Chapter VIII

The Author quits Kano to join his master — His illness on the road — Anecdotes of the natives, and his reception by them — Pasko’s last robbery, and elopement — He is overtaken, and brought back — The Tuarick merchants — The Author’s arrival at Soccatoo, the metropolis of the Falatah empire — Residence there — Pasko’s dismissal, conduct, and marriage.

On the 25th of November I left the city of Kano, accompanied by _honest_ Pasko, who had just been liberated from his confinement, Abdulfitha the Arab, and messengers from Bello and the governor of Kano. At one in the afternoon our party halted at Zungugwâ; but the camel, in endeavouring to enter by one of the narrow gates of the town, unfortunately broke two boxes, in which were contained stationery and other articles. This accident detained us outside the walls for more than an hour, when the men were obliged to take the goods on their heads, and carry them to the residence of the chief, at a distance of half a mile from the spot. I waited on him myself shortly afterwards, and gave him a pair of scissors, fifty needles, and a small paper of cloves, all which pleased him highly. The chief then led me into one of his best huts, where he told me I might remain till I felt inclined to leave the place, and shortly afterwards sent me butter, sour milk, a couple of fine fowls, with tuah and corn.

I awoke early in the morning of the 26th, and leaving the hut of the hospitable chief, after a ride of six hours, came to Markee, a large, though thinly inhabited village, the chief of which, a kind-hearted old man, upwards, I should think, of ninety years of age, and withal very feeble, was delighted to see me, and testified the pleasure he felt by repeatedly shaking hands with me for the space of half an hour; and would undoubtedly have pulled off my arm, if I had not expressed myself too greatly fatigued to stand so long a time in one place. After a short conversation, he conducted me into an inner apartment, and, bidding me to sit, took from a calabash which was suspended from the ceiling a small box made of skin, round which had been wound, with the greatest care, upwards of five hundred yards of thread, which occupied him twenty minutes in taking off. This having been done, he showed me four bits of tin lying at the bottom of the box, about the size of swan and common shot. The old chief then gave me to understand, with much seriousness, as well as earnestness of manner, that the little balls I was looking at had been given to him by an Arab fifteen years before, who had positively affirmed that they were of silver, and possessed of life. The larger pieces, the old man continued, were of the masculine, and the smaller of the feminine gender; the latter of which would produce young at the end of every twelve years, and till the expiration of that period were by no means to be looked at!

In order to impart warmth to the balls, he had enveloped them in a quantity of cotton wool, and the thread had been tied round the box, that the offspring might have no opportunity of escaping! “But,” said the hoary-headed chief, with a disappointed air, “though I kept them with the utmost care, agreeably to the instructions I had received, for twelve years, to my consternation and sorrow, at the end of that period, I found that they had made no increase, and I begin to think that they never will;” in saying which, the tender-hearted man was so grievously affected that he burst into tears. It was with the greatest difficulty that I could refrain from laughing aloud in his face; but succeeded at length in subduing the strong inclination I had to be merry, and I told him, with all the solemnity the occasion required, that the Arab was a rogue and had deceived him; that the articles he had so highly valued were bits of tin, and not of silver; that they were without life, and, therefore, could not infuse the living principle into other inanimate substances. I consoled the old gentleman, however, upon the hoax that had been so successfully played off upon him, and sympathized with him in his sorrow.

His mind soon afterwards became more composed, although at times he could not help sobbing audibly; and after answering numerous questions put to me about my country, I complained of indisposition, and retired to rest.

