in
Mourzuk, is said to sell for a full dollar in Bornou. To be sure there
is all the risk and the heavy freight of such an article, especially if
conveyed up during the rainy season.

I wrote yesterday a despatch to Government, requesting letters of
recommendation to be sent up to me in Kordofan, pointing out the route
of Egypt as the probable one by which I shall return to the
Mediterranean. I had a long dispute with Overweg about the letter
_ghain_, which he persists in pronouncing like a strong _k_. Yusuf was
called in, and declared that the _ghain_ was the letter which
distinguished Arabic from all other languages. In Kailouee Tuarick there
is no _kaf_ or _ghain_. These Berber dialects have, however, the hard
_g_ in a thousand words, and have also the _k_ in a great number of
cases, but the hard _g_ and the _t_ are the consonants most frequently
occurring. The Haussa has also the _g_ hard, as in _magaree_,
"good;" and a great number of words with the sound _tsh_, as _doutshee_,
a stone or mountain.

The Fellatah language is said to resemble the Kailouee; in other words,
to be a Berber dialect. If this be the case, the Fellatah people are
probably of Berber extraction, and not Arab, as they are vulgarly
supposed to be. This is a question requiring still further
investigation. Others, again, say that the Fellatah language is quite
different from the Tuarick. Overweg thinks Islamism was introduced into
Bornou by the Shoua Arabs, who are found in Bornou in great numbers. The
Fellatah, he thinks, received Islamism by way of Timbuctoo, from Moors
and Arabs trading to that city from Morocco. There is considerable
probability in both these opinions.

_15th._--Four or five days after the approaching Eed, or festival, half
the people of Tintalous will go for salt, and the other half prepare for
their annual journey to Soudan with En-Noor.

The inhabitants of Damerghou are reported to be half "_Kohlan_," blacks,
and half Kailouees. It is the Kailouees in the neighbourhood of
Damerghou who infest the borders and routes of Bornou. En-Noor is now
very quiet, and there is a chance that he will not come down upon me for
more money.

According to the Fezzanees, Tuat is thirty days from Aisou and
thirty-three from Taghajeet (short days). Ghat is forty short and thirty
long days from Tintalous or Asoudee. Bilma is fourteen long and seven
short days from Tintalous or Asoudee. There is no direct route from this
(Tintalous) to Ti