March 11.—Doctor Oudney was still confined to his bed, and I received a summons from the sheikh, to whom a report had been made of a musical box of mine, which played or stopped merely by my holding up my finger. The messenger declared he was dying to see it, and I must make haste. The wild exclamations of wonder and screams of pleasure that this piece of mechanism drew from the generality of my visitors were curiously contrasted in the person of the intelligent sheikh: he at first was greatly astonished, and asked several questions, exclaiming “A gieb! gieb!” “Wonderful! wonderful!” but the sweetness of the Swiss Ranz-des-Vaches which it played, at last overcame every other feeling: he covered his face with his hand and listened in silence; and on one man near him breaking the charm by a loud exclamation, he struck him a blow which made all his followers tremble. He instantly asked, “if one twice as large would not be better?” I said “Yes; but it would be twice as dear.” “By G—!” said he, “if one thousand dollars would purchase it, it would be cheap.” Who will deny that nature has given us all a taste for luxuries?
During this short conversation we became better friends than we had ever been before, during our three former visits. To his surprise, he now found that I spoke intelligible Arabic, and he begged to see me whenever I chose: these were just the terms upon which I wished to be with him; and thinking this a favourable moment for adding strength to his present impressions, I could not help begging he would keep the box. He was the more delighted as I had refused it before to Karouash, when he had requested it in the sheikh’s name.
March 12.—I had another interview this day with the sheikh, in his garden, about four in the afternoon: we were only three persons, Barca Gana, his first general, Karouash, and myself. We had the musical box playing until he understood its stops as well as myself; and after really a pleasant interview of an hour’s duration, we separated, improved considerably in each other’s good opinion. I asked to visit the Tchad next day, and he gave immediate orders to Barca Gana, that some one should attend me who knew the roads, and that a hut and food might be in readiness for me at night. I lost no time in availing myself of this permission; and soon after daylight on the next day my guides were at the door,—Fajah, a Kanemboo, high in the sheikh’s favour, and Maramy, a sort of half-cast Felatah, who was sent merely because he could speak a little Arabic. We proceeded about ten miles, to a town called Bree; where the kaid (governor), after hearing the orders, came to my horse’s side, and said he should be ready in an instant to accompany me: he also proposed that we should return that night to the town, where a supper and hut, with dancing-girls, should be ready for me. I, however, refused this, and said I was prepared with my blanket, and that we would sleep near the lake. We now went eastward for about five miles, when we came to the banks of the Tchad. I had seen no part of the lake so unencumbered by trees as this, and there were evident proofs of its overflowings and recedings near the shores; but beyond was an uninterrupted expanse of waters, as far as the eye could reach east and south-east. A fine grass grew abundantly along the marshy shores, and thousands of cattle belonging to the sheikh, the produce of his last expedition to Begharmi, were grazing, and in beautiful condition. The sun was now at its greatest power, and, spreading my mat under the shade of a clump of tulloh trees, I was just preparing a repast of some bread and honey, when two or three black boys who had accompanied us from Bree, and whom I had seen rushing about in the water, brought me five or six fine fish resembling a mullet, and which they had driven into the shallow water almost in as many minutes: a fire was quickly made, and they roasted them so well and expeditiously, that their manner of cooking deserves to be noticed:—A stick is run through the mouth of the fish, and quite along the belly to the tail; this stick is then stuck in the ground, with the head of the fish downwards, and inclined towards the fire: our negroes had quickly a circle of these fish round a clear flame, and by turning them constantly by the tail, they were most excellently dressed. These fish are called by the Kanemboo, kerwha; in Arabic, turfaw;—the name of fish in general in the Bornou language is boonie.
I told my satellites that here would be my quarters for the night: they assured me that the musquitoes were both so numerous and so large, that I should find it impossible to remain, and that the horses would be miserable. They advised our retiring with the cattle to a short distance from the water, and sleeping near them; by which means the attention of these insects would be taken off by the quadrupeds. Englishman-like, I was obstinate; and very soon falling asleep, although daylight, I was so bitten by musquitoes, in size equalling a large fly, that I was glad, on awaking, to take the advice of my more experienced guides. Towards the evening we mounted our horses and chased some very beautiful antelopes, and saw a herd of elephants at a distance, exceeding forty in number; two buffaloes also stood boldly grazing, nearly up to their bodies in water; on our approaching them they quickly took to the lake: one of them was a monstrous animal, at least fourteen feet in length from the tail to the head. The antelopes are particularly beautiful, of a light brown colour, with some stripes of black and white about their bellies; they are not very swift, and are only to be found in the neighbourhood of the Tchad, and other large waters.
