VII. JOURNEY TO THE EASTERN SHORES OF THE LAKE TCHAD

VII. JOURNEY TO THE EASTERN SHORES OF THE LAKE TCHAD

March 7, 1824.—The courier which I had sent to Kano, with a supply of necessaries for my countrymen, on Mr. Toole’s arrival, returned to Kouka, bringing a confirmation of the report which had before reached me, of the death of Dr. Oudney, at a place called Murmur, near Katagum, on the 12th of January.

I had left the sheikh in full march to drive back the Begharmis, and he now took up a position near Angala, within five miles of the enemy, who had commenced plundering in their rear, and were moving off all they could gather to the south side of the river: their force, also, it was said, increased daily, and the alarm of the people, both here and at Angornou, lest the enemy should be victorious, was excessive. We were able to muster about seven guns, and three pair of pistols—had plenty of powder and ball; and as our huts were inclosed within a wall, we had determined on defending ourselves to the last. Our determination was no sooner known than I had messages from the wives of all the sheikh’s chiefs who were my friends, saying that they should come to me, if the Begharmis came, as I had guns and plenty of powder; so that I might have had as numerous, and almost as formidable, an army as the sheikh himself, for, from what I had seen of both sexes in Bornou, I believe, in my heart, the women would have fought better than their husbands. The enemy came on several times, and offered battle; but as the sheikh could not get them in the situation he wished for, he refused the combat.

On the 28th, however, the struggle commenced. The Begharmis became bold in consequence of the sheikh’s apparent unwillingness to fight, and they at length ventured to attack him in the plain to the south-east of Angala, on the edge of which he had halted. The kafila, which had departed for Soudan, had deprived him of at least thirty of his Arabs; and the few that remained, with some forty Musgow slaves, who had been trained to the firelock, being his great dependence, he placed them on his flanks. No sooner had the Begharmis cleared the wood, than the sheikh, hoisting his green flag in the centre, and surrounded by his Kanemboo spearmen, moved rapidly on: the two guns in front, which Hillman had mounted, with the Arabs and musketeers, right and left of them. The Begharmis, also, came on with great coolness in a solid mass, five thousand strong, with two hundred chiefs at their head: they made directly for the centre, where the sheikh had raised the standard of the Prophet, but were repulsed by a discharge from his artillery: they now fell upon Barca Gana’s flank, which was attacked with such determined bravery, that all, except himself and a chosen band, gave way: and here fell my friend and preserver Maramy, who, while in the act of drawing his spear from the body of one of their chiefs, received a thrust in his own, which went quite through him. The Bornouese horse, who, on occasions of this kind, when the road is opened for them, are most active, now took up the pursuit of the routed Begharmis: the Arabs, also, mounted and joined them; and of the two hundred chiefs of Begharmi one only is said to have escaped alive. Seven sons of the sultan were amongst the killed, and seventeen hundred of less note; whilst great numbers were put to death by the people of the towns to which they fled, who now, as if by magic, all became the stanch friends of the sheikh. The water of the little stream, Gambalarum, near which the battle was fought, also lent its aid in destroying these invaders; and many were drowned in attempting its passage: but above all, “The guns! the guns! the guns! Oh, wonderful! how they made the dogs skip!—Oh, the guns!” were words in every body’s mouth. My friend, the sheikh, however, thought there was a little too much of this, for on the second day, he said, “True, the guns are wonderful, ’tis true!—but I lifted my hands, and said, Sidi absolam, sidi abdel garda! and from that moment the victory was yours.” It is said that, on the morning of the battle, the sheikh appeared at the door of his tent, with the English double-barrelled gun in his hand, and his English sword slung over his shoulders, clothed in the dress of a simple trooper, saying it was his intention to fight on foot, at the head of his Kanemboos;—that he expected all the Arabs to follow his example, and encourage the slaves, who were but young in the use of the firelock: that if it pleased God to grant their enemies the victory, flight was out of the question; they had nothing left but to die before their wives and children were torn from them, and escape so appalling a sight.

April 4.—Nothing could exceed the joy of the people at having obtained the victory: the men walked about all day in their new tobes, and the women danced, sang, and beat the drum, all night. My hut was thronged with visitors, all recounting their own feats, and bewailing their friends—sending the Begharmis to the devil, and asking for presents on their return, all in the same breath. I had a private interview with the sheikh, and offered him my hearty congratulations: he was as kind and friendly as ever, talked a good deal about the signal manner in which the Kaffirs had been delivered into his hands, and mentioned most feelingly the death of my poor companion Mr. Toole, whom he was very partial to—asked if his mother and father were living, and turning to Tirab, who was near him, said, “How could they send him so far off?”

The plunder was said to have amounted to four hundred and eighty horses, and nearly two hundred women, with two eunuchs, and the baggage of the princes, which was carried on bullocks and asses. Fifty of their women were sirias[48] of great beauty, belonging to the sultan’s sons, and these were all given up to the sheikh. But while all these rejoicings were going on without, the climate was at work within. Omar, an Arab who had lived several years in the service of the consul at Tripoli, and had accompanied Mr. Toole, at his recommendation, a hearty lively fellow, was so severely attacked by the fever, that in seven days we laid him in the earth. Columbus, who had been ill ever since he caught the fever from Mr. Toole, again took to his bed, and seemed to be more debilitated than ever.

April 15.—Although my funds did not exceed eight hundred dollars, yet I determined to see and talk to the sheikh on the subject of an eastern journey[49]. “It is not in my power to send you to the eastward,” said he, “or you should not want my assistance. You have seen enough yourself of the dispositions of the inhabitants of the countries towards me, and their power, to know that this is true. It has pleased God to grant me a victory now, which may lead to quieter times; even the pilgrims have not for years gone by the Lake Fittre to Hadge. I am as anxious as you are, and with more reason, to open a road with Egypt from hence: I cannot, nor can my people, now go to Mecca, without passing through the bashaw of Tripoli’s territories, and there are reasons which make that disagreeable. Why not try it from Egypt, where you have many friends, and return from this way by Fezzan?—that would be easier.” The sheikh has a most singular manner of delivery, and I scarcely ever met with any person who expressed himself so clearly, and with so few words. I replied, “that if I could not proceed in the way I wished, I should return, and either take his advice about Egypt, or wait till better times: that the King of England, upon hearing from me of his kindness, his willingness to assist us, and his friendship, would send some other Englishmen, with proofs of his good will, who would claim his assistance in getting to Sennaar.” “God keep you from evil!” said he; “but tell your great king to send you again: here you are known, and loved by the people; and know them, and their language: we all will wish to see you again—what shall we do with a stranger?”

The sheikh sent this day for Columbus: “You have lived greatly,” said he, “amongst Mussulmans; why do not you say, La il la ilallah: shed, shed, and paradise is open to you?” Columbus, who knew Turks perfectly, replied, “If it is written, so it will be:” “True,” said the sheikh, “but death is near. I, however, still think you love Mussulmans, and are a believer in your heart: true, the time may not be yet come;—pray God it may come, and quickly, both for you and Sahaby Khaleel (meaning me). I have sent to speak to you, and I think you will tell me the truth:—what is this wish of Khaleel’s to go to Egypt? I think he is my friend, and I think the English are my friends; but a man’s head is always his best friend. I fear they wish to overthrow the Mussulman power altogether.” The reply of Columbus was, “As far as I know they want to do no such thing: they wish to see, and to describe the country, with its inhabitants; and if the English are the first to do so, they will pride themselves greatly in consequence.” “And is that all?” replied the sheikh; “Oh! wonderful: no one would believe it,—no one does here but myself, but I do, because they say so, and they are not liars.”

April 30.—Every thing had been in preparation for a ghrazzie, upon an extensive scale: its destination was a secret; but I inquired of the sheikh, and added, that I hoped he would allow me to accompany him. To this he consented; and, in the evening, sent me word that they should pass the river at Showy, and proceed north-east towards Fittre, for the purpose of annihilating, if possible, the Shouaas La Sala of Amanook, who were in that direction, and allies of the sultan of Begharmi. Amanook was a determined warrior, as well as a terrible fighi. In his escape, after the late fight, his horse had fallen with him, and some followers of Maffatai came upon him; they were about to finish him, when he discovered himself, and by a promise of one thousand bullocks was allowed to escape, one of the men giving him a horse: this horse also knocked up previous to reaching the river, and Amanook saved himself by creeping into the warren of some wild hogs (foul disgrace to a believer!) when after remaining a night and a day, he ventured out, and escaped by swimming across.

The story got to the sheikh’s ears, and the Maffatai Sultan was sent for. These worthies having quarrelled in the division of the spoil, one of them betrayed the rest: and all of them were hanged accordingly, even he who informed; and the sultan, having been kept in a state of great alarm for several days, was at length released, on the payment to the sheikh of twenty bullock loads of tobes, nearly one thousand dollars, for having such people in his kingdom.

On the 4th of May we left Kouka for Angornou, for the purpose of proceeding on the ghrazzie. Rhamadan had now begun two days, and strong objections were made by the Kanemboos and Shouaas to proceeding: they had been nearly two months in the field already, and they were most anxious to prepare for the sowing season, which was now approaching; the difficulty, however, of fasting from sunrise to sunset, while on a campaign at this hot season, for the thermometer was 102° and 104° each day, and the sin of breaking the Rhamadan, by doing otherwise, were made the grounds of objection, and could not fail of having their weight with the sheikh. On the 8th, therefore, we all returned, and the expedition was put off for a month.

From this time, until the 19th instant, we were in a state of great tranquillity: every body was suffering from the severity of the Rhamadan, which was unusually oppressive this year—the days were thirteen hours long, and the heat excessive.

On the 19th instant I had news of Mr. Tyrwhit’s arrival at the river Yeou, and on the 20th I went out to meet him at the resting place, called Dowergoo. This gentleman His Majesty’s Government had kindly sent out to strengthen our party, without knowing how fatally the climate had weakened us: he was the bearer of presents to the sheikh, in acknowledgment of the kind reception we had experienced, and was also accompanied by the sheikh’s children, so long detained at Mourzuk by the intrigues and contrivances of the late bey, Mustapha, the sultan of Fezzan.

On the 22d instant we delivered the presents from his Majesty in full form, consisting of two swords, of very beautiful workmanship, two pair of pistols, a dagger, and two gold watches: the delight, nay ecstasy, with which these well-selected specimens of our manufactories were received by El Kanemy, was apparent in every feature of his intelligent countenance, and in the quick glances of his sparkling and penetrating eye. The dagger, and the watch with the seconds movement, were the articles which struck him most forcibly; and when I mentioned, that, agreeably to his request, a parcel of rockets had also been forwarded, he exclaimed, “What, besides all these riches! there are no friends like these! they are all truth; and I see, by the Book, that if the Prophet had lived only a short time longer, they would have been all Moslem!”

June 1.—The Rhamadan was now over, and we had, in the place of fasting and complainings, feastings and rejoicings: the oftener in the twenty-four hours a man could afford to eat meat, the greater person he was considered. The heat had been very oppressive, and the people complained dreadfully, as the sheikh admitted of no excuse for breaking the Rhamadan: any man who was caught suffering his thirst to get the better of him, or visiting his wives between sunrise and sunset, was sentenced to four hundred stripes with a whip made of the skin of the hippopotamus—a dreadful punishment. An hour or two before the sun went down, sometimes more than a dozen of the class to whom labour rendered the deprivation of liquid for so many hours far more insufferable, would lay themselves near the well, and have buckets of water thrown over them, the only relief that could be allowed, and which appeared greatly to revive them, even when almost fainting with thirst. With the feast of the Aid, however, finished all their sufferings, and also the recollection of them; for the wrestlings now took place in front of the sheikh’s house, as before, and the evening dances at the gates of the town were crowded with many picturesque groups. I had, several times during the fast, paid the sheikh a visit by his desire, soon after sunrise, the only time in the day, at this season, that he is visible: our meeting was always in his garden, which a few pomegranate and lime trees made really here a refreshing spot, which was not a little increased by the troughs of water which reached from the well all round this miserable, though royal, nursery-ground, and refreshed the roots of the languid and drooping trees. Our conversation chiefly related to the war with Tunis, which he seemed to think of great importance, and added, that, friends as we were with all Mussulmans, our taking up the cause of their enemies seemed very unaccountable. I endeavoured to explain it to him, that we were enemies to cruelty and blood-shedding, let who would be the perpetrators; that we as often prevented Greeks from massacring Turks, and always released prisoners of either faith, whenever our cruisers found them confined in the ships of their enemies. I do not know that I should have succeeded in satisfying him entirely of our disinterested conduct, had it not been for Shrief Hashashy, a very respectable Moor, who, having been robbed of every thing on the road from Soudan, was now recovering himself a little by the sheikh’s liberality to the distressed: he was present, and certainly helped me out greatly. “Will my lord listen to me?” said he: “what the rais has just told my lord, I can vouch for the truth of. My lord knows, that the brother of my heart, my youngest brother, Ab’deen, trades to Smyrna and Suez: he fell into the hands of these worst of kaffirs, and with twenty others, Moslem, was taken out of a Greek vessel, with their hands bound ready for execution, by an English captain, who fed and clothed them, and landed them at Smyrna. In short, the English, as I have heard, and believe, made war for twenty years, for no other purpose but to obtain peace.” “Wonderful!” said the sheikh; “but where is the profit of all this?” “That, my lord must inquire of themselves: their wars cannot bring them profit, but, on the contrary, must cost them great sums.” “But what will they do with Tunis?” said the sheikh, turning to me; “they have many large-mouthed guns, and plenty of gunpowder:—can three or four ships force them to do as you wish?—No charms will have any effect, believe me, for they have a fighi of great power and knowledge.” “Probably so,” returned I; “we seldom fight with such weapons—indeed it is probable there will be no fighting at all. If these four ships prevent all intercourse between them and the other nations with whom they trade, will they not be glad to listen to reason for the sake of obtaining peace, and a renewal of their trade and free intercourse?” “True, true,” said the sheikh, “most true; you are a thinking people.”

June 4.—This afternoon, I was sent for to the palace in a most violent hurry, as one of the young princes had swallowed a fish-bone, or a piece of wood, and was choking. I hurried on my bornouse, and made the best haste I could; and although the distance was not above five hundred yards, the sand, which is always nearly up to the ancles in the streets, prevented the possibility of moving very quick; and the Aga Gana, and Mady Sala, two of the sheikh’s negro chamberlains, who had been sent for me, soon got some way in advance: they made signs, and called out to me, in great distress, to come on; which I answered with, the perspiration flowing down my cheeks, “Softly! softly!” This answer, it seems, did not accord with their impatience, which was in proportion to that their master had displayed in despatching them for me; without a word, therefore, they both came running back to me, seized me in their arms, and in about three minutes placed me on the steps leading to the sheikh’s terrace. Had they desired any of the four slaves by whom they were each of them followed to have done this, I certainly should have been inclined to rebel; but when these lords of the bedchamber themselves condescended to bear me in their arms, which they did with great gentleness, I took it, as I have no doubt it was meant, in good part.

I found the young prince with something or other in his throat, which would neither come up nor go down. I at first thought of covering a pistol ramrod with rag, and introducing that, but I afterwards determined to try some large pills of wax candle, of which I was first obliged to swallow three myself, to show the little fellow how; and at last, by dipping them in honey, I did get him to gulp a couple, when, to my great joy, the obstruction was removed, and the sheikh highly delighted. I had already acquired the name of tibeeb (doctor), but this operation raised my fame exceedingly.

While I was waiting in the palace, in consequence of this accident, a punishment took place, probably only equalled in severity by that of the knout in Russia, and which, as is often the case in that country, caused the death of the culprit before the morning. In this instance the unfortunate man had been found, by the spies of the kadi (who are always on the alert), slumbering in his amours, and was now to pay the penalty of his carelessness. In the middle of the day, during the Rhamadan, he had been seen asleep in his hut, and the wife of another man (a merchant), who had been some time absent in Soudan, stretched by his side; they were therefore, without any hesitation, presumed guilty of having broken the Rhamadan. He was sentenced to receive four hundred stripes, and his partner half that number. Her head was first shaved, her dress and ear-rings, arm-lets, leg-lets, &c. were given to the informer; she was taken up by four men, with only a cloth round her middle, by means of which she was suspended, in a manner not to be described, while a powerful negro inflicted the full number of lashes she was condemned to receive. This took place inside the court-yard of the palace: she was afterwards carried home senseless. The man received his punishment in the dender, or square, suspended in the same manner, but with eight men, instead of four, to support him: an immense whip, of one thick thong cut off from the skin of the hippopotamus, was first shown to him, which he was obliged to kiss, and acknowledge the justness of his sentence. The fatah was then said aloud, and two powerful slaves of the sheikh inflicted the stripes, relieving each other every thirty or forty strokes: they strike on the back, while the end of the whip, which has a knob or head, winds round, and falls on the breast or upper stomach: this it is that renders these punishments fatal. After the first two hundred, blood flowed from him upwards and downwards, and in a few hours after he had taken the whole four hundred, he was a corpse. The agas, kashellas, and the kadis, attend on these occasions. I was assured the man did not breathe even a sigh audibly. Another punishment succeeded this, which, as it was for a minor offence, namely, stealing ten camels and selling them, was trifling, as they only gave him one hundred stripes, and with a far less terrific weapon.

June 16.—Every thing was now prepared for the expedition to the eastern side of the Tchad, and Mr. Tyrwhitt determined on accompanying me.

On the 17th of June we reached Angornou, and from thence the sheikh despatched the ghrazzie, with Barca Gana, the chief, Ali Gana, the second, and Tirab, the third in command. At an interview which I had this morning, he called them all towards him, and said, “This is the duty of you all, take care of these strangers: they wish to go round by Kanem, which must be done, if possible: let them have twenty horsemen, or more, if necessary.”

On entering the town of Angala, on the 19th, Bellal, who had accompanied Mr. Toole and myself on the excursion to Loggun, again pointed out the place where we had deposited my unfortunate friend. I went to the spot to see that it was not disturbed; and a peaceful depository it had proved for his remains: every thing remained just as I had left it, even to the branches which covered his grave, and I was fearful, by exciting observations, to risk their disturbance.

On the 20th we reached Maffatai, and took possession once more of my old quarters in Birmah’s house. The host, however, was from home, getting his gussub into the ground; his eldest wife did the honours: she also gave me a little more of her company than before, and told me, very good-naturedly, that she could do many things now, that she could not when the lord was at home. Nothing, indeed, could exceed the kindness with which my hostess, who was called Ittha, did all she could to show how welcome a visitor I was. “Birmah,” she said, “must stay and get in the corn, but she hoped I should not miss him.” During the first day she came repeatedly with her sister Funha, a negress with an expression of countenance more pleasing than I had ever before seen, of about eighteen, who, Ittha said, was most anxious to see me, from what she had told her formerly. Luckily, she added, Funha had divorced her husband only two days before, or she could not have had that pleasure. Ittha, with all the familiarity of an old acquaintance, uncovered my hands, arms, and breast, to show to her sister my extraordinary whiteness. It seemed to surprise her greatly; but nevertheless I was pleased to observe that it did not appear to excite either much alarm or disgust: but what certainly seemed to both the greatest wonder, was the sight and touch of my head, which had just been shaved; it was literally passed from the hands of one to the other, with so many remarks, that some minutes elapsed ere I could be allowed to replace my turban. When, at length, they left me, Ittha exclaimed, pressing my hand with both hers, that I was fit to be a sultan, mai, mai, wolla! and that Funha should shampoo me, and try to bring on sleep, as I must be tired and fatigued by the heat of the sun. This, however, was not all: towards evening, more than a dozen of Ittha’s friends, the principal ladies of the town, came, in consequence of the liberty she enjoyed while the goodman was away, to have a look at the bulfulk (white man), each bringing me something—a few onions, a little rice, or a bowl of milk, as a present. Funha performed all the duties imposed on her to perfection. I had a supper of pounded rice, milk, and honey, with something like bread made into cakes: and verily I began to think, like Ittha herself, that I not only deserved to be a sultan, but that I had really commenced my reign.

We moved to Showy, and crossing the Gurdya by a slanting ford, came more to the eastward than before, and by a nearer route. I was here greatly amused with seeing a party of girls skipping in a long rope, just as we do in England, and the fear of losing my dignity alone prevented my speedily joining them. They performed well; but then it must be recollected that they were totally unincumbered with drapery or any covering whatever, although good-sized young ladies of twelve or thirteen years old. The inhabitants of Showy are a most indolent happy people: half the night is passed in fishing, which is their sole support; and towards evening, each day, the sound of the drum calls them to the open space in the centre of their huts, when the men form themselves into circles, and dance in a most uncouth though joyous manner. The women all assemble at a certain part of the circle, sitting on the ground with their faces covered, and salute the most active with loud screams of approbation.

June 24.—We crossed the Shary with but little less water than we had found six months before, and passing the day on the east bank, we moved again in the evening: we saw twelve crocodiles basking on the banks. A large party of Shouaas were passing on rafts, swimming their sheep and bullocks, which they drive over in flocks, one being first forced into the river, and dragged over by a line run through the cartilage of the nose. Women often perform this duty, showing great strength and agility in swimming and curbing these powerful animals. We made nine miles, passed quantities of ghrwka (castor-nut tree), and at noon arrived at lake Hamese, which is part of the Tchad, and halted at some Shouaa huts of the Beni Hassan tribe, at a place called Zeabra. In continuation of our course, we halted, in the afternoon, at Berbeeta, where we encountered a terrible storm, and were sadly bitten by mosquitoes.

A little to the northward of the road, and at the head of the lake Hamese, are some very curious rocks of red granite standing in an immense plain, at a great distance from any mountains of a corresponding structure: one is of a conical form, and distant about three hundred yards from the others, which are connected. The space between Kou Abdallah, the name of the first, and the other three is covered with loose fragments of rock of different sizes, and it is natural to suppose they were all formerly united: the three are called Hager Teous by the Bornouese, and by the Shouaa Bete Nibbe Mohammed. I had dismounted for the purpose of approaching nearer to the base of the single rock, over the broken fragments by which it was surrounded, principally for the purpose of procuring some specimens, when those who were waiting in the plain exclaimed, “A lion! a lion! a lion!” I began to look around me with great anxiety, and quickly perceived a large female panther, big with young, bursting from the shade of the loose fragments just before me, and, frightened at the cries of the negroes, was running up the rock. These are the most dangerous animals that are here met with, although they never attack when several persons are together; my being in advance was what alarmed the rest. The animal, however, passed quietly away.

June 26.—We still kept near the swamps which surround the Tchad, and halting as usual for two hours in the heat of the day, by sunset we had made nineteen miles, winding, and arrived at the huts of the Biddomassy Shouaa, where Barca Gana was encamped.

June 27.—Proceeded fifteen miles, and found the Dugganah Shouaa were about three miles before us, with Malem Chadely, and a small body of the sheikh’s people who had preceded us. We forded to-day eight waters, branches of the lake, some up to the body of the horse; while the camels took a more circuitous route, and passed beyond the waters on perfectly dry ground. Amanook’s people, we found, had fled.

June 28.—Although on our arriving at the camp of the Dugganah a long parley was held, and a number of questions asked of sheikh Hamed, as to Amanook’s numbers, and his hiding-place, yet the first object of the expedition did not appear until just before daylight this morning, when the whole body mounted, and in fifteen minutes were moving towards Kanem Mendoo, one day from Maou, the capital; from whence the Waday’s had driven the sheikh’s friends. Mendoo had thrown off the sheikh’s government, and Edershi Gebere, nephew of the Fugboo, that had been put to death by the order of Mustapha L’Achmar the sultan of Fezzan, now ruled as khalifa. The sheikh’s object had been to catch him by surprise; and for this reason Amanook and La Sala were always held out as the sole destination of the army. Mendoo was nearly in my road, and it was therefore necessary that it should be cleared first of these rebels. Barca Gana sent in the night for Bellal, and desired him to acquaint me with his intention, and that as he should merely halt to sully (pray) and water the horses, from his starting until the sun should be three fathoms high on the following day, when he should surround Mendoo; that the sheikh wished me to remain where I then was until his return, which would be in four days, when he trusted I should be able to proceed in safety. I should have preferred going on, and leaving Mendoo to him, have passed on round the Tchad; but he would not hear of such an arrangement, and as I was kept in ignorance of this plan until the whole army was actually in motion, I had no alternative. Not a camel went with them, and all the baggage and siriahs were left in the camp. Bellal now became the chief, and with the assistance of the Shouaas and Arabs, the camp was intrenched, trees were cut down, and a sort of abbattis quickly formed for our protection. Our situation was, however, one of jeopardy and inconvenience, as nothing but their ignorance of our movements could save us from an attack from Amanook’s people, to whom we should have been a fine booty and an easy prey. From our vicinity to the Tchad, the swarms of flies in the day, and mosquitoes at night, were so great, that we were obliged to resort to our old remedy of lighting fires, and living in the smoke, in order to obtain a little peace.

June 29.—The Dugganah chief, Tahr, came to my tent to-day, attended by about twenty people, who all sat down behind him bareheaded, while he had on a dark blue cotton cap. He had a fine, serious, expressive countenance, large features, and a long bushy beard: these are the particular characteristics of these Shouaas—they differ from the Shouaas to the west, who have mixed more with the natives. Tahr might have sat for the picture of one of the patriarchs; and an able artist would have produced a beautiful head from such a study. Their mode of salutation is by closing their hands gently several times—as we applaud—and then extending the palms of both flat towards you, exclaiming, “L’affia?—Are you well and happy?”

Tahr, with his followers, after looking at me with an earnestness that was distressing to me for a considerable time, at last gained confidence enough to ask some questions, commencing, as usual, with “What brought you here? they say your country is a moon from Tripoli.” I replied, “to see by whom the country was inhabited; and whether it had lakes, and rivers, and mountains like our own.” “And have you been three years from your home? Are not your eyes dimmed with straining to the north, where all your thoughts must ever be? Oh! you are men, men, indeed! Why, if my eyes do not see the wife and children of my heart for ten days, when they should be closed in sleep they are flowing with tears.”

I had bought a sheep for a dollar, a coin with which he was not conversant; and he asked if it was true that they came out of the earth? The explanation pleased him. “You are not Jews?” said he. “No,” said I. “Christians, then?” “Even so,” replied I. “I have read of you: you are better than Jews,” said he. “Are Jews white, like you?” “No,” replied I; “rather more like yourself, very dark.” “Really;” said the sheikh: “Why, are they not quite white? They are a bad people.” After staying a full hour, he took my hand, and said, “I see you are a sultan: I never saw any body like you. The sight of you is as pleasing to my eyes, as your words are to my ear. My heart says you are my friend. May you die at your own tents, and in the arms of your wives and family.” “Amen,” said I; and they all took their leave.

June 30.—Tahr paid me another visit to-day. The Dugganahs were formerly Waday, and were strong enough to have great influence with the sultan; but by quarrelling among themselves, they lost their influence, and became subject to the Waday sultans. They generally passed one part of the year in the Bahr-al-Ghazal, and the other part by lake Fittre: in these two spots had been the regular frigues, or camps, for several generations. Sheikh Hamed his father, the present chief, who had more than one hundred children, found that another tribe of Dugganah had been intriguing with the sultan of Waday against him, and that he was to be plundered, and his brethren to share in the spoil. On learning this, he fled with his flocks and his wives, offered himself to the sheikh, El Kanemy, and had since lived in his dominions. The account he gave of the Tchad was this—it formerly emptied itself into the Bahr-el-Ghazal by a stream, the dry bed of which still remained, now filled with large trees and full of pasture: it was situated between the N’Gussum and Kangarah, inhabited by Waday Kanemboos. “I could take you there,” said he, “in a day; but not now—spears are now shining in the hands of the sons of Adam, and every man fears his neighbour.” He had heard his grandfather, when he was a boy, say, “that it there gradually wasted itself in an immense swamp, or, indeed, lake[50]: the whole of that was now dried up. They all thought,” he said, “the overflowings of the Tchad were decreasing, though almost imperceptibly. From hence to Fittre was four days: there was no water, and but two wells on the road. Fittre,” he said, “was large; but not like the Tchad. His infancy had been passed on its borders. He had often heard Fittre called the Darfoor water and Shilluk. Fittre had a stream running out of it—was not like the Tchad, which every body knew was now a still water; a river also came from the south-west, which formed lake Fittre; and this and the Nile were one: he believed this was also the Shary; but he knew nothing to the westward: it, however, came from the Kerdy country, called Bosso, and slaves had been brought to Fittre by it, who had their teeth all pointed and their ears cut quite close to their heads.” Tahr wished to purchase our water skins, “for,” said he, “we can get none like them; and either to Fittre, or Waday, we pass a high country, and find but few wells.” The Biddoomah sometimes pay them a visit; and although generally professing friendship, always steal something. The last time, they sold them a woman and a boy; which by Barca Gana’s people were recognized as the same they, the Biddomahs, had stolen from the neighbourhood of Angornou six months before: they were of course restored without payment. The hyænas were here so numerous, and so bold, as to break over the fence of bushes in the middle of a thunder-storm, and carry off a sheep from within five yards of my tent. We had news that Barca Gana had found Mendoo deserted, and was disappointed in catching the khalifa.

The Shouaas live entirely in tents of leather, or rather of rudely dressed hides, and huts of rushes, changing but from necessity, on the approach of an enemy, or want of pasturage for their numerous flocks: they seldom fight except in their own defence. The chiefs never leave their homes, but send bullocks to the markets at Maffatai and Mekhari, and bring gussub in return: their principal food, however, is the milk of camels, in which they are rich, and also that of cows and sheep; this they will drink and take no other nourishment for months together. Their camps are circular, and are called dowera[51], or frigue, with two entrances for the cattle to enter at and be driven out. They have the greatest contempt for, and hatred of, the negro nations, and yet are always tributary to either one black sultan or another: there is no example of their ever having peopled a town, or established themselves in a permanent home.

For several days we were kept in the greatest suspense. No news arrived from the army. Reports varied: it was said Barca Gana had pushed on to Maou and Waday; again, that he was gone to the islands. We had thunder and rain, with distressing heat, and flies, and mosquitoes to torture. Bellal would not go on, and I would not go back: we were consuming daily our store of rice, with eight days before us to Woodie, through a country without supplies.

July 6.—On the evening of yesterday, Barca Gana, with the chiefs, and about half their force, returned; the remainder had been obliged to halt on the road, to refresh their horses. He had pushed on to Maou after Edirshe Gebere, a Shouaa chief of Korata Mendooby. Fugboo Kochamy, as he was called, was the fourth khalifa whom the sheikh had placed at Maou (his three predecessors having been strangled by the Waday people); he was first cousin to Edirshe, who, affecting friendship for him, lulled his suspicions, and one night attacked him in his capital. Kochamy made a gallant defence; he killed nine of them with his spear, but was at length overcome, and died, with eleven others of the sheikh’s allies. Fugboo Jemamy, his brother, alone escaped: to assist Jemamy was the object of Barca Gana. Edirshe had news of their movements, notwithstanding they went nearly fifty miles in a day and night, and appeared first at Mendoo, and then at Maou, on the day after they left us. Edirshe had fled with all his cattle and women: they found them about ten miles from Maou, entrenched within a circular camp, with all their cattle, women, and children, strongly defended with stakes; their bowmen were all distributed between the stakes, and in front of the entrenchment: they saluted their enemies with shrill cries on their approach, and the sheikh’s people, after looking at them for a day and a night, without any provisions for either men or horses, dared not attack them. Disappointed, therefore, in their hopes of plunder and revenge, the whole returned here, their horses and men nearly in a state of starvation.

July 10.—We were all anxiety this day. Barca Gana was nearly one thousand strong, and about four hundred Dugganahs joined him, besides furnishing him with nearly one hundred horses. Amanook was one of the sheikh’s most troublesome remaining enemies; the sheikh had, on various occasions, and lastly, when he joined the Begharmis in their attack on Bornou, very severely crippled him, and destroyed more than half his force: the design now was to annihilate the remainder, and secure, if possible, the person of this inveterate foe, who kept alive the hostile feeling both on the Begharmi and Waday side. Amanook, however, was not to be taken by surprise, and he gave the sheikh’s troops such a proof of what might be done by a handful of men, bold of soul, and determined to defend an advantageous situation, that they will not easily forget. Just before sunset a Fezzanneer, who had lately entered into the sheikh’s service, returned to the camp, giving an account of Barca Gana’s complete discomfiture, and Bellal and myself immediately mounted our horses in order to learn the particulars. The Tchad[52], which in this part forms itself into innumerable still waters, or lakes of various extents, and consequently leaves many detached spaces of land or islands, always afforded the La Sala Shouaas, and the Biddomah, natural defences, which their enemies had ever found it extremely difficult to conquer. In one of these situations, these very La Salas, with Amanook at their head, kept the sultan of Fezzan, with two thousand Arabs, and all the sheikh’s army, several days in check, and killed between thirty and forty of the Arabs before they surrendered. On this occasion Amanook had taken possession of one of these islands, which, to attack with horsemen alone, in front of an opposing enemy, was the height of imprudence. A narrow pass led between two lakes to a third, behind which Amanook had posted himself with all his cattle, and his people, male and female: the lake, in front of him, was neither deep nor wide, but full of holes, and had a muddy deceitful bottom on the side from whence the attack was made.

The sight of the bleating flocks, and lowing herds, was too much for the ravenous troops of the sheikh, irritated by their recent disappointment; and notwithstanding the declaration of Barca Gana, that he wished to halt on the opposite side of the water, and send for spearmen on foot, with shields, who would lead the attack, the junior chiefs all exclaimed, “What! be so near them as this, and not eat them? No, no! let us on! This night these flocks and women will be ours.” This cry the sheikh’s Shouaas also joined in, ever loud in talk, but rearmost in the fight, as the sequel proved. The attack commenced: the Arabs, of whom there were about eighty, led the way with the Dugganah. On arriving in the middle of the lake the horses sank up to their saddle-bows, most of them were out of their depth, and others floundered in the mud: the ammunition of the riders became wet, their guns useless, many even missed the first fire, and they were unhorsed in this situation. As they approached the shore, the La Sala hurled at them, with unerring aim, a volley of their light spears, a very formidable missile, which they followed up by a charge of their strongest and best horse, trained and accustomed to the water; while, at the same time, another body, having crossed the lake higher up, came by the narrow pass, and cut off the retreat of all those who had advanced into the lake. The Shouaas, on the first appearance of resistance, had, as usual, gone to the right about, and left those, under whose cover they meant to plunder, to fight it out by themselves: the slaughter now became very desperate amongst the sheikh’s people. Barca Gana, although attacking against his own judgment, was of the foremost, and received a severe spear wound in his back, which pierced through four tobes, and an iron chain armour, while attacked by five chiefs, who seemed determined on finishing him; one of whom he thrust completely through with his long spear. By crowding around him, and by helping him quickly to a fresh horse, his own people and chiefs saved him, and thirty of them remained either killed or in the hands of the La Sala: but few of those who were wounded in the water, or whose horses failed them there, escaped. We found Barca Gana, with the other chiefs, seated near the second water; he was in great pain from his wound, and the whole army dreadfully disheartened: they had not more than forty followers in all. We vainly waited until sunset, in the hopes of the missing making their appearance, but we were disappointed, and returned to the camp. By this desertion of the sheikh’s Shouaas, the Dugganahs suffered severely: anxious to show their sincerity to the sheikh, they had gone on boldly, and their loss exceeded one hundred; eighteen of the Arabs were also missing. The night was passed in a state of great anxiety, from the fear of an attack on our camp; and the sense of our unjoyous situation was constantly awakened by the melancholy dirges which the Dugganah women were singing over their dead husbands, really so musically piteous, that it was almost impossible not to sympathize in their affliction.

The Dugganah, from being the humblest of allies, now became rather dictatorial, and told the general very plainly that they could fight better without him than with him: they refused him both bullocks and sheep, and said they must keep them to pay the ransom of their people.

Amanook, who it seems had no idea of following up his victory by an attack on our camp, which he might have done successfully, and carried off all the chiefs, siriahs, and camels, sent word this evening that he would now treat with nobody but the sheikh himself; that he had declared to the general, before he attacked him, that he feared no one but God, the Prophet, and the sheikh, and wished for peace: “They would not listen to me,” said he, “but attempted to take by force what was their master’s before; for all we had was the sheikh’s, and is still. By God’s help my people overcame them, but that is nothing; I am to the sheikh, in point of strength, as an egg is to a stone: if he wishes peace, and will no more molest me in my wilds, peace be with us—I will give up his people, his horses, and his arms, that have fallen into my hands; if not, I will keep them all, and may be add to their number. We are not easily beaten: by the head of the Prophet, I can and will, if I am forced, turn fish, and fly to the centre of the water; and if the sheikh comes himself against me, I will bring Waday against him.”

July 8.—The chiefs all refused to withdraw their forces on this offer of Amanook: they sent word that he was not to be depended on, so often had he deceived them. Nothing but an unconditional return of all the spoil would satisfy them. In a long conversation which I had with Barca Gana, whose wound was now fast healing from the dressing of burnt fat and sulphur, which I had applied, he assured me that they should not make another attempt on this bold chieftain: he, however, advised my returning to Kouka. “The excursion,” said he, “you wish to make was always dangerous, it is now impracticable; we must wait for the sheikh’s appearance before we can do any thing, and I think, from the advanced state of the season, as the rains have now begun to fall, you will find that the sheikh will not come, and that we shall all return.”

By being ten days encamped[53] close to the frigue of the Dugganah Shouaas, we had a better opportunity of observing these curious people: they were a superior class to any I had met with; they were rich in cattle, and in camels, and seemed to live in plenty, and patriarchal simplicity. The sheikh had greatly encouraged their taking refuge with him on their disagreement with Waday, and had promised them protection, tribute free, provided they were faithful. Both the men and women were comely, particularly the latter, who, when they found that we paid for what we wanted in little bits of coarse karem (amber), with which I had provided myself, brought us, night and morning, frothy bowls of milk, which formed by far the best part of our repasts. There is something so curious and singularly interesting and expressive in the Shouaa manners and language, that I am at a loss how to describe it. A girl sits down by your tent with a bowl of milk, a dark blue cotton wrapper tied round her waist, and a mantila of the same thrown over her head, with which she hides her face, yet leaves all her bust naked; she says, “A happy day to you! Your friend has brought you milk: you gave her something so handsome yesterday, she has not forgotten it. Oh! how her eyes ache to see all you have got in that wooden house,” pointing to a trunk. “We have no fears now; we know you are good; and our eyes, which before could not look at you, now search after you always: they bid us beware of you, at first, for you were bad, very bad; but we know better now. How it pains us that you are so white!”

As we had not more than four days’ provision, I determined on returning after another interview with Barca Gana: we left Tangalia, and returned to the spot where we had left the Biddomassy, and had scarcely pitched our tents when a storm came on, which lasted till midnight: but bad as it was, it was preferable to the stings of the musquitoes and flies which succeeded it. Notwithstanding we had fires inside the tent, which nearly stifled us, no sleep was to be obtained.

On the 11th we arrived at Showy, after a very tedious march, and losing our way for three hours: the woods are, indeed, most intricate and difficult; and as all the Shouaas had moved up towards Barca Gana, we could get no guides. We saw five giraffees (cameleopards) to-day, to my great delight; they were the first I had seen alive, and notwithstanding my fatigue and the heat, Bellal and myself chased them for half an hour: we kept within about twenty yards of them. They have a very extraordinary appearance from their being so low behind, and move awkwardly, dragging, as it were, their hinder legs after them: they are not swift, and unlike any figure of them I ever met with. Passing the Shary was attended with very great difficulty; the stream was extremely rapid, and our horses and camels were carried away from the sides of the canoe, to which they were lashed: we lost a camel by this passage; these animals have a great dislike to water, and after swimming a stream are often seized with illness, and are carried off in a few hours.

July 12.—Left Showy, and once more found ourselves at Maffatai. The rest, and fish bazeen, with which we were here regaled, with the deep shade of Burmah’s spacious mansion, greatly recovered us. The skin of my face all came off, and I slept nearly the whole day after our arrival: the sun, rain, flies, and musquitoes, altogether had fatigued me more than any former journey.

On the 15th we pursued our route homeward by a new course, and halted close to the Gambalarum, on the ground the Begharmis had escaped over, after their rencontre with the sheikh: the ground was strewed with skeletons.

July 16.—After a long and fatiguing march we reached some Felatah huts, about sunset. The water, after crossing Maffatai, is all sad muddy stuff; and the nearer you approach Angornou, the blacker the soil is, and the worse it becomes. We to-day crossed the Molee, a small stream which runs to the Tchad. The whole of this road, indeed the whole country from Angala, is an inclined plane towards the Great Lake, and during the rains it is impassable: they were now every where sowing their grain, and in many places they were reaping the Indian corn. Since leaving Maffatai, we had nothing besides a little rice, to which I added a duck or two, which I made it part of my business to search after, and shoot.

July 17.—We this day reached Angornou, very much fatigued with our journey; we had a drenching night of it, and crept into our friend Abdi Nibbe’s hut, with great joy: the worst of these storms were that they spoiled the only meal we could get time to cook in the twenty-four hours; and our tents, which rarely withstood the blasts, on falling, exposed all our stores as well as ourselves to the pelting of the storm.

On my arrival again at Kouka I found that Captain Clapperton, with a small kafila, had returned from Soudan: it was nearly eight months since we had separated, and although it was midday I went immediately to the hut where he was lodged; but so satisfied was I that the sun-burnt sickly person that lay extended on the floor, rolled in a dark blue shirt, was not my companion, that I was about to leave the place, when he convinced me of my error, by calling me by my name: the alteration in him was certainly most striking. Our meeting was a melancholy one: he had buried his companion, and I had also closed the eyes of my younger and more robust colleague, Mr. Toole. Notwithstanding the state of weakness in which I found Captain Clapperton, he yet spoke of returning to Soudan after the rains.

July 28.—I had now determined on proceeding by Woodie to Kanem, and approaching as near as possible to Tangalia, the spot where I had left Barca Gana, when I had passed by the southern extremity of the lake; and if I succeeded, and returned before the departure of the kafila after the Aid Kebir, I fostered a hope of retracing my steps across the desert, with all the satisfaction of a man who had accomplished to the full the duties that had been assigned him. Yagah Menamah, the chief eunuch of the sheikh’s favourite wife, came to me soon after daylight, and presented me with two kansara, or fly-flappers, made of the tail of the camelopard; and in her name said that she had burnt salt for my departure, praying that neither the devil nor any of his imps might be able to play me any malicious tricks on my journey. The sheikh had consented to Mr. Tyrwhitt’s remaining as consul: and on my inquiring whether he would protect one or two English merchants, if they came to his country—“Certainly: why not?” said he, “and assist them to the extent of my power; but they must be small traders, or the journey will never pay them.” He expressed his wish to write to the king, and added, “whatever I can do in Soudan, remember I am ready. I have influence there certainly, which may increase, and probably shortly extend to Nyffé. As to yourself, I shall write to beg the king will send you here, with any English whom he may wish to visit Bornou. You are known, and might now go any where in Bornou without fear. Even the Shouaas on the frontiers, and the Duggenah, all know Rais Khaleel: but this has not been done hastily; you have been nearly eighteen months amongst us, and you remember when you could not go to Angornou without inconvenience. I then thought you would never be as much at liberty here as you are. Time and yourself may be thanked for this, not me; for I could not, by any orders I might have given, have done for you what your mixing freely with the people, and gaining their good will, has brought about—and yet you are a Christian!”

July 30.—This morning the sheikh sent to Mr. Clapperton, Mr. Hillman, and myself, as a present, a very fine camel, a horse, and two water-skins, two leopard skins, and two dressed-leather sacks. In the course of the morning another cargo was brought to me, consisting of eight elephants’ tusks, with the horns of three other animals. The horns were, first, the maremah, a long horn similar to one I had seen at Kabshary—the animal has two, bending backwards at the point; kirkadan, a two-horned animal; another animal, with one long horn and a second shorter just above it, nearly between the eyes of the animal, was described to me as having, on the sheikh’s late expedition to Gulphi, carried a man and horse, spiked on his horn, more than one hundred yards, when, frightened by the cries of the people, he dropped them, and made his escape: the man was unhurt, but the horse died.

Aug. 6.—This was the Aide Kebir, the principal feast of the Mussulmans during the year, in commemoration of God’s staying the hand of Abraham in the place Jehovah-jireh, when about to sacrifice his son Isaac: all who can muster a sheep or a goat kill it on this day, after prayers. The sheikh sent the day before, to know if we kept the feast; and when we met, repeated his question. I replied, that we believed the interposition of the Divine Power in saving Isaac to be a signal proof of God’s mercy and love to all his creatures; “for remember,” said I, “he is the God of many, not of Mussulmans alone; and that our father Abraham’s great and implicit faith in the existence of that mercy, was what obtained for him all the blessings God promised him.”

He sent us two very fine sheep, and we killed and feasted with the rest. Early in the morning, the sheikh, with his sons and all his court, mounted, according to custom, to welcome the Aid, by praying outside the town, and firing and skirmishing on their return: the assembly was not so large as on former occasions, in consequence of the absence of the chiefs in Kanem; indeed every thing went off extremely flat, owing to the defeat of the sheikh’s people. Contrary to custom, no presents were made by him, and no dresses were distributed to the slaves: instead of the glossy new tobes which on former occasions shone on the persons of the footmen who ran by the side of his horse, they were now clothed with torn, discoloured ones, and every thing wore the appearance of gloom and disgrace. On these days, the custom is also for the women to assemble, dressed in all their finery, in the street, before the doors of their huts, and scream a salutation to the passing chiefs: it was one of the best parts of the ceremony, but this year it was omitted. The sheikh, whose unamiable trait was, as I have before observed, visiting the weaknesses of the female part of his subjects with too great severity, had, during my absence, given an order which would have disgraced the most absolute despot that ever sat on a throne: the gates of his town were kept shut at daylight one morning, and his emissaries despatched, who bound and brought before him sixty women who had a bad reputation; five were sentenced to be hanged in the public market, and four to be flogged; which latter punishment was inflicted with such severity, that two expired under the lash. Those who were doomed to death, after being dragged, with their heads shaved, round the market on a public day, with a rope round their necks, were then strangled, and thrown, by twos, into a hole previously prepared, in the most barbarous manner. This diabolical act, for it deserves no better name, armed all tongues against him. The Bornouese, who are a humane and forgiving people, shuddered at so much cruelty: and so much influence had the ladies in general with their husbands, that more than a hundred families quitted Kouka, (to which place they were before daily flocking), to take up their abodes in other towns where this rigour did not exist. In Kouka, they declared there was no living, where only to be suspected was sufficient to be doomed to a cruel and ignominious death; and where malicious spies converted “trifles light as air, into confirmation strong.” Those who remained, though the women of his particular attendants, refused flatly to scream him a welcome, and the procession passed through the streets in silence.

Aug. 7.—I was now on the eve of departing for Kanem, to proceed by Woodie to the north-east of the lake. Mr. Clapperton had been ill with sore legs and an attack of dysentery, but was better. Mohammed Bousgayey, an Arab, who left this place with Doctor Oudney and Mr. Clapperton, came to my hut: he had gone on from Kano, with four or five Arabs, to Yeouri and to Nyffé, and had stayed some time at a place called Gusgey on the Quolla, two days west-south-west nearly, from Yeouri. The Quolla he described to be here as wide as to the market outside the walls and back, which must have been nearly two miles: they were all kaffirs, he said, but not bad people. The sultan Mahmoud had several hundred guns, and powder, which were brought from the bahr kebir (great water), and arrack (rum), in plenty; which was brought in large glass bottles. At eight days distance only from Yeouri, large boats came to a place called Yearban, but it is not on the bahr kebir. Katungah is the great port, which is at some distance: to both of these places people he called Americans came; they were white, and Christians: they always demand gum arabic and male slaves, for which they will pay as high as sixty and seventy dollars each. Sultan Mahmoud produced to him two books, which he said were like mine; and told him, that a man, whose beard was white, had lived nearly three years with no money; that he wished to go, but had no means, and that he died. Bousgayey said the sultan had offered him the book; which he refused, as he did not know what he could do with it; but that now he was going back, and should bring it.

