and the wife of another man (a merchant), who had been some time absent in Soudan, stretched by his side; they were therefore, without any hesitation, presumed guilty of having broken the Rhamadan. He was sentenced to receive four hundred stripes, and his partner half that number. Her head was first shaved, her dress and earrings, arm-lets, leg-lets, &c. were given to the informer; she was taken up by four men, with only a cloth round her middle, by means of which she was suspended, iff a manner not to be described, while a powerful negro inflicted the full number of lashes she was coii demned to receive. This took place inside the court-yard of the palace: she was afterwards carried home senseless. The man received his punishment in the dender, or square, suspended in the same manner, but with eight men, instead of four, to support him: an immense whip, of one thick thong cut off from the skin of the hippopotamus, was first shown to him, which he was obliged to kiss, and acknowledge the justness of his sentence. The fatah was then said aloud, and two powerful slaves of the sheikh inflicted the stripes, relieving each other every thirty or forty strokes: they strike on the back, while the end of the whip, which has a knob or head, winds round, and falls on the breast or upper stomach: this it is that renders these punishments fatal. After the first two hundred, blood flowed from him upwards and downwards, and in a few hours after he had taken the whole four hundred, he was a corpse. The agas, kashellas, and the kadis, attend on these occasions. I was assured the man did not breathe even a sigh audibly. Another punishment succeeded this, which, as it was for a minor offence, namely, stealing ten camels and selling them, was trifling, as they only gave him one hundred stripes, and with a far less terrific weapon. June 16.—Every thing was now prepared for the expedition to the eastern side of the Tchad, and Mr. Tyrwhitt determined on accompanying me. On the 17th of June we reached Angornou, and from thence the
27f 24
To see the actual publication please follow the link above