236 
TESAOUA — SLAVES IN IRONS. 
From the courier who came from Dr. Overweer 
I have obtained the following account of the route 
from Zinder to Tesaoua : 
From Zinder direct west to Tus, 1 hour; village: 
to Termini, 5 hours ; village: to Dambidda, 1 hour ; 
a large village : to Babul, 5 hours ; village : to Gumda, 
4 hours ; village : to Kurnaua, 4 hours ; village : to 
Garagumsa, 5 hours ; village : to Shabari, 7 hours ; 
village : to Maizirgi, 1 hour ; large village : to Tesaoua, 
5 hours. 
Along this route there is abundance of herbage 
and trees, but no running water or wadys. There 
are wells of great depth. The distances between 
the various villages being in all, when summed up, 
thirty-eight hours, we must consider the whole 
length of the route three long and four short days' 
journey, as the caravans generally arrive on the 
fourth day. 
Slavery is the curse of all these countries. My 
Soudan servant, Amankee, would not come with 
me to Zinder, on account of his longing desire to 
see his mother and brother and sisters ; and yet, 
although these feelings are deep in the bosoms of 
all the blacks, they can see their neighbours torn 
away from their houses and carried off in irons with 
the greatest indifference. The slaves of the Sarkee 
of Zinder are double-ironed, like convicts, and in 
this condition jump through the streets, for they 
cannot walk. The backs of these poor slaves are 
all ulcerated with the strokes of the whip. 
