Chapter IV (2)

Monday, 8th.—Clear and cool. The house in which I live is one of the best in Koolfu. I have three separate coozies parted off from the rest of the house, and a place for my stud, which now amounts to two horses and a mare. My landlady is a widow, large, fat, and deaf, with an only child, a daughter, about five years old; a spoiled child. The widow Laddie, as she is called, is considered to be very rich. She is a merchant; sells salt, natron, and various other articles: but what she is most famed for is her booza and roa bum, as the palm wine is called; and every night the large outer hut is filled with the topers of Koolfu, who are provided with music as well as drink, and keep it up generally until the dawn of morning separates them. Their music consists of the drum, erbab, or guitar of the Arabs, the Nyffé harp, and the voice. Their songs are mostly extempore, and allude to the company present. The booza is made from a mixture of doura, or Guinea corn, honey, Chili pepper, the root of a coarse grass on which the cattle feed, and a proportion of water: these are thrown in equal proportions into large earthen jars, open at top, and are allowed to ferment near a slow fire for four or five days, when the booza is fit to drink, and is put into earthen jars. It is a very fiery and intoxicating beverage; but, whether Mohamedan or pagan, they all drink, and agree very well together when in their cups. At first neither I nor my servants could sleep for their noise, but now I have got used to it. This night the new moon was seen, and Mohamedan and pagan joined in the cry of joy. My landlady had thirteen pieces of wood, on each of which was written by the Bornou malem the word “Bismillah,” the only word he could write. These boards she then washed and drank the water, and gave to her family to drink. She offered some of it to me; but I said I never drank dirty water: and I thought that if she and her servants had taken a comfortable cup of booza or bum it would have done them more good than drinking the washings of a board written over with ink; for the man was a rogue who had made her pay for such stuff. “What!” says she, “do you call the name of God dirty water? it was good to take it.” These rogues, who call themselves malems, impose on the poor ignorant people very much; and the pagans are as fond of having these charms as the Mohamedans. These dirty draughts are a cure for all evils, present and to come, and are called by the people _dua_. Some of their fighting men will confine themselves to their houses for thirty or forty days, fasting during the day, and only drinking and washing with this dirty stuff. If a man is fortunate, or does any feat above the common, it is attributed to the dua, or medicine: neither his wit nor the grace of God gains a man any thing.

Tuesday, 9th.—Clear and warm. The new moon having been seen last night put an end to the fast of the Rhamadan; and this day is kept throughout the northern interior by Mohamedan and Kafir. Every one was dressed in his best, paying and receiving visits, giving and receiving presents, parading the streets with horns, guitars, and flutes; groups of men and women seated under the shade at their doors, or under shady trees, drinking roa bum or booza. I also had my share of visitors: the head man of the town came to drink hot water, as they call my tea. The chief of Ingaskie, the second town in Youri, only a day’s journey distant, sent me a present of a sheep, some rice, and a thousand gora nuts, for which he expects double the amount in return. The women were dressed and painted to the height of Nyffé perfection; and the young and modest on this day would come up and salute the men as if old acquaintances, and bid them joy on the day; with the wool on their heads dressed, plaited, and dyed with indigo; their eyebrows painted with indigo, the eyelashes with khol, the lips stained yellow, the teeth red, and their feet and hands stained with henna; their finest and gayest clothes on; all their finest beads on their necks; their arms and legs adorned with bracelets of glass, brass, and silver, their fingers with rings of brass, pewter, silver, and copper; some had Spanish dollars soldered on the back of the rings. They, too, drank of the booza and roa bum as freely as the men, joining in their songs, whether good or bad. In the afternoon, parties of men were seen dancing: free men and slaves all were alike; not a clouded brow was to be seen in Koolfu; but at nine in the evening the scene was changed from joy and gladness to terror and dismay; a tornado had just began, and the hum of voices and the din of people putting their things under cover from the approaching storm had ceased at once. All was silent as death, except the thunder and the wind. The clouded sky appeared as if on fire; each cloud rolling towards us as a sea of flame, and only surpassed in grandeur and brightness by the forked lightning, which constantly seemed to ascend and descend from what was now evidently the town of Bali on fire, only a short distance outside the walls of Koolfu. When this was extinguished a new scene began, if possible worse than the first. The wind had increased to a hurricane; houses were blown down; roofs of houses going along with the wind like chaff, the shady trees in the town bending and breaking; and, in the intervals between the roaring of the thunder, nothing heard but the war-cry of the men and the screams of women and children, as no one knew but that an enemy was at hand, and that we should every instant share in the fate of Bali. I had the fire-arms loaded when I learned this, and stationed Richard and Pascoe at the door of each hut, and took the command of my landlady’s house, securing the outer door, and putting all the fires out. One old woman roasting ground nuts, quite unconcerned, made as much noise as if she had been going to be put to death when the water was thrown over her fire. At last the rain fell: the fire in Bali had ceased by its being wholly burnt down. In our house we escaped with the roof blown off one coozie, and a shed blown down. All was now quiet; and I went to rest with that satisfaction every man feels when his neighbour’s house is burnt down and his own, thank God! has escaped.

