All this disagreeable business, which is so killing to the best hours and destroys half the energy of the traveller, had retarded my departure so long that the sun was just setting when I left the gate of the town. My little caravan was very incomplete; for my only companion on emerging from the gate into the high waving fields of Guinea corn, which entirely concealed the little suburb, was an unfortunate young man, whom I had not hired at all; my three hired servants having stayed behind, on some pretext or other. This lad was Mohammed ben Ahmed, a native from Fezzán, whom I wanted to hire, or rather hired, in Gúmmel, in March last, for two Spanish dollars a month; but who, having been induced by his companions in the caravan, with which he had just arrived from the north, to forego the service of a Christian, had broken his word, and gone on with the caravan of the people from Sókna, leaving me with only one useful servant. But he had found sufficient leisure to repent of his dishonourable conduct; for having been at the verge of the grave in Kanó, and being reduced to the utmost misery, he came to Kúkawa, begging my pardon, and entreating my compassion: and, after some expostulation, I allowed him to stay without hiring him; and it was only on seeing his attachment to me in the course of time that I afterwards granted him a dollar a month, and he did not obtain two dollars till my leaving Zínder, in January, 1853, on my way to Timbúktu, when I was obliged to augment the salary of all my people. This lad followed me with my two camels. All was fertility and vegetation, though these fields near the capital are certainly not the best situated in Bórnu. I felt strengthened by the fresh air, and followed the eastern path, which did not offer any place for an encampment. Looking round I saw at length two of my men coming towards us, and found to the left of the track, on a little sandy eminence, a convenient spot for pitching my tent. I felt happy in having left the monotony and closeness of the town behind me. Nothing in the world makes me feel happier than a wide, open country, a commodious tent, and a fine horse. But I was not quite comfortable; for, having forgotten to close my tent, I was greatly annoyed by the mosquitoes, which prevented my getting any sleep. The lake being very near, the dew was so heavy that next morning my tent was as wet as if it had been soaked with water. [Sidenote: Sept. 12th.]