DISTURBED STATE OF AHEER. 
189 
posed fears — they boldly demanded a sword, some 
burnouses, and one hundred reals in money. 
All these demands I firmly resisted as long as 
I could ; but at length, when a compromise seemed 
necessary, we arranged for a hundred reals more 
in goods. A part we have given here, and the 
rest we have promised on our arrival at Aheer. 
Nothing is now said of Zinder, although the first 
arrangement was from Aheer to Zinder. Such are 
the people we have to deal with in Africa. But 
could we not find similar extortion amongst the 
innkeepers and the conductors of carriages on the 
highways of Europe ? 
That all the people are soua soua — "higgledy- 
piggledy" is our only equivalent phrase — is bad news 
for a Saharan traveller ; for it signifies nothing less 
than that there is no paramount authority in a 
countrj^ and that the traveller is exposed to the 
insolence of every evil-disposed person. Such is 
represented to be the condition of Tidek, the first 
province of Aheer upon which we shall enter. 
The scarcity of food in Aheer — one of the 
causes of the disturbances that are taking place — 
arises, we are told, from the quantity of provisions 
carried away from the country when the Kailouees 
made their expedition against the Walad Suleiman. 
But this expedition is novr finished, and there 
has been time for a revival of prosperity. Sick- 
ness and disease are reported in Aheer at the pre- 
sent time. These are unpleasant tidings for a 
