to the great joy of the old ladies. During the time I was waiting for the carriers to come up, a piece of cloth was stolen from one of the women. The bearers flew to arms instantly, the arrows laid on the strings, and the bows bent. I expected nothing but a battle; but fortunately the thief was discovered to be one of the villagers, who had pretended to be asleep, and drunk, all the time we were here; he had stowed the cloth under the thatch of the house, and I never saw a woman more overjoyed in my life than the poor honest creature was, when she recovered her cloth; she came and kneeled down to thank me, as she said it was by my influence the cloth was returned. On the tops of the huts, which are of the real Bornou coozie form, the first I have seen since I came to Africa this time, were stuck a number of crocodiles’ eggs, which are considered as a protection against that animal. All the baggage having now arrived, I left the village of Boru, with its shady trees and mud temple, at a very quick pace, over a flat country apparently not far from the river Quorra, thickly wooded with fine tall trees, and inhabited by large antelopes, numerous traces of which I saw. In the evening halted in the wood, close to a small stream of water. The next morning, on leaving our encampment, a messenger from the chief of Kiama arrived; he had been sent to see if I was on the road, and to return with speed and inform his master. Our road was through thick woods; the soil a red clay, mixed with gravel. At 10 A.M. halted at the town of Oblah, which has been walled, and of considerable size, but now only a few huts remain, the rest having been burned by Yarro. Here my servant Richard was taken very ill, and unable to ride; in consequence of which I remained until the afternoon, when he got better, and was able to proceed, by a man holding him on the bare back of the horse, for we had no saddles. Halted at the village of Socka, where I got one of the best huts, a few yams, and four fowls.