Chapter XXVI
The city of Eyeo, in Houssa language, Katunga, the capital of Youriba, is situated in latitude 8° 59' N., longitude 6° 12 E. It is built on the sloping side and round the base of a small range of granite hills, which, as it were, forms the citadel of the town. They are formed of stupendous blocks of grey granite of the softest kind, some of which are seen hanging from the summits in the most frightful manner, while others, resting on very small bases, appear as if the least touch would send them down into the valley beneath. The soil on which the town is built is formed of clay and gravel, mixed with sand, which has obviously been produced from the crumbling granite. The appearance of these hills is that of a mass of rocks left bare by the tide. A belt of thick wood runs round the walls, which are built of clay, and about twenty feet high, and surrounded by a dry ditch. There are ten gates in the walls, which are about fifteen miles in circumference, of an oval shape, about four miles in diameter one way, and six miles the other; the south end leaning against the rocky hills, and forming an inaccessible barrier in that quarter. The king's houses, and those of his women, occupy about a square mile, and are on the south side of the hills, having two large parks, one in front and another facing the north; they are all built of clay, and have thatched roofs, similar to those nearer the coast. The posts supporting the verandahs and the doors of the king's or caboceer's houses are generally carved in has relief, with figures representing the boa killing an antelope or a hog, or with processions of warriors attended by drummers. The latter are by no means meanly executed, conveying the expression and attitude of the principal man in the groupe with a lofty air, and the drummer well pleased with his own music, or rather deafening noise. There are seven different markets, which are held every evening, being generally opened about three or four o'clock. The chief articles exposed for sale are yams, corn, calavances, plantains and bananas, vegetable butter, seeds of the colocynth, which form a great article of food, sweetmeats, goats, sheep, and lambs, also cloth of the manufacture of the country, and their various instruments of agriculture. The price of a small goat is from 1,500 to 2,000 kowries; 2,000 kowries being equal to a Spanish dollar; a large sheep, 3,000 to 5,000; a cow, from 20,000 to 30,000; a horse, 80,000 to 100,000; a prime human being, as a slave, 40,000 to 60,000, about half the price of a horse!
The kingdom of Youriba extends from Puka, within five miles of the coast to about the parallel of 10° N., being bounded by Dahomy on the north-west, Ketto and the Maha countries on the north, Borgoo on the north-east, the Quorra to the east, Accoura, a province of Benin, to the south-east, and Jaboo to the south-west. These are the positions of the neighbouring countries, as given by Lander, although it is difficult to reconcile them with the map; Borgoo seems rather to be north-east, Dahomy west and southwest, Jaboo and Benin south-east. If Badagry be included in Youriba, the southern boundary will be the Bight of Benin.
Dahomy, Alladah, Maha, and Badagry were claimed as tributaries; and the king of Benin was referred to as an ally. The government is an hereditary despotism, every subject being the slave of the king; but its administration appears to have been for a long period mild and humane. When the king was asked, whether the customs of Youriba involved the same human sacrifices as those of Dahomy, his majesty shook his head, shrugged up his shoulders, and exclaimed, "No, no! no king of Youriba could sacrifice human beings." He added, but probably without sufficient grounds for the vaunt, that, if he so commanded, the king of Dahomy must also desist from the practice; that he must obey him. It is, however, stated, on the authority of Lander, that when a king of Youriba dies, the caboceer of Jannah, three other head caboceers, four women, and a great many favourite slaves and women, are obliged to swallow poison, given by fetish men in a parrot's egg; should this not take effect, the person is provided with a rope to hang himself in his own house. No public sacrifices are used, at least no human sacrifices, and no one was allowed to die at the death of the last king, as he did not die a natural death, having been murdered by one of his own sons, though the religion of the people of Youriba, as far as it could be comprehended by the travellers, consisted in the worship of one God, to whom they also sacrifice horses, cows, goats, sheep, and fowls. At the yearly feast, all these animals are sacrificed at the fetish-house, in which a little of the blood is spilled on the ground. The whole of them are then cooked, and the king and all the people, men and women attending, partake of the meat, drinking copiously of pitto (the country ale). It is stated, moreover, that it depends on the will of the fetish-man, or priest, whether a human being or a cow or other animal is to be sacrificed. If a human being, it is always a criminal, and only one. The usual spot where the feast takes place is a large open field before the king's houses, under wide-spreading trees, where there are two or three fetish houses.
The usual mode of burying the dead in this country is, to dig a deep narrow hole, in which the corpse is deposited in a sitting posture, the elbows between the knees. A poor person is interred without any ceremony; in honour of a rich man, guns are fired, and rum is drunk over his grave, and afterwards in the house by his friends and retainers. At the celebration of a marriage, pitto is circulated freely amongst the guests. Wives are bought, and according to the circumstances of the bridegroom, so is the price. The first question asked by every caboceer and great man was, how many wives the king of England, had, being prepared, it should seem, to measure his greatness by that standard; but when they were told that he had only one, (and, if they had felt disposed, they might have extended their information, by telling the inquirers that she was too much for him,) they gave themselves up to a long and ungovernable fit of laughter, followed by expressions of pity and wonder how he could possibly exist in that destitute condition. The king of Youriba's boast was, that his wives, linked hand-in-hand, would reach entirely across the kingdom. Queens, however, in Africa, are applied to various uses, although in some countries at some distance to the northward, it is a difficult question to solve, whether they be of any use at all, except for the purpose of entailing an extraordinary expense upon the people, who have to labour hard for the support of the royal appendage, which is generally imported from a neighbouring country, where pride, pauperism, and pomposity are particularly conspicuous. It would be well for an admirer of queenship to take a trip to Eyeo, to see to what uses queens can be applied; for there they are formed into a body-guard, and their majesties were observed, in every part of the kingdom, acting as porters, and bearing on their heads enormous burdens, in which they again differ from the queens of the more northern countries, where, fortunately for the natives of it, they never bear at all. The queens of Eyeo are, to all intents and purposes, slaves, and so are also other queens; but then they are slaves to foolish and ridiculous customs, to stiff starched etiquette, and to ceremonies degrading to a rational being.