In the afternoon we went to pay our respects to the sheikh, in honour of the feast. He received us but coolly: and I was scarcely seated on the sand, when I saw near me a little shrief from Marocco, named Hassein, who, though once or twice our friend, I was always in fear of, being aware both of his cunning and his influence. Almost the first question of the sheikh’s was, as to the distance of our country from India: and when told it was four months by sea, he said, “What could induce you to go so far from home—to find it out, and fight with the people?” We replied, “that we had plenty of ships, and were great lovers of discovery; that the French and the Dutch had been there before us; and we were always jealous of our neighbours doing more than ourselves.” “And now it is all yours,” said he, “and governed by your laws!” Our reply was, “that we only kept possession of the part near the sea—that their own laws were in full force—but that even Mussulmans often preferred the English laws to their own.” “Wonderful!” said he, “and you went at first with only a few ships, as friends?” “We are friends now,” said I, “and by trade have not only made ourselves rich, but the natives also.” “By God!” said the Marroquin, “they eat the whole country—they are no friends: these are the words of truth.” We had then a few remarks (not good-natured ones) as to the right of dictating to Algiers and the other Barbary powers. Algiers we described as unfaithful to their word, and little better than pirates.

Aug. 11.—Soon after daylight, Karouash, with Hadgi Mustapha, the chief of the Shouaas, and the sheikh’s two nephews, Hassein and Kanemy, came to our huts. Hadgi Mustapha had been one of the original four hundred who commenced the liberation of Bornou from the Felatahs. They were attended by more than a dozen slaves, bearing presents for us, for King George, and the consul at Tripoli. I had applied for a lebida[54], after seeing those taken from the Begharmis: the sheikh now sent a man, clothed in a yellow wadded jacket, with a scarlet cap, and mounted on the horse taken from the Begharmis, on which the sultan’s eldest son rode. He was one of the finest horses I had seen; and covered with a scarlet cloth, also wadded. “Every thing,” Hadgi Mustapha said, “except the man, is to be taken to your great king.” He also brought me twelve very beautiful tobes, of every manufacture, from Nyffé to Loggun and Waday, four parrots, and a box of zibet. For the consul he also sent six tobes, and a small box of zibet, worth thirty or forty dollars, with two parrots.

August 13.—The long expected kafila arrived from Soudan, which was a signal for our departure: they had been fifty days on the road from Kano, in consequence of the waters; and had they been delayed much longer, the season would have been so far advanced as to have prevented the departure of all those merchants that had many slaves: going, as they do, poor creatures, nearly naked, the cold of Fezzan, in the winter season, kills them by hundreds. With the Soudan kafila came Khalifa, a Moor and a fighi; he had been at Saralo, as he called Sierra Leone, and desired to be brought to me, as he knew English. He certainly knew enough to convince me of his truth, when he asserted that he had met my countrymen. “Gun, cap, and water!” he kept continually saying: and my Bornou friends were not a little surprised when I told them it was the language of my country. He spoke greatly of some person he called the Doctor[55], whom he had seen at Bammakoo and Bunjalow, a good looking man, with a red beard, and long projecting nose, with bad front teeth. He gave away many things, wrote a great deal, and was much liked by all the people. Two persons were with the Doctor, whom he believed were French, and had come from Ender; one was called Gentleman, and the other Fausta, or Forster; “but they held their heads down, and did not talk to the people like the Doctor,” said Khalifa. “The Doctor,” he said, “wanted to go to Sego, but the sultan would not allow him to come to his country, and would not even look at the presents he sent him, as he feared they had charms which would kill him, either by the sight or smell. He, however, sent him slaves, and horses, which he, the Doctor, also returned, saying that he wanted nothing but to see the country and the rivers. The sultan of Sego replied, he had heard that his (the doctor’s) king had water all round his country, and he might go and look at that. Khalifa said the Sego people were Kaffirs, and knew not God, therefore were afraid of Christians; but the Moors knew them, and liked them. When the present king of Sego’s father was alive, he, Khalifa, then a boy, remembered Christians going to D’Jennie and Timboctoo, and hearing that the Tuaricks killed them in their boat near Nyffé[56].”

On Monday, the 20th of the Mohamedan month del Khadi, and the 16th of August, we took our final leave of Kouka, and not without many feelings of regret, so accustomed had we become, particularly myself, to the people. In the morning I had taken leave of the sheikh in his garden, when he had given me a letter to the king, and a list of requests: he was all kindness, and said he had only one wish, which was that I might find all my friends well, and once more return to them. He gave me his hand at parting, which excited an involuntary exclamation of astonishment from the six eunuchs and Karouash, who were the only persons present.

I preceded the kafila for the following reason: I had, ever since my return from Tangalia, determined to attempt the east side of the Tchad, by Lari, previous to returning home. Many had been the objections, many the reports of danger from the Waday people and Amanook, who had now boldly forsaken the lake, and was encamped at no great distance from Barca Gana, to whom he twice paid a night visit, and had been beaten back. I, however, told the sheikh I could take no present, or promise to the execution of any commission, unless this duty was accomplished, or at least until I had done my utmost, and that I would take care not to go into danger. Bellal, my old companion, was once more appointed to attend me, and we moved with two camels, lightly laden; for the more train, always the more trouble and the more expense. All my friends then in Kouka mounted to escort me from the town: the women assembled outside the gate, and screamed an adieu; and I am persuaded our regrets were mutual.

About midnight, while we were all asleep at Dowergoo, a despatch came to say, that the skin of a camelopard had been brought to Kouka, which the sheikh had procured for me. Columbus, therefore, returned to prepare it for preservation, while we moved on to N’Gortooah: he came up again in the evening, and reported, that though small, it was a fine specimen. On Wednesday we slept at Kaleeluwha, and on the 23d came once more on the Yeou, now a considerable stream, full of water, and running towards the Tchad, at the rate of three miles an hour[57]. My feelings on seeing this river for a second time were very different to what they had been when I first looked on its waters. We then had an escort of two hundred men, and yet could not feel ourselves in perfect safety one hundred yards from our tents. Now I had only one attendant—the people about me were all natives, and I wandered about the banks of the river with perfect freedom, and slept with my tent door open, in as great security as I could have done in any part of England, had I been obliged so to travel. Other feelings also obtruded themselves; I was about to return home, to see once more dear friends, and a dear country, after an absence of nearly three years, on a duty full of perils and difficulties: two out of four of my companions had fallen victims to climate and disease, while those who remained were suffering, in no small degree, sickness and debility from the same causes: I was in health, and notwithstanding the many very trying situations, in which we had all been placed, some of them of great vexation and distress, yet had we been eminently successful.

In the afternoon Bellal accompanied me down the river, about nine miles, where, increasing in width to about one hundred yards, it flows into the Tchad, with a strong and deep current of water. On its banks are five considerable villages of Kanemboos, called Ittaquoi, Belagana, Afaden, Yeougana, and Boso. At Belagana, the sheikh has a large inclosure of huts, within a wall, where he generally has from five hundred to eight hundred slaves of both sexes, under the charge of four eunuchs, who are employed in preparing cotton, and spinning the linen (gubbok), of which the tobes are made.

The manner of fishing in the Yeou, a very considerable source of commerce to the inhabitants of its banks, must not be omitted: dried fish from the Yeou is carried to all the towns to the south-west, quite as far as the hills; and at this season they are usually taken in great numbers. The Bornouese make very good nets of a twine spun from a perennial plant called kalimboa: the implements for fishing are ingenious, though simple: two large gourds are nicely balanced, and then fixed on a large stem of bamboo, at the extreme ends; the fisherman launches this on the river, and places himself astride between the gourds, and thus he floats with the stream, and throws his net. He has also floats of cane, and weights, of small leathern bags of sand: he beats up against the stream, paddling with his hands and feet, previous to drawing the net, which, as it rises from the water, he lays before him as he sits; and with a sort of mace, which he carries for the purpose, the fish are stunned by a single blow. His drag finished, the fish are taken out, and thrown into the gourds, which are open at the top, to receive the produce of his labour. These wells being filled, he steers for the shore, unloads, and again returns to the sport.

25th.—At Woodie I met Barca Gana, Ali Gana, and Tirab, with their forces, on their return from Kanem: they had been out, some of them five months, had made the complete tour of the lake, and were in a sad plight, with scarcely thirty horses left, having literally fought their way: Amanook had twice attacked them, and had sent off all his flocks and women to Begharmi, but had not gone himself, and they were so reduced as not to be able to do any thing to prevent him. They were so badly off for every thing, that they were obliged to come down on Kanem for supplies: the people refused them any assistance, and after being half starved, they were obliged to make a running fight of it, and get home as well as they could. The Kanem people were all in a state of mutiny, and the Dugganah had gone off towards Waday. This was sorry news; Bellal wanted to turn back. I saw Barca Gana, who said, “It is dangerous, but I think you may go on if you wish it. I would give you eighteen men, but you are better without them: they expect the sheikh, and going with Bellal, wanting but little, and paying for that, for the crops have failed them, you will have little to fear; but you cannot go beyond the Bornou Kanemboos with less than one hundred men.”

With this advice I determined on going on, and after halting the whole of Sunday, on the 27th I proceeded. Barca Gana had, on his return, bivouacked in the wadey where once the Bahr-al-Ghazal ran from the Tchad; the valley is now filled with trees and grass. This was the fourth time Barca Gana had raised his tents in the same place[58], as the sheikh had before informed me. This valley runs between Kangara and N’Gussum, less than twenty miles from Tangalia. We were overtaken by so dreadful a storm, that we halted, and pitched the tent on a high sand-hill within five miles of N’Gygami. Near this hill we had a beautiful view of the open lake, with several floating islands, when the storm cleared away. The Biddomahs are constantly landing hereabouts; and we met some poor people who had been robbed of their whole flock of goats, with their daughter, only the day before—indeed no single travellers can pass this road. Towards evening, we saw their canoes in the offing; and below us, in the low grounds, three Biddomahs making for the lake:—they saw us, and quickened their pace. For safety we all slept outside the huts of N’Gygami: this ground is the highest part of the borders of the lake, and here deep water commences immediately off the shore, while, in some parts, miles of marsh are to be waded through previous to arriving at the lake. Tuesday, we made Lari, where we were to find a Malem fighi, whom the sheikh had ordered to proceed with us.

Aug. 29.—Moved from Lari. Here we found four men, with a chief whom Barca Gana had left at Kuskoua, returning, as the people would give them no provisions. It was near sunset when we reached Zogany, thirty miles; the country was quite a flat, covered with a plant resembling a heath which I had seen nowhere else; and in many parts I observed incrustations of trona. This heath is called kanuskin: the camels eat it; and in the neighbourhood of trona it is generally found.

Aug. 30.—After a night of intolerable misery to us all, from flies and mosquitoes, so bad as to knock up two of our blacks, we mounted and advanced; and leaving our tents, for Bellal would not carry them on, we proceeded to Garouah and Mabah;—which are full of people, and though annually pillaged by Tuaricks and Tibboo Arabs, yet still they will not quit their native soil. The character of the country here, which is different to the south or west sides of the lake, extends to Gala, where the land is again varied, and a little higher: for many miles on this side we had one continued marsh and swamp. I was at the northernmost part of the lake, and pursuing a course first to the west, and then to the eastward of south, for five or six miles, nearly up to the body of the horse in water, and with reeds and high grass overtopping our heads, I at last got a sight of the open lake. We disturbed hippopotami, buffaloes, enormous fish, and innumerable hosts of insects. At the commencement of the water it had a taste of trona, which, as we advanced, became gradually sweeter: indeed, all the people say, when you ask if this water you drink so strong of trona is the lake? La! la! inki kora kora kitchi engobboo tilboo baco. (No! no! the water of the great lake is very sweet, no trona).

Completely fatigued, we returned to the village of Chirgoa, near which our tents were pitched: this was a most distressing day, and we had been on our horses nearly thirteen hours. Garouah is twelve miles from Zogany, and Mabah twenty. We were some way in advance of the latter, but to Kuskoua I could not induce my guide to venture; and so many proofs had I seen, not only of his bravery, but his desire to satisfy my curiosity, that I could not doubt his fears were just. Notwithstanding our fatigue, no rest could we obtain, and another night was passed in a state of suffering and distress that defies description: the buzz from the insects was like the singing of birds; the men and horses groaned with anguish; we absolutely could not eat our paste and fat, from the agony we experienced in uncovering our heads. We at last hit upon an expedient that gave us a little relief: as they came at intervals, in swarms, we thought they might also be driven off in the same quantities; and we found, by occasionally lighting a line of fires with wet grass, to windward of our tents, that the smoke carried off millions, and left us a little at ease. I do not think our animals could have borne such another night; their legs and necks were covered with blood, and they could scarcely stand, from the state of irritation in which they had been kept for so many hours.

On Friday we returned to Lari by the lower road, where there are frequent large detached pieces of water, strongly impregnated with trona. On the road, to-day, we fell in with a tribe of the Biddomah, who had, during the last three months, taken up their abode on the sheikh’s land, and asked for what was instantly granted them, permission to remain. Internal wars cause these fallings off of one tribe from another, which the sheikh encourages: only one of their chiefs could ever be induced to proceed so far as Kouka. The sheikh takes no notice, and suffers them to do as they please: he sent them tobes, and a fighi, and desired they would learn to pray: and they are now beginning, as my guide said, to have the fear of God. They were the most savage beings I had seen in the shape of men, except the Musgowy; and we had sat some time under a tree before they would come near us. The men, until they are married, wear their hair, and collect as many beads and ornaments as they can, which they wear round their necks; their hair is long and plaited, or twisted in knots; they have ear-rings also: and this collection of beads and metal is always given to the wife on their marriage. The upper part of the face is very flat, and the eye sunk; they have large mouths, and long necks; a sulky, reserved look about them, any thing but agreeable: they have no style of salutation like other negroes, who greet strangers over and over again, sitting down by them:—these stand up, leaning on a spear, and look steadfastly at you without speaking. I gave a little boy some white beads, which were directly tied round his neck, I suppose as the commencement of his marriage portion. They, however, at length, produced some sour milk; and some of them came round my horse when I mounted, and nodded their heads at me when I rode off, which I returned, much to their amusement.

When we arrived at Lari, which was comparatively free from flies, the horses lay down, and, stretching themselves out, fell asleep in a way, and with an expression of enjoyment, I never saw animals do before, and did not look for their nose-bags until after midnight. We here found that one of Barca Gana’s people had the night before lost his horse, which had been stolen by the Biddomahs we saw on the look out.

Kanem, the most persecuted and unfortunate of negro countries, was daily becoming more miserable; they were pillaged alternately by the Fezzaneers, the Tuaricks, and the Waday people. Between the latter and the sheikh they hung for protection, and from neither could they obtain what they sought: the country was becoming abandoned, and the villages deserted, part taking refuge in Waday, and part in the sheikh’s dominions: the land communication between Bornou and Kanem was too difficult and distant, either by the south or north, for the sheikh to render them any effectual support. An army almost every year went to Kanem for this purpose, but they usually returned with the loss of horses, camels, and men, and were seldom able much to annoy their enemies, the Wadays. This year his expedition had been upon a larger scale, and his losses were greater than on any former occasion.

In consequence of the waters, which fill the rivers at this season, the ford across the Shary had become impassable, and they were therefore obliged to return home through Kanem. Not the least assistance would any of the towns give them, except Gala, and a more wretched state I never saw men in: some of the chiefs on foot, without horses; and those who were mounted, bestriding sorry animals, with torn appointments: they all said, fighting without the sheikh was useless, as he alone could lead them to victory.

Sept. 3.—I had now been six days at Woodie, waiting the arrival of my companions with our camels, and the kafila of merchants whom we were to accompany to Fezzan. Woodie is no very pleasant place of sojourn, as the Biddomah have a sort of agreement with the kaid to be allowed to plunder all strangers and travellers, provided the property of the inhabitants is respected. We were, however, told to be on our guard, and not without reason. Our tents were pitched near each other, and a look-out kept up the whole night, notwithstanding which they paid us a visit, during a storm of thunder and rain, and from the entrance of Bellal’s tent, only eight paces from my own, stole both his horses. Although six or seven negroes were sleeping quite close to them, they got completely off, and had an hour’s start before even the loss was discovered. Bellal pursued them, with about a dozen people, quite to the lake, tracing their footsteps in the sand, which was not difficult after the rain; but finding here that they had embarked, the pursuit was given up.

At length, however, on Tuesday the 14th, we had assembled our kafila, and we moved on towards the desert: on the 22d of September, in the afternoon, we halted half way to the well of Beere Kashifery.

Sept. 23.—We made the well soon after mid-day; and fortunately for us we brought some water with us, for the power of our friend Mina Tahr here began to appear. This well was guarded, and we were told, that until the sheikh Mina appeared, not a drop was to be drawn. It required some exertion of patience and forbearance, in a sultry oppressive day, with the thermometer at 110° in the tent, to be obliged to drink muddy water from goat skins, when a well of the best water between Kouka and Bilma was under our feet: but we were inured to hardships and contradictions, and submitted, I hope, like good Christians. Towards evening the Tahr appeared on the hills to the north-west, attended by his troop: he seemed vastly glad to see us; said “the well was ours—that our water-skins should be filled, and camels watered, before any body, and for nothing; and then,” said he, “sultan George the Great must be obliged to Mina Tahr, the wandering chief of Gunda, and that will give more pleasure to Tahr’s heart than payment: and who knows,” said he, “but when sultan George hears this, he may send me a sword?”

Sept. 24.—In consequence of the number of camels to be watered, and the large flocks of the Tibboo, it was not until the evening that our animals could drink; and even then we were almost obliged to take possession of the well by force. Our old Maraboot was struck by a spear, as well as our servants; and it was not until after I had mounted a horse and repaired to the well myself, accompanied by the Tahr, that we could complete this most important business of the day.

In the evening Tahr came for his present. I gave him a tobe from Soudan, a red cap, and a turkodie: the tobes and cap he looked at, and said, “Ah! this is very well for me; I am one, but my wives are three:—what shall I do with one turkodie?” Tahr now began a speech: he was greatly distressed that he had nothing to send sultan George. “By the head of Mustapha!” said he, “I consider him as much my master as the bashaw;—ay and more—for you say he sent you to see me, which is more than the bashaw ever did. I can send him a tiger-skin, and I will write him a letter—for Tahr’s enemies are never quiet, and he has no time to kill ostriches now. The well Beere Kashifery, whose waters are here like gold, and better than gold, and all that Kashella Tahr and the Gunda Tibboos have to give, shall always be, as long as he or his children govern, at the service of sultan George Inglesi.” He now asked for water, and began washing the ink from a paper which had previously been ornamented with a charm, drinking the dirty water, and rubbing it over his head and neck: when this was finished, he laid the paper in the sun; and I was a little amused when I found, that it was on this dirty scrap that he intended writing to king George.

Sept. 25.—In the afternoon of this day we left Beere Kashifery, taking a very hearty leave of Tahr. In order to save my camels, who had seventeen skins of water to carry in addition to their loads, as we were to be four days on our road to Aghadem, I hired a maherhy to carry two heavy boxes to Bilma, for seven dollars. The moon, which was in its first quarter, assisted us after sunset, but we were obliged to move on for at least two hours after she had sunk quietly to rest. We halted for a few hours, at a spot called Geogo Balwy (honey spot), and a little after midnight proceeded on our dreary way. There was great difference of opinion as to our route, which, probably, by following our own back bearings, we might have found better ourselves: but we were not yet quite so bold in the desert as on the main; and I insisted on the Mina Hamedee, the guide whom the sheikh had given us, being allowed his own way, and my confidence was not misplaced. By daylight on Sunday we discovered the foot-marks of the camels and slaves of Hadge-Boo-Said, a Fezzan merchant, who had absolutely been in the right track, but had turned back, and gone southerly. Numbers now exclaimed that we were wrong: there appeared, however, no sort of timidity about our guide; he looked confident, and bore the abuse that was levelled at him on all sides, with great coolness: and there was a sort of conscious ability about him that determined me to rely completely on his judgment alone. No man is ever afraid of doing what he knows he can do well; and in most cases a sense of power gives confidence: so it proved with my Tibboo. We continued travelling another night and day in these most dreary wastes, with nothing but the wide expanse of sand and sky to gaze upon.

On Monday the 27th of September, a little before noon, we observed something in the distance, which had the appearance of a body of men moving towards us; but from the effect of the mirage assuming different shapes, and sometimes appearing twelve or fifteen feet above the surface of the desert, the Arabs declared it to be a Tuarick party on the forage, and all our followers loaded and prepared for action. On their approach, however, we found to our great joy that it was a kafila from Fezzan: they had been as much alarmed at us as we at them, and were all formed, in front of their camels several hundred yards, in extended order, as the Arabs always fight: they gave us some Fezzan dates, which were a great luxury; and some of the traders who were short of water exchanged a jar of butter, worth at least two dollars, for every full skin they could so purchase. They told us the road was perfectly safe, although their fears of falling in with the Tuaricks had detained them seventy-two days on the journey from Mourzuk.

It is scarcely possible to convey an idea of the sensations of all parties on a meeting of this nature on the desert. The Arabs were equally alive to these feelings as ourselves; and, in their usual wild expressive manner, sang, for days after such a rencontre, ballads descriptive of the event[59].

We halted at noon, at a place called Gassooma-foma. In the afternoon we moved again; and the guides told me that the road was so difficult that, until the moon fell, we should make the best of our way, and then rest. On these occasions we pitched no tents, but laid the boxes together; and, either with a little boiled kouskosou, or still oftener without, soon forgot our fatigues in sleep. When we saw the black ridge that extends along the wadey of Aghadem, the negroes, female slaves, and followers, set up screams of joy, and began dancing and singing with all their might. It was almost noon when we got to the well, and several slaves, belonging to an old Shouaa who was going to Hage, were speechless from want of water; yet they ran several miles to reach the well, like things distracted, with their mouths open, and eyes starting from their heads.

On the 2d of October we left Aghadem, and by the help of a blessed moon we were enabled to travel until near midnight, without losing our way. A very sharp storm of wind from the east obliged us to halt; and we had scarcely time to shelter ourselves with the skins and boxes, before it came on with most disagreeable force: this detained us until daylight, when we rose from between the hillocks of sand that had formed on each side of us in the night.

We had the satisfaction throughout our journey to find, that, young as we were at desert travelling, yet we got on as well, if not better, than our companions; and though children of the soil, they always looked to us, instead of us to them, both for safety and protection, as well as for the direction of the route. It was noon on Thursday the 7th, when we made Zow, an oasis situated under some high black sandstone hills, where there is good water and ahgul in abundance for the camels, who had scarcely broken their fast since leaving Dibla. Zow is most appropriately named “difficult,” from the road which leads to it—a frightful sandy waste of moveable sand hills, exceeding fifty miles. Some little girls, and children of the kafila, panting with thirst, augmented by fever and illness, were scarcely able to creep along the deep sand: the whip shaken over the head urged them on—for in justice it must be said, the Arabs use it but rarely in any other way—and not to urge them on would be still more cruel, for the resolution and courage of these poor things would never carry them through; they would lie down, and if sleep once overcame them, so as to be left behind, death would be inevitable.

Oct. 11.—We arrived at Bilma. Without the supply of dates, which are procured here, kafilas would often suffer extreme hunger, so scarce are provisions, and so difficult is the transport: all followers from hence agree to have one meal per day of dates, and one of flour and fat; while, previous to arriving at Bilma, they are obliged to have two of flour and fat. Slaves of poor merchants will for twenty days together be fed by a handful of dates, night and morning, and they generally thrive well on this nourishing food.

Oct. 15.—We laid in a stock of dates for the next fourteen days, and man and beast were nearly subsisted upon them: a camel-load is worth from four to five dollars; they will, however, take camels’ flesh eagerly instead of money, or Soudan goods at one hundred per cent. profit. Our tents were surrounded by daylight with women and men; the former to sell us their commodities, and the latter to look on.

Oct. 17.—We had another day of rest, and were pretty tranquil. The women came in throngs to our tents, and were willing to sell us corn and dates, for either dollars or Soudan tobes, at one hundred and fifty per cent. profit: two lean goats they asked me four dollars for; and for a sheep, six. A great deal of bustle was made about the settlement of the dispute with the Mesurata Arabs, and the Tibboo: “The Book” was to be referred to, but Hadge Mohammed Abedeen, the brother of the kadi at Mourzuk, would not open the leaves until the relations of the deceased swore to rest satisfied with his decision. This preliminary being arranged on Monday morning, the parties all assembled: the kadi, Hadge Ben Hamet, and Ben Taleb, the chief merchants of our kafila, were present: they found, by the Koran, that if any man lifts his hand higher than his shoulder, in a menacing attitude, though he should not be armed, the adversary is not to wait the falling of the blow, but may strike even to death. The law was, of course, in favour of the Arab, as he proved the Tibboo’s having his hand, armed with a spear, raised above his head, when he shot him dead. On this being declared, the Arabs ran about, throwing their guns over their heads, shouting and, what we should call crowing, to such a degree, that I fully expected the Tibboos would be aggravated to renew hostilities.

Oct. 25.—From hence we were to proceed by a different route to that by which we went to Bornou: crossing, therefore, another part of the range, we moved until night, and halted in what appeared to us a beautiful oasis, under a ridge of dark sand hills. This spot of dingy fertility extended several miles to the west, and afforded us water, grass, and wood, for that and the two following days, which were to be passed in deserts. A few miserable inhabitants had fixed themselves here, for the sake of a small crop of dates, yielded by a few palms: they were all anxious to exchange the produce of their valley for a blue or a white shirt of the coarsest kind,—a luxury they were the more in want of from possessing no other clothing. This is by far the best road; soft sand gravel, instead of rough broken stones; and the kafilas prefer it on account of the wells. The oasis is called Seggedem. From hence, eight days’ distance, is a Tibboo town, and by this road kafilas sometimes pass to Ghraat.

Oct. 26.—We left Seggedem after a blowing night, which either overset the tents, or buried them several feet in the sand. Towards evening we rested, and starting again at daylight, made the wells of Izhya by noon next day.

From El Wahr to Meshroo are three very fatiguing days without water, or a single vestige of verdure. We were not able to reach the well, and halted short of the Beeban el Meshroo, the pass leading to the well, nearly four miles. On Sunday, the 8th of November, we arrived at the well,—watered our weary camels, and our more weary men, and again pursued our route until night, when we pitched westward of the well of Omhah; and after one more dreary day, at night (Nov. 9th) we slept under the palm trees which surround Tegerhy, the most miserable inhabited spot in Fezzan, nay, in the world, I might almost say, and yet we hailed it with inexpressible joy, after the pitiless deserts we had passed.

The fatigue and difficulty of a journey to Bornou is not to be compared with a return to Fezzan: the nine days from Izhya to Tegerhy, without either forage or wood, is distressing beyond description, to both camels and men, at the end of such a journey as this. The camels, already worn out by the heavy sand-hills, have the stony desert to pass; the sharp points bruise their feet, and they totter, and fall under their heavy loads: the people, too, suffer severely from the scanty portion of provisions, mostly dates, that can be brought on by these tired animals,—and altogether it is nine days of great distress and difficulty. There is something about El Wahr surpassing dreariness itself: the rocks are dark sandstone, of the most gloomy and barren appearance; the wind whistles through the narrow fissures, which disdain to afford nourishment even to a single blade of wild grass; and as the traveller creeps under the lowering crags, to take shelter for the night, stumbling at each step over the skeleton of some starved human being, and searching for level spots on the hard rock, on which to lay his wearied body, he may fancy himself wandering in the wilds of desolation and despair.

On the day of our making El Wahr, and the two following days, camels in numbers dropped and died, or were quickly killed, and the meat brought on by the hungry slaves. Kafilas are obliged to rely on the chance of Tibboos and Arabs from Mourzuk hearing of their having passed the desert, and bringing them supplies; should these fail, many poor creatures must fall a sacrifice for the salvation of the rest. These bringers of supplies usually sell their dates and corn to eager buyers, at about four times the price they could obtain for them in Fezzan; besides which, the merchants gladly hire their unburthened camels to quicken their passage to a better country.

A Tibboo trader, who was returning to his own country from Fezzan, gave me a gratifying proof of the confidence he was willing to place in the word of an Englishman. It was nearly night, and I was in front of the camels: he had dates to sell, and mine were expended, but I told him that my money was in my trunk, and that my camels were too tired for me to unload them: “God bless you!” said he, “why, I wish you would buy all I have, camels and all: I know who the English are! Are they not almost Mislem, and people of one word? Measure the dates, and go on:—pay the kaid at Mourzuk.”

We here voraciously bought up a few bad onions, to give a little flavour to our insipid meal of flour and water; and soon after, the kaid brought me a sheep, the only one in the town, which we cut up and divided, so that we had a sumptuous meal about nine o’clock in the evening.

On Sunday the 14th of November, by easy journeys we reached Gatrone, which, before so miserable in our eyes, now really seemed a little Paradise; and the food which the old hadge who governs there sent us, of the same kind we before thought so unpalatable on our outward voyage, now seemed delicious. I literally got up at daylight to feast on a mess of hot broth and fresh bread, most highly peppered, and made as good a meal as ever I did in my life.

At Gatrone, as well as at Tegerhy, our tents were pitched in a palm grove, the trees shading us during the day from the sun-beams, and at night from the easterly winds: the gentle moaning of the breeze through its slowly-waving branches was to us a most pleasing novelty; and the noble, nutritious, and productive palm, seemed in our eyes fully to merit the beautiful lines of Abulfeda:

“The stately date, whose pliant head, crowned with pendent clusters, languidly reclines like that of a beautiful woman overcome with sleep.”—Abulfeda Descr. Egypt, a Michaelis, p. 6.

To do them justice, the Fezzan people seemed as glad we were come back, as we were ourselves. “To go and come back from the black country! Oh, wonderful!—you English have large hearts!—God bless you!—the poor doctor to die too, so far from home!—Health to your head! it was written he was to die, and you to come back.—God is great!—and the young Rais Ali too! (Mr. Toole)—Ah! that was written also:—but he was a nice man—so sweet spoken. Now you are going home: well, good fortune attend you! How all your friends will come out to meet you with fine clothes—and how much gunpowder they will fire away!”

At the mosque of Sidi Bouchier the usual prayer was offered for our safe arrival in our own country; and on the 21st of November, Sunday, we made our entry into Mourzuk, and took possession of our old habitation.

Nov. 21.—All welcomed our return: we had bowls of bazeen and kouskosou night and morning, and visitors from daylight until long after sunset, notwithstanding we had no tea, coffee, or sugar, to regale them with, as on our former residence amongst them. The new sultan, Sidi Hassein, who succeeded Mustapha, had only arrived the day before us; and as he had entered in mourning on account of the death of the bashaw’s wife, the Lilla Gibellia[60], no rejoicings were allowed on the occasion: he however sent us two fat sheep, a large pot of olives, and two sacks of wheat; we had therefore a little rejoicing of our own. The two Lizaris, Mohammed and Yusuf, Captain Lyon’s friends, were amongst the foremost to pay us attention, as well as old Hadge Mahmoud, who exclaimed continually, “Thank God, you are come back!—who would have thought it!—how great and good God is, to protect such kaffirs as you are! Well! well! notwithstanding all this, I love you all, though I believe it is haram (sin).”

Though many degrees nearer our own fair and blue-eyed beauties in complexion, when moderately cleansed and washed, yet no people ever lost more by comparison than did the white ladies of Mourzuk, with the black ones of Bornou and Soudan. That the latter were “black, devilish black,” there is no denying; but their beautiful forms, expressive eyes, pearly teeth, and excessive cleanliness, rendered them far more pleasing than the dirty half-casts we were now amongst. A single blue wrapper (though scarcely covering) gave full liberty to their straight and well-grown limbs, not a little strengthened, perhaps, by four or five daily immersions in cold water; while the ladies of Mourzuk, wrapped in a woollen blanket, with an under one of the same texture, seldom changed night or day, until it drops off, or that they may be washed for their wedding; hair clotted, and besmeared with sand, brown powder of cloves, and other drugs, in order to give them the popular smell; their silver ear-rings, and coral ornaments, all blackened by the perspiration flowing from their anointed locks, are really such a bundle of filth, that it is not without alarm that you see them approach towards you, or disturb their garments in your apartments.

The bashaw was said to have had an engagement with the Arabs, who were in rebellion against him, and to have defeated them; after which they had fled all to the Gibel, which had been long the rendezvous of the disaffected; we therefore determined on our immediate departure, after having sold the six remaining camels, out of twenty-four, which I had brought with me from Kouka, for twenty-one dollars—sore backed miserables that they were! The Maherhies, though handsomer and more fleet, do not bear fatigue like the Salamy or Tripoli camels.

On the 12th of December we were ready for our departure, and on the 13th we took our leave, the sultan having given us an order, or teskera, on all the towns of Fezzan, for every thing we might stand in need of. The cold of Mourzuk had pinched us all terribly; and notwithstanding we used an additional blanket, both day and night, one of us had colds, and swelled necks, another ague, and a third, pains in the limbs—all, I believe, principally from the chillness of the air; yet the thermometer, at sunrise, was not lower than 42° and 43°.

On the 18th we reached Sebha, and found our old friend, sheikh Abdallah-ben-Shibel, whose hospitality we had before experienced; with abundance of kouskousou and meat, with highly peppered broth, prepared for us. The daughter of my friend Abdallah, who was now married, and a mother, and to whom I had two years before given a very simple medicine but once, which she was convinced had cured her of the jaundice, sent me two very pretty straw fans for the flies; they were made of the date leaf, in diamonds, coloured red, black, and yellow; the red is produced by foor, or madder root; the yellow with dried onion leaves, steeped in water; and the black by nil, or indigo.

At Sebha, Timinhint, and Zeghren, we were fed with the best produce of their cuisine. Omul Hena, by whom I was so much smitten on my first visit to this place, was now, after a disappointment by the death of her betrothed, with whom she had read the fatah just before my last visit, only a wife of three days old. The best dish, however, out of twenty which the town furnished, came from her; it was brought separately, inclosed in a new basket of date leaves, which I was desired to keep; and her old slave who brought it inquired, “Whether I did not mean to go to her father’s house, and salaam, salute, her mother?” I replied, “Certainly;” and just after dark the same slave came to accompany me. We found the old lady sitting over a handful of fire, with eyes still more sore, and person still more neglected, than when I last saw her. She however hugged me most cordially, for there was nobody present but ourselves: the fire was blown up, and a bright flame produced, over which we sat down, while she kept saying, or rather singing, “Ash harlek? Ash ya barick-che fennick?”—“How are you? How do you find yourself? How is it with you?” in the patois of the country, first saying something in Ertana, which I did not understand, to the old slave; and I was just regretting that I should go away without seeing Omul-hena, while a sort of smile rested on the pallid features of my hostess, when in rushed the subject of our conversation. I scarcely knew her at first, by the dim light of the palm wood fire; she however threw off her mantle, and, kissing my shoulder (an Arab mode of salutation), shook my hand, while large tears rolled down her fine features. She said “she was determined to see me, although her father had refused.” The mother, it seems, had determined on gratifying her.

Omul-hena was now seventeen: she was handsomer than any thing I had seen in Fezzan, and had on all her wedding ornaments: indeed, I should have been a good deal agitated at her apparent great regard, had she not almost instantly exclaimed, “Well! you must make haste; give me what you have brought me! You know I am a woman now, and you must give me something a great deal richer than you did before: besides, I am Sidi Gunana’s son’s wife, who is a great man; and when he asks me what the Christian gave me, let me be able to show him something very handsome.” “What!” said I, “does Sidi Gunana know then of your coming?” “To be sure,” said Omul-hena, “and sent me: his father is a Maraboot, and told him you English were people with great hearts and plenty of money, so I might come.” “Well, then,” said I, “if that is the case, you can be in no hurry.” She did not think so; and my little present was no sooner given, than she hurried away, saying she would return directly, but not keeping her word. Well done, simplicity! thought I: well done unsophisticated nature! no town-bred coquette could have played her part better.

After a day’s halt, on the 22d we moved to Omhul Abeed, distant only a few miles, where water and wood are collected for the desert between that place and Sockna, which usually, at this season, when the days are short and nights cold, occupies five or six days.

Dec. 25.—On our fourth Christmas day in Africa, we came in the evening to Temesheen, where, after the rains, a slight sprinkling of wormwood, and a few other wild plants were to be seen, known only to the Arabs, and which is all the produce that the most refreshing showers can draw from this unproductive soil. We had here determined on having our Christmas dinner, and we slaughtered a sheep we had brought with us, for the purpose; but night came on, before we could get up the tents, with a bleak north-wester; and as the day had been a long and fatiguing one, our people were too tired to kill and prepare the feast. My companions, however, were both something better: Hillman had had no ague for two days; and we assembled in my tent, shut up the door, and with, I trust, grateful and hopeful hearts, toasted in brandy punch our dear friends at home, who we consoled ourselves with the idea, were, comparatively, almost within hail.

The next day, before we had loaded our camels, a pelting rain came on, with a beating cold wind from the north-west, which pinched us severely; however, we started; but scarcely had we entered the wadey, at the approach to which we had passed the night, than the slaves kindled fires under the trees, round which, indeed, we all took shelter: they, however, poor creatures, complained bitterly; and as the camels had not eaten any thing for three days previous, we determined on suffering them to enjoy such pasturage as the wadey afforded, while we slaughtered our sheep, and kept the feast.

Every thing was so cold and damp, that the poor slaves, who accompanied our kafila, half-clothed as they were, crowded round the fires in preference to sleeping: they were, however, always gay and lively on the march, when the warm sun and exercise had given a little circulation to their blood; the Arabs, to do them justice, fed them to their hearts’ content, and, even to this, we usually added something.

Arrived at Sockna, I was lodged in the house of Hadge Mohammed Boofarce, a place with four whitewashed walls and date beams; but by the help of a brass pan, and a hole in the ground, I managed to keep a pretty good fire, without much smoke. I had neither host nor hostess. The house was in the charge of one Begharmi slave, who had been twenty-four years in bondage: he was pleased greatly when he found that I had been near his home, and the names of some of the towns made him clap his hands with pleasure; but when I asked him whether he should like to return, he had sense enough to answer, “No! no! I am better where I am. I have no home now but this; and what will my master’s children do without me? He is dead; and his son is dead: and who will take care of the garden for his wives and daughters, if Moussa goes?—No! he is a slave still, and so much the better for him; his country is far off, and full of enemies. Here he has a house, and plenty to eat, thank God! and two months ago they gave him a wife, and kept his wedding for eight days.” The siriah of a Sockna merchant, who had gone to Soudan, leaving her pregnant, had, by becoming a mother, gained her freedom, and taking Moussa for a husband, they were put in charge of his mistress’s unoccupied house for a residence.

Jan. 5.—We left Sockna, passed El Hammam on the 6th, slept in Wadey Orfilly, and on the morning after, Mr. Clapperton and myself separated, as I wished to return by Ghirza, while he was rather desirous of keeping the old road by Bonjem. A continuation of wadeys furnished us at this time of the year with food for camels and horses; and, close under low hills of magnesian limestone, at Jernaam, we filled our water-skins for five days’ march.

Jan. 11.—A cold morning, with the thermometer at 42°, delayed us till nine o’clock before we could make a start. We passed two wadeys before coming to that where we were to halt: near one of these, called Gidud, were heaps of stones, denoting the resting-place of two Arabs, who had died in a skirmish, about two months before, and some characters, which to me were hieroglyphics, were marked out distinctly in the gravel near their graves; and upon inquiry, I found they told the tale of death, and the tribes to which they belonged. At sunset we halted at Bidud.

Nothing particular, till our arrival at Ghirza on the 13th. We found here the remains of some buildings, said to be Roman, situated about three miles west-south-west of the well, and which appeared to me extremely interesting: there must have been several towns, or probably one large city, which extended over some miles of country, and the remains of four large buildings, which appear to have been monuments or mausoleums, though two of them are nearly razed to the earth. Those which I thought interesting and capable of representation, I sketched: the architecture was rude, though various: capitals, shafts, cornices, and entablatures, lay scattered about; some of curious, if not admirable, workmanship.

The inscription[61], No. 1, was on a tablet fixed on the east face of the building, of which the elevation gives the south side. The entrance to all the buildings was from the east, and by fourteen steps to the base of the upper range of pillars, now totally destroyed. The other inscriptions were found on the loose fragments which lay scattered around.

Jan. 17.—Moved along Shidaf, a beautiful wadey, extending ten miles between limestone rocky hills, through which we passed. After this we came to Hanafs, and halted fifteen miles to the east, where we found some other ruins, of a character similar to those of Ghirza: two inscriptions were perceivable, but perfectly unintelligible, and obscured by time.

On the 20th we once more saw Benioleed, and on the 24th, passed Melghra, and the plain of Tinsowa. Melghra was the place where we had taken leave of Mr. Carstensen, the late Danish consul-general at Tripoli, and many of our friends, who accompanied us thus far on our departure for the interior; and our return to the same spot was attended by the most pleasing recollections. Our friend, the English consul, we also expected would have given us the meeting, as he had despatched an Arab, who had encountered us the night before, with the information that he was about to leave Tripoli a second time to welcome our arrival.

On the day after, we reached a well, within ten miles of Tripoli; and previous to arriving there, were met by two chaoushes of the bashaw, with one of the consul’s servants: we found the consul’s tents, but he had been obliged to return on business to the city; and the satisfaction with which we devoured some anchovy toasts, and washed them down with huge draughts of Marsala wine, in glass tumblers—luxuries we had so long indeed been strangers to—was quite indescribable. We slept soundly after our feast, and on the 26th of January, a few miles from our resting-place, were met by the consul and his eldest son, whose satisfaction at our safe return seemed equal to our own. We entered Tripoli the same day, where a house had been provided for us. The consul sent out sheep, bread, and fruit, to treat all our fellow-travellers; and cooking, and eating, and singing, and feasting, were kept up by both slaves and Arabs, until morning revealed to their happy eyes, and well filled bellies, the “roseate east,” as a poet would say.

We had now no other duties to perform, except the providing for our embarkation, with all our live animals, birds, and other specimens of natural history, and settling with our faithful native attendants, some of whom had left Tripoli with us, and returned in our service: they had strong claims on our liberality, and had served us with astonishing fidelity in many situations of great peril; and if either here or in any foregoing part of this journal it may be thought that I have spoken too favourably of the natives we were thrown amongst, I can only answer, that I have described them as I found them, hospitable, kind-hearted, honest, and liberal: to the latest hour of my life I shall remember them with affectionate regard; and many are the untutored children of nature in central Africa, who possess feelings and principles that would do honour to the most civilized Christian. A determination to be pleased, if possible, is the wisest preparatory resolution that a traveller can make on quitting his native shores, and the closer he adheres to it the better: few are the situations from which some consolation cannot be derived with this determination; and savage, indeed, must be that race of human beings from whom amusement, if not interesting information, cannot be collected.

Our long absence from civilized society appeared to have an effect on our manner of speaking, of which, though we were unconscious ourselves, occasioned the remarks of our friends: even in common conversation, our tone was so loud as almost to alarm those we addressed; and it was some weeks before we could moderate our voices so as to bring them in harmony with the confined space in which we were now exercising them.

Having made arrangements with the Captain of an Imperial brig, which we found in the harbour of Tripoli, to convey us to Leghorn, I applied, through the consul-general, to the bashaw for his seal to the freedom of a Mandara boy, whose liberation from slavery I had paid for some months before: the only legal way in which a Christian can give freedom to a slave in a Mohammedan country. The bashaw immediately complied with my request[62]; and, on Colonel Warrington’s suggesting that the boy was anxious to accompany me to England, he replied, with great good humour, “Let him go, then; the English can do no wrong.” Indeed, on every occasion, this prince endeavoured to convince us how rejoiced he was at our success and safe return. He desired Colonel Warrington to give him a fête, which request our hospitable and liberal consul complied with, to the great satisfaction of the bashaw. The streets, leading from the castle to the consulate, were illuminated, and arched over with the branches of orange and lemon trees, thick with fruit. The bashaw arrived at nine in the evening, accompanied by the whole of his court in their splendid full dresses, and, seated on a sort of throne, erected for him, under a canopy, gazed on the quadrilles and waltzes, danced by the families of the European consuls, who were invited to meet him, with the greatest pleasure. He took the English and the Spanish consul-generals’ wives into the supper-room, with great affability: and calling Captain Clapperton and myself towards him, assured us he welcomed our return as heartily as our own king and master in England could do. No act of the bashaw’s could show greater confidence in the English, or more publicly demonstrate his regard and friendship, than a visit of this nature.

Very shortly after this fête we embarked for Leghorn, and after experiencing heavy and successive gales, from the north-west, which obliged us to put into Elba, we arrived in twenty-eight days. Our quarantine, though twenty-five days, quickly passed over. The miseries of the Lazaretto were sadly complained of by our imprisoned brethren; but the luxury of a house over our heads, refreshing Tuscan breezes, and what appeared to us the perfect cookery of the little taverna, attached to the Lazaretto, not to mention the bed, out of which for two days we could scarcely persuade ourselves to stir, made the time pass quickly and happily. On the 1st of May we arrived at Florence, where we received the kindest attention and assistance from Lord Burghersh. Our animals and baggage we had sent home by sea, from Leghorn, in charge of William Hillman, our only surviving companion. Captain Clapperton and myself crossed the Alps, and on the 1st of June following, we reported our arrival in England to Earl Bathurst, under whose auspices the mission had been sent out.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 48: Slaves worthy of being admitted into the seraglio.]

[Footnote 49: The best information I had ever procured of the road eastward was from an old hadgi, named El Raschid, a native of the city of Medina: he had been at Waday and at Sennaar, at different periods of his life; and, amongst other things, described to me a people east of Waday, whose greatest luxury was feeding on raw meat, cut from the animal while warm, and full of blood: he had twice made the attempt at getting home, but was each time robbed of every thing; yet, strange to say, he was the only person I could find who was willing to attempt it again.]

[Footnote 50: Sidi Barca, a holy man, was killed by the Biddomahs at the mouth of this river; and from that moment the Bahr-el-Ghazal began to dry, and the water ceased to flow. A Borgoo Tibboo told us at Mourzuk, that the Bahr-el-Ghazal came originally from the south, and received the waters of the Tchad; but that now it was completely dried up, and bones of immense fish were constantly found in the dry bed of the lake. His grandfather told him that the Bahr-el-Ghazal was once a day’s journey broad.]

[Footnote 51: Dowera is the plural of dower, a circle.]

[Footnote 52: There is a prevailing report amongst the Shouaas that from a mountain, south-east of Waday, called Tama, issues a stream, which flows near Darfoor, and forms the Bahr el Abiad; and that this water is the lake Tchad, which is driven by the eddies and whirlpools of the centre of the lake into subterranean passages; and after a course of many miles under ground, its progress being arrested by rocks of granite, it rises between two hills, and pursues its way eastward.]

[Footnote 53: During the whole of this time both ourselves and our animals drank the lake water, which is sweet, and extremely palatable.]

[Footnote 54: Horse covering.]

[Footnote 55: This was, no doubt, Doctor Docherd, sent by Major Gray.]

[Footnote 56: This man informed me that Timboctoo was now governed by a woman, a princess, named Nanapery: this account was confirmed by Mohammed D’Ghies, after my return to Tripoli, who showed me two letters from Timboctoo. He also gave me some interesting information about Wangara, a name I was surprised to find but few Moors at all acquainted with. I met with two only, besides Khalifa, who were able to explain the meaning of the word: they all agreed that there was no such place; and I am inclined to believe the following account will be found to be the truth. All gold countries, as well as any people coming from the gold country, or bringing Goroo nuts, are called Wangara. Bambara is called Wangara. All merchants from Gonga, Gona-Beeron, Ashantee, Fullano, Mungagana, Summatigilia, Kom, Terry, and Ganadogo, are called Wangara in Houssa; and all these are gold countries.]

[Footnote 57: An intelligent Moor of Mesurata again told me, this water was the same as the Nile; and when I asked him how that could be, when he knew that we had traced it into the Tchad, which was allowed to have no outlet, he replied, “Yes, but it is nevertheless Nile water-sweet.” I had before been asked if the Nile was not in England; and subsequently, when my knowledge of Arabic was somewhat improved, I became satisfied that these questions had no reference whatever to the Nile of Egypt, but merely meant running water, sweet water, from its rarity highly esteemed by all desert travellers.]

[Footnote 58: Each time Barca Gana had encompassed the lake, he had with him a force of from four hundred to eight hundred cavalry; the passage of a river, therefore, or running stream, could never have escaped his observation.]

