LARGE FAMILY 
233 
CHAPTEE XIV, 
Family of the Sarkee — Converted Jew — Hard Dealings — How to 
get rid of a Wife — Route to Tesaoua — Influence of Slavery — 
Prices of Aloes and Silk — Medicine for a Merchant — Depar- 
ture of the Sarkee for the Razzia — Encampment — Mode of 
Fighting — Produce of Razzias — Story of the Tibboo — Sheikh 
Lousou — Gumel — Superstitions — Matting — Visit of Ladies — 
The Jew — Incendiaries — Hazna — Legend of Zinder Well — 
Kohul — Cousin of the Sheikh — Female Sheikh — State of the 
Country — Salutations. 
Jan. 2ith. — The thermometer stood last night at 74° 
after dark. This morning it is, as usual, about 56°. 
The weather is still hazy ; but the town is remark- 
ably healthy, and there are very few cases of fever 
at the present time. Zinder, by the people, is said 
to be always cool. 
His highness the Sarkee of Zinder is a prince of 
true African and Asiatic calibre. He has three 
hundred wives, one hundred sons, and fifty daugh- 
ters ; but his women are not prisoners in a harem. 
His wives and daughters are seen about the streets 
walking alone, and the daughters are given in mar- 
riage to the grandees of the court His wives, 
