406 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LXXXIV. 
Murzuk, and claims raised in consequence. Neverthe- 
less, the amount received was a great relief to me, as 
without touching the sum brought by the caravan, I 
was thus enabled to pay back the 200 dollars lent me 
by the Fezzani merchant IvAveldi, and to pay my ser- 
vant Mohammed el Gatroni, the only one of my free 
servants who was still staying with me, the greater 
proportion of the salary due to him, for I had suc- 
ceeded in paying off my other servants from the 
money realized by my merchandise. 
Meanwhile I endeavoured to pass my time as well 
as I could, studying the history of the empire of 
Bornu, and entering occasionally into a longer con- 
versation with some of the better instructed of 
my acquaintances, or making a short excursion ; 
but altogether my usual energy was gone, and my 
health totally undermined, and the sole object which 
occupied my thoughts was, to convey my feeble body 
in safety home. My reduced state of body and mind 
was aggravated by the weather, as it was extremely 
hot during this period, the thermometer in the latter 
part of the month of April, at half-past two o'clock 
in the afternoon, rising as high as 113°.* My ex- 
hausted condition had at least this effect upon the 
people, that it served to hasten my departure, by 
convincing them that I should not be able to stand this 
climate any longer. From the 20th of April there- 
* It was rather remarkable, that on the 15th of April, we had a 
few drops of rain, accompanied by repeated thunder; and alto- 
gether, as the sequel showed, the rainy season that year appeared 
to set in at a rather unusual and early period for Kiikawa. 
