CRUEL EXECUTIONS. 
209 
wood. The man made a great clamour, holding up 
the present. His highness looked at him, and said, 
" Good, good ; put them down." 
I am told his highness is much feared by all the 
people of the provinces. He has the character of 
being impartial. But the way in which he carries 
out capital punishment is truly terrible, and beyond 
conception barbarous. He neither hangs nor be- 
heads. This mode of punishment is too mild for 
him. No: he actually cuts open the chest, and rips 
out the heart! or else hangs up people by the heels, 
and so inflicts upon them a lingering death. I am 
astonished that the Sheikh of Bornou permits such 
barbarity, but imagine that the Sheikh is still afraid 
of his vassal, and shrinks from endeavouring to de- 
prive him of this awful power. Here, then, we have 
a specimen of the negro character, with all its 
contradictions: soft and effeminate in its ordinary 
moods; cheerful, and pleasant, and simple, to ap- 
pearance; but capable of acting, as it were without 
transition, the most terrible deeds of atrocity. Say 
what you will of the barbarism of the Tuaricks, 
such a mode of inflicting capital punishment is un- 
known amongst them. I took leave of his highness, 
promising to come again another day and bring 
other things. 
This evening we were disturbed by the cries of 
the hyaena; a large one had come down upon the 
calves belonging to a drove of bullocks, and carried 
VOL. II. p 