After spending a sleepless night, I arose unrefreshed at six in the morning, and pursuing our journey, passed close to a large Falatah town, called Kiowah, in the neighbourhood of which were numerous herds of horned cattle grazing. Here, as in other parts of Houssa, the cows are mostly white, and the sheep of the same colour, spotted with red and black, which occasioned the latter animals to have a very agreeable appearance at a distance, and recalled to my memory Jacob’s spotted sheep, mentioned in Scripture. In the afternoon we arrived at Guâri, a large walled town with an indifferent population. The beasts were unable to enter the gate with their loads, by reason of its narrowness, and being unwilling for the men to take them into the town on their heads, which would have occupied a considerable time—much longer, indeed, than my fatigue and illness would allow, I reposed for the night underneath the branches of a large tree. On being made acquainted with my arrival, the chief paid me a visit, and seating himself by my side, entered most familiarly into conversation with me, in the course of which he observed that tigers abounded in the neighbourhood, and unless I kept fires burning during the whole of the night, my attendants and cattle would in all probability be attacked and destroyed by those rapacious animals. He also informed me, that two years before, the Gooberites took and pillaged his town, putting to the sword nearly the whole of its inhabitants, and he himself narrowly escaped with life. This was, no doubt, the reason of the scantiness of the population, and the poverty of the chief and his remaining subjects. As soon as the chief had returned to the town, a new-married couple paid me a visit. To the bride, a very interesting girl of eighteen, I gave guinea-nuts, to the value of one hundred cowries, on accepting which she dropped on one knee, and thanked me in a modest but graceful manner; and in the evening, in return for the trifling present I had given her, she sent me some butter-milk, which was an acceptable gift at that time.

At the usual hour, on the morning of the 28th, we again set out, and halted at a small wretched looking village, called Kookay, at twelve at noon. The inhabitants, who were as squalid in appearance as their village was contemptible, were miserably attired, and complained sadly, amongst other grievances, of the mischief done to their crops by repeated visits of wild pigs, which had completely destroyed the principal part of them.

At noon of the next day we stopped at Duncammee, a moderately sized walled town, with an overflowing population. I was both surprised and pleased to observe the neatness of this town, and the tidiness of its inhabitants. Every inch of spare ground was planted with tobacco, and tastefully fenced round with the dried stalks of that plant. The inhabitants at the northern quarter of the town manufacture large quantities of cotton cloths, which are neat and durable. The wall, by which the town is surrounded, was in a decayed state, but the houses were in excellent condition. The chief welcomed me to his dwelling, and offered me the best apartment in it; and to remunerate his generosity I gave him a clasp knife and a hundred needles.

On the morning of the 30th we were again in motion, and halted at Gaza at noon. The chief, like his neighbours, was happy to see me, lodged me in his own house, and paid every attention to my wants.

Next day we continued our journey at the usual hour, and halted at Royoó at one o’clock at noon. In that town I became suddenly worse, lost my sight in an extraordinary manner, and could not rise in bed from excessive weakness and pain. Fancying I should be able to proceed no further, and that my existence was drawing rapidly to a close, I called Pasko to my bed-side, and implored him, after he had buried me, to take particular care of the property he would be left in charge of, and travel with the utmost expedition to Soccatoo, where he would be rewarded, according to his deserts, by Captain Clapperton; for thief and villain as he had proved himself to be, he had some good points, and I thought that the oath he had taken before the Governor of Kano would have bound him to honesty.

On the 1st of December I remained dreadfully ill, expecting every moment to draw my last breath; but at two o’clock on the afternoon of the next day I rallied a little, and although unable to sit up, determined to see my dear master, if possible, before I died. With this object in view, I ordered my people to prepare a couch for me on the back of the camel, after which they lifted me gently into it, and I almost immediately desired them to proceed.

The Chief of Royoó, who was one of Bello’s principal fighting men, behaved particularly kindly to me, and I really believe sincerely sympathized in my distress. He expressed his regret and sorrow at parting with me in so languid a state, and intimated, that it would be dangerous to go on, although he did not oppose my resolution, when he saw it would be useless to do so. The path, the greater part of the way, being very narrow, and thickly lined on each side with a species of prickly thorn, I was annoyed greatly, in consequence of their sharp points frequently tearing the covering from my bed, and exposing my body to the intense heat of a burning sun. The Kano messenger, however, ascertaining the cause of my uneasiness, and compassionating my misery, rode before the camel, and with the greatest dexterity lopped off the overhanging branches that were likely to impede the animal’s progress, which rendered the remaining part of the journey infinitely more tolerable. The violent shaking of the camel caused a faintness to come over me several times on the road, on which occasions my party uniformly halted until I revived; and in this manner we travelled till seven in the evening, when we entered the walled town of Koólefée.