The Eyeos, like other nations purely negro, are wholly unacquainted with letters, or any form of writing; these are known only to the Arabs or Fellatahs, who penetrate thither in small numbers; yet they have a great deal of popular poetry. Every great man has bands of singers of both sexes, who constantly attend him, and loudly celebrate his achievements in extemporary poems. The convivial meetings of the people, even their labours and journeys, are cheered by songs composed for the occasion, and chanted often with considerable taste.
The military force of the kingdom consists of the caboceers and their immediate retainers, which upon an average may be about one hundred and fifty each, a force formidable enough when called out upon any predatory excursion, but which would seem to be inadequate to the defence of the territory, against the encroachments or inroads of the Fellatahs, and other more warlike tribes. It was supposed by Captain Clapperton that the army may be as numerous as that of any of the kingdoms of Africa. No conjecture was offered as to the total population, but nearly fifty towns occurred in the line of route, each containing from six to seven thousand, and some fifteen to twenty thousand souls, and from the crowds on the roads, the population must be very considerable.
The Youribanies struck the travellers as having less of the characteristic features of the negro, than any other African race which they had seen. Their lips are less thick, and their noses more inclined to the aquiline shape than negroes in general. The men are well made, and have an independent carriage. The women are almost invariably of a more ordinary appearance than the men, owing to their being more exposed to the sun, and to the drudgery they are obliged to undergo, all the labours of the land devolving upon them. The cotton plant and indigo are cultivated to a considerable extent, and they manufacture the wool of their sheep into good cloth, which is bartered with the people of the coast for rum, tobacco, European cloth, and other articles. The medium of exchange throughout the interior is the kowry shell, the estimated value of which has been already given. Slaves, however, form the chief article of commerce with the coast. A prime slave at Jannah is worth, sterling money, from three to four pounds, according to the value set on the articles of barter. Domestic slaves are never sold, except for misconduct. His majesty was much astonished at learning that there are no slaves in England. Upon the whole, the Youribanies appeared to be a gentle and a kind people, affectionate to their wives and children, and to one another, and under a mild, although a despotic government.
Among the domestic animals of this country, there are horses of a very small breed, but these are scarce. The horned cattle are also small near the coast, but on approaching the capital, they are seen as large as those in England; many of them have humps on their shoulders, like those of Abyssinia. They have also sheep, both of the common species, and of the African kind; hogs, muscovy ducks, fowls, pigeons, and a few turkeys. "The people of Youriba," says Lander, "are not very delicate in the choice of their food; they eat frogs, monkeys, dogs, cats, rats, mice, and various other kinds of vermin. A fat dog will always fetch a better price than a goat. Locusts and black ants, just as they are able to take wing, are a great luxury. Caterpillars are also held in very high estimation, they are stewed and eaten with yams and tuah. Ants and locusts are fried in butter." This statement of Lander, as far as regards the dog, is somewhat at variance with the compliment paid to the Youribanies, for their treatment of that faithful animal.
The hyena and the leopard are said to be very common, and the lion is found in some parts, but monkeys were the only wild animals seen by the travellers.
Although Clapperton and Lander remained at Katunga from January 23rd to March 7th, and the mysterious Quorra was not more than thirty miles distant to the eastward, he was not able to prevail upon the king to allow him to visit it, but was always put off with some frivolous excuse, and in these excuses, the old gentleman appears to have been as cunning and as cautious as a Chinese mandarin; observing at one time that the road was not safe; at another, that the Fellatas had possession of the country, and what would the king of England say if any thing should happen to his guest. The greatest difficulty was experienced in getting away from Katunga, for his majesty could not or would not comprehend why he should be in any hurry to depart, and by way of an inducement, but which secretly might have a very opposite effect to that which was intended, Clapperton and Lander were both offered any wife they chose to select from his stock, and if one were not sufficient, five or six might be selected; for himself he had plenty, although he could not exactly tell their number, but if Clapperton would stop, the experiment should be tried, of how far they would reach hand to hand; even this gracious offer appeared to have no influence upon the obstinate disposition of Clapperton, he was determined to leave Katunga and reach Bornou before the rains set in, but the king was equally determined that he should not carry his project into execution, for, like all the other African princes, he seemed disposed to make a monopoly of the strangers who entered his territory. His majesty hinted that one journey was well and fully employed in seeing the kingdom of Youriba, and paying the required homage to its potent monarch.
It is curious how etiquette forms a part of every court, from a latitude of 52° north, to one almost immediately under the equator, and it must be admitted that if a school of instruction were established at the former one, wherein the debutants might perfect themselves in their various gestures and attitudes, we should not behold such a number of awkward louts, and johnny raw's, as exhibit themselves at the levee room of the king of the Guelphs. In the capital of Eyeo, it is the custom of the court, for the monarch to hold a levee twice a day, at six in the morning, and two in the afternoon; rather hot work for the courtiers, perspiring in a temperature of about 120°. The son of a Highland clansman, or of an Irish bogtrotter, is ushered into the presence of his sovereign with very little preliminary instruction; not so however with the more refined and polished court of Katunga. There, before the legitimate or illegitimate sons of royalty and nobility, or even of the plebeians are introduced to the king, they are required to wait upon the chief eunuch, a kind of African lord chamberlain, and before whom they are required to practise their prostrations and genuflexions, so as not to commit themselves in the presence of their august monarch. The finished courtier at the court of the Guelphs, is known by the grace with which he seizes the hand of royalty, to imprint upon it a slobbering kiss; and the caboceer at the court of Katunga, is known by the grace with which he covers himself with dust, and the intensity of his homage is estimated according to the quantity of the article which he throws over himself. It must have been a delectable treat for the Europeans to have been present at one of these academies of court etiquette, where the old and young were practising their prostrations before the ugly antiquated eunuch, and who hesitated not to give his pupils a kick, when any of them evinced an extraordinary awkwardness in their attitudes. During the whole of the time that the prostrations were practising, the attendants were dancing in a circle, with now and then the interlude of a minuet by one of the performers, in the course of which he would frequently throw a somerset, as expert as old Grimaldi, and all this under a burning tropical sun. These caboceers were dressed in robes of leopard skin, hung round with tassels and chains, and in a short time afterwards about twenty of them, in all their dirt and debasement, stretched at full length before the king, stripped to the waist, and vying with each other, which should have the most dust, and kiss the ground with the greatest fervour. When any one speaks to the king, it must be addressed to him through the eunuch, who is prostrated by the side of his master.