[Footnote 59: The following lines may be taken as a sample, at least, if not a literal translation, of their poetical sketches on these ocean meetings.

THE Arab rests upon his gun,

His month of labour scarce begun

Of passing deserts drear:

Straining his eyes along the sand,

He fancies in the mist, a band

Of plunderers appear.

Again he thinks of home and tribe,

Of parents, and his Arab bride

Betrothed from earliest years:

Then high above his shaven head,

The gun that fifty had left dead

Rallies his comrade’s fears.

“Yeolad boo! yeolad boo!

“Sons of your fathers! which of you

“Will shun the fight and fly?”

They rush towards him, bright in arms,

Thus calming all his false alarms

By promising to die.

The sounds of men, as objects near,

Strike on the listening Arab’s ear

Laid close upon the sand:

He hears his native desert song,

And plunges forth his friends among

To seize the proffered hand.

Asalam? Asalam? from every mouth;

What cheer? what cheer? from north and south,

Each earnestly demands:

And dates and water, desert fare,

While all their news of home declare,

Are spread upon the sands.

But, soon! too soon! the kaf’las move;

They separate again, to prove

How desolate the land!

Yet, parting slow, each seeks delay,

And dreading still the close of day,

They press each other’s hand.]

[Footnote 60: She was taken prisoner in an expedition against the people of Khalifa Belgassum, in the Gibel, by Bey Mohamed, who, though in love with her himself, was obliged to give her up to his father, who was struck with her eyun kebir (large eyes). She also loved the bey, but was obliged to give herself to the bashaw. This is said to have been the cause of the first disagreement with his father. She, by her influence, made Belgassum, her old master, kaid over eight provinces.]

[Footnote 61: Dr. Young has been so good as to examine these inscriptions, but has not succeeded in ascertaining their probable date. He observes, that the two principal inscriptions, Nos. 1 and 2, are clearly tributes of children to the memory of their parents. They seem, from the legal expression “discussi ratiocinio,” to be of the times of the lower empire, these words being applied in the pandect to the settlement of accounts: they each allude to the expenses of some public entertainment. The termination is remarkable for the prayer, that their parents might revisit their descendants on earth, and make them like themselves. The names seem to be altogether barbarous: the second character, like a heart, is not uncommonly found in inscriptions standing for a point.

No 1.

M. CHULLAM et * VARNYCHsan

PATER ET Mater MARCHI

NIMMIRE Et C. CURASAN

QUI EIS HAEC MEMORIAM

FECERUNT . DISCUSSIMUS

RATIOCINIO; AD

EA EROGATUM EST SUMI

praetER C . . . . . S IN

NUMMO * AEDILIS familIARES

NUMERO OVA lactiCINIA

OVINa . . . . . deCEM

ROSTRATAE . . . . . OPE

nAVIBUS E . . . . .

VISITENT Et taLES faciaNt.

No. 2 must be read nearly thus:—

M. FUDEI ET P. PHESULCUM

PATER ET MATER M. METUSANIS

QUI EIS HAEC MEMORIAM FECIT.

DISCUSSI RATIOCINIO; AD EA ERO-

GATUM EST SUMI . . . .

IN NUMMO * AEDILIS A FAMILIA

PRAETER CIBARIAS OMniBUS

FELICITER LEGAtas . VISITENT

FILIOS ET NEPOTES MEOS

ET TALES FACIANT.

No. 3.

MUNAS II ET MUMAI

filii MATRIS MNIMIRA

HAEDILEHS.

No. 4.

NHIABH JUre

JURANDO tene-

AMUR QUIriTUUM.]

[Footnote 62: The following is a loose translation of the document:—“Praise be to the only God, and peace to our Prophet Mohamed, and his followers!—Made free by Rais Khaleel-ben-Inglise, a young black, called Abdelahy, of Mandara, from the hands of Abdi Nibbe-ben-Attaia Towerga, for the sum of thirty-six Spanish dollars, which the said Abdi Nibbe has received—Rais Khaleel giving freedom to the said slave, over whom he has no power, nor any other person whatever; and the said Abdelahy is in full enjoyment of all the privileges of Musselmans. In the presence of us, the parties being in possession of their senses and faculties. Given this 16 Rabbia-attani, 1240, di Hegira—Mohamed-ben-Zein-Abeedeen-ben-Hamet-Ben-Mohamed-Ben-Omeran, Mahmoud-ben-Hagi, Solyman.”]

SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER ON BORNOU.

* * * * *

Bornou, a kingdom of Central Africa, is comprehended, in its present state, between the 15th and 10th parallel northern latitude, and the 12th and 18th of east longitude. It is bounded on the north by part of Kanem and the desert; on the east, by the Lake Tchad, which covers several thousand miles of country, and contains many inhabited islands; on the south-east by the kingdom of Loggun and the river Shary, which divides Bornou from the kingdom of Begharmi, and loses itself in the waters of the Tchad; on the south by Mandara, an independent kingdom, situated at the foot of an extensive range of primitive mountains; and on the west by Soudan. The heat is excessive, but not uniform; from March to the end of June being the period when the sun has most power. At this season, about two hours after noon, the thermometer will rise sometimes to 105 and 107; and suffocating and scorching winds from the south and south-east prevail. The nights are dreadfully oppressive; the thermometer not falling much below 100°, until a few hours before day-light; when 86 or 88 denote comparative freshness. Towards the middle of May, Bornou is visited by violent tempests of thunder, lightning, and rain. Yet in such a dry state is the earth at this time, and so quickly is the water absorbed, that the inhabitants scarcely feel the inconvenience of the season. Considerable damage is done to the cattle and the people by the lightning. They now prepare the ground for their corn; and it is all in the earth before the end of June, when the lakes and rivers begin to overflow; and from the extreme flatness of the country, tracks of many miles are quickly converted into large lakes of water. Nearly constant rains now deluge the land with cloudy, damp, sultry weather. The winds are hot and violent, and generally from the east and south.

In October the winter season commences; the rains are less frequent, and the harvest near the towns is got in; the air is milder and more fresh, the weather serene: breezes blow from the north-west, and with a clearer atmosphere. Towards December, and in the beginning of January, Bornou is colder than from its situation might be expected. The thermometer will, at no part of the day, mount higher than 74 or 75; and in the morning descends to 58 and 60.

It is these cold fresh winds from the north and north-west that restore health and strength to the inhabitants, who suffer during the damp weather from dreadful attacks of fever and ague, which carry off great numbers every year. The inhabitants are numerous; the principal towns or cities are thirteen. Ten different languages, or dialects of the same language, are spoken in the empire. The Shouaas have brought with them the Arabic, which they speak nearly pure. They are divided into tribes, and bear still the names of some of the most formidable of the Bedouin hordes of Egypt. They are a deceitful, arrogant, and cunning race; great charm writers; and by pretending to a natural gift of prophecy, they find an easy entrance into the houses of the black inhabitants of the towns, where their pilfering propensities often show themselves. The strong resemblance they bear, both in features and habits, to some of our gipsy tribes, is particularly striking. It is said that Bornou can muster 15,000 Shouaas in the field mounted. They are the greatest breeders of cattle in the country, and annually supply Soudan with from two to three thousand horses. The Bornou people, or Kanowry, as they are called, have large unmeaning faces, with fat Negro noses, and mouths of great dimensions, with good teeth, and high foreheads. They are peaceable, quiet, and civil: they salute each other with courteousness and warmth; and there is a remarkable good-natured heaviness about them which is interesting. They are no warriors, but revengeful; and the best of them given to commit petty larcenies, on every opportunity that offers. They are extremely timid; so much so, that on an Arab once speaking harshly to one of them, he came the next day to ask if he wished to kill him.

As their country produces little beside grain, mostly from a want of industry in the people, so are they nearly without foreign trade.

In their manner of living, they are simple in the extreme. Flour made into a paste, sweetened with honey, and fat poured over it, is a dish for a sultan. The use of bread is not known; therefore but little wheat is grown. Indeed it is found only in the houses of the great. Barley is also scarce; a little is sown between the wheat, and is used, when bruised, to take off the brackish taste of the water.

The grain most in use amongst the people of all classes, and upon which also animals are fed, is a species of millet called gussub. This grain is produced in great quantities, and with scarcely any trouble. The poorer people will eat it raw or parched in the sun, and be satisfied without any other nourishment for several days together. Bruised and steeped in water, it forms the travelling stock of all pilgrims and soldiers. When cleared of the husk, pounded, and made into a light paste, in which a little meloheia (the eboo ochra of Guinea) and melted fat is mixed, it forms a favourite dish, and is called kaddell. Kasheia is the seed of a grass, which grows wild and in abundance near the water. It is parched in the sun, broken, and cleared of the husk. When boiled, it is eaten as rice, or made into flour; but this is a luxury.

Four kinds of beans are raised in great quantities, called mussaqua, marya, kleemy, and kimmay, all known by the name of gafooly, and are eaten by the slaves, and poorer people. A paste made from these and fish was the only eatable we could find in the towns near the river. Salt they scarcely knew the use of. Rice might have been cultivated in Bornou, before it became the scene of such constant warfare as has for the last fifteen years defaced the country. It is now brought from Soudan, in the neighbourhood of Maffatai: in Bornou, it is scarce, and of an inferior quality. Indian corn, cotton, and indigo, are the most valuable productions of the soil. The two latter grow wild, close to the Tchad and overflowed grounds. The senna plant is also found wild, and in abundance. The indigo is of a superior quality, and forms a dye which is used in colouring the tobe (the only dress the people wear) dark blue, which probably is not excelled in quality in any part of the world. The only implement of husbandry they possess is an ill-shaped hoe, made from the iron found in the Mandara mountains; and the labours of their wretched agriculture devolve, almost entirely, on women. Most of their grain is reaped within two or three months of its being scattered on the earth (for it can scarcely be called sowing); and probably there is no spot of land between the tropics, not absolutely desert, so destitute of either fruit or vegetable as the kingdom of Bornou. Mangoes are only found growing in the neighbourhood of Mandara and to the west; and with the exception of two or three lemon, or rather lime trees, and as many fig trees, in the garden of the sheikh at Kouka, raised on a spot of ground watched by himself, the care and culture of which give employment to about fifty negroes, not a fruit of any description can be found in the whole kingdom. Date trees there are none south of Woodie, four days north of Kouka, where they are sickly, and produce but an indifferent fruit. Onions are to be procured near the great towns only, but no other vegetable. The people indeed have nothing beyond the bare necessaries of life; and are rich only in slaves, bullocks, and horses. Their dress consists of one, two, or three tobes, or large shirts, according to the means of the wearer: a cap of dark blue is worn on the head by persons of rank. Others, indeed generally all, go bare-headed; the head being kept constantly free from hair, as well as every other part of the body. They carry an immense club, three or four feet in length, with a round head to it, which they put to the ground at every step, and walk with great solemnity, followed by two or three slaves: they have what we should call a rolling gait. Red caps are brought by the Tripoli and Mesurata merchants; but are only purchased by sultans and their immediate attendants. They are Musselmans, and very particular in performing their prayers and ablutions five times a day. They are less tolerant than the Arabs; and I have known a Bornouese refuse to eat with an Arab, because he had not sully’d (washed and prayed) at the preceding appointed hour.

They seldom take more than from two to three wives at a time, even the rich, and divorce them as often as they please, by paying their dower. The poorer class are contented with one. The women are particularly cleanly, but not good-looking: they have large mouths, very thick lips, and high foreheads. Their manner of dressing the hair is also less becoming than that of any other Negro nation I have seen: it is brought over the top of the head in three thick rolls; one large, one in the centre, and two smaller on each side, just over the ears, joining in front on the forehead in a point, and plastered thickly with indigo and bees’ wax. Behind the point it is wiry, very finely plaited, and turned up like a drake’s tail. The Scarin, or tattoos, which are common to all Negro nations in these latitudes, and by which their country is instantly known, are here particularly unbecoming. The Bornouese have twenty cuts or lines on each side of the face, which are drawn from the corners of the mouth, towards the angles of the lower jaw and the cheek-bone; and it is quite distressing to witness the torture the poor little children undergo who are thus marked, enduring, not only the heat, but the attacks of millions of flies. They have also one cut on the forehead in the centre, six on each arm, six on each leg and thigh, four on each breast, and nine on each side, just above the hips. They are, however, the most humble of females, never approaching their husbands except on their knees, or speaking to any of the male sex, otherwise than with the head and face covered, and kneeling. Previous to marriage, there appears to be more jealousy than after.

Adultery is not common: the punishment is very severe, if caught in the fact, and secured on the spot; and this is the only evidence on which conviction is granted. The guilty couple are bound hand and foot, cast on the ground, and their brains dashed out by the club of the injured husband and his male relations.

Girls rarely marry until they are fourteen or fifteen; often not so young. The age of puberty does not arrive here at so early a period as in Barbary; females there not unfrequently becoming mothers at the age of twelve, and even eleven. In Bornou, such a circumstance is unknown: for a woman to have twins is extremely rare; and to make them believe that more were ever brought into the world at one time, in any country, would be difficult.

The domestic animals are dogs, sheep, goats, cows, and herds of oxen, beyond all calculation. The Shouaas on the banks of the Tchad have probably 20,000, near their different villages; while the shores of the great river Shary could furnish double that number. They also breed multitudes of horses, with which they furnish the Soudan market, where this animal is very inferior.

The domestic fowl is common, and is the cheapest animal food that can be purchased: a dollar will purchase forty. They are small, but well flavoured.

The bees are so numerous, as in some places to obstruct the passage of travellers. The honey is but partially collected. That buzzing noisy insect, the locust, is also a frequent visitor. Clouds of them appear in the air; and the natives, by screams and various noises, endeavour to prevent their descending to the earth. In the district where they pitch, every particle of vegetation is quickly devoured. The natives eat them with avidity, both roasted and boiled, and formed into balls as a paste.

The game is abundant, and consists of antelopes, gazelles, hares, an animal about the size of a red deer, with annulated horns, called koorigum, partridges very large, small grouse, wild ducks, geese, snipes, and the ostrich, the flesh of which is much esteemed. Pelicans, spoonbills, the Balearic crane, in great numbers, with a variety of other large birds of the crane species, are also found in the marshes. The woods abound with the Guinea fowl.

The wild animals are, the lion, which in the wet season approaches to the walls of the towns, panthers, and a species of tiger-cat, are in great numbers in the neighbourhood of Mandara, the leopard, the hyena, the jackal, the civet cat, the fox, hosts of monkeys, black, grey, and brown, and the elephant, the latter so numerous as to be seen near the Tchad in herds of from fifty to four hundred. This noble animal they hunt, and kill for the sake of his flesh, as well as the ivory of his tusk. The buffalo, the flesh of which is a delicacy, has a high game flavour. The crocodile and the hippopotamus are also numerous; and the flesh of both is eaten. That of the crocodile is extremely fine: it has a green firm fat, resembling the turtle, and the callipee has the colour, firmness, and flavour of the finest veal. The giraffe is seen and killed by the buffalo hunters in the woods and marshy grounds near the Tchad. Reptiles are numerous; they consist of scorpions, centipedes, and disgusting large toads, serpents of several kinds, and a snake said to be harmless, of the congo kind, sometimes measuring fourteen and sixteen feet in length.

The beasts of burden used by the inhabitants are the bullock and the ass. A very fine breed of the latter is found in the Mandara valleys. Strangers and chiefs, in the service of the sheikh or sultan, alone possess camels. The bullock is the bearer of all the grain and other articles to and from the markets. A small saddle of plaited rushes is laid on him, when sacks made of goats-skins, and filled with corn, are lashed on his broad and able back. A leather thong is passed through the cartilage of his nose, and serves as a bridle, while on the top of the load is mounted the owner, his wife, or his slave. Sometimes the daughter or the wife of a rich Shouaa will be mounted on her particular bullock, and precede the loaded animals; extravagantly adorned with amber, silver rings, coral, and all sorts of finery, her hair streaming with fat, a black rim of kohol, at least an inch wide, round each of her eyes, and I may say, arrayed for conquest at the crowded market. Carpets or tobes are then spread on her clumsy palfrey: she sits jambe deçà jambe delà, and with considerable grace guides her animal by his nose. Notwithstanding the peaceableness of his nature, her vanity still enables her to torture him into something like caperings and curvetings.

The price of a good bullock is from three dollars to three dollars and a half.

The Bornou laws are arbitrary, and the punishment summary. Murder is punished by death: the culprit, on conviction, is handed over to the relations of the deceased, who revenge his death with their clubs. Repeated thefts by the loss of a hand, or by burying the young Spartan, if he be a beginner, with only his head above ground, well buttered or honeyed, and so exposing him for twelve or eighteen hours, to the torture of a burning sun, and innumerable flies and mosquitoes, who all feast on him undisturbed. These punishments are, however, often commuted for others of a more lenient kind. Even the judge himself has a strong fellow-feeling for a culprit of this description. When a man refuses to pay his debts, and has the means, on a creditor pushing his claims, the cadi takes possession of the debtor’s property, pays the demand, and takes a handsome per centage for his trouble. It is necessary, however, that the debtor should give his consent; but this is not long withheld, as he is pinioned and laid on his back until it is given; for all which trouble and restiveness, he pays handsomely to the cadi; and they seldom find that a man gets into a scrape of this kind twice. On the other hand, should a man be in debt, and unable to pay, on clearly proving his poverty, he is at liberty. The judge then says, “God send you the means;”—the bystanders say, “Amen:” and the insolvent has full liberty to trade where he pleases. But if, at any future time, his creditors catch him with even two tobes on, or a red cap, on taking him before the cadi, all superfluous habiliments are stripped off, and given towards payment of his debts.

The towns generally are large, and well built; they have walls, thirty-five and forty feet in height, and nearly twenty feet in thickness. They have four entrances, with three gates to each, made of solid planks eight or ten inches thick, and fastened together with heavy clamps of iron. The houses consist of several court-yards, between four walls, with apartments leading out of them for slaves; then a passage, and an inner court, leading to the habitations of the different wives, who have each a square space to themselves, enclosed by walls, and a handsome thatched hut. From thence also you ascend a wide stair-case of five or six steps, leading to the apartments of the owner, which consist of two buildings like towers or turrets, with a terrace of communication between them, looking into the street, with a castellated window. The walls are made of reddish clay, as smooth as stucco, and the roofs most tastefully arched on the inside with branches, and thatched on the out with a grass known in Barbary by the name of lidthur. The horns of the gazelle and the antelope serve as a substitute for nails or pegs. These are fixed in different parts of the walls, and on them hang the quivers, bows, spears, and shields of the chief. A man of consequence will sometimes have four of these terraces and eight turrets, forming the faces of his mansion or domain, with all the apartments of his women, within the space below. Not only those en activité (as the French would say), but those on the superannuated list, are allowed habitations. Horses and other animals are usually allowed an enclosure near one of the court-yards forming the entrance. Dwellings, however, of this description are not common. Those generally used by the inhabitants are of four kinds:—

Coosie, which is a hut built entirely of straw.

Bongo, a hut with circular mud walls, thatched with straw.

N’Geim kolunby, and fatto-sugdeeby,—huts of coarse mats, made from the grass which grows near the lake. Our dwellings were called bongos, and were about eight feet in diameter inside, about the shape of a hay-stack, and with a hole at the bottom, about two feet and a half high, which we used to creep in and out at. Air, or light holes, we were obliged to dispense with, as they admitted both flies and mosquitoes, which were worse than darkness.

Their utensils are few, and consist of earthen pots, which they make beautifully for cooking, and wooden bowls for dishes. Water, which is their only beverage, is drunk from a large calabash, which grows wild near the rivers, after being cooled in earthen jars. They sleep on mats covered with the skins of animals. Married women are extremely superstitious, in having their beds covered with the skins of particular animals when their husbands visit them; and never fail to predict the fate and fortune of a child, in consequence of these arrangements. A panther or a leopard’s skin is sure to produce a boy, or nothing. Should the father be a soldier, and a chief, the boy will be a warrior, bold, but bloody. A lion’s skin is said to prevent child-bearing altogether; yet exceptions to this rule sometimes occur. It is then always a boy, and a wonderful one. He puts his foot on the necks of all the world, and is alike brave, generous, and fortunate. Leather cushions of various colours, and fancifully ornamented, are brought from Soudan, and are used as pillows by persons of superior rank; who also have a small Turkey carpet, on which they sit or sleep, and the price of which is a young female slave.

The amusements of the people consist in meeting together in the evening, either in the court-yard of one of the houses of the great, or under the shades formed with mats, which are in the open places of the town, where prayers are said at the different appointed hours by the Iman or priest. Here they talk, and sometimes play a game resembling chess, with beans, and twelve holes made in the sand. The Arabs have a game similar to this, which they play with camels’ dung in the desert; but the Bornouese are far more skilful.

Like the birds, their day finishes when the sun goes down; but very few, even of the great people, indulge in the luxury of a lamp, which is made of iron, and filled with bullocks’ fat. They have no oil. A few jars are brought by the Tripoli merchants from the valleys of the Gharian, as presents only. Soap is also an article they are greatly in want of. An oily juice, which exudes from the stem of a thorny tree, called Kadahnia, or mika dahniah, resembling a gum, enables the people of Soudan to make a coarse soap, by mixing it with bullocks’ fat and trona. It is something like soft soap, and has a pleasant smell. This is brought in small wooden boxes, holding less than half a pound, which sell for seven rottala each, two-thirds of a dollar. From this tree is also procured a nut, from which a purer oil is extracted, which they burn in Soudan, and is also used by the women, to anoint their heads and bodies. This tree is not found in Bornou.

The skin of their sheep is covered with a long hair; wool therefore they have none. Brass and copper are brought in small quantities from Barbary. A large copper kettle will sell for a slave. The brass is worked into leglets, and worn by the women.

A small brass basin tinned is a present for a sultan, and is used to drink out of. Four or five dollars, or a Soudan tobe, will scarcely purchase one. Gold is neither found in the country, nor is it brought into it. The Tuaricks are almost the only merchants visiting Soudan who trade in that metal, which they carry to Barbary and Egypt. It is said the sheikh has a store, which is brought him directly from Soudan.

Iron is procured in the Mandara mountains, but is not brought in large quantities, and it is coarse. The best iron comes from Soudan, worked up in that country into good pots and kettles. The money of Bornou is the manufacture of the country. Strips of cotton, about three inches wide, and a yard in length, are called gubbuk; and three, four, and five of these, according to their texture, go to a rottala. Ten rottala are now equal to a dollar.

The government of Bornou has ever been, until during the last fifteen years, an elective absolute monarchy, the brother sometimes succeeding, to the exclusion of the son. Achmet Ali, who, descended from a royal line of ancestors, was sultan in 1808, contended for several years with a powerful people from the westward, called the Felatah. These people had gradually been increasing in power for more than half a century, had established themselves firmly in Soudan; where Bello their chief, assuming the government, dictated laws to a numerous and powerful black population.

Soon after the conquest of Bornou by the Felatahs, El Kanemy formed a plan for delivering that country from the bondage into which it had fallen; and, stirring up the Kanemboo to assist him by a well planned tale of having been called by a vision to this undertaking, he made his first campaign with scarcely 400 followers, and defeated an army of the Felatahs nearly 8,000 strong. He followed up this victory with great promptitude and resolution, and in less than ten months had been the conqueror in forty different battles.

He refused the offer of being made sultan; and placing Mohammed, the brother of sultan Achmet, on the throne, he, first doing homage himself, insisted on the whole army following his example. The sheikh built for Sultan Mohammed his present residence, New Birnie, establishing himself at Angornou, three miles distant, and retaining the dictatorship of the kingdom, pro tempore. Such a commencement was extremely politic, on the part of the sheikh; but his aspiring mind was not calculated to rest satisfied with such an arrangement.

The whole population now flocked to his standard, and appeared willing to invest him with superior power, and a force to support it. One of the first offers they made was to furnish him with twenty horses per day, until a more regular force was organized, which continued for four years[63]. He now raised the green flag, the standard of the Prophet, refused all titles but that of the “servant of God!” and after clearing the country of the Felatahs, he proceeded to punish all those nations who had given them assistance, and with the slaves, the produce of these wars, rewarded his faithful Kanemboo and other followers for their fidelity and attachment.

Even in the breasts of some of the Bornouese, successful war had raised a passion for conquest: their victories, no less a matter of surprise than delight, crest-fallen and dispirited as they were, gave a stimulus to their exertions, and they became accustomed to warfare and regardless of danger.

For the last eight years the sheikh has carried on a very desperate and bloody war with the sultan of Begharmi, who governs a powerful and warlike people, inhabiting a very large tract of country south of Bornou, and on the eastern bank of the Shary. Although meeting with some reverses, and on one occasion losing his eldest son in these wars, who was greatly beloved by the people, he has, upon the whole, been successful; and is said to have, from first to last, destroyed and led into slavery more than thirty thousand of the sultan of Begharmi’s subjects, besides burning his towns and driving off his flocks.

The late sultan of Bornou, who always accompanied the sheikh to the field, also lost his life in these wars: his death was attributable to his immense size and weight; the horse he rode refused to move on with him from fatigue, although at the time not more than 500 yards from the gates of Angala, and he fell into the hands of the enemy. He died, however, with great dignity, and six of his eunuchs and as many of his slaves, who would not quit him, shared his fate. A sultan of Bornou carries no arms, and it is beneath his dignity to defend himself: sitting down, therefore, under a tree, with his people around him, he received his enemies, and hiding his face in the shawl which covered his head, was pierced with a hundred spears.

Ibrahim, his brother, succeeded him, who is now not more than twenty-two years old. The sultanship of Bornou is but a name: the court still keeps up considerable state, and adheres strictly to its ancient customs, and this is the only privilege left them. When the sultan gives audience to strangers, he sits in a kind of cage, made of the bamboo, through the bars of which he looks on his visitors, who are not allowed to approach within seventy or eighty yards of his person.

Their dresses are extremely rich, and consist of striped silks and linens of various colours, from Cairo and Soudan. When they take the field, their appearance is truly grotesque: the sultan is preceded by six men, bearing frum-frums (trumpets) of cane, ten feet long: an instrument peculiar to royalty, but which produces a music neither agreeable nor inspiring. Their own heads, and those of their horses, are hung round with charms, sewed up in leather cases, red, green, and white; and altogether, with their wadded doublets and large heads, they would be more apropos in a pantomime than in a field of battle.

At the present moment there is but one power in central Africa to be at all compared to the sheikh of Bornou in importance,—that of Bello, the Felatah chieftain; and from the sensation created throughout the neighbourhood of Kano and Kashna, on his late defeat of the Begharmi force, I imagine he would find but little difficulty in extending his empire in that direction: he has turned all his victories to the advantage of those for whom he conquered, by attending to their improvement in moral and religious duties. His subjects are the most strict Mussulmans in all the black country, and their respect for us gradually increased on ascertaining that we really had a religion of our own, and obeyed its ordinances by praying, if not by fasting,—which they at first doubted. Our determination to travel fearlessly and boldly in our own characters, as Englishmen and Christians, mistrusting no one, so far from proving an impediment to our progress, as we were assured from all quarters it would do, excited a degree of confidence to which we may, in a great measure, attribute the success which has attended our steps.

Wherever El Kanemy has power, Europeans, and particularly Englishmen, will be hospitably and kindly received.

Bornou was always infested by robbers, who way-laid and plundered travellers within sight of the walls of the capital: such an event now never occurs, and the roads through the sheikh’s government are probably as safe as any even in happy England itself.

Although harassed by the constant wars in which he has been engaged, yet has not the sheikh been unmindful of the benefits which an extended commerce would confer upon his people, nor of the importance of improving their moral condition, by exciting a desire to acquire, by industry and trade, more permanent and certain advantages than are to be obtained by a system of plunder and destructive warfare. Arab or Moorish merchants, the only ones who have hitherto ventured amongst them, are encouraged and treated with great liberality. Several of them are known to have returned, after a residence of less than nine years, with fortunes of fifteen and twenty thousand dollars; and which might, perhaps, by a more intelligent trader, have been doubled, as the commodities with which they barter are mostly European produce, purchased at Tripoli, at prices full two hundred and fifty per cent. above their prime cost.

The usual calculation of a Moorish merchant is, that a camel load of merchandize, bought at Mourzuk for 150 dollars, will make a return, in trading with Bornou, of 500 dollars, after paying all expenses. Persons in Fezzan will send three camel loads in charge of one man, and, after paying all the expenses out of the profits, give him a third of the remainder for his labour.

From the circumstance, however, of there being no direct trade from this country with Tripoli, or, I believe, with any of the ports of Barbary, English goods (the demand for which is daily increasing amongst a population of not less than five millions), within six hundred miles of the coast, are sold at enormous prices, although frequently of the very worst description[64].

The principal return which Moorish merchants obtain for their goods consists in slaves; but Bornou is scarcely any thing more than a mart or rendezvous of kafilas from Soudan. These unhappy victims are handed over to the Tripoli and Fezzan traders, who are waiting with their northern produce to tempt the cupidity of the slave merchants of Soudan. I think I may say, that neither the sheikh himself, nor the Bornou people, carry on this traffic without feelings of disgust, which even habit cannot conquer. Of the existence of a foreign slave trade, or one which consigns these unfortunates to Christian masters, they are not generally aware at Bornou; and so contrary to the tenets of his religion—of which he is a strict observer—would be such a system of barter, that one may easily conclude, the sheikh of Bornou would be willing to assist, with all the power he possesses, in any plan which might have for its object the putting a final stop to a commerce of this nature.

Already the desire of exchanging whatever their country produces, for the manufactures of the more enlightened nations of the North, exists in no small degree amongst them: a taste for luxury, and a desire of imitating such strangers as visit them, are very observable; and the man of rank is ever distinguished by some part of his dress being of foreign materials, though sometimes of the most trifling kind. It is true that these propensities are not yet fully developed; but they exist, and give unequivocal proof of a tendency to civilization, and the desire of cultivating an intercourse with foreigners.

Every approach which the African has made towards civilization, even to the knowledge of, and the belief in, the existence of a Supreme Being, is attributable to the intrepid Arab spirit, which, despising the dread of the apparently interminable deserts that separate the Black from the White population, has alone penetrated to any extent into the country of these before unenlightened savages,—carrying with him his religion and his manners, and converting thousands to the Mohammedan faith.

The eagerness with which all classes of people listened to our proposals for establishing a frequent communication by means of European merchants, and the protection promised by the sheikh to such as should arrive within the sphere of his influence, particularly if they were English, excites an anxious hope that some measures will be adopted for directing the labours of a population of millions to something more congenial to the humanity and the philanthropy of the age we live in, than the practice of a system of predatory warfare, which has chiefly for its object the procuring of slaves, as the readiest and most valuable property to trade with, on every appearance of the merchants from the north at their markets.

Every probability is against such a barter being preferred by the African black. Let the words of the sheikh himself, addressed to us in the hearing of his people, speak the sentiments that have already found a place in his bosom:—“You say true, we are all sons of one father! You say, also, that the sons of Adam should not sell one another, and you know every thing! God has given you all great talents, but what are we to do? The Arabs who come here will have nothing else but slaves: why don’t you send us your merchants? You know us now; and let them bring their women with them, and live amongst us, and teach us what you talk to me about so often, to build houses and boats, and make rockets.” The reader will conceive with what exulting hearts we heard these words from the lips of a ruler in the centre of Africa.

The return which European traders might, in the first instance, obtain, would not, probably, be sufficient to employ large capitals, but that would annually improve; and the great profits would, in some measure, compensate for the deficiency. The propensity in the natives to war upon and plunder their neighbours, from the profit arising from such a system, would gradually subside, when other more profitable occupations were encouraged amongst them. The Kanemboos who inhabit the northern and eastern borders of the lake Tchad are a bold and hardy people, extremely expert with the spear, swift of foot, and practised hunters.

The tusk of the elephant, the horns of the buffalo, both which may be obtained at a very low price, and in exchange for English goods, are eagerly bought even at Tripoli, and at all the European ports in the Mediterranean, at high prices: the cultivation of indigo, also, of a very superior kind, might be carried to any extent, as it now grows wild, as well as senna, in many parts of the country. The zibet, or musk from the civet cat, is also to be procured, about two hundred per cent. lower than it will sell for in Tripoli.

The following are the prices in Bornou, of some of those articles which would be most esteemed in Europe, viz.—

Ostrich skins, from three to six dollars each.

Elephants’ teeth, two dollars the 100 lbs.

Raw hides may also be purchased, at about two dollars for 100 skins.

Probably the strong desire of the sheikh to improve the state of his country, and the habits of his people, cannot be better exemplified than in his having given me the designs for three coins, which he entreated might be laid before the king of England, with his request to have the stamp and apparatus for striking money, so that he might introduce a more convenient medium of exchange than the one at present in use amongst them; one of these pieces of money he intended should be of gold, a second of silver, and the third of iron. This chief, also, as well as all the principal people, entreated that some one of our party should remain in their country, “to receive,” as they said, “the English merchants that were coming.” And it was under the idea of securing to ourselves the great advantages we had gained, by so firm a footing in the very centre of Africa, as the sheikh’s friendship enabled us to boast of, that I recommended Mr. Tyrwhitt’s remaining at Kouka, with all the privileges granted to Barbary consuls, until the pleasure of His Majesty’s Government should be known.

I consider the establishment of a friendly intercourse with this potentate beyond the Great Desert, by whose means the unknown parts of Africa may at no distant period be visited, of the greatest importance, in every point of view. By encouraging a commercial intercourse, all the objects of African discovery must be advanced: not alone will the cause of science and research be benefited, but the real philanthropist must see, that an opening is now made, by means of which, with judicious arrangements, thousands of his fellow beings may be saved from slavery.

Until introduced by the Moors, the trading in slaves was little known amongst them; the prisoners taken in battle served them, and were given as portions to their children, on their marriage, for the same duties; but they were seldom sold. Even now the greater part of the household of a man of rank are free, with the exception of the women, who often die in the service of the master of their youth. They are treated always like the children of the house, and corporal punishment is a rare occurrence amongst them. I have more than once known a Bornouese, on his morning visit to my hut, say, with tears, that he had sent a slave to be sold, who had been three years a part of his family: then he would add, “but the devil has got into her, and how could I keep her after that?”

In short, it is to the pernicious principles of the Moorish traders, whose avaricious brutality is beyond all belief, that the traffic for slaves in the interior of Africa not only owes its origin, but its continuance. They refuse all other modes of payment for the articles which they bring with them; they well know the eagerness with which these articles are sought after; and by offering what appears to the natives an amazing price, tempt them to sell their brethren, to the most inhuman of all human beings, while they gain in Fezzan, Bengazi, and Egypt, sometimes a profit of 500 per cent. I am not, however, without hopes, that a more extended intercourse with Barbary might detach even the proverbially unfeeling Moor from dealing in human flesh; and it was with feelings of the highest satisfaction that I listened to some of the most respectable of the merchants, when they declared, that were any other system of trading adopted, they would gladly embrace it, in preference to dealing in slaves: knowing, too, how often we interfered to ameliorate the situation of any of these unfortunates, when they were oppressed or ill-treated, they would continually point out to us, as if to excite our approbation, how well dressed, and well fed, their own slaves were, in comparison with those of others, as we traversed the Desert, on our return to Tripoli.

D. D.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 63: Tirab, his favourite Shouaa chief, was intrusted with this duty, and acquired the name of Bagah-furby, Gatherer of horses.

A horse of the best breed in this country, which was sent by the Sheikh of Bornou as a present to His Majesty, is described by Mr. Sewell as possessing great strength, to be supple, and extremely active. He also adds, “His movements remind me strongly of the brown Dongala horse, whose picture I have.”]

[Footnote 64: The articles most in request amongst the Negro nations are:—

Writing paper, on which the profit is enormous.

Coral barrelled, and imitation coral.

Printed cottons of all kinds, with a great deal of red and yellow in the pattern.

Coloured silks, in pieces for large shirts and shifts, of the most gaudy patterns.

Imitations of damask, worked with gold thread, and flowers.

Common red cloth.

Green do.

White barracans, purchased in Tripoli.

Small looking-glasses.

White bornouses, purchased in Tripoli.

Small carpets, five or six feet long, purchased in Tripoli.

English carpets of the same size would sell better, and might be bought at one-third of the price of Turkish ones.

Ornamented cheap pistols, with long barrels.

Common razors.

Red caps, purchased in Tripoli.

Turbans of all descriptions, large amber, for the Kanemboo women, and the Shouaas.

Common China basins, much esteemed.

Coffee cups.

Brass basins, tinned in the inside.

Red breeches, made up.

Cotton caftans, striped, made up.

Pieces of striped cotton.

Handkerchiefs, and coarse white muslin.

Large shirts or tobes, ready made, of striped cottons, and white calico.

Coarse white calico. } } much esteemed. Fine do. do. }

Frankincense, } } Ottaria, } purchased of the Jews in Tripoli, } or Leghorn. Spices, }

The beads most in demand, indeed the only ones that they will purchase, are:—

H’raz-el mekka, white glass beads, with a flower.

Merjan tiddoo, mock coral.

Quamur, white sand beads.

Quamar m’zein, small black beads, with yellow stripes.

H’raz-el pimmel, ant’s head bead, with black stripes.

Contembali, red and white.

Hazam el bashaw, the bashaw’s sash.

Sbgha m’kerbub, red pebble, from Trieste.

Sbgha toweel, long bead.

H’shem battura, Arab’s nose, a large red bead.

Arms of all descriptions, of an inferior quality, will always meet with a ready sale, as well as balls of lead, and what we call swan-shot.

]

=JOURNAL= OF =AN EXCURSION,= ETC. ETC.

PREFATORY NOTICE TO THE Narrative of Captain Clapperton’s Journey from Kouka to Sackatoo.

* * * * *

The Manuscript of the following Journal was placed in my hands by Captain Clapperton, on his departure from England, with a request that I would see it through the press, whenever the account of the recent mission to Central Africa should be published. In complying with this request, I have carefully abstained from altering a sentiment, or even an expression, and rarely had occasion to add, omit, or change, a single word; so that my easy task has been confined to the mere ordinary correction of the press.

Captain Clapperton, like Major Denham, as will appear from his Journal, makes no pretensions to the systematic knowledge of natural history. They were both excellent pioneers of discovery, and capable of ascertaining the latitude by observations of the heavenly bodies; and also to compute, to a certain degree of accuracy, the longitudes of the various places which they visited: and even this is no trifling advantage to geography, though it has but too commonly been neglected by travellers. By a strict attention to these points, by comparing them with the courses and distances travelled, and by Captain Clapperton’s frequent endeavours to verify the estimated results by lunar observations (though not much to be depended on by one observer, on shore), we may now be pretty well assured of the actual and relative positions of many places, which have hitherto been wholly dislocated and scattered at random on our best maps of Africa,—all of them bad enough,—and the situation of cities and towns have also been ascertained, whose names even had never before reached us.

The only traveller of the party, who was supposed to possess a competent knowledge of natural history, was Doctor Oudney; and he was unfortunately disabled from the pursuit of it by a protracted illness, which terminated in death. As so little appears in the present volume from the pen of Doctor Oudney, and as Captain Clapperton has stated (page 5) a wish expressed by that gentleman, a short time previous to his death, that “his papers should be put into the hands of Mr. Barrow, or Professor Jameson, provided the request meets with Earl Bathurst’s approbation,” I feel it necessary to say a few words on this subject. Nothing could have been more gratifying to me than to have undertaken and executed, to the best of my power, such a task: it is quite natural that I should have willingly done so, were it for no other reason than my having been instrumental in his appointment, from the strongest testimonials in his favour which I had received from Professor Jameson, whose acquirements in natural history stand so deservedly high in public estimation, as to entitle any recommendation from him to immediate attention. Unfortunately, however, for this branch of science, Doctor Oudney, at a very early stage of their journey, caught a severe cold, which fell on his lungs, and which rendered him, on their arrival in Bornou, nearly incapable of any exertion. It will be seen from Major Denham’s Narrative, how frequently and how seriously, not to say alarmingly, ill, he became from the first moment of their arrival in Bornou. In a letter addressed to Mr. Wilmot Horton, of the date of the 12th September, 1823, Doctor Oudney says, “I send you a simple itinerary from Fezzan here; that to the river Shary, and the borders of Soudan, and my remarks on Bornou, I must leave till another time. I cannot write long; one day’s labour in that way makes me ill for a week.”

No account of these journeys to the river Shary, and the borders of Soudan, appear among his papers; nor any materials respecting them, beyond what are contained in a very general account of the proceedings of the Mission, in an official letter addressed to the Secretary of State. The papers, delivered to me by Captain Clapperton, consisted of an account of an excursion, jointly performed by these gentlemen, from Mourzuk to Ghraat, the first town in the Tuarick country:—some remarks on the journey across the Great Desert, which appear not to have been written out fair:—and the rest, of mere scraps of vocabularies, rude sketches of the human face, detached and incomplete registers of the state of the temperature, and a number of letters to and from the Consul at Tripoli, respecting the pecuniary and other affairs of the mission, wholly uninteresting, and of which no use whatever could be made.

The Journey to Ghraat above mentioned, I have caused to be printed at the end of the Introductory Chapter, with which it appears to be partly connected, omitting some trifling details, of no interest whatever; and I requested Major Denham to add a few foot-notes, chiefly geological, to his own Journal across the Great Desert. It seems to have been well known to the party that Doctor Oudney could not possibly survive the journey into Soudan; and, indeed, he was well aware of it himself; but his zeal to accomplish all that could be done, would not suffer him to remain behind. It was that zeal which led him to undertake the journey to Ghraat, which not a little increased his disorder; for, to say the truth, he evidently was labouring, while in England, under a pectoral complaint; but when I told him so, and strongly advised him not to think of proceeding (as I had before done to his unfortunate predecessor Ritchie), he, like the latter, persisted that, being a medical man, he best knew his own constitution, and that a warm climate would best agree with it. Neither of them, however, seem to have calculated on the degree of fatigue, and the sudden changes of temperature, to which they were necessarily to be exposed.

With every disadvantage of collecting, preserving, and bringing home from so great a distance, and over so dreary a desert of twelve hundred miles, specimens of natural history, it will be seen, by reference to the Appendix, that this department of science has not been neglected.

JOHN BARROW.

=JOURNAL= OF =AN EXCURSION,= ETC. ETC.

* * * * *

SECTION I.

FROM KOUKA TO MURMUR, WHERE DR. OUDNEY DIED.

From our first arrival in Bornou, we intended to avail ourselves of the earliest opportunity of exploring Soudan. Our preparations being at length completed, and the sheikh having consented to our departure, although with some degree of reluctance, Dr. Oudney, notwithstanding the infirm state of his health, and myself, were ready to set out on the 14th December, 1823. Accordingly we sent off our camels and servants in the morning, and went in person to take leave of the sheikh. On this occasion we found him in an inner apartment, attended by two or three servants only. He asked us, as he had often done before, if, in the course of our travels, we proposed going to Nyffee. We answered, yes, if the road was open. He replied, it was a great distance; and he feared we were not likely to return to Kouka. We told him we hoped to return, if possible, before the rains set in; but however that might be, we assured him we should ever retain a grateful sense of his exceeding great kindness towards us. He bade us farewell in the most affectionate manner. About noon we left the town, accompanied by our comrade, Major Denham, and most of the principal inhabitants. Even Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom, with whom we had frequent occasion to be dissatisfied, joined the train: they attended us to the distance of four or five miles, and then took leave; our friend, the cadi Hadje Mohamed Zy Abedeen, having first repeated the Fatha, or first chapter of the Koran. We halted at the village of Fuguboo Thorio, where our servants had pitched our tents, being distant from Kouka about ten miles.

Our party consisted of Dr. Oudney and myself, two servants, Jacob the Jew, a sort of major domo, and three men of Fezzan. We had three saddle horses, and four sumpter camels; the servants, except Jacob, were on foot. There were also in the kafila (commonly pronounced goffle) twenty-seven Arab merchants, two of whom were shreefs, or descendants of the Prophet, one from Tunis, the other from Houn, near Sockna, and about fifty natives of Bornou. The Arabs were mostly mounted on horses, which they intended for sale; some having besides a led horse. The Bornouese were on foot; one of them, a hadje or Mahometan pilgrim, who had visited Mecca, would on no account stay behind at Kouka, but persisted in accompanying us, for the express purpose of having his hand regularly dressed by Dr. Oudney: he had been wounded by the accidental bursting of a gun; he invariably pitched his tent close to that of the Doctor, whom he always regarded with the utmost respect.

Dec. 15.—We started at seven o’clock. The road was the same we had travelled on a former visit to Old Birnee. We were no longer annoyed with the noise and confusion in pitching the tents, or with the clamours of obstreperous camel drivers; which we had formerly experienced when under the guidance of Boo Khaloom. The weather too was clear, cool, and pleasant. A little after mid-day we halted at the wells of Budjoo; distance, north-west by north, seventeen miles.

Dec. 16.—We met several kafilas from Gubsharee and the surrounding country, going to Kouka. Their heavy goods were carried on bullocks; the smaller packages, weighing from twenty to thirty pounds, were borne on men’s heads. The bearers poise their burdens with much dexterity and ease to themselves, by cords hanging from the sides of the packages, which are carried lengthwise on the head; by this simple contrivance they avoid the fatiguing posture of keeping the arm raised. We halted about three o’clock in the afternoon.

We still pursued the Old Birnee road: we saw several of the large red and white antelopes, called by the Arabs mohur. We encamped on the margin of one of the lakes, formed by the overflowing of the Yow; the river was only about a quarter of a mile distant from us, to the north. It had now fallen fully six feet, and its current might be about three miles an hour.

Dec. 18.—We travelled along the banks of a chain of small lakes formed by the Yow, once, perhaps, its original channel. I observed, by the roadside, the tracks of various wild animals,—among others of the hippopotamus and lion. We passed one of the country fairs, held on a small hill, near the ruins of a large town which had been destroyed by the Felatahs. We halted at Damasak, near an encampment of the sheikh’s cowherds; who, on hearing that we were in the kafila, brought us an abundant supply of milk.

Dec. 19.—As the low grounds from Damasak to Mugabee, about ten miles distant, were inundated, we were obliged to make a long circuit by an upper road, frequently wading across hollows filled with water. At noon we had to halt on the banks of one of those temporary rivers which are formed during the wet season: it still contained a considerable body of water, which was running at the rate of about two miles an hour. We met here several kafilas of loaded bullocks, on their way from Gubsharee and Soudan. The people were busily floating their goods over the river on rafts, made of bundles of reeds; but there being too few in number to transport our baggage, it was necessary to make new rafts for ourselves. We therefore pitched our tents; and one man was sent by each of the Arab merchants to cut long reeds, which are readily made into rafts, by lashing bundles of them across two long poles.

I proceeded two or three miles up the banks of the river, which last summer did not contain a drop of water. The lower road certainly exhibited the appearance of being overflowed during the rains; but nobody, from merely seeing it in that state, could suppose that for nearly one half of the year it is a broad sheet of water, or that the upper road itself is traversed, for the same period, by several large streams falling into the Yow. The ferry-dues, paid to the people who swim over with the rafts, are a rotal for every camel load of goods: the rotal is now merely nominal, and represents a pound of copper, eight or ten of which are equivalent to a Spanish dollar. The bullocks, horses, and camels, are made to swim over, together with the negro slaves.

Dec. 20.—Hitherto the atmosphere had been clear and serene, but to-day it became hazy, and was particularly cold about day-break. Hadje Ali, the invalid alluded to, having a very large raft, we ferried over our baggage upon it without the smallest accident, by means of a rope fastened to each end. It was far otherwise with the Arabs a little lower down the river; there was nothing but hubbub and bustle among them: many, through ignorance or obstinacy, had their goods much damaged. The greatest difficulty was with the camels and female slaves; the women screamed and squalled with great vehemence; several of the men seemed almost in as great a panic as the ladies, especially those of Fezzan, none of whom could swim; and some of them jumped off the raft into the water three or four times, before they could muster courage to cross. The camels occasioned a great deal of trouble, one man having to swim before with the halter in his teeth, while another kept beating the animal behind with a stick, which every now and then attempted to turn back, or bobbed its head under water. Before all had crossed, it was too late to continue our journey that day; we therefore encamped on the west bank for the night.

