114 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
as the visitors entered the town. This welcome was the 
more gratifying from the fact that the travellers were 
the first Europeans to penetrate into Africa without 
wearing a disguise. Denham adds that he feels sure 
their reception would have been far less cordial had they 
stooped to play the part of impostors by attempting to 
pass for Mahommedans. 
At Murzuk they were harassed by annoyances 
similar to those which had paralysed Hornemann ; in 
their case, however, circumstances and character were 
alike different, and without allowing themselves to be 
blinded by the compliments paid them by the sultan, 
the English, who were thoroughly in earnest, demanded 
the necessary escort for the journey to Bornou. 
It was impossible, they were told, to start before the 
following spring, on account of the difficulty of collecting 
a kafila or caravan, and the troops necessary for its escort 
across the desert. 
A rich merchant, however, Boo-Bucker-Boo-Khaloum 
by name, a great friend of the pacha, gave the explorers 
a hint that if he received certain presents he would 
smooth away all difficulties. He even offered to escort 
them himself to Bornou, for which province he was 
bound if he could obtain the necessary permission from 
the Pacha of Tripoli. 
Denham, believing Boo-Khaloum to be acting honestly, 
went off to Tripoli to obtain the governor’s sanction, but 
on his arrival there he obtained only evasive answers, 
and finally threatened to embark for England, where he 
said he would report the obstacles thrown in his way by 
the pacha, in the carrying out of the objects of the 
exploring expedition. 
These menaces produced no effect, and Denham 
actually set sail, and was about to land at Marseilles 
when he received a satisfactory message from the bey, 
begging him to return, and authorising Boo-Khaloum to 
accompany him and his companions. 
On the 30 th October Denham rejoined Oudney and 
Clapperton at Murzuk, finding them considerably 
weakened by fever and the effects of the climate. 