Sunday, 14th.—Mohamed, the Fezzanie, whom I had hired at Tabra, and whom I had sent to the chief of Youri for the books and papers of the late Mungo Park, returned, bringing me a letter from that person, which contained the following account of the death of that unfortunate traveller: that not the least injury was done to him at Youri, or by the people of that country; that the people of Boussa had killed them, and taken all their riches; that the books in his possession were given him by the Imam of Boussa; that they were lying on the top of the goods in the boat when she was taken; that not a soul was left alive belonging to the boat; that the bodies of two black men were found in the boat chained together; that the white men jumped overboard; that the boat was made of two canoes joined fast together, with an awning or roof behind; that he, the sultan, had a gun, double-barrelled, and a sword, and two books that had belonged to those in the boat; that he would give me the books whenever I went to Youri myself for them, not until then.

Monday, 15th.—I am still very weak; Richard worse. I had a letter from the learned Abdurahman, of Kora, a noted chief of banditti, and who once, with his followers, overran Nyffé, and held possession of the capital six months. He now keeps the town of Kora, a day’s journey to the north-east, and is much feared by Mohamedan and Kafir. He is a native of Nyffé. He is particularly anxious that I should visit him, as he wants my acquaintance, and begs I will give him the Psalms of David in Arabic, which he hears I have got. His letter was written on part of the picture of the frontispiece of an European book, apparently Spanish or Portuguese. He says he has something to communicate to me, which cannot be done but by a personal interview; but unless he come to Koolfu I told his messenger, I could not see him.

Tuesday, 23d.—Cool and cloudy. A large caravan arrived from Yourriba. They had come through Borgoo, where they sold what natron they had remaining after they left Yourriba. They were in Katunga when I was there; but were forbidden to hold any communication with us, on pain of having their throats cut. They told me that my friend the fat eunuch had endeavoured to hire a man to assassinate me, but that they were all afraid. There are strong reports of a war between the Sheik El Kanami and the Fellatas. They say the sheik has taken the city of Hadija, and that the governor of Kano is gone out to meet him, as he is advancing upon Kano. Whether it is a report to please the Nyffé people, who cannot bear the Fellatas, or not, I do not know. We had a number of such reports when in Bornou last journey. In the evening a messenger from the sultan of Boussa arrived, bringing me a present of a beautiful little mare. The messenger of the sultan was accompanied by another person from the midaki, a female slave, bringing me rice, yams, and butter. He brought a message from the sultan desiring me to kill a she-goat, and distribute the flesh amongst the inhabitants of Koolfu the day before I left it; that he had distributed gora nuts and salt for me at Boussa, which would do for Koolfu. I was also desired not to eat any meat that came cooked from the west, and which would be sent by the Magia’s female relations from Tabra, as they intended to take away my life by poison. Through the night continual rain, thunder, and lightning.

Thursday, 25th.—Sent Sheeref Mohamed to Raba, a town possessed by the Fellatas, three days south of this, on the banks of the Quorra, with a message to the late Imam of Boussa, who, he says, has got some of the books belonging to the late Mungo Park: one, he tells me, was carried to Yourriba by a Fellata, as a charm and preservative against musket balls. He is either to buy them, or I will give him Arabic books for them in exchange.

Friday, June 17th.—This evening I was talking with a man that is married to one of my landlady’s female slaves, called her daughter, about the manners of the Cumbrie and about England; when he gave the following account of the death of Park and his companions, of which he was an eye-witness: He said that when the boat came down the river, it happened unfortunately just at the time that the Fellatas first rose in arms, and were ravaging Goober and Zamfra; that the sultan of Boussa, on hearing that the persons in the boat were white men, and that the boat was different from any that had ever been seen before, as she had a house at one end, called his people together from the neighbouring towns, attacked and killed them, not doubting that they were the advance guard of the Fellata army then ravaging Soudan, under the command of Malem Danfodio, the father of the present Bello; that one of the white men was a tall man with long hair; that they fought for three days before they were all killed; that the people in the neighbourhood were very much alarmed, and great numbers fled to Nyffé and other countries, thinking that the Fellatas were certainly coming among them. The number of persons in the boat was only four, two white men and two blacks: that they found great treasure in the boat; but that the people had all died who eat of the meat that was found in her. This account I believe to be the most correct of all that I have yet got; and was told without my putting any questions, or showing any eagerness for him to go on with his story. I was often puzzled to think, after the kindness I had received at Boussa, what could have caused such a change in the minds of these people in the course of twenty years, and of their different treatment of two European travellers. I was even disposed at times to flatter myself that there was something in me that belonged to nobody else, to make them treat me and my people with so much kindness; for the friendship of the king of Boussa I consider as my only protection in this country.

