The late intelligence from Waday side, by which route I had always indulged hopes of advancing, some distance at least, very much tended to weaken those hopes. The contention between Waday and the sheikh, for the possession and government of Kanem, had, for the last year or two, been violent; and now open hostilities had commenced between him and the sultan. It was true, that no kafila had passed between Bornou and Waday for five years, and the only person that had left the former place, since our arrival, for Waday, had been the young Fighi from Timbuctoo, on his way to Musser (Cairo), who had accompanied a Fakeer[43] on his return to Waday. A party of Shouaas had once, indeed, since our residence at Kouka, come from the borders of the Waday country, beyond Kanem, to sell a few camels; but it was generally supposed here, they came merely as spies: they were the most lawless set themselves; and the account they gave of the road was merely to induce some of the Arab merchants to take their advice, when they would have been the first to plunder them[44]. Since the death of the good sultan Sabon, as he was called, no intercourse had been attempted either from hence, or even from Fezzan. The only man who escaped from the last kafila, five years ago, was now here, and gave the following account of the treatment he received: he was named Abde Nibbe, the confidential servant of the kaghia[45] of the bashaw; and had gone from Tripoli to Waday, by the way of Mourzuk, having been intrusted with a very considerable sum of the kaghia’s, with which he was to trade: they arrived at Waday in safety, and at Wara the capital; and after residing there more than twenty days, during which time he had purchased thirty-seven slaves, and was apparently upon friendly terms with the natives, one morning they entered his hut, seized all his property, stripped and bound him, and, when naked, he was carried before the chief who acted as regent, Sabon’s son the sultan being but an infant. Abde Nibbe there found forty persons, consisting of his fellow-travellers and their followers, bound in the same manner as himself: after being insulted in every possible way, they were taken outside the town, in order to have their throats cut. Abde Nibbe, who was a powerful fellow from Towergha[46], after seeing many of his companions suffer themselves patiently to be massacred, feeling the cord with which his hands were tied but loosely fastened, determined on making an attempt, at least, to save his life: he burst the cord asunder, and ran towards the hills; twice they caught him, and twice he escaped from their keeping, carrying with him three wounds from spears, and one from a knife, which very nearly severed his right hand from his body: night, however, came on, and creeping into a hole, which had been, and still might be, the habitation of a brood of hyænas; there he remained three nights and three days, until raging hunger forced him to quit his retreat—where, however, to go was the question—who could he trust amongst so barbarous a people? One person alone came to his mind as likely to assist him in this extremity—in whose hands alone he conceived his life would be safe. Was it his brother, or his sworn bosom friend? No: it was man’s never failing, last, and best consolation, woman: one to whom he had been kind in his prosperity, whom he had been intimate with; and he felt assured that she would not be ungrateful, and never betray his confidence. Was he mistaken? No: she received him, fed him, washed his wounds, and for seven days concealed him; when, at last, he was discovered, and carried again before the chief. After asking how he escaped, the governor said, “I will keep you in my service, give you a horse, and see whether you will fight as well for me as you did for yourself.” Abde Nibbe remained more than two months in this situation, drawing water, carrying wood, &c. when he heard that a kafila was about to leave Waday, consisting of a few merchants only, the remains of his own, and former ones, who had bought their lives at a very high price: taking advantage, therefore, of a dark night, he once more escaped and joined them. They lent him a gun and some ammunition to protect him from the wild beasts, which were very numerous, and advised his quitting the kafila before day for the woods: he moved nearly parallel with the kafila, and at night again joined them. In this way he moved for five days, when the Waday horsemen gave up the pursuit, and returned without him.
December 14.—Doctor Oudney and Mr. Clapperton left Kouka this day, for Kano, with a kafila of nearly twenty merchants, beside servants: this was the eighth kafila that had gone to Soudan, since our arrival here; and as no other was expected to go for many months in consequence of the non-arrivals from Mourzuk, and the other parts of Fezzan, Doctor Oudney, notwithstanding the extremely debilitated state to which he was reduced, determined on accompanying this, if the sheikh would allow him. El Kanemy not only gave his instant permission, but did his utmost to forward his views, and to secure his safety: he charged Mohammed-el-Wordee, the principal person of the kafila, to assist them in every way, and gave them letters to the sultan of Kattagum, to the sultan of Kano, and also to a Moor, residing at Kano, named Hat-Salah, with whom he had great influence, and to whose care he confided them as friends of his own, and the best of Christians.
December 16.—Yesterday Barca Gana, with an expedition nearly twelve hundred strong, marched to the south-west, to a place called Kaka; from whence he was to proceed against a Felatah town, called Monana, which was said to be the rendezvous for the sheikh’s enemies: his orders, however, were more to ascertain in what strength the Felatah really were, and what were their intentions, than to attack them.
December 21.—To my inexpressible delight, Karouash came with intelligence that a small kafila had arrived at Woodie from Mourzuk, that an Englishman accompanied them, and that this was followed by another, a more numerous one, which they had quitted at Zow.
