56 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LIV. 
palpable. For, in order to be enabled to pay his debts, 
he was just then about to undertake a foray against 
one of the towns of the Diggera, the inhabitants of 
which had behaved in a friendly manner towards the 
Tawarek during their recent inroad ; and he begged 
me, very urgently, to stay until his return from the 
foray. But as I did not want anything from him, 
and as the road before me was a long one, I preferred 
pursuing my journey, taking care, however, to obtain 
information from him, and from the principal men in 
his company, respecting those localities of the pro- 
vince which most deserved my attention. 
Koso departed, with his troop in several small de- 
tachments, about noon on the 18th, the signal for 
starting not being made with a drum, as is usual 
in B6rnu, but with an iron instrument which dates 
from the old pagan times, and not unlike that of 
the Musgu. It was also very characteristic, that 
during his absence the lieutenant-governorship was 
exercised by the magira, or the mother of the go- 
vernor, who was said to have ruled on former oc- 
casions in a very energetic manner, punishing all 
the inhabitants, capable of bearing arms, who had 
remained behind. Before setting out, however, on 
his foray, the governor sent me a camel as a pre- 
sent, which, although it was not a first-rate one, and 
was knocked up before I reached Katsena, neverthe- 
less proved of some use for a few days. I presume 
that it had been his intention to have given me a 
better animal, and that his design had only been frus- 