On the 7th March, the travellers resumed their journey into the interior, and retracing their steps to Tshow, reached at noon the next day, the town of Algi, which was just rising from its ruins after the Fellata, inroad of the preceding year. All the intermediate villages had shared the same fate. Algi, according to the information received, no longer belonged to Youriba, but to the sultan of Kiama. It comprised three small villages, and before it was burnt down had been of considerable size. These marauders have a singular mode of setting fire to walled towns, by fastening combustibles to the tails of pigeons, which, on being loosed, fly to the tops of the thatched houses, while the assailants keep up a sharp fire of arrows, to prevent the inhabitants from extinguishing the flames.
On the 11th, the travellers once more crossed the Moussa, which formerly divided the kingdoms of Youriba and Borgoo. It was now dry in a great many places, with a very rocky bed; when full, it is about thirty yards in breadth, and flows with a very strong current. On the other side, the road to Kiama lay through a flat country, thickly wooded with fine trees, and inhabited by large antelopes. These creatures are the most lively, graceful, and beautifully proportioned of the brute creation. Wherever known, they have attracted the attention and admiration of mankind from the earliest ages, and the beauty of their dark and lustrous eyes affords a frequent theme to the poetical imaginings of the eastern poets. The antelopes seen by Lander are by the Dutch called springbok, and inhabit the great plains of central Africa, and assemble in vast flocks during their migratory movements. These migrations, which are said to take place in their most numerous form only at the intervals of several years, appear to come from the north-east, and in masses of many thousands, devouring, like locusts, every green herb. The lion has been seen to migrate, and walk in the midst of the compressed phalanx, with only as much space between him and his victims as the fears of those immediately round could procure by pressing outwards. The foremost of these vast columns are fat, and the rear exceedingly lean, while the direction continues one way; but with the change of the monsoon, when they return towards the north, the rear become the leaders, fattening in their turn, and leaving the others to starve, and to be devoured by the numerous rapacious animals, who follow their march. At all times, when impelled by fear, either of the hunter or beasts of prey darting amongst the flocks, but principally when the herds are assembled in countless multitudes, so that an alarm cannot spread rapidly and open the means of flight, they are pressed against each other, and their anxiety to escape compels them to bound up in the air, showing at the same time the white spot on the croup, dilated by the effort, and closing again in their descent, and producing that beautiful effect from which they have obtained the name of the springer or springbok.
Early on the 13th, the travellers were met by an escort from the chief of Kiama, the capital of a district of the same name, and containing thirty thousand inhabitants. Kiama, Wawa, Niki, and Boussa are provinces composing the kingdom of Borgoo, all subject, in a certain sense, to the sovereign of Boussa; but the different cities plunder and make war on each other, without the slightest regard to the supreme authority. The people of Kiama and of Borgoo in general have the reputation of being the greatest thieves and robbers in all Africa, a character which nothing in their actual conduct appeared to confirm. The escort were mounted on beautiful horses, and forming as fine and wild a looking troop as the travellers had ever seen.
By sultan Yarro himself the travellers were well received. He was found seated at the porch of his door, dressed in a white tobe, with a red moorish cap on his head, attended by a mob of people, all lying prostrate, and talking to him in that posture. He shook hands with Captain Clapperton, and after telling him who he was, and where he wished to go, he said, "Very well; I have assigned a house for you; you had better go and rest from the fatigues of your journey; a proper supply of provisions shall be sent you." The travellers took their leave, and repaired to the house prepared for them, which consisted of three large huts inside a square; they had not been long there, when a present arrived from Yarro, consisting of milk, eggs, bananas, fried cheese, curds, and foofoo. The latter is the common food of both rich and poor in Youriba, and is of two kinds, white and black. The former is merely a paste made of boiled yams, formed into balls of about one pound each. The black is a more elaborate preparation from the flour of yams. In the evening, Yarro paid the travellers a visit. He came mounted on a beautiful red roan, attended by a number of armed men on horseback and on foot, and six young female slaves, naked as they were born, except a fillet of narrow white cloth tied round their heads, about six inches of the ends flying out behind, each carrying a light spear in the right hand. He was dressed in a red silk damask tobe, and booted. He dismounted and came into the house, attended by the six girls, who laid down their spears, and put a blue cloth round their waists, before they entered the door. After a short conference, in which he promised the travellers all the assistance they solicited, sultan Yarro mounted his horse; the young spear-women resumed their spears, laying aside the encumbrance of their aprons, and away they went, the most extraordinary cavalcade, which the travellers had ever witnessed. Their light form, the vivacity of their eyes, and the ease with which they appeared to fly over the ground, made these female pages appear something more than mortal, as they flew alongside of his horse, when he was galloping, and making his horse curvet and bound. A man with an immense bundle of spears remained behind, at a little distance, apparently to serve as a magazine for the girls to be supplied from, when their master had expended those they carried in their hands.
