FROM KUKAWA TO KADDAI 297 



boy whom they did not consider full-grown. They generally 

 took out the amount of their purchase in lengths of four yards, 

 which is called " a cover," derived from the measure con- 

 sidered sufficient to drape a woman becomingly. It is 

 amusing to see them afterwards unrolling and discussing 

 their bargains with their friends and attendants. When they 

 have inspected and talked them over sufficiently, they hand 

 the purchases to their slaves, who fold and wrap them 

 up in a covering of native cloth with great care. Then 

 they take their departure, with their slaves carrying the 

 parcels behind them. 



We were very pleased with the success of our sales in 

 Kukawa, as after this point in our journey there was no 

 longer the necessity to carry so much trade goods ; the 

 journey in the future was to be for the most part by water, 

 so that we were able to lessen the number of our carriers 

 and with them, consequently, the need of buying large 

 supplies of food from the native villages we came across, 

 which always had to be paid for in kind. 



There was a time in the history of Bornu when the people 

 would have bid more keenly for weapons of war, and rotten 

 pistols and brittle sword -blades would have found a readier 

 sale than bales of cloth. But now the people realise that they 

 have fallen on times of peace, and the big man who formerly 

 went to war and displayed his power in a show of arms, has 

 now turned husbandman with horses, flocks, and herds, 

 which have made him a man of wealth and importance that 

 he loves to show in a display of rich and abundant clothes. 



Next day we resumed our journey ; this time with a very 

 much smaller column, for we had sent back on our arrival 



