This proved an unlucky day to us, and very unfavourable to our design to penetrate into those dangerous districts on the east side of the lake; for a considerable portion of the tribe (one hundred and fifty men with about seventy horses) left that day for Kúkawa, to our great surprise and mortification, and, as it would seem, also to the mortification of the young chief, a circumstance of which we became fully aware when we paid him a visit about noon. Of course, with our very small means, and the poor and insignificant character of our mission, we could not expect that this unsettled horde should have a scrupulous regard to our wishes and designs in arranging their affairs. It was quite evident that their proceeding was the mere effect of a stubborn sense of independence, and jealousy; and it seemed to be done in open opposition to the wish of their young chief. About one o’clock in the afternoon they left; and we forwarded a short note with them expressive of our dissatisfaction at this state of things, which filled us with the saddest forebodings as to the success of our mission. But while thus disappointed in more important matters, we felt tolerably well off in material comforts; for in the morning a party of Fugábú arrived with a number of sheep for sale, selling two for a dollar, and thus enabled us to gratify the religious longing of our servants for an extra dish on this their holiday. In the course of the evening, a numerous caravan of oxen laden with grain, or rather negro-millet, arrived from Bórnu, which made provisions a little cheaper. The grain grown in the country, in its present wild and desolate state, is not sufficient for the population, though so greatly reduced; and the last season had been rather an unfavourable one. In consequence of the arrival of this caravan, we not only had the opportunity of buying corn at a cheaper rate, but we also got some from the chief as a present. Everything in Kánem is bought with the common white Bórnu shirts, which form the general dress of the people, black tobes being worn only by richer persons. Even the general dress of the Arabs settled here in Kánem consists of these white tobes and a háík made of the same stuff, only the wealthier individuals being able to buy a woollen plaid. The dress of the females, too, is made of these very tobes, which are cut into the regular oblong pieces of which they consist, and sewn together lengthwise. [Sidenote: Tuesday, October 7th.]