KAIO OF HAJ BESHIR. 
277 
could make me understand in Soudanee and Bor- 
nouee. 
The evening was warm ; a most pestilential sort 
of mist usually covers the ground at dark. After a 
an hour or so it clears off — a few meteors now and 
then. 
4th, Dies non. — It is said we shall probably leave 
this to-morrow. Read Milton all day. Weather 
sultry hot; did not go out. Thermometer in the 
evening, at dark, 80°. 
5th. — I had a visit from a number of Tuarick 
ladies from the villages around, all of whom put 
their hands to their stomachs, and pretended they 
were mighty ill. I gave them all round a cup of 
tea. The renegade Jew came this morning, and 
gave me a list of all the things sold in the market 
of Kanou. 
I went in the afternoon to see the Kaid of Haj 
Beshir of Kuka, called Abd-el-kerim. He had a 
female slave afflicted with the leprosy, and sent for 
me to come and see her. He gave me some 
gour-nuts, and I found him a friendly man. 
Denham represents the Borhou people of his time 
as very fanatical. At present I have seen nothing 
of this. But we are in a province where there are 
many Hazna, or pagans ; and the people of Zin- 
der are but lukewarm Muslims. I have yet had no 
instance of fanaticism, either from people of Kuka 
or from residents here. 
I was amused by the relation of Haj Moham- 
