544 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXVII. 
verses of the Kuran, which in the daytime they had 
been taught to read by their master, who, doubtless, 
understood them as little as the boys themselves ; but 
by degrees the noise became almost insupportable. 
It is generally thought in Europe, that a schoolboy is 
too much tormented ; but these poor African boys, 
for the little they learn, are worried still more — at 
least, I have often found them in the cold season, and 
with scarcely a rag of a shirt on, sitting round a 
miserable fire as early as four o'clock in the morning, 
learning their lessons. Besides, they have to perform 
all sorts of menial service for the master, and are 
often treated no better than slaves. 
Monday ^ e coun t r y which we passed in the 
July 21st. morning presented more pasture-grounds 
than cultivated lands ; and after a little while I turned, 
with my companion, out of our path, to the left, 
towards a small encampment or " beri Shuwabe " of 
the Kohalemi, a Shiiwa or Arab tribe, where, for 
three large beads, called " nejum," we bought a little 
fresh milk. On this occasion I learned from Billama, 
that the Shiiwa or native Arabs settled in the district 
of Uje belong to the tribe of the Saraji, while the 
Sugiila and the Salamat have their camping-grounds 
further east. 
The country became rather dreary, black " ffrki 
ground and sandy soil alternately succeeding each 
other ; and traffic there was none. But when we 
reached the well of Maira, a considerable place which 
we passed on our left hand, the path became animated 
