unwilling to go, and did not even turn their backs until we were quite close, and had thrown several spears at them; the flashes from the pan of the gun, however, appeared to alarm them more than any thing: they retreated very majestically, first throwing out, as before, a quantity of sand. A number of the birds here called tuda were perched on the backs of the elephants; these resemble a thrush in shape and note, and were represented to me as being extremely useful to the elephant, in picking off the vermin from those parts which it is not in his power to reach. When the heat of the sun was a little diminished, we followed the course of the water ; and had it not been for the torment which the mosquitoes and flies occasioned, there were spots in which I could have pitched my tent for a week. - I saw several Balearic cranes, but I was too far off to get a shot at them. Having proceeded nearly eight miles along the shores of the Tchad, in which there is no sort of variety either in appearance or vegetable production, a coarse grass, and a small bell-flower, being the only plants that I could discover, about an hour before sunset we left these banks, and arrived at Koua, a small village to the north ; where, the kaid of the town being absent, we were glad to take up our quarters within the fence of rushes that went round his hut, and after making some coffee, I laid myself down for the night: about midnight he returned, and we then got corn for our horses, and fowls and milk for ourselves. Both this town and Bree were quite new, and peopled by the Kanemboos, who had emigrated with the sheikh from their own country; and 1 never saw handsomer or better formed people. When I appeared in the town, the curiosity and alarm which my hands and face excited almost inclined me to doubt whether they had not been changed in the night. One little girl was in such agonies of tears and fright at the sight of me, that nothing could console her, not even a string of beads which I offered her—-nor would she put out her hand to take them. I must, however, do‘the sex the justice to say, that those more advanced in years were not afflicted with such exceeding diffidence—at the sight of the beads they quickly made up to me; and seeing me take from the pocket of a very loose pair of Turkish trowsers a few strings, which were soon distributed, some one exclaimed, “ O h ! those trowsers are full of beads, only he won’t give them to us.” This piece of news was followed by a shout, and they all approached, so fully determined to ascertain the fact, that although I did not until afterwards understand what had been said, Fajah, my guide, thought it right to keep the ladies at a distance, by what I thought rather ungentle means. Had I been aware of all the circumstances, I do not think that I should have consented to their being so harshly treated, as I have no doubt they would, like their sisterhood, those beautiful specimens of red and white womankind in our own country, have been reasoned into conviction, without absolutely demanding ocular demonstration. March 15.-—A little after noon, we arrived again at Kouka. Although much fatigued by the excessive heats, yet I was greatly gratified by the excursion: no information was, however, on this occasion to be obtained, as to the inhabitants of those islands which are said to be far away to the eastward, up the lake. These Kerdies, as they are called, come, at certain times, to the spot where I had been, and even close to Angornou; plunder sometimes a village, and carry off1 the cattle in their canoes. These plunderers continue their depredations, without any means being taken to oppose them. I was not at all prepared for the news which was to reach me on returning to our inclosure. The horse that had carried me from Tripoli to Mourzuk and back again, and on which I had ridden the whole journey from Tripoli to Bornou, had died, a very few hours after my departure for the lake. There are situations in a man’s life in which losses of this nature are felt most keenly; and this was one of them. It was not grief, but it was something very nearly n 2
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