Chap. XLII. ANOTHER EXPEDITION. 
119 
My means were scanty in the extreme, and did not 
allow me to have a mounted servant, my camp-fol- 
lowers consisting merely of the same naga or " jige," 
as the Kaniiri call the female camel, which had proved 
of the highest value to me on the journey to Kanem, 
and of two very indifferent Fezzani lads, weak in 
mind and body, — Mohammed ben Habib and Moham- 
med ben Ahmed. 
The weather being temperate, and my spirits ex- 
cellent, I followed cheerfully the Ngornu road, with 
which I was well acquainted. The country looked 
much more interesting now than three months 
before, on my return from A'damawa. Then all 
was dry and barren, scarcely a single fresh blade 
had started from the ground, and I was obliged to 
draw with immense exertion my supply of water 
from a deep well near Kaine ; now the ground was 
covered with young herbs, the trees were in foliage, 
and, near the very place of Kaine where the sheikh 
with his camp-followers had rested the first night, 
a large lake had been formed by the rains. This 
lake, which is surrounded by shady trees, retains 
its water until two or three months after the rainy 
season, when it begins gradually to dry up. I was 
therefore enabled to water my horse without any fur- 
ther trouble, after which I followed my people, who 
were in advance. Here I met with my friend Haj 
Edris and Shithna Makaremma, who were just re- 
turning from the camp. They told me that the 
sheikh had encamped that day at Kiikia, beyond 
i 4 
