338 DESCRIPTION OF A SLAVE-HUNT one away with them whom they found living, there was, of course, a large number of lame, blind, and old men, and persons afflicted with other infirmities, among the complement of slaves, who were sure to perish on the road, or who would be of no value on their arrival in Lobeid. But, even this circumstance was not deemed worthy of consideration ; without mercy all were driven from their homes, and delivered up to their fate ; for the sole object is, to furnish the number of slaves demanded by the government. Every morning, at about ten o'clock, a halt was ordered, whereupon the prisoners were formed according to their age into divisions, to receive their rations, consisting of boiled dokn. Salt was out of the question, and the dokn so hard that the fullgrown men experienced difficulty in masticating it. Children, who are too weak in the jaw to reduce the grain, swallow it as they would pills, and are frequently put to the most excruciating agony in consequence ; for, not being able to digest the food, their bodies swell, and they suffer from flatulence and spasm. I have seen mothers chewing the victuals for their children, and then offering it to them. In forming these detachments according to age,* children who anxiously cling to their parents are torn by force from their arms, that they may eat alone. The condition of sick and wounded was not considered ; their wounds were not even dressed, and they received the same allowance ; many of them threw themselves on the sand, and, refusing