The following was a day of great anxiety; and on the 23d instant, very soon after daylight, I was overjoyed at seeing, instead of Mr. Tyrwhit, whose bodily infirmities made me always consider his joining me doubtful, a robust, healthy-looking young man, with a double-barrelled gun slung at his back. When he presented himself at the door of my hut, his very countenance was an irresistible letter of introduction, and I opened the packages which were to account for his appearance with considerable eagerness. Mr. Tyrwhit, I found, had been prevented by sickness from profiting by the consul’s recommendation; and that on application being made to the governor of Malta for a substitute, Mr. Toole, an ensign in the 80th regiment, had volunteered to join me, and left Malta at twenty hours’ notice. He had made the long, dangerous, and difficult journey from Tripoli to Bornou, in the short space of three months and fourteen days, having left that place on the 6th of September; and overcoming all obstacles by perseverance and resolution, both at Mourzuk and in the Tibboo country, had arrived here with only the loss of five camels.
The arrival of this kafila with Mr. Toole, and the supplies which he brought, gave a most favourable turn to my situation at Kouka. I had now money, health, and a desirable companion: even an attack might lead to our pursuing an enemy, and by that means getting out of the sheikh’s dominions; and “God send the fair goddess, deep in love with us,” was our constant prayer, as, on the least favourable opportunity offering, I had determined to make a start in one direction or another. At one time, indeed, Pandora’s sealed casket seemed literally to have burst over our heads,—strife, war, famine, falsehood, and a thousand other evils, surrounded us. Still, however, hope remained in the box; so did we attach ourselves to this never-failing sheet-anchor, and despondency took wing as we abandoned ourselves without reserve to the sympathies she inspired.
Jan. 3, 1824.—My friend Tirab, the Shouaa generalissimo, had long promised to kill me an elephant, as he expressed himself; and this day, about noon, a messenger came to our huts, saying, that, after hunting an enormous male elephant for five hours, they had at length brought him to a stand, near Bree, about ten miles north-east of Kouka. Mr. Toole and myself instantly mounted our horses, and, accompanied by a Shouaa guide, we arrived at the spot where he had fallen, just as he breathed his last.
Although not more than twenty-five years old, his tusk measuring barely four feet six inches, he was an immense fellow. His dimensions were as under:
| ft. | in. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Length from the proboscis to the tail | 25 | 6 | |
| Proboscis | 7 | 6 | |
| Small teeth | 2 | 10 | |
| Foot longitudinally | 1 | 7 | |
| Eye | 2 | by 1½ | |
| From the foot to the hip-bone | 9 | 6 | |
| From the hip-bone to the back | 3 | 0 | |
| Ear | 2 by 2 | 6 |
I had seen much larger elephants than this alive, when on my last expedition to the Tchad; some I should have guessed sixteen feet in height, and with a tusk probably exceeding six feet in length. The one before me, which was the first I had seen dead, was, however, considered as of more than common bulk and stature; and it was not until the Kanemboo of the town of Bree came out, and by attracting his attention with their yells, and teasing him by hurling spears at his more tender parts, that the Shouaas dared to dismount; when, by ham-stringing the poor animal, they brought him to the ground, and eventually despatched him by repeated wounds in the abdomen and proboscis: five leaden balls had struck him about the haunches, in the course of the chase, but they had merely penetrated a few inches into his flesh, and appeared to give him but little uneasiness. The whole of the next day the road, leading to the spot where he lay, was like a fair, from the numbers who repaired thither for the sake of bringing off a part of the flesh, which is esteemed by all, and even eaten in secret by the first people about the sheikh: it looks coarse, but is better flavoured than any beef I found in the country. Whole families put themselves in motion, with their daughters mounted on bullocks, on this occasion, who, at least, hoped as much would fall to their share as would anoint their heads and persons plentifully with grease at the approaching fsug. The eyes of this noble animal were, though so extremely small in proportion to his body, languid and expressive even in death. His head, which was brought to the town, I had an opportunity of seeing the next day, when I had it opened; and the smallness of the brain is a direct contradiction to the hypothesis, that the size of this organ is in proportion to the sagaciousness of the animal. His skin was a full inch and a half in thickness, and dark gray, or nearly black, hard, and wrinkled: his ears, large and hanging, appeared to me the most extraordinary part about him, particularly from the facility with which he moved them backwards and forwards: his feet are round, undivided, and have four nails, or hoofs, for they cannot be called toes, two in the front of the foot, about an inch in depth, and two inches in length, which join each other, with two smaller ones on each side of the foot. In Africa they are scarcely ever taken alive, but hunted as a sport, for the sake of their flesh; and also in order to obtain their teeth, which, however, as they are generally small, are sold to the merchants for a very trifling profit. The manner of hunting the elephant is simply this: from ten to twenty horsemen single out one of these ponderous animals, and, separating him from the flock by screaming and hallooing, force him to fly with all his speed; after wounding him under the tail, if they can there place a spear, the animal becomes enraged. One horseman then rides in front, whom he pursues with earnestness and fury, regardless of those who press on his rear, notwithstanding the wounds they inflict on him. He is seldom drawn from this first object of his pursuit; and, at last, wearied and transfixed with spears, his blood deluging the ground, he breathes his last under the knife of some more venturesome hunter than the rest, who buries his dagger in the vulnerable part near the abdomen: for this purpose he will creep between the animal’s hinder legs, and apparently expose himself to the greatest danger: when this cannot be accomplished, one or two will ham-string him, while he is baited in the front; and this giant of quadrupeds then becomes comparatively an easy prey to his persecutors.