492 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXVI. 
which laid claim, on the side of Bornu, to the terri- 
tory of Kofa and Kobchi, a storm arose, and in a fit 
of wrath Lowel reproached my companion with daring 
to come forward with such pretensions — he, who was 
himself well-acquainted with the country and with the 
point in dispute. If Sheikh 'Omar wished for dis- 
cord, well : he was ready ; and they would harass each 
other's frontier-provinces by recripocal incursions. 
Having given vent to his feelings towards Billama, 
his anger turned upon me ; and he told me to my 
face that I had quite different reasons for coming 
into his country from those stated in Sheikh 'Omar's 
letter ; referring to some ambiguous words in Mala 
Ibram's writing, in which that ofiicer stated " that, 
with regard to me, the objects of my journey to A'da- 
mawa were a perfect secret to him." Now 1 must 
confess, after all my acquaintance with the politics of 
these people, and notwithstanding all Haj Beshir's 
kindness and benevolence towards me, that I think 
the Bornu diplomatists quite capable of a little double 
dealing ; that is to say, I suspect that they were willing 
to make use of me to frighten the governor of A'da- 
mawa. Perhaps also they were afraid lest, if I should 
succeed in A'damawa, I might not return to their 
country. I shall have to mention similar circum- 
stances on my journey to Bagirmi. Yiewing matters 
in this light, I wrote from Kiikawa, requesting Her 
Majesty's government to inform the sheikh of Bornu 
that it was their distinct desire that we should pe- 
netrate onwards, and that he would confer an obli- 
