The public market day is on a Wednesday, and attended sometimes by eighty or a hundred thousand persons, as the natives say, in peaceable times; but there was a very good market this day in an open space in the centre of the town, which is held every evening. Fish, flesh, and fowls, were in abundance, dressed and undressed, and tomatas, and onions, but no other vegetables.—Again my excessive whiteness became a cause of both pity and astonishment, if not disgust: a crowd followed me through the market, others fled at my approach; some of the women oversetting their merchandize, by their over anxiety to get out of my way; and although two of them were so struck with astonishment as to remain fixed to the spot, unconscious of the escape of their companions, they no sooner perceived me quite close to them, than they too ran off irresistibly affrighted. The day had been insufferably hot, and the night was little less so: indeed I think Kouka the better air of the two. I preferred this night sleeping in the open air.
March 4.—Linen is so cheap that most of the males in Angornow indulge in the luxury of a shirt and a pair of trowsers: several beggars stood near the fsug, and holding the remains of an old pair of the latter in their hand, while they held up their shirt, in proof of their assertion, kept exclaiming, “But breeches, there are none! But breeches, there are none!” This novel mode of drawing the attention of the passers-by so amused me, that I could not help laughing outright.
The principal demand at Angornou was for amber and coral; a large round piece of the former brought four dollars in money, and a string, eighty or one hundred. Pieces of brass and copper were also much sought after: all other kinds of merchandize were paid for in slaves or tobes; but these brought money, and were readily sold. The inhabitants are mostly Bornowy. The strangers, however, are numerous; and many Tibboos and Kanemboos reside here for certain months in the year. The men are well grown, but not so well-looking as the people of Kanem: the large mouth, and thick lips, are strikingly ugly features; the men’s heads are, in general, closely shaved, and those of the lower orders uncovered. The only persons armed near the sultan’s person were some hundreds of negroes, in blue tobes, who were outside the court circle. These bore immense clubs, with a large round head: bows and arrows were slung at their backs, and a short dagger placed along the inside of the right arm. A footman, in attendance on a chief mounted, ran behind him, carrying four spears.
March 5.—I had proposed making an excursion, for a few days, to a large river to the southward of Kouka, called the Shary, as the only way to gain authentic information about it; and Dr. Oudney wished to accompany me. We were, however, obliged to put off our journey, first, in consequence of his illness, and, secondly, from the unsettled state of Boo-Khaloom’s affairs with the Arabs. Boo-Khaloom paid us a visit after seeing the sheikh; and from what I could gather, although nothing was freely communicated, the probability of the ghrazzie’s going was increased. Hillman had made two wooden boxes for the sheikh, the workmanship of which surprised him exceedingly, and, during our absence, he had sent for him, and requested he would commence making a sort of litter, to go between two camels, or mules, such as he had heard were used by the sultans of Fezzan: our carpenter very frankly said, that any thing he could do should be done with pleasure, but he could not work in the sun, and that a shed must be built for him, and wood must be found for him, as he had seen none in the country that would make the keel of a jolly-boat. As much as was necessary of this reply was interpreted to the sheikh, who promised him that negroes should make mats directly for his shed, and that others should go into the wood and bring the largest trees they could find; and in the evening a present came for the carpenter of wheat, rice, honey, and butter.
March 6.—The sheikh sent this morning to say, that he wished for some of our rockets, in order that the Shouaas, his enemies, might see what the English had brought him. On Monday, the day of the fsug or market, when they would be in the town, we promised him six; but reminded him, at the same time, that we had but few, and that here we could make no more. He also sent a very fine young lion, about three months old, not above half the size of that I had seen before: this was a very tame good-natured fellow, and I could not help regretting the necessity we were under of refusing him a corner of our huts, as he was ordered to be immediately killed in consequence of our declining to accept him.
March 7.—Doctor Oudney’s illness increased, and he had daily fits of the ague, which, in his weak state, became alarming. I had made it my business, as I thought it my duty, to cultivate the friendship and good-will of Boo-Khaloom, and by his means I hoped to be made acquainted with the sheikh’s real intentions towards us. The man of Loggun, who had returned from Senaar, I used every means to get a sight of, but I found it impossible, and he sent me word privately that he dared not come.
March 8 and 9.—Both these days the numbers of persons who crowded my hut, from morning to night, were greater, and consequently their visits more pestering than common. Every little thing, from the compass to the pen and ink, from the watch to the tin cup out of which I drank, excited their curiosity; and as they now became bolder, they seized hold of every thing which they formerly only eyed at a distance. It was not, however, their curiosity alone that was excited—the possession was coveted, either for themselves or the sheikh, of every article: a looking-glass, and a small lantern, I rescued out of the hands of at least a dozen, a dozen times. A copy of Captain Lyon’s book, the fame of which had preceded us, in consequence of Doctor Oudney’s having shown it to some merchants at Mourzuk, was demanded twenty times a day, and it required all my patience to go over and explain the pictures as often as they required. It produced very different effects, but in all astonishment and in most suspicion. The sheikh had heard of it, and one of his slaves borrowed it for him of my servant, by stealth, as he did not wish it to be known that he had a desire to see it. For three days after this I was again and again applied to by all his chief people to see what I had drawn, or written, as they express it, of Bornou. I repeatedly assured them, that those in the book were not mine, that the person who wrote them was far away. It would not do; they shook their heads, and said I was cunning, and would not show them. They then changed their tone, and very seriously begged that I would not write them, that is, draw their portraits; that they did not like it, that the sheikh did not like it, that it was a sin; and I am quite sure, from the impression, that we had much better never have produced the book at all.
The sheikh expressed a wish that two rockets might be started, on a signal being made from the top of his house. I gave Karowash a blue light, with instructions how to make the signal: his heart, however, failed him when he got to the spot, and the signal was made by a wisp of straw. The first rocket went off nearly perpendicular, and with beautiful effect. I lessened very much the elevation of the second, and it flew over the town not more than a hundred yards higher than the tops of the huts; and bursting in its course, occasioned a universal scream, that lasted for some seconds. Its consequences I believe were not so serious as the first display of fire-works was at Mourzuk: there several ladies lost all present hopes of blessing their husbands with little pledges of love; and in one house the favourite slave of a particular friend of ours was put instantly to bed of a seven months’ child.
March 10.—We had now been in Kouka nearly a month—had seen the sheikh but three times; and we discovered, that people coming from the east and from the south, of which there were but few, were carefully prohibited from visiting us. I found out also that a conversation had taken place between Boo-Khaloom and the sheikh, in which the latter had mentioned, that he had heard the Doctor wished, or rather intended, to proceed to Soudan, but that he could not allow of such a proceeding, for that the bashaw’s despatch had not mentioned such being the wish of the English king.
This day I had a little respite, my visiting list being much reduced in consequence of its being market-day; there was, as usual, an abundance of all necessaries, though but few luxuries; and as the people got more accustomed to my appearance, they became more familiar: and one young lady, whose numerous bracelets of elephants’ teeth, heavy silver rings on each side of her face, coral in her nose, and amber necklace, proclaimed her a person of wealth, nimbly jumped off her bullock, and tore the corner from my pocket-handkerchief, as she said, for a souvenir. I could do no less than request her to accept the remainder of so useful an appendage, and I was happy to see that this piece of gallantry was not lost even upon savages. They all clapped their hands, and cried, “Barca! barca!” and the lady herself, whose hands and face were really running down with grease, so regardless was she of expense, generously poured into the sleeve of my shirt nearly a quart of ground nuts.