Dec. 21.—We still travelled along the upper grounds, on account of the extent of the inundation. Yet the earth itself was so dry, that we were put in some slight danger by a kafila, near Old Birnee, carelessly setting the grass on fire in the course of the night: the fire advanced rapidly, like a sea of flame, and must have put us all to flight had we not had the good fortune to obtain shelter within the ruined walls of the city, which checked a little the progress of the conflagration. We did not halt, however, but continued our route to a town called Bera, on the banks of a beautiful lake, likewise formed by the overflowing of the Yow. Immediately there was quite a fair in our camp, the townswomen coming with gussule or Guinea corn, bean straw, cashew nuts, and milk; which they offered in exchange for glass beads and gubga, or native cloth. The beads in greatest request are pretty large, of a chocolate colour, with a small spiral white ring round the middle, and are called by the natives conteembalee, or Muckni; the latter appellation is derived from a sultan of Fezzan of that name, who was originally a merchant, and first brought these beads into fashion. A single bead exchanged for a quart of Guinea corn. The gubga is narrow cotton cloth, of native manufacture, about a palm in width; forty fathoms of which are usually valued at a dollar. The value of commodities in barter seems to be maintained with a certain stability, somewhat like the money rate of exchange in Europe, by fixing a local standard price for those articles in greatest demand, in lieu of the fictitious par of exchange, which, with us, powerfully influences and indirectly regulates all money transactions.

Dec. 22.—We crossed over a neck of land formed by a bend of the river to a town called Dugamoo, where we halted. The banks of the river are every where studded with towns and villages.

Dec. 23.—The morning was cold. Dr. Oudney had been very unwell during the night, and felt himself extremely weak. At eight o’clock we left Dugamoo, and, following a winding path, nearly due west, we reached Deltago, having passed a number of towns and villages, one of which, called Kukabonee, was of considerable size, and contained perhaps 5000 or 6000 inhabitants. The country to the west of Old Birnee rises in gentle undulations of hill and dale. There are very few trees, except on the banks of the Yow. The soil is chiefly a red clay. The inhabitants raise great quantities of Guinea corn, and beans something like calavances. We had a very plentiful market. The people here preferred coral, and the beads called conteembalee, in exchange for grain, &c. to native cloth. Gunpowder was much sought after as a medicine. To-day we gave a sheep as a boozafer or gift, by way of footing, which all pay who travel this way for the first time; a practice akin to our usage on doubling capes, or crossing the tropics and line. Cotton seed bruised is very much used for feeding sheep, bullocks, asses, and camels. These animals soon become extremely fond of it: it is an excellent food for fattening them. In the evening gussule was sent for our horses and camels, as had been done in the other towns: we passed as soon as the people learned we were the friends of the sheikh.

Dec. 24.—Dr. Oudney felt himself much better. We halted to-day, on account of one of the merchants’ camels falling lame; the owner was obliged to send to Dugamor to buy another. The kafila kept a grand boozafer day, and all merchant new-comers paid a dollar apiece, or gave its value in goods.—Time is to these people of no importance: whatever accidental occurrence takes place to detain them, they bear the delay with perfect indifference.

Dec. 25.—The weather clear and cool. We left Deltago, and, winding along the banks of the river, or occasionally cutting off a bend by a cross path, we reached Bedeekarfee. There is more wood here than we had yet seen, and the soil is still a strong red clay. Villages and towns are numerous; the inhabitants principally belong to the Alluanee tribe of Shouah Arabs. The town of Bedeekarfee is large and populous. The governor, commonly called in this and other African towns Sultan, although holding a subordinate command, had seen us when we were on the expedition to Munga with the sheikh of Bornou. On our arrival he came out to meet us, and gave us a very cordial reception. He was an elderly man, much afflicted with a urinary disorder, for which he consulted Dr. Oudney. His dwelling, large, extremely clean, and constructed after the manner of the country, consisted of a spacious quadrangular enclosure, surrounded with mats fixed to high poles, within which were several small round huts, also of matting, with thatched conical roofs, each surmounted by an ostrich egg. In outward appearance, these huts somewhat resemble our bee-hives. Their walls are frequently made of clay. The ostrich egg is a distinctive mark of the occupant being a man of rank. The floor inside is covered with sand; and the only furniture is a bench to supply the place of a bedstead, and a few mats for squatting upon, besides some carved or coloured gourds and wide-mouthed earthen jars, piled above one another, and intended to combine ornament with utility. There is but one opening or door-way, which is round at the top, and closed by a wicket. The door always faces to the west, on account of the prevailing rains coming from the opposite quarter. The grand entrance of the enclosure is often a hut erected at the western side of the square, with an open thoroughfare, where a black slave officiates as porter. Each separate hut is called a coozee.

The Arab women of this place are really beautiful; they wear their hair differently from their countrywomen elsewhere: the fashion of it is such, that at a distance it might be mistaken for a helmet,—a large braid on the crown having some semblance to a crest, and the side tresses being neatly plaited and frizzled out at the ends. There are also many women of Bornou among them, who imitate the same style.

Guinea fowls abound in this part of the country: I went out after we halted, and shot five of them, besides a wild duck and a quail. Mohamoud El Wordee, one of two Fezzanee merchants, to whom we were particularly recommended by the sheikh of Bornou, and who had always appeared to me to be a man of strong natural sense, was thrown into a sad fright by losing a charm or amulet off his horse’s neck, with a number of which almost all are equipped. This charm is nothing more than a short sentence from the Koran. Had he lost an only child he could scarcely have been more afflicted. I gave him a scrap of paper to make another, which Hadje promised to write out for him.

Dec. 26.—This morning after sunrise, Fahrenheit’s thermometer stood at 49°. The merchants were busily employed firing off their guns and putting them in order for the Bedites, an ancient race of native Bornouese, who have not embraced Islamism, and who occupy an adjoining territory, chiefly protected by its natural fastnesses. They are held both in dread and abhorrence by all the faithful. Every thing being ready at eleven o’clock, we broke up our encampment. Our kafila was now of an immense size. We had been joined at Bedeekarfee by 500 people at least, who were waiting there for an Arab kafila to pass through the Bedee country; for all Arabs are esteemed by the natives here extremely formidable, as well from the possession of fire arms, as from their national intrepidity. Their muskets, however, in comparison of those of Europe, are of the meanest quality; and so uncertain in their fire, that they are hardly worth more than their weight as old iron. The courage, too, of most of these Arabs is very questionable. When successful they are overbearing and cruel in the extreme, and in bad fortune are in like degree servile and abject.

The natives of Haussa carry their merchandise on the head, and go armed with bows and arrows. Those of Bornou convey their goods chiefly on asses and bullocks, and are armed with spears. The Haussa merchants deal in tobacco, Goora nuts, Koghelor or crude antimony, cotton cloth in the web, or made into dresses called tobes and turkadees, and tanned goat skins. Goora nuts are the produce of Ashantee and other parts near the west, and are chewed by all people of consequence, on account of their agreeable bitter taste, not unlike that of strong coffee, and the supposed virtue of curing impotency. They are even in great esteem as far as Fezzan and Tripoli, where they bring the exorbitant price of two dollars a score. Crude antimony in powder is applied by both sexes to the eye-lashes, to render them dark and glossy. Native cloth, or gubga, as before mentioned, is extremely narrow, seldom more than four inches in width. The tobe is a large shirt with loose hanging sleeves like a waggoner’s frock, generally of a dark blue colour, and is an indispensable part of male attire throughout central Africa. The turkadees are articles of female dress, commonly of blue cotton cloth, about three yards and a half long and one broad. Sometimes they are made of alternate stripes of blue and white (of the breadth of African cloth), or are all white, according to fancy. Women of better circumstances commonly wear two turkadees, one round the waist, and another thrown over the shoulders. These articles are bartered in Bornou for trona or natron, common salt and beads; which, together with coarse tobes, are also carried by Bornouese adventurers to Haussa. Our road lay over an elevated clayey plain, with low trees, most of them mimosas. We passed the ruins of several towns, and such of our travelling companions as were best acquainted with the country informed us it was well peopled before the Felatah invasion. At sunset we halted, being already in the Bedee country.

Dec. 27.—The temperature this morning was remarkably low, and the water in our shallow vessels was crusted with thin flakes of ice. The water skins themselves were frozen as hard as a board[65]. These water skins, by the way, are goat skins, well tanned and seasoned, stripped from the carcass over the animal’s head. They are extremely convenient on a tedious journey over arid wastes and deserts. The horses and camels stood shivering with cold, and appeared to suffer much more than ourselves. The wind during the night was, as usual, from the north, and north-north-west. Dr. Oudney was extremely ill, having become much worse from catching a severe cold. We now travelled south-south-west, over a country of much the same kind of soil as that above described. As we approached the low grounds it was better wooded, and the trees were of greater size and variety. Of these, the most remarkable were the kuka and the goorjee.

The kuka is of immense size, erect and majestic; sometimes measuring from twenty to twenty-five feet in circumference. The trunk and branches taper off to a point, and are incrusted with a soft, glossy, copper-coloured rind, not unlike a gummy exudation. The porous spongy trunk is straight, but the branches are twisted and tortuous. The leaves are small, somewhat like the young ash, but more pulpy, and growing in clusters from the extremities of the lesser twigs. The tree is in full leaf and blossom during the rainy months of June, July, and August. The flowers are white, large, and pendulous, somewhat resembling the white garden lily. The fruit hangs by a long stalk, and is of an oval shape, generally larger than a cocoa nut, with a hard shell full of a powdery matter, intermixed with reddish strings and tamarind-like seeds. In its unripe state it is of a beautiful velvety dark green colour, and becomes brown as it approaches maturity. The tree, whether bare of its leaves, in flower, or in full bearing, has a singularly grotesque naked appearance; and, with its fruit dangling from the boughs like silken purses, might, in the imagination of some Eastern story-teller, well embellish an enchanted garden of the Genius of the Lamp. The leaves are carefully gathered by the natives, dried in the sun, and used for many culinary purposes. Boiled in water they form a kind of clammy jelly, giving a gelatinous consistence to the sauces and gravies in most common use. I have also eaten them boiled with dried meat, according to the custom of the country, but did not much relish such fare. Both leaves and fruit are considered, to a certain degree, medicinal. The leaves, mixed with trona and gussub, are given to horses and camels, both for the purpose of fattening these animals, and as a cooling aperient: they are administered to the former in balls, and to the latter as a drench. The white mealy part of the fruit is very pleasant to the taste, and forms, with water, an agreeable acidulous beverage; which the natives, whose libidinous propensities incline them to such remarks, allege to possess the virtue of relieving impotency.

The goorjee tree much resembles a stunted oak, with a beautiful dark red flower, when in full blow rather like a tulip. The natives make use of the flower to assist in giving a red tinge to the mouth and teeth, as well as in seasoning their food. These two trees are generally found on a strong clayey soil, and are peculiar to Haussa and the western parts of Bornou.

At noon, we came in sight of a lake called Tumbum, apparently formed by some river in the rainy season. All the country to the southward and westward, as far as the eye could reach, was a dismal swamp. Just as we arrived within a short distance of the lake,—at the very spot in which of all others the Arabs said we were most likely to encounter the Bedites,—two men made their appearance. They were dressed in the Bornouese costume; a loose tobe and drawers, with a tight cap, all of blue cotton cloth. Each carried on his shoulder a bundle of light spears, headed with iron. I was a little way in front of our party, and first met them; they saluted me very civilly, and I passed on without further notice, when the other horsemen meeting them, and putting some questions, which the strangers did not answer to their satisfaction, immediately seized, stripped, and bound them. Considering it a matter in which I had no authority to interfere, I merely requested that their drawers might be returned to them, remarking, it was better not to treat them ill, as they might prove to be honest men. “Oh! d——n their fathers,” (the strongest imprecation in Africa), replied the captors, “they are thieves; what would they be doing here if they were honest men?” I still urged the propriety of taking them to Bedeguna, at least, to afford them a chance of being recognised by the townspeople, before treating them as robbers. I now rode off to water my horse; when I returned, I found the magnanimous El Wordee guarding the two unfortunate wretches, one of whom was a Shouah Arab, and the other a Negro. The latter, while I was absent, had received a dreadful cut under the left ear from a Bornouese, who pretended that the Negro had attempted to escape; an attempt little likely in his desperate situation. Notwithstanding the wound, they were leading the poor fellow by a rope fastened round his neck. He was covered with blood, and Dr. Oudney assured me, if the wound had been a little lower down it must have caused instant death. I could not refrain from beating the merciless Bornouese; and I obliged him to use his own tobe in binding up the wound, at the same time threatening to lodge the contents of my gun in his head, if he repeated his cruelty. The occasion prompted me to impress on the minds of the Arabs generally how unworthy it was of brave men to behave with cruelty to their prisoners, and to suggest, that it would be far better to sell them, or even to put them to death, than wantonly to inflict such barbarities. The Arabs threw the blame on the Bornouese, and although evidently exulting in secret over their captives, they were fairly shamed into good behaviour, and promised to liberate the men if innocent, or, if guilty, to surrender them to justice at Bedeguna.

Our road skirted the border of the great swamp, and we arrived at Bedeguna at sunset. The galadema, literally “gate-keeper,” or governor, was a Felatah, and a particular friend of Mohamoud El Wordee, by whom we were introduced to him. He was tall and slender, with a high arched nose, broad forehead, and large eyes; and, indeed, altogether as fine a looking black man as I had ever seen. His behaviour, too, was at once kind and dignified. Besides his native language, he spoke with fluency Arabic, and the tongues of Bornou and Haussa. He asked us a great many questions about England, of which he had heard; and said his master, the Sultan of the Felatahs, would be glad to see us. He applied to Dr. Oudney for medicines, on account of a urinary obstruction, a disease very prevalent in this country. We made him a present of a small paper snuff-box full of cloves; he sent us, in return, a plentiful supply of milk.

The territory of Bedeguna, or little Bede, formerly belonged to Bornou. The inhabitants are Bornouese, and speak their native language. The territory includes many towns and villages, and produces much gussub, Indian corn, wheat, and cotton. Herds of cattle are also numerous. The principal implement of agriculture is a hoe made of native iron, of their own manufacture. They reap with a crooked knife, and merely cut off the ears of corn, which they store in round thatched huts of clay, or matting, raised on wooden blocks from the ground. The grain is cleaned from the husk by hand rubbing, and ground into flour between two stones. We saw no plough to the southward of Sockna, a town between Tripoli and Fezzan. I inquired of the governor about the source of the swollen river we crossed on a raft between Gateramaran and old Birnee, which again presented itself close to our present encampment. He told me it rose in the country of Yacoba, among rocky hills, and, running to the eastward of old Birnee, soon afterwards entered the Yow. On questioning him further about Yacoba, the name of the country, he said it was the sultan’s name; for the people were infidels, and had no name for their own country. The river, he added, was distinguished by the appellation of the Little River, and in these parts did not dry up throughout the whole year.

The country to the south-east and south-west appears to be an entire swamp, overflowed of course in the rainy season. Felatahs are in features, and in the manner of wearing the turban, very like the inhabitants of Tetuan in Morocco. They are here much esteemed by the people whom they rule for the impartial administration of justice, and were uniformly kind and civil to us. Our two prisoners happened to be well known, having only left the town that morning. They were accordingly liberated, but their clothes were not restored.

We were not a little indebted to the Arab merchants for the good name they gave us. They almost looked upon us as of their own nation; and although Kafirs, we, as Englishmen, were allowed to rank at least next to themselves. I really believe they would have risked their lives in our defence. Travelling in a kafila was much more pleasant than any mode we had hitherto tried; all being ready to oblige one another, and all vying in attention to us. The lake Zumbrum is about twelve miles south-south-west from Bedeguna.

Dec. 28.—At sunrise to-day the thermometer was at 45°. Our new friend, the governor, accompanied us two or three miles out of town. At parting he prayed God to bless us; and, laying his hand on his forehead, said he hoped we should ever continue friends. The road at first followed the borders of the marsh, by the side of the Little River, which suddenly breaks off to the southward, at a town called Goobeer. There we filled our goat skins with water. We continued our course, and shortly came to a strong red clay soil, densely covered with grass so long that it actually overtopped our heads, although on horseback. At sunset we halted in the woods for the night. The horses and beasts of burden were last watered, when we filled our water skins. Dr. Oudney was attacked with ague, but luckily the evening proved very mild. For two or three nights past he has had a fire in his tent, which seemed to abate the violence of his cough. This evening, addressing me with resigned composure, he said, “I feel it is all over with me. I once hoped to conduct the mission to a successful termination, but that hope has vanished. Whenever my death takes place, I wish my papers to be put into the hands of Mr. Barrow, or Professor Jameson, provided the request meets with Earl Bathurst’s approbation.” As this was a painful subject, I did not encourage its renewal, and, according to this solemn injunction of my lamented friend, I have delivered all his papers to Mr. Barrow.

Dec. 29.—After toiling two hours through a thickly wooded country, we came in view of a large plain, with numerous towns and villages. We found the towns by no means so neat as in Bornou, the coozees, or huts, being much smaller, and often in bad repair. The people raise great quantities of grain, principally gussub. We saw five ostriches, which made off from us with great speed. Dr. Oudney was a great deal better. In the afternoon we arrived at Sansan. Our horsemen skirmished a little in front of the caravan before entering the town, and then galloped up in pairs to the governor’s door, firing off their muskets. This is the common compliment paid by kafilas in such cases. The governor was absent on an expedition, headed by the governor of Katagum, against the Bedites, who are in the immediate neighbourhood. As before observed, the Bedites have never received the doctrines of Mahomet; and, although speaking the language of Bornou, and acknowledging a kind of nominal sovereignty of the Bornouese sultan, they are every where regarded as a race of outlaws, whom it is incumbent on every good Mussulman, Bornouese, or Felatah, to enslave or murder. This race is said to have no religion; but their common practice of first holding up to heaven the carcass of any animal, killed for food, belies their being atheists—a reproach attributed to them solely by their enemies. On the contrary, it harmonizes with those universal feelings of reverence and awe for a Supreme Being, which have ever existed among all nations, and in all ages. The favourite food of this persecuted tribe is said to be dogs, which they fatten for the purpose. Their country is of small extent, defended by impenetrable morasses and forests, by which alone they preserve a precarious and dangerous independence.

At Sansan we were waited upon by the principal native inhabitants, and the resident Arabs. Among the Arabs there was a cousin of the sheikh of Bornou, Hadje El Min El Hanem. The reports of our travelling companions, the merchants, contributed very much to exalt our character wherever we went.

Dec. 30.—At noon I found the latitude of our encampment to be 12° 20′ 48″ north by meridian alt. of lower limb of sun. Sansan in Arabic signifies “the gathering,” where the scattered parties of an army assemble previous to an expedition. The town had its name from a late sultan of Bornou, making it the rendezvous of his army when he went to conquer Haussa. The place where he pitched his tent is still held in great veneration, and the buildings around it were first erected by his army. The neighbouring district also abounds in towns and villages, which, together with Bedeguna and Sansan, are under the governor of Katagum, who is himself subordinate to the governor of Kano. Sansan is formed of three distinct towns, called Sansan Birnee, Sidi Boori, and Sansan Bana. The principal one, in which the governor resides, is Sansan Birnee, or Sansan Gora, signifying “the walled,” from a low clay wall in ruins, surrounded by a dry ditch almost filled up. The mosque is without a roof, and the huts and houses of the inhabitants are old and dilapidated. Sidi Boori, another of the three towns, having a signification so indecent that I must forbear to translate it, is about half a mile west of Sansan Birnee, and inhabited by Shauah Arabs. The third town, called Sansan Bana, or, “of the banners,” where the sultan’s tent stood, is about a mile distant from Sansan Birnee, and is inhabited by Bornouese, who are here in great numbers, and were first brought by force from Old Birnee, and other towns of Bornou. At present they are quite reconciled to the change, and now remain from choice.

The sister of the sultan of Bornou, having been made captive by the Felatahs, was living here with her husband in great obscurity, although her brother, the sultan, is surrounded by all the barbaric magnificence of central Africa. She came out to meet the kafila, along with several of her countrywomen, from whom she was nowise distinguished in attire. The dress of Bornouese women consists of one or two turkadees, blue, white, or striped, as before described. The turkadee is wrapped rather tightly round the body, and hangs down from the bosom, below the knees. If a second is worn, as by women of some consideration, it is commonly flung over the head and shoulders. Their sandals are the same as those of men, of tanned leather, or of the undressed hide, according to their circumstances. The hair is plaited in five close tresses,—one like a crest along the crown, and two at each side, and thickly bedaubed with indigo. They dye their eyebrows, hands, arms, feet, and legs of the same colour, except the nails of the fingers and toes and the palms of the hands, which are stained red with henna. They blacken the eyelashes with crude antimony in powder. The ornaments for the ear are not pendent like ours, but little green studs, or buttons, fixed in the lobe. The very poorest wear strings of glass beads round the neck, and the wealthy are adorned with armlets and anklets of horn or brass. Ornaments of silver are very rare, and of gold hardly ever seen.

Dec. 31.—At sunrise the thermometer was 42°. Being market day, I took a stroll to see what was going on. The market-place was on a rising ground, a little to the south of Sansan Birnee. The place of itself is a little village. The goods were exposed for sale in booths, or houses, open at the side next the street. The different wares were arranged each in its particular quarter,—knives, scissors, needles, and beads; silken cords and pieces of silk; sword slings and koghel cases; gubga tobes and turkadoes; beef, mutton, and fowls; gussub, beans, Indian corn, &c. They have four different kinds of Indian corn,—the yellow, the red, the white, and the Egyptian. The last is reckoned the best. There were stalls, besides, for making and mending every thing in common use. Bands of music, composed of drums, flutes, and a kind of guitar, with strings of horsehair, called the Erbale, each after its own rude fashion, were parading from booth to booth, to attract the attention of customers.

Jan. 1, 1824.—Dr. Oudney was now very unwell. This morning we had a visit from an ex-governor, of the name of Jesus, who had left the army last night. He told us the commanders would to-day commence their return to their different governments, as they were unable to penetrate into the Bede territory. This person gave us several broad hints to make him a present; but we found ourselves too poor to understand him. At eight o’clock in the morning we resumed our journey, over a level country. The winding road was little broader than a footpath. We passed numerous small towns and villages, with plantations of cotton, gussub, and Indian corn. There was more wood as we re-approached the Yow, and the villages and cotton plantations were also more numerous. We halted at a village called Obenda, not above a quarter of a mile distant from the Yow. We could procure no milk for Dr. Oudney, and his appetite was much worse. We had nothing but kouskasoo and dweeda. The former is a well known preparation of wheaten flour steamed over meat, and in very general use among the Moors and Arabs. The dweeda is also of wheaten flour, and a kind of coarse macaroni.

Jan. 2.—Dr. Oudney was this morning in a very weak state. I bought a pound of coffee for three dollars from one of the merchants of our kafila, as a cup of coffee was all that he could take. To-day we followed a very troublesome zigzag track, for regular road there was none. We passed many villages, adjoining to which were long double rows of granaries. At first we were much puzzled with the novelty of their appearance; but on a closer examination we found they were constructed of matting in the usual way, and raised on poles to prevent white ants and grubs from getting at the grain. Near the Yow there were large fields of wheat, and plantations of cotton. The people were then raising the second crop of wheat, by means of irrigation.

A little before mid-day we crossed the Yow. Its channel is here about 150 yards in breadth; but the stream of water was almost dry. In order to take fish, the river was barricadoed by a row of fish-pots, made of split bamboos. They are of a conical shape, about five feet in diameter at the mouth, and secured by poles and spars at the distance of three feet from one another, the interval being filled up with reeds to prevent the escape of fish. At this period not more than a third of the aperture was covered with water. The city of Katagum stands about half a mile from the river, which we had no sooner crossed than we were met by a servant of the governor on horseback. He presented us with a small basket of Goora nuts, called, by the Arabs, the coffee of Soudan. After delivering the present, the servant returned at full speed to a party of horsemen at a little distance, who appeared to be the attendants of some great personage. The party then came to us at a gallop, brandishing their spears. Their leader remained behind, as well as their band of music. The horsemen, after saluting us, wheeled round, and rode on before us, the drummers beating their drums, and two bards singing the praises of their master in the following ditty, which I took down in writing; one responding in a clear shrill voice the words of the chorus, while the other sang, or rather bawled aloud:—

Bi, kora, nama, da birkin safay:

Ah! mi tuga yumma.

Bokri mi tugiamasso:

Ah! mi tuga yumma.

Manoganinka wykigani:

Ah! mi tuga yumma.

My daikee ya fruss undunga:

Ah! mi tuga yumma.

Fuda da goma baka soranko.

Ah! mi tuga yumma.

Kazibda goma bindiga da bia:

Ah! mi tuga yumma.

Gewa nagege avana do dona:

Ah! mi tuga yumma.

Camaraka hamen sirkino:

Ah! mi tuga yumma.

Girtho magaje wali:

Ah! mi tuga yumma.

Allahu Akber you do dona:

Ah! mi tuga yumma.

Allahu Akber you Zaramina:

Ah! mi tuga yumma.

Which may be thus translated:—

Give flesh to the hyenas at day-break:

Oh! the broad spears.

The spear of the sultan is the broadest:

Oh! the broad spears.

I behold thee now—I desire to see none other.

Oh! the broad spears.

My horse is as tall as a high wall:

Oh! the broad spears.

He will fight against ten, he fears nothing:

Oh! the broad spears.

He has slain ten—the guns are yet behind:

Oh! the broad spears.

The elephant of the forest brings me what I want:

Oh! the broad spears.

Like unto thee—so is the sultan:

Oh! the broad spears.

Be brave! be brave! my friends and kinsmen:

Oh! the broad spears.

God is great!—I wax fierce as a beast of prey:

Oh! the broad spears.

God is great!—To-day those I wished for are come:

Oh! the broad spears.

Meanwhile, the leader with his horsemen proceeded before us to the city. We halted at a place allotted to us and the Arabs, the Bornouese having left us to pursue their journey, as the dangers of the road were past. About three in the afternoon, we saw the governor, with all his attendants, coming to visit us. Mohamoud El Wordee had mats spread under a tree for his reception, and requested us to remain a few minutes in our tents. When sent for, we found the governor sitting on the mats, surrounded by the Arab merchants and his armed attendants. He received us in the kindest manner, and said it was quite an ayd, or feast, for him to see us, and would also prove highly gratifying to his master, the Sultan of the Felatahs, who had never seen an Englishman before. He assured us, we should find every thing here the same as at Kouka, with the sheikh of Bornou. Dr. Oudney now presented the sheikh’s letter, which he handed to one of his attendants. The Arab merchants were loud in our praises, and particularly expatiated on the circumstance of our nation being ever in strict alliance with the Sublime Porte, and of having frequently assisted the Grand Signor. The governor, who was named Duncowa, was a stout, tall fellow, blunt and good natured, and lavish in his promises. We shook hands at parting, which is the custom of the Felatahs, or Felanees, as they call themselves. On his return home he sent us some wheat, of which we were in great want, with honey, and Goora nuts. By the advice of Mohamoud El Wordee, we sent a present of a few cloves, and a little cinnamon, in return; which, however small, is every where the proper acknowledgment on such occasions. On account of the scantiness of our own stock of every thing, we now heartily wished for no more presents.

After the governor left us, we were waited upon by a Tripoline merchant, of the name of Hameda, a good-looking, civil sort of man, and extremely rich. He possessed no less than five hundred slaves, and had a great number of horses. He was second only to the governor in all Katagum, and had served with the Felatahs in most of their wars. Referring to the result of the recent expedition, I remarked it would have been better if the Felatahs had not gone at all against the Bedites, who would now be emboldened in their depredations. He replied, the Felatahs had become rich, and were now afraid of blows: it was otherwise with them when poor; their head men then led them to battle, dauntlessly braving danger and death, whereas now-a-days their chiefs lagged behind, and sent their people forward to the combat, who, in turn, dreaded a broken head as much as their superiors, and would no longer fight, if it might anywise be avoided.—Hameda had occasion to consult Dr. Oudney, who strongly recommended his immediate return to Tripoli, to undergo a surgical operation. He seemed very grateful, and offered us his house, and whatever the country afforded. He sent milk for Dr. Oudney, and bazeen, or flour-pudding, for me. Bazeen is made of wheat, barley, or Guinea corn, and eaten with butter or sauce.

Dr. Oudney underwent here, as usual, much fatigue,—more, indeed, than his strength was equal to; for the news of our arrival spread before us, and at the different towns and villages through which we passed, they brought to us all the sick to be cured. Nor was it the sick alone who sought advice, but men and women, of all descriptions; the former for some remedy against impotency, and the latter to remove sterility. Many came for preventives against apprehended or barely possible calamities; and, in anticipation of all the imaginable ills of life, resorted to us in full hope and confidence of our being able to ward them off. The women were particularly fanciful in these matters, and were frequently importunate to receive medicines that would preserve the affections of their gallants, ensure them husbands, or, what was highly criminal, effect the death of some favoured rival. The governor made us a present of three sheep, and sent the Arab merchants eight bullocks.

Jan. 3.—Dr. Oudney was a little better, but still very weak. Having early prepared our presents, which consisted of one of our tea-trays, ten yards of red silk, an Indian palempore, or bed coverlet, a piece of white linen cloth, with gold stripes, of Egyptian manufacture, a pound of cinnamon, and a pound of cloves, we waited on the governor at eight o’clock in the morning, accompanied by Mohamoud El Wordee. We stopped about a quarter of an hour in the house of Hameda, till the governor was ready to receive us. When introduced, we found no parade of armed men, as at Kouka, and the other towns in Bornou. Duncowa was sitting under a rude canopy, on a low bank of earth about six feet square. There were only three old men with him. We shook hands, and sat down on the floor before him. He importunately laid hold of me, and wished me to sit by his side. I, however, declined so high an honour. We were presented with Goora nuts, and he repeated the promises he had made yesterday. When we displayed our presents, and explained the use of the tray, and what it was made of, he was highly delighted; and asked us if we wanted slaves, or what else, for every thing he had or could procure was at our disposal. With regard to slaves, we told him a slave was unknown in England, and the moment one set foot on our shores, he was instantly free. We also explained our great endeavours to put a stop to the slave trade on the seacoast, and that our king and master (to use the African idiom) had given immense sums to have it abolished; besides sending, every year, several large ships to capture vessels engaged in that traffic, and to set the slaves at liberty. “What, then, do you want?” he asked, with some surprise. We answered, we only desired his friendship, and condescending permission to collect the flowers and plants of the country, and to visit its rivers. “Wonderful!” he exclaimed, “you do not want slaves, you do not want horses, you do not want money, but wish only to see the world? You must go to the sultan Bello, who is a learned and pious man, and will be glad to see men who have seen so much. You shall have all, and see all, that is in my province; and I am sure my master will grant every thing you wish.” He then descended from the seat of honour, sat down on the floor by our side, and shook hands with us. This is the greatest compliment one man of rank can pay to another in this country.

One of their lucky omens took place at the moment. My servant, who had assisted in bringing the presents, got up to receive the Goora nuts presented to me by the governor’s orders, and in rising he overturned a pot of honey which had also been given to us, but without breaking it, the honey running out on the floor. Had the pot been broken, the omen would have been unfortunate. As it was, the governor was highly elated, and graciously ordered the poor to be called in to lick up the honey. They immediately made their appearance, equally rejoiced at the lucky omen, and upon their knees quickly despatched the honey, not without much strife and squabbling. One man came off with a double allowance, happening to have a long beard, which he carefully cleaned into his hand for a bonne bouche, after the repast on the ground was finished.

We took leave of the governor and returned to our tents, where a great concourse of men and women flocked to Dr. Oudney for medicines. In the evening we had boiled dried meat, with bazeen, and excellent bread, sent us by our friend Hameda; also milk from the governor, and a live sheep from a black shreef, who had applied to Dr. Oudney for advice. To-day the Doctor felt himself very weak, in consequence of a diarrhœa, and the want of proper comforts in his infirm condition. At noon I took an observation of the sun. At first the natives eagerly crowded round me, but sat down very quietly at a little distance, on telling them they were in my way. I was asked the old question every where repeatedly, if I was looking at my country. I explained to them, as well as I was able, that I merely ascertained in this manner how far south I had come from home.

Jan. 4th.—The weather cold and hazy,—thermometer 48°. Mohamoud El Wordee having gone to a city called Hadeeja, one day’s journey to the northward, where he was to remain a day or two, it was agreed beforehand we should go into the town and live in Hameda’s house until El Wordee’s return, as the kafila was to proceed to Kano the following day. At sunrise the governor sent to us to come into town, but on account of Dr. Oudney’s illness, we waited till the heat of the day. About noon we had the camels loaded, and Dr. Oudney and I rode forward, accompanied by the governor’s people and Hadje ben Hamed, the sheikh of the kafila, or chief who regulates its march, stage, and route. On entering the town, we were conducted to a house that adjoined Hameda’s, which we supposed to be his. The people around us, after consulting together, told us we had better go and see the governor. Dr. Oudney assented, but wished first to wait for our baggage. The people, however, urged us to go without further delay; and we complied with their entreaties. The governor met us at the gate of his residence, took us by the hand, and led us first to one coozee, then to another, saying, “This is for you,—that is for the Doctor,—there is a place for your horses.” Seating himself on a mat, he bade us sit down. Our baggage was brought to us in a few minutes. “Abdullah,” said he, addressing me by my travelling name, “show me the glass with which you look at the sun.” It seemed the people had told him what they saw me doing yesterday. I had now to explain to him the use of my compass, sextant, spy-glass, and other instruments. He begged of me a little of the quicksilver used for an artificial horizon in taking observations. This was like asking me to part with my heart’s blood; but as he was a governor, and evidently a man of considerable influence, I could not refuse him. I took much pains to make him understand the use of the watch and sextant. I easily made him comprehend the latter, by telling him it was to enable me to find out the distance north or south, from any other place: illustrating the matter, by telling him the north star was higher in the heavens at Mourzuk than here, and still higher at Tripoli; a circumstance the natives of these countries all confirmed, to whom I shifted the trouble of making further explanations. The telescope next was an object of surprise. He said all the places he saw were brought near to him, and ascended the walls and house tops to have a better view. Each of his attendants also had a peep; but an old shreef would on no account look through it, but ran away as if from a serpent ready to sting him. As to these shreefs, or alleged descendants of the Prophet, some of whom are as black as jet, I wonder what Mahomet, were he to rise from the dead, would say to his sable progeny, not merely black in colour, but with the true Negro features! The phenomenon, however, is less wonderful, when we consider how soon an intermixture, whether black or white, is lost in the course of a few generations, although the lineal descent continue uninterrupted.

We received a plentiful supply of provisions from Hameda. The governor also sent us fish and ficcory. The latter consists of pounded Guinea corn dried in the sun, mixed with water or milk, and seasoned with pepper, but has a sour, disagreeable taste.

Katagum, the capital of a province of the same name, is in lat. 12° 17′ 11″ north, and in long. about 11° east. This province formed the frontier of Bornou before the Felatah conquest. At present it includes the subject provinces of Sansan and Bedeguna. It extends nearly one day’s journey to the northward, and five days’ journey to the southward, where it is bounded by an independent territory, called after the inhabitants Kurry-kurry. On the east it is bounded by the kingdom of Bornou, and on the west by the neighbouring province of Kano. From the best information I could obtain, the whole province can send into the field about 4,000 horse and 20,000 foot, armed with bows, swords, and spears. The principal productions are grain and bullocks, which, with slaves brought from the adjoining territories of the Kafirs, are the staple articles of trade. Here we found, for the first time, kowrie shells in circulation as money; for hitherto native cloth, or some other commodity of standard price, had been the common medium of exchange. This city was the strongest we had seen since we left Tripoli. It is in the form of a square, the sides facing the cardinal points of the compass, with four corresponding gates, which are regularly opened and shut at sunrise and sunset. It is defended by two parallel walls of red clay, and three dry ditches, one without, one within, and the third between the two walls, which are about twenty feet high and ten feet broad at the base, gradually decreasing upwards to a breadth just sufficient for a narrow footpath. This is protected by a low parapet, and is ascended by flights of steps at convenient distances. Both walls are of the same height, without loopholes or towers, and, instead of being crenelated, terminate in a waving line. The gates are defended by a platform inside over the entrance, where a body of townsmen take their station to repel assailants. The three ditches are of equal dimensions, each about fifteen feet deep and twenty feet wide. There is only one mosque, and this almost in ruins. The governor’s residence is in the centre of the city, and occupies a space of about 500 yards square. The governor and principal inhabitants have houses made entirely of clay, besides the coozees already described. They are flat-roofed, in the Turkish style, and sometimes of two stories, with square or semicircular openings for windows. The city may contain from 7,000 to 8,000 inhabitants; including all merchants and tradesmen, together with the servants or slaves of the governor.

Not far to the southward of Katagum is the country of Yacoba, of which I shall mention a few particulars, collected from natives who were here in slavery, as well as from Hameda. It is called by the Mahometan nations Boushy, or country of infidels. It is extremely hilly: the hills, consisting of limestone, are said to yield antimony and silver. The inhabitants have received the name of Yemyems, or cannibals; but with what justice I know not. Most probably the imputation is an idle Arab tale, and undoubtedly the more suspicious, from the well known Moslem abhorrence of Kafirs. On interrogating the Arabs more strictly, they allowed they had never witnessed the fact; but affirmed they had seen human heads and limbs hung up in the dwellings of the inhabitants. At Mourzuk, when we first arrived, a similar report was circulated to our defamation; whether in jest or earnest, I could not ascertain; but the prejudice soon wore off when we were better known.

The river Yow, which is within a quarter of a mile of Katagum, is said to take its rise to the southward among the hills of Boushy, between Adamowa and Jacoba, and after passing Katagum, to turn abruptly to the eastward; it finally empties itself into the Tshad. Its waters were dull and sluggish, as far as we observed; and during the middle of the dry season the naked channel and a few pools of water, sometimes far apart, are all that remain of the river. The breadth of the channel, at the place where we last crossed, was, as above mentioned, about 150 yards; and this may be taken as a fair average breadth from that spot downwards as far as the lake, where, however, the depth seemed considerably increased. There is a prevalent opinion among the inhabitants and Arab merchants that, during the rainy season, the waters of this river rise and fall alternately every seven days; which notion, perhaps, originates in a kind of vicissitude in the fall of rain that I have remarked myself during my residence in Bornou.

Jan. 5.—Dr. Oudney thought himself a little better, but the diarrhœa still continued. The kafila left us this morning for Kano. We had a visit from the governor; I happened to be from home, and was sent for. On my return the governor was gone, and had left a message for me to follow him with the compass, spy-glass, &c. as he wished me to show them to some men of rank: I followed, and found him seated in the company of two or three Felatahs, to whom I had to explain the use of the instruments over again; but a good deal of trouble was taken off my hands by the governor himself, and his Fezzanee servants. I was then taken to visit his favourite wife, who pretended, of course, to be much frightened at the sight of a Christian; she was a jolly, good looking, black wench. The governor had a great number of other women besides, whose dwellings were all very clean and neat. I was next conducted through other quarters of the residence; and, on reaching the stables, we all sat down in an open court, where the cadi and another learned Felatah joined us. The same explanations had again to be repeated. The cadi, who had made the pilgrimage of Mecca, and was acquainted with Arabic learning, appeared to be a man of sense and discernment, and explained the use of the watch to his countrymen with much perspicuity; he was a Felatah, about fifty years of age,—his complexion coal black,—with a hook nose, large eyes, and a full bushy beard. The office of cadi or judge, I may remark, is frequently hereditary, and there is one in every town to administer justice: his sole qualification is a competent knowledge of the Koran, although his decisions can be reversed only by the governor of the province, or the sultan of the country.

The governor resides in a large square, surrounded by a wall of red clay, at least thirty feet high, and divided by lower walls into four principal quarters: besides several flat-roofed houses of clay, it contained a number of coozees, for the most part ranged in a single row, just within the great walls. These are principally for the slaves and guards attached to the governor’s establishment; it was here we were lodged, the entrance being guarded night and day. Near the eastern gate there was a sort of council or audience hall, from which a passage led to the women’s apartments, on the north side of the square. The stables occupied one quarter, each horse having a hut to itself. The pillars that supported a room over the western gate were superior to any I had seen in central Africa; they were formed of the trunks of the palm tree, fashioned into columns, with rude pedestals and capitals of no inelegant appearance, all incrusted with clay.

Jan. 6.—Dr. Oudney was much better to-day. In the afternoon we had a visit from the governor: I had again to show him the sextant and other instruments. He was particularly inquisitive about the rockets we had given to the sheikh of Bornou; he persisted we had still some of them remaining, and when convinced of the contrary, seemed exceedingly desirous I should make him a few. I assured him, with regret, of my inability; while I professed it to be an express duty imposed on me by the king my master, to instruct him and his countrymen in every thing useful and curious. Among many other questions, he asked me if I ever prayed; I said, I should not be a good man if I did not pray, but that we usually prayed alone: at which answer he was highly amused.

Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom (the brother of the late commander of our escort from Mourzuk) arrived here to-day, with a kafila from Kouka: they left that place seven days after us. I heartily wished never to see the face of this arrant rogue.

Jan. 7.—The governor paid us an early visit this morning; he came at once into my tent, while I was writing, and I was again obliged to show him my instruments. On opening my chest, there was a small box of powder I had brought from England, still untouched; I was very loth to tell him what it was, but it attracted his attention, and I was compelled to yield to his solicitations for a small supply. To humour him further, I attended him to fire at a mark; I fired twice with my rifle, and happened to hit the mark both times, at a distance of sixty or seventy yards, when he called out “Ouda billa min Sheateen a rajeem,”—“The Lord preserve me from devils!” yet, in token of his approbation, he threw over my shoulders, with his own hands, a very handsome tobe.

Jan. 8.—I was indisposed all day, having caught cold.

Jan. 9.—This morning Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom left us for Kano. He tried all in his power to induce us to accompany him, but we knew him too well of old: he even asked the governor to send one of his people with him, but was only laughed at for his assurance.

Our servants caught a female rat, or bandicoot, as it is called in the East Indies, which measured two feet seven inches from the nose to the tip of the tail. The colour of the body was light grey, the tail black, and covered with long hairs, and the head much rounder than that of the common rat.

The diarrhœa of Dr. Oudney had ceased, but the cough was no better, and he was otherwise extremely ill: he had himself cupped on the left side of the chest by one of the natives. This operation is dexterously performed by them; they make the scarifications with a razor, and afterwards apply a perforated horn, from which they first extract the air by suction, and then stop the aperture with the thumb.

We had a visit from the wife of the cadi, a sister of Duncowa, I gave her a brass ring, a pair of scissors, and some beads.

In the afternoon, I was not a little astonished at a message from the governor, brought us by El Wordee, acquainting us that Hadje Ali had told him we were spies and bad people, and wishing to know from us if it was true. I did not think proper to disturb Dr. Oudney by relating to him this calumny, and merely desired El Wordee to say to the governor, that as we were in his power he could do with us as he pleased; at the same time referring him particularly to the letter of the sheikh of Bornou. El Wordee came back almost immediately, and assured me the governor was satisfied.

Jan. 10.—To-day we left Katagum; the governor having furnished us with a guide. We had a bassoor, or frame of wood, put on a camel, and spread Dr. Oudney’s bed upon it, as he was now too weak to ride on horseback; I also felt myself unwell. The governor accompanied us four miles out of town. At half past three o’clock in the afternoon we were obliged to halt, on account of Dr. Oudney’s weakness; he was quite worn out, and could proceed no further; the road, too, being crooked and entangled, and lying along a large swamp to the south. We passed a number of villages.

Jan. 11.—At eight o’clock in the morning we proceeded on our journey; but, at noon, were obliged to stop at the town of Murmur, on account of the alarming situation of Dr. Oudney, who had now become so feeble and exhausted, that I scarcely expected him to survive another day. He had been wasting away in a slow consumption, ever since we left the hills of Obarree, in Fezzan; where he was seized with inflammation of the chest, in consequence of sitting down in a current of cold air after being overheated.

Jan. 12.—Dr. Oudney drank a cup of coffee at day-break, and, by his desire, I ordered the camels to be loaded. I then assisted him to dress, and, with the support of his servant, he came out of the tent; but, before he could be lifted on the camel, I observed the ghastliness of death in his countenance, and had him immediately replaced in the tent. I sat down by his side, and, with unspeakable grief, witnessed his last breath, which was without a struggle or a groan. I now sent to the governor of the town to request his permission to bury the deceased, which he readily granted; and I had a grave made about five yards to the north of an old mimosa tree, a little beyond the southern gate of the town. The body being first washed, after the custom of the country, was dressed by my directions, in clothes made of turban shawls, which we were carrying with us as presents. The corpse was borne to the grave by our servants, and I read over it the funeral service of the church of England, before it was consigned to the earth; I afterwards caused the grave to be enclosed with a wall of clay, to keep off beasts of prey, and had two sheep killed and distributed among the poor.

Thus died, at the age of 32 years, Walter Oudney, M. D., a man of unassuming deportment, pleasing manners, stedfast perseverance, and undaunted enterprise; while his mind was fraught at once with knowledge, virtue, and religion. At any time, and in any place, to be bereaved of such a friend, had proved a severe trial; but to me, his friend and fellow traveller, labouring also under disease, and now left alone amid a strange people, and proceeding through a country which had hitherto never been trod by European foot, the loss was severe and afflicting in the extreme.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 65: It is much to be regretted that the state of the thermometer was not here noted; more particularly as a question has arisen as to the correctness of this statement, which is however repeated by Dr. Oudney almost in the same words.]

SECTION II.

FROM MURMUR TO KANO.

At day-break, on the following morning, I resumed my journey, trusting to the salutary effects of change of air and abstinence, as the best remedies both for mind and body. The road was swampy, and we crossed a narrow stream called Shashum, that falls into the Yow, near the town. There were numerous villages on all sides.

Jan. 14.—Thermometer 52°. Our road lay through a well cultivated country; at nine o’clock, A.M., we came to the town of Digoo, having an indifferent double wall, and a triple ditch nearly filled up. The town contained very few houses, but date trees were in great abundance; outside the walls, however, there were several villages, or rather detached clusters of houses. The country afterwards began to rise into ridges, running nearly east and west; our road lying along one of them, gave me an excellent view of beautiful villages all around, and herds of cattle grazing in the open country. In the evening we halted under the walls of a town called Boogawa; this is the last town in the province of Katagum: I did not enter it.

Jan. 15.—The road to-day was through a thickly wooded country. Before mid-day, we again crossed the Shashum, which here runs nearly due north. The camel-drivers brought me a quantity of wild figs, which they found on the trees by the road side, near the river. We next entered an open, well cultivated country, and in the evening halted at a town called Katungwa, which is surrounded by a wall, and has a number of fine date trees. This was the first town I entered in the kingdom of Haussa Proper. I was visited by a Felatah, who had been at Bagdad, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Mecca, and belonged to the order of Dervishes. He was a chattering little fellow, and told me he had seen the Wahabees at Mecca, who, he said, were the same people and spoke the same language as the Felatahs. I made him a present of a pair of scissors and a snuff-box, of which he seemed very proud, and sent me a bowl of bazeen in the evening. I here saw a range of low rocky hills, stretching nearly south-west. They are called, in the language of Haussa, Dooshee, or The Rocks, from which a large town on one of the roads leading from Katagum to Kano takes its name. Since we left the Wells of Bellkashiffra, on the southern borders of the great desert, we had not met with rocks, or even pebbles, till now, the very channels of the rivers being destitute of stones, and the whole country consisting of soft alluvial clay. The camels were missing, and I sent all the servants after them; they were not brought back before midnight, being found on their return to Bornou.

Jan. 16.—The country still open and well cultivated, and the villages numerous. We met crowds of people coming from Kano with goods. Some carried them on their heads, others had asses or bullocks, according to their wealth. All were armed with bows and arrows, and several with swords; the Bornouese are known by carrying spears.

El Wordee and I having advanced before the cavalcade were waiting for it under a tree, near a town called Zangeia, when a man from Katagum went, of his own accord, and told the governor of Zangeia that a friend of the governor of Katagum was close at hand. The governor of Zangeia sent the man to tell us he would come and meet us on horseback, and show us a proper place to pitch our tents. We mounted our horses, and, led by the Katagumite who was so anxious for the honour of the friend of his master, we met the governor, about a quarter of a mile from the tree under which we had reposed ourselves. He was mounted on a very fine white horse, gaily caparisoned, and had seven attendants behind him, also on horseback, besides being accompanied by several men on foot, armed with bows and arrows. He advanced to us at full gallop, and, after many courteous welcomes, placed himself at our head, and rode before us into the town. On reaching his own house, he desired us to pitch our tents before his door, observing, “Here is a place of great safety.” The camels arriving with the baggage, I presented him with a razor, a knife, a pair of scissors, and some spices. He sent me, in return, some milk and bazeen, with grass and gussub for the horses. Although a governor, I found out he was only a eunuch, belonging to the governor of Kano. He was in person fat, coarse, and ugly, with a shrill squeaking voice, and kept me awake half the night, laughing and talking among his people.

