Chapter IV (1)

JOURNEY FROM BOUSSA, ACROSS THE FERRY OF THE QUORRA, BY GUARRI AND
ZEGZEG, TO THE CITY OF KANO.

Leaving the banks of that branch of the Quorra called Menai at 10.30 in the morning of the 2d of April, I travelled on the Wawa road as far as the Cambrie villages mentioned on my way to Boussa. Here we turned off south-south-west ½ west., sometimes near the banks of the river; the road winding, woody, and rocky, and cut up into deep ravines, in which there were pools of water, and near which were the traces of numerous wild beasts, but few were seen, and those were of the large species of antelope. At 2 P.M. halted at one of the rocky ravines to water the horses. I heard the Quorra roaring as if there was a waterfall close at hand. I ascended the high rocky bank of the ravine, and the rocky ridge which here formed the banks of the river, where I saw the stream rushing around two low rocky and wooded islands and among several islets and rocks, when taking a sudden short bend to the westward, the waters dashed with great violence against the foot of the rock on which I sat, and which might form a precipice of about fifty feet high above the river. Just below the islands, and nearly half way across, the river had a fall at this time of from three to four feet; the rest of the channel was studded with rocks, some of which were above water. It occurred to me that even if Park and Martin had passed Boussa in safety, they would have been in imminent danger of perishing here, most likely unheard of and unseen. When I attempted to get up and mount my horse, after finishing a rough sketch of the scene, I was taken with a giddiness, and lost the use of my limbs and sight. They carried me under the shade of a tree, where I broke into a profuse perspiration; and at 3.30 being much relieved, I mounted and rode half an hour, when I halted at a village of the Cambrie, called Songa, the inhabitants of which gave me the best hut in the village: but bad was the best; it was infested with rats, scorpions, and centipedes, and the furniture consisted of old nets, rotten wood, and broken gourds: I therefore left it, and remained on a mat in the open air all night. The head man of the village gave me a sheep and some yams, and at my request sent one of his young men to the ferry, to see if my baggage and servants had arrived. I gave the sheep and yams to the two messengers and their attendants. The young Cambrie man returned about midnight with an answer from the taya, saying that Richard would be up with the baggage at the ferry in the morning.

Monday, 3d.—Morning clear and cool. These Cambrie appear to be a lazy, harmless race of negroes; and, as I was informed, inhabit the villages in the woods near the Quorra, in the states of Boussa, Wawa, and Youri. They plant a little corn and yams, and keep a few sheep and goats. The men employ their time in hunting, fishing, and sleeping; the most laborious work falling on the women. They are apparently a mild people; in general tall; more stupid-looking than wild; go with very little clothing, seldom any thing more than a skin round the waist. The young people of both sexes go entirely naked until they have cohabited, when they put on a skin, or tobe, as their circumstances will afford. They are, from their unwarlike and mild dispositions, often very ill used and imposed upon. When any of their rulers has a sudden demand for slaves or sheep, they send and take away from the poor people their children or their flocks; and any of the slaves of the sultans passing through their villages live at free quarters. They are pagans; and their temple here was a platform raised about five feet from the ground, on which were piled the heads of the hippopotamus and the alligator. The upper and under jaws of the alligators appeared in all to be of an equal length. I took some of the teeth from one that was last offered. Their language differs from that of the surrounding inhabitants.

The Quorra at this village was in one whole stream, and not above three-fourths the breadth of the Thames at Somerset House at high water, with a current from about two to two and a half or three knots: the colour of the water red and muddy: the banks on each side the river rising to the height of forty-five or fifty feet; in some places rocky: about a quarter of a mile below, it divided into three rocky streams.

