The report seemed not without foundation; for the three messengers had actually met, on their road between Bárrowa and Ngégimi, a party of ten Tawárek, three on foot, and the rest on horseback, and had only escaped by retreating into the swamps formed by the lake. This news, of course, spread considerable anxiety amongst the Arabs, who were still more harassed the same day by information received to the effect that a party of fifteen Wadáy horsemen were lying in ambush in a neighbouring valley; and a body of horsemen were accordingly sent out to scour the country, but returned without having seen anybody. [Sidenote: Sunday, November 2nd.] The day of our departure from Kánem at length arrived. Sorry as we were to leave the eastern shore of the lake unexplored, we convinced ourselves that the character of our mission did not allow us to risk our fate any longer by accompanying these freebooters.[11] The camels we had taken with us on this expedition were so worn out that they were unable to carry even the little luggage we had left, and Sheikh Ghét made us a present of two camels, which, however, only proved sufficient for the short journey to Kúkawa; for the one fell a few paces from the northern gate on reaching the town, and the other a short distance from the southern gate on leaving it again on our expedition to Músgu. The caravan with which we were to proceed was numerous; but the whole of the people were Kánembú, who carried their little luggage on pack-oxen and a few camels, while, besides ourselves, there were only two horsemen. But there were some respectable people among them, and even some women richly adorned with beads, and, with their fine regular features and slender forms, forming a strong contrast to the ugly physiognomy and square forms of the Bórnu females. The difference between the Bórnu and Kánembú is remarkable, although it is difficult to account for by historical deduction.