Travels and discoveries in North and Central AfricaFrom the journal of an expedition undertaken under the auspices of 's government, in the years 1849-1855 . e place. The followingpassages of his journal afford us a specimen of the characterof the Welad Sliman, the Arab freebooters, whom the travel-lers were accompanying in their expedition to Kanem.] Plunged into sad reflections on the fate of this once splendidempire of Kanem, and the continued progress of the Berberrace into the heart of Sudan, I hung listlessly upon my horse,when, on leaving this uncomfortable dwelling-place, we took
Travels and discoveries in North and Central AfricaFrom the journal of an expedition undertaken under the auspices of 's government, in the years 1849-1855 . e place. The followingpassages of his journal afford us a specimen of the characterof the Welad Sliman, the Arab freebooters, whom the travel-lers were accompanying in their expedition to Kanem.] Plunged into sad reflections on the fate of this once splendidempire of Kanem, and the continued progress of the Berberrace into the heart of Sudan, I hung listlessly upon my horse,when, on leaving this uncomfortable dwelling-place, we tookour course over the unbroken plain, once no doubt the bottomof the lake,* and soon to become once more a part of it was dry and barren, at others clothed with richverdure, while on our left it was bordered by a range of sand-hills, the natural limit of the lagoon. At a little before noonwe came to a deep inlet of the lake, spreading the freshest ver-dure all around in this now desolate country. Having wateredour horses, and taken in a sufficient supply of this element forthe night, we crossed the plain, here not more than a thousand * The DESOLATE COUNTRY. 237 yards wide, and ascended a broad promontory of the range ofsand-hills, where we encamped. It was a delightful spot, where the heart might have ex-panded in the enjoyment of freedom. In front of us to thesoutheast, the swampy lands of the lagoon, one immense rice-field (as it ought to be at least), spread out to the borders ofthe horizon; but no white water, or open sea, was to beseen — not even as much as connected channels — nothing butone immense swampy flat, stretching out as far as the eye couldreach. To the south the green pasturages, along which we hadcome, extended far beyond Ngegimi. It was a picture of oneof the most fertile spots of the earth doomed to there was a feeble spark of hope in me that it would notalways be so, and I flattered myself that my labors in thesenew reg
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