At 7.30 A.M. left Songa: the road through a woody country, cut up by deep ravines with very rocky beds: the rocks mostly of red and gray granite. At 9 A.M. passed between the east end of a rocky hill, composed of porphyry, and the river; the hills on the east side appearing of the same: the river running with great force through this natural gap, which appeared as if cut on purpose to let the waters through. The river between Songa and this is full of rocky islets and rapids. After having passed the hill about a mile, the western bank shelved away from the river, leaving a high ridge by the river side, composed of sand and clay, with occasionally ridges of clay-slate, between which and the high ground it appeared as if it had formerly been the bed of the river, and is now a swamp. The ridge close to the river was studded with villages; the river full of small rocky islands, and occasionally rapids. At 10.30 arrived at the village of Comie, or, as it is more commonly called, Wonjerque, or the king’s ferry. Here the river is all in one stream; and this place is the great ferry of the caravans to and from Houssa, Nyffé, &c. The village is built on the high ground, the bank shelving gradually down to the river side, where there is a second temporary town composed of the huts of the merchants: here and in the village all was bustle and confusion. A caravan going to Gonja was halted on the eastern bank; on the western, the goffle from Gonja, with kolla nuts, &c. The village was filled with horses and men dressed out in their gayest trappings: here merchants were offering horses for sale; there their slaves, with gay glass beads, cords of silk, unwrought silk, and tobes and turkadoes for sale; some dancing and drumming; while others, more wicked, were drinking and rioting. I was provided with a good house, and received presents of milk, honey, eggs, ducks, sheep, and goats, as soon as it was known I had arrived; but I returned the whole of them, and said I would accept of nothing until my servants and baggage arrived. Several people came and said they had left Wawa early in the morning, and that my baggage was on the road. The widow Zuma, who is at a neighbouring village, sent me boiled rice and a fowl, and also an invitation to go and stop at her house until my things came, and I should cross the river; but my anxiety for my baggage, and my being rather unwell, prevented me accepting her invitation. I had a visit from the taya, who declares the baggage will be here in the course of a short time. He has now changed his tone: he says I must buy bullocks and pay for them at once, as he will not carry my baggage: he will buy the bullocks for me, and find men to drive them; that he will sell me those which he has bought from the widow; and that he will trust to my generosity for a present when I arrive at Kano; that my baggage, he said, would be here directly, and advised me to go and stop at the widow’s until it came. Towards evening my anxiety was very great on account of my baggage, as no appearance of it, or any tidings that I could depend upon was to be learnt. The governor’s son of Wawa, who is here, offered to go to Wawa and see what was the reason they had not come.

Tuesday, 4th.—I found on his return from Wawa, to my great surprise, that my baggage would not be allowed to come until the widow Zuma went back to Wawa. “What have I to do with the widow?” I asked him. “Yes, you have,” says he, “and you must come back with me and fetch her.” “Not I,” I answered; “what have I to do with her? If I were governor of Wawa I would bring her back if I wanted her, but I am a stranger.” “Then,” says he, “I will go if you will send a token and a message, to say I come from you.” I gave him my umbrella, but no message, declaring I would not send any. The governor’s son went to the widow, and I went to Wawa, where I arrived at noon. My trusty servant Richard arrived at the same instant from Boussa, where he had been to seek me, and acquaint me of the detention of my property: his only guide, a boy whose language he did not understand, or any other but his own native English. He had seen the sultan and midaki, who understood from the little boy who accompanied him what he had come for. They treated him with great kindness, making him remain all night; and in the morning sent him with two armed men to protect him and to find me, and to desire the governor of Wawa to allow my things to go instantly: a convincing fact that the minds of men here must be much changed for the better since the days of Park and Martin. He had left Wawa yesterday, to come and inform me of the detention of my baggage, and the cause why; which was the widow Zuma’s having left Wawa about half an hour after I did, with drums beating before her, and a train after her, first calling at my house before she waited on the governor; giving Pascoe a female slave for a wife, without the governor’s permission, which I had allowed him to accept; and the widow’s declaration before she went away, that she intended following me to Kano, and come back and make war on the governor, as she had done once before.

I was glad to find all my things safe; and was more amused than vexed to think that I had been so oddly let into the politics of Wawa, and that the old governor meant me no harm, but just to let me see his consequence before I left Wawa. I certainly never would have thought that the widow Zuma would have been at the head of the malcontents in Wawa. I was now let into their politics with a vengeance; and it was believed I was taking a very great share in them. It would have been a fine end to my journey indeed, if I had deposed old Mohamed, and set up for myself, with a walking tun-butt for a queen.

