capture the Sheikh's subjects or
those of the Fellatahs. The Sarkee, on a former occasion, captured a
great many people belonging to Germal, one of the Sheikh's provinces,
and an order was forthwith sent to him to restore them to their homes
and lands. He was compelled to comply. Besides slaves, the Sarkee will
bring in bullocks and horses; but the sheep taken are eaten by the
troops of the razzia. His highness is expected to gather an army of 2000
horse, and 10,000 on foot, besides camels for provisions and water, when
completed. The plan and route of the expedition are kept a profound
secret, so that the army will fall upon the unsuspecting population by
surprise.

After about three or four hours' ride the Sarkee usually encamps, and a
souk, or market, is opened at the camp for provisions. "There are no
women with the _yaki_ (or army of razzia), the men cook and do all the
work," says my informant. At night the Sultan calls round him his chosen
troops, and distributes gour-nuts, and makes presents of provisions. He
then sleeps a few hours, and probably starts at midnight, or as soon as
the moon rises. A slave, a soldier of the Sarkee, who has been to a
hundred razzias, tells me, that three years ago this Sarkee went to
attack him of Daura in his capital. On arriving before the town the army
of Zinder set fire to all the ghaseb stubble and the garden-trees around
it. This done, they commenced a regular battle with the besieged. The
fight continued till night, when the Sarkee of Daura fled. The Zinder
people carried off a large booty: the share of the Sultan alone was nine
hundred.

This freebooting prince does not fight himself, but sits down at a
distance from his troops and overlooks their conduct and manoeuvres; his
generals command and lead on the attack, whilst a body-guard surrounds
the sacred person of the monarch. On the occasion referred to, this
body-guard was covered with mattrass-stuffing to shield off the terrible
arrows of the Daura people. The greater part of the troops of Zinder
have only a spear; a few have shields and swords, but none have muskets.
All the Daura people have bows and arrows. There are numbers of petty
traders here waiting for the booty of this razzia, and some of the
creditors of the Sarkee went this morning to wish him God speed. I am
glad I did not go out to see him start on such a nefarious expedition.
It appears, however, that we are not to leave for Kuka until the return
of the