Chap. XLL 
TA'KULUM. 
105 
saddled, and the whole night they sounded the watch- 
cry; but the most restless was the renegade Jew 
'Abd- Allah, who felt convinced that this would be his 
last night, and was most anxious to get a razor in 
order to shave his head before the hour of death. 
The night passed on without the enemy October 
appearing, and with the dawn of day the sign 22ad - 
for decamping was given, when everybody endeavoured 
to get in advance of his neighbour. The enemy, as 
was positively stated afterwards, arrived there about 
an hour later ; but seeing that we were gone, did not 
choose to pursue us. 
Thus we left the most interesting part of Kanem 
behind us, the country once so thickly studded with 
large populous and celebrated towns, such as Njnniye, 
Aghafi, and all those places which I shall describe in 
the Appendix from the account of the expeditions of 
Edris Alaw6ma, with many rich valleys full of date- 
trees. 
Keeping first in a westerly, and afterwards in a 
more south-westerly direction, through a rather un- 
interesting country, we arrived about eight o'clock 
in the morning in a wide vale called Takulum, full 
of rich succulent herbage and fine trees, where, it 
being supposed that we were out of danger, it was de- 
cided to give the horses and camels a feed after having 
watered them. I, for my part, was extremely thank- 
ful for getting a few hours' rest in the shade of a 
venerable acacia, near the gentle slope surrounding 
the hollow. But just in the greatest heat of the day 
