Chap. XXXVIII. POLITICAL SITUATION OF BO'RNU. 1 1 
him the flames of sedition and revolt, towards the 
south another vassal of this same empire was dis- 
puting the possession of those regions whence the 
supply of slaves is annually obtained: and towards the 
east, there is an empire strong in its barbarism, and 
containing the germs of power, should it succeed in 
perfectly uniting those heterogeneous elements of 
which it is composed, — I mean Waday. 
"With regard to the Turks, the state of affairs at 
this time was peculiar. Bornu, as we have seen in the 
historical account of that empire, once embraced the 
whole region as far as Fezzan, — nay, even the 
southern portion of Fezzan itself, and even Wadan ; 
but since the decline of the empire in the latter half 
of the last century these limits had been abandoned, 
and the communication with the north had, in 
general, become extremely unsafe. This state of 
things is necessarily disadvantageous to a country 
which depends for many things on the supplies con- 
veyed from the north; and the authorities naturally 
wish that, since they themselves in their present 
impotent condition are unable to afford security to 
this important communication, somebody else may do 
it. Hence it was that, after my arrival in April, 
when the vizier was conversing with me about the 
prospects of a regular commercial intercourse with 
the English, he declared that he should be much 
pleased if the Turks would occupy Kawdr, and more 
particularly Bilma ; and by building a fort and keep- 
ing a garrison near the salt-mines of that place, 
