Chap. "XL VI. 
273 
the slaves of his liege lord. It is these impudent 
slaves of the court, who, having no interest in the 
welfare of the inhabitants, inflict so much evil on the 
country. With regard to the settlements of the Arabs 
in this district of Kotoko, I think that they are not 
more than two hundred years old. Most of these 
Arabs belong to the numerous tribe of the Salamat. 
In the afternoon, after travelling about four miles, 
we reached the town of Ren. This was formerly a 
considerable place, but it is now almost deserted, 
and the wall has fallen to ruins; the aspect of the 
place, however, is very picturesque, — beautiful and 
wide-spreading fig-trees shading the ruins of high, 
well-built clay houses. My quarters were better than 
I had expected, — an excellently-built hut, provided 
with all the comfort which such a building is capable 
of affording; but the comfortable repose which the 
neat appearance of my hut promised me was greatly 
disturbed by swarms of mosquitoes, that owe their 
existence to a large swamp at the northern side of the 
wall. The town of Ren was formerly the centre of a 
petty kingdom, but it is at present reduced to utter 
ruin. Its inhabitants have a peculiar dialect of their 
own. But although the governor was very eloquent 
in his description of the misery to which his people 
were at present reduced, yet he treated me very hos- 
pitably. 
Leaving the swamp abovementioned on 
° r March 10th. 
one side, we pursued our march through a 
VOL. III. T 