The tamarind and locust-trees were here abundant, and loaded with fruit; the former of a rich and fine flavour. The horses now became so irritated by the shoals of insects that attacked them, the white one of Fajah being literally covered with blood, that we determined on seeking the cattle herd, and taking up our quarters for the night with them. A vacant square was left in the centre, and ourselves and horses were admitted: mats were spread, and about thirty basket jars of sweet milk were set before me, with another of honey; this, in addition to some rice which I had brought with me, made a sumptuous repast; and although, previous to leaving the lake, my face, hands, and back of the neck, resembled those of a child with the small-pox, from the insects, yet here I slept most comfortably, without being annoyed by a single musquito.
March 14.—A very heavy dew had fallen this night, a thing we had not felt since leaving Gatrone, and then but very slightly: in the morning my bornouse, which lay over me, was completely wet through; and on the mat, after daylight, crystalline drops were lying like icicles. On arriving at the lake, Maramy left us, as he said, to look for the elephants, as the sheikh had desired him to take me close to them; and I commenced shooting and examining the beautiful variety of waterfowl that were in thousands sporting on the water, and on its shores. I succeeded in shooting a most beautiful white bird of the crane kind, with black neck and long black bill; and some snipes, which were as numerous as swarms of bees: and in three shots killed four couple of ducks, and one couple of wild geese—these were very handsomely marked, and fine specimens. While I was thus employed, Maramy came galloping up, saying that he had found three very large elephants grazing, to the south-east, close to the water: when we came within a few hundred yards of them, all the persons on foot, and my servant on a mule, were ordered to halt, while four of us, who were mounted, rode up to these stupendous animals.
The sheikh’s people began screeching violently: and although at first they appeared to treat our approach with great contempt, yet after a little they moved off, erecting their ears, which had until then hung flat on their shoulders, and giving a roar that shook the ground under us. One was an immense fellow, I should suppose sixteen feet high; the other two were females, and moved away rather quickly, while the male kept in the rear, as if to guard their retreat. We wheeled swiftly round him; and Maramy casting a spear at him, which struck him just under the tail, and seemed to give him about as much pain as when we prick our finger with a pin, the huge beast threw up his proboscis in the air with a loud roar, and from it cast such a volume of sand, that, unprepared as I was for such an event, nearly blinded me. The elephant rarely, if ever, attacks; and it is only when irritated that he is dangerous: but he will sometimes rush upon a man and horse, after choking them with dust, and destroy them in an instant.
As we had cut him off from following his companions, he took the direction leading to where we had left the mule and the footmen: they quickly fled in all directions; and my man Columbus (the mule not being inclined to increase its pace) was so alarmed, that he did not get the better of it for the whole day. We pressed the elephant now very close, riding before, behind, and on each side of him; and his look sometimes, as he turned his head, had the effect of checking instantly the speed of my horse—his pace never exceeded a clumsy rolling walk, but was sufficient to keep our horses at a short gallop. I gave him a ball from each barrel of my gun, at about fifty yards’ distance; and the second, which struck his ear, seemed to give him a moment’s uneasiness only; but the first, which struck him on the body, failed in making the least impression. After giving him another spear, which flew off his tough hide without exciting the least sensation, we left him to his fate.
News was soon brought us that eight elephants were at no great distance, and coming towards us: it was thought prudent to chase them away, and we all mounted for that purpose. They appeared unwilling to go, and did not even turn their backs until we were quite close, and had thrown several spears at them; the flashes from the pan of the gun, however, appeared to alarm them more than any thing: they retreated very majestically, first throwing out, as before, a quantity of sand. A number of the birds here called tuda were perched on the backs of the elephants; these resemble a thrush in shape and note, and were represented to me as being extremely useful to the elephant, in picking off the vermin from those parts which it is not in his power to reach.
When the heat of the sun was a little diminished, we followed the course of the water; and had it not been for the torment which the mosquitoes and flies occasioned, there were spots in which I could have pitched my tent for a week. I saw several Balearic cranes, but I was too far off to get a shot at them. Having proceeded nearly eight miles along the shores of the Tchad, in which there is no sort of variety either in appearance or vegetable production, a coarse grass, and a small bell-flower, being the only plants that I could discover, about an hour before sunset we left these banks, and arrived at Koua, a small village to the north; where, the kaid of the town being absent, we were glad to take up our quarters within the fence of rushes that went round his hut, and after making some coffee, I laid myself down for the night: about midnight he returned, and we then got corn for our horses, and fowls and milk for ourselves. Both this town and Bree were quite new, and peopled by the Kanemboos, who had emigrated with the sheikh from their own country; and I never saw handsomer or better formed people.