Kouka. We told him we hoped to return, if possible, before the rains set in ; but however that might be, we assured him we should ever retain a grateful sense of his exceeding great kindness towards us. He bade us farewell in the most affectionate manner. About noon we left the town, accompanied by our comrade, Major Denham," and most of the principal inhabitants. Even Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom, with whom we had frequent occasion to be dissatisfied, joined the train: they attended us to the distance of four or five miles, and then took leave ; our friend, the cadi Hadje Mohamed Zy Abedeen, having first repeated the Fatha, or first chapter of the Koran. We halted at the village of Fuguboo Thorio, where our servants had pitched our tents, being distant from Kouka about ten miles. Our party consisted of Dr. Oudney and myself, two servants, Jacob the Jew, a sort of major domo, and three men of Fezzan. We had three saddle horses, and four sumpter camels ; the servants, except Jacob, were on foot. There were also in the kafila (commonly pronounced goffle) twenty-seven Arab merchants, two of whom were shreefs, or descendants of the Prophet, one from Tunis, the other from Houn, near Sockna, and about fifty natives of Bornou. The Arabs were mostly mounted on horses, which they intended for sale ; some having besides a led horse. The Bornouese were on foot; one of them, a hadje or Mahometan pilgrim, who had visited Mecca, would on no account stay behind at Kouka, but persisted in accompanying us, for the express purpose of having his hand regularly dressed by Dr. Oudney : he had been wounded by the accidental bursting of a gun; he invariably pitched his tent close to that of the Doctor, whom he always regarded with the utmost respect. Dec. 15.—We started at seven o’clock. The road was the same we had travelled bn a former visit to Old Birnee. We were no longer annoyed with the noise and confusion in pitching the tents, or with the clamours of obstreperous camel drivers ; which we had formerly experienced when under the guidance of Boo Khaloom. The weather too was clear, cool, and pleasant. A little after midday we halted at the wells of Budjoo; distance, north-west by north, seventeen miles. Dec. 16.—We met several kafilas from Gubsharee and the surrounding country, going to Kouka. Their heavy goods were carried on bullocks; the smaller packages, weighing from twenty to thirty pounds, were borne on men’s heads. The bearers poise their burdens with much dexterity and ease to themselves, by cords hanging from the sides of the packages, which are carried lengthwise on the head ; by this simple contrivance they avoid the fatiguing posture of keeping the arm raised. We halted about three o’clock in the afternoon. We still pursued the Old Birnee road: we saw several of the large red and white antelopes, called by the Arabs mohur. We encamped on the margin of one of the lakes, formed by the overflowing of the Yow; the river was only about a quarter of a mile distant from us, to the north. I t had now fallen fully six feet, and its current might be about three miles an hour. Dec. 18,—We travelled along the banks of a chain of small lakes formed by the Yow, once, perhaps, its original channel. I observed, by the roadside, the tracks of various wild animals,—among others of the hippopotamus and lion. We passed one of the country fairs, held on a small hill, near the ruins of a large town which had been destroyed by the Felatahs. We halted at Damasak, near an encampment of the sheikh’s cowherds; who, on hearing that we were in the kafila, brought us an abundant supply of milk. Dec. 19.—As the low grounds from Damasak to Mugabee, about ten miles distant, were inundated, we were obliged to make a long circuit by an upper road, frequently wading across hollows filled with water. At noon we had to halt on the banks of one of those temporary rivers which are formed during the wet season: it still contained a considerable body of water, which was running at the rate of about two miles an hour. We met here several kafilas of loaded b 2
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