FUMTA BOU BEKER. 
173 
hour this morning (south). To pass the time, I 
determined to visit some of the villages with which 
Damerghou is overscattered. I went first to a place 
called F umta Bou Beker, twenty-five minutes from 
our encampment. Here I found the Sheikh, who 
had just returned from Kanou, — a considerable mer- 
chant. He received me with great hospitality, and 
gave me ghaseb-water, and some little pieces of 
meat, roasted, besides milk. I was accompanied by 
my stupid mahadee, who is, nevertheless, not a bad 
market-man. He purchased a large calabash of 
milk, and a peck of beans, for some small pieces of 
jaui, or benzoin. I then administered caustic to all 
the eyes of the village — at least sixty persons — in- 
cluding men, women, and children, with the Sheikh. 
Bad eyes were the only pressing complaints of the 
place. 
The villagers all spoke Bornouese. I believe 
this is the general language of Damerghou. There 
were only two or three Tuaricks present. Most of 
the people were free. *The Sheikh, of course, had 
several slaves ; amongst them a Yakobah slave, with 
straight lines cicatrised in curious patterns all over 
his body. The poor fellow seemed remarkably 
stupid, and I believe that many of these poor fellows 
brought from the more distant countries of Soudan 
become half idiots from continually regretting their 
beloved country. Alas! what can be done for 
Africa, when the greater part of its social system is 
constructed on slavery ? 
