The slave whom Haj Beshir sent from Kuka to Zinder, to accompany me to Kuka, went with the Sarkee, and took one of my servants with him. I did not know anything about it until they were gone. But this evening, on my return from seeing the Sarkee, I found a woman and child, a boy and a young man, tied together, lying not far from my hut, in the enclosure where we are residing. I was excessively indignant at this conduct of Haj Beshir's slave, although certainly done in ignorance. These captives were the fruits of the part he took in the expedition. I have not made up my mind whether I will go to Kuka with this fellow, for it is not the first time he has shown something like an insolent behaviour. As to my servant, I had already discharged him, but the Shereef Kebir persuaded me to let him go with the boat to Kuka, as he knew how to place it on the camels better than the other servants. I scolded him well for going with the razzia, because he himself was once in bondage, and had returned free under our protection. But I fear my words will have little effect; for in Zinder, at least, the great concern and occupation of the black population is, to go and steal their neighbours, and sell them into slavery. I repeat again, nothing but foreign conquest by a non-slaveholding power will extirpate slavery from the soil of Africa.
I read Milton's "Comus" and other portions of his poetry, and find it a great relief in drawing my mind a little off African subjects. I am sorry I did not bring with me a copy of Shakespear. I have very few books with me of any kind, and fewer maps. I received a visit of fighis from the villages around, also from a sister and niece of the Sultan of Zinder, and gave them all a bit of sugar and sent them off.
Around my house exists a swarm of fighis, who can copy charms and a few passages from the Koran. I procured some of the _bonâ fide_ specimens of their calligraphy. There are four different hands. These fighis are all blacks of pure blood. They write sideways.
A courier arrived to-day from Kuka, bringing a despatch for the Governor of Zinder, to the effect that, in the event of his finding any people of Bornou committing misdemeanours of any sort, he, the Sultan of Zinder, was at liberty to treat them as he chose. I am told that the Bornou slaves, as well as the free people of that country, when they come to Zinder, have the audacity to seize on whomsoever comes in the way, and take them and sell them as slaves in the souk. This kidnapping is mostly done in the villages around Zinder, but even in the city itself it has been ventured; and the Sultan has hitherto been afraid to arrest these Bornouese miscreants. What a glimpse into the state of the empire of Bornou do such facts afford!