Koolfu, or, as it is called by many, Koolfie, is the principal town for trade in Nyffé at present; and at all times a central point for trade in this part of the interior. It is situated on the north bank of the river May-yarrow; and it is surrounded by a clay wall about twenty feet high, and has four gates. It is built in the form of an oblong square, having its longest diameter from east to west; there is a long irregular street runs through it, from which lead a number of smaller streets. There are two large open spaces near the east and west ends of the town, in which are booths, and large shady trees, to protect the people from the heat of the sun, when attending the markets, which are daily held in those places: there are, besides the daily markets, two weekly markets on Mondays and Saturdays, which are resorted to by traders and people inhabiting the sea coast. Ajoolly and the other towns in Yourriba, Cubbi, Youri, Borgoo, Sockatoo, and Zamfra on the north, Bornou and Houssa on the east, and, before the civil war, people from Benin, Jabbo, and the southern parts of Nyffé, used to resort to this town as a central point of trade, where the natives of the different countries were sure to get a ready sale for their goods; either selling them for cowries, or exchanging them for others by way of barter. Those who sold their goods for cowries attend the market daily, and when they have completed their sale, buy at once the goods or wares they want, and return home. Such is the way of the small traders, who are nine out of ten women, and are principally from the west part of the Quorra, even as far off as Niki: they carry their goods on their heads in packages, from sixty to eighty and a hundred pounds weight. The goods these people bring from the west are principally salt, and cloths worn by the women round their loins, of about six yards in length and two in breadth, made of the narrow striped cloth, in which red silk is generally woven, and a great deal of blue cotton; this is called Azane, and the best are worth about three thousand to five thousand cowries, or two dollars:—Jabbo cloths, which are about the same length as the others, and about the breadth of our sail-cloth, are worn by slaves, and have a stripe or two of blue in them; the poor classes also wear them, men and women:—Peppers, called monsoura, shitta, and kimba; monsoura is like our East India pepper; shitta is the malagetta pepper of the coast; kimba is a small thin pepper, growing on a bush, near the sea coast, in Yourriba, of a red colour, like Chili pepper:—Red wood from Benin, which is pounded to a powder and made into a paste; women and children are rubbed with this, mixed with a little grease, every morning; and very frequently a woman is to be seen with a large score of it on her face, arms, or some part of her body, as a cure for some imaginary pain or other:—A small quantity of calico or red cloth is sometimes brought, which is of European manufacture. They take back principally natron, beads made at Venice of various kinds, and come by the way of Tripoli and Ghadamis, and unwrought silk of various colours, principally red, of about one ounce in weight, and is sold here at three thousand cowries; it and natron are as good as cowries.

The caravans from Bornou and Houssa, which always halt here a considerable time, bring horses, natron, unwrought silk, beads, silk cords, swords that once belonged to Malta, exchanged for bullocks at Bengazie, in the regency of Tripoli, sent to Kano and remounted, and then sold all over the desert and the interior; these swords will sell for ten or twenty dollars a piece or that value, and sometimes more; cloths made up in the Moorish fashion; looking-glasses of Italian manufacture from about a penny a piece to a shilling in Malta; tobes or large shirts undyed, made in Bornou; khol or lead used as blacking for the eye-lids; a small quantity of ottar of roses, much adulterated; sweet smelling gum from Mecca; a scented wood also from the East; silks the manufacture of Egypt; turbans; red Moorish caps with blue silk tassels; and sometimes a few tunics of checked silk and linen made in Egypt: the last are generally brought by Arabs. A number of slaves are also brought from Houssa and Bornou, who are either sold here or go further on. The Bornou caravans never go further than this place, though generally some of their number accompany the Houssa merchants to Agolly in Yourriba, Gonja, and Borgoo, from which they bring Kolla or Gora nuts, cloth of woollen, printed cottons, brass and pewter dishes, earthenware, a few muskets, a little gold, and the wares mentioned before as brought from Yourriba. They carry their goods on bullocks, asses, and mules; and a great number of fine women hire themselves to carry loads on their heads; their slaves, male and female, are also loaded. The Bornou merchants, during their stay, stop in the town in the houses of their friends or acquaintances, and give them a small present on their arrival and departure, for the use of the house. The Houssa merchants stop outside the walls in little straw huts or leathern tents, which they erect themselves. They sell their goods and wares in their houses or tents; the small wares they send to the market and round to the different houses by their slaves to sell; there are also a number of male and female brokers in the town, whom they also intrust. The pedlers or western merchants always live in the houses of the town, and attend the markets daily, employing their spare time in spinning cotton, which they provide themselves with on their arrival, and support themselves by this kind of labour. There have been no fewer than twenty-one of these mercantile women living in my landlady’s house at one time, all of them from Yourriba and Borgoo: these women attend the markets at the different towns between this and their homes, buying and selling as they go along. The caravans from Cubbi, Youri, and Zamfra, bring principally slaves and salt, which they exchange for natron, Gora nuts, beads, horses, tobes dyed of a dark blue, having a glossy and coppery tinge. The slaves intended for sale are confined in the house, mostly in irons, and are seldom allowed to go out of it, except to the well or river every morning to wash; they are strictly guarded on a journey, and chained neck to neck; or else tied neck to neck in a long rope of raw hide, and carry loads on their heads consisting of their master’s goods, or his household stuff; these loads generally from fifty to sixty pounds weight. A stranger may remain a long time in a town without seeing any of the slaves, except by accident, or making particular inquiry. The duties which traders pay here are collected by the people of Tabra, who take twenty cowries from every loaded person, forty for an ass, and fifty for a loaded bullock.