Zangeia is situate near the extremity of the Dooshee range of hills, and must have been once a very large town, from the extensive walls which still remain. The inhabitants were slaughtered or sold by the Felatahs, and plantations of cotton, tobacco, and indigo now occupy the place where houses formerly stood. Indeed the town may be said to consist of a number of thinly scattered villages. Within the walls there is a ridge of loose blocks of stone, connected with the range of hills in the neighbourhood. These masses of rock may be about two hundred feet high, and give a romantic appearance to the neat huts clustering round the base, and to the fine plantations of cotton, tobacco, and indigo, which are separated from one another by rows of date trees, and are shaded by other large umbrageous trees, of whose names I am ignorant. The prospect to the south was bounded by high blue mountains. It was market day; plenty of beef, yams, sweet potatoes, &c. for sale.

Jan. 17.—The country still highly cultivated, and now diversified by hill and dale. We passed a remarkable range of little hillocks of grey granite; they were naked rocks, flattened or rounded at top, and appeared like detached masses of stone rising singly out of the earth. We also passed several walled towns quite deserted, the inhabitants having been sold by their conquerors, the Felatahs. Women sat spinning cotton by the road side, offering for sale, to the passing caravans, gussub water, roast meat, sweet potatoes, cashew nuts, &c. In the afternoon, we halted in a hollow, to the west of a town, or rather a collection of villages, called Nansarina, where it was also market day. The governor, when he heard of my arrival, sent me milk and bazeen. I sent him, in return, a pair of scissors and a snuff-box.

Jan. 18.—When I ascended the high ground this morning, I saw a range of hills to the south-west, which, I was told, were called Dul, from a large town at their base. They appeared to be 600 or 700 feet high, not peaked, but oval topped, and running in a direction nearly north and south. I could not learn how far southward they extended. We crossed a little stream, flowing to the north. The country continued beautiful, with numerous plantations, as neatly fenced as in England. The road was thronged with travellers, and the shady trees by the road side served, as yesterday, to shelter female hucksters. The women not engaged in the retail of their wares were busy spinning cotton, and from time to time surveyed themselves, with whimsical complacency, in a little pocket mirror. The soil is a strong red clay, large blocks of granite frequently appearing above the surface.

At eleven in the morning we halted at a walled town called Girkwa, through which I rode with El Wordee. The houses were in groups, with large intervening vacancies, the former inhabitants having also been sold; the walls are in good repair, and are surrounded by a dry ditch. It was market day, and we found a much finer market here than at Tripoli. I had an attack of ague,—the disease that chiefly prevails in these parts,—and was obliged to rest all day under the shade of a tree. A pretty Felatah girl, going to market with milk and butter, neat and spruce in her attire as a Cheshire dairy-maid, here accosted me with infinite archness and grace. She said I was of her own nation; and, after much amusing small talk, I pressed her, in jest, to accompany me on my journey, while she parried my solicitations with roguish glee, by referring me to her father and mother. I don’t know how it happened, but her presence seemed to dispel the effects of the ague. To this trifling and innocent memorial of a face and form, seen that day for the first and last time, but which I shall not readily forget, I may add the more interesting information to the good housewives of my own country, that the making of butter such as ours is confined to the nation of the Felatahs, and that it is both clean and excellent. So much is this domestic art cultivated, that from a useful prejudice or superstition, it is deemed unlucky to sell new milk; it may, however, be bestowed as a gift. Butter is also made in other parts of central Africa, but sold in an oily fluid state something like honey.

A native of Mourzuk who resides here sent me some kouskousoo and fowls. I received a visit from a black shreef, who informed me he had seen the sea, and that a river I should cross on the morrow communicated between the Kowara and the Yow. By the Kowara, I understood him to mean the river that passes Timbuctoo, and which, of late years, has been so much talked of in Europe, under the name of Niger. This was a piece of gratuitous information, for on cross-questioning him he could furnish no authority for his opinion. But I soon discovered the whole trick, by El Wordee strongly recommending me to give my informant a present. The country to the south and south-west was very hilly.

Jan. 19.—We crossed a water-course called Girkwa, from the name of the town in its immediate vicinity. It is the channel of the same river the black shreef alluded to, but did not now contain a drop of water. Indeed the channel itself is extremely shallow, and only about sixty or seventy yards across. The guide furnished me by the governor of Katagum told me, that the river took its rise in the mountains of Dul, and falling into another river, which we should soon come to, and which rose among the mountains of Nora, their united waters flowed into the Yow, to the north of Katagum.

The country was much the same as yesterday; clear of wood, well cultivated, and divided into plantations. At noon we crossed the river Sockwa, alluded to above, and forming a junction with the Girkwa. The water was not above ankle deep in the middle of the stream, which did not now fill one twentieth part of the channel, and both rivers, I have no doubt, are at all times fordable, even during the rainy season. About a mile from the banks of the river, we passed the town of Sockwa, which is defended by a high clay wall. Being very unwell, I did not enter the town, but rode on through a clear, open country, to the town of Duakee, where I halted under a tree until the camels came up. This town is also walled, but contains few inhabitants, although the walls, made of clay like all the others, are of great extent, and in good repair. Before four o’clock the camels arrived, and we pitched our tents under the tree where I had lain down. The road was still crowded, from sunrise to sunset, with people going to or coming from Kano.

Jan. 20.—By El Wordee’s advice, I prepared myself this morning for entering Kano, which was now at hand. Arrayed in naval uniform, I made myself as smart as circumstances would permit. For three miles to the north of Duakee, the country was open and well cultivated. It then became thickly covered with underwood, until we ascended a rising ground, whence we had a view of two little mounts within the walls of Kano. The soil here is a tough clay mixed with gravel, the stones of which appear to be clay ironstone. The country was now clear of wood, except here and there a few large shady trees, resorted to as usual by the women of the country selling refreshments. The villages were numerous, and the road was thronged with people of all descriptions.

At eleven o’clock we entered Kano, the great emporium of the kingdom of Haussa; but I had no sooner passed the gates, than I felt grievously disappointed; for from the flourishing description of it given by the Arabs, I expected to see a city of surprising grandeur: I found, on the contrary, the houses nearly a quarter of a mile from the walls, and in many parts scattered into detached groups, between large stagnant pools of water. I might have spared all the pains I had taken with my toilet; for not an individual turned his head round to gaze at me, but all, intent on their own business, allowed me to pass by without notice or remark.

I went with El Wordee directly to the house of Hadje Hat Salah, to whom I had a letter of recommendation from the sheikh of Bornou. We found Hat Salah sitting under a rude porch in front of his house amid a party of Arabs, Tuaricks, and people of the town. When El Wordee presented me, and told him of the sheikh’s letter of recommendation, he bade me welcome, and desired me to sit down by his side. After exchanging many compliments, I inquired for the house he had hired for me, as El Wordee had sent a messenger on horseback the day before, to inform him of my approach, and to request him to have a house ready for my reception. Hat Salah now sent one of his slaves to conduct us to the house.

We had to retrace our steps more than half a mile through the market-place, which is bordered to the east and west by an extensive swamp covered with reeds and water, and frequented by wild ducks, cranes, and a filthy kind of vulture. The last is extremely useful, and by picking up offal serves as a sort of town scavenger. The house provided for me was situated at the south end of the morass, the pestilential exhalations of which, and of the pools of standing water, were increased by the sewers of the houses all opening into the street. I was fatigued and sick, and lay down on a mat that the owner of the house spread for me. I was immediately visited by all the Arab merchants who had been my fellow travellers from Kouka, and were not prevented by sickness from coming to see me. They were more like ghosts than men, as almost all strangers were at this time, suffering from intermittent fever. My house had six chambers above, extremely dark, and five rooms below, with a dismal looking entrance or lobby, a back court, draw-well, and other conveniences. Little holes or windows admitted a glimmering light into the apartments. Nevertheless this was here thought a handsome mansion. I paid at first a rent of three dollars a month; but it was afterwards reduced to two dollars. El Wordee was my next door neighbour.

In the evening Hat Salah sent me a sheep, some honey, and a dinner ready cooked. I received a similar present from Michah Eben Taleb, the brother of an Arab merchant of Sockna, residing at Kouka, to whom I had a letter of introduction, with an order for the payment of a hundred dollars.

Jan. 21.—The weather cool and clear. This afternoon I delivered to Hadje Hat Salah the sheikh’s letter, and accompanied it with a present of two turban shawls, made of wool and cotton, one white, the other red, both of French manufacture, a scarlet Turkish jacket, lined with silk and trimmed with gold lace, that had belonged to the late Dr. Oudney, two clasp knives, two razors, two pair of scissors, two paper snuff-boxes, and one of tin, about a pound of spices, and a parcel of thin brass ornaments for children’s caps. These are of the size of a sixpence, stamped with fancy heads, and made at Trieste for the Barbary market. He was much pleased with my present, and promised to present me to the governor in two days. In the evening provisions were sent me as before, both by Hat Salah and Michah Eben Taleb.

Jan. 22.—I had a visit from Hat Salah to-day, when I presented him with half a pound of French gunpowder and a few flints. Being very unwell, I remained at home all day.

Jan. 23.—I was still confined to the house by indisposition. In the evening I overheard a conversation concerning the river Quarra, between my servant and the man the governor of Katagum sent with me. The latter described it as running into the sea at Baka, and added the following particulars. The country is called Yowriba by the natives. The ships of Christians visit the town, which is only twenty-four days’ journey from Nyffee at a quick rate of travelling, or thirty-two days at a leisurely pace. The river is there as wide as from Kano to Katagum, and the waters salt. Although I think proper to notice this incident, I must at the same time observe, that I place little dependence on such accounts. Next morning I put several questions to him, but he told me quite a different story; for it is commonly believed among them that strangers would come and take their country from them, if they knew the course of the Quarra. Nyffee, as I afterwards learned, is distant from Kano about twelve days’ journey.

Jan. 24.—At seven in the morning I set out, accompanied by El Wordee and Hat Salah, to visit the governor, who was at the sansan, or camp, five miles east of Kano. I took with me the sheikh’s letter and a present I had prepared the day before, consisting of a sword, a tea-tray, a spy-glass, twenty yards of yellow silk, a white turban, a French shawl, three snuff-boxes, two razors, four clasp knives, two pair of scissors, a few brass trinkets for children’s caps, as already described, and two pounds of spices, besides a broken thermometer, which I understood would be very acceptable. Of course, I could not spare either of the only two thermometers which had hitherto escaped accidents. A thermometer is descriptively named by the natives “a watch of heat,” and was every where regarded as a great curiosity. I also took a present for the wan-bey, or governor’s chief minister, of a French shawl, a large Egyptian shawl, a pound of cloves and cinnamon, a razor, a clasp knife, a pair of scissors, and two snuff-boxes. The sansan, where the governor now was, is a rendezvous for the army. The governor then intended to march against Dantanqua, a former governor of Kano who was deposed, and who, having rebelled, had seized upon a large town and territory called Doura, only distant one day’s journey, or about twenty-two English miles, according to the common allowance for a day’s journey. I was not a little surprised to find this sansan a walled town of considerable extent. El Wordee and Hat Salah informed me it had been built these five years, the governor of Kano having made for that period a yearly excursion against the rebels, without ever bringing them to a decisive engagement.

We proceeded immediately to the governor’s house, which is about 500 or 600 yards from the gate. At the outer guard house, I found all the Arab merchants in attendance, with the horses they had for sale. The governor is always entitled to the first choice; but if he declines them at the price affixed, any other person may become the purchaser. We were shown into the house of the wan-bey, until the governor was ready to receive us. In a short time he sent for me: I was accompanied by El Wordee and Hat Salah; but as he does not usually admit Arab merchants into his presence, El Wordee was in this instance specially favoured on my account. When introduced, we had to pass through three coozees or guard houses, the walls of which were covered with shields, and the doors guarded by black eunuchs. These coozees were connected by screens of matting covered over head. The governor was seated at the entrance of an inner coozee. After shaking hands with him, he desired us to sit down: I then produced the presents, explaining to him particularly the use of the spy-glass, and commending the sword, by acquainting him that such were worn by the great nobles of England, when they attended on the king. He seemed highly pleased, and bade me a thousand welcomes to the country. I next delivered the sheikh El Kanemy’s letter. He read it, and told me he expected to return to Kano in fifteen days, and would then send me to his master Bello, who, he knew, would be very glad to see me. We shook hands again at parting. The governor is a Felatah, of a dark copper colour and stout make, and has the character of being very devout and learned. Except El Wordee and Hat Salah, the wan bey was the only person present, at this interview, whom we next accompanied to his house, where I gave him his present without any ceremony. He was a thin, slender man, of a pretty fair complexion, with only one eye, and was clad in a rather dirty tobe. He was said to be the father of fifty sons—a circumstance which is here regarded as a matter of much respect and honour. I returned immediately to Kano; but Hat Salah and El Wordee remained behind to sell some horses. Hat Salah had two horses belonging to the late Dr. Oudney to dispose of; one of which was given to him by the sheikh of Bornou, and the other was palmed upon us at Kouka by Hadje Ali Bookhaloom for eighty dollars. The governor of Kano frequently gives from 100 to 120 dollars for a good horse. Mares are seldom for sale, and are highly prized, both for breeding, and because they do not neigh on approaching other horses—a quality that especially fits them for predatory inroads. Geldings are unknown.

Jan. 25 and 26.—I was solicited by some merchants of Ghadamis, settled here, to take supplies of goods or money to any amount, for my bill on our Tripolitan consul; but, having no occasion for advances, I declined this unexpected offer of accommodation, which was frequently and urgently tendered. Ghadamis—the ancient Bydamus—is an inland town in the state of Tripoli, and its merchants are famed over all central Africa for fair dealing and the extent of their commercial transactions.

Jan. 27 and 28.—The governor sent me a present of a sheep; an immense gourd, upwards of two feet in diameter, filled with wheat; and two other gourds of the same dimensions, filled with rice. A kafila from Bornou arrived to-day. It brought a letter from the sheikh to Hat Salah, warning him not to purchase any slaves, as they would not be allowed to pass through Bornou, on account of the detention of the sheikh’s children in Fezzan, who had been sent there for protection during a recent invasion by the people of Begharmi.

Jan. 29.—A courier to-day, from Major Denham at Kouka, brought me letters and newspapers from England; also gunpowder, coffee, tea, and sugar, Peruvian bark, and three bottles of Port wine; three silver watches, and some articles of dress, such as red caps of Tunis, red Turkish trowsers, and Bornouses, or woollen cloaks, with hoods from Tripoli. Mr. Warrington, our consul at Tripoli, also forwarded a teskara, or order from the bashaw, which Major Denham took care to have enforced by a letter from the sheikh of Bornou, both addressed to Hadje Ali, requiring him to pay the money due by his deceased brother. The sheikh likewise wrote to Hat Salah, requesting him to exert all his influence to overcome the scruples of Hadje Ali; for Hadje Bos Zaid, the other executor, never once hesitated about the matter. The newspapers first apprised me of Belzoni’s attempt to penetrate to Timbuctoo by the way of Fez.

Jan. 30.—Ill with ague.

Jan. 31.—A little better.

Feb. 1. 1824.—After breakfast I accompanied Hat Salah, the sheikh’s agent, to the sansan, which, since it became a town, is also called Fanisoe, and presented the governor with one of the watches. He was highly pleased with it, and requested me to teach Hat Salah the use of it, that he might give lessons to the wan-bey, who would in turn instruct him. I also showed him the sheikh’s letter to his master Bello. He read it, and told me I should be sent forward to Sackatoo without delay in a kafila which was then assembling.

On my return I met two governors with troops repairing to the sansan. They had each about five hundred horse and foot. The foot were armed with bows and arrows. The quiver is slung over the left shoulder, together with a small, highly ornamented leathern pouch for little necessaries, and a canteen of dried grass, so compactly plaited, that it is used for holding water. The bow unstrung is sometimes carried in the hand as a walking stick. Many carried on the head a little triangular bag, filled with bruised Guinea corn. Others wore a little conical grass cap, with a tuft of feathers. The rest of their dress consists solely of a tanned skin, strung with coarse shells, or fringed with tassels, girt round the loins, and a pair of sandals of very simple workmanship.

The cavalry were armed with shields, swords, and spears, and otherwise more sumptuously accoutred. The spear is about six feet long, the wooden shaft slender, and the point of iron. The swords are broad, straight, and long, but require no particular description, as, by a vicissitude somewhat singular, they are in fact the very blades formerly wielded by the knights of Malta. These swords are sent from Malta to Bengazee, in the state of Tripoli, where they are exchanged for bullocks. They are afterwards carried across the desert to Bornou, thence to Haussa, and at last remounted at Kano, for the use of the inhabitants of almost all central Africa. The shields, covered with the hides of tame or wild animals, are generally plain and round. There is, however, a remarkable variety, not uncommon, of an oval shape, somewhat broader below than above, with an edging of blue cloth, forming six little lappets, one above, one below, and two on each side. In the centre of the shield there is a stripe of scarlet cloth fastened by the same studs that clinch the iron handle, and around it is scored a perfect Maltese cross. This kind of shield is borne by horsemen only; but it is found of the same shape and figure, equally among Tibboes, Tuaricks, Felatahs, and Bornouese. A cross of the same form, moulded in a sort of low relief, is not an unfrequent ornament on the clay plaster of their huts. Crosses of other forms also are sometimes cut in the doors of their houses. Several camels, loaded with quilted cotton armour, both for men and horses, were in attendance. One of the governor’s slaves wore a quilted helmet of red cloth, very unwieldy, not unlike a bucket in shape, only scooped out in front for the face, and terminating on the crown in a large tin funnel, full of ostrich feathers. He was also clad in a red quilted corslet of the same cumbrous materials. The other articles of this armour are trunk hose for the rider, and a head piece, poitrel, and hausing, all quilted and arrow proof, for the horse. Armour, however, is hardly ever worn, except in actual combat, and then it must very much impede the quickness of their military evolutions. The saddles have high peaks before and behind. The stirrup irons are in the shape of a fire-shovel, turned up at the sides, and so sharp as to render spurs superfluous. This body of heavy horse protects the advance and retreat of the army, the bowmen being drawn up in the rear, and shooting from between the horsemen as occasion offers.

Feb. 2.—This morning I was visited by a nephew of sultan Bello, who arrived yesterday from Sackatoo. He was a lad of a dark copper colour, and of a thin active make, like all the Felatahs. I ordered tea to be presented to him; but he would not taste it, till the brother of El Wordee set him the example, when he ventured to drink a cup, and soon became very fond of it. Before this visit he considered a Christian little better than a monster, as he confessed to me, though, perhaps, with some degree of flattery. I showed him all my instruments, and the presents intended for his uncle, the sultan.

Feb. 3.—I had a visit from another nephew of the sultan, one of the finest and most intelligent young men I had seen in this country. He read and spoke Arabic with ease and fluency, and was very anxious to see every thing, and to hear all about my country. He assured me the sultan would be delighted to see me, and said he had a large collection of books, which he made him read aloud. He told me there was a camel road from Sackatoo to Timbuctoo, which, however, was rendered dangerous by the Kafirs of Cobee, a country lying between the two towns.

Feb. 4.—The governor sent back the two horses he had on trial; but this was to be expected, one of them having galled withers, and the other being nothing but skin and bone. He returned, at the same time, a number of the horses belonging to the Arab merchants, who came to me with loud clamours against this alleged act of injustice. I warily answered, in one of their own hypocritical exaggerations, “Whatever the sultan does is beautiful;” for I knew they only wanted to entrap me into an unguarded expression, which would be repeated to the governor, either to my disadvantage, or to induce him to take all the horses at the price first demanded. Accordingly I was no more troubled with their complaints on this subject.

Feb. 5 and 6.—I had a conversation with Abdelgader, a relation of sultan Bello, at the house of a Ghadamis merchant. Abdelgader was particularly inquisitive about our religious observances, prayers, the worship of images, and the eating of pork. I told him we were commanded by our religion to pray without ceasing; but as no people on earth does as it ought, we generally prayed at stated times. The worship of images, with which I was repeatedly charged, I indignantly abjured. Of course I represented the eating of pork as a mere matter of policy. My Mahomedan catechist next inquired, with some degree of ridicule, as to the doctrine of the Trinity; and turning to his countrymen who were present, without waiting for my reply, exclaimed, in allusion to the three persons of the God-head:—“Father, Son, and Uncle.” In this way Mahometans are wont to turn to scorn the pure morals inculcated by Christianity, both in precept and in practice. Abdelgader next expressed great curiosity to have my Jew servant, Jacob, sent for. I declined; explaining to him that it was utterly inconsistent with the toleration to which I had ever been accustomed, to have any man interrogated by constraint respecting his religious opinions; but that, with his own consent, he might be asked any questions Abdelgader pleased. I left the party soon after, and Jacob was prevailed upon to undergo a similar examination; but his holy zeal was quickly fired, for he soon returned home in a storm of passion. To put a stop to such acrimonious and dangerous discussions, I afterwards hinted to the Ghadamis merchant that a repetition of such conduct, in regard to my servants, would oblige me to complain to the bashaw of Tripoli.

Feb. 7.—Rather sick to-day.

Feb. 8.—The governor returned to the sansan with his army; and the current report was, that they had entered the capital of the enemy; and, supposing Duntungua to have fled to the forest, they began to enjoy themselves in banquets and carousals, when Duntungua suddenly fell upon them with his army, and killed fifteen thousand men, the rest flying in the greatest confusion to Fanisoe.

Feb. 9.—Again unwell.

Feb. 10.—Kano is the capital of a province of the same name, and one of the principal towns of the kingdom of Soudan, and is situate in 12° 0′ 19″ north latitude by observation, and 9° 20′ east longitude by dead reckoning, carried on from a lunar observation at Kouka, in Bornou.

Kano may contain from 30,000 to 40,000 resident inhabitants, of whom more than one half are slaves. This estimate of the population is of course conjectural, and must be received with due allowance, although I have studiously under-rated my rough calculations on the subject. This number is exclusive of strangers who come here in crowds during the dry months from all parts of Africa, from the Mediterranean and the Mountains of the Moon, and from Sennar and Ashantee.

The city is rendered very unhealthy by a large morass, which almost divides it into two parts, besides many pools of stagnant water, made by digging clay for building houses. The house gutters also open into the street, and frequently occasion an abominable stench. On the north side of the city are two remarkable mounts, each about 200 feet in height, lying nearly east and west from one another, and a trifling distance apart. They are formed of argillaceous iron-stone, mixed with pebbles, and a rather soft kind of marl. The city is of an irregular oval shape, about fifteen miles in circumference, and surrounded by a clay wall thirty feet high, with a dry ditch along the inside, and another on the outside. There are fifteen gates, including one lately built up. The gates are of wood, covered with sheet iron, and are regularly opened and shut at sunrise and sunset. A platform inside, with two guardhouses below it, serves to defend each entrance. Not more than one fourth of the ground within the walls is occupied by houses: the vacant space is laid out in fields and gardens. The large morass, nearly intersecting the city from east to west, and crossed by a small neck of land, on which the market is held, is overflowed in the rainy season. The water of the city being considered unwholesome, women are constantly employed hawking water about the streets, from the favourite springs in the neighbourhood. The houses are built of clay, and are mostly of a square form, in the Moorish fashion, with a central room, the roof of which is supported by the trunks of palm trees, where visitors and strangers are received. The apartments of the ground floor open into this hall of audience, and are generally used as store-rooms. A staircase leads to an open gallery overlooking the hall, and serving as a passage to the chambers of the second story, which are lighted with small windows. In a back courtyard there is a well and other conveniences. Within the enclosure in which the house stands, there are also a few round huts of clay, roofed with the stalks of Indian corn, and thatched with long grass. These are usually very neat and clean, and of a much larger size than those of Bornou. The governor’s residence covers a large space, and resembles a walled village. It even contains a mosque, and several towers three or four stories high, with windows in the European style, but without glass or frame-work. It is necessary to pass through two of these towers in order to gain the suite of inner apartments occupied by the governor.

The soug, or market, is well supplied with every necessary and luxury in request among the people of the interior. It is held, as I have mentioned, on a neck of land between two swamps; and as this site is covered with water during the rainy season, the holding it here is consequently limited to the dry months, when it is numerously frequented as well by strangers as inhabitants: indeed, there is no market in Africa so well regulated. The sheikh of the soug lets the stalls at so much a month, and the rent forms a part of the revenues of the governor. The sheikh of the soug also fixes the prices of all wares, for which he is entitled to a small commission, at the rate of fifty whydah or cowries, on every sale amounting to four dollars or 8,000 cowries, according to the standard exchange between silver money and this shell currency. There is another custom regulated with equal certainty and in universal practice: the seller returns to the buyer a stated part of the price, by way of blessing, as they term it, or of luck-penny, according to our less devout phraseology. This is a discount of two per cent. on the purchase money; but, if the bargain is made in a hired house, it is the landlord who receives the luck-penny. I may here notice the great convenience of the cowrie, which no forgery can imitate; and which, by the dexterity of the natives in reckoning the largest sums, forms a ready medium of exchange in all transactions, from the lowest to the highest. Particular quarters are appropriated to distinct articles; the smaller wares being set out in booths in the middle, and cattle and bulky commodities being exposed to sale in the outskirts of the market-place: wood, dried grass, bean straw for provender, beans, Guinea corn, Indian corn, wheat, &c. are in one quarter; goats, sheep, asses, bullocks, horses, and camels, in another; earthenware and indigo in a third; vegetables and fruit of all descriptions, such as yams, sweet potatoes, water and musk melons, pappaw fruit, limes, cashew nuts, plums, mangoes, shaddocks, dates, &c. in a fourth, and so on. Wheaten flour is baked into bread of three different kinds; one like muffins, another like our twists, and the third a light puffy cake, with honey and melted butter poured over it. Rice is also made into little cakes. Beef and mutton are killed daily. Camel flesh is occasionally to be had, but is often meagre; the animal being commonly killed, as an Irish grazier might say, to save its life: it is esteemed a great delicacy, however, by the Arabs, when the carcass is fat. The native butchers are fully as knowing as our own, for they make a few slashes to show the fat, blow up meat, and sometimes even stick a little sheep’s wool on a leg of goat’s flesh, to make it pass with the ignorant for mutton. When a fat bull is brought to market to be killed, its horns are dyed red with henna; drummers attend, a mob soon collects, the news of the animal’s size and fatness spreads, and all run to buy. The colouring of the horns is effected by applying the green leaves of the henna tree, bruised into a kind of poultice. Near the shambles there is a number of cook-shops in the open air; each consisting merely of a wood fire, stuck round with wooden skewers, on which small bits of fat and lean meat, alternately mixed, and scarcely larger than a pennypiece each, are roasting. Every thing looks very clean and comfortable; and a woman does the honours of the table, with a mat dish-cover placed on her knees, from which she serves her guests, who are squatted around her. Ground gussub water is retailed at hand, to those who can afford this beverage at their repast: the price, at most, does not exceed twenty cowries, or about two farthings and ⁴⁄₁₀ of a farthing, English money, estimating the dollar at five shillings. Those who have houses eat at home; women never resort to cook-shops, and even at home eat apart from men.

The interior of the market is filled with stalls of bamboo, laid out in regular streets; where the more costly wares are sold, and articles of dress, and other little matters of use or ornament made and repaired. Bands of musicians parade up and down to attract purchasers to particular booths. Here are displayed coarse writing paper, of French manufacture, brought from Barbary; scissors and knives, of native workmanship; crude antimony and tin, both the produce of the country; unwrought silk of a red colour, which they make into belts and slings, or weave in stripes into the finest cotton tobes; armlets and bracelets of brass; beads of glass, coral, and amber; finger rings of pewter, and a few silver trinkets, but none of gold; tobes, turkadees, and turban shawls; coarse woollen cloths of all colours; coarse calico; Moorish dresses; the cast off gaudy garbs of the Mamelukes of Barbary; pieces of Egyptian linen, checked or striped with gold; sword blades from Malta, &c. &c. The market is crowded from sunrise to sunset every day, not excepting their Sabbath, which is kept on Friday. The merchants understand the benefits of monopoly as well as any people in the world; they take good care never to overstock the market, and if any thing falls in price, it is immediately withdrawn for a few days.—The market is regulated with the greatest fairness, and the regulations are strictly and impartially enforced. If a tobe or turkadee, purchased here, is carried to Bornou or any other distant place, without being opened, and is there discovered to be of inferior quality, it is immediately sent back, as a matter of course,—the name of the dylala, or broker, being written inside every parcel. In this case the dylala must find out the seller, who, by the laws of Kano, is forthwith obliged to refund the purchase money.

The slave market is held in two long sheds, one for males, the other for females, where they are seated in rows, and carefully decked out for the exhibition; the owner, or one of his trusty slaves, sitting near them. Young or old, plump or withered, beautiful or ugly, are sold without distinction; but, in other respects, the buyer inspects them with the utmost attention, and somewhat in the same manner as a volunteer seaman is examined by a surgeon on entering the navy: he looks at the tongue, teeth, eyes, and limbs, and endeavours to detect rupture by a forced cough. If they are afterwards found to be faulty or unsound, or even without any specific objection, they may be returned within three days. When taken home, they are stripped of their finery, which is sent back to their former owner. Slavery is here so common, or the mind of slaves is so constituted, that they always appeared much happier than their masters; the women, especially, singing with the greatest glee all the time they are at work. People become slaves by birth or by capture in war. The Felatahs frequently manumit slaves at the death of their master, or on the occasion of some religious festival. The letter of manumission must be signed before the cadi, and attested by two witnesses; and the mark of a cross is used by the illiterate among them, just as with us. The male slaves are employed in the various trades of building, working in iron, weaving, making shoes or clothes, and in traffic; the female slaves in spinning, baking, and selling water in the streets. Of the various people who frequent Kano, the Nyffuans are most celebrated for their industry; as soon as they arrive, they go to market and buy cotton for their women to spin, who, if not employed in this way, make billam for sale, which is a kind of flummery made of flour and tamarinds. The very slaves of this people are in great request, being invariably excellent tradesmen; and when once obtained, are never sold again out of the country.

I bought, for three Spanish dollars, an English green cotton umbrella, an article I little expected to meet with, yet by no means uncommon: my Moorish servants, in their figurative language, were wont to give it the name of “the cloud.” I found, on inquiry, that these umbrellas are brought from the shores of the Mediterranean, by the way of Ghadamis.

A large kafila of Tuaricks, loaded solely with salt, arrived here from Billma. The Arabs told me it consisted of 3,000 camels; at all events, the kafila was extremely numerous.

Feb. 11.—A Felatah of respectability having arrived from the sultan, with offers of every accommodation on my journey, I visited the governor to compliment him on his return, and to inquire about my departure for Sackatoo. He received me with much civility, and, addressing me like an old acquaintance by my travelling name, Abdallah, he assured me I should set out in six days.

Feb. 12.—The weather was cold, and we had a fire all day. Indeed it is the invariable practice here to have fires all the year round, both in the wet and dry season, although generally I did not find one necessary.

Feb. 13 and 14.—I had a visit from the governor’s eldest son, a stupid fellow, who was afraid to taste a cup of tea with which I presented him. He bluntly told me, I possessed the power of changing people into rats, cats, dogs, and monkeys. I made a servant drink the tea he had refused, and then remarked, “Thank God, neither I, nor any one else, was able to work such wonders, otherwise both of us probably had been long ago metamorphosed into asses, and compelled to bear burdens on our backs.” He affected to blame the people of the town for these reports, and told me they were further persuaded, that, by reading in my book, I could at any time turn a handful of earth into gold. I easily refuted this absurdity, by asking him why I applied to Hadje Hat Salah for money if I knew such a secret. He now became somewhat tranquillized, and sipped a little of the tea, but with fear and trembling. He afterwards begged for a black-lead pencil, which I did not choose to give him. A son of Sultan Bello, named Abdelgader, also paid me a visit. He returns, early to-morrow morning, to Sackatoo.

Feb. 15.—This afternoon I ascended the eastern mount (one of the two already described) to take an eye sketch of the plan of the town, which, as nearly as I could guess it, may be represented as under. By way of precaution, I was accompanied by Hat Salah’s eldest son, to prevent the people fancying I was going to perform some magical feat. On the eastern side of the mount, the young man gravely pointed out to me the print of the foot of the she-camel on which the Prophet rode to heaven. It was certainly very like the print of a camel’s foot, only much larger, and seemed to be a hole where two stones had been picked out. I asked my companion, if the prophet’s naga, or she-camel, had only one leg. “Oh!” said he, “it had four.” Where are the other three? “Oh!” he replied, “God has done it:” an unanswerable argument, which with them settles all points of religious controversy. He added, “All the faithful of Soudan believe in the truth of this story.” The mount I found to consist of strata of clay iron-stone, and conglomerate, lying on a bed of soft light clay, apparently mixed with vegetable remains.

Feb. 16.—Early this morning two massi dubu, or jugglers, came to my door. Two snakes were let out of a bag, when one of the jugglers began to beat a little drum. The snakes immediately reared themselves on their tail, and made a kind of sham dance. The juggler afterwards played various tricks with them, sometimes wreathing them round his neck, coiling them in his bosom, or throwing them among the people. On pointing his finger at their mouth, they immediately raised themselves up in an attitude to spring forward; but after having exasperated them to the utmost, he had only to spit in their face to make them retreat quite crestfallen. I measured one of them: it was six feet three inches long; the head large, flat, and blunted, and, along the neck, a kind of gills fully two inches in breadth, and five inches in length, which they elevated when angry. The back and belly were of a dull white, and the sides of a dark lead colour. Between the gills there were five red stripes across the throat, decreasing in size from the mouth downwards. The venomous fangs had been extracted; but still, to guard against all possible injury, the fellow who played tricks with them had a large roll of cloth wound round the right arm. Their bite is said to be mortal, and to prove fatal to a horse or a cow in half an hour.

Having heard a great deal of the boxers of Haussa, I was anxious to witness their performance. Accordingly I sent one of my servants last night to offer 2000 whydah for a pugilistic exhibition in the morning. As the death of one of the combatants is almost certain before a battle is over, I expressly prohibited all fighting in earnest; for it would have been disgraceful, both to myself and my country, to hire men to kill one another for the gratification of idle curiosity. About half an hour after the massi dubu were gone, the boxers arrived, attended by two drums, and the whole body of butchers, who here compose “the fancy.” A ring was soon formed, by the master of the ceremonies throwing dust on the spectators to make them stand back. The drummers entered the ring, and began to drum lustily. One of the boxers followed, quite naked, except a skin round the middle. He placed himself in an attitude as if to oppose an antagonist, and wrought his muscles into action, seemingly to find out that every sinew was in full force for the approaching combat; then coming from time to time to the side of the ring, and presenting his right arm to the bystanders, he said, “I am a hyena;” “I am a lion;” “I am able to kill all that oppose me.” The spectators, to whom he presented himself, laid their hands on his shoulder, repeating, “The blessing of God be upon thee;” “Thou art a hyena;” “Thou art a lion.” He then abandoned the ring to another, who showed off in the same manner. The right hand and arm of the pugilists were now bound with narrow country cloth, beginning with a fold round the middle finger, when, the hand being first clinched with the thumb between the fore and mid fingers, the cloth was passed in many turns round the fist, the wrist, and the fore arm. After about twenty had separately gone through their attitudes of defiance, and appeals to the bystanders, they were next brought forward by pairs. If they happened to be friends, they laid their left breasts together twice, and exclaimed, “We are lions;” “We are friends.” One then left the ring, and another was brought forward. If the two did not recognise one another as friends, the set-to immediately commenced. On taking their stations, the two pugilists first stood at some distance, parrying with the left hand open, and, whenever opportunity offered, striking with the right. They generally aimed at the pit of the stomach, and under the ribs. Whenever they closed, one seized the other’s head under his arm, and beat it with his fist, at the same time striking with his knee between his antagonist’s thighs. In this position, with the head in chancery, they are said sometimes to attempt to gouge or scoop out one of the eyes. When they break loose, they never fail to give a swinging blow with the heel under the ribs, or sometimes under the left ear. It is these blows which are so often fatal. The combatants were repeatedly separated by my orders, as they were beginning to lose their temper. When this spectacle was heard of, girls left their pitchers at the wells, the market people threw down their baskets, and all ran to see the fight. The whole square before my house was crowded to excess. After six pairs had gone through several rounds, I ordered them, to their great satisfaction, the promised reward, and the multitude quietly dispersed.

Both Hat Salah and Benderachmani, another Fezzan merchant residing here, had been with the late Mr. Hornemann at the time of his death. They travelled with him from Mourzuk to Nyffee, where he died of dysentery, after an illness of six days. He passed himself off as an English merchant, professing the Mahometan faith, and had sold two fine horses here. At my instance, Benderachmani sent a courier to Nyffee, to endeavour to recover Mr. Hornemann’s manuscripts, for which I offered him a reward of a hundred dollars; but, on my return from Sackatoo, I found the messenger come back with the information, that Jussuf Felatah, a learned man of the country, with whom Mr. Hornemann lodged, had been burned in his own house, together with all Mr. Hornemann’s papers, by the negro rabble, from a superstitious dread of his holding intercourse with evil spirits.

All the date trees, of which there is a great number, as well as the fig and pappaw trees, &c. together with the waste ground, and fields of wheat, onions, &c. bordering on the morass, belong to the governor. The date trees bear twice a year, before and after the annual rains, which fall between the middle of May and the end of August.

Cotton, after it is gathered from the shrub, is prepared by the careful housewife, or a steady female slave, by laying a quantity of it on a stone, or a piece of board, along which she twirls two slender iron rods about a foot in length, and thus dexterously separates the seeds from the cotton wool. The cotton is afterwards teazed or opened out with a small bone, something like an instrument used by us in the manufacture of hat felt. Women then spin it out of a basket upon a slender spindle. The basket always contains a little pocket mirror, used at least once every five minutes, for adjusting or contemplating their charms. It is now sold in yarn, or made into cloth. The common cloth of the country is, as formerly stated, only three or four inches broad. The weaver’s loom is very simple, having a fly and treadles like ours, but no beam; and the warp, fastened to a stone, is drawn along the ground as wanted. The shuttle is passed by the hand. When close at work, they are said to weave from twenty to thirty fathoms of cloth a day. Kano is famed over all central Africa for the dyeing of cloth; for which process there are numerous establishments. Indigo is here prepared in rather a different manner from that of India and America. When the plant is ripe, the fresh green tops are cut off, and put into a wooden trough about a foot and a half across, and one foot deep, in which, when pounded, they are left to ferment. When dry, this indigo looks like earth mixed with decayed grass, retains the shape of the trough, and three or four lumps being tied together with Indian corn-stalks, it is carried in this state to market. The apparatus for dyeing is a large pot of clay, about nine feet deep, and three feet broad, sunk in the earth. The indigo is thrown in, mixed with the ashes of the residuum of a former dyeing. These are prepared from the lees of the dye-pot, kneaded up and dried in the sun, after which they are burned. In the process of dyeing cold water alone is used. The articles to be dyed remain in the pot three or four days, and are frequently stirred up with a pole; besides which, they are well wrung out every night, and hung up to dry till morning, during which time the dye-pot is covered with a straw mat. After the tobes, turkadees, &c. are dyed, they are sent to the cloth-glazer, who places them between mats, laid over a large block of wood, and two men, with wooden mallets in each hand, continue to beat the cloth, sprinkling a little water from time to time upon the mats, until it acquires a japan-like gloss. The block for beating the tobes is part of the trunk of a large tree, and when brought to the gates of the city, the proprietor musters three or four drummers, at whose summons the mob never fails to assemble, and the block is gratuitously rolled to the workshop. The price of dyeing a good tobe of the darkest blue colour is 3000 cowries, or a dollar and a half; and for glazing it, 700 cowries. The total price of a tobe is 5000 cowries, and of a turkadee, from 2000 to 3000 cowries.

The women of this country, and of Bornou, dye their hair blue as well as their hands, feet, legs, and eyebrows. They prefer the paint called shunee, made in the following manner:—They have an old tobe slit up, and dyed a second time. They make a pit in the ground, moistening it with water, in which they put the old tobe, first imbedded in sheep’s dung, and well drenched with water, and then fill up the pit with wet earth. In winter the fire for domestic purposes is made close to the spot, and the pit remains unopened for ten days. In summer no fire is required; and after seven or eight days the remnants of the old tobe, so decayed in texture as barely to hang together, are taken out and dried in the sun for use. This paint sells at 400 cowries the gubga, or fathom; for this measure of length commonly gives name to the cloth itself. A little of the paint being mixed with water in a shell, with a feather in one hand, and a looking-glass in the other, the lady carefully embellishes her sable charms. The arms and legs, when painted, look as if covered with dark blue gloves and boots.

They show some ingenuity in the manufacture of leathern jars, fashioning them upon a clay mould out of the raw hide, previously well soaked in water: these jars serve to contain fat, melted butter, honey, and bees’ wax.

They are also acquainted with the art of tanning; in which they make use of the milky juice of a plant called in Arabic brumbugh, and in the Bornouese tongue kyo. It is an annual plant, and grows in dry sandy situations to the height of five or six feet, with a stem about an inch in diameter. It has broad thick leaves, and bears a small flower, in colour and shape not unlike a pink. The fruit is green, and larger than our garden turnip. It contains a fine white silky texture, intermixed with seeds like those of the melon, and becomes ripe some time before the rains commence, during which the plant itself withers. The juice is collected in a horn or gourd, from incisions made in the stem. It is poured over the inner surface of the skin to be tanned, which is then put in some vessel or other; when, in the course of a day or two, the smell becomes extremely offensive, and the hair rubs off with great ease. They afterwards take the beans or seeds of a species of mimosa, called in Arabic gurud. These, when pounded in a wooden mortar, form a coarse black powder, which is thrown into warm water, wherein the skin is steeped for one day; being frequently well pressed and hard wrung, to make it imbibe the liquor. It is then spread out in the sun, or hung up in the wind, and when half dry, is again well rubbed between the hands, to render it soft and pliant for use. To colour it red, they daub it over with a composition, made of trona and the outer leaves of red Indian corn, first beaten into a powder and mixed up with water.

The negroes here are excessively polite and ceremonious, especially to those advanced in years. They salute one another, by laying the hand on the breast, making a bow, and inquiring, “Kona lafia? Ki ka kykee. Fo fo da rana?” “How do you do? I hope you are well. How have you passed the heat of the day?” The last question corresponds in their climate to the circumstantiality with which our honest countryfolks inquire about a good night’s rest.

The unmarried girls, whether slaves or free, and likewise the young unmarried men, wear a long apron of blue and white check, with a notched edging of red woollen cloth. It is tied with two broad bands, ornamented in the same way, and hanging down behind to the very ancles. This is peculiar to Soudan, and forms the only distinction in dress from the people of Bornou.

Both men and women colour their teeth and lips with the flowers of the goorjee tree, and of the tobacco plant. The former I only saw once or twice; the latter is carried every day to market, beautifully arranged in large baskets. The flowers of both these plants, rubbed on the lips and teeth, give them a blood red appearance, which is here thought a great beauty. This practice is comparatively rare in Bornou.

Chewing the goora nut, already described, or snuff mixed with trona, is a favourite habit. This use of snuff is not confined to men in Haussa, as is the case in Bornou, where the indulgence is not permitted to women. Snuff is very seldom taken up the nostrils, according to our custom. Smoking tobacco is a universal practice, both of negroes and Moors. Women, however, are debarred this fashionable gratification.

The practitioners of the healing art in this country, as formerly in Europe, officiate likewise as barbers, and are very dexterous in the latter capacity, at least.

Blindness is a prevalent disease. Within the walls of the city, there is a separate district or village for people afflicted with this infirmity, who have certain allowances from the governor, but who also beg in the streets and market-place. Their little town is extremely neat, and the coozees well built. With the exception of the slaves, none but the blind are permitted to live here, unless on rare occasions a one-eyed man is received into their community. I was informed the lame had a similar establishment; but I did not see it.

When a bride is first conducted to the house of the bridegroom, she is attended by a great number of friends and slaves, bearing presents of melted fat, honey, wheat, turkadees, and tobes, as her dower. She whines all the way—“Wey kina! wey kina! wey Io.” “Oh! my head! my head! oh! dear me.” Notwithstanding this lamentation, the husband has commonly known his wife some time before marriage. Preparatory to the ceremony of reading the “Fatha,” both bridegroom and bride remain shut up for some days, and have their hands and feet dyed, for three days successively, with henna. The bride herself visits the bridegroom, and applies the henna plasters with her own hand.

Every one is buried under the floor of his own house, without monument or memorial; and among the commonalty the house continues occupied as usual; but among the great there is more refinement, and it is ever after abandoned. The corpse being washed, the first chapter of the Koran is read over it, and the interment takes place the same day. The bodies of slaves are dragged out of town, and left a prey to vultures and wild beasts. In Kano they do not even take the trouble to convey them beyond the walls, but throw the corpse into the morass or nearest pool of water.

Feb. 22.—At seven in the morning I waited on the governor. He informed me that the sultan had sent a messenger express, with orders to have me conducted to his capital, and to supply me with every thing necessary for my journey. He now begged me to state what I stood in need of. I assured him that the King of England, my master, had liberally provided for all my wants; but that I felt profoundly grateful for the kind offers of the sultan, and had only to crave from him the favour of being attended by one of his people as a guide. He instantly called a fair-complexioned Felatah, and asked me if I liked him. I accepted him with thanks, and took leave. I afterwards went by invitation to visit the governor of Hadyja, who was here on his return from Sackatoo, and lived in the house of the wan-bey. I found this governor of Hadyja a black man, about fifty years of age, sitting among his own people at the upper end of the room, which is usually a little raised, and is reserved in this country for the master of the house or visitors of high rank. He was well acquainted with my travelling name; for the moment I entered, he said laughing, “How do you do, Abdullah? Will you come and see me at Hadyja on your return?” I answered, “God willing,” with due Moslem solemnity. “You are a Christian, Abdullah?”—“Yes.” “And what are you come to see?”—“The country.” “What do you think of it?”—“It is a fine country, but very sickly.” At this he smiled, and again asked, “Would you Christians allow us to come and see your country?” I said, “Certainly.”—“Would you force us to become Christians?” “By no means; we never meddle with a man’s religion.”—“What!” says he, “and do you ever pray?”—“Sometimes; our religion commands us to pray always; but we pray in secret, and not in public, except on Sundays.” One of his people abruptly asked what a Christian was? “Why a Kafir,” rejoined the governor. “Where is your Jew servant?” again asked the governor; “you ought to let me see him.” “Excuse me, he is averse to it; and I never allow my servants to be molested for religious opinions.” “Well, Abdullah, thou art a man of understanding, and must come and see me at Hadyja.” I then retired, and the Arabs afterwards told me he was a perfect savage, and sometimes put a merchant to death for the sake of his goods; but this account, if true, is less to be wondered at, from the notorious villany of some of them. In the afternoon I went to Hadje Hat Salah’s, and made an arrangement with him to act as my agent, both in recovering the money due by Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom, and in answering any drafts upon him. In the event of my death, I also agreed with him to have my Jew servant Jacob, who was to remain here with my books and papers, sent with them to the sheikh of Bornou, and so to the English consul at Tripoli. I left Jacob here, partly on account of his irritable temper, which, presuming on my countenance and support, was apt to lead him into altercations and squabbles, as well as to take care of my effects. I made this arrangement at Hat Salah’s particular recommendation, who strongly impressed upon me the dangers of the journey I had undertaken. According to a custom which the late Dr. Oudney had always followed at every principal town where we made a short stay, I had two bullocks slaughtered and given to the poor.

SECTION III.

FROM KANO TO SACKATOO, AND RESIDENCE THERE.

Feb. 23.—At day-break all the Arab merchants of my acquaintance waited upon me to wish me a prosperous journey. Hadje Hat Salah and Hadje Ben Hamed accompanied me four miles beyond the gate Kooffe. Before they left me I had a return of fever, and lay down under the shade of a tree to wait for Mohammed Jollie, as my conductor was named. My two camels being evidently overladen, and my servant Abraham unable to walk from sickness, I requested Hat Salah to buy another camel and send it after me.

