146 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 



the absence of all refined pleasures, various rude sports are 

 pursued with eagerness, and almost with fury. The most 

 favourite is wrestling, which the chiefs do not practise in 

 person, but train their slaves to exhibit in it as our jockeys 

 do game-cocks, taking the same pride in their prowess and 

 victory. Nations are often pitched against each other, the 

 Musgowy and the Begharmi being the most powerful. 

 Many of them are extremely handsome and of gigantic 

 size, and hence the contests between them are truly ter- 

 rible. Their masters loudly cheer them on, offering 

 high premiums for victory, and sometimes threatening in- 

 stant death in case of defeat. They place their trust, not 

 in science, but in main strength and rapid movements. 

 Occasionally the wrestler, eluding his adversary's vigilance, 

 seizes him by the thigh, lifts him up into the air, and dashes 

 him against the ground. When the match is decided, the 

 victor is greeted with loud plaudits by the spectators, some 

 of whom even testify their admiration by throwing to him 

 presents of fine cloth. He then kneels before his master, 

 who not unfrequently bestows upon him a robe worth thirty 

 or forty dollars, taken perhaps from his own person. Death 

 or maiming, however, is no unfrequent result of these en- 

 counters. The ladies, even of rank, engage in another 

 very odd species of contest. Placing themselves back to 

 back, they cause particular parts to strike together with the 

 most violent colUsion, when she who maintains her equili- 

 brium, while the other lies stretched on the ground, is pro- 

 claimed victor with loud cheers. In this conflict the girdle 

 of beads worn by the more opulent females very frequently 

 bursts, when these ornaments are seen flying about in every 

 direction. To these elegant recreations is added gaming, 

 always the rage of uncultivated minds. Their favourite 

 game is one rudely played with beans, by means of holes 

 made in the sand. 



Boo Khalloom, having despatched his affairs in Bomou, 

 wished to turn his journey to some farther account, and 

 proposed an expedition into the more wealthy and commer- 

 cial region o§ Houssa or Soudan ; but the eager wishes of 

 his followers pointed to a different object. They called 

 upon him to lead them into the mountains of Mandara in 

 the south, to attack a village of the kerdies, or unbelievers, 

 and carry off the people as slaves to Fezzan. He feng 



