Chap. XXVI. 
a'lama'y. 
191 
these regions, as they are apt to derange the stomach, 
and to bring on serious illness. 
Very early in the morning a numerous Fri(lay 
troop of small tradesmen, with pack-oxen, March 21st * 
passed through the village while we awaited day- 
light ; and then having gratefully taken leave of the 
hospitable villagers, we set out, accompanied by one 
of them, to show us the road. Having passed the 
former site of a little town, we soon gained the 
direct road, where we fell in with a motley gipsy- 
looking troop of those Tebu-Jetko, who, after the 
almost total annihilation of the commonwealth of 
Kanem, have immigrated into Bornu. Those we 
met here were coming from Zmder. They had a 
few horses, oxen, and asses with them, but scarcely 
any luggage; and the whole attire of men, women, and 
children was very poor. We then passed the little 
town of A'lamay, surrounded not only with an 
earthen wall and ditch, but also with a dense thorny 
fence some ten feet thick on the outside. Here 
was exhibited the pleasant picture of a numerous 
herd of tine cattle lying tranquilly on the spacious 
area inside the wall, ruminating their last day's 
repast, while a large extent of cultivated ground 
around the town gave ample proof of the industry of 
the people. But the wellbeing of the inhabitants of 
these regions has very little guarantee ; and when, 
toward the end of the year 1854, I again travelled 
this same road, not a single cow was to be seen here, 
and the whole place looked mournful and deserted, 
/ 
