The secret of En-Noor's authority is this: in all his great gains, and lucky enterprises, and pieces of good fortune--as our arrival here has proved--he gives his principal people and courtiers a share of the profit or the spoil; and when nothing particular is going on, he feeds them from the granary of his house, or clothes them from his heaped-up merchandise. All this, however does not save the prince from being occasionally robbed--if we are to believe report, which says that the other evening some black cotton turbans were taken from his house. The news from the town is, that En-Noor and his courtiers have received the amount of their extortion in goods. We have now given at Tintalous to the value of nearly a thousand dollars, and yet we have not received the smallest present in return--not a supper the day of our arrival, not a little butter or fruit; nothing, absolutely nothing! Our servants have nearly procured all the ghaseb which they require for the journey from this to Zinder, viz. one hundred sahs. This they have purchased with various little wares, principally knives and looking-glasses. The ghaseb is always mixed with ghafouley, a species of grain about a third the size of a small pea. Ghafouley is called _koula_ in Soudanese. The Aheer cheese has appeared for the first time amongst us to-day. It is made in little squares, three by two inches broad, and a quarter of an inch thick. It is eaten fresh, but has a poor flavour. The people prefer pounding it into dust when dry, and drinking it with ghaseb-water, which is white as milk, and very cool. The paste thus made is very white, and becomes as hard as a stone when dry. I have also made acquaintance with _doua doua_, round black balls of a vegetable composition, eaten with various dishes as seasoning. It is very abundant in Soudan. There is also a species of ghaseb-paste, called _dābóă_, not unlike macaroni in very small pieces. This is very much esteemed. It swells exceedingly when boiled, like paste. We begin to get into regions where the preparation of food is greatly changing. Yesterday my servants purchased me a fowl, and I learned for the first time that this delicacy was to be procured. I have studied but little since I left Tripoli. Our affairs have always been worse and worse, and we have had a continual battle to preserve our existence. Such is the beginning of this expedition: God only knows what may be its _end_. There is left for us but a firm reliance in His goodness and protecting providence.