Chapter XIII

Pasko — The Author pays his respects to the Governor, and leaves Kano — Chooses, near Bebajie, the road to Fundah — Almena mountain — The Author is seen and recognized by horsemen from Zeg Zeg — Arrives amongst the people of Bowchee — Their manners — A girl’s lamentation on being sold by her mother — The Author enters the immense plain of Cuttup — Anecdote of an old woman.

Not having sufficient money at my disposal to purchase fresh camels, or provisions and presents for the different chiefs of towns on the road to Fezzan, I was necessitated to take a different route, which I was not at all sorry for; and for that purpose purchased a horse and two asses. Bello had not forgotten to desire Hat Sallah, in his letter to him, to send back Pasko to Soccatoo the day after my arrival at Kano, and procure me a substitute. I begged of him, however, to suffer the Haussan to accompany me to Coulfo in Nyffé, and promised to have him conveyed back to Kano on my arrival there. He at first refused to accede to my wishes, but the temptation of a present, the best argument in the world in such cases, made the old Arab smile an assent to my proposition; and calling Pasko into his presence, he gave him permission to attend me to Coulfo, but enjoined him to return the moment he had entered that city, on pain of having _Jerrub_ (the Devil) sent after him. The old offender, who could be moved by nothing else, at the bare sound of _Jerrub_ was flung into a violent fever, and hastened to me in great trepidation shortly after, every member of his body trembling like an aspen-leaf. After giving me to understand, as well as his agitation would allow him to do, the conversation he had had with Hat Sallah, and in consequence thereof his reluctance to quit Kano with me, I endeavoured to deride him out of his superstitious prejudices; but they had taken so firm a grasp on his mind that all my exertions were ineffectual; and he still persevered in his resolution of remaining behind. Knowing Pasko’s tender regard for the softer sex, however, I made this a means of accomplishing my object. I had consented he should take the slave that Hat Sallah had sold me, to wife, for he had forgotten the lovely Mattah, of tuah celebrity, and felt great loneliness in the absence of female converse; I therefore assured him that unless he would consent to accompany me, a separation should instantly take place. The event showed that I had touched the right chord; on hearing my decision, he trembled more violently than ever, and while rivers of tears flowed down his furrowed cheeks, exclaimed, in a tone of agony that rendered his expression almost inarticulate, “O, don’t—I—will—go.” This weighty point being decided, I made the necessary preparations for my departure.

On the 29th, Hat Sallah hinted that it would be well for me to pay a visit to the governor of Kano, who was at Faniso. I agreed with the Arab in opinion, and waited on his Excellency in the course of the morning, who, on my leaving him, said, “When you return to your country, Christian, give the Falatahs a good name.”

In the afternoon we left Kano, and travelling at a rapid rate, halted on the banks of the Kogie, four hours’ journey from that place, but the river being much swollen, we did not dare to cross it. To our infinite disappointment I found that the tent poles had been left behind, and was therefore obliged to send back one of the servants to fetch them, giving him a sword in proof that he was despatched by me. The scoundrel, however, never returned; and it being necessary for us to rest on the margin of the stream that night, I slung the tent to the branch of a tree, and fastened the lower part of it to the earth. In the evening the rain poured down in torrents, accompanied by awful and tremendous thunder, so that in the night, our tent being completely drenched, the bough to which it was appended broke with its increasing weight; and falling on us as we were reposing on our mats, we found it impossible to sleep, and were obliged to remain in that miserable plight till the next morning.