I sent to the governor the instant of my arrival at Wawa, to say I was ready to wait on him. I had tea to refresh me and clear up my ideas; and went, accompanied by his head man. My servant Ali brought the rifle, which was loaded; but I ordered him back with a severe reproof, as I always make a point of going unarmed; as the least show of fear or distrust would most likely cause me to pay dearly for my unnecessary caution. The head man said, “Ah! dua, dua,” or that I had taken medicine to keep me from harm. I found the governor just roused from his noon-day nap, which was done by sound of horn. I put on as many smiles as I was master of, shook hands with him, and asked how he did, and how he had been since I last was blessed with the sight of him. I told him that I had seen the sultan of Boussa, and said what a good and generous man he was; and how well he and the midaki, his wife, and the governor’s sister, had behaved to me. I then said, I was surprised that my things had not come to the water side, according to his promise. He asked if the widow was not going to take them, as he thought she was. I said, I had nothing to do with the widow; I was a servant of the king of England, and it was to him I looked; that I did not know the widow before I came here. “Is she not going to Houssa with you? if she is greater than me, let her take them.” I said, no; it was he, and not the widow: I had nothing to say to her; and I would thank him to send me and my things off as soon as possible. “As soon as the widow comes back,” says he, “you shall go, not until then: send for her.” I said, I would not send for her; I had nothing to do with her. “You allowed your servant to take a female slave from her; send her back; and if the widow comes back to-night you shall go to-morrow.” I said, as to the widow’s coming or going, it was nothing to me: with respect to Pascoe’s returning the girl, that was his affair; and that no offence had been meant to the governor in allowing him to accept her. He said, return her, and he would give him another; and if the widow came to-night I should go in the morning: she was his enemy, and was gone to stir up war against him, as she had done once before. I said, he might blame his head man for my acquaintance with the widow: he was present when she first came to my house; and, as she was an enemy of the governor, he ought to have told me then, and I, as a stranger, and the governor’s guest, would not have allowed her to come to my house. We parted after this, and in the evening he sent me a present of one fowl, yams, milk, and honey.

Wednesday, 5th.—This morning the widow arrived in town, with a drummer beating before her, whose cap was bedecked with ostrich feathers; a bow-man walking on foot at the head of her horse; a train behind, armed with bows, swords, and spears. She rode a-straddle on a fine horse, whose trappings were of the first order for this country. The head of the horse was ornamented with brass plates, the neck with brass bells, and charms sewed in various coloured leather, such as red, green, and yellow; a scarlet breast-piece, with a bright brass plate in the centre; scarlet saddle-cloth, trimmed with lace. She was dressed in red silk trowsers, and red morocco boots; on her head a white turban, and over her shoulders a mantle of silk and gold. Had she been somewhat younger and less corpulent, there might have been great temptation to head her party, for she has certainly been a very handsome woman, and such as would have been thought a beauty in any country in Europe.

After the heat of the day was over, I went to the governor, Pascoe having previously sent back his wife to the widow. They parted without reluctance, though he declared that she had fallen in love with him at first sight. She was the second wife the old fellow has had since we left Badagry: the first he got at Jannah; she turned out to be a thief, a jade, and used to get drunk with the king’s wives at Katunga, for which I was obliged to order her out of the house; but Pascoe, with tears in his eyes, begged me to forgive her, as she really loved him, and he loved her. I was not sorry when I heard, the day we left Katunga, that she had walked off with all the coral and other little trinkets which Mrs. Belzoni had given him before he left England, as I trusted it would be a lesson to him in future. I told the governor that the widow was now arrived, and I wished he would send me off according to his promise. He said, he did not know that she had arrived, but would send for her. He again repeated what he had said yesterday, and so did I; to which I added that I should be sorry if such a foolish affair should have any effect on the good understanding that existed between him and me before I went to Boussa. The widow arrived, having stripped off her finery, and put on only a common country cloth around her, and one female slave in attendance. She saluted the governor according to the custom of the country; that is, by kneeling down on the ground on her knees and elbows, with the palms of her hands before her face. It was some time before the governor spoke: he then began, and gave her a lecture on disobedience and vanity, and asked her where she was going: she said, after some slaves of hers who had run away and gone to Nyffé: with which excuse, after his telling her she did not speak the truth, she was dismissed; and when she got outside the coozie, or hut, she shook the dust from her cloth with the greatest contempt. “That,” says he, “is a bad woman; none of the sultans like her; she will not pay duty on any thing: but you shall go to-morrow.” I went home, determined never to be caught in such a foolish affair in future, as my last journey ought to have taught me never to make friends of the opposition party in any place, for they were always sure to lead to trouble, if not mischief.

As the governor said I should go to-morrow, I took him at his word, and accordingly left Wawa the second time, determined that politics should never bring me back to the place again. We halted at a village of the Cambrie, remained here an hour, then proceeded an hour, and halted at another, where the gentlemen seized a sheep, as they had done at the former place. I gave them a severe lecture, which they listened to very quietly, but killed the sheep, lighted a fire, and roasted it with the skin on, before the poor Cambrie its owner. In the evening I arrived at the ferry, where I had an excellent house, and plenty of presents of sheep, eggs, and honey, sent to me and my friends: the carriers arriving at sunset with the baggage, and living at free quarters on the inhabitants, as they had done on the Cambrie.

