little way in front of our party, and first met them; they saluted me very civilly, and I passed on without further notice, when the other horsemen meeting them, and putting some questions, which the strangers did not answer to their satisfaction, immediately seized, stripped, and bound them. Considering it a matter in which I had no authority to interfere, I merely requested that their drawers might be returned to them, remarking, it was better not to treat them ill, as they might prove to be honest men. “ Oh ! d—n their fathers,” (the strongest imprecation in Africa), replied the captors, “ they are thieves; what would they be doing here if they were honest men ?” I still urged the propriety of taking them to Bedeguna, at least, to afford them a chance of being recognised by the townspeople, before treating them as robbers. • I now rode off to water my horse; when I returned, I found the magnanimous El Wordee guarding the two unfortunate wretches, one of whom was a Shouah Arab, and the other a Negro. The latter, while I was absent, had received a dreadful cut under the left ear from a Bor- nouese, who pretended that the Negro had attempted to escape; an attempt little likely in his desperate situation. Notwithstanding the wound, they were leading the poor fellow by a rope fastened round his neck. He. was covered with blood, and Dr. Oudney assured me, if the wound had been a little lower down it must have caused instant death. I could not refrain from beating the merciless Bornouese ; and I obliged him to use his own tobe in binding up the wound, at the same time threatening to lodge the contents of my gun in his head, if he repeated his cruelty. The occasion prompted me to impress on the minds of the Arabs generally how unworthy it was of brave men to behave with cruelty , to their prisoners, and to suggest, that it would be far better to sell them, or even to put them to death, than wantonly to inflict such barbarities. The Arabs threw the blame on the Bornouese, and although evidently exulting in secret over their captives, they were fairly shamed into good behaviour, and promised to liberate the men if innocent, or, if guilty, to surrender them to justice at Bedeguna. Our road skirted the border of the great swamp, and we arrived at Bedeguna at sunset. The galadema, literally “ gate-keeper,” or governor, was‘a Felatah, and a particular friend of Mohamoud El Wordee, by whom we were introduced to him. He was tall and slender, with a high arched nose, broad forehead, and large eyes; and, indeed, altogether as fine a looking black man as I had ever seen. His behaviour, too, was at once kind and dignified. Besides his native language, he spoke with fluency Arabic, and the tongues of Bornou and Haussa. He asked us a great many questions about England, of which he had heard; and said his master, the Sultan of the Eelatahs, would be glad to see us. He applied to Dr. Oudney for medicines, on account of a urinary obstruction, a disease very prevalent in this country. We made him a present of a small paper snuff-box full of cloves; he sent us, in return, a plentiful supply of milk.T he territory of Bedeguna, or little Bede, formerly belonged to Bornou. The inhabitants are Bornouese, and speak their native language. The territory includes many towns and villages, and produces much gussub, Indian corn, wheat, and cotton. Herds oi cattle are also numerous. The principal implement of agriculture is a hoe made of native iron, of their own manufacture. They reap with a crooked knife, and merely cut off the ears of corn, which they store in round thatched huts of clay, or matting, raised on wooden blocks from the ground. The grain is cleaned from the husk by hand rubbing, and ground into flour between two stones. We saw no plough to the southward of Sockna, a town between Tripoli and Fezzan. I inquired of the governor about the source of the swollen river we crossed on a raft between Gateramaran and old Birnee, which again presented itself close to our present encampment. He told me' it rose in the country of Yacoba, among
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