We arose at an early hour, and as soon as things were put in some kind of order, I sent Pasko to Kano, to endeavour to apprehend the fellow that had absconded with my sword, for I fancied that one rogue was better qualified to detect another, than an honest man: but the man not having been seen in the city, Pasko was unsuccessful in his search, and returned, very much down in the mouth, bringing with him the tent-poles. The river Kogie by that time was become fordable; but, in consequence of the strength and rapidity of its current, we crossed with extreme difficulty. No sooner was this object effected, and before we had time to clothe ourselves, than four armed slaves from Soccatoo hastened up to us, and demanded the four thousand cowries, which, it will be recollected Pasko had borrowed of Ben Gumso, to defray the expenses of his marriage with the accomplished, but hard-handed, Mattah Gewow. Pasko protested that he had left property in Soccatoo to the value of fifty thousand cowries, out of which Ben Gumso might satisfy himself. This answer by no means pleased the myrmidons of the illustrious Arab emir, who, for the sake of little more than a shilling of English money, had despatched four men to the distance of between two and three hundred miles to arrest the debtor; and they were about to take the affectionate lover away by force, when I thought it time to interfere, and paid them the money they demanded. The armed scoundrels then went their way, taking with them the whole of Pasko’s wearing apparel, which he had left on the opposite side of the stream; so that the every-way unfortunate man was obliged to have a rough mat tied to his waist, till I could procure him a more becoming garment. This little matter being adjusted, to the complete satisfaction of the husband of Mattah, we slept on the borders of the stream for the night, and pursued our journey on the morning of the next day. At two o’clock we arrived at a small walled town called Madubie, in which I erected my tent; and in the evening the chief’s daughter visited me with milk, and a huge bowl of beef and tuah, sufficient for the whole of us for supper.

The weather had been violent during the night, but clearing up early on the 1st of June, we dried the tent, and journeyed onwards till we arrived at the Gora, a narrow, but deep and rapid river. As on the former occasion, the men experienced considerable difficulty in attaining the opposite side, and I was greatly afraid they would be washed away and drowned by the swiftness with which the water rolled on; but, happily, after a world of exertion, they crossed in safety, and at one at noon, passing near the walled town of Bebajie, I desired them to proceed a-head. I myself followed alone at some distance, for I dreaded being seen by any of the straggling inhabitants, who, if they happened to recognize my features, would infallibly detain me amongst them. In half an hour we came to two other roads, the one leading to Nyffé, and the other to the far-famed Fundah.

When Capt. Clapperton found himself dying in Soccatoo, he intimated to me that if I attempted to return through Nyffé and Yariba, the inhabitants of one of those countries, who must have heard of our having taken presents to their common adversary, would undoubtedly put me to death; and this was the reason he wished to impress so strongly upon me the necessity of my accompanying the Arabs over the desert. I paused for an instant, as I looked on each of the said roads; but, feeling an earnest desire, which I could not repress, to visit Fundah, on the banks of the Niger, and trace that much-talked of river in a canoe to Benin; and, perhaps, fearing that my departed master’s observation was well- grounded, I did not hesitate a great while, but travelled on the latter road.

About six in the evening we erected our tent near to Koofa, a small walled town, in which I was fortunate enough to obtain a little sleep for the first time since leaving Kano. The town is situated at the base of an immense rock, on which there is not the slightest trace of vegetation; and, although extremely populous, is no more than two miles in circumference. To the eastward of it is a range of high hills, stretching from north to south as far as the eye can reach; and their slopes being green and luxuriant, they wore a delightful appearance.

On the three following days, we crossed several rapid streams, and passed through many insignificant walled towns. The country traversed on those days, although level, was picturesque and beautiful; and all nature was covered with a lively verdure.

On the 4th of June we came to the foot of a high and craggy mountain, called Almena, rising abruptly from the plains. It consists of gigantic blocks of granite, fearfully piled on each other, and at a distance resembled the rocks in the vicinity of the celebrated logan-stone, in Cornwall. Mohammed, an intelligent mussulman, who was acquainted with the traditions of the whole country, seating himself on a mass of rock, gave me the following story:—

“About five hundred years ago, a queen of the Fantee nation, having quarrelled with her husband about a golden stool, fled with it from her dominions, followed by a great number of her subjects; and built a considerable town at the foot of this mountain, which she called Almena. Her irritated husband pursued the queen with an army; but, losing a great part of his men from sickness and other causes, adopted the language of a suppliant instead of the bearing of the general of an army, and prayed to be admitted into the town, and live in peace with his ambitious spouse. His petition was granted, and the newly-built town flourished under their joint government till about ten or twelve years afterwards, when the natives of the country rose against them, and putting the principal inhabitants, with their sovereign, to death, took the remainder into slavery, and levelled the ill-fated Almena with the dust.”