Being unwell, I remained at the ferry three days; and on the 10th, about noon, having got all my baggage over, I crossed the Quorra, which at this time was about a quarter of a mile in width, running at the rate of two miles an hour, and in the middle ten or twelve feet deep. The ferry is crossed by canoes of about twenty feet long and two broad. Cattle are occasionally made to swim over.

The four rogues of slaves wanted to cheat me out of my horse, and urgently invited me to pass over first. I told them, when I saw the horses fairly over I would go, but not until then: at which they were evidently much disappointed; and as it was, they succeeded in cheating me out of one which the governor had lent me.

The master of the house in which I lived in Comie, a very respectable man, and formerly head man to the king of Nyffé, but who had fled to escape the civil war, told me that the river was full of rocks and islands nearly the whole way to the sea, which it entered at the town of Fundah; that the people of that country visited the southern parts of Nyffé; that the people of Benin came up by land, and had the river to cross, as they never travelled by water if they could avoid it, it being against their fetish; that the river farther down ran more to the eastward, until joined by the river Kadania, flowing from the east, when it turned to the west, and fell into the sea.

I now proceeded on my journey towards Kano, and having travelled about six miles, came to a walled village called Dallu; and beyond that five miles to El Wata, which appeared to be inhabited by blacksmiths. Though the village was small, I counted, on the way to where I was to lodge, four large blacksmiths’ shops with five forges in each. The blacksmiths were very civil to me; they gave me their best house, some corn for my horses, and a goat and some yams.

The natives of Borgoo, of whom I have now taken leave, and to whom the Arabs and their neighbouring nations give such a bad character for theft and robbery, always behaved honestly to me. I never lost the smallest article while amongst them. I have travelled and hunted alone with them, and myself, servants, and baggage, have been at their mercy. I ever found them cheerful, obliging, good-natured, and communicative; and the plundering of the sheep, goats, &c. from the villages, by the slaves of Yarro and Mohamed of Wawa, was not the act of natives of Borgoo, but of Houssa; as were the four messengers of Wawa, who had also formed a design to plunder me. These persons are nearly half-starved, and possessed with the idea that it is only right their masters’ subjects should feed them when on a journey, as they have no other provision but what they can catch in this manner; and therefore all they can lay their hands on is considered by them as good and lawful prize. They are more warlike than any of their neighbours; more bold and independent also: and parties of two or three will infest the roads of the neighbouring kingdoms, and carry off passengers whom they may meet, and sell them as slaves.

The kingdom, as I have already said, is divided into the petty states of Niki, Kiama, Wawa, and Boussa, of which Boussa is considered the head, Niki the next. The governors are all hereditary as long as they can keep their place. These states sometimes make war upon one another, when the sultan of Boussa interferes, and makes both parties pay. The kingdom is bounded on the east by the Quorra; on the south by Yourriba; on the west by Dahomey; and on the north by a large country called Gourma, which they assert to be inhabited by naked savages, but the Mahomedans say by a civilized people, and governed by a powerful sultan. The country is eleven days’ journey from north to south, and thirty from east to west: its rivers are the Quorra, Moussa, and Oli: its mountains are the range which passes through Yourriba, Youri, Zamfra, Guari, and Zegzeg. The face of the country is partly plain and partly mountainous, abounding in game of all the kinds common to Africa; and the inhabitants are said to be great hunters. Through Borgoo the caravans from Houssa and Bornou pass to Gonja and Yourriba. They have few cattle, but plenty of corn, yams, plantains, and limes. Their religion is paganism, but they offer no human sacrifices.

Tuesday, 11th.—Left El Wata, the country around which is well cultivated. The ant-hills here are the highest I have ever seen, being from fifteen to twenty feet high, resembling so many Gothic cathedrals in miniature. Halted at another walled village to change carriers, which, like El Wata, was also full of blacksmiths. In all the villages I passed through to-day there is a fetish-house, or pagan house of worship, in good repair; showing that the head people and the majority of the inhabitants, though pagans, have a regard for religion. Figures of human beings are painted on these houses, as are also the boa, the alligator, and the tortoise. The country is well cultivated, and planted with corn, and yams, and cotton. They have plenty of sheep and goats, a few small horses, but no cows; and large plantations of bananas and plantains are seen by the river side. The blacksmiths are still in great numbers. They get their iron ore from the hills, which they smelt where they dig it, and which is done without mining. The taya paid me a visit, wishing me to remain at this place to-morrow, as an army of the Fellatas were in Koolfu, on their return to Sockatoo. He still shuffles off his bargain, and begged hard that I would remain here until the day after to-morrow, as the Fellatas would then be gone. I said I had nothing to do with the Fellatas; they would not hurt me: that he had put me off from day to day, always making a fresh bargain, different from the one he had made before. I offered him half the money here, on his giving me proper security; but he began haggling again, and went off without coming to any certain agreement, as he has always done. I however determined to get to Koolfu to-morrow if possible, as these Fellatas are the very people I want to meet, more particularly if they are from Sockatoo.