At one in the afternoon, Mohammed Jollie, with two loaded camels and a handsome led horse of Tuarick breed, sent as the weekly present or tribute from Kano to the sultan, joined me. He also brought with him a beautiful Felatah girl for his travelling chere amie, who was placed astride on a light dromedary, according to the custom of the country. My fever having abated, we proceeded on our journey, and by sunset reached the village of Yaromba; where I was provided with a house for myself and another for my servants, and with food and provender in abundance. The country had much the same appearance as on the other side of Kano, but was not quite so well cultivated.

Feb. 24.—We traversed a woody country, and crossed the dry beds of several small streams, the course of each being to the eastward. In the afternoon we passed a walled town called Toffa, when the country became still more thickly wooded. There were many villages in ruins which had been destroyed by the rebel Duntungua, and the inhabitants sold as slaves. A little after mid-day, we halted at the town of Roma or Soup; where we found the inhabitants very civil, and were furnished with houses and provisions. I was here joined by a she-camel, which Hat Salah had sent by a native of Kano, of the name of Nouzama, whom I also engaged as a servant.

Feb. 25.—The country very woody, the road zigzag, and crossed sometimes by dikes, or ridges of white quartz, running north and south, sometimes by ravines and the dry channels of rivers. We saw many Felatah villages, and numerous herds of horned cattle, and flocks of sheep and goats. The cattle are remarkably fine, and of a white or whitish grey colour; the horns are not disproportionately large in size, in which circumstance they differ from the cattle of Bornou: they have also a hump on the shoulders. The bull is very fierce, and, as in England, the king of the herd; while in Bornou he is tamer, and generally weaker than the cow. The shepherd with his crook usually goes before the flock, and leads them to fresh pasture, by merely calling with a loud but slow voice, “Hot, hot;” while the sheep keep nibbling as they follow. I was well supplied with milk, but only got it fresh from the cow when they understood I was a stranger going to visit the sultan; for, as I have already mentioned, they hold it unlucky to drink or sell milk before it has been churned.

We stopped at the town of Gadania or Kadania, which is surrounded by a wall and dry ditch. The governor was out warring with Duntungua, who had committed dreadful havoc in this neighbourhood. I was accommodated with an excellent house; so were also El Wordee and a shreef named Hassan, a native of Houn in the regency of Tripoli, who had joined my party, and was going a begging to the sultan. This is a very common custom with the shreefs, who sometimes realize a little fortune by visiting all the governors and sultans within their reach. Hassan was blind, but a great rogue, and gifted with a ready wit. He frequently amused us on the road with stories of his younger days, when he had his eyesight. I had another attack of fever to-day, and could not walk three paces without assistance.

Feb. 26.—I was detained to-day on account of the disappearance of El Wordee and Shreef Hassan’s camels: we did not know whether they had been stolen, or had only strayed during the night. I availed myself of this opportunity of taking a large dose of calomel, and administered another to my servant.

Feb. 27.—The camels were still missing; and had it been otherwise, I could not have continued my journey, for I found myself excessively weak. In the evening El Wordee offered a reward of two dollars to a Tuarick to bring back the camels, to which I added two dollars more. Kadania is very thinly peopled, the inhabitants, as in most other captured towns, having been sold by the Felatahs. The houses are scattered up and down; but there is a good daily market, supplied by the people of the adjoining country. The soil around is a strong red clay. The trees were higher here than in Bornou; and the fields of Indian corn, gussub, cotton, and indigo, were neatly enclosed with fences, and kept free of weeds.

Feb. 18.—No news of the lost camels. I determined to proceed, and had my camels loaded with the baggage of El Wordee and the shreef; the former remaining behind, to await the return of the Tuarick. The country was still thickly wooded, with a few cultivated patches of land. The soil was a red and white clay, mixed with gravel, and traversed by ridges of schistus. We crossed the dry beds of several rainy-season streams, whose banks were lined with rocks, and covered with majestic trees. In the little glens and nooks, there were small plots of onions and tobacco; which the inhabitants water from holes dug in the dry channel of the river, by means of a bucket and long bar or lever. At noon we halted at the walled town of Faniroce or “White Water,” the walls of which are extensive, but the houses few and mean. I was shown into one of the best of them; but my servants had much ado to render it habitable. Soon after El Wordee arrived, but without the camels. In the evening I was visited by the governor, a very good-natured fellow, who, when he saw that I was ill, went and brought some fine trona, of which he recommended me to take a little every evening. On inquiring about the course of the streams whose dry channels I had passed, he informed me that all between this place and Kano run eastward; but that to-morrow I should cross the first that runs to the west, and divides the provinces of Kano and Kashna. At eight in the evening, the Tuarick brought back the camels of El Wordee and the shreef.

Feb. 29.—The governor and some of his friends accompanied us a short distance out of the town. The country was still very woody, and the road extremely crooked. At eleven in the forenoon we crossed the bed of the stream that separates Kano from Kashna, the channel being here about twenty feet broad, and perfectly dry; and at noon we halted at the town of Duncamee. The stream near this town assumes the same name, and, after passing Zirmie, the capital of Zamfra, it bends northward, and traverses the province of Goobeer; then, turning again to the west, it washes the city of Sackatoo, and, at the distance of four days’ journey, is said to enter the Quarra at Kubby.

March 1.—At six in the morning we left Duncamee, and travelled through a thickly wooded country; and at noon we passed a walled town, of considerable size, called Geoza, after which we came to ridges of granite, running in a north-easterly direction. At three in the afternoon we halted at the town of Ratah, whose site is very remarkable. It is built amidst large blocks of granite, which rise out of the earth like towers, and form its only defence on the northern side, some of the houses being perched like bird-cages on the top of the rocks. The south side is enclosed by a wall about twenty feet high, but in bad repair. The inhabitants are numerous, and the women are the tallest and fattest I ever saw.

March 2.—We rode through a beautiful and well cultivated country, rendered extremely romantic by ledges of rocks, and clumps of large shady trees. We passed a number of villages, the inhabitants of which are mostly Felatahs, who, when they knew I was going to visit the sultan, presented me with new milk. At noon we halted at the town of Bershee, which is situate amongst large blocks of granite, and is the first town with suburbs I had seen in Haussa, although, from the ruinous state of the walls, this was no very important distinction. The governor of Ongooroo was here, on his way from Sackatoo to his province; but, through the care of my guide, Mohammed Jollie, this circumstance did not prevent me from obtaining the best house in the town, and abundance of provisions for myself and servants.

March 3.—The weather clear and fine: we rode to-day through little valleys, delightfully green, lying between high ridges of granite; and, to add to the beauty of the scenery, there were many clear springs issuing out of the rocks, where young women were employed drawing water. I asked several times for a gourd of water, by way of excuse to enter into conversation with them. Bending gracefully on one knee, and displaying at the same time teeth of pearly whiteness, and eyes of the blackest lustre, they presented it to me on horseback, and appeared highly delighted when I thanked them for their civility: remarking to one another, “Did you hear the white man thank me?” After leaving this beautiful spot, the land rose gently into hill and dale, and we had to cross the dry bed of the same rainy-season stream no less than four times in the course of three hours. The country also became more wooded, and worse cultivated; and the soil in most places was of a strong red and blue clay. There were numerous herds of cattle. At two in the afternoon we halted at the village of Kagaria, situate on the brow of a sloping hill, and inhabited by Felatahs. Here, for the first time, I found some difficulty in procuring lodgings. The chief of the village, an old venerable-looking Felatah, told my guide, that when they went to Kano, the governor turned up his nose at them, and, if ever he came there, they were determined not to receive him. Then, addressing me, he said, “You are a stranger, from a far distant country; you and your servants shall have a house, but none of the others.” I was accordingly conducted to a very excellent house, but took my fellow travellers with me; and, in due time, provisions were sent, with the usual attention.

March 4.—At six in the morning left Kagaria, but not without giving the old Felatah a present of a turkadee, of which he was very proud. Our road lay through a beautiful country, highly cultivated. At nine o’clock we passed through many villages, romantically situate amongst ridges of granite. From the fertility and beauty of the country, it appeared like an ornamental park in England, shaded with luxuriant trees. We now entered a forest, where the road became both difficult and dreary. Here our guide enjoined my servants not to stray from the caravan, as the woods were infested with banditti, who murdered every one they seized too old for the slave market. The soil was composed of clay and gravel: in the hollows I frequently saw rocks of granite, and mica slate. The trees upon the high grounds were low and stunted, amongst which I remarked several wild mangoes. We halted at the Felatah village of Bobaginn, where the country is again open. The inhabitants were kind and attentive in procuring me a house and provisions.

Mar. 5.—The country was now highly cultivated. The road was crowded with passengers and loaded bullocks, going to the market of Zirmie; which town we passed a little to the southward, about noon, when the country became more woody. At two in the afternoon we entered an opening in a range of low hills; this proved to be the dry bed of the river we had crossed at Duncamee, which is here joined by another watercourse from the southward. The land rises into hills on each side, and, as our road lay at some distance to the west, we had a beautiful view along the red sandy bed of the river, which formed a striking contrast with the green hills on each side. The banks were planted with onions, melons, cotton, indigo, and some wheat; and watered, by means of a basket and lever, out of holes dug about two feet deep in the bed of the river, in which water is always found in abundance. On the eastern bank there is a town called Kutri, apparently large and populous, with a number of dye-pots in its outskirts. At four in the afternoon we crossed the bed of another small river, coming from the south-west, and falling into the forementioned river, a mile and a half to the east of a town, on its northern bank, called Quari, or Quoli, where we halted. I waited on the governor, who was an aged Felatah: after the usual compliments, he anxiously inquired for Dr. Oudney, and was much disappointed when I informed him of his death. He complained of being grievously afflicted with rheumatic pains; and said he had already outlived most of the people of this country, having attained the age of seventy-two years. We remained with him until houses were prepared for us; and he told me that the river, which flows to the eastward (mentioned before as dividing the provinces of Kano and Kashna), after the junction of some other streams, takes the name of Quarrama.

March 6 and 7.—The weather clear and warm. This morning I exchanged a turkadee, worth about two dollars and a quarter, for a sheep, and gave a feast to El Wordee and the shreef, along with all our servants. About a hundred Tuaricks came to see me, having learned I had visited Ghraat, and was acquainted with their countrymen. The women and children of the town every where peeped at me through the matting of their houses, with eager curiosity: although some of the Tuaricks were nearly as white as myself. The Tuaricks here have a beautiful breed of horses, full of fire; but they do not stand so high as the barbs of Tripoli. In the evening I despatched a courier with a letter to Sultan Bello, as I had been recommended by the governor of Kano to remain here until a guard was sent from Sackatoo to conduct me through the provinces of Goober and Zamfra, which were in a state of insurrection. I found by observation the town of Quarro to be in lat. 13° 7′ 14″ north.

I was unluckily taken for a fighi, or teacher, and was pestered, at all hours of the day, to write out prayers by the people. My servants hit upon a scheme to get rid of their importunities, by acquainting them if I did such things, they must be paid the perquisites usually given to the servants of other fighis. To-day my washerwoman positively insisted on being paid with a charm, in writing, that would entice people to buy earthen-ware of her; and no persuasions of mine could either induce her to accept of money for her service, or make her believe that the request was beyond human power. In the cool of the afternoon, I was visited by three of the governor’s wives, who, after examining my skin with much attention, remarked, compassionately, it was a thousand pities I was not black, for I had then been tolerably good-looking. I asked one of them, a buxom young girl of fifteen, if she would accept of me for a husband, provided I could obtain the permission of her master the governor. She immediately began to whimper; and on urging her to explain the cause, she frankly avowed she did not know how to dispose of my white legs. I gave each of them a snuff-box, with a string of white beads in addition, to the coy maiden. They were attended by an old woman, and two little female slaves, and during their stay made very merry, but I fear their gaiety soon fled on returning to the close custody of their old gaoler.

Mar. 8 and 9.—Thermometer in the shade 91°. To-day I was visited by several females, who evinced much discernment in their curious manipulation of my person. One of them, from Zirmee, the capital of Zamfra, was with difficulty prevailed on to leave me.

Mar. 10.—We had a shower of rain during the night. Two messengers arrived from Sackatoo, going their rounds with orders for all Felatahs to repair to the capital, as the sultan was going on an expedition, but where they did not know.—Both myself and servants have had a return of the same fever we had at Koka. This was almost always the case whenever we remained two or three days together in any town. In vain I tried every thing in my power to induce my guide to proceed without waiting for the escort; but El Wordee and the shreef, who were the most pusillanimous rascals I ever met with, effectually dissuaded him from it.

I was much amused with a conversation I overheard between the blind shreef and his servant, respecting myself and my intended journey. “That Abdullah,” says the servant, “is a very bad man; he has no more sense than an ass, and is now going to lead us all to the devil, if we will accompany him: I hope, master, you are not such a fool.” “Yes!” ejaculates the shreef, “it was a black day when I joined that Kafir, but if I don’t go with him I shall never see the sultan, and when I return to Kano without any thing, the people will laugh at me for my pains.” Says the servant, “Why do you not talk to him about the dangers of the road?” “Damn his father!” replies the shreef, “I have talked to him, but these infidels have no prudence.” I now called out,—“A thousand thanks to you, my lord shreef.” “May the blessing of God be upon you!” he exclaimed. “Oh! Rais Abdullah, you are a beautiful man; I will go with you wherever you go. I was only speaking in jest to this dog.” “My lord shreef, I was aware of it from the first; it is of no importance, but if the escort does not arrive to-morrow, I may merely mention to you I shall certainly proceed, without further delay, to Kashna.” This I said by way of alarming the shreef, who liked his present quarters too well, from the number of pious females who sought edification from the lips of a true descendant of the Prophet: besides the chance such visits afforded of transmitting to their offspring the honour of so holy a descent.

March 11.—Small-pox is at present very prevalent. The patient is treated in the following manner:—When the disease makes its appearance, they anoint the whole body with honey, and the patient lies down on the floor, previously strewed with warm sand, some of which is also sprinkled upon him. If the patient is very ill, he is bathed in cold water early every morning, and is afterwards anointed with honey, and replaced on the warm sand. This is their only mode of treatment; but numbers died every day of this loathsome disease, which had now been raging for the last six months.

I had my baggage packed up for my journey to Kashna; to the great terror of El Wordee, the shreef, and all my servants, who earnestly begged me to remain only one day longer.—A party of horse and foot arrived from Zirmee last night. It was the retinue of a Felatah captain, who was bringing back a young wife from her father’s, where she had made her escape. The fair fugitive bestrode a very handsome palfrey, amid a group of female attendants on foot. I was introduced to her this morning, when she politely joined her husband in requesting me to delay my journey another day, in which case they kindly proposed we should travel together. Of course it was impossible to refuse so agreeable an invitation, to which I seemed to yield with all possible courtesy; indeed I had no serious intention of setting out that day. The figure of the lady was small, but finely formed, and her complexion of a clear copper colour; while, unlike most beautiful women, she was mild and unobtrusive in her manners. Her husband, too, whom she had deserted, was one of the finest-looking men I ever saw, and had also the reputation of being one of the bravest of his nation.

A hump-backed lad, in the service of the gadado, or vizier, of Bello, who, on his way from Sackatoo, had his hand dreadfully wounded by the people of Goober, was in the habit of coming every evening to my servants to have the wound dressed. Last night he told me he had formerly been on an expedition under Abderachman, a Felatah chief. They started from the town of Labojee in Nyffee, and crossing the Quarra, travelled south fourteen days along the banks of the river, until they were within four days’ journey of the sea, where, according to his literal expression, “the river was one, and the sea was one but at what precise point the river actually entered the sea he had no distinct notion.

March 12.—The weather clear and warm. The Felatah chief again waited upon me to-day, and handsomely offered to conduct me himself to Sackatoo, if my escort did not arrive in time. The town of Quarra is surrounded by a clay wall about twenty feet high, and may contain from 5000 to 6000 inhabitants, who are principally Felatahs. It lies in a valley environed by low hills, the river Quarrama flowing a little to the south of the town, and two or three miles lower down joining the river before-mentioned that passes Kutri. During the dry season, a number of Tuaricks, who come with salt from Bilma, lodge in huts outside the walls.

March 13.—At half-past six o’clock I commenced my journey, in company with the Felatah chief. El Wordee and the shreef were evidently in much trepidation, as they did not consider our present party sufficiently strong in case of attack. Our road lay through a level country, clear of wood, with large fields of indigo, cotton, and grain. At nine in the morning, we were agreeably surprised by meeting the escort I expected. It consisted of 150 horsemen, with drums and trumpets. Their leader, with his attendants, advanced to me at full gallop, and bade me welcome to the country in the name of his master, the sultan; who, he said, was rejoiced to hear I was so near, and had sent him to conduct me to his capital. Nothing could now equal the joy of El Wordee and the shreef, who had both been cursing my temerity the whole morning. During the time we halted with the escort, a party of boxers from a neighbouring village passed us, on their way to challenge “the fancy” of Quarra. They were fine looking men, carrying muffles for the hands over their shoulders, and were attended by drummers and a large posse of women. They offered to exhibit before me, but I declined, and we proceeded to a village called Burdarawa, where the commander of the escort begged me to halt for one day, as both his men and horses were much fatigued by their journey from Sackatoo. I was provided with the best house in the village, and supplied with every thing the place afforded. El Wordee, the shreef, and my people, fared equally well. There is a ridge of low hills to the north-east.

March. 14.—At six in the morning left Burderawa, and traversing a thickly wooded country we arrived at the bed of the river Fulche, which in many places was quite dry. The channel was only thirty or forty yards wide where we crossed. We halted on the opposite bank, and sent the camels out to graze. The servants here filled our water-skins. This river joins the river of Zirmee, half a day’s journey to the north. Several people were very busy fishing in the pools left by the river; while assistants, floating on a stick buoyed up at each end with gourds, were splashing in the water with spears to drive fish into the nets. I treated the chief of the escort and his friends with tea, of which they had heard many exaggerated reports from people that had been at Kano.

At two in the afternoon we left the banks of the river Fulche, at the quickest pace it was possible to make the camels travel. We were previously joined by an immense number of people, some bearing burdens on their heads, others with loaded asses and bullocks. Our road, for two or three miles, lay through an open country; we then entered a thick wood, by a narrow winding path, where the shreef, and others who rode on camels, suffered severely from the overhanging branches. Bullocks, asses, and camels; men, women, and children, were now all struggling to be foremost; every person exclaiming, “Wo to the wretch who falls behind; he is sure to meet an unhappy end at the hands of the Gooberites.” Had it not been for the care of my escort, I must have run great risk of being thrown down, and trampled to death, by the bullocks which frequently rushed furiously past me on the narrow path. The horsemen, however, rode on each side of me, to protect my person. We were now on the confines of the provinces of Goober and Zamfra; and a place better adapted for land pirates, as the Arabs name robbers, is scarcely to be conceived. Till sunset we continued to thread a thick wood, the road being overrun with long grass, and apparently covered with water during the rainy season. The soil now became more gravelly, the trees stunted, and the country altogether more open. The pebbles were of clay ironstone, which in some places was seen in large masses. There were numerous tracks of elephants, and other wild animals. From the great care the escort took of me, I was often almost suffocated with dust in riding over dry clay grounds, for I had horsemen continually on each side of me; while from time to time a reconnoitring party would pass at full speed, then halt, and say prayers, and so skirr past me again and again. During the day a drum was beat every ten minutes, in the rear of our line of march, and at night this was repeated every two or three minutes, and also answered by the trumpets in front.

At half-past two in the morning we stopped at the lake Gondamee, to water our horses and beasts of burden, and to give the foot passengers and slaves time to fill their gourds and water-skins. The place is reckoned the most dangerous in the whole road, as it is only one day’s journey to the north of Kalawawa, the capital of the province of Goober, which has been for some time in a state of open rebellion.

The appearance of the country was much the same as before. At four in the morning we came to a large lawn in the woods, where we again halted for an hour. I felt quite refreshed by this short rest. The country to the westward of the lake of Gondamee rises into ridges, running north-north-east, with loose gravelly stones and clay on the surface. We continued to travel with the utmost speed, but the people soon began to fag; and the lady of the Felatah chief, who rode not far distant from me, began to complain of fatigue. At noon we halted at the side of a hollow, said to be the haunt of lions, where water is generally found, but this year it was dry. Tracks of elephants were every where visible, but I perceived no marks of lions. We stopped here only half an hour, and set off again, through a country rising into low hills, composed of red clay and loose stones, the descent of some of which proved both difficult and dangerous to the loaded camels. At eight in the evening we halted at the wells of Kamoon, all extremely fatigued. I ordered a little kouskousoo for supper, but fell asleep before it was ready. When I awoke at midnight, I found it by my side; never in my whole life did I make a more delicious repast.

March 16.—At day-break I discovered our camels had strayed in quest of food, nor could I be angry with their keepers, feeling so tired myself from our rapid journey. Indeed my ankles were considerably swelled and inflamed. Here again I experienced the civility of the escort, as all the horsemen were immediately despatched after the camels, with which they returned about eight o’clock. I gave the man who found them a Spanish dollar, and to the commander of the escort, and his two principal officers, I made each a present of a cotton kaftan, or loose gown, a knife, looking-glass, snuff-box, razor, and some spices.

I now left the wells of Kamoon, followed by my escort and a numerous retinue, amid a loud flourish of horns and trumpets. Of course this extraordinary respect was paid to me as the servant of the king of England, as I was styled in the sheikh of Bornou’s letter. To impress them further with my official importance, I arrayed myself in my lieutenant’s coat, trimmed with gold lace, white trowsers, and silk stockings, and, to complete my finery, I wore Turkish slippers and a turban. Although my limbs pained me extremely, in consequence of our recent forced march, I constrained myself to assume the utmost serenity of countenance, in order to meet with befitting dignity the honours they lavished on me, the humble representative of my country.

Near Kamoon the country is hilly, but seemed to yield much grain. The soil is red clay, mixed with gravel, the stones of which looked as if covered with iron rust. We passed some beautiful springs on the sloping declivities of the hills, which in general are low, and run in broken ridges in a north-east direction. The valleys between the hills became wider as we approached Sackatoo, which capital we at length saw from the top of the second hill after we left Kamoon. A messenger from the sultan met us here, to bid me welcome, and to acquaint us that his master was at a neighbouring town, on his return from a ghrazie, or expedition, but intended to be in Sackatoo in the evening. Crowds of people were thronging to market with wood, straw, onions, indigo, &c. At noon we arrived at Sackatoo, where a great multitude of people was assembled to look at me, and I entered the city amid the hearty welcomes of young and old. I was conducted to the house of the gadado, or vizier, where apartments were provided for me and my servants. After being supplied with plenty of milk, I was left to repose myself. The gadado, an elderly man named Simnou Bona Lima, arrived near midnight, and came instantly to see me. He was excessively polite, but would on no account drink tea with me, as he said I was a stranger in their land, and had not yet eaten of his bread. He told me the sultan wished to see me in the morning, and repeatedly assured me of experiencing the most cordial reception. He spoke Arabic extremely well, which he said he learned solely from the Koran.

March 17.—After breakfast the sultan sent for me; his residence was at no great distance. In front of it there is a large quadrangle, into which several of the principal streets of the city lead. We passed through three coozees, as guardhouses, without the least detention, and were immediately ushered into the presence of Bello, the second sultan of the Felatahs. He was seated on a small carpet, between two pillars supporting the roof of a thatched house, not unlike one of our cottages. The walls and pillars were painted blue and white, in the Moorish taste; and on the back wall was sketched a fire-screen, ornamented with a coarse painting of a flower-pot. An arm-chair, with an iron lamp standing on it, was placed on each side of the screen. The sultan bade me many hearty welcomes, and asked me if I was not much tired with my journey from Burderawa. I told him it was the most severe travelling I had experienced between Tripoli and Sackatoo, and thanked him for the guard, the conduct of which I did not fail to commend in the strongest terms.

He asked me a great many questions about Europe, and our religious distinctions. He was acquainted with the names of some of the more ancient sects, and asked whether we were Nestorians or Socinians. To extricate myself from the embarrassment occasioned by this question, I bluntly replied we were called Protestants. “What are Protestants?” says he. I attempted to explain to him, as well as I was able, that having protested, more than two centuries and a half ago, against the superstition, absurdities, and abuses practised in those days, we had ever since professed to follow simply what was written “in the book of our Lord Jesus,” as they call the New Testament, and thence received the name of Protestants. He continued to ask several other theological questions, until I was obliged to confess myself not sufficiently versed in religious subtleties to resolve these knotty points, having always left that task to others more learned than myself. He now ordered some books to be produced which belonged to Major Denham, and began to speak with great bitterness of the late Boo Khaloom, for making a predatory inroad into his territories; adding, in his own words, “I am sure the bashaw of Tripoli never meant to strike me with one hand, while he offers a present with the other: at least it is a strange way for friends to act. But what was your friend doing there?” he asked abruptly. I assured the sultan, that Major Denham had no other object than to make a short excursion into the country. The books being brought in, proved to be the Nautical Almanack, two Reviews, Lord Bacon’s Essays, and Major Denham’s Journal; all which the sultan returned to me in the most handsome manner. Before taking leave, however, I had to explain the contents of each, and was set to read them, in order to give him an opportunity of hearing the sound of our language, which he thought very beautiful. The sultan is a noble-looking man, forty-four years of age, although much younger in appearance, five feet ten inches high, portly in person, with a short curling black beard, a small mouth, a fine forehead, a Grecian nose, and large black eyes. He was dressed in a light blue cotton tobe, with a white muslin turban, the shawl of which he wore over the nose and mouth in the Tuarick fashion.

In the afternoon I repeated my visit, accompanied by the gadado, Mahomed El Wordee, and Mahomed Gumsoo, the principal Arab of the city, to whom I had a letter of introduction from Hat Salah at Kano. The sultan was sitting in the same apartment in which he received me in the morning. I now laid before him a present, in the name of His Majesty the King of England, consisting of two new blunderbusses highly ornamented with silver, the double-barrelled pistols, pocket-compass, and embroidered jacket of the late Dr. Oudney; a scarlet bornouse trimmed with silver lace, a pair of scarlet breeches, thirty yards of red silk, two white, two red, and two Egyptian turban shawls, the latter trimmed with gold; four pounds each of cloves and cinnamon; three cases of gunpowder, with shot and balls; three razors, three clasp-knives, three looking-glasses; six snuff-boxes, three of paper, and three of tin; a spy-glass, and a large English tea-tray, on which the smaller articles were arranged. He took them up one by one. The compass and spy-glass excited great interest; and he seemed much gratified when I pointed out that by means of the former, he could at any time find out the east to address himself in his daily prayers. He said, “Every thing is wonderful; but you are the greatest curiosity of all!” and then added, “What can I give that is most acceptable to the King of England?” I replied, “The most acceptable service you can render to the King of England, is to co-operate with His Majesty in putting a stop to the slave trade on the coast: as the King of England sends every year large ships to cruise there, for the sole purpose of seizing all vessels engaged in this trade, whose crews are thrown into prison; and of liberating the unfortunate slaves, on whom lands and houses are conferred, at one of our settlements in Africa. “What!” said he, “have you no slaves in England?” “No. Whenever a slave sets his foot in England, he is from that moment free.”—“What do you then do for servants?” “We hire them for a stated period, and give them regular wages: nor is any person in England allowed to strike another; and the very soldiers are fed, clothed, and paid by Government.” “God is great!” he exclaimed; “You are a beautiful people.” I next presented the sheikh of Bornou’s letter. On perusing it, he assured me I should see all that was to be seen within his dominions, as well as in Youri and Nyffee, both of which, I informed him, I was anxious to visit. He expressed great regret at the death of Dr. Oudney, as he wished particularly to see an English physician, who might instruct his people in the healing art. In the evening I made a present to the gadado of a scarlet bornouse, a pair of scarlet breeches, a red Turkish jacket, two white, and one red turban shawls, three razors, three knives, three paper snuff-boxes, and three of tin, three looking-glasses, two pounds of cloves, and two pounds of cinnamon. The gadado is an excellent man, and has unbounded influence with the sultan, to whose sister he is married.

March 18.—Weather clear and warm. Although I was very ill all day, the courtyard of my house was crowded with people, from sunrise to sunset; all of whom I had to see with the greatest patience, and to answer their numberless questions, such as, “Have you rain in your country?” “Have you wheat?” “Have you goats, sheep, and horses?” But the obvious and favourite interrogatory was, “What are you come for?” This I always attempted to explain to their satisfaction; telling them, “I came to see the country, its rivers, mountains, and inhabitants, its flowers, fruits, minerals, and animals, and to ascertain wherein they differed from those in other parts of the world. When their friends travelled among strange nations, did they not on their return ask them what they had seen? The people of England could all read and write, and were acquainted with most other regions of the earth; but of this country alone they hitherto knew scarcely any thing, and erroneously regarded the inhabitants as naked savages, devoid of religion, and not far removed from the condition of wild beasts: whereas I found them, from my personal observation, to be civilized, learned, humane, and pious.”

March 19.—I was sent for by the sultan, and desired to bring with me the “looking-glass of the sun,” the name they gave to my sextant. I was conducted farther into the interior of his residence than on my two former visits. This part consisted of coozees, pretty far apart from each other. I first exhibited a planisphere of the heavenly bodies. The sultan knew all the signs of the Zodiac, some of the constellations, and many of the stars, by their Arabic names. The “looking-glass of the sun” was then brought forward, and occasioned much surprise. I had to explain all its appendages. The inverting telescope was an object of intense astonishment; and I had to stand at some little distance, to let the sultan look at me through it; for his people were all afraid of placing themselves within its magical influence. I had next to show him how to take an observation of the sun. The case of the artificial horizon, of which I had lost the key, was sometimes very difficult to open, as happened on this occasion: I asked one of the people near me for a knife to press up the lid. He handed me one much too small, and I quite inadvertently asked for a dagger for the same purpose. The sultan was instantly thrown into a fright: he seized his sword, and half drawing it from the scabbard, placed it before him, trembling all the time like an aspen leaf. I did not deem it prudent to take the least notice of his alarm, although it was I who had in reality most cause of fear; and on receiving the dagger, I calmly opened the case, and returned the weapon to its owner with apparent unconcern. When the artificial horizon was arranged, the sultan and all his attendants had a peep at the sun; and my breach of etiquette seemed entirely forgotten. After the curiosity of all was satisfied, I returned to my house. I had now a severe headach, and was seized with violent vomiting. In the evening the sultan sent me two sheep, a camel-load of wheat and rice, some plantains, and some of the finest figs I had ever tasted in Africa.

March 20.—I returned the visit of Mahomed Gomsoo, the chief of the Arabs; taking him a present of a scarlet bornouse, jacket and breeches, two white turbans, two razors, two knives, two snuff-boxes of paper, and two of tin, a pound of cinnamon, and two cases of gunpowder, with some balls and flints. I was warned at Kano of his excessive greediness; but at the same time recommended to make him a handsome present, and to endeavour by all means to keep him in good humour, on account of his great influence. On receiving the presents, Gomsoo promised to give me a letter to the sultan of Youri, who was his particular friend, and with whom he had lived many years. He also said he was there when the English came down in a boat from Timbuctoo, and were lost; which circumstance he related in the following manner:—They had arrived off a town called Boosa, and having sent a gun and some other articles as presents to the sultan of Youri, they sent to purchase a supply of onions in the market. The sultan apprised them of his intention to pay them a visit, and offered to send people to guide them through the ledges of rock which run quite across the channel of the river a little below the town, where the banks rise into high hills on both sides. Instead of waiting for the sultan, however, they set off at night, and by day-break next morning, a horseman arrived at Youri, to inform the sultan that the boat had struck on the rocks. The people on both sides of the river then began to assail them with arrows, upon which they threw overboard all their effects; and two white men arm in arm jumped into the water, two slaves only remaining in the boat, with some books and papers and several guns: one of the books was covered with wax-cloth, and still remained in the hands of the sultan of Youri. He also told me, and his account was confirmed by others, that the sultan of Youri was a native of Sockna in the regency of Tripoli, and prided himself extremely on his birth; but that he was such a drunkard, whenever any person of consequence came to visit him, that nothing proved so acceptable a present as a bottle of rum.

I learned, besides, from Gomsoo, that he had been detained a prisoner three years, in a country called Yoriba, on the west side of the Quarra; which, he said, entered the sea at Fundah, a little below the town of Rakah. The latter is opposite to Nyffee; is a place of great trade between the interior and the coast, and all kinds of European goods, such as beads, woollen and cotton cloth, pewter and copper dishes, gunpowder, rum, &c., are to be had there in exchange for slaves. The inhabitants of Yoriba he represented to be extremely ill disposed. I may here mention, that during my stay in Sackatoo, provisions were regularly sent me from the sultan’s table on pewter dishes, with the London stamp; and one day I even had a piece of meat served up in a white wash-hand basin, of English manufacture.

On my return home from Gomsoo’s, I found a message had been left for me to wait on the sultan, with which I complied immediately after breakfast. He received me in an inner apartment, attended only by a few slaves: after asking me how I did, and several other chit-chat questions, I was not a little surprised when he observed, without a single question being put by me on the subject, that if I wished to go to Nyffee, there were two roads leading to it—the one direct, but beset by enemies; the other safer, but more circuitous: that by either route I should be detained, during the rains, in a country at present in a state of open rebellion, and therefore that I ought to think seriously of these difficulties. I assured him I had already taken the matter into consideration, and that I was neither afraid of the dangers of the road nor of the rains. “Think of it with prudence,” he replied, and we parted. From the tone and manner with which this was spoken, I felt a foreboding that my intended visit to Youri and Nyffee was at an end. I could not help suspecting the intrigues of the Arabs to be the cause; as, they know well, if the native Africans were once acquainted with English commerce by the way of the sea, their own lucrative inland trade would from that moment cease. I was much perplexed the whole day how to act, and went after sunset to consult Mohamed Gomsoo: I met him at the door of his house on his way to the sultan, and stopped him, to mention what had passed, and how unaccountably strange it appeared to me that the sultan, after having repeatedly assured me of being at liberty to visit every part of his dominions, should now, for the first time, seem inclined to withdraw that permission; adding, that before I came to Sackatoo, I never heard of a king making a promise one day, and breaking it the next. All this, I knew, would find its way to the sultan. Gomsoo told me I was quite mistaken; for the sultan, the gadado, and all the principal people, entertained the highest opinion of me, and wished for nothing so much as to cultivate the friendship of the English nation. “But it is necessary for me to visit those places,” I remarked, on leaving him; “or how else can the English get here?” As I anticipated, he repeated to the sultan every word I had said; for I was no sooner at home than I was sent for by the sultan, whom I found seated with Mahomed Gomsoo, and two others. He received me with great kindness, and Mahomed Gomsoo said he had made the sultan acquainted with our conversation. I thanked him, and expressed my earnest hope I had neither said nor done any thing to offend him. The sultan assured me that my conduct had always met with his approbation, and that, although he was freely disposed to show me all the country, still he wished to do so with safety to myself. An army, he added, was at this moment ravaging the country through which I had to pass, and, until he heard from it, it would be unsafe to go; but he expected farther information in three or four days. He drew on the sand the course of the river Quarra, which he also informed me entered the sea at Fundah. By his account the river ran parallel to the sea coast for several days’ journey, being in some places only a few hours’, in others a day’s journey, distant from it. Two or three years ago the sea, he said, closed up the mouth of the river, and its mouth was at present a day or two farther south; but, during the rains, when the river was high, it still ran into the sea by the old channel. He asked me if the King of England would send him a consul and a physician, to reside in Soudan, and merchants to trade with his people; and what I had seen among them, which I thought the English would buy? Here again I enforced the discontinuance of the slave trade on the coast, as the only effectual method of inducing the King of England to establish a consul and a physician at Sackatoo; and that, as the sultan could easily prevent all slaves from the eastward passing through Haussa and Nyffee, it would be the consul’s duty to see that engagement faithfully fulfilled. With respect to what English merchants were disposed to buy, I particularized senna, gum-arabic, bees’ wax, untanned hides, indigo, and ivory. I also endeavoured to impress on his mind that Soudan was the country best situate in all Central Africa for such a trade, which would not only be the means of enriching himself, but, likewise, all his subjects; and that all the merchandise from the east and from the west would be conveyed through his territories to the sea. “I will give the King of England,” says he, “a place on the coast to build a town: only I wish a road to be cut to Rakah, if vessels should not be able to navigate the river.” I asked him if the country he promised to give belonged to him? “Yes:” said he, “God has given me all the land of the infidels.” This was an answer that admitted of no contradiction.

He then spoke of Mungo Park, and said, that had he come in the rainy season, he would have passed the rocks; but that the river fell so low in the dry season, boats could only pass at a certain point. He told me, that some timbers of the boat, fastened together with nails, remained a long time on the rocks; and that a double-barrelled gun, taken in the boat, was once in his possession; but it had lately burst. His cousin, Abderachman, however, had a small printed book taken out of the boat; but he was now absent on an expedition to Nyffee. The other books were in the hands of the sultan of Youri, who was tributary to him. I told the sultan, if he could procure these articles for the King of England, they would prove a most acceptable present, and he promised to make every exertion in his power.

March 21.—Confined to my bed all day with headach and bilious vomiting. In the afternoon I was visited by Mahomed Gomsoo, who was going on a journey to Kano. He casually mentioned, that it was a fortunate circumstance we did not accompany Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom, when he brought the bashaw’s present last year; as the rogue had opened the bashaw’s letter before presenting it to Bello, and erased out of the list several of the presents named in it, which he embezzled, and substituted for them some of inferior quality. The news of his brother’s wanton inroad into the sultan’s territories, with the bashaw’s forces arriving at the same time, Bello sent Hadje Ali back without any present, and would not even admit him into his presence. His conduct, he assured me, had exasperated the sultan against all the Arabs in the bashaw’s dominions. Both Bello and his father have, it seems, been much cheated by the Arabs in all their dealings, twenty sometimes coming at a time on a begging excursion, with the story of being poor shreefs; and, if not presented with thirty or forty slaves, besides food and camels, they were sure to bully the Felatahs, telling them they were not Mussulmans, and would never see paradise, on account of the number of the faithful they had put to death in the conquest of Soudan.

March 22.—Clear and warm. My fever a little abated. In the afternoon the sultan sent for me again, to discuss the advantages and best method of establishing a permanent intercourse with England. I expressed myself exactly in the same terms I had done before, carefully avoiding the mention of any thing which might awaken the jealousy of the Arabs.

The direct road to Youri is only five days’ journey; but, on account of the rebellious state of the country, it was necessary to take a circuitous route of twelve days. Numbers of the principal people of Sackatoo came to me, to advise me to give up the idea of going; all alleging that the rains had already commenced at Youri, and that the road was in the hands of their enemies. They repeated the same tales to the servants who were to accompany me, and threw them all into a panic at the prospect of so dangerous a journey.

March 23.—Very ill all day. I discovered that the Arabs were also tampering with my servants. One of them, named Absalom, was accosted to-day in the market by one of the merchants of that nation, who told him, if ever he arrived at Youri, without meeting with disasters by the way, the sultan there would assuredly sell him, and that he would never be allowed to return.

March 24.—I felt much better. The sultan sent for me this forenoon about the guide who was to accompany me to Youri. One man had already refused, and I had to tempt another with a promise of 40,000 cowries, unknown to the sultan; who kindly took much pains to impress upon me the necessity of my return within twenty-six days, on account of the capricious character of the people of that place. From every person here dissuading me from the attempt, I had too good reason to fear that a regular plan was laid to obstruct my further progress. Even El Wordee went so far as to say, that it was contrary to the wishes of the sheikh that we should either go to Youri or Nyffee, and complained sadly of being afflicted with a dysentery, which very opportunely made its attack the instant I expressed a wish to visit Youri; and, although I protested against his accompanying me, I have no doubt he both practised on my servants, and used his influence with the gadado to oppose my departure. At last El Wordee, and Mahomed Sidi sheikh, a native of Tuat, and fighee to the sultan, came to tell me, that no person would venture to accompany me, from the road to Youri being infested with Kafirs, and that it was impossible to travel in safety without an army. I remained silent; for had I once begun to give vent to my feelings, I might have committed myself. I thank God I had never once lost my temper amid all these crosses and vexations, and in spite even of this deathblow to all my hopes of reaching Youri. The whole tissue of dangers, however, I believed to be a mere fabrication; for the Arabs, having learned what the sultan said with respect to the English opening a trade with his people by the way of the sea, and well knowing how fatal this scheme would prove to their traffic in the interior, probably now attempted to persuade both the sultan and the gadado that the English would come and take the country from them: by which insinuations they induced the sultan to embrace this disingenuous expedient to disengage himself from his promise.

March 25.—Clear and warm. Early this morning I was sent for by the sultan, and, although suffering from fever, I went immediately. He was seated in an inner coozee, with only one eunuch in attendance. The conversation again commenced concerning the projected trade with England, when I repeated the same arguments. He inquired if the King of England would give him a couple of guns, with ammunition and some rockets? I assured him of His Majesty’s compliance with his wishes, if he would consent to put down the slave trade on the coast. I further pointed out to him that Sackatoo was the best situate town in all Northern Africa for commerce, without which a nation was nothing; that rich merchants make rich kings; and that it was in the power of the King of England to make him one of the greatest princes in Africa, when all the trade from the east and west of that continent would centre in his dominions: at the same time advising him strongly to have a port on the sea coast, where he might have ships, and where his people would be taught by the English the art of ship-building, unless he preferred to send some of them to our settlements on the coast to learn to work as carpenters or blacksmiths, where their religion would be respected, and, after learning these trades from us, they would be enabled to instruct their countrymen. By weighing these important considerations in his mind, he would see that it was both his own interest, and the interest of his people, to form a strict friendship with the English; for when once he had ships, his people might trade to every part of the world, and could even make the pilgrimage to Mecca by a much safer route than at present by land, being able to go there and return in six months; and, at the same time, bring with them all the produce of the East.

March 26.—I was much better. Being Friday, the Mahommedan Sabbath, a crowd of people from the country came to see me, after being at the mosque, and the square in front of my house was completely filled. I was sitting in the shade, on a mat spread on the ground, and Mahomed El Wordee with me: both he and my servants were in great fright at the increasing numbers of country people, and El Wordee begged of me either to have my guns loaded, or to threaten to fire among the multitude, if they did not go away; or else to send a message to the gadado to have them dispersed. By way of aggravating his alarm, I said to him, with provoking indifference, “Let them look at me, and welcome; they are like all other country people, and will do me no harm.” A number of boys squeezing through the crowd, whenever they caught a glimpse of me, called out to their companions, “Wishod en ila hullah ila hullah wahod Mohamoud wa rhasoul illah, hada el Kaffir;” or more briefly, “ila el ullah Mohamoud wa rhasoul illah, hada el Kaffir,”—“I bear witness there is no God but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet; there is the Infidel,” and immediately took to their heels. At last one of my servants stole through the crowd and informed the gadado, who sent and dispersed the people, to the great satisfaction of El Wordee; when I was allowed to enjoy the remainder of the day undisturbed.

March 27.—Clear and warm. In the morning I was very ill with ague, and at eleven the sultan sent for El Wordee and me, with a request to bring my English saddle along with me. We were conducted farther into the interior of his residence than I had ever been before: the sultan was sitting reading in one corner of a square tower: on showing him my English saddle, he examined it very minutely, and said it was exactly like the ancient Arab saddle, described in one of his books. It was a second-hand saddle which we bought at Malta, and having often also served myself and my servant for a pillow, I had it re-stuffed at Kano: on seeing the maker’s card, “Laurie, Oxford-Street, London,” under the saddle lap, the sultan, surmising perhaps that it was a charm, requested me to explain its meaning; upon which I told him, that in England a tradesman generally attached his name to the articles made by him, which, if of superior quality, brought him into notice.

He again renewed the subject of the establishment of an English consul and physician at Sackatoo, as well as of the likelihood of receiving guns and rockets from England, which he now recommended to be sent by the way of Tripoli and Bornou, under the escort of El Wordee. To the latter part of this proposal I gave a direct negative: I assured him, that unless he undertook to convey them to Rakah at his own expense, they would not be sent at all, as the expense and delay by the other route were obstacles of too serious a nature to be repeated; besides, should the bashaw of Tripoli even allow the guns to pass, the sheikh of Bornou, who was famed for prudence and foresight, would forfeit all claim to that character, if he did not seize them on reaching his territory. “Oh! no,” said the sultan, “he will never do that; he is my friend.” I again expatiated on the futility of this mistaken confidence, so opposite to sound policy. At this discourse El Wordee seemed to be quite crest-fallen; and it plainly appeared that this was his own device, in order that he might be sent by the bashaw along with another English mission; and after fleecing them throughout the route, have another opportunity here of playing the same game over again. All my former suspicions were now confirmed; and I attribute, in a great measure, to his machinations the necessity of abandoning my journey to Youri. I once more assured the sultan, that it was only by the sea-coast he must expect to maintain an intercourse with England. He then promised, that if I would wait till after the rains, he would send me to the governor of Zeg Zeg, with orders to convey me to the coast.

Having heard of our newspapers, he desired me to send for them, calling them the “Huber el dineah,” or “News of the world.” Being set to read extracts from them, I happened to mention that thousands of them were printed daily, when he exclaimed, “God is great; You are a wonderful people.” He asked me about the Greeks, and inquired if they were joined by any other Christians; the discussion of which subject I contrived to evade. He then remarked, “You were at war with Algiers, and killed a number of the Algerines.” I assured him that they were a ferocious race, never at peace amongst themselves (having even killed three of their own deys in one month), and persisting in the practice of making slaves of Europeans, until forcibly compelled by us to relinquish it.

In this conversation, he repeated “You are a strange people, the strongest of all Christian nations: you have subjugated all India.” I said, we merely afforded it our protection, and gave it good laws. I mentioned, particularly, that many Mahometan states had put themselves under our protection, knowing we were a people that never interfered with the rights of others, whether civil or religious, but caused the laws to be impartially administered among all sects and persuasions. The King of England, I often told him, had, in fact, as many Mahometan subjects as the Grand Signor; and I took care to enlarge upon the favourite topic of several ships conveying the inhabitants of India annually to Mecca.

The sultan again drew on the sand the course of the Quarra, with the outline of the adjoining countries. I now requested him to order one of his learned men to make me a chart of the river, on paper, which he promised to have done. The sultan re-stated that Fundah is the name of the place where the Quarra enters the sea, during the rainy season; and that Tagra, a town on the sea-coast, where many Felatahs reside, is governed by one of his subjects, a native of Kashna, named Mohamed Mishnee. In the evening I saw him again, when he told me that he was going on an expedition against some of his enemies, but would not be away more than five days, desiring me not to be uneasy during his absence, and assuring me that I should want for nothing.

To announce to the people any public measure, such as the present expedition, the city crier is sent round, who first proclaims, “This is the will of the sultan;” the people replying “Whatever the sultan does, is good; we will do it:” the crier stops in like manner at the end of every sentence, when the people renew the same assurances of submission. The crier always commences at the sultan’s gate, from which he proceeds to the market-place. It was proclaimed on this occasion, that all those who were to accompany the expedition must provide themselves with eight days’ provisions. At eight in the evening, the sultan left the capital with his army.

