Chap. XLV. ANOTHER DISTRICT PLUNDERED. 
237 
spear very similar to a hay-fork, with this difference, 
that the middle point was rather longer. The handle 
also was rather long, measuring about eight feet. 
It probably was used for catching fish rather 
than as a weapon, otherwise it would scarcely 
have been left behind ; but it may easily have 
served both purposes. 
Thus by very short marches we again ap- 
proached B6rnu, keeping mostly at a short dis- 
tance eastward from our former route, and 
encamped the following day in the midst of an- 
other straggling village, the fields of which were 
especially shaded by fine bfto-trees {Balanites 
^Egyptiaca), the soil being as hard as iron. I had 
scarcely pitched my tent when Hamed, the son of 
Ibrahim Waday, one of the courtiers with whom 
I was on friendly terms, sent to me, begging I would 
pay him a visit ; and upon complying with his wish, 
he introduced into my presence a female slave who 
had been taken the day before, telling me that 
I might make a drawing of her : for he knew that I 
was making strict inquiries after the origin and cus- 
toms of these tribes, and that I was making occasional 
sketches. This female slave was certainly worthy 
of a sketch, as she was one of the most stately 
women I saw here. But I entertained some suspicion 
that she was not of Musgu origin, but belonged to 
the Marghi; for in the whole of the Miisgu country I 
had not observed a. single individual of red colour, but 
all were of the same dirty black, approaching to what 
