CRUELTY TO SLAVES. 
89 
of mimosa ferruginea, which yield a gum of inferior qua- 
lity. The inhabitants of Timbuctoo send their slaves hither 
for fire- wood. The heat was most oppressive, and th^ 
progress of the camels was extremely slow; for, as they 
moved along, they browsed on the thistles and withered 
herbs, which they found scattered here and there on these 
plains. During this first day the slaves were allowed to 
drink at discretion, as I was. This conduct was doubt- 
less very humane ; nevertheless, I was soon shocked by an 
act of barbarity, which I had the misfortune to see too 
often repeated. A poor Bambara slave of twenty-five was 
cruelly treated by some Moors, who compelled him to walk, 
without allowing him to halt for a moment, or to quench 
his burning thirst. The complaints of this unfortunate 
creature, who had never been accustomed to endure such 
extraordinary privations, might have moved the hardest 
heart. Sometimes he would beg to rest himself against the 
crupper of a camel, and at others he threw himself down on 
the sand in despair. In vain did he implore, with uplifted 
hands, a drop of water; his cruel masters answered his 
prayers and his tears only with stripes. 
At Timbuctoo the merchants give the slaves shirts, 
such as are worn in the country, that they may be decently 
covered ; but on the route the Moors of the caravans, who 
are the most barbarous men 1 ever knew, take the good shirts 
from them and give them others all in rags. 
At five in the evening the caravan, the camels of which 
amounted to nearly six hundred, halted in a ravine of yellow 
sand, which was, however, pretty solid. Here these animals 
found some herbage, and the spot appeared to me delightful. 
A slave, who was barely allowed time to take a drink of water, 
was ordered to look after our camels, and we thought of 
nothing but how to pass the night quietly ; but before we 
laid ourselves down to sleep, we made our supper on a cala- 
