A little to their left was an extemporary declaimer, shouting forth the praises of his master, with his pedigree, and near him stood a man with a long, wooden trumpet, on which he ever and anon blew a blast. Nothing could be more ridiculous than the appearance of these people, squatting down in their places, tottering under the weight and magnitude of their turbans and their bellies, while the thin legs that appeared underneath but ill accorded with the bulk of the other part. Immediately after the ceremony the travellers took their departure for Angornou, a town containing at least thirty thousand inhabitants. The market-place was crowded with people, and there were a number of beggars. Linen was so cheap that all the men wore shirts and trousers; but the beggars were seen holding up the arms of an old pair of the latter, touching the shirt at the same time, and exclaiming: "But breeches there are none; but breeches there are none." This novel mode of drawing the attention of the passers-by so amused Denham that he could not help laughing outright. He was, however, anxious to visit a large river to the southward of Kouka, called the Shary; but was delayed by Dr Oudney's serious illness, and the unsettled state of Book-Haloum's affairs with the Arabs; indeed, so mutinous had some of these become, that he was at last compelled to send thirty of them back again to Fezzan. Hillman had greatly pleased the sheikh by manufacturing a couple of chests, and he was now requested to make a sort of litter, such as the sheikh had heard were used by the sultans of Fezzan. Among other presents, the sheikh sent them a young lion about three months old. It was a tame, good-natured creature, but as Denham was under the necessity of refusing the animal a corner of his hut, it was immediately in consequence killed. During the illness of his companions Major Denham made an excursion to the shores of Lake Chad, accompanied by Maraymy, an intelligent black, to whose charge he had been committed by the sheikh, where numerous elephants and some beautiful antelopes were seen. The sheikh's people, as they came near the elephants, began screeching violently. The animals, though moving a little away, erected their ears, and gave a roar that shook the ground under them. One was an immense fellow. The party wheeled swiftly round him, and Maraymy casting a spear at him, which struck him just under the tail, the huge brute threw up his proboscis in the air with a loud roar, and from it cast such a volume of sand as nearly to blind the major, who was approaching at the time. The elephant rarely if ever attacks, but, when irritated, he will sometimes rush upon a man on horseback, and, after choking him with dust, destroy him in a moment.