He received me this time with the same remarkable kindness which he had exhibited the preceding evening, and repeated his full consent to both my requests, which I then stated more explicitly, requesting at the same time that the letter of franchise might be written at once, before his setting out on his expedition. This he agreed to, but he positively refused to allow me to proceed on my journey before his return from the expedition, which he said would not be long; and, acquainted as I was with the etiquette of these African courts, I could scarcely expect anything else from the beginning. He then surveyed the presents, and expressed his satisfaction repeatedly; but when he beheld the pistols, which I had purposely kept till the last, he gave vent to his feelings in the most undisguised manner, and, pressing my hands repeatedly, he said, “nagóde, nagóde, barka, ʿAbd el Kerím, barka”—“I thank you, God bless you, ʿAbd el Kerím, God bless you.” He had evidently never before seen anything like these richly-mounted pistols, which had been selected in Tripoli by the connoisseur eyes of Mr. Warrington, and surveyed the present on all sides. It was to these very pistols that I was in a great measure indebted for the friendly disposition of this prince, while the unscrupulous governor of Kátsena, who had heard some report about them, advised me by all means to sell them to himself, as his liege lord would not only not value them at all, but would even be afraid of them. Soon after I had returned to my tent, the ghaladíma arrived, bringing me from his master 100,000 kurdí, to defray the expenses of my household during his absence; and I had afterwards the more reason to feel grateful for this kind attention, although the sum did not exceed forty Spanish dollars, as I became aware, during my stay in Wurno, how difficult it would have been for me to have changed my dollars into kurdí. I then satisfied my friend Alháttu the younger brother of the ghaladíma, whose behaviour certainly was far from disinterested, but who, nevertheless, had not proved quite useless to me. Although we were here in the camp outside, and the people busy with their approaching departure, yet I received visits from several people, and amongst others, that of a Weled Ráshid of the name of Mohammed, who, on my return from Timbúktu followed me to Kúkawa in the company of his countryman the learned Áhmed Wadáwi. This man having left his tribe on the south-eastern borders of Bagírmi, had settled in this place many years before; and having accompanied several expeditions or forays, he gave me an entertaining description of the courage of the Féllani-n- Sókoto, although he had some little disposition to slander, and even related to me stories about the frailties of the female portion of the inhabitants of the capital, which I shall not repeat. [Sidenote: Sunday, April 3rd.]