194 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. CW. XLIV. 
flight: but this circumstance ensured the safety of 
the greater part of the train, as the commander im- 
mediately despatched two officers with their squadrons 
to bring up the rear. To this circumstance we were 
indebted for the safety of our own camels, which had 
been in imminent danger, the pagans having collected 
again in the rear of the principal body of the army. 
The Bornu camels are half mehara, and, while they 
surpass in strength the camels of the desert, possess 
a great deal of their swiftness. Not only does the 
camel which carries the war-drum always follow close 
behind the commander, at whatever rate he may pur- 
sue his march, but even his other camels generally 
keep at a very short distance, and the best camels of 
the courtiers follow close behind. 
The village we had just reached was named Ka^kald, 
and is one of the most considerable places in the 
Musgu country. A large number of slaves had been 
caught this day ; and in the course of the evening, 
after some skirmishing, in which three B6rnu horse- 
men were killed, a great many more were brought in : 
altogether they were said to have taken one thousand, 
and there were certainly not less than five hundred. 
To our utmost horror, not less than one hundred and 
seventy full-grown men were mercilessly slaughtered 
in cold blood, the greater part of them being allowed 
to bleed to death, a leg having been severed from 
the body. Most of them were tall men, with not 
very pleasing features. Their forehead, instead of 
shelving backwards, was generally very high, and 