Here, as in other large towns, there were music and dancing the whole of the night. Men's wives and maidens all join in the song and dance, Mahommedans as well as pagans; female chastity was very little regarded.
Kiama is a straggling, ill-built town, of circular thatched huts, built, as well as the town-wall, of clay. It stands in latitude 9° 37' 33" N., longitude 5° 22' 56", and is one of the towns through which the Houssa and Bornou caravan passes in its way to Gonga, on the borders of Ashantee. Both the city and provinces are, as frequently happens in Africa, called after the chief Yarro, whose name signifies the boy. The inhabitants are pagans of an easy faith, never praying but when they are sick or in want of something, and cursing their object of worship as fancy serves. The Houssa slaves among them are Mahommedans, and are allowed to worship in their own way. It is enough to call a man a native of Borgoo, to designate him as a thief and a murderer.
Sultan Yarro was a most accommodating personage, he sent his principal queen to visit Captain Clapperton, but she had lost both her youth and her charms. Yarro then inquired of Captain Clapperton, if he would take his daughter for a wife; to which Clapperton answered in the affirmative, thanking the sultan at the same time for his most gracious present. On this, the old woman went out, and Clapperton followed with the king's head-man, Abubecker, to the house of the daughter, which consisted of several coozies, separate from those of the father, and was shown into a very clean one; a mat was spread, he sat down, and the lady coming in and kneeling down, Clapperton asked her, if she would live in his house, or if he should come and live with her; she answered, whatever way he wished, "Very well," replied Clapperton, "as you have the best house, I will come and live with you." The bargain was concluded, and the daughter of the sultan was, pro tempore, the wife of the gallant captain.
On the 18th, the travellers took their leave of sultan Yarro and his capital, and the fourth day reached Wawa, another territorial capital, built in the form of a square, and containing from eighteen to twenty thousand inhabitants. It is surrounded with a good high clay wall and dry ditch, and is one of the neatest, most compact, and best walled towns that had yet been seen. The streets are spacious and dry; the houses are of the coozie form, consisting of circular huts connected by a wall, opening into an interior area. The governor's house is surrounded with a clay wall, about thirty feet high, having large coozies, shady trees, and square towers inside. Unlike their neighbours of Kiama, they bear a good character for honesty, though not for sobriety or chastity, virtues wholly unknown at Wawa; but they are merry, good natured, and hospitable. They profess to be descended from the people of Nyffee and Houssa, but their language is a dialect of the Youribanee; their religion is a mongrel mahommedism grafted upon paganism. Their women are much better looking than those of Youriba, and the men are well made, but have a debauched look; in fact, Lander says, he never was in a place where drunkenness was so general. They appeared to have plenty of the necessaries of life, and a great many luxuries. Their fruits are limes, plantains, bananas, and several wild fruits; their vegetables, yams and calalow, a plant, the leaves of which are used in soup as cabbage; and their grain are dhourra and maize. Fish they procure in great quantities from the Quorra and its tributaries, chiefly a sort of cat-fish. Oxen are in great plenty, principally in the hands of the Fellatas, also sheep and goats, poultry, honey, and wax. Ivory and ostrich feathers, they said, were to be procured in great plenty, but there was no market for them.
It was at this place that Clapperton had nearly, though innocently, got into a scrape with the old governor by coquetting with a young and buxom widow, and, in fact, Lander himself experienced some difficulty in withstanding the amorous attack of this African beauty; for she acted upon the principle, that, as she could not succeed with the master, there was no obstacle existing that she knew of, to prevent her directing the battery of her fine black sparkling eyes against the servant.
"I had a visit," says Clapperton, "amongst the number, from the daughter of an Arab, who was very fair, called herself a white woman, was a rich widow, and wanted a white husband. She was said to be the richest person in Wawa, having the best house in the town, and a thousand slaves." She showed a particular regard for Richard Lander, who was younger and better-looking than Clapperton; but she had passed her twentieth year, was fat, and a perfect Turkish beauty, just like a huge walking water-butt. All her arts were, however, unavailing on the heart of Lander; she could not induce him to visit her at her house, although he had the permission of his master.
This gay widow appeared by no means disposed to waste any time by making regular approaches, like those by which widow Wadman undermined the outworks, and then the citadel of the unsuspecting uncle Toby, but she was determined at once to carry the object of her attack by storm.