The inhabitants may amount to from twelve to fifteen thousand, including all classes, the slave and the free; they are mostly employed in buying and selling, though there are a great number of dyers, tailors, blacksmiths, and weavers, yet all these are engaged in buying and selling; few of these descriptions ever go on distant journeys to trade, and still fewer attend the wars, except it be to buy slaves from the conquerors. I have seen slaves exposed for sale here, the aged, infirm, and the idiot, also children at the breast, whose mothers had either fled, died, or been put to death. The domestic slaves are looked upon almost as the children of the family, and if they behave well, humanely treated: the males are often freed, and the females given in marriage to freemen, at other times to the male domestic slaves of the family; when such is the case a house is given to them, and if he be a mechanic, he lives in the town, and works at his trade; if not, in the country, giving his owner part of the produce, if not made free; in both cases they always look upon the head of such owner’s family as their lord, and call him or her father or mother.

The food of the free and the slave is nearly the same; perhaps the master or mistress may have a little fat flesh, fish, or fowl, more than their slaves, and his meat is served in a separate place and dish; but the greatest man or woman in the country is not ashamed at times to let their slaves eat out of the same dish, but a woman is never allowed to eat with a man. Their food consists of ground maize, made into puddings or loaves, and about half a pound each, sold at five cowries each in the market; of flummery, or, as they call it in Scotland, sowens, made from the ground millet, which is allowed to stand covered with water, until it gets a little sour; it is then well stirred and strained through a strainer of basketwork into another vessel, when it is left to settle, and the water being strained off, it is dried in the sun; when perfectly dry, it is broken into lumps and kept in a sack or basket; when used it is put into boiling water, and well stirred, until of a sufficient thickness; this makes a very pleasant and healthy breakfast with a little honey or salt, and is sold in the market at two cowries a pint every morning, and is called Koko. They have a pudding made of ground millet, boiled in the ley of wood ashes, which gives a red colour; this is always eaten with fat or stewed meat, fish, or fowl. They always stew or grill their meat: when we have it in any quantity it is half grilled and smoked, to preserve until it is wanted to be used. Boiled beans made up in papers of a pound or a half pound each, and wrapped in leaves, sold for two cowries each, and called waki. Beans dried in the sun sold at one cowrie a handful. Small balls of boiled rice, mixed with rice flower, called Dundakaria, a cowrie a piece, mixed with water, and serves as meat and drink. Small balls of rice, mixed with honey and pepper, called Bakaroo, sold at five cowries each. Small balls made from bean flowers, fried in fat, like a bunch of grapes. Their intoxicating draughts are the palm wine called roa bum, bouza, and aquadent, very much adulterated and mixed with pepper.

At daylight the whole household arise: the women begin to clean the house, the men to wash from head to foot; the women and children are then washed in water, in which the leaf of a bush has been boiled called Bambarnia: when this is done, breakfast of cocoa is served out, every one having their separate dish, the women and children eating together. After breakfast the women and children rub themselves over with the pounded red wood and a little grease, which lightens the darkness of the black skin. A score or patch of the red powder is put on some place where it will show to the best advantage. The eyes are blacked with khol. The mistress and the better looking females stain their teeth and the inside of the lips of a yellow colour with gora, the flower of the tobacco plant, and the bark of a root: the outer part of the lips, hair, and eye-brows, are stained with shuni, or prepared indigo. Then the women who attend the market prepare their wares for sale, and when ready go. The elderly women prepare, clean, and spin cotton at home and cook the victuals; the younger females are generally sent round the town selling the small rice balls, fried beans, &c. and bringing a supply of water for the day. The master of the house generally takes a walk to the market, or sits in the shade at the door of his house, hearing the news, or speaking of the price of natron or other goods. The weavers are daily employed at their trade; some are sent to cut wood, and bring it to market; others to bring grass for the horses that may belong to the house, or to take to the market to sell; numbers, at the beginning of the rainy season, are employed in clearing the ground for sowing the maize and millet; some are sent on distant journeys to buy and sell for their master or mistress, and very rarely betray their trust. About noon they return home, when all have a mess of the pudding called waki, or boiled beans, and about two or three in the afternoon they return to their different employments, on which they remain until near sunset, when they count their gains to their master or mistress, who receives it, and puts it carefully away in their strong room. They then have a meal of pudding and a little fat or stew. The mistress of the house, when she goes to rest, has her feet put into a cold poultice of the pounded henna leaves. The young then go to dance and play, if it is moonlight, and the old to lounge and converse in the open square of the house, or in the outer coozie, where they remain until the cool of the night, or till the approach of morning drives them into shelter.