The chief, a remarkably fine old man, never having seen a white man, was in transports the moment he learnt I was in the town; and running to the camel, he took me from off its back, and carried me into an apartment which had been hastily prepared for my reception. Placing me on a mat, he took a goora nut from his pocket, and holding it betwixt his finger and thumb, intreated me to chew one end of it, in order that he might have the honor of eating with a white man, and a Christian; this I succeeded in doing after some difficulty, when he immediately ate the remainder with much apparent satisfaction. His great men, who surrounded me, reproved the chief sharply for doing this; but quickly answering them in a pleasant and firm tone, he said that he believed the “Little Christian” was as good a man as himself, or any of them; which effectually silenced their remarks. The chief shortly afterwards went out, and returning in a few minutes with a bowl containing six quarts of new milk, sweetened with honey, told me that he was determined to see me swallow the whole of it before he left the apartment. Contrary to his wishes, however, I partook sparingly of the contents of the bowl at first, but during the night took large and repeated draughts, which refreshed and invigorated me.

On arising the following morning, I found myself so much better, that I travelled on horseback, although not without much difficulty, to Zunko, a miserable village in which we slept.

At sunrise on the 4th, we resumed our journey, and after a fatiguing ride of seven hours, arrived at Roma, a town insignificant as to size, but which being built on an eminence, commands a delightful prospect of the country for miles round. As soon as I entered the house of the chief, in which I slept, he made me the accustomed presents of provisions, &c. for which he accepted in return a pair of scissars, a hundred needles, and a paper of cloves. Several Falatah girls of a bright copper colour; came to me in the evening, who were exceedingly beautiful, having delicate and graceful forms; and, with a curiosity so natural to their sex, were all eager to catch a glimpse of the “Little Christian,” they having before seen the “_Great_ Christian,” as my master was called. In the course of the afternoon some of these damsels brought me milk and butter, for which I requited them with a few glass beads. In the night, I was rejoiced to find that my disorder, from the effects of which I had suffered so greatly, left me entirely: and from that hour my health rapidly and wonderfully improved.

We bade adieu to the chief of Roma early in the morning of the fifth, and arrived at a contemptible village, called Bogell, in the course of the afternoon. Having slept there, we pursued our journey on the following day, and on entering Zulamee, the chief capered for joy on welcoming me to his town, and ordered four men to guard the beasts and property. A band of robbers having infested the neighbourhood for some time, had committed serious depredations on the inhabitants; and the chief, fancying that if the goods were left unprotected, they would be stolen, desired me to discharge a gun morning and evening, that the brigands might not think I was unprepared to receive them. They did not, however, think proper to molest me; but the King of Kashna was not quite so fortunate, for on the preceding day a fine horse was stolen from him, which he never afterwards recovered. I remained at Zulamee two days, in order to recruit the spirits of the party, and refresh the animals under their charge.

We quitted the town on the morning of the ninth, and sleeping at Gundumowah, a small but neat Falatah village, arrived at Sansanee on the following day. The country traversed was thickly wooded, and the path lay for three hours through a large bush, which having recently been visited by a horde of elephants, the impressions of whose feet were very perceptible, travelling was rendered extremely unpleasant, and even dangerous. On our arrival the chief of the town ordered an open shed, occupied by a number of calves, to be cleaned out for our reception. In the evening, placing the baggage in the centre, I desired the men to lie around it, whilst I reposed near the most valuable articles. Not deeming the property sufficiently secure in so exposed a place, my sleep was rather disturbed; and arising about ten or eleven o’clock in the night, I found that my camel had strayed from outside the shed. Being unwilling to arouse my drowsy companions, I went myself in quest of him; and on returning a short time afterwards, discovered, to my infinite surprise and alarm, that Pasko had decamped with a valuable gun, two pistols, a cutlass, six sovereigns, nineteen dollars, twenty large and small knives, and various other articles, which he had contrived to extract from the boxes in which they had been secured. To deceive me, the artful old scoundrel had put a pillow into a sack, over which he threw an old tobe, and laid it along his own mat. On the discovery I instantly made an alarm, and sent to the chief for a dozen armed horsemen to go in pursuit of the robber.