The widow Zuma attempted in the first place to ingratiate herself with the Europeans, by sending them hot provisions every day in abundance, during their stay at Wawa. She calculated very justly, that gratitude is the parent of love, and therefore imagined that as the Europeans could not be otherwise than grateful to her, for the delicacies, with which she so liberally supplied them, it would soon follow as a natural consequence, that their hearts would overflow with love; at all events it was not to be supposed, that both master and man could remain callous to the potency of her corporeal charms. Finding, however, that the hearts of the Europeans were much like the rocks of her native land, perfectly impenetrable, she had recourse to another stratagem, which is generally attended with success. In the enlightened and civilized country of Europe, or at least in that part of it called England, it is by no means an obsolete custom, for an individual, who wishes to ingratiate himself with the object of his affections, to bestow a valuable present on the waiting woman or abigail, who is a great deal about her person, and the eulogiums which she then passes upon the absent lover, are great and exuberant in proportion to the extent of the bribe. A female, whoever she may be, whether a Middlesex virgin, or a Wawa widow, delights not only to have some one to whom she can speak of the object of her attachment, but who will be continually speaking to her of him, and as it appears that the female character is very nearly the same in the interior of Africa, as in the latitude of London, it is by no means a matter of surprise, that the amorous widow enlisted Pascoe, the black servant of Clapperton, in her cause, by offering him in the way of a bribe, a handsome female slave as a wife, if he would manage to bring about an interview at her own house, between either Clapperton or Lander, expressing herself at the same time not to be very particular as to which of the two this interview was obtained with. Clapperton it appears had greater confidence in himself than Lander could boast of, and the former considering himself proof against all the arts and fascinations of the widow, and wishing at the same time to see the interior arrangement of her house, he determined to pay her a visit. He found her house large, and full of male and female slaves, the males lying about the outer huts, the females more in the interior. In the centre of the huts was a square one, of large dimensions, surrounded by a verandah, with screens of matting all round, except in one place, where there was hung a tanned bullock's hide; to this spot he was led up, and on its being drawn on one side, he saw the lady sitting cross-legged on a small Turkey carpet, like one of our hearth-rugs, a large leathern cushion under her left knee; her goora pot, which was an old-fashioned pewter mug, by her side, and a calabash of water to wash her mouth out, as she alternately kept eating goora and chewing tobacco snuff, the custom with all ranks, male and female, who can procure them; on her right side lay a whip. At a little distance, squatted on the ground, sat a dwarfish, humpbacked female slave, with a wide mouth, but good eyes. She had no clothing on, with the exception of a profusion of strings of beads and coral round her neck and waist. This dwarfish personage served the purpose of a bell in our country, and what, it may be supposed, would in old times have been called a page. The lady herself was dressed in a white coarse muslin turban, her neck profusely decorated with necklaces of coral and gold chains, amongst which was one of rubies and gold beads; her eyebrows and eyelashes were blackened, her hair dyed with indigo, and her hands and feet with henna; around her body she had a fine striped silk and cotton country cloth, which came as high as her tremendous bosom, and reached as low as her ankles; in her right hand she held a fan made of stained grass, and of a square form. She desired Clapperton to sit down on the carpet beside her, an invitation which he accepted, and in an alluring manner she began to fan him, at the same time sending humpback to bring out her finery for him to look at, which consisted of four gold bracelets, two large paper dressing-cases with looking-glasses, and several strings of coral, silver rings, and bracelets, with a number of other trifling articles. After a number of compliments, and giving her favoured visitor an account of all her wealth, he was led through one apartment into another, cool, clean, and ornamented with pewter dishes and bright brass pans. She now entered into the history of her private life, commencing with bewailing the death of her husband, who had now been dead ten years, during all of which time she had mourned after him excessively. She had one son, the issue of her marriage, but he was much darker than herself. With a frankness perfectly commendable in an African widow, and wholly at variance with the hypocritical and counterfeit bashfulness of the English one, the widow Zuma at once exposed the situation of her heart, by declaring that she sincerely loved white men, and as her visitor belonged to that species, he saw himself at once the object of her affections, and the envy of all the aspiring young bachelors of the town, who had been for some time directing a vigorous attack against the widow's heart. The denouement of an English court-ship is frequently distinguished by an elopement; but although it was the last of Clapperton's thoughts to run away with such an unwieldy mass of human flesh, yet she very delicately proposed to him, that she would send for a malem, or man of learning, who should read the fetah to them, or, in other words, that no time whatever should be lost in endowing the widow Zuma with all claim, right, title, and privilege to be introduced at the court of Wawa, or any other court in Africa, or even at that time at the virtuous and formal court of queen Charlotte of England, as the spouse of Captain Clapperton, of the royal navy of Great Britain.
Clapperton was now convinced that the widow was beginning to carry the joke a little too far, for she assured him, that she should commence immediately to pack up all her property, and accompany him to his native country, assuring him, at the same time, that she felt within herself every requisite qualification to make him a good, active, and affectionate wife. Clapperton, however, was by no means disposed to enter so suddenly into a matrimonial speculation, and he began to look rather serious at the offer which was so unexpectedly, but so lovingly made to him. This being observed by the widow, she sent for her looking-glass, and after having taken a full examination of herself, in every position which the glass would allow her, she offered it to Clapperton, observing, that certainly she was a little older than he was, but that circumstance, in her opinion, should not operate as a bar to their matrimonial union. This was rather too much for Clapperton to endure, and, taking the first opportunity, he made his retreat with all possible expedition, determining never to come to such close quarters again with the amorous widow.
On his arrival at his residence, Clapperton could not refrain from laughing at his adventure with the African widow, and informed Lander, that he had now an opportunity of establishing himself for life; for although he had rejected the matrimonial advances of the widow, there was little doubt, that, rather than not obtain a husband, she would not hesitate to make the offer of her hand to any other white man, who might present himself. Lander, however, was still more averse from matrimony than his master, at least with the African beauty; and although a frequent invitation was sent to him, yet he very politely declined the acceptance of it, and therefore, as far as the Europeans were concerned, the widow remained without a husband.
Lander gives us no very flattering account of the character of the inhabitants. In the town of Wawa, which is supposed to contain 20,000 inhabitants, he does not believe the virtue of chastity to exist. Even the widow Zuma let out her female slaves for hire, like the rest of the people of the town. Drinking is the prevailing vice amongst all classes, nor is it confined to the male sex, for Clapperton was for three or four days pestered by the governor's daughter, who used to come several times during the day, painted and bedizened in the highest style of Wawa fashion, but she was always half tipsy. This lady, like the widow, had also a design upon the hearts of the Europeans. On some of these occasions, she expressed her extreme readiness to prolong her visit during the whole of the night, but Clapperton informed her, that at night he was employed in prayer, and looking at the stars, an occupation which she could not comprehend; and further he told her, that he never drank any thing stronger than wa-in-zafir, a name which they give to tea, literally, however, being hot water. Not being able to soften the obdurate heart of Clapperton, nor to wean him from the unsociable habit of looking at the stars at night, she always left him with a flood of tears.