Wednesday, 12th.—In the afternoon of this day we halted at a village, after crossing a wooden bridge over a stream called the May-yarrow. It was rudely constructed of rough branches covered with earth; long, and so narrow that two horses could not pass at one time. It is the first I have seen in Africa. I remained here only a few minutes, when I went to another village, where the carriers, after setting the baggage down, ran off. As soon as myself and servants arrived we were instantly surrounded by the whole male population of the village, all armed with bows and arrows, their knives in their hands, and bow-rings on their thumbs, perfectly ready for war. I could not help being much amused at their uncalled for alarm; and to prove to them how tranquil I felt, I dismounted from my horse, and sat quietly down on the baggage, ordering my servants to do the same. They pretended not to understand a word of the Houssa language; for that they did not understand it was next to impossible, as not a town or village between this and Badagry occurred in which we did not find one or more that could speak that language; and the Boussa messenger not having come up, we could not talk to them in the Nyffé tongue. For a little time silence prevailed, when all at once they seized on the baggage, each man taking something, until the whole was gone. I now re-mounted, with my servants, and followed. They ran along as fast as it was possible for them, and we rode after them; at length we came to another village, where the people understood Houssa, and asked what I wanted. I said, to stop all night. These voluntary carriers however took up the baggage again, and crossing the May-yarrow by a wooden bridge, entered the town of Tabra, which is in fact the same town I had reached, the river dividing it into two parts. Having also crossed, I was taken with my things in front of the head man’s house; where they questioned and cross-questioned me as to whether I was going to their king or not; but to none of their questions did I think fit to give a direct answer. When they found I was not disposed to commit myself they carried my things to a house for the night. Here for the first time I had to buy wood, grass, and corn: they always asking, “Where is the money?” before they would give me any thing. I sent Ali off to the chief of the Fellatas, with a letter addressed to Bello, as I find they leave Koolfu at day-break. I therefore missed them by being detained and humbugged on the road, through the manœuvres of the taya, who was very anxious I should not see the Fellatas.

Thursday, 13th.—The whole of this day was spent in expectation of my paying a visit to the queen of Nyffé, who is at present residing here; but in the evening I was informed she could not receive me, as the king her husband is absent, at a town called Raba, two days’ journey distant; but that I may see the king’s mother in the morning, who will inform me when and how I am to proceed to Kano. During the night thunder, lightning, and rain.

Friday, 14th.—After breakfast I went and visited the queen-mother, according to last night’s arrangement; I took with me as a present a Chinese crape shawl, part of a string of coral, and a mock gold chain, and some silk. In the outer coozie of her house I found mats spread for me, and a sheep-skin for her majesty. Her male attendants were mostly all old men, without teeth. In this company I remained for near a quarter of an hour. Then came in a number of women past their teens, and seated themselves on the mats opposite to me. They were decently dressed, in short check bed-gowns, the manufacture of the country, with a stuffing in the breast, which made them appear full-breasted. Around their loins they wore striped cotton cloths, which reached down to their ankles. Their woolly hair was dressed in the crest fashion; over which they wore a cap flowered and ornamented with red and white silk; around which there was tied a piece of check, flowered with white silk and fringed at each end, the ends hanging down: this was about the breadth of a broad riband. After sitting in profound silence for some time, they looking at me and I at them; at last her majesty made her appearance, dressed in a large white tobe or shirt. On her head she wore a coarse green cloth cap with two flaps, and trimmed with red tape. She was old, walked with a staff, and had only one eye. I rose to receive her, and shook her by the hand. She sat down on the sheep-skin, and I on the mat beside her. After asking after her health, and she doing the same, and how I had fared on my journey, I began to display my present before her, told her who I was, and where I wished to go. She appeared much gratified with the present, particularly the chain; said I ought to go and see her son the king, who was only two or three days distant, and he would forward me to where I wished, and be glad to see me. I said I would go with pleasure, but the rains had now set in; and that I wished to proceed on my journey with the taya; that I had a great number of books for Bello, and the Sheik of Bornou, and they would all be spoiled if they got wet; that this country was very sickly in the rains; and that three white men who accompanied me had died already. She said she had sent a messenger to her son the night of my arrival; that he would return to-night or to-morrow morning, and he would bring orders to say whether I was to go to Raba, or not; that if I went, they would detain the taya until my return. I said, “Very well; but I must have a horse, as both mine have sore backs.” I then took leave of her majesty, as she is called. A native of Moorzuk, named Mohamed Ben Ahmet, who has long resided in this country, served as my interpreter. He is married to one of the king’s daughters; he is styled in Nyffe El Magia. I had the following account from Ben Ahmet: that this woman was the late king of Nyffe’s relation; that her son Mohamed El Magia, who is a Mahometan, is fighting with the other, who is called Edrisi and a pagan, for the kingdom; that Mohamed is assisted by the Fellatas, and the other, who has the best right, by the people of Nyffe; that Mohamed has gained every battle this summer, and that there is no doubt of his gaining the day; that there is a cessation of hostilities during the rains; that next summer will decide the fate of Edrisi; that Mohamed can read and write Arabic; is a great drunkard, but very generous.

