One afternoon they collected round my tent and began boasting of what they had done for me. They told me that the Fullán had written to their Sheikh, Weled ʿAbéda, accusing the Gwanín that, in the night when El Bakáy was bringing me back to Timbúktu, they had been fighting against them, and, among other mischief, had killed a horse belonging to them; and that their chief had answered, that his people had done well in defending me, and that nobody should hurt me after I had once succeeded in placing myself under the Sheikh’s protection. And this, be it remembered, was the self-same chief who had murdered Major Laing; and one or the other of these very Gwanín, with whom I had dealings every day, were perhaps implicated in that very murder. I was thus led to inquire of these people whether there were no papers remaining of that unfortunate traveller, and was told that they were all scattered or made away with; but I learned, to my great surprise, that there were letters for myself in Ázawád, which had arrived from the east; and although these people were not able, or did not feel inclined, to give me full information about this matter, which was of so much interest to myself, the fact proved afterwards to be quite true; but it was a long time before I got possession of those letters. Nature now looked more cheerful; and, after the little rain that had fallen, spring seemed to have set in a second time, and the trees were putting forth young leaves. The river having now laid bare a considerable tract of grassy ground, the cattle again found their wonted pasture of rich nourishing “býrgu” on its banks, and were thus able to furnish their masters with a richer supply of milk. This was a great point towards hastening my departure, as the télamíd (or pupils of the Sheikh) had reason to expect that they would not be starved on the road. The fact that the tribes which we had to pass on our road eastward were entirely without milk, which forms their chief support, had exercised some influence upon them. Meanwhile the turbulent state of the country grew worse and worse, since the Awelímmiden had shown such signs of weakness; and the Tin-ger- égedesh were said to have fallen upon the tribe of the Takétakayen settled in Áribínda, and to have killed six of their number. The chief, Somki, also made at the same time a sanguinary attack upon the Kél- hekíkan; and the state of feud and hostility among the Igwádaren had reached an extraordinary height, for besides the common animosity which this tribe had displayed against their former liege lord, Alkúttabu, two different factions were opposed to each other in the most bloody feud, one of them being led by Ákhbi and Wóghdugu, and the other by Téni, to whom were attached the greater part of the Tarabanása and the Kél- hekíkan.