In this part of Borgoo, as well as in the neighbourhood of Algi, and in all the countries between them and the sea, that Lander passed through, he met with tribes of Fellatas, nearly white, who are not moslem, but pagan. "They are certainly," he says, "the same people, as they speak the same language, and have the same features and colour, except those who have crossed with the negro. They are as fair as the lower class of Portuguese or Spaniards, lead a pastoral life, shifting from place to place as they find grass for their horned cattle, and live in temporary huts of reeds or long grass."
From Wawa there are two roads leading to the Fellata country, one by Youri, the other through Nyffee. The former was reported to be unsafe, the sultan of the country being out, fighting the Fellatas. The latter crosses the Quorra at Comie, and runs direct to Koolfu, in Nyffee. It was necessary, however, for Clapperton to proceed in the first instance to Boussa, to visit its sultan, to whom all this part of Borgoo is nominally subject. They were also particularly anxious to see the spot where Park and his companions perished, and, if possible, to recover their papers.
Leaving Wawa at daybreak on the 30th March, the travellers passed over a woody country, and at length entered a range of low rocky hills, composed of pudding stone. At the end of an opening in the range was a beautiful sugar loaf mountain, overlooking all the rest, and bearing from the village half a mile E. S. E. The name of Mount George was given to it by Clapperton. The valleys were cultivated with yams, corn, and maize; and on the same day the travellers arrived at Ingum, the first village belonging to Boussa, situated on the north-eastern side of the hills. At four hours from Ingum, they halted at a village of the Cumbrie or Cambric, an aboriginal race of kaffirs, inhabiting the woods on both sides of the river. About an hour further, they arrived at the ferry over the Menai, where it falls into another branch of the Quorra, and in about a quarter of an hour's ride from the opposite bank, they entered the western gate of Boussa. The walls, which appeared very extensive, were undergoing repair. Bands of male and female slaves, singing in chorus, accompanied by a band of drums and flutes, were passing to and from the river, to mix the clay they were building with. Every great man had his own part of the wall to build, like the Jews when they built the walls of Jerusalem, every one opposite to his own house.
The city of Boussa is situated on an island formed by the Quorra, in latitude 10° 14' N. longitude 6° 11' E. It stands nearest the westernmost branch of the Menai, which is about twenty yards in breadth, and runs with a slow and sluggish current. The place pointed out to Lander as the spot where Park perished, is in the eastern channel. A low flat island about a quarter of a mile in breadth, lies between the town of Boussa and the fatal spot, which is in a line from the sultan's house with a double trunked tree, with white bark, standing singly on the low flat island. The bank, at the time of Lander's visit, was only ten feet above the level of the stream, which here breaks over a great slate rock, extending quite across to the eastern shore, which rises into gentle hills of grey slate, thinly scattered with trees.
The following statement of the circumstances attending the lamented fate of Mr. Park, was given to the travellers by an eyewitness, and together with all the information which they could collect, tallies with the story, disbelieved at the time, which Isaaco brought back from Amadi Fatooma. The informant stated "that when the boat came down the river, it happened unfortunately just at the time that the Fellatas had risen in arms, and were ravaging Goober and Zamfra; that the sultan of Boussa, on hearing that the persons in the boat were white men, and that it was different from any that had ever been seen before, as she had a house at one end, called his people together from the neighbouring towns, attacked and killed them, not doubting they were the advanced guard of the Fellata army, then ravaging Soudan, under the command of Malem Danfodio, the father of sultan Bello. That one of the white men was a tall man, with long hair; that they fought for three days before they were all killed, that the people in the neighbourhood were very much alarmed, and great numbers fled to Nyffee, and other countries, thinking that the Fellatas were certainly coming amongst them; that the number of persons in the boat were only four, two white men and two black; that they found great treasure in the boat, but that the people had all died, who ate of the meat that was found on board."
This meat according to another native informant, was believed on that account to be human flesh, for they knew, it was added, that we white men eat human flesh. Lander afterwards received the following additional information from a mallam or priest, whom he met with at Wawa, and who tendered it spontaneously. "The sultan of Youri advised your countrymen to proceed the remainder of the way on land, as the passage by water was rendered dangerous by numerous sunken rocks in the Niger, and a cruel race of people inhabiting the towns on its banks." They refused, however, to accede to this, observing that they were bound to proceed down the Niger to the salt water. The old mallam further observed, that as soon as the sultan of Youri heard of their death, he was much affected, but it was out of his power to punish the people, who had driven them into the water. A pestilence reached Boussa at the time, swept off the king and most of the habitants, particularly those who were concerned in the transaction. The remainder fancying it was a judgment of the white man's God, placed everything belonging to the Christians in a hut, and set it on fire. It is not a little remarkable, that it is now a common saying, all through the interior of Africa, "Do not hurt a Christian, for if you do, you will die like the people of Boussa." On Clapperton waiting on the sultan of Boussa, he was as usual very kindly received; his first inquiry was concerning some white men, who were lost in the river, some twenty years ago, near this place.
The sultan appeared rather uneasy at these inquiries, and it was observed that he stammered in his speech. He assured both Clapperton and Lander, that he had not any thing in his possession belonging to the white men, and that he was a little boy when the event happened. Clapperton told him that he wanted nothing but the books and papers, and to learn from him a correct account of the manner of their death; and, with the sultan's permission, he would go and visit the place where they were lost. To this request, the sultan gave a decided refusal, alleging that it was a very bad place. Clapperton, however, having heard that part of the boat remained, inquired if such were really the case; to which the sultan replied, that there was no truth whatever in the report; that she did remain on the rocks for some time after, but had gone to pieces and floated down the river long ago. Clapperton told the sultan, that, if he would give him the books and papers, it would be the greatest favour he could possibly confer on him. The sultan again assured him, that nothing remained with him; every thing of books or papers having gone into the hands of the learned men; but that, if any were in existence, he would procure them, and give them to him. Clapperton then asked him, if he would allow him to inquire of the old people in the town the particulars of the affair, as some of them must have witnessed the transaction. The sultan appeared very uneasy, and as he did not return any answer, Clapperton did not press him further at that time upon the subject.
