and are nearly always intoxicated. Such is a summary account of Wadaï
from the mouth of a Tibboo geographer.

This morning, Madame En-Noor sent me by Zangheema a pair of pewter
earrings, in exchange for some rings. It is extremely difficult to make
a good bargain with these people. With respect to our merchandise, it
all sells lower here than we paid for it at Mourzuk. The profits come
from the purchase of slaves. A burnouse of forty mahboubs will sell in
Soudan for little more than its cost, if dollars or money is to be
given; but if slaves are taken in exchange, three slaves, perhaps, may
be obtained, which, in Tripoli, may be sold at forty or fifty dollars
each. Hence the profit of the Soudan commerce. The article which yields
the greatest profit is loaf sugar, which, costing half a dollar in
Mourzuk, is said to sell for a full dollar in Bornou. To be sure there
is all the risk and the heavy freight of such an article, especially if
conveyed up during the rainy season.

I wrote yesterday a despatch to Government, requesting letters of
recommendation to be sent up to me in Kordofan, pointing out the route
of Egypt as the probable one by which I shall return to the
Mediterranean. I had a long dispute with Overweg about the letter
_ghain_, which he persists in pronouncing like a strong _k_. Yusuf was
called in, and declared that the _ghain_ was the letter which
distinguished Arabic from all other languages. In Kailouee Tuarick there
is no _kaf_ or _ghain_. These Berber dialects have, however, the hard
_g_ in a thousand words, and have also the _k_ in a great number of
cases, but the hard _g_ and the _t_ are the consonants most frequently
occurring. The Haussa has also the _g_ hard, as in _măgăree_,
"good;" and a great number of words with the sound _tsh_, as _doutshee_,
a stone or mountain.