16 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. XXII. 
only a little pounded. To this circumstance the 
Arabs generally attribute the enormous and disgust- 
ing quantity of lice with which the Kel-owi, even the 
very first men of the country, are covered. 
I was greatly disappointed in not being able to 
procure a fowl for my supper. The breeding of 
fowls seems to be carried on to a very small extent 
in this village, although they are in such immense 
numbers in Damerghu, that a few years ago travellers 
could buy " a fowl for a needle." 
Tuesday Seeing that we should make some stay 
January i4th. nerej J h ac l decided upon visiting the town 
of Tasawa, which was only a few miles distant to 
the west, but deferred my visit till the morrow, in 
order to see the town in the more interesting phase 
of the " kaswa-n-Laraba," or the Wednesday market. 
However, our encampment, where I quietly spent the 
day, was itself changed into a lively and bustling 
market ; and even during the heat of the day the 
discordant cries of the sellers did not cease. 
My intelligent and jovial companion meanwhile 
gave me some valuable information with regard to the 
revenue of the wealthy governor of Tasawa, who in 
certain respects is an independent prince, though he 
may be called a powerful vassal of the king or chief 
of Maradi. Every head of a family in his territory 
pays him three thousand kurdi, as " kurdi-ii-kay " 
(head-money or poll-tax) ; besides, there is an ample 
list of penalties (" kurdi-n-laefi"), some of them 
very heavy : thus, for example, the fine for having 
