try; go and 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 Sockatoo, where, a short time after his arrival, he had to
officiate at the execution of two thousand Tuaricks, who, in
conjunction with the rebels at Goober, had attempted to plunder the
country, but were all made prisoners. It may be added, 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. Clapperton was told, that wretches on the
cross generally linger three days before death puts an end to their
sufferings. Clapperton was for some time delayed in completing his
arrangements for his departure from Sockatoo, on account of the fast
of the Rhamadan, which the Fellatas keep with extreme rigour. The
chief people never leave their houses, except in the evening to
prayer; and the women frequently pour cold water over their backs and
necks. Under the idea, that the greater the thirst they appear to
endure, the better entitled they become to paradise; though
Clapperton was inclined to believe that they made a parade of these
privations, in a great measure, to obtain the reputation of
extraordinary sanctity.

On the 2nd May, Clapperton sent for the steward of the gadado's
household, and all the female slaves, who had daily performed the
duty of bringing him provisions from the time of his arrival. These
provisions were about a gallon of new milk every morning, in a large
bowl, for himself, and two gallons of sour milk and siccory for his
servants at noon, in return for which he always gave fifty kowries;
at three o'clock three roast fowls, with doura or nutta sauce, for
which he sent fifty kowries; again after sunset two bowls of bozeen
were brought by two female slaves, to whom he gave one hundred
kowries; and about two quarts of new milk afterwards, for which he
gave fifty kowries more. As an acknowledgment for their attention
during his residence in Sockatoo, he now presented the steward of the
household with ten thousand kowries, and the slaves with two thousand
each. The poor creatur