As I was standing in the shed in the afternoon of the next day, I perceived a party of horsemen coming towards me at full gallop. On approaching within a few yards they suddenly checked their steeds, and brandishing their spears over their heads, exclaimed in a loud voice, “Nasarah, Nasarah, acqui de moogoo!” (Christian, Christian, we have the rogue!) The men informed me that a little before daybreak in the morning, hearing the report of a gun, they rode towards the spot whence the sound seemed to proceed, and saw Pasko perched on the top of a high tree, the stolen articles lying at the root of it. On their threatening to shoot him with poisoned arrows unless he immediately came down, the old fellow hastily obeyed the summons, and delivered himself into their hands without uttering a syllable. One of the horsemen took the trembling scoundrel behind him, and the whole party instantly clapped spurs to their horses, and rode swiftly towards the village. I asked Pasko what had possessed him to abscond in so disgraceful a manner after all the protestations he had made to serve me with fidelity. He replied, that as his countrymen, the Gooberites, were at war with the Falatahs, he was afraid the latter would cut off his head the moment he was recognized in Soccatoo, and therefore he had adopted the wiser plan of securing his person from danger by running away. Whilst he was speaking the chief of the village, running up to us, cried out, “A blessing, a blessing! you have caught the thief, let me take off his head!” Not wishing to gratify the _good-natured_ Falatah in this his merciful request, I took the punishment of Pasko into my own hands; and it being his third or fourth offence, I ordered him to be heavily ironed, and pinioned in the town dungeon. This sentence was rigidly enforced, and on the following day, the criminal having expressed a wish to speak to me, I sent for him. He came into my hut, and holding up his naked arms, which were swollen to thrice their natural size, begged so piteously to be liberated from his confinement, or at least to have his punishment mitigated in some degree, that I desired he might not be pinioned again, as that operation seemed to have given him most pain; but his irons were not taken off till our departure from the place.

On the 13th, five hundred camels, laden with salt, obtained from the borders of the Desert, entered Sansanee, preceded by their owners, a party of twenty Tuarick merchants, whose appearance was singularly novel and imposing. The men were all attired in the same fashion, and mounted on handsome pied camels, which trotted into the town with uncommon speed. Their dress consisted of black cotton tobes, and full trousers of the same colour; white caps encircled with black turbans, which concealed every part of the face but the nose and eyes; and red morocco boots. In the right hand they held a long and highly-polished spear, whilst the left was occupied in grasping their shields (the only defensive armour with which the Tuaricks are acquainted), and retaining the reins of the camels. The shields were covered with white leather, and ornamented with a small plate of silver in the centre. As they passed me they shook their lances, which glittered in the sun-beams, and their appearance was certainly warlike and formidable in the extreme. Stopping suddenly in front of the chief’s house, they all exclaimed, as if with one voice, “Tchow!” at the sound whereof the camels fell simultaneously on their knees, and the riders dismounted to pay their respects. They came in a body to see me shortly afterwards, and notwithstanding their apparent respectability, evinced not the slightest unwillingness to beg money of me, which they did in a most importunate manner. One of the merchants, yet more incessant in his solicitations than his companions, amongst other shining qualities he affirmed he was in possession of, stated with the utmost seriousness, that he was “God’s own slave,” and on that account he was not to be overlooked. I said that the Almighty loved his servants, and made them prosperous and happy, and therefore he stood in no need of my assistance. The fellow, however, would not be repulsed, but continued hanging on me, and in fact almost tore the clothes from my back, till out of all patience, I took the importunate slave by the shoulders, and thrust him out of the shed into the street. As he went off, no doubt greatly humiliated in his own estimation, he muttered some reproaches which I could not comprehend, and said that I was the first person he had ever applied to in vain for money. Like thousands of others, these merchants were very inquisitive, and amongst other questions, wished to know whether many of my countrymen had not tails like monkeys! I assured them that no human being had that elegant appendage; but instead of believing my assertion, they shook their heads, looked wise, and said, “You do not speak the truth, white man, we know better than you on saying which, they surveyed me with more attention than before, and one amongst them walked round me several times, cautiously raising the end of my tobe, to ascertain with certainty whether I had any thing in the shape of a tail! On observing the man’s motions, I took off my tobe, which convinced his countrymen that _I_ at least was without a tail, when they appeared better satisfied; and left my shed in the course of an hour to look after their wives and children, who were with the camels on the road, and had not then arrived.

