Chap. LVI. 
LETTER OF FRANCHISE. 
139 
ture, yet I received visits from several people, and 
amongst others, that of a Weled Rashid of the 
name of Mohammed, who, on my return from Tim- 
buktu followed me to Kukawa in the company of 
his countryman the learned A'hmed Wadawi. This 
man having left his tribe on the south-eastern 
borders of Bagirmi, had settled in this place many 
years before ; and having accompanied several ex- 
peditions or forays, he gave me an entertaining de- 
scription of the courage of the Fellani-n-S6koto, 
although he had some little disposition to slander, 
and even related to me stories about the frailties of 
the female portion of the inhabitants of the capital, 
which 1 shall not repeat. 
Being anxious that the letter of franchise Sunday, 
should be written before the sultan set out, A P nl3rd - 
I sent in the morning my broker f AK el A'geren, 
with a pound of Tower-proof gunpowder, to the 
prince, in order to remind him of his promise ; and 
he returned after a while, bringing me a letter signed 
with the sultan's seal, which on the whole was com- 
posed in very handsome terms, stating that the 
prince had granted the request of commercial secu- 
rity for English merchants and travellers, which I 
as a messenger of the Queen of England had made to 
him. But the letter not specifying any conditions, 1 
was obliged to ask for another paper, written in more 
distinct terms ; and although 'Aliyu's time was of 
course very limited, as he was just about to set out 
with his army, even my last request was complied 