Some unpleasant suspicions floating on the mind of Clapperton, he took the first opportunity of returning to the subject, and on again inquiring about the papers of his unfortunate countryman, the sultan said, that the late iman, a Fellata, had had possession of all the books and papers, and that he had fled from Boussa some time since. This, therefore, was a death-blow to all future inquiries in that quarter, and the whole of the information concerning the affair of the boat, her crew, and cargo, was indefinite and unsatisfactory. Every one, in fact, appeared uneasy when any information was required; and they always stifled any further inquiry by vaguely answering, that it happened before their remembrance, or they had forgotten it, or they had not seen it. They, however, pointed out the place where the boat struck and the unfortunate crew perished. Even this, however, was done with caution, and as if by stealth, although in every thing unconnected with that affair, they were most ready to give the travellers whatever information they required, and in no part of Africa were they treated with greater hospitality and kindness.
The place where the vessel was sunk is in the eastern channel, where the river breaks over a grey slate rock extending quite across it. A little lower down, the river had a fall of three or four feet. Here, and still further down, the whole united streams of the Quorra were not above three-fourths the breadth of the Thames at Somerset-house.
On returning to the ferry, Clapperton found a messenger from the king of Youri, who had sent him a present of a camel.
The messenger stated, that the king, before he left Youri, had shown him two books, very large and printed, that had belonged to the white men, who were lost in the boat at Boussa; that he had been offered one hundred and seventy mitgalls of gold for them, by a merchant from Bornou, who had been sent by a Christian on purpose for them. Clapperton advised him to tell the king that he ought to have sold them, for that he would not give five mitgalls for them; but that, if he would send them, he would give him an additional present, and that he would be doing an acceptable thing to the king of England by sending them, and that he would not act like a king, if he did not. Clapperton gave the messenger, for his master, one of the mock gold chains, a common sword, and ten yards of silk, adding that he would give him a handsome gun and some more silk, if he would send the books. On asking the messenger, if there were any books like his journal, which he showed him, he said there was one, but that his master had given it to an Arab merchant ten years ago; the merchant, however, was killed by the Fellatas, on his way to Kano, and what had become of that book afterwards, he did not know.
Upon this, Clapperton sent a person with a letter to Youri. Mohammed, the Fezzaner, whom he had hired at Tabra, and whom he had sent to the chief of Youri for the books and papers of the late Mungo Park, returned, bringing him a letter from that person, which contained the following account of the death of that unfortunate traveller. That not the least injury was done to him at Youri, or by the people of that country; that the people of Boussa had killed them, and taken all their riches; that the books in his possession were given him by the iman of Boussa; that they were lying on the top of the goods in the boat when she was taken; that not a soul was left alive belonging to the boat; that the bodies of two black men were found in the boat, chained together; that the white men jumped overboard; that the boat was made of two canoes joined fast together, with an awning or roof behind; that he, the sultan, had a gun, double barrelled, and a sword, and two books, that had belonged to those in the boat; that he would give the books whenever Clapperton went himself to Youri for them, but not until then.
This is, however, not exactly what the sultan says, in his letter, of which the following is a translation:--
"This is issued from the prince or lord of Yaoury to Abdallah, the English captain--salutation and esteem. Hence your messenger has arrived, and brought us your letter, and we understand what you write; you inquire about a thing that has no trace with us. The prince or lord of Boossy is older (or greater) than us, because he is our grandfather. Why did you not inquire of him about what you wish for? You were at Boossy, and did not inquire of the inhabitants what was the cause of the destruction of the ship and your friends, nor what happened between them of evil; but you do now inquire of one who is far off, and knows nothing of the cause of their (the Christians') destruction.
"As to the book, which is in our hand, it is true, and we did not give it to your messenger; but we will deliver it to you, if you come and show us a letter from your lord. You shall then see and have it, if God be pleased; and much esteem and salam be to you, and prayer and peace unto the last of the apostles!
"MAHOMMED"
This may be considered as the conclusion of the information which was obtained respecting the fate of Park; although Clapperton expresses it to be his opinion, but founded on very slender grounds, that the journal of Park is yet to be recovered.
On leaving Boussa, Clapperton retraced his steps to the Cumbrie villages, and then turned to the south-south-west to another of their villages, named Songa, situated on the banks of the Quorra. About two hours above Songa, there is a formidable cataract, "where," Lander observes, "if Park had passed Boussa in safety, he would have been in danger of perishing, unheard and unseen." An hour and a half below Songa, the Quorra rushes with great force through a natural gap, such it seems to be, between porphyritic rocks rising on each side of the channel. Between Songa and this place, the river is full of rocky islets and rapids, and these occur occasionally all the way down to Wonjerque, or the king's ferry at the village of Comie, where it is all in one stream, about a quarter of a mile in width, and ten or twelve feet deep in the middle. This is the great ferry of all the caravans to and from Nyffee, Houssa, and is only a few hours from Wawa.