Tabra is on the north bank of the river May-yarrow, over which is a narrow wooden bridge, which will not bear a man and horse. This bridge connects it to a part of the town on the other side the river, which is also surrounded on the three sides by a wall. The two parts may contain from eighteen to twenty thousand inhabitants; they are the occasional residence of the Magia, who has a house here; and it is also the place of his birth. His mother during his absence is considered as governor assisted by the _sirtain fada_, or master of the ceremonies. There appears to be plenty of sheep and goats, and plantations of yams, plantains, calavances, millet, and limes. The river is always full of water, and may be about twenty yards broad, shaded with large trees; the banks rise with a gentle ascent from the river, and are planted with yams, millet, &c. There are only a few blacksmiths, but a great number of weavers. The inhabitants, with a few exceptions, are pagans, and they all, men and women, have the reputation of being great drunkards. The Houssa caravans pass close to the north side of the town, but seldom halt here. It was deserted last year, when Edrisi was driven here with his army; the inhabitants flying to Ingastrie in Youri, and to the province of Wawa; but are now mostly returned.

Sunday, 16th.—I was visited by the _sirtain fada_ this morning, who had just returned from seeing the Fellatas safe out of Koolfu: he told me that the Benin people, before the civil war began, came here to trade; that the Quorra ran into the sea, behind Benin, at Fundah; that the Nyffe people and those of Benin were the same people; that Benin paid tribute to Nyffe—(this is common with all negroes, to exalt their native country above all others, in their accounts to strangers). He said they got their salt from a town called Affaga, near the sea: this is the Laro or Alaro of Yourriba, and in possession of the Fellatas. In the evening an eunuch, a messenger, arrived from the king, to take me to the Sanson, or gathering-place, where he was; and to stop the taya.

Monday, 17th.—This morning a messenger of the king of Youri arrived, bringing me a present of a camel, to assist in carrying my baggage to Kano. He said the king, before he left Youri, had shown him two books, very large, and printed, that had belonged to the white men, that were lost in the boat at Boussa; that he had been offered a hundred and seventy mitgalls of gold for them, by a merchant from Bornou, who had been sent by a Christian on purpose for them. I advised him to tell the king, that he ought to have sold them; that I would not give five mitgalls for them; but that if he would send them, I would give him an additional present; and that he would be doing an acceptable thing to the king of England by sending them, and that he would not act like a king if he did not. I gave him for his master one of the mock-gold chains, a common sword, and ten yards of silk, and said I would give him a handsome gun and some more silk, if he would send the books. On asking him if there were any books like my journal, which I showed him, he said there was one, but that his master had given it to an Arab merchant ten years ago; but the merchant was killed by the Fellatas on his way to Kano, and what had become of that book afterwards he did not know. He also told me, that the fifteen men whom I had seen at Wawa belonging to Dahomey were slave-merchants; that they had bought a hundred slaves at Youri; that they also bought small red beads that came from Tripoli; that at Wawa they were to get a hundred more slaves, when they would return to Dahomey; that these people bring cloths, earthen ware, brass and pewter dishes, and sell them in Houssa, Nyffe, and Youri, for slaves and beads.

