one; but breeches there are none." This novel mode
of drawing the attention of the passers-by so amused Denham that he
could not help laughing outright.

He was, however, anxious to visit a large river to the southward of
Kouka, called the Shary; but was delayed by Dr Oudney's serious
illness, and the unsettled state of Book-Haloum's affairs with the
Arabs; indeed, so mutinous had some of these become, that he was at last
compelled to send thirty of them back again to Fezzan.

Hillman had greatly pleased the sheikh by manufacturing a couple of
chests, and he was now requested to make a sort of litter, such as the
sheikh had heard were used by the sultans of Fezzan.

Among other presents, the sheikh sent them a young lion about three
months old. It was a tame, good-natured creature, but as Denham was
under the necessity of refusing the animal a corner of his hut, it was
immediately in consequence killed.

During the illness of his companions Major Denham made an excursion to
the shores of Lake Chad, accompanied by Maraymy, an intelligent black,
to whose charge he had been committed by the sheikh, where numerous
elephants and some beautiful antelopes were seen. The sheikh's people,
as they came near the elephants, began screeching violently. The
animals, though moving a little away, erected their ears, and gave a
roar that shook the ground under them. One was an immense fellow. The
party wheeled swiftly round him, and Maraymy casting a spear at him,
which struck him just under the tail, the huge brute threw up his
proboscis in the air with a loud roar, and from it cast such a volume of
sand as nearly to blind the major, who was approaching at the time.

The elephant rarely if ever attacks, but, when irritated, he will
sometimes rush upon a man on horseback, and, after choking him with
dust, destroy him in a moment.

Pursued by the horsemen, the animal made off at a clumsy, rolling walk,
but sufficient to keep the steeds at a full gallop. The major fired
twice at fifty yards' distance. The first shot which struck the animal
failed to make the least impression, and the second, though wounding him
in the ear, seemed to give him a moment's uneasiness only. After
another spear had been darted at him, which flew off his rough hide
without exciting the least sensation, the elephant made his escape.

The Shooas, the original inhabitants of the country, are great hunters.
Mounted on horseback, a Shooa hunter seeks