we had them from the south-west, with a thick atmosphere, a sultry, damp, and oppressive air. Previous to a storm, gusts of wind would accompany the black clouds which encompassed us, and blow with great force from the northeast ; these winds, however, were not accompanied by such violent or lasting rains; but when the clouds formed themselves to the south-east, they were tremendous, accumulating, as it were, all their force, and gradually darkening into a deeper and more terrific black, with frequent and vivid forked lightning, accompanied by such deafening and repeated claps of thunder, as shook the ground beneath our feet like an earthquake. The rain always at these times burst upon us in torrents, continuing sometimes for several hours ; while blasts of wind, from the same quarter, drove with a violence against our unsheltered huts, that made us expect, every instant, low as they were, to see the roofs fly from over our heads, and deprive us of the trifling protection they afforded. After these storms, the inclosures round our huts were often knee deep in water, and channels were formed, with all possible speed, in order to prevent the huts themselves from being inundated. At the full and change of the moon these storms were always most violent. Oct. 16.—“ How use doth breed a habit in a man.”- Miserably solitary as were all my pursuits, disheartening as were my prospects,
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