Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 2

e Plateau-Young Ostrich-The Tholukh-tree-Severe Cold-Eleven Ostriches-Termination of the Desert-Inasamet-The Tagama-Purchases-People begin to improve-Fruit of the Lote-tree-Villa

ona fide hamadah. All around us stretched a limitless plain. Our course

ng as well as old ones. This plateau is the real home of the giraffe. No place could be better adapted for such an unwieldy creature. There is abundance of small tholukh, on which it feeds; all the country is open around to it, and it is out of the reach of ferocious animals. To

nd streams, and in some places evident marks

a march of nine hours. The well is called Chidugulah, and is situated on the side of a v

l supply, and what there is has a muddy, chocolate colour. The last water we took up from the vall

as used for a watering trough by the people we met en route. We had sand all day, rising occasionally in considerable mounds. I observed the prevailing winds in the formation of these mounds; for there is always an inclined plane towards the quarter whence the wind blows; whilst to where it blows the mounds are scarped. The winds prevailing now are E.N.E.; and the wind has nearly always come from this direction since our arrival in Aheer. In

an ocean of sand; as, I think, it is described in the Itinerary procured

one yesterday, jumping before my camel's feet. There are a great number here. This jerboah is of a different colour from those I have seen in Tunis; being white all over the lower part of the body and neck, straw-coloured on the top of the head and along the back; whilst those in Tunis are nearly of the same colour as ordinary mice. This species is

ht, that the central parts of Africa are plateaux, or one vast plateau. But more of this hereafter. This plateau extends to the Bornou route, and how much further east is yet to be ascertained. In the west we yet also want

e nearly naked. Their Soudan cotton clothes afford them little or no protection against such a bleak north-easter. Europeans are astonished to see these people shivering with cold in this bleak weather, and forget that they themselves are well clothed. This remark is very applicable to the northern coast, where

or what are so called, were seen, and everywhere the footprints of ostriches and gazelles. His highness En-Noor made us a present of two ostrich eggs, and we supped on this out-of-the-way delicacy the last day of the year. The date of the black country (Soudan) is deserving of notice. It is called in Bornou, bitu; and in Haussa, aduwa and tinku, both tree and fruit. Its

ost troublesome thing that can well be conceived for all travellers, and more so for Europeans. This bur is from a species of herbage bearing grain, ver

ag), the gazelle, a large and small species, the ostrich, the guinea-fowl, the hobara (in Haussa, tuja), various kinds of vultures, the crow, many small birds, the liz

. It is now kept as a pet. Several eggs have been also picked up.

s some water, as in the wadys of Fezzan. In all the western Sahara it abounds, producing the finest gums. Consider also the gum-trade at Mogador and Senegal! In the plain of Timbuctoo, the mimosa is found in scattered forests. Our

"a great thief," from his thievish propensities. Then there is the "Lad of the Arrows," the fellow who is always boasting of how many people he has killed with arrows, &c. &c.; but Zumzug requires especial notice fro

isagreeable weather is this for the caravan. The people do not like to move, and show a decided tendency to hibernation. Some camels are also lost-escaped fr

on a new species of tree, called in Haussa, tadana. We have this day had a splendid sight of ostriches-eleven feeding in a troop near us, quietly like so many sheep-eccentric birds of

rious smaller ones, we came upon a huge vulture's nest on a very small tholukh, which seemed to bend and look unhappy beneath the weight of this den of rapacity and vi

rease my travelling clothes, and put on an extra holi on account of the cold wind; and yet the temperature was not very low, it being only 46° at sunr

st of tholukh and various other trees cannot be compared to the splendid desert vegetation in the Aheer valleys; these are pigmy mimosas in comparison with those of Aheer. The surface of the ground is now undulating sand and red earth, and every trace of stone has almost disappeared; the soil is also covered with karengia and o

route, build better houses for themselves than men do. We halted amidst karengia, and had great difficulty in finding a place clear of them. En-Noor suffers dreadfully from the cold, and we help to k

Unwessemet. The weather is still the same, and the route continues to wind through a scattered w

ing begin to appear. There seems to be a great number of birds of prey hereabouts. I counted at least

with imitation silver rings, of which the people are immensely fond, preferring them to the imitation gold ring. I got two cheeses for a ring-a plain hoop: the fowls cost each three of these toys. The women and girls bothered me much with their curiosity and their bartering. Some of them are as stout as the Mooresses of the coast, and nearly all are well-looking; many with very good features, and fair for this country. All are polite enough, men, women, and children. We are glad to find the people more civil, the nearer we approach

, that the Tibboos have a method of extracting the bitterness from this wild fruit. The people brought me en route some fruit, called in Bornou kusulu, and mageria in Haussa; that is, the nebek or fruit of the sider or lote-tree. The

ni, and in Bornouese, kabi. Were these trees adorned with leaves-they are now fallen o

the evening some flesh of the giraffe; it is pretty well tasted, and something like beef. Hunting the giraffe is a great occupation with the people of this village, and the flesh of the animal a source of subsistence for them. They have, however, besides, cattle and flocks; and the karengia, which has proved such an annoyance to us, is the principal farinaceous food of these Tagama, as the bou rekaba is the principal food of poor

des, eastwards across the route of Bornou,-how far this vast space of desert is a plateau to the surrounding countries; that is, whether higher or lower than their level. We do not think it is a plateau

Like their more civilised brethren in Europe, these people find this the most t

and the ground was covered with dried herbage, mostly karengia. It is our constant occupation, morning and evenings, for half an hour, to pick the burs out of our clothes. The animals seen were mostly small birds; some flights of blackbirds, two-thirds the size of the English blackbird; and crows and doves

t what route they will take from this country to Kanou; whether by T

ter two hours more we came upon the large village of Gumrum, or Gumrek. I saw many people, light and dark; the women are fat and bold, free in their conversation; and the men evidently fanatical. The latter shouted that we ought not to pass, because we were infidels. One fellow was very

t have more than double this number, besides flocks and horses. The men mostly ride horses, but their br

s, of ancient date. The Kilgris have been driven from all this part of Asben by the Kailouees. The houses we passed in ruins are said to have been once occupied by the Kilgris. If so, they evidently were in former times powerful and opulent, and have since become relaxed and pusillanimous. At any rate, they have been expelled by the fiercer and more ferocious Kailouees. The Oulimad also come here to plunder occasionally. At Gurarek we saw a phenomenon which, after so much desert, gladden

o plants, at most, are all that could be considered as such. Many gazelles glanced on either hand as we proceeded: the guinea-hen was in great numbers, thirty or forty together, old ones and chickens. They run very quickly through the forests, and cannot be taken in the day. At night, however, some are snared. They feed on the karengia, and get immensely plump. Their flesh is greatly esteemed. Doves showed themselves i

six dogs, and told us they were off after the giraffe. A few lizards now and the

women were found in England. I replied, gravely, that this species occurred in all Christian countries; a piece of zoological information

t we have seen in this part of the countr