The town, of whatever kind it might have been, was formerly surrounded by a wall, the ruins of which are yet visible.

We halted at another walled town, called Gatas, in the afternoon, where I accidentally met with some Kano merchants from Cuttup. The inhabitants, discovering by some means that I was a Christian, came in crowds to see me; but behaved in an orderly and respectful manner. I invited the most respectable females into my tent, which they all greatly admired, and in return for this civility shortly afterwards presented me with milk and _foorah_. The inhabitants of Gatas, as well as those of every other town I had passed through since leaving Kano, are natives of Houssa, and tributary to the Falatahs.

We halted at the outside of Damoy on the 5th, the inhabitants of which informed me that the range of hills I have already mentioned as extending to the verge of the horizon, are inhabited by the terrible Yam Yams, whom they all declared to be confirmed cannibals. That singular people formerly carried on an extensive traffic with the natives of the surrounding country in elephants’ teeth, which they exchanged for red cloth, beads, &c.; but having about five years before assassinated and eaten a gaffle of merchants, all communication had, from that period, been cut off, between the savage mountaineers and their timid neighbours of the plains.

We arrived at Nammaleek on the 7th: the town is defended by a mountain nearly perpendicular, and thickly covered with wood. Thousands of hyænas, tiger-cats, jackalls, monkeys, &c. which exist on the latter, kept so terrific a noise during the night, that although much fatigued, I could not close my eyes. These animals are so bold and rapacious, that the poor inhabitants of Nammaleek cannot preserve a single bullock, sheep, or goat; in consequence of which no animal food was to be had in the town. The chief put us into a hut, and presented us with tuah, which being most unpalatable stuff, by reason of a little sauce, prepared from the juice of the monkey’s bread-fruit tree, which had been mixed with it, I could not taste a mouthful.

I intended to have remained in the place for a few hours on the following day, in order to take medicine; for, having a slight fever on me, I felt extremely unwell; but the curiosity of the people not permitting me to embrace an opportunity of opening my medicine-chest, excepting in their presence, I felt no inclination to try the experiment. In the course of the day (7th) two messengers unluckily recognized me, and asked whither I was journeying. On my acquainting them, the horsemen instantly rode off, and, as I subsequently learnt, returned to Zaria, and informed the King of Zeg Zeg that the Christian was on his way to Fundah, with two asses, loaded with riches, and a beautiful horse, as presents to the monarch of that kingdom.

Leaving Nammaleek on the 8th, and keeping in a south-westerly direction, at the base of a range of mountains, we observed an opening through them, and rode to the opposite side. Our course then lay more easterly; and, having crossed one large and three small rivers, whose names I could not learn, we arrived at Fullindushie, the frontier town in Catica, or Bowchee, in the afternoon. On our journey we met, on their way to Soccatoo, as a tax paid to Sultan Bello from a neighbouring country, thirty slaves, men, women, and children, who were all ill with the small pox. The males were tied to each other by the neck, with thongs made of twisted bullock’s hide; but the women and children were unconfined: notwithstanding the loathsome disease that hung upon these poor wretches, they all appeared merry, thoughtless, and happy, as though they had been enjoying their freedom in perfect health.

The inhabitants of Fullindushie were the first people in Africa I had seen that disdained to confine their well-proportioned limbs in any kind of dress; they went perfectly naked, and laughed immoderately on seeing me; whilst I, on my part, made myself equally merry at the singularity of their appearance. Their sable locks were bedecked with huge lumps of red clay and grease—their bodies shone with a clammy unction, any thing but agreeable to the eye, or pleasant to the smell—a massy piece of blue glass hung from a hole in the upper lip—and from the lobe of the ear dangled a misshapen fragment of red wood, about the largeness of a man’s thumb.

