animals. The horns were, first, the maremah, a long horn similar to one I had seen at Kabshary—the animal has two, bending backwards at the point; kirkadan, a two-horned animal; another animal, with one long horn and a second shorter just above it, nearly between the eyes of the animal, was described to me as having on the sheikh's late expedition to Gulphi, carried a man and horse spiked on his horn, more than one hundred yards, when, frightened by the cries of the people, he dropped them, and made his escape I the man was unhurt, but the horse died. Aug. 6.—This was the Aide Kebir, the principal feast of the Mussulmans during the year, in commemoration of God’s staying the hand of Abraham in the place Jehovah-jireh, when' about to sacrifice his son Isaac: all who can muster a sheep or a goat kill it on this day, after prayers. The sheikh sent the day before, to know if we kept the feast; and when we met, repeated his question. I replied, that we believed the interposition of the Divine Power *in saving Isaac to be a signal proof of God’s mercy and love to all his creatures; for remember,” said T, ft he is the God of many, not of Mussulmans alone; and that our father Abraham’s great and implicit faith in the existence of that merey, was what obtained for him all the blessings God promised him.” He sent us two very fine sheep, and we killed and feasted with the rest. Early in the morning, the sheikh, with his sons and all his court, mounted, according to custom, to welcome the Aid, by praying outside the town, and firing and skirmishing on their return: the assembly was not so large as on former occasions, in consequence of the absence of the chiefs in Kanem; indeed every thing went off extremely flat, owing to the defeat of the sheikh’s people. Contrary to custom, no presents were made by him, and no dresses were distributed to the slaves: instead of the glossy new tobes which on former occasions shone on the persons of the footmen who ran by the side of his horse, they were now clothed with torn, discoloured ones, and every thing wore the appearance of gloom and disgrace. On thèse days, the custom is also for the women to assemble, dressed in all their finery, in the street, before the doors of their huts, and scream a salutation to the passing chiefs : it was one of the best parts of the ceremony, but this year it was omitted. The sheikh, whose unamiable trait was, as I have before observed, visiting the weaknesses of the female part of his subjects with too great severity, had, during my absence, given an order which would have disgraced the most absolute despot that ever sat on a throne: the gates of his town, were kept shut at daylight one morning, and his emissaries despatched, who bound and brought before him sixty women who had a bad reputation ; five were sentenced to be hanged in the public market, and four to be flogged ; which latter punishment was inflicted with such severity, that two expired under the lash. Those who were doomed to death, after being dragged, with their heads shaved, round the market on a public day, with a rope round their necks, were then strangled, and thrown, by twos, into a hole previously prepared, in the most barbarous manner. Tliis diabolical act, for it deserves no better name, armed all tongues against him. The Bor- nouese, who are a humane and forgiving people, shuddered at so much cruelty : and so much influence had the ladies in general with their husbands, that more than a hundred families quitted Kouka, (to which place they were before daily flocking), to take up their abodes in other towns where this rigour did not exist. In Kouka, they declared there was no living, where only to be suspected was sufficient to be doomed to a cruel and ignominious death ; and where malicious spies converted “ trifles light as air, into confirmation strong.” Those who remained, though the women of his particular attendants, refused flatly to scream him a welcome, and the procession passed through the streets in silence.
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