Provisions being rather scarce, I went a-shooting on the 14th, to procure a few pigeons for dinner. The Tuarick men, women, and children, on hearing the report of my gun, surrounded me in great numbers, and were infinitely amazed to see the birds falling dead at my feet from the tops of the tall trees. After examining them with the greatest attention, they declared that I was a beautiful man, too good a one for a Kaffir, and that I ought to be a worshipper of the true faith.

In the afternoon of the 16th, fifty armed horsemen, sent by Bello, arrived at Sansanee, to accompany me to Soccatoo, his capital, in which he was waiting my arrival with impatience, and urged me to prepare to accompany them. The soldiers had brought my master’s two camels to assist in conveying the goods, which animals, as I subsequently learnt, the Godado had borrowed under false pretences. A messenger belonging to the Governor of Kano, who had accompanied the escort so far on his way to that city, came to me in the evening, unobserved by the Falatahs, and gave me a letter from Captain Clapperton, of which the following is a transcript:

“_Soccatoo, Wednesday, Dec._ 13, 1826.

“DEAR RICHARD,

“I hope you do well; I am still here, contrary to my expectations, and Heaven knows when I shall be permitted to leave. This cursed Bornou war has overturned all my plans and intentions, and set the minds of the people generally against me, as it is pretty well understood by both rich and poor, that I have presents for their enemy the Sheikh. I wish, with all my heart, it was ended; no matter whether the Falatahs or Bornouese be victorious, so I could conveniently pursue my journey. The Sultan has told me that I may return by way of Bornou, if I insist upon it, but raises so many obstacles, that it amounts to a prohibition. He is evidently unwilling for me to have any dealings with his adversaries. I do not know how this matter will end; I must acknowledge I do not like the appearance of things just now; God grant my fears may be groundless. Since my last I have been seriously ill with an enlargement of the spleen,[5] but am now much relieved from the pain attendant upon this complaint; and the swelling is also greatly reduced. I amuse myself as often as opportunities occur, which are seldom enough, and frequently take a ramble through the town, or a ride into the country. I generally feel stronger after the exercise, and would recommend you to adopt a similar practice, for, believe me, you would soon experience the benefit of it. Three or four fires have happened here lately, which have done much mischief; but nothing of mine, I am happy to say, has been injured by them, although a house almost adjoining ours has been burnt to the ground. People say the rebels of Goober are the authors of them, but I put no confidence in these rumours, as they are without the slightest proof. I believe I have nothing more, in the shape of news, to acquaint you with, and my only reason for writing you at all is, to let you know how I get on, that you may not be uneasy on my account. Adieu, Richard, and rest assured I have your interest and welfare at heart.

“Your sincere friend and master,

“HUGH CLAPPERTON.”

“_Richard Lander, Kano._”

I was astonished, on perusing this letter, to find that my master knew nothing of the circumstance of my having left Kano, still less of my being so near him; and it struck me forcibly at the time that Bello wished to get me into his power, only to become the sole possessor of the presents intended for the Sheikh of Bornou, by laying violent hands both on Captain Clapperton and myself. With this belief I arose next morning, and asked the Godado’s brother, who commanded the escort, if it was not the Sultan’s intention to take away our lives on my entering Soccatoo, as my master knew nothing of what had transpired; but the Falatah answered,—“Fear nothing, our King will not injure either of you; his sole reason for sending for you is, that as he has seen but one Christian, he feels the greatest desire to become acquainted with a second.” “Remember the men of Boussa!” I simply retorted, when he left me in extreme haste and great uneasiness.

The Godado’s brother was as importunate as the Tuarick merchants in begging money of me to purchase goora nuts, for the two first days after the arrival of the escort, and became so troublesome that I at length told him I had no property of my own, but that all he saw belonged to my master, without whose consent I was determined not to spare a single cowry. The Falatah was not at all pleased at the answer; but on telling him that on my arrival in Soccatoo he should be handsomely rewarded, he ceased to plague me.