Their marriages are the same amongst the Mohamedans as they are in other countries, where they profess that faith. The pagan part first agree to go together, giving the father and mother a present, and, if rich, the present is sent with music, each separate article being borne on the head of a female slave. The Mohamedans bury in the same manner as they do in other parts of the world. The pagans dig a round hole like a well, about six feet deep, sometimes in the house, sometimes in the threshold of the door, and sometimes in the woods: the corpse is placed in a sitting posture, with the wrists tied round the neck, the hams and legs close to the body: a hole is left at the mouth of the grave, and the relations and acquaintances leave tobes, cloth, and other articles at the small round hole, and telling the dead persons to give this to so and so: these things are always removed before the morning by the priest. The majority of the inhabitants of Koolfu profess to be Mahometans, the rest Pagans, whose mode of worship I never could learn, except that they, like the inhabitants of the other towns in Nyffé, attended once a year in one of the southern provinces, where there was a high hill, on which they sacrificed a black bull, a black sheep, and a black dog. The figures on their houses of worship are much the same as in Yourriba: the lizard, crocodile, the tortoise, and the boa-serpent, with sometimes men and women. Their language is a dialect of the Yourriba, but the Houssa tongue is the language of the market. Their houses and court are kept very clean, as also the court-yard, which is sprinkled every morning with water, having the shell of the bean of the mitta tree boiled in it, which stains it of a dark brown colour; and each side of the doors of the coozies or huts are stained with indigo and ornamented with figures. The women have the stone for grinding the corn, pepper, &c. raised on a clay bench inside the house, so that they can stand upright while they grind the corn; an improvement to be seen in no other part of the interior, or in Fezzan, the women having to sit on their knees when grinding corn. Their gourd dishes are also of the first order for cleanliness, neatness, and good carving and staining, as also their mats, straw bags, and baskets.

They are civil, but the truth is not in them, and to be detected in a lie is not the smallest disgrace, it only causes a laugh. They are also great cheats. The men drink very hard, even the Mahometans; and the women are generally of easy virtue. Notwithstanding all this against them, they are a people of a natural good disposition; for when it is considered that they have been twice burnt out of the town by the enemy within the last six years, and that they have had a civil war desolating the country for the last seven years, and been subject to the inroads of the Fellatas during twenty years, and having neither established law nor government but what a present sense of right and wrong dictates, I am surprised that they are as good as they are.

I witnessed while here several acts of real kindness and goodness of heart to one another. When the town of Bali was burnt down, every person sent next day what they could spare of their goods, to assist the unfortunate inhabitants. My landlady, who has given away a number of her female slaves to freemen for wives, looks upon them as her own children, attending them when sick; and one who had a child while I was here, at the giving it a name, she sent seventy different dishes of meat, corn, and drink, to assist at the feast on that occasion. In all my dealings with them they tried and succeeded in cheating me, but they had an idea that I was possessed of inexhaustible riches; and besides, I differed with them in colour, in dress, in religion, and in my manner of living. I was considered therefore as a pigeon for them to pluck. Had they been rogues, indeed, they might have taken all I had; but, on the contrary, I never had an article stolen, and was even treated with the most perfect respect and civility they were masters of.

I believe it is generally considered in England, that when a negro slave is attached to his master, he will part with his life for him. Instances of this kind are not so common as they ought to be, when it is considered that all of these slaves are brought up from their childhood, and know no other parent or protector; and if they were to run away, or behave so ill as to cause him to sell them, they would never be so well off as they were before. Those who are taken when grown-up men or women, and even boys and girls, run whenever an opportunity offers, and, whenever they can, take their owner’s goods or cattle to assist them on their journey. Instances of this kind happened every night.

They have very few bullocks, sheep, or goats, in the country; but that is owing to the desolating war. Corn they have in abundance, as that cannot be driven away by plundering parties. The surrounding country is a level plain, well cultivated, and studded with little walled towns and villages, along the banks of the May-yarrow, and another little river running into it from the north. It is subject to the Majia, but never visited by him or his people, except to attend the market, or collect the duties from the traders. The town of Kufu, at a short distance (not a mile), has a quarrel with another little town about half a mile from it, called Lajo, the latter having taken the wife of a man, whom they thought they had killed and left for dead, and selling her; hence arose a regular system of retaliation; and they take and sell one another whenever they have an opportunity. Every other night almost the war-cry was raised about stealing asses, oxen, or murder; and sometimes the inhabitants of Koolfu would join in the fray, always siding with Kufu.

