pride themselves on having a mʿallem appointed at their mesállaje, which must be miserable enough. Having once allowed the people to come into my tent, I could not clear it again the whole day. The names of the more respectable among the men were Kílle, El Khassén, Efárret, Cháy, Ríssa, Khándel, and Amaghár (properly “the Elder”). All these people, men and women, brought with them a variety of objects for sale; and I bought from them some dried meat of the welwaiji (_Antilope leucoryx_), which proved to be very fine, as good as beef; others, however, asserted that it was the flesh of the “rákomi-n-dáwa” or giraffe. Hunting, together with cattle-breeding, is the chief occupation of the Tagáma; and they are expert enough with their little swift horses, to catch the large antelope as well as the giraffe. Others engage in the salt-trade, and accompany the Kél-gerés on their way to Bílma, without however following them to Sókoto, where, for the reason which I shall presently explain, they are not now allowed to enter; but they bring their salt to Kanó. In this respect the Tagáma acknowledge also, in a certain degree, the supremacy of the sultan of Ágades. Their slaves were busy in collecting and pounding the seeds of the karéngia, or úzak (_Pennisetum distichum_), which constitutes a great part of their food. Whatever may be got here is procurable only with money,—even the water is sold:—the water-skin for a zekka of millet; but of course grain is here very much cheaper than in Aïr, and even than in Ágades. Altogether the Tagáma[200] form at present a very small tribe, able to muster, at the utmost, three hundred spears; but most of them are mounted on horseback. Formerly, however, they were far more numerous, till Íbram, the father of the present chief, undertook, with the assistance of the Kél-gerés, the unfortunate expedition against Sókoto (then governed by Bello), of which Clapperton has given a somewhat exaggerated account.[201] The country around is said to be greatly infested by lions, which often carry off camels. [Sidenote: Friday, January 4th.]