Their features do not resemble, in the slightest degree, those of the Negro, but are fine, regular and handsome, bearing a striking similitude to the European, such as impressed me at first sight;—yet, with all these pretensions to superiority over their jetty neighbours in personal appearance, they yield to them in cleanliness and decency; for, although an artless, good-tempered, social race, the Bowchee people are filthy in their habits, and disgusting in their manners; their sheep, goats, and poultry eat and sleep in the same room with them, and a most intolerable odour is exhaled from all their dwellings. When the females of Catica go to market, they wear a twig tied to the middle, and hanging down in front. Nothing can be more graceful or _picturesque_ than a troop of these modest damsels proceeding to market bedizened in this manner; and I could hardly tell what to make of a body of about a hundred of them which met me near La Zumee. The Bowchee people appear to have no affection for their offspring—the gentle appeals of nature are unknown to them—parental tenderness dwells not in their bosoms; and they sell their children as slaves to the greatest strangers in the world, with no greater remorse of conscience than if they had been common articles of merchandize. As a proof of this strange and unnatural apathy on the part of a mother towards her child, the following touching scene took place at Fullindushie whilst I was in the town:—

A travelling slave-dealer passing through the place, had purchased several of their children, of both sexes, from the inhabitants; and amongst others, a middle-aged woman had an only daughter, whom she parted with for a necklace of beads. The unhappy girl, who might have been about thirteen or fourteen years of age, on being dragged away from the threshold of her parents’ hut, clung distractedly, like a shipwrecked mariner to a floating mast, round the knees of her unfeeling mother, and looking up wistfully in her countenance, burst into a flood of tears, exclaiming with vehemence and passion:—“O mother! do not sell me; what will become of me? what will become of yourself in your old age, if you suffer me to desert you? Who will fetch you corn and milk? Who will pity you when you die? Have I been unkind to you? O, mother! do not sell your only daughter. I will take you in my arms when you are feeble, and carry you under the shade of trees. As a hen watches over her chicken, so will I watch over you, my dear mother. I will repay the kindness you showed me in my infant years. When you are weary, I will fan you to sleep; and whilst you are sleeping, I will drive away flies from you. I will attend on you when you are in pain; and when you die I will shed rivers of sorrow over your grave. O mother! my dear mother! do not push me away from you; do not sell your only daughter to be the slave of a stranger!”—Useless tears! vain remonstrance! The unnatural, relentless parent, shaking the beads in the face of her only child, thrust her from her embraces; and the slave-dealer drove the agonized girl from the place of her nativity, which she was to behold no more.

Quitting Fullindushie, the day after our arrival, in the course of the afternoon, we halted at La Zumee, a small town with a good population. On entering it I observed two men, sitting under a date-tree, to which I instantly walked up, and accosted the one, whom, being neatly dressed, I conceived to be the chief; but was surprised to find that the person I addressed was a Kano merchant; and the individual by his side, a dirty contemptible old fellow, dressed in a filthy sheep skin, I was obliged to pay my respects to as the chief of La Zumee. Having pointed out an empty hut for my use, he disappeared, but returned in two hours after with an apology for not sending me provisions, saying that his wives were at work in his gardens; and on their leaving them he would remember me. Accordingly about three hours after the chief had left me, the industrious ladies brought me a couple of fowls, and tuah and rice, for which I gave them a pair of scissors and fifty needles; the latter articles, like cowries, being the circulating medium of the country. Surrounding the town is a remarkably broad and deep ditch, on the outside of which the country is well cultivated, and the soil appears to be rich and highly productive. On the 10th we slept at Coorokoo, a small walled town, and on the following day pitched our tent on the banks of a large river called Coodoonia, (flowing swiftly to the north-west, and entering, it is said, the Niger near Fundah,) where we lay without food till the next day.

