, and they
took shelter from the sun, under the shade of some clumps, covered
with high grass, near the wells, in order that the horses might drink
at the moment of their departure. They had three or four long days to
the next water, and the camels were too much fatigued to carry more
than one day's food for the horses. While they were in this
situation, two Arabs, who had gone on with the camels, came galloping
back, to say that they had encountered two Tibboo couriers, on their
way from Bornou to Mourzouk. They soon made their appearance, mounted
on maherhies, only nine days from Kouka. They brought news, that the
sheik el Kanemy, who now governed Bornou, had just returned from a
successful expedition against the sultan of Bergharmi; that he had
attacked and routed a powerful tribe of Arabs, called La Sala; and
that the sultan, on hearing this, had fled, as before, to the south
side of the great river, amongst the Kirdies.

They proceeded on their route, which was along a continued desert,
and at sunset halted on the sand, without either wood or water, after
twenty-four miles. The courier from Bornou to Mourzouk assured them,
that he should not be more than thirty days on the road from where
they left him. The Tibboos are the only people who will undertake
this most arduous service, and the chances are so much against both
returning in safety, that one is never sent alone. The two men whom
they had encountered were mounted on two superb maherhies, and
proceeding at the rate of about six miles an hour. A bag of zumeeta
(some parched corn), and one or two skins for water, with a small
brass basin, and a wooden bowl, out of which they ate and drank, were
all their comforts. A little meat, cut in strips, and dried in the
sun, called _gedeed,_ is sometimes added to the store, which they eat
raw; for they rarely light a fire for the purpose of cooking;
although the want of this comfort during the nights, on approaching
Fezzan, where the cold winds are sometimes biting after the day's
heat, is often fatal to such travellers. A bag is suspended under the
tail of the maherhy, by which means the dung is preserved, and this
serves as fuel on halting in the night. Without a kafila, and a
sufficient number of camels to carry such indispensables as wood and
water, it is indeed a perilous journey.

On the 27th, they appeared gradually to approach something resembling
vegetation. They had rising lands and clumps of fine grass the w