blacks in these villages always expect
that the white man comes to bring them into slavery. Afterwards I went
to salute the Sultan. We saw him during two minutes; he kept rubbing his
hands, as if he were cold. He was a sinister-looking man, dressed in a
white tobe; he had not the least suspicion of what a Christian might be.
I made the acquaintance of the taste of the doom-palm, in a dish of
pastry seasoned by it. The taste is something like rhubarb, only a
little sharper.

CHAPTER XVIII.

A Village plundered--Shaidega--Animals--Our Biscuit--Villages _en
route_--Minyo--Respect for Learning--Monotony of the Country--A
Wedding--Palsy--Slave-agents--Kal, Kal--Birni Gamatak--Tuaricks on the
Plain--Palms--Sight the Town of Gurai--Bare Country--Bearings of various
Places--Province of Minyo--Visit the Sultan--Audience-room--Fine
Costume--A Scene of Barbaric Splendour--Trade--Estimate of Wealth--How
to amuse a Prince--Small Present--The Oars carried by Men--Town of
Gurai--Fortifications.

_Feb. 11th._--I rose early, and started as usual, as quick as possible.
We made seven hours and a-half, and halted at a small village called
Bogussa. After the fifth hour we came to the hamlet of Dugurka, which
the Kashalla delivered up to plunder, because the people refused to give
him some water. This is the story of my servants, which I do not
believe. But certain it is, that, after the Kashalla passed the hamlet,
his people, who loitered behind, commenced a general pillage of the poor
little village. The inhabitants had all fled at our approach, save one
old man. All the hut-doors were violently torn away and the insides
ransacked. The spoils were leben, bowls or calabashes, bows and arrows,
axes, and some other trifles. Of live-stock, all the fowls were seized
and slaughtered on the spot; also a lamb. My interpreter tells me that
all the slaves of the Government of Bornou are marauders, and that it
was for this reason the Sarkee of Zinder complained to the Sheikh of the
government caravans seizing the people and sacking their villages. In
all my life I never saw such an instance of the triumph of might over
right. My servants, most of them Bornouese, joined their brethren with
great eagerness. To remonstrate with them is useless. I have had several
quarrels of remonstrance already since I have been in the Sheikh's
territory, about similar acts of brigandage; and if I go on, I shall
quarrel with all the world of Africa, every ho