296 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXX. 
quantity of rice and cotton. He entered with spirit into 
all ray proposals ; but in a short time all was for- 
gotten. He listened with delight to what little his- 
torical knowledge I had of these countries, and in- 
quired particularly whether Kanem had really been in 
former times a mighty kingdom, or whether it would 
be worth retaking. It was in consequence of these 
conversations that he began to take an interest in the 
former history of the country, and that the historical 
records of Edris Alawoma came to light ; but he would 
not allow me to take them into my hands, and I 
could only read over his shoulders. He was a very 
religious man ; and though he admired Europeans 
very much on account of their greater accomplish- 
ments, he was shocked to think that they drank intoxi- 
cating liquors. However, I tried to console him by 
telling him that, although the Europeans were also 
very partial to the fair sex, yet they did not indulge 
in this luxury on so large a scale as he did, and 
that therefore he ought to allow them some other 
little pleasure. 
He was very well aware of the misery connected 
with the slave-trade ; for on his pilgrimage to Mekka, 
in the mountainous region between Eezzan and 
Ben-Ghazi he had lost, in one night, forty of his 
slaves by the extreme cold, and he swore that he 
would never take slaves for sale, if he were to travel 
again. But it was more difficult to make him sen- 
sible of the horrors of slave-hunting, although, when 
accompanying him on the expedition to Musgu, I 
