SKETCH OF DR. GUSTAV NACHTIGAL. 693 



prayed to be received into paradise. At last a few Tibbus attached 

 to the caravan succeeded toward evening in getting some water and 

 saved the lives of the party. Such was his manner of entering this 

 forbidding land, while the savage inhabitants regarded him with sus- 

 picious hostility, believing that no good, only evil, could be in his in- 

 tention. Nachtigal bought the protection of one of the chiefs at the 

 expense of all he had, and was able to travel over the country and 

 stay a month at the capital. Thence he returned, without guide or 

 beast, with scant provision of food and a water-bag slung over his 

 shoulders, and reached Moorzook, literally naked, at the end of October. 



He was able, in the spring of 1870, to resume his journey to Bornoo, 

 with the presents, which had remained at Moorzook while he was in 

 Tibesti. He reached Kuka, the capital of Bornoo, on the 6th of June, 

 and was received by Sultan Omar with a hospitality which would have 

 been as marked had he brought no gifts, and with many expressions 

 of appreciation of the presents. His mission here having been ful- 

 filled, he availed himself of the friendship of the Sultan to make a 

 journey of exploration to Berktl, Kanew, and Bagirmi, on Lake Chad. 

 He spent a wretched life of nine months among highwaymen, but was 

 able to accomplish much for science. He showed that the Bahr-el- 

 Ghazul is an outlet from Lake Chad to the northeast during the rainy 

 season, and made the acquaintance of the southern Tibbu, among whose 

 northern relatives he had faced so many dangers a few months before. 



Sultan Omar would not allow him to go to Wadai, east of Bornoo, 

 for it was too dangerous a land ; but he readily gave him a letter to 

 the Sultan of Bagirmi, in the south, although a war was then raging 

 there. With a hundred and fifty Maria-Theresa thalers, which he 

 borrowed from a Tripolitan merchant on a note for double the amount, 

 he bought goods and fitted out a caravan, and started on his journey 

 early in 1872. He was well received by the Sultan, but came very 

 near being debarred intercourse with the court on a question of cere- 

 mony. Every one who sought audience with his Majesty had to come 

 barefooted. Nachtigal was willing to take off his shoes, but insisted 

 on keeping his stockings on. There was considerable discussion over 

 the matter, but the traveler carried his point and introduced a novelty 

 at the court, for no one there had ever seen a man in stockings before. 

 The Sultan was about to start on a campaign against a rival chief, 

 and Nachtigal embraced the opportunity to go with him and see a 

 country which had not been explored. The gain to science was pur- 

 chased at great expense in the witnessing of cruelties, without power 

 to protest against them, inflicted upon all adversaries who came in the 

 way, and others murders, torture, capture of slaves, and barbarities 

 indescribable. In one of the battles Nachtigal was in great peril dur- 

 ing a temporary rout of the Sultan's forces, from which they after- 

 ward recovered, and for which they paid their customary vengeance. 

 Yet he was able to render some aid to humanity by surgical treatment 