Arising at an early hour in the morning, we succeeded in crossing the water, which reached to our chins, and immediately proceeded towards _Cuttup_, where we arrived after three hours travelling. Having heard on my route from Kano, so many different accounts of Cuttup, its wealth, population, and celebrated market, I was surprised and disappointed on finding it to consist of nearly five hundred small villages or hamlets, almost adjoining each other; for I had been given to understand, in the hyperbolical relations of the natives, that it was a magnificent and powerful city, the wealth and prosperity of its inhabitants rendering it of more importance than any other in the interior. The villages occupy an immense and beautiful plain, embellished with a variety of elegant trees, amongst which I observed, for the first time since I had left Yariba, the plantain, the palm, and the cocoa trees, all flourishing in vernal luxuriance. The sun shone brightly upon the numerous rural hamlets as I passed through them; the oxen and cows were chewing the cud in front of the tidy looking habitations; flocks of sheep bleated from the inclosures; fowls were clucking in the lanes; small birds were careering in the sky;—all bore an air of peace, loveliness, simplicity, and comfort, that delighted and charmed me.

A considerable traffic is carried on at Cuttup, in slaves and horned cattle; the latter of which are bred by the Falatahs, (great numbers of whom reside there for no other purpose,) who sell or exchange them to the natives. Slaves, as well as bullocks and sheep, are exposed in the market, which is held daily; and also red caps, country cloth, gum, salt, goora nuts, trona, beads, tobacco, rings, needles, cutlery articles; and honey, rice, milk, &c. People from the most remote parts resort to the market in vast numbers, to purchase these various articles of merchandize; and return with them to their respective countries. The chief or sultan as he is called, being a _very_ great man, I thought it would not be amiss to give him a present worthy his dignity and exalted station, and accordingly took him eight yards of blue and scarlet damask, prints of my own gracious sovereign and the late duke of York, with several articles of minor value, in return for which I received a sheep, the humps of two bullocks, and stewed rice sufficient to satisfy the appetites of at least fifty hungry men. I was honoured by a visit from ten of the king’s wives two days after my arrival, who expressing the most rapturous delight on observing the gilt buttons on my jacket, I cut them off, and presented them to their sable majesties, who accepted them with a loud laugh of thankfulness, and sticking them in their ears, bade me farewell, and danced away.

Unlike the princes of Houssa, Nyffé, Borghoo, &c. the king of Cuttup gives his wives unrestricted liberty, which they are never known to abuse; but in other respects they are treated in much the same manner as the women of those sovereigns. During my stay in Cuttup I was never in want of a bullock’s hump, (by far the most delicate part of the animal, and frequently weighing from twelve to fifteen pounds,) the king invariably receiving as a tribute from the butchers, the hump of every bullock they slaughter; and one of these delicious oily excrescences was brought me daily by a person purposely despatched from the _queens_. Being much in want of money, I ordered it to be published in the market- place that I had needles and beads for sale, which brought a number of individuals into my hut, who purchased freely, giving at least eighty per cent more for my property than for the needles of the Arabs; but whether the buyers actually fancied mine were of more excellent quality than those they had been in the habit of using, or whether it arose from a spirit of curiosity to preserve something belonging to so rare a creature as “the white man,” I was at a loss to conjecture.

An old woman came to me one afternoon, sobbing aloud and full of grief; telling me in a tone of peculiar dolefulness, that all her little savings, the accumulation of years of industry and frugality, had been stolen from a hole in her hut, in which she had concealed it a short time before, by some of her dishonest neighbours; and entreating me to favour her with a charm that would effectually prevent a recurrence of so ignominious an action in future. Being ever willing to oblige the simple-hearted Africans, and knowing also the profound veneration in which a charm of mine would be held by all ranks, I gave the poor woman a teaspoonful of common sweet oil, and urged her to pour it on the money she intended hiding, stating, that if any person should dare to touch it without her permission, he would instantly be punished with suffering and death. I likewise desired her to give the virtues of the charm as extensive a circulation as possible amongst her acquaintances, who would be so awed by the terrible denunciation threatened by the charmer, that fear itself would deter them from exercising their pilfering propensities on her property. The countenance of the venerable matron brightened up at these expressions; and substituting tears of gratitude and pleasure for those of disappointment and sorrow, she fell on her knees before me, embraced my feet, and looking up with a mingled expression of _naïveté_ and maternal tenderness, poured out a full tide of thanks and blessings on her protector, as she called me, which made me blush for the deception I had practised; but I was consoled with the reflection, that in consequence of the invincible superstition—the ignorance—the unconquerable prejudices of the people, and the fear in which I was held, the very object aimed at by me, would in all probability be fully accomplished.

