Yet Under All These Incumbrances, They Do Sometimes Mount And Take The Field, But The Idea Of Such Unwieldy Hogsheads

Being of any avail in the day of battle, appeared altogether ridiculous, and it proved accordingly, that on such high

Occasions, they merely exhibited themselves as ornaments, without making even a show of encountering the enemy.

With about three hundred of this puissant chivalry before and around him, the sultan was himself seated in a sort of cage of cane or wood near the door of his garden, on a seat, which at the distance appeared to be covered with silk or satin, and through the railing looked upon the assembly before him, who formed a kind of semicircle, extending from his seat to nearly where the English were waiting. The courtiers having taken their seats in due form, the embassy was allowed to approach within about pistol shot of the spot where the sultan was sitting, and desired to sit down, when the ugliest black that can be imagined, his chief eunuch, the only person who approached the sultan's seat, asked for the presents. Boo Khaloom's were produced in a large shawl, and were carried unopened to the presence. The glimpse which the English obtained of the sultan, was but a faint one, through the lattice work of his pavilion, sufficient, however, to show that his turban was larger than any of his subjects, and that his face from the nose downwards was completely covered. A little to the left, and nearly in front of the sultan, was an extempore declaimer, shouting forth praises of his master, with his pedigree; near him was one who bore the long wooden frumfrum, on which ever and anon he blew a blast loud and unmusical. Nothing could be more ridiculous than the appearance of these people, squatting under the weight and magnitude of their bellies, while the thin legs that appeared underneath, but ill accorded with the bulk of the other parts.

This was all that was ever seen of the sultan of Bornou. The party then set out for Kouka, passing on their way through Angornou, the largest city in the kingdom, containing at least thirty thousand inhabitants.

During his residence at Kouka and Angornou, Major Denham frequently attended the markets, where besides the proper Bornouese, he saw the Shouass, an Arab tribe, who are the chief breeders of cattle; the Kanemboos from the north, with their hair neatly and tastefully plaited, and the Musgow, a southern clan of the most savage aspect. A loose robe or shirt of the cotton cloth of the country, often finely and beautifully dyed, was the universal dress, and high rank was indicated by six or seven of these, worn one above another. Ornament was studied chiefly in plaiting the hair, in attaching to it strings of brass or silver beads, in inserting large pieces of amber or coral into the nose, the ear, and the lip, and when to these was added a face, streaming with oil, the Bornouese belle was fully equipped for conquest.

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