Chap. XL VI. SETTING OUT FOR BAGl'RMI. 261 
the very small supply of presents which I was able 
to take with me. I had only two very indifferent 
servants, Mohammed ben Habib and Mohammed ben 
A'hmed, both young lads from Fezzan, as limited in 
their intelligence as they were conceited in their pre- 
tensions as Moslemm, and not possessing the least 
knowledge of the country which we were about to 
visit. 
The only animals I had for my conveyance were a 
horse and a she-camel. Hence I did not set out 
with that spirit of confidence which ensures success ; 
but, having determined to return to Europe if new 
supplies did not very soon arrive, I resolved to make 
a last desperate attempt to accomplish something 
before I finally left the country. 
Mr. Overweg accompanied me as far as Ng6rnu, 
where we took up our quarters with my friend the 
kashella Kotoko. Here, in my present destitute 
condition, I was greatly delighted at receiving, by 
private message from the vizier, a small parcel of 
coffee, and from the mallem Mohammed, a loaf of 
sugar. Such tokens of disinterested friendship are 
very gratifying to the traveller in a foreign land. 
At the beginning of the cotton-plantation Friday 
I took leave of my European companion. March 5th - 
He was to make an excursion, accompanied by Kotoko, 
along the shores of the lake towards Maduwari — the 
very place where, in the course of a few months, he 
was destined to succumb. 
I had received from the mestrema a trooper as es- 
s 3 
