128 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXXIV. 
degree of energy, I never went to his tent, although 
he repeatedly paid me a visit. At length, after ma- 
ture consideration, the Sheikh had decided that I, toge- 
ther with the greater part of his followers, should go 
to Ern^sse, there to await his return, while he himself 
intended to approach still nearer to Timbuktu, al- 
though he affirmed that he would not enter the town 
under any condition. 
Thus we separated the next morning, and I took 
leave of the friends whom I had made among the 
tribe of the Igwadaren. These people were leaving 
their former homes and their former allies, in order 
to seek new dwelling-places and new friends. There 
was especially, the little Kiingu, who, early in the 
morning, came on his white horse to bid me farewell. 
We had become very good friends, and he used to 
call daily to talk with me about distant countries, and 
the different varieties of nations as far as he had any 
idea of such things. He was an intelligent and chi- 
valrous lad, and with his long black hair, his large 
expressive eyes, and his melancholy turn of mind, I 
liked him much. When I told him that he would yet 
become one of the great chiefs of the Tawdrek, and a 
celebrated warrior, he expressed his fear that it would 
be his destiny to die young like his brothers, who had 
all fallen in battle at an early age ; but I consoled him, 
and promised that if any friend of mine should visit 
these regions after me, I would not fail to send him a 
present for himself. He regretted having left the 
neighbourhood of Bamba, which he extolled very 