Monday, 19th.—Having been detained thus long at Koolfu, by my own and my servant Richard’s illness, we left it this morning, accompanied by the head man and the principal inhabitants of Koolfu, who went with me as far as the walled and warlike village of Kufu, where I stopped for the night. Here the head man of Koolfu introduced me to the head man of Kufu, who provided me with a good house, and made me a present of a sheep and some cooked meat. I had also presents of meat sent me by the principal inhabitants. The people of Kufu, not satisfied with having frequently seen me and my servants at Koolfu, are in the habit of mounting some trees growing on a small hill close to and overlooking my house and court-yard, to get another and a last look: party came after party until sunset, when they went away.

My landlady, the widow Laddie, also accompanied me to Kufu, where she remained all night. I thought it had been out of a great regard for me; but I was soon let into the secret, by five of her slaves arriving with booza and bum, which she began selling in my court-yard to the different merchants, bullock-drivers, and slaves assembled here, who are going to the eastward.

The village of Kufu is walled, and only about two musket shots from the other walled village, which is to the south, and with whom they are at heavy war. The space between is generally occupied by the caravans bound to the eastward, who usually halt here for a week to complete their purchases at the market of Koolfu before they start. The country around has a rich and clay soil, planted with indigo, cotton, Indian corn, and yams.

Tuesday, 20th.—Having given the head man of Kufu thirty Gora nuts, with which he was well pleased, and loaded the bullocks, horse, ass, and camel, at 6 A.M. left Kufu. The path, or road, through a woody country: the trees consisting mostly of the micadania, or butter tree, which does not grow to a large size; the largest only about the size of our apple trees in Europe, and this only seldom: their girth is not above two or three feet. The path was winding; the soil a deep red clay, covered with a thin layer of sand.

Wednesday, 21st.—After passing a great number of towns and villages, we arrived at a walled town called Bullabulla, where we encamped outside. As soon as my tent was pitched, I was surrounded by the inhabitants. They were quite amused with my hat; and the women soon found that I was a stranger, and no Moslem, and charged me three times as much for any thing I wanted to buy as they would any body else. They brought boiled beans, fowls, pudding, goats, sheep, wood, and water, for sale. The young men were dressed in a very fanciful manner, with a bandeau of beads, red and white; the wool cut short, and shaved in circles and straight lines; round the neck strings of red and white beads, with pendants of white beads attached to the lowest string, and reaching to the upper part of the breast; round the loins a tanned sheep or goat’s skin, cut into thongs, to the ends of which were attached beads or cowrie shells. Those who pretended to be Mahometans wore a tobe or large loose shirt; but these were few in number, not more than two or three.

The young women wore a string of large beads round the loins; where they had not beads they had pieces of bone, round which was twisted a piece of narrow brown or blue cloth; the beads, bone, or cloth, showing alternately, and hanging down about a foot before and behind, fringed at the end, with cowries or beads attached to the ends of the fringe. They appeared a good looking active set of people, but suspicious. Every two or three women had an armed man to attend them, and to see that they got paid for what they sold. By all accounts they are very ill used, both by their rulers and those who are not. Their wives and children are stolen and made slaves by every one who can seize them; and rulers, whenever a demand is made on them, take them by force and sell them as slaves.

Thursday, 22d.—Left Bullabulla, and travelled through plantations of grain, indigo, and cotton; the soil and clay mixed with sand, and here and there large blocks of sandstone, in which were nodules of iron, and veins of clay ironstone; the face of the country diversified with hills and dales; some of the hills to the south rising into table-topped mounts; the country open and clear; every thing at this season looking green and gay. Halted at the walled town of Rajadawa, the head man of which wished me to stop in the town, but I preferred halting outside. He sent me a present of cooked meat, rice, and honey. I gave him in return three yards of silk, a pair of scissors, and fifty Gora nuts. At this town they take, for the chief of Youri, from every loaded bullock 500 cowries, and from every loaded ass 300 cowries. The inhabitants are Cumbrie and pagans, except the head man and about a dozen others, who profess to be Mahometans. They say the governor, like his master of Youri, is a great rogue; and invites people within his walls to detain them, and screw as much out of them as he can. Rajadawa is walled (a clay wall and ditch), and may contain from 6000 to 7000 inhabitants. The environs are clear of wood, and planted with grain, yams, gaza (a kind of potatoe, yellow inside, and very watery, leaving an unpleasant taste in the mouth after eating), indigo, and cotton. We had a plentiful market in the camp. The principal articles for sale were raw bullocks’ flesh, fowls, millet, boiled yams, pudding, &c.

