mr Browne's journey. 413 
W. to seize the inhabitants, and sell them for slaves. 
The Begarmeese on horseback attack the Kardee, 
Serrowah, Showva, Battah, and Mulgui tribes, who 
are represented as idolaters and barbarous canni- 
bals, and, seizing as many captives as possible, drive 
them like cattle to Begarmee. If they linger on 
the road, exhausted with famine and fatigue, one 
of the horsemen seizes the most feeble, or the 
oldest, smites off his arm, and uses it as a club to 
drive the rest along. The negroes of Gnum- 
Gnum devour the flesh of their prisoners ; and, 
stripping the skin from the hands and faces of the 
slain, after due preparation, wear them in triumph. 
This seems to be a particular method of scalping. 
They form their spears of iron, and, after igniting 
them in the fire, stick them in the trunk of a tree, 
whose juice is the most deadly poison, where they 
suffer them to remain till they are crusted with 
venom. 
Darkulla, one of the chief of these negro states, 
lies to the S. W. of Darfur and Bergoo, and is 
intersected by numerous rivers. The inhabitants 
are partly negroes, and partly red or copper-co- 
loured. The power of the chief seems to vary 
with his individual ability, which sometimes unites 
the small detached tribes, and sometimes is unable 
to accomplish this object. Their language is na- 
sal, but simple and easy. They worship idols, 
but are remarkable for punctilious honesty in 
