With this view, he sent the young chief, who was scarcely more than twenty years of age, to Kánem with all that were left of the Welád Slimán, keeping back in Kúkawa, as hostages for his proceedings, his mother and the wives and little children of some of the principal men. But from the beginning there was a strong party against the young chief, who had not yet achieved any exploit, and whose sole merit consisted in his being the nearest relation of ʿAbd el Jelíl. ʿOmár, his uncle, who from his youth had given himself up to a life of devotion, and was called a Merábet, had a considerable party; and there were, besides, several men who thought themselves of as much importance as their chief. In the absence of individual authority in a small band like this, which only numbered 250 horsemen, no great results could be produced. All the tribes settled in Kánem and the adjacent districts were their natural enemies: the Nóreá or Nuwárma and the Shendákóra and Médema, the Sákerda and Karda in the Bahar el Ghazál, the Búltu, the Woghda, the Welád Ráshid, the Díggana or Dághana, the Welád Hamíd, the Hommer and the Máhamíd in Khúrma, all were bent upon their destruction, while none but the Lasálʿa or el Asálʿa beyond Kárká, and the Kánembú tribe of the Fugábú, were attached to them. All the tribes around call them only by the name Mínnemínne, or Menémené (“the Eaters”), which name, although it seems to have arisen in the real gluttony of these Arabs, might be referred appropriately to their predatory habits.[9] In the course of these broils and petty intrigues the most respectable among them took to commerce, while others formed the design of returning; and when I left Bórnu in May, 1855, the rest of the little band had separated into two distinct camps, and the dissolution or ruin of their community was fast approaching. This was the horde with which, in order to carry out the objects of our mission to the utmost of our power, Mr. Overweg and I were obliged to associate our fate; but, unfortunately, we were unprovided with that most essential article for exciting a more than common interest in ourselves personally, or the objects of our mission, namely, valuable presents.