March 28.—This forenoon I had a visit from a famous Marauboot, or holy man: he was accompanied by a great retinue, and repeated the Fatha at his entrance, for the first time this ceremony had been performed before me in Haussa. He began by asking me, abruptly, to become a Moslem: I said, “God willing, I might; but I require much previous instruction in religious matters before I can think of changing my faith.” At this answer the bystanders began to laugh immoderately, to the evident discomposure of the holy man’s gravity: for my part, I could not discover any wit in what I said, although it had the effect of relieving me from further impertinent questions on religious subjects; and he soon left me, rather disconcerted at his want of success. After sunset I had a visit from Ateeko, the brother of the sultan, to whom I had sent a present of a scarlet jacket, breeches, and bornouse: when he was seated, and the usual compliments were over, I apologized on the score of ill health, and the remoteness of his abode, for not having already paid him a visit. He now told me he had a few things which belonged to the Englishman who was at Musfia, with the late Boo Khaloom, but as no person knew what they were, he would gladly sell them to me, ordering his servant at the same time to produce a bundle he held under his arm. The servant took from the bundle a shirt, two pair of trowsers, and two pieces of parchment, used for sketching by Major Denham. The only other articles, Ateeko said, were a trunk, a broken sextant, and a watch; but the watch had been destroyed, as he alleged, in their ignorant eagerness to examine its structure. He then invited me to visit him the following morning, when we might fix the price of what I wished to buy, to which I assented; and he bade me good night; but, on re-considering the matter, I thought it prudent first to consult the gadado, particularly as the sultan was absent. I began to fear lest a bad construction might be put upon my visit to this mean prince, who, on the death of his father, Bello the first, had aspired to the throne, and had even had himself proclaimed sultan in Sackatoo; from the mere circumstance of his brother Bello, the present sultan, having expressed the intention, during his father’s lifetime, of resigning the splendour of sovereignty for the tranquillity of a learned and holy life. Ateeko even had the audacity to enter his brother’s house, preceded by drums and trumpets; and when Bello inquired the cause of the tumult, he received the first intimation of his brother’s perfidy, in the answer “The sultan Ateeko is come.” Bello, nowise disconcerted, immediately ordered the usurper into his presence, when Ateeko pleaded, in vindication of his conduct, his brother’s proposed disinclination to reign; to which the sultan only deigned to reply, “Go and take off these trappings, or I will take off your head:” Ateeko, with characteristic abjectness of spirit, began to wring his hands, as if washing them in water, and called God and the Prophet to witness that his motives were innocent and upright; since which time, he has remained in the utmost obscurity.

March 29.—I visited the gadado very early, and informed him of what had taken place last night. He told me by no means to go while the sultan was absent, as my visit at this juncture might be regarded with a very jealous eye by the people; who would not hesitate to charge me with a plot to place prince Ateeko on the throne, by the assistance of England. The gadado undisguisedly expressed his contempt of Ateeko’s conduct, and assured me that it was entirely without the sanction of the sultan.—In the afternoon I was again seized with bilious vomiting.

March 30.—Cloudy and warm. El Wordee came to-day in the name of the gadado, to ask me to sell him a silk tobe and some other articles, although it was well known to him I had nothing of the kind in my possession; and had it been otherwise, he was also aware I would not sell them. I suspected that he was manœuvring in some way for himself; and as soon as he was gone, I went to the gadado, and asked him if he had sent any message to me, when it turned out as I conjectured. The good old gadado said he felt quite ashamed that any thing should have been asked in his name; and shaking his head, he said he feared El Wordee was —— then checking himself, he earnestly requested me to take no further notice of it.

March 31.—I was confined to the house all day with ague. During the time I had been in Sackatoo, I had, at the recommendation of both the sultan and gadado, ridden out every morning for the benefit of my health; but instead of choosing the high grounds, I had generally taken my rides by the banks of the river, where there were many stagnant pools of water, and the land was low and swampy. To this I attributed my ague. The Arabs are likewise much afflicted with it at this season of the year. With the gadado’s advice, I took my morning rides in future on the high grounds.

April 1.—Morning cool and clear. I discovered that one of my bags of cowries had been cut open; and having good reason to suspect my servant Absalom of the theft, as he was known to have made a number of extravagant presents to one of the gadado’s female slaves, of whom he was passionately enamoured, I was obliged to dismiss him my service, although both a smart and a brave fellow, uniting at once in his person the important functions of barber and butler.

April 4.—Cool and clear. My ague had left me. In the evening the sultan returned to town.

April 5.—This morning Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom arrived from Kano. Although he left the town of Quarra with a large kafila, consisting of a thousand people, and protected by an escort of fifty horsemen, yet they were attacked between the lake of Gondamee and the wells of Kamoon, by the people of Goober and Zanfra, who after killing one shreef, two Arabs of Tripoli, and seventeen Felatahs, and taking the negroes prisoners, captured all the baggage except that of Hadje Ali. He fortunately escaped with his camels, though less by his own bravery than through the address of one of his slaves, who kept cheering up his master’s spirits, and urging the camels to their utmost speed, until they completely outstripped their pursuers. The shreef who was killed left two young children, to whom I sent ten dollars, by way of encouraging others to contribute to their relief.—In the afternoon I paid my respects to the sultan, on his return from the army. Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom accompanied me; but the sultan did not deign to look towards the place where he sat, although he was extremely kind to me, inquiring how I did, and if any thing had happened in his absence.

A slave belonging to Mahomed Moode, the gadado’s brother, whose duty it was to run with his spears by his horse’s side, had feigned lameness, to be excused attending his master. For this offence his legs were heavily shackled, in which miserable plight he often contrived to crawl to the square before my door, and at length begged me to intercede with his master for his release. In the evening, when his master came as usual to see me, I asked him to pardon the slave, who was immediately sent for, and his fetters taken off. It is but justice to say, his master appeared as grateful to me for affording him the opportunity of liberating his slave, as if I had done him a personal favour. The mode of punishing slaves in Sackatoo is by putting them in irons, and throwing them into a dungeon under the common prison of the city. The dungeon is reported to be extremely filthy and abominable. Here they remain without any food, but what is gratuitously supplied by their fellow slaves, until their master releases them. This punishment is much dreaded, and its duration depends entirely on the caprice of the master.

April 6.—Clear and cool.

April 7.—Having obtained the permission of the gadado to purchase from Ateeko the sorry remains of Major Denham’s baggage, I went early this morning with El Wordee to the prince’s house, which is situate at the west end of the town. After waiting some time in the porch of a square tower, we were introduced into an inner coozee hung round with blue and yellow silk, in sharp pointed festoons, not unlike gothic arches. Ateeko soon made his appearance, and after a few compliments, we proceeded to business. He brought out a damaged leathern trunk, with two or three shirts and other articles of dress, much the worse for wear, and the sextant and parchment already mentioned. The sextant was completely demolished, the whole of the glasses being taken out, or where they could not unscrew them, broken off the frame, which remained a mere skeleton. He seemed to fancy that the sextant was gold, in which I soon undeceived him; and selecting it with the parchment and one or two flannel waistcoats and towels, likely to be useful to Major Denham, I offered him 5000 cowries, at which he appeared much surprised and mortified. El Wordee whispered in my ear,—“Remember he is a prince, and not a merchant.” I said, loud enough for his highness to hear, “Remember that when a prince turns merchant, he must expect no more than another man; and as that is the value of the articles, it is a matter of indifference to me whether I buy them or not.” Ateeko frequently repeated his belief of the sextant being gold; but at length the bargain seemed to be concluded, and I requested him to send a slave to my house with the articles I had picked out, to whom I would pay the money. The slave, however, was recalled before he got half way, and his suspicious master took back the sextant frame, in dread of being overreached by me in its value, which I did not fail to deduct from the price agreed on.

The prince’s residence, like those of other great men in this country, is within a large quadrangular enclosure, surrounded by a high clay wall, with a high tower at the entrance, in which some of the slaves or body-guard lounge during the day, and sleep at night. The enclosure is occupied by coozees, some of them in a very ruinous condition. He told me that he possessed a great number of slaves; and I saw many females about his person, most of them very beautiful. He also stated, that he kept two hundred civet cats, two of which he showed me. These animals were extremely savage, and were confined in separate wooden cages. They were about four feet long, from the nose to the tip of the tail; and with the exception of a greater length of body and a longer tail, they very much resembled diminutive hyenas. They are fed with pounded Guinea corn, and dried fish made into balls. The civet is scraped off with a kind of muscle shell every other morning, the animal being forced into a corner of the cage, and its head held down with a stick during the operation. The prince offered to sell any number of them I might wish to have; but they did not appear to be desirable travelling companions. Ateeko is a little spare man, with a full face, of monkey-like expression. He speaks in a slow and subdued tone of voice; and the Felatahs acknowledge him to be extremely brave, but at the same time avaricious and cruel. “Were he sultan,” say they, “heads would fly about in Soudan.”

After taking leave of the prince, we rode by appointment to view a new mosque, which was building at the expense of the gadado, not far distant from Ateeko’s house. Like all mosques, it was of a quadrangular form, the sides facing the four cardinal points, and about 800 feet in length. On the eastern side there were two doors. The western entrance had a small square apartment on the right hand in entering, where the people perform their ablutions before prayers. The roof of the mosque was perfectly flat, and formed of joists laid from wall to wall, the interstices being filled up with slender spars placed obliquely from joist to joist, and the whole covered outside with a thick stratum of indurated clay. The roof rested on arches, which were supported by seven rows of pillars, seven in each row. The pillars were of wood, plastered over with clay, and highly ornamented. On the south side of the body of the building there was a small recess appropriated solely to the sultan’s use. Some workmen were employed in ornamenting the pillars, others in completing the roof; and all appeared particularly busy, from the circumstance of the gadado himself being here to receive me. The gadado was very inquisitive to know my opinion, every two or three minutes asking me what I thought of the building. The master builder, a shrewd looking little man, continually laughing, was seated in a position whence he could conveniently overlook all the workmen. He informed me he was a native of Zeg Zeg, and that his father having been in Egypt, had there acquired a smattering of Moorish architecture, and had left him at his death all his papers, from which he derived his only architectural knowledge. He was particularly solicitous to possess a Gunter’s scale, which I afterwards sent to the sultan.

April 8.—Clear and cool. I was confined to the house all day with ague. Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom, who has paid me two or three visits, which I never return, sent me half a sheep, and accompanied the present with great offers of his services, of which I took no notice, but ordered the present to be given to the poor. I always treated this man with civility; but took good care never to follow any of his suggestions, or to allow myself the smallest freedom of conversation before him.

A number of poor children came to ask alms every morning, to whom I was in the habit of giving two or three cowries a piece. Their cry was, “Allah attik jinne,” or “God give you paradise;” a style of begging that a kafir like me could not withstand; and when almost all Africa doomed me to eternal perdition, I considered it obtaining their suffrages at a cheap rate. Amongst the older beggars, there was one, a native of Bornou, who had once been governor of a town called Sockwa near Katagum, and had come to Sackatoo in consequence of having made certain complaints against Duncowa, which being on investigation found to be untrue, he had been degraded. He was said to be rich; but in order to save his wealth, now feigned madness. Every night after sunset, he used to sing extempore before the gadado’s door; and I was frequently the subject of his songs, particularly if I had given him any thing in the course of the day. He generally set the people around him in a roar of laughter.

April 9.—This morning I paid the gadado a visit, and found him alone, reading an Arabic book, one of a small collection he possessed. “Abdullah,” said he, “I had a dream last night, and am perusing this book to find out what it meant. Do you believe in such things?” “No, my lord gadado; I consider books of dreams to be full of idle conceits. God gives a man wisdom to guide his conduct, while dreams are occasioned by the accidental circumstances of sleeping with the head low, excess of food, or uneasiness of mind.” “Abdullah,” he replied, smiling, “this book tells me differently.” He then mentioned, that in a few days the sultan was going on another expedition, and wished him to join it, but that he preferred remaining, in order to have the mosque finished before the Rhamadan, lest the workmen should idle away their time in his absence.

To-day Mahomed Moode, the gadado’s brother, lost an adopted son, who died of the small-pox. I paid him a visit of condolence, which seemed to gratify him exceedingly. The Felatahs here, and indeed almost all the principal people of Soudan, bury their dead in the house where they die, as before-mentioned. Poor Moode’s grief was inconsolable; after the burial was over, he came and sat down alone in the shade before my door, and spreading his tobe over his knees as if he was reading a book, repeated in a low broken tone of voice several verses of the Koran, his eyes all the time streaming with tears. In this woful state of dejection he remained at least two hours. I could not help admiring the affectionate warmth of his feelings, so indicative of a good heart, and I sincerely sympathized in his sorrow. The child was the son of his brother the gadado. The practice of adopting children is very prevalent among the Felatahs, and though they have sons and daughters of their own, the adopted child generally becomes heir to the whole of the property.

April 10.—At three in the afternoon I waited on the sultan, to wish him success on the present expedition, and a happy return. We conversed on different subjects, but ended, as usual, about the trade with England; when I again endeavoured to impress on his mind, that we should be able to supply his subjects with all kinds of goods at a very cheap rate,—that his dominions were better situated for the gum trade than any other country in Africa,—and that many other valuable articles would be brought here from Timbuctoo, Bornou, and Wadey, and easily carried by the Felatahs to the sea-coast, to be disposed of to the English. He dwelt much on receiving in return cloth, muskets, and gunpowder; and asked me if I would not come back, and if the King of England would be induced to send out a consul and a physician, should he address a letter to His Majesty on the subject. He now asked in what time they would come: I told him they could be upon the coast in two months after his wishes were known in England. He resumed,—“Let me know the precise time, and my messengers shall be down at any part of the coast you may appoint, to forward letters to me from the mission, on receipt of which I will send an escort to conduct it to Soudan.” He also assured me he was able to put an effectual stop to the slave trade, and that the chart I asked for was nearly ready. At the close of this interview, the sultan kindly requested me not to be uneasy in his absence. At five in the afternoon, the sultan and gadado joined the army at the Sansan.

April 11, 12, and 13.—A refreshing breeze for the last two or three days. I received a present of two large baskets of wheat, which the sultan had ordered me before his departure. I was sitting in the shade before my door, with Sidi Sheikh, the sultan’s fighi, when an ill-looking wretch, with a fiend-like grin on his countenance, came and placed himself directly before me. I asked Sidi Sheikh who he was? He answered, with great composure, “The executioner.” I instantly ordered my servants to turn him out. “Be patient,” said Sidi Sheikh, laying his hand upon mine: “he visits the first people in Sackatoo, and they never allow him to go away without giving him a few Goora nuts, or money to buy them.” In compliance with this hint, I requested forty cowries to be given to the fellow, with strict orders never again to cross my threshold. Sidi Sheikh now related to me a professional anecdote of my uninvited visitor. Being brother of the executioner of Yacoba, of which place he was a native, he applied to the governor for his brother’s situation, boasting of superior adroitness in the family vocation. The governor coolly remarked, “We will try;—go, fetch your brother’s head!” He instantly went in quest of his brother, and finding him seated at the door of his house, without noise or warning he struck off his head with a sword, at one blow; then carrying the bleeding head to the governor, and claiming the reward of such transcendent atrocity, he was appointed to the vacant office. The sultan being afterwards in want of an expert headsman, sent for him to Sackatoo, where a short time after his arrival he had to officiate at the execution of 2000 Tuaricks, who, in conjunction with the rebels of Goober, had attempted to plunder the country, but were all made prisoners; this event happening about four years ago. I may here add, that the capital punishments inflicted in Soudan are beheading, impaling, and crucifixion; the first being reserved for Mahometans, and the other two practised on Pagans. I was told, as a matter of curiosity, that wretches on the cross generally linger three days, before death puts an end to their sufferings.

April 14.—Clear and warm. The gadado’s harem having paid me repeated visits, I was much struck with the beauty of some of the female slaves. To-day an Arab belonging to a kafila that left Quarra on the 10th instant made his escape here, all his fellow travellers having been taken by the people of Goober and Zamfra, who fell upon the kafila near the lake Gondamee.

April 15.—Notwithstanding that I had an attack of fever to-day, I received a visit from the females of the gadado’s household, who during their stay seemed to evince much sympathy, but as soon as they reached the outer square, their unrestrained gaiety and noisy mirth soon convinced me that they only frequented my house as a place where they could with security amuse themselves.

April 16.—I took an emetic of ipecacuanha, with immediate relief of my bilious symptoms.

April 17.—At day-break the sultan returned with the army, having made a large capture of sheep, bullocks, asses, &c. in the neighbourhood of the new capital of Zamfra.

April 18.—This morning I went to congratulate the sultan and the gadado on their safe return. In the evening we had rain, thunder, and lightning.

April 19.—The gadado’s favourite son, by Bello’s sister, died to-day of small-pox, after being considered convalescent, in consequence of riding out too early to visit his grandfather. This lad was buried in the house, as usual, a few hours after death, amid the loud lamentations of the female slaves of the family.

April 20.—I went this morning to condole with the gadado on the death of his son. He was sitting in an inner apartment, and smiling mournfully at my entrance, he said: “This is very kind of you, Abdullah; I have met with a great misfortune, but it is the will of God.” I endeavoured to reconcile him to this severe dispensation of Providence, and expressed my hope that he might yet have another son in room of him he had lost. He shook his head, and said, “God willing, but I am an old man:” then covering his face with his hands, we sat together nearly an hour in silence, when, unable to alleviate his grief, I took him by the hand; he pressed mine in return; and I left this disconsolate father with heaviness of heart.

April 21.—News arrived this morning, that the Tuaricks of the tribe of Kilgris had taken and plundered the town of Adia, six days’ journey to the northward of Sackatoo; in consequence of which a proclamation was issued, that all the Tuaricks belonging to that tribe should depart from Bello’s dominions in three days, under the penalty of death. The gadado informed me to-day, that he should not be able to accompany me to Kano before the rains, as he once intended, in consequence of all the horses being worn out from want of water during the last expedition. In the afternoon I had a severe attack of ague, with bilious vomiting.

April 22.—Thunder and lightning all night.

April 23.—We heard that another kafila had been seized by the Gooberites, and six Felatah women taken amongst the spoil, besides 300 slaves.

April 27.—To-day a party which had gone on a marauding expedition to Kulee sent word that they had made a large capture of bullocks and slaves.

April 30.—Ill all day. The sultan sent for me in the afternoon. I was taken to a part of his residence I had never before seen: it was a handsome apartment, within a square tower, the ceiling of which was a dome, supported by eight ornamental arches, with a bright plate of brass in its centre. Between the arches and the outer wall of the tower, the dome was encircled by a neat balustrade in front of a gallery, which led into an upper suite of rooms. We had a long conversation about Europe: he spoke of the ancient Moorish kingdom in Spain, and appeared well pleased when I told him that we were in possession of Gibraltar. He asked me to send him, from England, some Arabic books and a map of the world: and, in recompense, promised his protection to as many of our learned men as chose to visit his dominions. He also spoke of the gold and silver to be obtained in the hills of Jacoba and Adamowa; but I assured him that we were less anxious about gold mines than the establishment of commerce, and the extension of science. He now gave me a map of the country, and after explaining it to me, he resumed the old theme of applying by letter to the King of England, for the residence of a consul and a physician at Sackatoo; and again expressed his hope that I would revisit his dominions. He next inquired to what place on the coast the English would come, that he might send an escort for the guns; when I promised to write to his Highness on that subject from Kouka. He proposed to have two messengers waiting at the place I should select, at whose return he would send down an escort to the sea-coast.

May 1.—I began to make preparations for my return to Bornou, for various reasons which it is unnecessary to detail. The Rhamadan commenced to-day, and the Felatahs keep the fast with extreme rigour. The chief people never leave their houses, except in the evening, to prayer, and the women frequently pour cold water over their backs and necks, under the idea that the greater thirst they appear to endure, the better entitled they become to Paradise; although I am inclined to believe that they make a parade of these privations, in a great measure, to obtain the reputation of extraordinary sanctity.

May 2.—Ill all day. I sent for the steward of the gadado’s household, and all the female slaves, who had daily performed the duty of bringing me provisions from the time of my arrival: these provisions were, about a gallon of new milk every morning, in a large bowl, for myself, and two gallons of sour milk and ticcory for my servants, at noon; in return for each of which I always gave fifty cowries: at three o’clock, three roast fowls, with doura or nutta sauce, for which I sent fifty cowries; again, after sunset, two bowls of bazeen were brought by two female slaves, to whom I gave one hundred cowries, and about two quarts of new milk afterwards, for which I gave fifty cowries more. As an acknowledgment for their attention during my residence in Sackatoo, I now presented the steward of the household with 10,000 cowries, and the slaves with 2,000 each. The poor creatures were extremely grateful for my bounty, and many of them even shed tears. In the afternoon, I waited upon the sultan, who told me that he had appointed the same escort which I had before, under the command of the gadado’s brother, to conduct me through the provinces of Goober and Zamfra, and that an officer of the gadado’s, after the escort left me, should accompany me to Zirmee, Kashna, Kano, and Katagum; the governor of which would receive orders to furnish me with a strong escort through the Bedite territory, and to deliver me safely into the hands of the sheikh of Bornou. He also mentioned, that the letter for the King of England would be ready next day.

May 3.—At daylight, the camels were brought in from their pasturage, and were sent off in the afternoon to the neighbourhood of the wells of Kamoon. To-day I was visited by all the principal people of Sackatoo, to bid me farewell; and at seven o’clock, in the evening, I went to take leave of the sultan: he was at the mosque, and I had to wait about two hours till he came out. I followed him, at a little distance, to the door of his residence, where an old female slave took me by the hand and led me through a number of dark passages, in which, at the bidding of my conductress, I had often to stoop, or at times to tread with great caution as we approached flights of steps, while a faint glimmering light twinkled from a distant room. I could not imagine where the old woman was conducting me, who, on her part, was highly diverted at my importunate inquiries. After much turning and winding, I was at last brought into the presence of Bello, who was sitting alone, and immediately delivered into my hands a letter for the King of England, with assurances of his friendly sentiments towards the English nation. He had previously sent to me to know what was His Majesty’s name, style, and title. He again expressed, with much earnestness of manner, his anxiety to enter into permanent relations of trade and friendship with England; and reminded me to apprise him, by letter, at what time the English mission would be upon the coast. After repeating the Fatha, and praying for my safe arrival in England, and speedy return to Sackatoo, he affectionately bade me farewell. I went next to take leave of my good old friend the gadado, for whom I felt the same regard as if he had been one of my oldest friends in England, and I am sure it was equally sincere on his side: the poor old man prayed very devoutly for my safety, and gave strict charge to his brother, who was to accompany me, to take special care of me in our journey through the disturbed provinces. The gadado looked very ill, owing, as I suppose, to his strict observance of the fast, and the distress which he had recently suffered by the loss of his son.

I shall here add a short description of the city of Sackatoo. It is in lat. 13° 4′ 52″ N. and long. 6° 12′ E. and is situate near the junction of an inconsiderable stream with the same river which flows past Zirme, and which, taking its rise between Kashna and Kano, is said to fall into the Quarra four days’ journey to the west. The name in their language signifies “a halting place;” the city being built by the Felatahs after the conquest of Goober and Zamfra, as near as I could learn, about the year 1805. It occupies a long ridge which slopes gently towards the north, and appeared to me the most populous town I had visited in the interior of Africa; for, unlike most other towns in Haussa, where the houses are thinly scattered, it is laid out in regular well built streets. The houses approach close to the walls, which were built by the present sultan in 1818, after the death of his father; the old walls being too confined for the increasing population. This wall is between twenty and thirty feet high, and has twelve gates, which are regularly closed at sunset. There are two large mosques, including the new one at present building by the gadado, besides several other places for prayer. There is a spacious market-place in the centre of the city, and another large square in front of the sultan’s residence. The dwellings of the principal people are surrounded by high walls, which enclose numerous coozees and flat-roofed houses, built in the Moorish style; whose large water-spouts of baked clay, projecting from the eaves, resemble at first sight a tier of guns. The inhabitants are principally Felatahs, possessing numerous slaves. Such of the latter as are not employed in domestic duties reside in houses by themselves, where they follow various trades; the master, of course, reaping the profit. Their usual employments are weaving, house-building, shoe-making, and iron work: many bring fire-wood to the market for sale. Those employed in raising grain and tending cattle, of which the Felatahs have immense herds, reside in villages without the city. It is customary for private individuals to free a number of slaves every year, according to their means, during the great feast after the Rhamadan. The enfranchised seldom return to their native country, but continue to reside near their old masters, still acknowledging them as their superiors, and presenting them yearly with a portion of their earnings. The trade of Sackatoo is at present inconsiderable, owing to the disturbed state of the surrounding country. The necessaries of life are very cheap: butchers’ meat is in great plenty, and very good. The exports are principally civet and blue check tobes, called sharie, which are manufactured by the slaves from Nyffee, of whom the men are considered the most expert weavers in Soudan, and the women the best spinners. The common imports are Goora nuts, brought from the borders of Ashantee; and coarse calico and woollen cloth, in small quantities, with brass and pewter dishes, and some few spices from Nyffee. The Arabs, from Tripoli and Ghadamis, bring unwrought silk, otto of roses, spices, and beads: slaves are both exported and imported. A great quantity of Guinea corn is taken every year by the Tuaricks, in exchange for salt. The market is extremely well supplied, and is held daily from sunrise to sunset. On the north side of Sackatoo there is a low marsh, with some stagnant pools of water, between the city and the river: this, perhaps, may be the cause of the great prevalence of ague, as the city stands in a fine airy situation.

May 4.—I left Sackatoo, accompanied by one of the gadado’s officers, named Dumbojee; and we travelled almost all night before we came up with our servants, who had pitched our tents near Kamoon. At daylight we moved on to the wells at Kamoon, where we halted to fill our water skins; and at two in the afternoon, the escort arriving, we proceeded on our journey, being also joined by four merchants and their slaves. We took a new road, where no water is to be had, to avoid the Tooias, as the rebels of Goobeer and Zamfra are called; “tooia, tooia,” or “war, war,” being the national cry of this people on entering into battle.

May 5.—We now pursued a footpath, through thick woods full of briars, which tore our clothes; and, as I had neglected to put on my boots, my legs were much lacerated. At midnight we passed near to a kafila of the rebels, who were travelling between Zamfra and Goobeer. This induced Moodie, the commander of our escort, to continue our journey all night, in spite of my wishes to halt till morning. “No, no; the tooias are near;” was his only reply to my remonstrances; and, in fact, we often heard the sound of their voices. When day dawned we discovered that we had mistaken the road all night, and were actually within a short distance of Calawawa, the capital of Goobeer, no one knowing the safest way to return. I had observed, to my surprise, during the night, that we travelled in a northerly direction; but never dreamed of interfering. Moodie now consulted me on what was to be done, and I recommended our travelling south-east. We accordingly set out as fast as the camels could be driven through a thick underwood, by which my trowsers were all torn, and my legs almost excoriated from the knees to the ancles.

In the afternoon the people on foot began to lag, and one or two were allowed to ride on the camels; but this was soon given up, as the applicants became too numerous to grant this indulgence indiscriminately. A number of the poor natives on foot, who had taken advantage of the escort to pass through this part of the country, overcome with fatigue and thirst, sat down never to rise more. One of my servants, a native of Kano, dropped down apparently dead, after taking a draught of water, of which the negroes drink an immense quantity. Indeed, I may safely say, they drink six times the quantity that Europeans do. I had him lashed on a camel, the motion of which brought him again to life; and, in half an hour’s time, after vomiting a great quantity of bile, he was able to walk, and soon appeared as fresh as ever. Before sunset we saw the high lands over the lake Gondamee, and then bent our course to the eastward. At sunset a female slave, belonging to Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom, calling out that she saw two tooias, Moodie came up to me at full gallop, and recommended me to exchange the camel on which I was riding for my horse, and to have my firearms in readiness. Although scarcely able to support myself from severe pain in my limbs, I placed myself, however, at the head of the escort; but, fortunately for me, we could see no enemies, otherwise my sorry plight would have left me a very poor chance of success. At length, having reached a beaten path leading eastward, we waited for the camels to come up. The water skins being now all empty, and no one knowing exactly where we were, but each travelling as fast as thirst and weariness would permit him, I kept my people and camels together, and El Wordee, with two of the Arab merchants, considered it safest for themselves not to leave me. A fine Arab horse, belonging to Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom, died of fatigue.

May 6.—Thursday, at four in the morning, El Wordee falling ill, and declaring he could travel no farther, I ordered a halt on his account, but left the loads on the camels. Being separated from the whole of the caravan, except one Arab merchant, I lay down by the side of my horse, and my servants gave me a few small yellow plums they had picked up, which relieved both my hunger and thirst. I now slept soundly on the ground until daybreak, when we continued our journey to the eastward, without following any regular track, and soon came up with several stragglers from the caravan and escort, who, overcome with fatigue, had lain down in the night, and were now pursuing their way, most of them almost unable to speak from excessive thirst. The horsemen were dismounted,—their horses having either died, or being too weak to bear their riders, who were driving them before them. At ten o’clock we fell in with the road to Gondamee, and at noon halted on the south bank of the river Futche. We found that very few had arrived there before us, and, reposing ourselves under the shade of some trees, we despatched some country people with water to our fellow travellers in the rear, who continued to drop in one after another till sunset. At first we ate and drank rather sparingly ourselves, and were also particularly careful to prevent our cattle from injuring themselves by drinking too much water at a time. Notwithstanding our distressed condition, the Felatahs keep the fast of the Rhamadan so strictly, they would not taste water till after sunset.

May 7.—On mustering the kafila at daylight, we found that nine men and six horses had perished on the road. Of these, two were Felatahs going to Mecca, who had come from Ginee, to the westward of Timbuctoo; and a third was the husband of a woman now left destitute, to whom I promised my protection as far as Kano. At noon I took leave of Moodie and the escort, who wished to conduct me to Zirmee; but as all danger was passed, I declined their friendly offer, and, making them a present of a sheep and 40,000 cowries, we separated. At one in the afternoon I arrived at Quari, and encamped outside the town, but went and paid my respects to the governor, who complained grievously of the privations which he suffered by keeping the Rhamadan, although this was only the seventh day.

May 8.—At daylight I left Quari, and crossed a country intersected by deep ravines. I halted under a large shady tree, during the heat of the day, and, towards sunset, arrived at Zirmee, where I was provided with good accommodation for myself and servants. The governor had gone to reside in one of the small towns in his province during the Rhamadan; but I was visited by his brother and the Imam, who sent me a sheep and provisions, as well as by all the principal people of the place.

May 9.—Warm and sultry. To-day I received a number of visitors of both sexes.

May 10.—Zirmee, the capital of the province of Zamfra, occupies a peninsula formed by the river, which has here very high and steep banks, covered with mimosas and prickly bushes, through which a narrow winding path leads to the gates of the town. It is surrounded by a wall and dry ditch: the wall is of clay, from twenty to thirty feet high. The governor, named Turnee, is considered a brave man, but bears also the character of a perfect freebooter; and the inhabitants altogether are reputed to be the greatest rogues in Haussa. My servants were cautioned by Dumbojee not to quit the house after sunset, as every black without a beard (to use their expression for a young man) was liable to be seized, gagged, and carried off to some of the neighbouring villages for sale. Runaway slaves, from all parts of Haussa, fly to Zirmee as an asylum, where they are always welcome; and the inhabitants in general have a remarkably reckless, independent look. Three female slaves, belonging to Hadje Ali Boo Khaloom, absconded here; preferring, naturally enough, liberty and a husband, to slavery and a bad master.

May 11.—At sunrise we left Zirmee, and travelled over a well cultivated country. During the heat of the day we again halted under the shade of a tree, and encamped, towards evening, at a village called Yakua, where Dumbojee wished me to lodge in one of the houses, alleging the risk of being robbed, or even murdered, out of doors; but as a number of other people halted outside the village, I merely pointed to them in ridicule of his timid suggestions.

May 12.—At daybreak we left Yakua without having experienced the smallest molestation. Our road, in the early part of the day, lay through a forest of low stunted trees, among which I remarked a great number of wild mangoes. The soil was clay, mixed with large round pebbles of yellow quartz, and in the ravines there was mica slate. After travelling for some time on gravelly heights, I halted at Roma, where the soil is a black mould over strong clay, large blocks of siennite running in high ridges from north-north-east to south-south-west. There was abundance of limpid water, and on all sides were seen fruit trees, well cultivated fields, and numerous hamlets and towns. Being market day, the road was crowded with people: some of whom were driving before them as fine bullocks as I have ever seen in any country. One man usually went in front, leading the animal with a rope round its horns, which were dyed with henna, and two or three others followed behind with a rope fastened to the legs. Near the channel of one of the little streams winding among the crags of siennite, I saw five or six plantain trees growing wild. These were the first I had seen in the country; and, on inquiry, the inhabitants told me, that this plant did not bear fruit nearer than Zeg Zeg. The plantains I had from the sultan at Sackatoo were brought from Nyffee. In the afternoon we resumed our journey. The country was open and well cultivated; but the road still winding, and choked up with thorns. At sunset we halted at a large village called Yanduka, the governor of which, having heard I had come from Bello, would not allow me to take up my quarters outside the village, but insisted that I should occupy a house he had provided for me, where I was liberally supplied with provisions.

May 13.—At sunrise we left Yanduka, about two miles beyond which the country became very woody, and rested at noon under the shade of a large tamarind tree, on the banks of a rainy-season stream, which we had already crossed four times since morning. The kuka tree, towering over all the other trees of the forest, grew out of the interstices of the naked rocks, among which the river slowly wound in beautiful meanders. The water procured from pits made in the bed of the river was of a blackish colour, and had a disagreeable smell, seemingly as if strongly impregnated with trona. In the afternoon we continued our route, and on ascending a rising ground we descried the minarets of the mosque of Kashna: the country was still very partially cleared of wood. Having sent El Wordee and Dumbojee before me to prepare lodgings, I did not arrive at Kashna till after sunset, when the gates were shut; but on hailing the sentinel, and telling him who I was, he requested me to go round to a little wicket, which I found open. I went immediately to Hadje Ahmet Ben Massoud, who took me to the house provided for me, where I was well supplied with provisions; but the house itself was in wretched repair, full of ants and rats, and, I verily believe, had not been inhabited since the Felatah conquest.

May 14.—After a sleepless night I sent for Dumbojee, desired one of my servants to show him the house, and asked him if this was the gadado’s. He informed me it was intended I should be lodged in the house of Voikin Serkis, a friend of the sultan, but El Wordee had told him I preferred staying with the Arabs. I desired him to go immediately to the house of Voikin Serkis, and tell him I was coming. When Hadje Ahmet and El Wordee heard of this message, they came to me in great fright, and entreated I would go with them and choose whatever house I pleased. Not wishing to be troublesome, I accompanied them after breakfast. I was shown through several houses, and fixed on one conveniently situate for astronomical observations: the adjoining court-yard was occupied by the freed female slaves of old Hadje Ahmet. I was ill all day, although this did not prevent me from being tormented with the visits of almost all the principal inhabitants. Fortunately the governor was out of town, but he was polite enough to send me an invitation to his country-house, where he secludes himself during the Rhamadan. Among the Arabs he has the character of being very avaricious, and as I was rather at a loss for a present to offer him, I thought it better to decline the visit, notwithstanding the importunity of Hadje Ahmet with me to see him. Hadje Ahmet, the chief of all the Arabs, had resided there for the last thirty years; and although it was the Rhamadan, he ran about with great alacrity, in the heat of the sun, to procure me salt and tar for the camels, and other little necessaries for my own use. But his liberality was unbounded: he even permitted me to visit his seraglio, and told me to pick and choose for myself among, at least, fifty black girls. I took notice that his countrymen would find fault with him for giving up a Mahometan female to a Kafir: “No, no; you must have one.” “Well, as I am sick, and want a nurse, I will take this woman,” pointing to an elderly slave. “You have done right,” said the Hadje; “she is an experienced woman, and a good cook; she has seen the world; she has been in Fezzan.” This was the first offer of the kind I had ever received from a Moslem; and along with the old woman, two young females were sent to assist her. During my sickness, I never before had the benefit of female nurses, and by their care and attention I soon recovered my health and strength.

May 15.—Cool and cloudy. I was waited upon, a little after daylight, by Hadje Ahmet, who told me, with an air of mysterious confidence, that he had a stone of very great value to show me, and wished my opinion respecting it. “Well, father pilgrim, show it to me, and I will tell you its value.” His servant now brought in a leathern bag, from which his master took a bundle of rags; and unrolling them carefully, one after the other, he began to make the most ludicrous faces of mock ecstasy. At last the gem appeared, which he held up with a cry of rapture:—“Look there! what will you give for it?” It was a piece of rock crystal, about two inches in length, and three-fourths of an inch in diameter. Assuming a countenance of corresponding gravity, I affected to muse for a short time in silent astonishment, and then drawled out, “A dollar.” The mortified Hadje would not satisfy my curiosity about where it came from, but in hazarding a conjecture that it was obtained in Yacoba, I fancied he betrayed by his manner that I had hit upon the spot. Although I wished to have the crystal, I was afraid to make another offer, lest, supposing it to be of inestimable price, he might suspect I wished to take an unfair advantage of him; and he again wrapped it up, with like care and solemnity.

May 16.—Clear and warm. In the afternoon we had much rain, with thunder and lightning.

Kashna is in lat. 12° 59′ N. by merid. alt. of Antares. According to Hadje Ahmet, it was called Sangras about a century ago, and afterwards Geshna, from the small underwood of that name growing on the ridge whereon the town is built, and which is one of many long ridges that run from north-east to south-west. The walls are of clay, and very extensive; but, as at Kano, the houses do not occupy above one-tenth of the space within them: the rest is laid out in fields, or covered with wood. The governor’s residence resembles a large village, and is about half a mile to the east of all the other buildings. On account of the Rhamadan, I was exempted from the ceremony of paying him a visit: his name is Omar Delogie. The fruits here are figs, melons, pomegranates, and limes. Grapes are said to have been plentiful in former times, but at the Felatah conquest the vines were cut down. The houses are mostly in ruins, the principal commerce of the country being carried on at Kano since the Felatah conquest; nevertheless, there is still a considerable trade. There are two daily markets, in different parts of the town, one to the south, the other to the north. The southern market is chiefly attended by merchants of Ghadamis and Tuat; that to the north by Tuaricks. The Ghadamis and Tuat merchants bring unwrought silk, cotton and woollen cloths, beads, and a little cochineal, which they sell for cowries. These are sent to their agents at Kano, to purchase blue tobes and turkadees, which are conveyed across the country to supply the fair of Ghraat; and whatever they do not dispose of there to the Tuaricks, they send to Timbuctoo in exchange for civet, gold and slaves. The manufactures of Kashna are chiefly of leather; such as water-skins, red or yellow cushions, and bridles of goat skin, &c. Tanned bullocks’ hides, also, are frequently carried to Fezzan and Tripoli. They prepare very good dried beef, with which the Arab merchants usually provide themselves before crossing the desert. Kashna is a favourite resort of the Tuaricks who frequent Soudan during the dry months. The merchants of Ghadamis and Tuat never keep camels of their own, but hire them from this singular people, who carry their goods across the desert to Kashna, at the rate of ten dollars a load, and likewise convey slaves at twenty-five dollars a head, finding them in every thing. With this revenue, and the produce of the salt they bring with them, the Tuaricks buy grain and other necessaries here to serve them during their sojourn in the desert.

May 17.—At sunrise I left Kashna by the gate Koura, on the south side of the town. I was accompanied so great a distance by Hadje Ahmet, that I was obliged to entreat him to return; reminding him it was the Rhamadan, and that riding in the heat of the sun, without being permitted to quench his thirst, was too severe a trial of any one’s faith. In the immediate neighbourhood of Kashna, the country is covered with brushwood and low stunted trees; but we soon entered a well cultivated district. The road too was good. We rested during the heat of the day under a tree, at a cluster of villages called Miwa, near the bed of a rainy-season stream. We afterwards passed the ruins of a number of towns and villages, which had been destroyed by the rebel Duntungua. At sunset we encamped for the night near some villages called Eatowa, where a little girl came to me and told me to look well after my baggage, as there were eight thieves in a house which she pointed out, who, she said, plundered all around them.

May 18.—At sunrise we left Eatowa, without sustaining any loss. The country appeared well cultivated, and the soil rich; and in the course of an hour, we passed the walled town of Sabon Gree, the walls of which were in bad repair, and the inhabitants few in number. At noon we halted under a tree near to a village called Burderowa. We were here joined by a merchant of Sockna, who left Kashna the day after us. El Wordee having lost some civet and gold, to the value of thirty-one dollars, suspected his servant of the theft, who, in consequence of a guinea-worm in his foot, was allowed to ride on his master’s camel; but he strenuously denied all knowledge of the matter, and called on God and the Prophet to judge between him and his master. El Wordee had searched all his baggage at Kashna, without discovering the slightest traces of the stolen property, and was now deploring his loss to the merchant who joined us, whose Arab servant overhearing him, asked him if he had examined the saddle of his camel. El Wordee replied in the negative, when the Arab swore by the Prophet, that the stolen goods were there, for his servant had without orders repaired the saddle at Kashna; which being immediately ripped open, the civet was found. Seated at a little distance under the shade of a tree, I had an excellent opportunity of watching the countenance of the accused, who gazed eagerly at the novel search. The moment the first box was found, he turned round with his back to the party, and throwing himself on the ground, concealed his face in the earth. All the civet was recovered, but none of the gold, the thief continuing to exclaim to his master: “God judge between you and me, I am innocent.” I called out to El Wordee to compel him at once to produce the gold; for he could no longer travel in my kafila, as, not content with exculpating himself, he had basely accused one of my own servants of the theft. El Wordee appeared very reluctant to criminate his servant, until I insisted on it. He then proposed the following mode of detection, which is commonly practised among Arabs. The names of each person belonging to the kafila are written on separate pieces of paper, and put into an empty water-skin. Each person in turn is then required to blow until he inflates the skin, which they feign every one but the thief can readily do. When all was prepared with much imposing formality, the culprit called to his master, to say he need not proceed farther, and instantly delivered up the gold, which was secreted about his person. I asked El Wordee what he intended to do with him? He said he would discharge him at Kano. “Do you not intend to punish him?” “No; although he deserves it. It will not do: the man may do me a mischief;” and he spoke and behaved to him afterwards just as if nothing had happened. This is the uniform custom of all Arabs: however great a vagabond a man may be, he is treated with the same civility as if there was nothing to impeach his character. From this indiscriminate complaisance I must except the servants of the bashaw of Tripoli, who are in the habit of using notorious scoundrels with very little ceremony.

After we had finished this affair, we left Burderawa, and travelled through a fine well cultivated country. To-day we passed a great many kafilas of Tuaricks and merchants of Ghadamis, who were leaving Soudan before the rains. At five in the afternoon, we encamped among high ledges of rock, near a little town called Kaffondingee. There was a number of other towns close to it, with fine shady trees in the valleys, among which I saw several trees described in Mungo Park’s Travels, under the name of Nutta, but here called Doura by the natives. This tree grows to a greater height than our apple-tree, is proportionably longer in the trunk, but does not spread its branches so widely: at present it was the season for gathering the fruit. The beans of the nutta are roasted as we roast coffee, then bruised, and allowed to ferment in water. When they begin to become putrid, they are washed particularly clean, and pounded into powder, which is made into cakes somewhat in the fashion of our chocolate. These, notwithstanding they retain a disagreeable smell, form an excellent sauce for all kinds of food. The farinaceous matter in which the bean is imbedded is also made into a very pleasant drink; but they say if drunk often, it causes indigestion and enlargement of the spleen. They also make it into a sweetmeat, resembling what is called by the children in England “lollypops.” The nutta tree, as well as the micadania or butter tree, is always allowed to remain on clearing the ground. The micadania was not ripe when I saw it; but the fruit was exactly like a peach in shape, only a little more pointed at the end. When ripe, the outer pulpy part is eaten, and the kernels, previously well bruised, are boiled in water, when the fat rising to the surface, is skimmed off. It is not used in food, but only to burn in lamps, and has the appearance of dirty lard.

May 19.—The merchant, who joined us yesterday, was quite outrageous this morning about a basket of glass armlets which a Tuarick had stolen from under his head while he slept. I certainly gave the thief credit for his adroitness, and could not help being somewhat amused at the merchant’s distress. He entreated me to stop for a day, to give him time to overtake the kafila of Tuaricks which had gone northward; but this was out of the question. At six in the morning we left Kaffondingee, the merchant remaining in our company, as he was afraid to leave me. We travelled through a country that had formerly been cleared, but was now again overgrown with large trees, the soil being a strong black vegetable mould. We passed the ruins of several walled towns, and halted, during the heat of the day, under some shady trees growing amongst the ruins of one of them, called Sofa. The country afterwards became woody, and was said to be much infested by Duntungua’s rebel followers. We afterwards arrived at Duncamee; but from the lateness of the hour I did not enter the town, remaining all night in the open air, without pitching my tent.

May 20.—At sunrise I found I had caught a severe cold, from last night’s exposure to a strong north-east wind. The road was winding and woody, and I halted during the heat of the day outside the walled town of Faniroa. My old friend the governor being absent on an expedition, I rested under the shade of a tamarind-tree, on account of its coolness and the fine air around me. We afterwards passed the night at Gadania.

May 21.—To-day we had much thunder and lightning, and took up our quarters for the night outside the town of Taffo.

May 22.—I sent a horseman off at daylight, for the purpose of acquainting Hadje Hat Salah and the governor of Kano of my return, as I anxiously expected news from Bornou and Tripoli. Meanwhile I rested under the shade of a tree, until a messenger met me with two letters,—one from Major Denham, sealed with black wax, apprising me of the melancholy fate of young Toole, who dauntlessly crossed the desert, with only a guide, to join Major Denham at Kouka. Near sunset I entered Kano, and immediately proceeded to the house of Hadje Hat Salah my agent, who appeared as glad to see me as if I had been his own son. Although it was the Rhamadan, he had a sheep killed to give me a feast; and pressed me to sit down to table the moment I came in. It was indeed a severe punishment for him to be a mere spectator on this occasion, but he turned it off jocularly, calling out, “Abdullah, eat; for you are a hungry Kafir.” I found that, during my absence, only one kafila had arrived from Bornou,—the same which had brought me the letters, along with three bottles of port wine, and some gunpowder, from Major Denham. Hat Salah, among other news, mentioned that old Jacob, my servant, had been in great distress for my safety during my absence; and that a female slave of El Wordee’s, who was much attached to him, had lost her reason on hearing we were gone to Youri, and in this unhappy state, having thrown herself into a well, she had broken one of her arms.

May 23.—Cool and cloudy. I was visited by all the principal Arabs who were in Kano; amongst the rest old Hadje Boo Zaied, who has ever been our stanch friend, and was a very worthy man. He begged, with great earnestness, that I would not acquaint the sheikh of Bornou or the bashaw of Tripoli of Bello’s behaviour to Hadje Ali at Sackatoo. For Boo Zaied’s sake, I promised to screen him, unless questions were expressly put to me concerning his conduct, when I must speak the truth; for he had behaved to me both like a fool and a knave.

May 25.—To-day I paid up my servants’ wages, at the rate of four dollars a month, but reduced them in future one half; notwithstanding which, they were all glad to remain in my service.

May 26.—I waited on the governor, who received me with marked kindness, and inquired particularly after the health of the sultan and of the gadado, and how I had fared in crossing the Gondamee, the river between Futche and Sackatoo.

May 30.—Clear and sultry. I was earnestly solicited by the people to refer to my books, and to ascertain if the new moon would be seen to-day; which much longed-for event, I assured them, would take place after sunset, if the evening was clear. This anxiety was occasioned by the fast of the Rhamadan, then terminating, and the Aid, or great feast, immediately commencing. The evening turning out cloudy, all were in low spirits; but at midnight a horseman arrived express to acquaint the governor that the new moon had been visible.

May 31.—After the arrival of the horseman, nothing was heard but the firing of musketry and shouts of rejoicing.—Paying and receiving visits now became a serious occupation. In the morning, accompanied by Hat Salah, I went on horseback to pay my respects to the governor. I accepted his invitation to ride out with him, according to their annual custom; and we proceeded to an open space within the city walls, amid skirmishing and firing of muskets, attended by his people on horseback, and the Arabs and principal townsfolk dressed in their gayest raiments,—all who could possibly muster a horse for the occasion being mounted. The most conspicuous person in the whole procession was a man on horseback in quilted armour, who rode before the governor bearing a two-handed sword. On reaching the plain, the governor made a speech to the people, declaring his intention to attack Duntungua, when he expected every man to exert his utmost prowess. Their sons too should not, as in times past, be left behind, but would accompany them to the war, and learn to fight the battles of their country under the eyes of their parents. Afterwards we rode home in the same order. All work was laid aside for three days. Men, women, and children, in their finest clothes, paraded through the town; a number of slaves were also set free, according to the custom of Mahometans at this holy season. The owner of my house freed fifteen.

June 1.—I visited the governor, to take leave. He was very kind, and after inquiring if I should ever return, begged me to remember him to his friend the sheikh El Kanemy, and expressed his hope I would give a favourable account of the people I had visited. I assured him, as to the last particular, I could not do otherwise, as I had every where experienced the greatest civility. He then repeated the Fatha, and I bade him farewell.

