me if I would not come back, and if the King of England would be induced to send out a consul and a physician, should he address a letter to His Majesty on the subject. He now asked in what time they would come: I told him they could be upon the coast in two months after his wishes were known in England. He resumed,__ “ Let me know the precise time, and my messengers shall be down at any part of the coast you may appoint, to forward letters to me from the mission, on receipt of which I will send an escort to conduct it to Soudan.” He also assured me he was able to put an effectual stop to the slave trade, and that the chart I asked for was nearly ready. At the close of this interview, the sultan kindly requested me not to be uneasy in his absence. At five in the afternoon, the sultan and gadado joined the army at the Sansan. April 11, 12, and 13.—A refreshing breeze for the last two or three days. I received a present of two large baskets of wheat, which the sultan had ordered me before his departure. I was sitting in the shade before my door, with Sidi Sheikh, the sultan's fighi, when an ill-looking wretch, with a fiend-like grin on his countenance, came and placed himself directly before me. I asked Sidi Sheikh who he was ? He answered, with great composure, “ The executioner.” I instantly ordered my servants to turn him out. “ Be patient,” said Sidi Sheikh, laying his hand upon mine: “ he visits the first people in Sackatoo, and they never allow him to go away without giving him a few Goora nuts, or money to buy them.” In compliance with this hint, I requested forty cowries to be given to the fellow, with strict orders never again to cross my threshold. Sidi Sheikh now related to me a professional anecdote of my uninvited visitor. Being brother of the executioner of Yacoba, of which place he was a native, he applied to the governor for his brother’s situation, boasting of superior adroitness in the family vocation. The governor coolly remarked, “ We will try go, fetch your brother’s head !” He instantly went in quest of his brother, and finding him seated at the door of his house, without noise or warning he struck off his head with a sword, at one blow ; then carrying the bleeding head to the governor, and claiming the reward of such transcendent atrocity, he was appointed to the vacant office. The sultan being afterwards in want of an expert headsman, sent for him to Sackatoo, where a short time after his arrival he had to officiate at the execution of 2000 Tuaricks, who, in conjunction with the rebels of Goober, had attempted to plunder the country, but were all made prisoners; this event happening about four years ago. I may here add, that the capital punishments inflicted in Soudan are beheading, impaling, and crucifixion; the first being reserved for Mahometans, and the other two practised on Pagans. I was told, as a matter of curiosity, that wretches on the cross generally finger three days, before death puts an end to their sufferings. April 14.—Clear and warm. The gadado’s harem having paid me repeated visits, I was much struck with the beauty of some of the female slaves. To-day an Arab belonging to a kafila that left Quarra on the 10th instant made his escape here, all his fellow travellers having been taken by the people of Goober and Zamfra, who fell upon the kafila near the lake Gondamee. April 15.—Notwithstanding that I had an attack of fever to-day, I received a visit from the females of the gadado’s household, who during their stay seemed to evince much sympathy, but as soon as they reached the outer square, their unrestrained gaiety and noisy mirth soon convinced me that they only frequented my house as a place where they could with security amuse themselves. April 16.—I took an emetic of ipecacuanha, with immediate relief of my bilious symptoms. April 17.—At day-break the sultan returned with the army, having made a large capture of sheep, bullocks, asses, &c. in the neighbourhood of the new capital of Zamfra. p 2
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