The encampment at Izéberen, to which this sad remembrance attaches, was tolerably enlivened with some interesting people, including as well some kinsmen of Ákhbi, as more especially the sons of Ég el Henne, Wóghdugu, and his brethren, Mohammed, Aníti, and Míni, all of whom are of a very cheerful disposition, and (as far as it is possible for a Tárki to be so) even amiable men. Among the former there was a boy named Kúngu, whose arrogance at first was a little troublesome, but eventually he became one of my best friends, and even now occupies a foremost place in my remembrance. He was a nephew of Ákhbi’s, and his father had been distinguished for his valour and warlike enterprise, but had been killed in battle at an early age, like most of the kinsfolk of this chief, so that the boy was brought up and educated by his mother, Tatináta, who was a daughter of Áwáb, the chief of the Tademékket whom I have repeatedly mentioned on former occasions. Ákhbi himself was a man of about forty years of age, good-looking, but of an overbearing character. His father, Sálem, who had died a few months before at a very advanced age, had been distinguished by his intelligence, while Ákhbi, as soon as he acceded to power, had broken his allegiance to his liege lord, and entered into open hostilities with him. He had allowed his own small tribe, which scarcely numbered more than two hundred fighting men, to be divided into two hostile encampments, and in consequence of that feud had sustained a very heavy loss amongst his own followers. His quarrel with Alkúttabu was evidently a consequence of the intrigues of the Fúlbe and Hammádi, who, seeing that the political power of the Sheikh El Bakáy was based upon his friendship with the chief of the Awelímmiden, used all his endeavours to raise up an adversary to the latter; and the progress of this struggle, of which I did not see the end, may have been productive of great changes in the political relations of Timbúktu. The endeavour to preserve the unity of the whole tribe of the Awelímmiden, which my protector had sincerely at heart, and thus to keep up the friendly relation of this tribe with that of the Igwádaren, induced him to postpone my interests, and to return once more westward, in order to exert his utmost to settle this serious affair. For the very tribe of the Igwádaren, from the first, when they were settled in Ázawád, had been the protectors of the Kunta, the tribe to which the family of Mukhtár belonged, and had especially defended them against the hostilities of the Ígelád, by whose subjection the former had founded their power. El Bakáy could not but see with the most heartfelt sorrow his former supporters likely to become the auxiliaries of his enemies; and his brother, Sídi Mohammed, whom he had left to fill his place in Timbúktu during his absence, had sent an express messenger from the town, requesting him to come, in order that he might consult with him upon the state of affairs.