Every thing being in readiness, on the 19th, I liberated old Pasko, who seemed dispirited, and truly sorry for the offence he had been guilty of, and at two in the afternoon I quitted the town with the escort, but was obliged to leave a bullock behind, the animal being lamed, and unable to walk a hundred steps without stumbling. Having travelled at a rapid rate through the dreaded “Goober Bush,” we arrived, much fatigued, at Magaria, about eleven o’clock the next night. The poor horses and camels having suffered dreadfully during the journey from thirst and over-exertion, we were obliged to remain in the town two days, in order that they might enjoy a little rest. During our stay I resided in a house belonging to the Godado, whose brother supplied me with abundance of excellent provisions. I was requested by some of the principal inhabitants to kill a few birds with my gun, that several strangers then in the town might have an opportunity of seeing in what manner they were procured in my country. I soon gratified their curiosity, by shooting a small bird at the distance of fifty yards; on which they betrayed the utmost surprise, nor would they believe for a long time that it was really dead, but kept turning it round, and feeling whether it had actually received a wound.

On the 23rd we quitted the town of Magaria, and, to my great joy, entered Soccatoo about two o’clock in the afternoon of the same day, after a disagreeable and wearisome journey (from Kano) of nearly a month. Not having seen my master for the period of a quarter of a year, I made the greatest haste to his house; but not finding him at home, I was conducted to the Godado’s, with whose owner I found him in earnest conversation. Although certainly surprised, he was glad to see me, and we walked home together.

The day after my arrival (24th December), Sultan Bello sent a messenger to request my master and myself to repair without delay to his residence. As soon as we were admitted into his presence, he abruptly began the conversation by inquiring the nature of the presents I had with me, and was extremely solicitous to know if I had left any of them behind in Kano, for the Sheikh of Bornou. I replied that I had not. “Are you sure of that?” rejoined the Sultan. I answered with firmness a second time in the negative. Bello then demanded the King of England’s letters to the Sheikh, which my master, after a short pause, reluctantly produced; but vehemently opposed the Sultan’s wishes for him to open and read them, observing, that as soon as his sovereign should discover, on his return to England, that he had so unfaithfully broken his trust, he would instantly be beheaded. The Falatah prince then took the letters into his own hands, and on his graciously waving his hand in token that he wished to have nothing more to say, we bowed, and left the apartment.

We had not returned to our hut a great while, when the Godado, his brother, Hat Sallah, (who had received secret instructions to overtake me on the road,) with several of the principal inhabitants of Soccatoo, entered, and demanded, in the name of the Sultan, the presents intended for the Sheikh of Bornou, together with all the arms and ammunition which we should not want ourselves. My master became violently agitated when their errand was communicated, and rising from the mat on which he had been reposing, exclaimed with energy and bitterness:—

“There is no faith in any of you; you are an unjust people; you are worse than highway robbers!”

The Falatahs cautioned him to be more moderate in his expressions, or it might cost him his head.

“If I lose my head,” retorted the Captain, in the same determined tone and manner, “it will be for no other crime than that of speaking for the just rights of my king and country; I repeat, you are a nation of scoundrels and robbers.”

Hat Sallah entreated him (in Arabic) to express himself with less emphasis, and in milder language before the people, who would carry every word he had uttered to their sovereign. I also joined in the same request, and begged him, as the attempt at resistance, for people so circumstanced as we were, would be the height of imprudence, to accede to the commands of the sultan, how tyrannical soever they might be. At length, after much persuasion, Capt. Clapperton consented that the presents in question should be produced; but desired the godado, on his leaving the apartment, to inform his king that he never wished to see him again; and that his business with him, after such perfidious conduct, was at an end.

A short time after they had quitted our house, Mallam Mudey returned with a message from Bello, stating it to be the intention of that monarch to write to his _friend_ the King of England, in explanation of his behaviour; but my master assured the holy man that _his_ sovereign would not even look at the superscription of a letter from Bello, after being made acquainted with the dastardly action by which he had so disgraced himself.