June 3.—At ten in the morning I left Kano, and was accompanied some miles by Hadje Hat Salah and all my friends on horseback. Before Hat Salah left me, he called all my servants before him, and told them he trusted they would behave well and faithfully; for, as they had seen, I was the servant of a great king, the friend of the bashaw of Tripoli, and had been passed from one sultan to another; consequently any misbehaviour of theirs, on a complaint from me, would be severely punished. We only travelled a short way before halting, for the heat of the day, under a shady tree. In the afternoon we again set forward, and at sunset encamped outside the town of Duakee.

June 4.—This morning we passed through the walled town of Sockwa, which is now reduced to a few huts inhabited by slaves; and halting for the heat of the day under a tamarind tree, we pitched our tents at sunset under the walls of Girkwa, not far from the banks of the river. The people were dancing in honour of the Aid. The dance was performed by men armed with sticks, who springing alternately from one foot to the other, while dancing round in a ring, frequently flourished their sticks in the air, or clashed them together with a loud noise. Sometimes a dancer jumped out of the circle, and spinning round on his heel for several minutes, made his stick whirl above his head at the same time with equal rapidity; he would then rejoin the dance. In the centre of the ring there were two drummers, the drums standing on the ground. They were made of a hollow block of wood about three feet high, with a skin drawn tensely over the top by means of braces. A great concourse of natives were assembled to witness the exhibition.

June 5.—Morning cloudy. At six in the morning we left Girkwa, and reposing ourselves during the heat of the day under some tamarind trees among the villages of Nansarina, we encamped at sunset in the woods. The inhabitants were now very busy in the fields planting grain. Their mode of planting it is very simple. A man with a hoe scrapes up a little mould at regular intervals, and is followed by a woman carrying the seed, of which she throws a few grains into each hole, and treads down the mould over them with her feet.

June 6.—At noon we halted in the town of Sangeia, the governor of which was at Kano; so I fortunately escaped the pain of hearing his squeaking voice. We encamped for the night in the woods.

June 7.—At one in the afternoon we halted outside the town of Katungwa. At sunset two horsemen arrived at full gallop, with the news of the governor of Kano having taken a town, at a very short distance to the north, from the rebel Duntungua.

June 8.—Every where the inhabitants were busily employed clearing the ground, and burning the weeds and stubble, preparatory to sowing grain. We sheltered ourselves from the mid-day heat under the shade of a tamarind tree, in the province of Sherra, and halted for the night outside the town of Boosuea. A son of the governor of Sherra was here, attended by a number of horsemen, and a band of music. He drank coffee with me, and I was in turn regaled with music the greater part of the night. The instruments were chiefly flutes and long wooden pipes, called by the natives frum-frum.

June 9.—At sunset we arrived at the town of Dugwa.

June 10.—At daybreak we left Dugwa, and travelled through a thickly wooded country. It rained all day, and we also had some thunder and lightning. At seven in the evening we arrived at Murmur. I heard, at Kano, that a kafila of Arabs, belonging to Augela, had destroyed the clay wall around Dr. Oudney’s grave, and made a fire over it, telling the inhabitants he was a Kafir. This report, to my great regret, I found to be true.

June 11.—At sunrise I sent for the governor, to inquire who had committed the outrage, when he protested it was the Arabs, and not the people of the town. I felt so indignant at this wanton act of barbarity, I could not refrain from applying my horsewhip across the governor’s shoulders, and threatened to report him to his superior, the governor of Katagum, and also to despatch a letter on the subject to the sultan, unless the wall was immediately rebuilt: which, with slavish submission, he promised faithfully to see done without delay. During my halt at noon, near Katagum, I sent Dumbojee forward to inform Duncawa, the governor, of my return. In the afternoon I heard that he was on his way to meet me; and I had scarcely left my resting-place before he made his appearance, attended by about thirty horsemen, who, when they saw me, came up at full gallop, brandishing their spears. I presented the governor with a hundred Goora nuts, every one of which he distributed amongst his people. He gave me many very hearty welcomes, and made numerous inquiries about Bello, and his behaviour to me. He and his people now galloped into the town, yelling and skirmishing; and although the governor had been sick for some time past, he appeared as lively and cheerful as any of them. On entering Katagum I was lodged in my old quarters, and was immediately visited by my old friend Hameda, the Tripoline merchant, who was still here. I invited him to accompany me to Tripoli, as the late Dr. Oudney had advised him; but he excused himself, on the plea of being unable to collect his outstanding debts from his numerous creditors, who were scattered all over the country.

June 12.—Warm and sultry. Duncawa remained with me all day, and informed me, that he had the sultan’s orders to conduct me to Kouka, in Bornou. This mark of respect I positively declined, both on account of his recent illness, and also lest his presence might give umbrage to the sheikh; but agreed to accept from him an escort through the Bede territory. I assured him, when once in Bornou, that I felt myself as safe as in his house. If he insisted, however, on somebody accompanying me, he might, if he pleased, send one of his principal people. I made a formal complaint of the insult committed to Dr. Oudney’s grave,—enforcing, in the strongest terms, the disgrace of disturbing the ashes of the dead, whose immortal part was now beyond the power of malignant man. He frankly acknowledged the enormity of the act, and faithfully promised to have the wall rebuilt,—even offering to send for the governor of Murmur, and have him punished; but, at the same time, begging me not to acquaint the sultan of the occurrence. I expressed my reliance on his assurances, but apprised him I must inform the gadado of the affair. I afterwards spent the evening with Hameda.

June 13.—There was a fresh breeze in the morning; but it afterwards began to rain. Duncawa being laid up from lameness, I had a day’s rest, and again spent the evening with Hameda. The conversation turning on the trustworthiness of slaves, he mentioned to me, that his servants never knew in what apartment of his house he slept; and that he even lay with a dagger, and loaded pistols, under his pillow, lest he should be murdered by his female slaves. He also acquainted me, that almost all the Arabs did the same; for it was chiefly females whom they had reason to fear, the master being often strangled at night by the women of his household.

June 14.—Duncawa visited me again, and made me a present of two tobes, two sheep, and a large quantity of Guinea corn, and gave a tobe to each of my servants. I presented him with six hundred Goora nuts, having brought a large supply of them from Kano.

June 15.—I had every thing prepared for continuing my journey, but Duncawa pressed me to spend another day with him, and I availed myself of the delay to write to Bello and the gadado. I returned my humble thanks to the former for his protection and favour while I sojourned in his territories; and, in acknowledging the uniform kindness of the latter, I did not fail to acquaint him of the outrage committed on Dr. Oudney’s grave. I delivered these letters to the charge of Dumbojee, who, having fulfilled his orders, took leave of me here, having first made him a present of a couple of tobes and forty dollars. My guide, Mahomed Dumbojee, had now become rich and gay, having a numerous train of attendants; for at every town where we halted, the governor was bound in courtesy to make him a present, in token of respect for the sultan.

Having sent my camels forward, I went to bid farewell to Duncawa, who was still confined to his house by illness. He made me breakfast with him. Our breakfast consisted of a sheep’s head, singed in the same manner as is practised in Scotland—a sheep’s fry—and bread and milk. I was accompanied across the Yeou by my friend Hameda, and Duncawa’s horsemen, who all wished to be allowed to attend me to Sansan; but I excused myself from this guard of honour, at once troublesome and expensive, by pretending it was unlucky to go beyond the banks of a river with a friend. Attended only by one of Duncawa’s principal men, I passed the thick woods on the bank of the river, and, halting under a tamarind tree during the heat of the day, I encamped towards evening at a village called Mica. The inhabitants were all very busy in the fields sowing gussub. They brought me, however, an abundant supply of milk, and repeated inquiries were made after Bello’s health; for although they recently belonged to Bornou, of which country they are natives, they entertain, nevertheless, a great respect for their new sultan.

June 17.—I started at daylight, and, as the weather was cloudy and rather windy, I did not halt before reaching Sansan. I was here provided with very indifferent accommodation; but, on threatening I would encamp outside the town, the governor received me into his own house, according to Duncawa’s orders, and also made me a present of a sheep. At night there was a violent storm, with thunder and lightning. The poor lad Joseph, who had been hired at Kouka by the late Dr. Oudney to tend the camels, was out all night with them. Being a native of Fezzan, and half an idiot, he was here considered a holy man, and I still retained him in my service out of charity. It was he who gave me an account of the people of Bede, as he had been a slave among them; and related his story with such artless simplicity, that I implicitly rely on its correctness.

June 18.—Cool and cloudy. I heard to-day of a courier being delayed on his route, by his camel’s being knocked up; and as Duncawa was also preparing a present for the sheikh El Kanemy, I postponed my departure yet another day.

June 19.—At eleven in the forenoon the courier arrived, bringing a sabre as a present for the sultan Bello, and letters from Major Denham, the consul at Tripoli, and the secretary of state. Accordingly at mid-day I set off on my return to Katagum, in order to have the sword forwarded to Bello by Duncawa.

At ten in the morning I entered Katagum, and immediately waited on Duncawa to acquaint him with the cause of my return. I showed him the sword, and explaining to him the manner of attaching the belt, he expressed himself in terms of the highest admiration of both sheath and sabre; and looking again and again at the ornaments, he frequently asked, “Is not this all gold?” He sent instantly for the cadi, who wrote a letter in my name to Bello, and a courier was despatched with it and the sword. In the evening, another thunder-storm, with much rain.

June 21.—At one in the afternoon I arrived again at Sansan.

June 22.—Clear and sultry. I was further detained on account of the present for the sheikh not being ready.

June 23.—Morning cloudy. At seven in the morning I left Sansan, attended by part of the escort which was to conduct me through the Bede territory, and was obliged to stop about noon at the village of Girkwa, by a violent attack of ague and bilious vomiting. Previous to starting, I was joined by two merchants of Tripoli, who had been at Kano, and begged to be allowed to place themselves under my protection during this perilous part of the journey. In the afternoon Hadje Fudor, the governor of Sansan, arrived with the remainder of the escort, and also brought me a sheep, more in the expectation, I think, of receiving some Goora nuts in return, than from any regard for me. At midnight more rain, thunder, and lightning.

June 24.—Cool and cloudy. At ten in the morning halted at the village of Boorum, to fill our water-skins, and afterwards travelled through a thick wood, where we saw a number of karigums and elephants: the karigum is a species of antelope, of the largest size, as high as a full grown mule. At sunset we pitched our tents in the woods. The night was extremely boisterous, with rain, thunder and lightning, and violent squalls of wind; and my tent being blown down, the baggage was drenched with water.

June 25.—Next morning we continued our route through a thick wood, and halted at Joba during the heat of the day, when I had my baggage dried in the sun. We still travelled through a thick wood, and at seven in the evening encamped at a village called Gorbua. Rain, thunder, and lightning, all night.

June 26.—Cloudy, with rain. At ten in the morning I left Gorbua, or “the strong town,” as it is ironically called in the Bornouese language, from being enclosed with matting. Our road, still winding and woody, led through the Bede territory; and at sunset we reached Guba, a small town on the south bank of the Yeou, within the dominions of Bornou.

June 27.—The forenoon was rainy, which obliged us to remain at Guba till one in the afternoon; when the weather clearing up, we loaded the camels, and crossing to the north bank of the channel of the river, which was now dry, we travelled east by south to the town of Muznee, where we halted for the night.

June 28.—Cloudy, with rain. We travelled eastward along a crooked path, full of holes, and overgrown with brushwood, and took up our abode for the night at the town of Redwa. An officer of the sultan of Bornou was here, collecting his master’s dues, and sent me milk, onions, and six fowls; and I presented him, in return, with fifteen Goora nuts.

June 29.—After travelling east by north, we halted at noon at Kukabonee, or “wood and fish,” a large town on the south bank of the Yeou. We next passed Magawin, and a number of other villages and towns on the banks of the river, which we had not visited before, when we accompanied the sheikh last year.

June 30.—Cool and cloudy. We halted at ten in the morning at Dungamee, in consequence of heavy rain with thunder and lightning, which continued without intermission all day.

July 1.—Clear. The weather was hot and sultry. At sunset we arrived at Mugabee. I shot at a hippopotamus which was swimming in a lake, of which there are many in this part of the country; I seemed to hit it, but it quickly disappeared.

July 2.—Stopped for the day to allow the camels to have food and rest.

July 3.—Between Gateramaran and Mugabee we met Malam Fanamee, the governor of Munga, who had been to Kouka on a visit to the sheikh. He was a dirty looking old man, preceded by a drummer beating a drum, and attended by a parcel of ragged followers, armed with bows and spears. We encamped at night in a wood.

July 4.—At mid-day we halted on the banks of the Yeou: in the afternoon there was thunder, lightning, and rain. A dealer in fish, who had joined our party, solicited me in vain to pursue a route through a town named Sucko, where he was going, promising me a sheep, with plenty of milk, as an inducement. We passed another night in the woods.

July 5.—Clear and cool. At ten in the morning we halted and filled our water-skins, and I here shot a hare and two Guinea-fowls. About an hour after starting we had heavy squalls of wind, with thunder and rain: the storm was so violent that the camels lay down with their burdens, and my horse would neither move forward, nor face the storm in spite of all I could do. It was an hour before we were able to resume our journey, and at eight in the evening we encamped in the woods. The dangers of the road being past, my two fellow travellers, the merchants before mentioned, left me at midnight on account of the want of water.

July 6.—To-day I shot a fine male mohur, or beautiful red and white antelope; a female only of which species I had once shot at Woodie. At noon we took shelter under the walls of Borgee from heavy squalls of wind and sand, but without rain. At sunset we encamped near a well where there had been a great fall of rain, and all the hollows were filled with water. To roast our mohur a large fire was kindled in a hole made in the sand, on which it was placed, and then covered over with hot embers; but, in the morning, to our great disappointment, nothing remained of our prize but the naked skeleton.

July 7.—At noon we halted at the wells of Barta, and encamped at night at the wells and town of Calawawa.

July 8.—At eight in the morning I returned to Kouka: Major Denham was absent on a journey round the east side of the Tchad. Hillman, the naval carpenter, was busily employed in finishing a covered cart, to be used as a carriage or conveyance for the sheikh’s wives: the workmanship, considering his materials, reflected the greatest credit on his ingenuity; the wheels were hooped with iron, and it was extremely strong, though neither light nor handsome.

July 9.—In the afternoon I waited on the sheikh, who was very kind in his inquiries after my health, and expressed much regret at Dr. Oudney’s death.

July 10.—To-day the sheikh sent me three pairs of slippers, two loaves of sugar, and a supply of coffee; and two days afterwards a sheep, two bags of wheat, and a jar of honey.

=APPENDIX.=

TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ARABIC, OF VARIOUS LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS, BROUGHT FROM BORNOU AND SOUDAN BY MAJOR DENHAM AND CAPTAIN CLAPPERTON.

BY A. SALAME, ESQUIRE.

* * * * *

No. I.

Translation of a Letter from the Sheikh Mohammed El Kanemy, Chieftain of Bornou, in the Interior of Africa, to his Most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth. Brought by Major Denham.

“Praise be to God, and blessings and peace be unto the Apostle of God (Mohammed). From the servant of the High God, Mohammed El Ameen ben Mohammed El Kanemy,

“To the pre-eminent above his equals, and the respected among his inferiors, the great King of the English, salutation be to him from us:

“Whereas your messengers, the travellers through the earth, for the purpose, as they state, of seeing and knowing its marvellous things, have come to us, we welcomed them, and paid attention to their arrival, in consequence of what we heard of your intercourse with the Mùslemeen, and the establishment of your friendly relations between you and their kings, since the time of your and their fathers and grandfathers (ancestors).

“We have thus regarded that friendship, and behaved to them according to its merits, as much as God the Omnipotent enabled us. They communicated your compliments to us, and that which you stated in your letter, that you would not object, if we should be in want of any thing from your country, was made known to us; and we felt thankful to you for this (offer) on your part.

“They are now returning to you, after having accomplished their wishes; but one of them, whose period of life was ended, died. This was the physician; and an excellent and wise man he was.

“The Rayes Khaleel (travelling name of Major Denham) desired of us permission, that merchants seeking for elephant-teeth, ostrich feathers, and other such things, that are not to be found in the country of the English, might come among us. We told him that our country, as he himself has known and seen its state, does not suit any heavy (rich) traveller, who may possess great wealth. But if a few light persons (small capitalists), as four or five only, with little merchandize, would come, there will be no harm. This is the utmost that we can give him permission for; and more than this number must not come. If you should wish to send any one from your part to this country again, it would be best to send Rayes Khaleel; for he knows the people and the country, and became as one of the inhabitants.

“The few things that we are in want of are noted down in a separate paper, which we forward to you.

“Write to the consul at Tripoli, and to that at Cairo, desiring them, if any of our servants or people should go to them for any affair, either on land or at sea, to assist them, and do for them according to their desire. And peace be with you.

“Dated on the evening of Saturday, the middle of the month Fledja, 1239 of Hejra (corresponding to August 1824).

“Sealed. The will of God be done, and in God hath his faith, his slave Mohammed El Ameen ben Mohammed El Kanemy.”

* * * * *

No. II.

Translation of a Letter from an African Chieftain (Bello) of Soudan, to his Majesty King George the Fourth. Brought by Mr. Clapperton.

“In the name of God, the merciful and the clement. May God bless our favourite Prophet Mohammed, and those who follow his sound doctrine.

“To the head of the Christian nation, the honoured and the beloved among the English people, George the Fourth, King of Great Britain;

“Praise be to God, who inspires, and peace be unto those who follow, the right path:

“Your Majesty’s servant, Ra-yes-Abd-Allah, (Mr. Clapperton’s travelling name,) came to us, and we found him a very intelligent and wise man; representing in every respect your greatness, wisdom, dignity, clemency, and penetration.

“When the time of his departure came, he requested us to form a friendly relation, and correspond with you, and to prohibit the exportation of slaves by our merchants to Ata-gher, Dahomi, and Ashantee. We agreed with him upon this, on account of the good which will result from it, both to you and to us; and that a vessel of yours is to come to the harbour of Racka with two cannons, and the quantities of powder, shot, &c. which they require; as also, a number of muskets. We will then send our officer to arrange and settle every thing with your consul, and fix a certain period for the arrival of your merchant ships; and when they come, they may traffic and deal with our merchants.

“Then after their return, the consul may reside in that harbour (viz. Racka), as protector, in company with our agent there, if God be pleased.”

“Dated 1st of Rhamadan, 1239 of Hejra.” 18th April, 1824.

* * * * *

No. III.

A Letter from Yousuf, Pasha of Tripoli, to the Sheikh of Bornou.

“Praise be to God, and prayers be unto him who was the last of the Prophets (Mohammed).

“To the learned and accomplished, the virtuous Iman, the jealous and zealous defender of the Mohammedan faith, our true friend the Sheikh Mohammed El Kanemy, Lord of the country of Barnooh[66], and its dependencies, whom may God protect and dignify, and prolong his life long in happiness and felicity. Peace be unto you, and the mercy and blessings of God be upon you, as long as the inhabitants of the world shall exist.

“It follows, my Lord, subsequent to the due inquiry we make after your health, which may God preserve, that your esteemed letter has reached us, and we became acquainted with its contents. You informed us that our beloved son, Aba Bak’r Ben Khalloom, arrived in your presence, in company with some persons of the English nation, our friends; and that you received them with extreme kindness, and showed them all the marvellous things that your country contains, and made them see all the extraordinary rivers and lakes that surround it; and that you behaved to them as becoming your high station, and indicating your esteem and regard towards us. May God reward you for all this kindness, and protect you from all evils. This kind treatment was our sanguine expectation, and indeed we were already sure of it, from what we knew of the true friendship and amity established between us.

“What we have now to acquaint you with, is to request that you will continue your protection and assistance to the said English travellers (though we doubt not you do not need this additional recommendation), and cause them to proceed to the country of Soudan, to behold its marvellous things, and traverse the seas (lakes or rivers), and deserts therein. This being the proper desire of the great King of the English himself, we beg of you to use your utmost endeavours, as far as lies in your power, in their safe arrival at the country of Soudan, accompanied either by letters of recommendation, or by troops and guards, in order that they may obtain the accomplishment of their wishes, and return to us safe and unhurt; and whatever kindness you may do to them, it is done to us. Resolve therefore, and exert yourself, as we are confident of your goodness, and let them see all the places which they wish to visit.

“At the end there will be a splendid present, befitting your high rank, sent to you through us, consisting of various rare and elegant articles of value; for the delivery of which, unto your hands, we pledge ourselves.

“This is all that we have to say at present, and if any affair should occur to you in this country, let us know. And peace be unto you.

“Your friend,

(Signed) “YOUSUF PASHA.”

(Dated) “28th of Sha-wal, 1238 of Hejra;” corresponding to August, 1823.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 66: Note. This is the proper name of Bornou. A. S.]

No. IV.

A Letter from the before named Pasha of Tripoli to Aba Bak’r ben Khalloom, at Bornou.

“We received your letter, and comprehended all that you stated to us. We were glad to hear that you, and our friends, the English travellers, with whom we sent you as guide and conductor, had arrived at Barnooh in safety; and that you were kindly received by our friend, my Lord, the Sheikh Mohammed El Kanemy, who immediately allowed the travellers to inspect all the deserts, and seas, lakes and rivers, that are in his country. May God reward him for this act of kindness. We have written to thank him for his laudable behaviour; and we pray to God to enable us to show him equal kindness in return.

“With regard to the persons of the different tribes, who were obstinate and disobedient to you on the road, they have been apprehended, and taken and punished one by one.

“As long as the English travellers remain at Barnooh, you have to attend, and be with them wherever they go, till they shall have obtained their wishes, and accomplished their object; and when they desire to return, you may accompany and come with them as you went. If this letter should reach you before you leave Barnooh, you must stay with them, as above stated; if it reach you while you are on the road homewards, you must return to Barnooh immediately, and only send us the slave you have with you; and if you should arrive at Fezzan before this letter reaches you, you may then send your brother to Barnooh, to stay with them instead of you; for we only sent you on their account, for the purpose of facilitating their proceeding, and all their affairs. It is, therefore, impossible that you should leave or part with them, but in this manner; and we are sure that, to a person like you, there is no need to add any stronger words, especially as you know that they are in our honour, and under our protection, both in their going and returning in safety; which is the accomplishment of our wishes. And may you live in happiness and peace.

(Signed) “YOUSUF PASHA.”

(Dated) “2d of Ze-el-ka’da, 1238;” corresponding to August, 1823.

No. V.

A Letter from the Sheikh of Bornou to the Sultan of Kanou.

“Praise be to God, and prayers and peace be unto the Apostle of God (Mohammed).

“From the slave of the high God, Mohammed El-ameen ben Mohammed El-kanemy, to the head of his land and the leader of his people, the learned Mohammed Daboo, lord and master of Kanou: Perfect peace, and the mercy and blessings of God, be unto you.

“Hence, the bearer, who is going to you, is our friend Mohammed El-wardy, in whose company he has some Englishmen; who came to the land of Soodan for the purpose of seeing and delighting themselves with the wonders it contains, and to examine and see the lakes and rivers, and forests, and deserts therein. They have been sent by their king for this purpose.

“Between their nation and the Mooslemeen, there have existed, since the times of their fathers and great grandfathers (ancestors), treaties of religious amity and friendship, special to themselves out of all the other nations that have erred, and are at variance with the doctrine of Aboo Hanifa[67]. There never was between them and the Mooslemeen any dispute; and whenever war is declared by the other Christians against the Mooslemeen, they are always ready to help us, as it has happened in the great assistance they gave to our nation when they delivered Egypt from the hands of the French. They have, therefore, continually penetrated into the countries of the Mooslemeen, and travelled where-ever they pleased with confidence and trust, and without being either molested or hurt. They are, as it is stated, descendants of the ancient Greek emperor Heraclius, who received and esteemed the letter sent to him from the Apostle of God (Mohammed), whom may God bless, by Dahi-yah El-kalbee, containing his exhortation to him to embrace the Moosleman faith; and who, on receiving that sacred epistle, preserved it in a gold case,—though it is stated, in the books of history, that he did not become a Mooslem.

“Thus, if God permit them to reach you in safety, be attentive to them, and send guards to conduct them to the country of Kashna, safe and unhurt; for they are at the mercy of God, and at the honour of his Apostle; and you are well aware of the Alcoraanic sayings upon the subject of the observance of honour. And peace be with you.”

Dated “Wednesday, the 6th day of Rabee-ul-thani, 1239,” (Corresponding to January, 1824.)

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 67: Aboo Hanifa, or Imam Kanafee, was one of the four great imams or high priests, founders of the four orthodox rites of Mohammedanism; and whose doctrine, it seems, is followed by these people. A. S.]

* * * * *

No. VI.

_A Letter from the Sheikh of Bornou to Mohammed Bello, Sultan of Hoossa._

“Praise be to God, and prayers and peace be unto the Apostle of God, (Mohammed).

“To the honoured and accomplished, the virtuous and munificent, the pattern of goodness and the standard of benevolence, head of the Soodanic kingdom, and ruler of the country of Hoossa, our friend, the learned Mohammed Bello, son of the intelligent sheikh Ossman, whose soul may God shelter with the clouds of mercy and peace.

“Our kind salutation, accompanied with affection as strong as the odour of musk, and as perpetual as the movement of the globe, and with the mercy and blessings of God, be unto you.

“Hence, the cause of writing this letter and the purpose of its lines, is to acquaint you that the bearers are English travellers; whose nation, out of all the other Christians, has maintained with the Mooslemeen uninterrupted treaties of religious amity and friendship, established since ancient periods, which they inherited from their forefathers and ancestors; and, on this account, they penetrate into the Mooslemeen countries whenever they please, and traverse all provinces and lands, in confidence and trust, without fear. They came to our country, sent to us by our virtuous and accomplished friend, the Lord Yousuf Pashá, master of Tripoli, to see and delight themselves with the wonders of the land of Soodan, and to become acquainted with its rarities, as lakes, rivers, and forests (or gardens); equal to which are seldom seen in any other countries.

“After having accomplished their wishes, in seeing all the things that the land of Barnooh and its environs contained, they felt anxious to visit your country from what they heard of the innumerable wonders therein. I have, therefore, permitted them to proceed on their journey, accompanying them with letters which explain their object.

“You are well aware of what is stated in the Alcoraanic sayings upon the subject of the observance of honour, dictated by our Lord, the Apostle of God; and that the true Mooslemeen have always avoided shedding the blood of Christians, and assisted and protected them with their own honour. Be then attentive to these travellers, and cast them not into the corners of neglect; let no one hurt them, either by words or deeds, nor interrupt them with any injurious behaviour: but let them return to us, safe, content, and satisfied, as they went from us to you; and may the high God bestow upon you the best reward for your treatment to them, and insure to us and to you the path of the righteous for our conduct in this life.

“Our salutation may be given to all who are about you, and to those who are related to you in general. And peace be unto you.

(Sealed) “MOHAMMED EL-AMEEN BEN MOHAMMED EL-KANEMY.”

Dated “23d of Rabee-ul-thani, 1239,” (Corresponding to January, 1824).

* * * * *

No. VII.

A Letter from the Chieftain Mohammed Gamsoo, at Sackatoo, to the Prince of Ya-oory.

“In the name of God, the merciful and the clement; and prayers and peace be unto our Lord, Mohammed.

“From the slave of God, Mohammed, son of the Hadgi Omar Gamzoo, to our friend, the dearest we have, the Prince of Ya-oory.

“Salutation without end or termination be unto you and all your friends and relations. If you inquire after our health, and that of the Prince of the Mooslemeen, and our friends, we are all sound and vigorous. Our slave has reached us with the letter from you, which I showed and read to the prince, and he was delighted with it; and we are prevented from sending you a messenger with an answer, only by the prince having ordered us to proceed to the eastern parts of the country to attend to some of his affairs there. But, if God be pleased to cause us to return in safety, you shall receive an express messenger from me.

“The prince now sends you the English Rayes Abdallah (Captain Clapperton’s assumed name), who is anxious to see your country and visit you. He has been honoured and esteemed by the sheikh (of Bornou), and by the prince of Kanoo, as also by the prince of the Mooslemeen; and as you rank among the generous, receive him and honour him generously. When he returns, send us a letter, and express all your wishes in it.

“Give our salutation to our brother and all the friends, and we exhort you to attend to the contents of this epistle for the sake of the friendship which was established between you and our ancestors, and is now between me and you; especially as you never behaved towards us but very laudably. And may God bestow upon you more good sense, in addition to that which you possess.”

* * * * *

No. VIII.

A Document relating to the Death of Mungo Park.

“Hence, be it known that some Christians came to the town of Youri, in the kingdom of Yaoor, and landed and purchased provisions, as onions and other things; and they sent a present to the King of Yaoor. The said king desired them to wait until he should send them a messenger, but they were frightened, and went away by the sea (river). They arrived at the town called Bossa, or Boossa, and their ship then rubbed (struck) upon a rock, and all of them perished in the river.

“This fact is within our knowledge, and peace be the end.

“It is genuine from Mohammed ben Dehmann.”

[In addition to the above, there is a kind of postscript appended to the document by a different hand; which, being both ungrammatical and scarcely legible, I had some difficulty in translating and giving it a proper meaning. The words, however, are, I think, as follows; though most of them have been made out by conjecture.]

“And they agreed, or arranged among themselves, and swam in the sea (river), while the men, who were with (pursuing) them, appeared on the coast of the sea (bank of the river), and fell upon them till they went down (sunk) in it.”

* * * * *

No. IX.

A Letter from the Sheikh of Bornou to Captain Clapperton.

“Praise be to God, and prayers and peace be unto the Apostle of God.

“From the slave of the high God, Mohammed El-ameen ben Mohammed El-kanemy, to the Ra-yes Abd-allah, the Englishman. Peace be unto him who follows the light of instruction.

“Hence, we received your letter, and comprehended its contents; as also what you acquainted us with relative to the kindness and friendship which the people showed you. May God bless them; and we never doubted this behaviour on their part.

“With regard to what you stated upon the subject of the calumny uttered by some of the Arabs against you, you need not turn your mind to, nor think of it; as nothing shall befal you, while you are in this land, but what God Almighty may inflict upon you, without the instigation of any of his creatures.

“The physician your friend is dead. This is the state of the world; and may God increase your life. Before his death, he promised to give his pistols to us as a present; and on this condition he kept them for his own use, as being borrowed from us, until his return to his own country: but now, as he is dead, you may deliver them to our friend Hadgi Saleh, to send them to us. And may God conduct you (to your own country) in health and safety.

(Sealed) “MOHAMMED EL-AMEEN BEN MOHAMMED EL-KANEMY.”

No. X.

A Document made at the Court of Justice of Bornou.

“Praise be to God alone. May God bless our Lord Mohammed, and all his relations and friends.

“Whereas, at the court of (here the titles of the sheikh and his pedigree follow,) the Lord Sheikh Mohammed El-Kanemy, Hadgi Alij, son of Hadgi Moosa ben Khalloom, and the English physician, with his two friends, Rayes Abdallah, and Rayes Khaleel, appeared; the physician demanded of the said Hadgi Alij the restitution of two thousand hard silver dollars, which he and his said friends had lent to his late brother Abu Bakr ben Khalloom, through the English consul at Tripoli, on condition of repaying them after their arrival at Barnooh, according to his own acknowledgment and a bond in the said physician’s possession; and that they demanded this debt from Hadgi Alij, because he took possession of all his deceased brother’s property. Hadgi Alij replied, that he knew nothing of their claim upon his late brother: but, if they possessed a bond, they might produce it to prove their claim. They produced a paper, not written in Arabic, bearing the seal of the said deceased Abu Bakr; and, as no one could read what that paper contained, the judge told them that, notwithstanding it bore the seal of the said deceased, it could not be valid, nor of any use to them. They then produced one of the friends of the deceased Abu Bakr, as witness, who attested that, while at Tripoli, he was sent by him to the consul’s house, where he received the two thousand dollars and delivered them to him (the deceased), knowing that they were to be repaid at Barnooh, according to the present claim. His testimony, however, was not approved of by the judge.

“They appeared a second time at the said court of justice, and alleged that Hadgi Alij, after their first appearance, acknowledged, and pledged himself to pay them the two thousand dollars which they claimed from his late brother; that he paid them a part of the said sum in cotton clothes to the value of six hundred dollars in Barnooh money, and that the remaining fourteen hundred were to be repaid to them by him at the city of Kanoo in Soodan; and they, therefore, wished to legalize this before the judge.

“Hadgi Alij, however, said, that he gave them the six hundred dollars, merely as an act of kindness on his part, and as a loan from him to them, which they were to return to him at Kanoo; and that he never acknowledged, nor promised to pay his brother’s debt; but that, he told them, if they should be in want of more money at Kanoo, he would advance them as much as he could afford. They then requested the judge to restrict him from selling, or sending his brother’s property to Kanoo (lest it should be lost on the road), until they had proved their claim by better evidence. Hadgi Alij, at last, agreed, either himself or through his agent, to pay them five hundred dollars more, in addition to the six hundred, two months after their arrival at Kanoo; and fixed a period of one year, from the date of this document between them and him, for the proof of the justice of their claim; and that, if they fail to prove their demand upon his deceased brother before the lapse of the said period, they were to repay him the eleven hundred dollars, and forego all their claims. But if, on the contrary, they should be able to substantiate their demand within the stipulated period, he would then repay to them the nine hundred dollars, balance of the two thousand.

“Upon these conditions, both parties agreed and declared themselves content and satisfied, while they were in a perfect state of health and mind as to deserve reliance and dependence upon.

“Issued from the Court of Justice of the honoured and learned sheikh Mohammed El-ameen ben Mohammed El-kanemy, at Barnooh, on the 27th day of Rabee-ul-a-wal, one thousand two hundred and thirty-nine of the Prophetical Hejra, (corresponding to December, 1823); in presence of Mohammed Zain-ul-Abedeen ben Akhmed ben Mohammed; of Mohammed ben Akhmed ben Aba Bakr; and of Mohammed ben Hadgi Meelad ben Taleb. And may the high God be witness upon all.”

No. XI.

Translation of Letters and Documents received from the Sheikh of Bornou concerning Mr. Tyrwhit’s Death.

1.—A Letter from the above-mentioned Sheikh to the British Consul at Tripoli.

“Praise be to God, and blessings and peace be unto the Apostle of God, (Mohammed).

“From the slave of the High God, Mohammed El Ameen ben Mohammed El Kanemy, to the head of his people, the respected and honoured by the children of his nation, the English Consul resident at Tripoli. After the due salutation, and our inquiry after your health, we have to inform you that we are, by the grace of God, enjoying perfect health and prosperity. Your letter which you sent to Fezzan has reached us, and we comprehended its contents; but the letter you sent by our messengers Abraham and Abdullah has not come to our hand yet, though we hope their arrival will be soon.

“You are well aware, that the omnipotent God hath ordained to every man a certain age, which can neither be increased nor decreased, and hath destined to him a grave, in which he can neither enter before his time, nor from which he can fly when his time comes. Thus, when you know this, it may be an alleviation to your sorrow and grief, when you hear of the death of your friends and relations: so that we have now to acquaint you, that your son Tair (Tyrwhit) ended his life, and his days and hours terminated by his death, on Monday the end of Saffar 1240[68], while we were absent in a war with our enemies. After his death and interment, the elders and priests of our metropolis entered his house, to ascertain and note down the effects he left, in order, and from fear, that in the course of time, there may be no suspicion of distrust thrown upon the trustees. They found the property he left was not considerable: they made a list of it, which herewith you will receive, and left the whole in the hands of his trustees, Eben Saada of Tripoli, and the Hadje Aly El-ma-yel, who were his servants. But God knows whether this was the whole of his property, or some of it was fraudulently concealed by those who were in the house at his death.

“With regard to the desire which you expressed to us, to know the source of the inundation of the river that divides our country, we have to inform you that this sea (river) of ours is a great and extensive lake, the circumference of which is about twenty days’ journey, and into which various rivers empty themselves from the part of the land of Soodan, and from the right and east of our country, which joins the uninhabited mountains and the land of the Pagans, to whom no one goes. And God only knows what is to be found on the other side of these places.

“Send our salutation to the great King of the English, and to every one who inquires after us amicably.

(Sealed) “MOHAMMED EL KANEMY.”

(Dated) “Sunday, the eve of the end of the month of Rajab, 1240.” (About the 20th of March, 1825.)

2.—A Document containing the List of the Property left by Mr. Tyrwhit, as alluded to in the foregoing Letter, and a Certificate of his Death, and the Things that were found after the Return of the Sheikh from his Expedition.

THE LIST.

“Whereas the Elders and Priests of the metropolis of the Arabs (Barnoo), having assembled and repaired to the house of the deceased English traveller, named Tair (Tyrwhit), who died on Monday the last day of Saffar, 1240, to ascertain and note down what he left; it proved, in their presence, that all his property was as follows:

“First, two swords and a sash, a musket, a pair of pistols, another pair ditto, three . . . ., a sash, six silver spoons, a fork, a razor, fifteen bottles of . . . . . ., eleven . . . . . ., four coffee cups, three cupping glasses, a sun scale (quadrant), a . . . . ., three squares of soap, a box containing some . . . . ., four . . . . ., two pair of boots or slippers, a skull cotton cap, a woollen ditto, an Indian looking-glass, twenty pieces of wearing apparel, as shirts, drawers, &c. of his country, six towels, a paper containing some cinnamon, a black napkin handkerchief for his neck, four hand napkins, two . . . . ., a pillow of Soodan manufacture, a silk sash, a silk cord, a . . . . ., a jacket embroidered with silver, a yard of red cloth, a canvas bag, three gun covers, a cord for trowsers, some boxes containing part of these things, a pair of Constantinople slippers, a pair of Barbary ditto, or shoes, two scrapers of pig’s hair (tooth-brushes), a looking-glass, ten pounds of gunpowder, twenty-three bundles of . . . . ., three looking-glasses for the nose (spectacles), a . . . . ., another hand napkin, three empty . . . . ., a broken glass, three squares of soap again, a . . . . three watch rings, a pair of fine razors, a pound of antimony, a pound of coral, fifty-three beads of amber, a pair of Soodanie boots, three pair ditto of his country, a red cloth bornouse or cloak, a . . . . ., fifty hard dollars, fifty-two books, a coffee waiter, two tin cans, three burning glasses, a telescope, a waistcoat, a white bornouse of Barbary, a towel, another bornouse, a writing desk, an umbrella, two loaves of sugar, a . . . . ., two time pieces for the road (compasses), a nose looking-glass (spectacles), a razor, two cork-screws, or ramrod screws, a . . . . ., five . . . . ., three pair of trowsers, four tiger skins, two mats of Noofee, two beds, or small Turkish carpets, a pillow of Soodan, five sacks, fifteen water skins, or leather bags, a cooking pot, a saucepan, an ewer, two large jars, a pan, two coffee pots, two . . . ., two hooks, four empty . . . . ., a chisel, a hammer, a camel, a female ditto, a horse, a mule, two saddles of Barnoo, one ditto of his country, three wax cloth covers, a . . . . ., two sun glasses, fifty medicine bottles, a woollen bed or carpet, a . . . . .; and Hamdo Et-tafteef has by him a network shirt or dress, a bird called Jamaj-mak; and he confessed that he borrowed fifty dollars from the deceased.

“Besides the above property, it was found that he has to receive twenty dollars from one of the inhabitants of Barnoo, and thirty from another; as likewise twenty-four dollars from the servant of the sharif Barakat, sixty dollars from the Mamluk Bey Mohammed, and 165 from the Mamluk Mohammed, son of Hadje Mahmood.

“His debts to various persons are as follows: fourteen and a half dollars to Hamdo Et-tafteef for . . . . ., eight dollars to the same, for a bed and six pounds of . . . . ., four feathers to . . . . ., and the wages of his two servants; as likewise, three dollars to the burying people, and two dollars to the man who watched his tomb at night, to prevent the body from being devoured by the hyena.

“His servant Ben Saada stated that this account of the debts owing by, and due to the deceased, were contracted through him for his master.

“This is the whole of the property left by the deceased; and whatever has been noted down in this document, whether of great or little value, has been deposited in the hands of his abovenamed servant Ben Saada of Tripoli, and his fellow-servants.”

THE CERTIFICATE.

“Whereas our Master and Lord, defender of the Moosleman faith, the Sheikh Mohammed El Kanemy, having, after his return from subduing his enemies, assembled the elders and priests of the inhabitants of his metropolis, and gave them a special audience, ordered that the foregoing list, which was written during his absence, be read in their presence; and, after every one heard and understood it, commanded a revisal of the property left by the deceased Englishman to be made, to ascertain its amount afresh. Accordingly, we the undersigned repaired to the house of the deceased, and found all the beforementioned articles extant except the following, which have been used or lost by his servant, Mohammed ben Saada of Tripoli, who had the things under his care. A pair of boots, four bottles out of the fifteen, a napkin or handkerchief for the neck, three pair of trowsers, three . . . ., three squares of soap, a canvas bag, and two . . . . . But a few more articles, which had not been inserted in the list, were found. They are as follows: a piece of Egyptian mat, two pieces of sealing-wax, a bullet mould, four charts or maps, two travelling bags (one of which contains some of the articles, and is deposited with his other servant Hadje Aly El-ma-yel), a cannon ramrod screw, a pound of . . . . ., two . . . . ., two bridles, a . . . . ., two covers, three horse-shoes, five tin canisters for meat, a wooden bowl, a wax cloth cover, a large tin canister, a writing box containing eight pens, two blank books, nine . . . . ., and a bottle containing some oil.

“His horse, which is mentioned in the list, has been sold to Mohammed Sal-ha for 172 dollars.

“His servant, Mohammed ben Saada, declared before the assembly, that his master, the said deceased Englishman, named Tair (Tyrwhit), on finding his life was hopeless, bequeathed the following articles to his Excellency the Sheikh. A mule, a red bornouse, a looking-glass, or telescope, a pair of pistols, ten canisters of gunpowder, of which, however, eight only were found, a pair of Egyptian shoes or slippers, a sword, though it was rusty, a . . . . ., a dining waiter or table-cloth, and a . . . . .

“After this, the assembly agreed, by the order of our Lord the Sheikh, to allow to each of the three servants of the deceased (who are intrusted with the things he left), three dollars per month.

“Done on the evening of Monday, the last day of Rajab 1240, in the presence of the noble Sheikh and his assembly, of which we the undersigned are members, and do hereby bear witness before the Almighty God.

(Sealed) “MOHAMMED EL AMEEN BEN MOHAMMED EL KANEMY.

(Signed) “YOUSOF BEN ABD ELKADER EL-KAKARY,

“SALEH BEN EL-HADJE HAMED,

“MOHAMMED EL WARDI BEN EL HADJE ALY,

“BEN ABD ELKADER ABA-NEARAN,

“MOHAMMED BEN IBRAHEEM ET-TAFTEEF,

and “MOHAMMED BEN EL-HADJE ISSA BEN AHMED EL-MESSRATI[69].”

3. A Letter from the Sheikh to Ra-yes-Khaleel, or Major Denham.

“Praise be to God, and blessings and peace be unto the Apostle of God.

“From the slave of the High God, Mohammed El Ameen ben Mohammed El Kanemy, to the honoured by the children of his nation, Ra-yes Khaleel, the Englishman. After our salutation and inquiry after your health, we have to inform you that we are, by the grace of God, enjoying perfect health and prosperity. Your letter has reached us, and we comprehended its contents.

“You are well aware, that the Omnipotent God hath ordained to every man a certain age, which can neither be increased nor decreased; and hath destined to him a grave, in which he can neither enter before his time, nor from which he can fly when his time comes. Thus, when you know this, it may be an alleviation to your sorrow and grief, when you hear of the death of your friends and relations: so that we have now to acquaint you that your brother Tair (Tyrwhit) ended his life, and his days and hours terminated by his death, on Monday, the end of Saffar, 1240, while we were absent in a war with our enemies. After his death and interment, the elders and priests of our metropolis entered his house, to ascertain and note down the effects he left, in order, and from fear that, in the course of time, there might be no suspicion of distrust thrown upon the trustees. They found the property he left was not considerable: they made a list of it, which herewith you will receive, and left the whole in the hands of his trustees, Eben Saada of Tripoli, and the Hadje Aly El-ma-yel, who were his servants. But God knows whether this was the whole of his property, or whether some of it might have been fraudulently concealed by those who were in the house at his death.

“The war in which we were engaged was with Aly Yamanook, who first declared hostilities against us. We went out to him through the Kanoom road on the last day of Moharram 1240, and arrived near the islands in which he was intrenched on Thursday the 19th of the month of the sacred birth of our Prophet[70].

“He entered the islands, and left between him and us seven streams; two of which could not be crossed but in boats, two were as deep as to cover a man to the neck, and the other three had their water as high as the navel only, or perhaps lower.

“We besieged him till he was in great distress, suffered much famine, and most of his animals perished; and when we had collected canoes for the landing of our troops on the islands, he submitted, and begged forgiveness. We at first refused; but when he repeated his applications and solicitations, we consented, binding him by many severe and heavy conditions, which he accepted, and restored to us, according to our demands, all that he had taken from our people. He then came out of the islands, humble like a camel led by his driver, and submissive like a tender twig to the hand that roots it out.

“Thus we withdrew our army, after a siege of three months and ten days, and after having likewise subdued all the disobedient and disorderly Arabs, and returned to our home on Sunday the middle of Rajab[71].

“Nothing new has happened since you left us, but every good and happiness, and the increase of tranquillity and cheapness. We, however, have lost our illustrious and noble friend Hassan Et-Teflati, who died in this town; as likewise Mohammed Ben Dehman of Katacoom, and Yakoob El-Owjal of An-karno, to whom may God show mercy and forgiveness.

“The news from the interior is, that the ruler of Wa-da-i made an expedition against the eastern part of the country towards Tamak; but that he was repulsed and returned routed. The truth of this, however, we could not ascertain, because it came from indirect channels.

“The ruler of Foor, also, sent an army against the Turks[72], who are in Kordafal or Kordofal; and it is reported that they had a battle at a place called Kajah, which ended with the defeat of the army of Foor, and the death of three of their grandees, besides what fell of the troops; but that the said chieftain is gathering a larger army, and means to send it against them. God only, however, knows what will be the result.

“The ruler of Bakermy, who last year fled to the land of the Pagans, has not returned; and a brother of his from Wa-da-i has collected what troops he could, and proceeded against him. But God knows what will happen between them.

“Give our salutation to your sister, and all your family and friends; and peace be with you.”

Dated and sealed as the foregoing, viz. Letter No. I.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 68: About the 22d or 23d of October 1824.]

[Footnote 69: Explanation. The blanks in this list are those of the names of some articles which I could not make out; they being mostly English in the Moorish character, or described according to the idea those people have of their use. A. S.]

[Footnote 70: From this it seems, that the journey was made in forty-nine days, viz. the last day of Moharram, which is the first month of the year, the twenty-nine days of the following month Saffar, and nineteen days of the month in which Mohammed was born, which is the third in the year. Being unacquainted with the distance and the spot, I cannot, of course, pretend to give any farther illustration. A. S.]

[Footnote 71: The middle of Rajab is the 164th or 165th day from his first departure; and according to this, it appears that the sheikh, on returning home, made the journey in fifteen or sixteen days only; whereas, on going, it took him forty-nine days. This difference may perhaps be accounted for, on account of the incumbrances and slow movement of the army. A. S.]

[Footnote 72: The Sheikh says “he went” through the Kanoom (or Kanem) road, which is by the north side of the lake; and the difference of time occupied in the journey out and home may therefore be easily accounted for, by supposing him to have returned across the Shary by the southern end of the lake, this road being much the shortest, as will appear on referring to the map. Indeed, I see no other way of accounting for the difference. D. D.]

No. XII.

Translation of an Arabic MS. brought by Captain Clapperton from the Interior of Africa, containing a geographical and historical Account of the Kingdom of Tak-roor, now under the Control of Sultan Mohammed Bello of Hoossa, extracted from a larger Work composed by the said Sultan.

“In the name of God, the merciful and the clement, &c. &c.

“This is an extract taken from the work entitled, “Enfak El-may-soor, fee tareekh belad Et-tak-roor,” (viz. The Dissolver of Difficulties, in the History of the Country of Tak-roor), composed by the ornament of his time, and the unequalled among his contemporaries, the Prince of the faithful, and defender of the faith, Mohammed Belo, son of the prodigy of his age, the noble Sheikh Ossman,” &c.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us