Wednesday, 19th.—Dull and cloudy this morning. The eunuch came with his horse ready saddled, but without one for me. I told him I was all ready, but would not go until he brought me a horse. He then pretended that he was going, and asked if I had no present to send to the king. I said I had, but should give it myself when I saw him; not until then. He then departed; when a Fellata, calling himself a messenger from Bello, residing with the king, came and said he would make the eunuch stop, and removed my baggage and myself to a good and quiet house, as the one I was in was much disturbed by women and children; and it is settled that I am to go with him to the king to-morrow. I have offered two hundred thousand cowries to have my baggage carried, but I cannot even get a letter conveyed to Kano; either so jealous are they of me, or they have an eye to my baggage, about which they have formed anxious conjectures. I had a present from the king’s sister of a sheep, for which she modestly requested a dollar and some beads. My new house is very snug and comfortable. I have three rooms for myself and servants, with houses for my horse and mare, an old man and his wife to look after it, and I can keep out all idle persons.

Thursday, 20th.—Morning clear and warm. I had to remain to-day also, as my guide and messenger, the black eunuch, is gone to the Koolfu market again. At sunset he and Omar Zurmie (or Omar the Brave), the messenger of Bello, waited on me, and told me that they would leave this for the Sanson, or camp, in the course of the night, if I was ready, and that Zurmie had a horse ready for me. I said I was ready at a moment’s notice, and had been the last four days. In the night we had a tornado, with thunder, lightning, and rain.

Friday, 21st.—This morning I left Tabra in company of Omar the Brave, a black eunuch, and Mohamed Ben Ahmet, the Morzukie, as my interpreter and servant; and having travelled twenty-seven miles, came to a village called Kitako, where we passed the night.

Saturday, 22d.—At 1.30 A.M. left Kitako. The moon through the thick clouds just enabling us, by the assistance of two Amars (spearmen) who went a-head, to thread our way through the thick woods, and over some of the most ticklish wooden bridges that ever man and horse passed over. The morning was raw and cold, and the path slippery and wet. At 4.30 I got so unwell and unable to bear the motion of the horse, that I dismounted, and lay down on the wet ground without covering, or any thing underneath me; for there are times when a man, to get rid of his present sickness, will try any remedy, whatever may be the after consequences: this was my case, and I lay until six, when I rose much better of my sickness, but with severe pains in the bones. A short while after starting, I crossed over the wall of a ruined town called Jinne, or Janne, through plantations of indigo and cotton, choked up with weeds. The morning was raw and cloudy. A few of the ragged inhabitants were up; two or three of the most miserable starved horses I ever saw were tied to stakes close to the few huts that were rebuilt, their backs dreadfully lacerated, the skin being nearly off from the shoulder to the rump, and their eyes running with matter. Only for the verdure of the trees at this season, and a beautiful stream of clear water, whose banks were planted with plantain and palm-oil trees, this would have been one of the most miserable scenes I ever saw in my life. After passing the stream twice, without bridges, whose banks were very steep and slippery, with several deep round holes, as man traps, on each side the road, I ascended the plain above, from whence I saw the ruins of several other towns and villages along the banks of the ravine. At eight passed the ruins of another town; and at nine I met, attended by a great rabble, armed with pickaxes, hoes, and hatchets, Mohamed El Magia, or the would-be king, mounted on horseback, and halted under a tree. When they told me there was the Magia waiting to receive me, I rode up and shook hands with him. He asked me after my health, and how I had fared on the road, and then told the eunuch who was with me to take me to his house; he then rode past, as I was informed, to complete the ruin of the last, as I thought already ruined, town I had passed through. He was mounted on a good bay horse, whose saddle was ornamented with pieces of silver and brass; the breastpiece with large silver plates hanging down from it, like what is represented in the prints of Roman and eastern emperors’ horses. He is a tall man, with a sort of stupid expression of countenance, having a large mouth and snagged teeth, with which he makes himself look worse when he attempts to smile, and looks indeed like any thing but a king or a soldier. He wore a black velvet cap, with two flaps over the ears, and trimmed with red silk, a blue and white striped tobe, red boots, part of leather and part red cloth, in rags; in his hand he had a black staff, with a silver head; his slaves were carrying a coast-made umbrella and his sword. I paid him every decent respect, and put on as many smiles as I was able, as I know that those ragged and dirty rogues, when they have power, have more pride than a real king, and expect a great deal more respect, and cannot bear a man to look serious. At ten I arrived at the Sanson, or camp, where I was lodged in the eunuchs’ part, having a small unoccupied hut separated from the rest allotted for me to live in. Here I was left to myself until 3 P.M., when the eunuch came and told me the king had arrived, and wished to see me. I went directly, taking a present, which I displayed before him. When the articles were taken away by an eunuch, I told him who and what I was, where I was going, and that I wanted his assistance and protection to the governors of Guari or Zegzeg, in Houssa; that I had been well treated by every king and governor between Badagry on the sea-coast, to Tabra in his dominions, and I hoped for the same favourable reception from him. He said it was easy to do all that I had asked, and he would do it.

