Kóso departed, with his troop in several small detachments, about noon on the 18th, the signal for starting not being made with a drum, as is usual in Bórnu, but with an iron instrument which dates from the old pagan times, and not unlike that of the Músgu. It was also very characteristic, that during his absence the lieutenant-governorship was exercised by the mágirá, or the mother of the governor, who was said to have ruled on former occasions in a very energetic manner, punishing all the inhabitants, capable of bearing arms, who had remained behind. Before setting out, however, on his foray, the governor sent me a camel as a present, which, although it was not a first-rate one, and was knocked up before I reached Kátsena, nevertheless proved of some use for a few days. I presume that it had been his intention to have given me a better animal, and that his design had only been frustrated by some selfish people. He had expressed a wish to purchase from me a pair of Arab pistols; but although I possessed three beautifully-ornamented pairs, I wanted them myself as presents for other chiefs on my further march, and therefore could not gratify his wish. During my stay here he treated me very hospitably, sending me, besides numerous dishes of prepared food, two fat sheep as a present. Gúre, the present residence of Múniyóma, lies on the southern slope of a rocky eminence, and is separated, by irregular ground, into several detached portions containing, altogether, a population of about 8000 inhabitants. In former years it was more spacious; and its circumference had only been lessened a short time before my arrival, in order to insure greater security. But it is only surrounded with a single, and in some places a double, fence or stockade, the south-western corner, which is most exposed to an attack, being protected in a curious way, by a labyrinth of fences, including a number of cotton-grounds and kitchen- gardens.[23] But although in this manner the town is only very insufficiently protected against a serious attack, the inhabitants have the advantage of the rocky cone rising over their heads, where they might certainly retire in such a case. [Sidenote: Sunday, December 19th.]