By far the largest proportion of this number consisted of aged women, who had not been able to join in the hasty flight, and of children under eight years of age. There were some women so decrepit that they were scarcely able to walk—mere skeletons, who, in their almost total nakedness, presented a horrible sight. All the full-grown men who had been taken prisoners, with the exception of a few cowards who had not made any resistance, had been slaughtered; but their number scarcely exceeded 300, almost the whole full-grown male population of the country having had time to escape. Of these 3000 slaves, the commander-in-chief received a third part; but he also claimed for himself the whole amount of the slave-hunt which was made into the territory of Ádishén, and which constituted a sort of tribute. In the afternoon of the 17th, two officers had left the encampment, under the pretext of gathering fodder from the neighbouring villages, but in the evening returned with about eight hundred slaves, and a considerable number of cattle; and we were given to understand that this foray was executed with the consent of the chief himself,—to such degrading means did this despicable chief resort in order to preserve his authority, however precarious it was. Of course he selects as a sacrifice such of his subjects as are not his zealous followers; but it is almost incredible how such a government can exist, as his dominion scarcely extends over a tract of country more than fifteen miles in every direction. At any rate his subjects seem to be fully justified in taking care of themselves; and they had succeeded, in the darkness, in getting back part of the spoil which had been taken from them. The vizier himself pretended to behave in a very gracious manner towards the submissive vassal, returning to him about 200 of the oldest and most decrepit women, who, he most probably thought, would succumb to the fatigues of the march, observing, in a tone of friendly irony, that they were to cultivate the country, and that when he should return he would eat of the produce of their labour. On other occasions the vizier had expressed himself to me to the effect that he wished Ádishén strong and powerful in order that, as a faithful vassal, he might oppose the progress of the Felláta in these regions; for in his heart he was the most inveterate enemy of that enterprising nation, and certainly he had ample reason to be so. It was on this occasion I heard that this renegade Músgu chief had never been rebellious to his Bórnu sovereign (which, from information I had received previously, I concluded to have been the case), but that occasionally he was obliged to make reprisals against the Shúwa, who were making plundering expeditions into his territory.