Sunday, 23d.—This morning I was much better, having shut my little straw hut up as close as possible, so that I was as if in a steam bath all night. I have ever found this and fasting a good cure for most disorders.

The king went through the camp, attended by a great rabble, a slave carrying the umbrella I had given him over his head. He paid me a visit, and began, as soon as he had seated himself, to show me his staff of authority, a black stick, about four feet long, with a silver head. He said I had got some of the same kind, and he wanted one. I said I could not indulge him with one, unless I gave him that intended for Bello. He then begged my travelling knife and fork. I said, “What, then, I am to go without, and eat with my fingers! he had better go to Tabra, and take all I had.” He observed he would certainly not do that; that he would send me to Kano, and that I should go in five or six days after this. He then went home, and sent me, as a present, a small country horse, which will do well enough for Pascoe to ride. I have now two horses and a mare.

The Sanson, or camp, is like a large square village, built of small bee-hive-like huts, thatched with straw, having four large broad streets, and with a square or clear place near the huts of the king. Only for the number of horses feeding, and some picketed near the huts, and the men all going armed, and numbers of drums beating, it would pass for a well-inhabited village. Here are to be seen weavers, taylors, women spinning cotton, others reeling off, some selling foo-foo and accassons, others crying yams and paste, little markets at every green tree, holy men counting their beads, and dissolute slaves drinking _roa bum_.

Monday, 24th.—Morning cool and cloudy. In the early part of the morning I went to take leave of the king, whom I found in his hut, surrounded by Fellatas, one of whom was reading the Koran aloud for the benefit of the whole; the meaning of which not one of them understood, not even the reader. This may seem odd to an Englishman; but it is very common for a man, both in Bornou and Houssa, to be able to read the Koran fluently, and not understand a word in it but “Allah,” or able to read any other book. They left off reading when I came in; and as soon as the compliments of the morning were over, the king begged me to give him my sword, which I flatly refused, but promised to give him the five dollars, the staff, and the pistol, whenever I was permitted to leave this for Kano, which he promised I should do, and pointed out a person whom he said he would send with me as a messenger; and that a merchant from Koolfu would come and agree about the price he was to have for carrying my baggage. I thanked him, and took my leave. He is one of the most beggarly rogues I have yet met with; every thing he saw or heard that I was possessed of he begged, not like a person that wished to have them because they were scarce or rare, but with a mean greediness that was disgusting. Though I had given him a better present than he had ever got in his life before, he told me that I said “No, no,” to every thing he asked for. He has been the ruin of his country by his unnatural ambition, and by calling in the Fellatas, who will remove him out of the way the moment he is of no more use to them; even now he dares not move without their permission. It is said that he has put to death his brother and two of his sons. Through him the greater part of the industrious population of Nyffé have either been killed, sold as slaves, or fled from their native country. To remove him now would be charity; and the sooner the better for his country.

At 8.30 in the morning I left the Sanson, and riding on ahead of old Malam Fama, the Morzukie, I halted under a tree at eleven to let the horses feed, and the Malam to come up with the sheep. At noon, Mahomed having joined, I started with a plundering party who were going the same road. They told me they were going to seize some villagers who had returned to build up their ruined huts and sow a little millet without first praying for leave to the Magia. On crossing one of the small rivers and ascending the steep and slippery bank, the chief of this band checked his horse, and both horse and rider fell souse into the water. He was close behind me, but I left his companions to pick him up. On the 25th we once more reached Tabra.

I have observed more people with bad teeth and the loss of the front teeth in Nyffé than any other country in Africa, or indeed any other country. The males mostly are those who lose their teeth. Whether it may arise from the universal custom of chewing snuff mixed with natron or not, I do not pretend to say. The white of the eye in the black population is in general bilious-looking and bloodshot. There is scarcely one exception, unless it be in those below eighteen or twenty years of age.

Tuesday, May 2.—This morning I left Tabra, and travelling along the banks of the May-yarrow, passed the walled village of Gonda. Having crossed a stream coming from the north, and running into the May-yarrow, I entered the walled town of Koolfu, the greatest market town in this portion of Nyffé, and resorted to by trading people from all parts of the interior. I was provided with a good house; and the head man of the town, a plausible fellow, was very officious, but at the same time giving broad hints for a present. Mohamed Kalu, the madagoo or head man of the goffle from Bornou, has to remain here until after the Rhamadan. I was visited by all the principal people in the place, as a matter of curiosity, though many of them had seen me at Tabra.