At noon on the 24th, after passing numerous villages, we arrived at the town of Wazo, or Wazawo, the first town in the province of Kotongkora, where the merchants had to pay 250 cowries for every loaded ass, bullock, horse, or mule: of course I passed free, being a white man, and went through the town with my baggage, and encamped about a mile to the eastward of the town. The town of Wazo is built on the shelving side of a rocky mount: on the south-east side is a wall with two gates; the steep sides of the mountain serving as a wall on the other side. The inhabitants are all Cumbrie and pagans; and to-day they are holding a festival, so that we can get nothing to buy. After my tent was pitched, I engaged one of the natives for a few cowries to accompany me to hunt. I saw very little game, except five antelopes, out of gunshot. On my return to the tent I found the head man of Wazo had sent me one fowl, and some millet for the horses, for which he expects nine or ten times the value in return. The value of his present altogether, at the highest price, is not above 200 cowries. I had to make my dinner of raw flour, water, and an onion, reserving the fowl for my sick servant. During the night heavy rain, but without thunder or lightning.

Monday, 26th.—Morning dull and cloudy. The chief servant of Wazo’s head man came to my tent early in the morning in a great fright, saying his master was going to hang him, as he thought he had stole part of the present I had sent him. He said he wished that Moussa or myself would go into the town and bear witness that he had delivered all I gave him. I thought it was only a trick to cause further delay, or to catch something else; I therefore sent Moussa, and on his return had the bullocks loaded; and at 9.30 A.M. left the place of our encampment near Wazo. Our path was rocky and very winding, having high rocky mounts to the east, with steep perpendicular sides, the tops of most occupied by villages and little walled towns. The inhabitants came into the valleys with millet, boiled beans, yams, and cashew nuts, &c. to sell; the sellers were all women, every two or three having an armed male protector. In a narrow pass in the valley, as I had lingered behind the caravan, I fell in with a very interesting group, consisting of about a dozen of the natives, all young men, gaily dressed in their beads and tasselled skins, armed with bows and arrows and a light spear, some sitting and others standing; in the midst of them were three Fitakies, and a jackass without a load. The north side of the pass was formed by a high mount, rising perpendicular for about thirty feet above the path, over which hung trees, and on the top of the mount a little village, to which the young men belonged; the south side was formed by a large block of granite, on which the party were seated, the Fitakies looking as grave as the poor ass. At first I thought it was a robbery, and began to prepare my gun, but as I drew close and inquired what was the matter, before I intended to fire, it proved to be the Fitakies selling a sick jackass, which was unable to carry its load to the natives, to kill for food, as they consider its flesh as medicine, and good for coughs and pains in the chest. At noon arrived at the town of Wazo, which is situated in a narrow part of the valley, partly built on the shelving side of a mountain, which forms the south side of the pass and valley, the other part of the town and wall, on the north side; here the Fitakies had to pay ninety cowries for each loaded ass or bullock; I, of course, passed without payment. After passing Worm, or Wormzou, as it is sometimes called, the valley opened out to the south as far as the eye could reach; the mountains on the left bending more to the north. At 3 P.M. crossed a small stream running to the south, whose bed, when covered with water, is dangerous to man and beast, owing to the sharp rocks in its bed, which, from the muddiness of its waters, are not seen. We halted at a short distance from its eastern bank. Our place of encampment was soon filled by the inhabitants of the neighbouring little towns, having raw goat’s flesh, boiled beans, millet, and pudding for sale; as usual all Cumbrie, and every two or three women attended by an armed companion to see fair play; the men and women dressed in the same gay style as usual; upon the whole they were a fine, active, clean-looking people: most of the men had a bastard kind of greyhound following them, whose necks were ornamented with colours and strings of cowries. Every man working in the plantations, as I came along, was armed, owing, they say, to the frequent inroads of the Fellatas. At sunset all our visitors left us, and we had a severe storm of rain, thunder, and lightning.

