Chap. LXXXII. PRESENT FEOM 'ALI'YU. 339 
dollars, silver being always an article much esteemed 
by these people. I had made it a point of reserving 
the last berniis I possessed for the governor of Kano, 
who, in the present state of anarchy into which Bornu 
seemed to be plunged, might be a person of great im- 
portance to me. But, nevertheless, I could not induce 
this not very high-spirited and noble-minded prince 
to make a sacrifice of a handsome horse, and he gave 
me an animal which, although it did not prove to be 
a bad travelling horse, was of small size, had a very 
bad walk, was not able to gallop at all, and alto- 
gether, was more like an ass than a horse. Besides 
a horse, 'Aliyu was kind enough to send me a large 
loaf of English sugar, — a rather uncommon article 
in this country. I felt very grateful for this present, 
as I was entirely destitute of sugar. 
I had a good deal of trouble with my companions, 
who did not like to leave this place so soon as it was 
my intention to do. This extended not only to the 
messengers of the Sheikh, all of whom suffered a 
great deal from illness, but still more to my head- 
man, 'All el A'geren, whom I would have sent away 
long before if I had been able to pay him off ; for this 
man, who found it very convenient to trade at my 
expense, while he had nothing to do except to receive 
a good salary, entered into all sorts of intrigues to 
keep me in this place, just as he had done in Tim- 
buktu. 
Notwithstanding the reiterated delays, I succeeded 
in fixing my departure for the 7th October, and as I 
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