On the 16th I paid my respects to the King of Cuttup and his amiable, laughter-loving consorts; and then pursuing my journey to Fundah in a more cheerful mood than I had felt for a long time, arrived at a small town called Coogie, in the middle of the afternoon. The journey, however, was not of the most agreeable description; the road at one moment winding over a sharp, rugged precipice, and in the next through pools of water and deceitful hollows; we were oftentimes up to the neck in filth and wet; to add to which, flies were innumerable, and so troublesome to the asses by their mischievous propensity to bite and sting, that the irritated animals, flinging off their riders in the mire, and playing all manner of wanton pranks, detained us a considerable time in the course of the forenoon.

The next day our journey was not a whit more pleasant or comfortable. The rain fell in torrents, and the water, roaring down the sides of the mountains, rolled in one mighty stream, with inconceivable impetuosity through the vallies, and carried every thing in its progress. This continued for hours, when the thick clouds dispersing, the sun broke forth in all his majesty, and the tumultuous elements were lulled into peace. We crossed a stream, or river, called Rary, in the course of the day, and slept at Dungoora, a small town, in which we found ourselves very hungry, but could get nothing at all to eat.

We pursued our course on the 18th, and arrived at Dunrora, a paltry town, containing four thousand inhabitants, by six o’clock in the evening. Our route, for some part of the journey, lay over steep and craggy precipices, on the summit of one of which the horse that carried the portmanteaus struck himself against a sharp piece of rock jutting up out of the narrow foot path, and was precipitated a distance of eighty yards, the ropes which were fastened to the portmanteaus arresting his further progress. I was filled with alarm on observing the helpless little animal tumbling head over heels down the frightful declivity, and expected at least that he would have been dashed to pieces before reaching the bottom; but, some stunted trees luckily growing on the side of the precipice, he became entangled in the manner which has just been related. We had been travelling about half an hour, after leaving the spot on which the accident occurred, when reaching a yet more elevated situation, an extensive and delightful prospect suddenly burst on our view; and several days’ journey might plainly be seen before us.

I halted for a moment to gaze upon the fine and noble scene around me, which rivalled in magnificence and beauty the appearance of the landscape from the Kong mountains. About half a day’s journey to the east stood a lofty hill, at the foot of which lay the large city of Jacoba, the metropolis of a kingdom of the same name, to which, it will be recollected, I was invited a short time before, by its monarch; but not having felt any inclination to depart a step out of the direct road, had declined embracing the offer. Mahomet, my servant, declared that a river, called Shar, or Sharra, deriving its source from the lake Tschad, flows about half a mile from Jacoba; and that canoes can be paddled from the said lake to the Niger at any season of the year. The Sharra enters the latter river at Fundah, when, in conjunction with its sister streams, after laving its banks before the towns of Cuttum Currifee, Gattoo, and Jibboo, it joins the salt water; but at what particular place, my informant was ignorant, never having heard the word “Benin” till I mentioned it myself. Fundah lies due west of Dunrora.

Not being aware that the chief of Dunrora was so _very_ eminent a character, my present to him was of a trifling nature, consisting only of a pair of scissors and a few needles, which were returned to me shortly afterwards, with a contemptuous message, importing that I would be pleased to bestow it on a less exalted individual, or send something of greater value. On demanding the reason of such strange conduct from the people who surrounded me, they answered that I had insulted the dignity of themselves and their chief by offering so insignificant a gift, he being a mighty man; but feeling no disposition to add any thing to it, I dismissed the messenger empty-handed to his _mighty_ master.