Wednesday, 28th.—For the last five days we have been travelling through a rich and beautiful valley and over woody hills, and arrived at Womba. The capital of this province is called Kotonkora, and distant from Womba, north, thirty miles. Before the Fellatas took Haussa and its dependencies, Womba belonged to the province of Kashna; and at the death of Bello’s father, it, along with the rest of the Towias, threw off the yoke of the Fellatas, declared its independence, which it still maintains, and joined the Towias, or confederation, against their conquerors. All the caravans from the east and west halt a day or two at this town, and pay for each loaded ass or bullock five hundred cowries; besides, the head man of each caravan makes a present, for which he receives, in return, a dish or two of cooked meat, or a sheep. The town is in latitude 10° 35′, and longitude 7° 22′. It is situated on a rising ground, having a commanding rocky hill of granite to the east, one on the south, and another to the north, all bare of vegetation except a few patches here and there; to the west is an open valley. A small stream of water runs past the western gate, from which the town is supplied with water. The valleys for two miles round are cleared, cultivated, and planted with millet, doura, yams, cotton, &c., as is likewise every spare space within the walls this year, as there is a scarcity of grain this season throughout the whole of the eastern interior, owing to last year’s rains being very scanty, and they fear this may be the same. The town is walled round; the wall is also in good repair, and has a dry ditch on the outside; its height between twenty and thirty feet. It has four gates, which are shut every night at sunset. The inhabitants may amount from ten to twelve thousand souls; they possess plenty of sheep, oxen, and horses, the latter apparently a cross from the large Bornou and the small native African, and are a strong, hardy race, like what in Scotland are called highland ponies, but not quite so tall.

Friday, June 30th.—At daylight loaded the bullocks, and at 7 A.M. sent them off. I went to the governor’s house and took leave of him. He gave me a messenger to the chief of Guari, and lent me a man to lead my camel. After leaving him, I rode and joined the caravan. Passed two towns called Gilma, the one built on the top of a rocky hill, the other at a few hundred yards from its base. They are at hot war one with the other, and seldom a day passes without some one or other belonging to either town being killed. Yesterday we heard there were twelve of the lower town’s-people killed in a pitched battle between them. Their usual field of battle was pointed out to me by the messenger; it is a clear spot of about three hundred yards broad, between the south wall of the lower town and the base of the hill. Parties of women belonging to both towns were working in these fields, but parties of armed men kept walking up and down between them and the enemy.

Saturday, July 1st.—Left our encampment, and travelled through a country well cleared and cultivated near the road planted with millet, &c.; the soil, red clay and gravel. At 10 A.M. passed round the south side of a town called Akingie, which was walled, large, and populous, the environs cleared and planted with grain on the east side. Found the town’s-people collecting the toll from the Fitakies of the caravan who had preceded us in the morning. They had here a regular toll-gate, not painted white and hung on hinges like those in England, but the collectors of the toll were lusty rude fellows, armed with clubs and staves, the head man with a sword. After passing the toll of Akingie the country became more hilly and woody; the soil stony and gravelly, and little cultivated. At noon arrived at the town of Curigie, where I halted, the head man of which, having provided me with a house, made a present of two fowls, with millet for my horses and camel. The walls of this town are extensive, but the houses are few, partly built on a hill and part in the valley. At this season both inside and outside of the town has a beautiful appearance, from the large spreading and shady trees inside the town. The houses, some of which are built on the top of the blocks of granite which form the hill, are beautifully situated; green plats, overhung by shady trees, growing out of the clefts of the rocks.

Sunday, 2d.—Morning dull and cloudy. At 7.30 A.M. left Curigie. The path through a woody country, with small cultivated spots here and there. The soil is red clay, mixed with sand and gravel, and diversified with gentle hill and dale. At one passed a town called Sabonque, apparently a favourite name in Kashna from the number of that name. They till the ground for a considerable distance, and plant it with doura, millet, yams, and sweet potatoes. Close to the east of the town runs a small stream, which is now full and deep. We had to unload the bullocks and carry the baggage over; a great many of them getting wet, and Pascoe lost my shot belt in the stream. In the evening we halted outside the walls of a town called Guber in Dushee. The head man, and the greater part of the inhabitants, were out of the town, at their plantations in the country, attending the growing grain; we therefore could get nothing for man or beast but grass. Guber in Dushee, or “the rock without an equal,” is situated on a height, with several large blocks of granite, inside the walls, which are extensive: few houses are to be seen, except those situated on the highest ground.

Monday, 3d.—At 7.40 A.M. left Guber in Dushee wet and hungry. The country woody; the path stony, wet, slippery, and cut up by deep ravines, through which run streams of water; the descent and ascent dangerous to man and beast. As we approached Guari, the country became very hilly, and the path winding; the valleys began to be cultivated, and the road thronged with passengers; and on the sides of the road were the remains of camps of caravans; and as we drew closer to the city the camps were occupied by the merchants of the caravans bound to the west. At four arrived at the walls of the old city, and entering the western gate, rode round and over part of the hill on which the city is built, by a footpath, which cuts off about two miles: entered the eastern gate of the new city, where I was met by forty horsemen sent by the chief to conduct me into the town. I rode up to the door of the chief’s house or castle, who came out instantly, and received me very kindly, and, after exchanging compliments, he sent me with his chief eunuch to a house prepared for me, where shortly after was brought a live sheep, millet for the horses and camel, cooked meat for me and my servants, consisting of pudding made from the seeds of grass, the same as what is called tiff in Abyssinia, equal to any flour pudding made with milk and eggs in England: it is called asha in Houssa: I had also two stewed capons, the largest I ever saw.