Soccatoo has been considerably enlarged by the present sultan, and is indisputably the most important city in the interior of Africa. The wall that surrounds the capital of the Falatah empire, does not indeed encompass so large a portion of ground as that of Kano, but its population is treble the amount; and allowing the latter city to contain forty thousand souls, the aggregate number of inhabitants in Soccatoo will be one hundred and twenty thousand; which computation I do not conceive to be over-rated.

Kano is distant from Soccatoo twenty regular days journey, or about two hundred and fifty English miles. The metropolis is built in a pleasant situation, on the summit of a gently elevated spot of land, and has a river flowing near the northern end, which enters the Quorra four days journey from Cubbé. The wall is high, and provided with eleven gates; but has an extremely heavy appearance. Architecture, as a science, is not cultivated in the interior; and the termites can rear as elegant a mansion as the natives, and in a far more ingenious manner. The habitations in Soccatoo are constructed like those of Kano, with clay, and have a dull, gloomy appearance.

An old Haussan with two asses arrived in the city one day from Egypt. Having stopped in the different towns through which he had to pass, for the purpose of trafficking with their inhabitants, he had accomplished the long and dangerous journey in little more than a twelvemonth. He informed me that he had undergone great privations on the road, and had well nigh perished of thirst on more than one occasion. He had had no human companion to cheer him; and his affection for the brute associates of his lonely pilgrimage was singularly great. They had fared in common with himself; they had eaten and slept together; and, said the old man, as he drove away the patient-looking animals, “I would as soon lose my life as be deprived of them.” The Haussan observed that it was his intention to proceed to Tombuctoo the following week, and that on his return he should pay me a visit, but I never saw or heard any thing of him afterwards.

The people of Soccatoo cry their provisions round the city; and milk, fish, &c. are daily hawked through the streets by the lower orders, whose voices are as loud and shrill as those heard in London. The cry of “_Nono de mi!_” (milk and butter) always put me in mind of bells belonging to village churches; there was something peculiarly plaintive in the rising and falling of the voice of the young female who used to vend those articles morning and evening in the immediate neighbourhood of our dwelling; and, in my opinion, it strikingly resembled them in sound. “Namah du tonkah,” mutton (literally “flesh of the sheep”); “Namah de la comma” (camel’s meat); “Namah du acquia” (beef); “Gorassa” (little cakes made of pounded wheat); are also cried every morning; as is likewise “dowah,” and every other variety of grain produced in Haussa.

Wheat was first imported into Haussa by the Arabs about a century ago; and even now they have the exclusive cultivation of it. Bread is only to be met with in two cities, Soccatoo and Zaria, and is manufactured by the female slaves of the Arabs, who sell it publicly by retail for their masters. For a very good reason I never tasted any of it whilst in Africa, and therefore can say nothing as to its good or bad quality.

Pasko, whom my master had dismissed his service the moment he was made acquainted with his two-fold villainy, without paying the wages that were due to him, applied to a native lawyer in Soccatoo for advice; but the learned Falatah having patiently listened to the details of his case, discarded him, with the assurance, that if he had been Abdullah (Captain Clapperton’s travelling name), instead of rewarding him, he would have cut off his head!

Under this consolation the old man, having a small sum of money in his possession, turned snuff-merchant, but being cheated by every body, became insolvent in the course of a very short time, and, in order to procure a slender maintenance, was ultimately obliged to cut wood from a neighbouring forest. In the height of his prosperity as a tradesman, Pasko, forgetting all his former vows and misfortunes and contrary to his usual custom, formally paid his addresses to a black slave, named Mattah Gewow (literally Miss, or woman-elephant), in the household of Ben Gumso, an Arab. This woman, a native of Yariba, which country is notorious for ugly females, had a countenance inexpressibly hideous, but was well known by all ranks in Soccatoo, as the most experienced maker of _tuah_[6] which that or any other city could produce. In addition to the other attractions of this lady, a huge white tooth hung from her upper jaw, affectionately embracing the nether lip; and her chin was bristled most divinely with a slender but conspicuous and stubborn beard,—she being the only individual of her sex I had seen in the country possessing so masculine an ornament. Mattah Gewow was in the decline of life, having seen between fifty and sixty dry seasons pass over her head, and had, in her earlier years, been allured from the paths of innocence and virtue by a blind fiddler in the pay of the late and present sultan, who had refused to make her reparation by marriage. From that period to the time of our visiting Soccatoo, no sable swain had been emboldened to pay her any marked attentions; and the injured woman was inconsolable under the thoughts of living for ever in “single blessedness,” when the affectionate Pasko, having casually partaken of her far-famed tuah, pronounced it to be the best he had ever tasted, and immediately offered his heart and person, which, after a few _invisible_ blushes on the lady’s part, were modestly accepted. The betrothed, as soon as they perfectly understood each other, spent all their leisure moments in their own delightful society, Pasko extolling the charms of the peerless Miss Elephant to the skies, and Miss Elephant returning the compliment by perpetually discovering fresh subjects for admiration and love in the person and physiognomy of the incomparable snuff-merchant. Thus the first few evenings of their courtship were passed, at which time I was a constant visiter at Ben Gumso’s, and often overheard their tender discourse. I broke in upon the lovers one day rather unexpectedly, in the midst of their dalliance, when Pasko was pouring out an eloquent and passionate eulogium on the graces of his Mattah, who, on observing me,

“_Blush’d_ at the praise of her own loveliness!”

and, with her adorer, looked exceedingly foolish. Being unwilling to disturb the harmony that had prevailed before my intrusion, I left the happy couple to enjoy themselves as they thought proper, and quitted the house.

A day having been fixed upon for the marriage ceremony, the suitor determined to spend it jovially; and his own finances being at a very low ebb, he borrowed four thousand cowries of Ben Gumso, in order that nothing might be wanting to stamp dignity and consequence on the celebration of the festival. Pasko had just before embraced Islamism, and rigidly observed the outward rules of that belief; besides which he was well skilled in all the learning and knowledge of the Falatahs; so that the Arab did not hesitate to advance him the money he sought, on the faith of his bare promise of re-payment. The evening preceding the ceremony, Pasko sent a present of snuff, an old shirt, &c. to Mattah, which was acknowleged by a bowl of rich tuah; and the compact was thus formally ratified. On the following morning the “fatha” was read, and Pasko and the _lovely_ Mattah became man and wife. Agreeably to promise, the happy bridegroom spent the day merrily with a friend or two he had invited; but so far forgot himself, his newly-adopted religion, and the respect he owed his bride, that towards evening he became intoxicated; indeed so much so that he was bereaved of his reason; and Mattah, who was only _tipsy_, perceiving her husband in this pickle, was very wrath, and pouring a whole bowl of hot half-boiled tuah over his head, face, and breast, gave him a sound drubbing with an empty calabash, and turned the unfortunate snuff-merchant out into the street half dead, where he remained in a state of insensibility till the next morning. On awaking, and finding himself bespattered from head to foot with tuah, Pasko had a confused recollection of the preceding evening’s debauch, and its disastrous consequences; but instead of disturbing the slumbers of his amiable wife, he strolled listlessly towards our hut, sorely distressed in mind and body, where I met him an hour or so afterwards, the end of his tobe being completely saturated with his tears, which were yet flowing, and his whole appearance looking uncommonly grotesque. After making me acquainted with the melancholy tale of his mishap, he begged me to use my influence in order to compromise matters betwixt his gentle consort and himself, and assured me that if I succeeded, when occasion needed, he would cheerfully lay down his life for me.

Wishing to be better acquainted with a woman, whose excessive ugliness and skilful tuah-making were the table talk of the whole kingdom of Houssa, I willingly embraced the proposition, and making a visit to Ben Gumso’s, had the good fortune to reconcile the angry lady to her sorrowing lord, after which they lived very happily together, till Pasko’s bankruptcy broke in upon their domestic felicity, and drove the ill-fated man into the woods. To the credit of Mattah, however, be it spoken, she did not abandon her husband in his mournful reverse of fortune; but, with an attachment worthy of her sex, supplied him, as far as she was able, with food and raiment; and their parting interview, on Pasko’s leaving Soccatoo with me, was beyond description natural, tender, and pathetic.