On reaching this ferry, Clapperton was told, that, so far from his baggage having been sent on to Koolfu, it had been stopped at Wawa, by order of the governor; but this extraordinary proceeding was in some degree accounted for, as it appeared that although neither Clapperton nor Lander would have any thing to do with the corpulent widow Zuma, she was determined not to let them off so easily, and, to their great surprise, the travellers heard that she was at a neighbouring village, from which she sent them a present of some boiled rice and a fowl, giving them, at the same time, a pressing invitation to come and stop at her house. The governor's son informed Clapperton, that his baggage would not be allowed to leave Wawa till the widow Zuma was sent back. "What the d---l have I to do with the widow?" asked Clapperton.--"You have," he replied; "and you must come back with me and take her." Clapperton, however, refused, in the most positive terms, to have any thing to do with or to say to her. At this moment Lander returned from Boussa, whither he had followed his master, to acquaint him with the detention of his baggage; all of which was owing to the widow having left Wawa about half an hour after he did, with drums beating before her, and a train after her, first calling at his lodgings, before she waited on the governor. It was also ascertained that she had given old Pascoe a female slave for a wife, without having previously asked the governor's permission. The widow had also intimated her intention to follow the travellers to Kano, whence she would return to make war on the governor, as she had done once before. "This," said Clapperton, "let me into their politics with a vengeance; it would indeed have been a fine end to my journey, if I had deposed old Mahommed, and set up for myself, with a walking tun-butt for a queen." Clapperton, however, determined to go back to Wawa, to release his baggage; and scarcely had he got there, when the arrival of the buxom widow was announced, her appearance and escort being as grand as she could make it, hoping thereby to make an impression upon the flinty hearts of the Europeans. The following is the description of her dress and escort:-- Preceding her marched a drummer, beating the instrument with all his power, his cap being profusely decked with ostrich feathers. A bowman walked on foot, at the head of her horse, a long train following, consisting of tall, strong men, armed with spears, bows, and swords. She rode on a fine horse, whose trappings were of the first order for this semi-civilized country; the head of the horse was ornamented with brass-plates, the neck with brass bells, and charms sewed in various coloured leather, such as red, green, and yellow; a scarlet breast-piece, with a brass plate in the centre; scarlet saddle-cloth, trimmed with lace. She was dressed in red silk trousers and morocco boots; on her head a white turban, and over her shoulders a mantle of silk and gold. For the purpose of properly balancing her ponderous frame on the horse, she rode in the style of the men, a-straddle; and perhaps a more unwieldy mass never pressed upon the loins of an animal; had she, however, been somewhat younger, and less corpulent, there might have been some temptation to head her party, for she certainly had been a very handsome woman, and such as would have been thought a beauty in any country in Europe.
The widow was summoned before the governor; went on her knees, and, after a lecture on disobedience and vanity, was dismissed; but on turning her back, she shook the dust off her feet with great indignation and contempt; "and," says Clapperton, "I went home, determined never to be caught in such a foolish affair in future."
The travellers, having secured their baggage, returned to the ferry, and crossed the Quorra. They were now on the high-road to Koolfu, the emporium of Nyffee. In the course of the first two stages, they came to two villages full of blacksmiths' shops, with several forges in each. They got their iron ore from the hills, which they smelt, where they dig it. In every village they saw a fetish house in good repair, adorned with painted figures of human beings, as also the boa, the alligator, and the tortoise. The country is well cultivated with corn, yams, and cotton; but the ant-hills were the highest the travellers had ever seen, being from fifteen to twenty feet high, and resembling so many gothic cathedrals in miniature.
In the afternoon of the third day, they crossed a stream called the May Yarrow, opposite the town of Tabra, by a long narrow wooden bridge of rough branches covered with earth, the first that they had seen in Africa; it will not, however, bear a man and horse, nor can two horses pass at once. Tabra, which is divided by the river into two quarters, was at this time the residence of the queen-mother of Nyffee, who was governor ad interim during the absence of her son. It may contain from eighteen to twenty thousand inhabitants, who, with a few exceptions, are pagans, and they all, men and women, have the reputation of being great drunkards. There are only a few blacksmiths here, but a great number of weavers. The Houssa caravans pass close to the north side of the town, but seldom enter it. Before the civil war began, the Benin people came here to trade. The war, which was still raging, originated in a dispute for the succession, between Mohammed El Majia, the son of the queen-mother, who was a moslem, and Edrisi, who was represented to be a pagan. The former was supported by the Fellatas, whom the people of Nyffee cannot endure; the other had the best right and the people on his side, but there was little doubt of his being obliged to succumb.
Clapperton, accompanied by Lander, repaired to the camp, to pay his respects to El Majia. He was found mounted on a good bay horse, the saddle ornamented with pieces of silver and brass; the breastplate with large silver plates hanging down from it, like what is represented in the prints of Roman and eastern emperors on horseback. He was a tall man, with a stupid expression of countenance, a large mouth, and snagged teeth, which showed horribly, when he attempted a smile. His dress consisted of a black velvet cap, with flaps over the ears, and trimmed with red silk; a blue and white striped tobe, and ragged red boots, part leather and part cloth; in his hand he bore a black staff with a silver head, and a coast-made umbrella and sword were carried by his slaves. Altogether his appearance was far from being either kingly or soldier-like, and he displayed the most mean degree of rapacity. He was the ruin of his country by his unnatural ambition, and by calling in the Fellatas, who would remove him out of the way the moment he is of no more use to them. Even then, he dared not move without their permission. It was reported, and generally believed, that he put to death his brother and two of his sons. Through him the greater part of the industrious population of Nyffee had either been killed, sold as slaves, or had fled from their native country. Lander considered that it would have been an act of charity to have removed him altogether.
The sanson, or camp, was a large collection of bee-hive-shaped huts, arranged in streets, and thatched with straw. But for the number of horses feeding, and some picketed near the huts, the men being all seen armed, and the drums beating, it might have been taken for a populous and peaceful village. Here were to be seen weavers, tailors, women spinning cotton, others reeling it off; some selling foofoo and accassons, others crying yams and paste; little markets at every green tree; holy men counting their beads, and dissolute slaves drinking wabum, palm wine. The king, when the travellers went to take leave of him, was found in his hut, surrounded by Fellatas, one of whom was reading the Koran aloud for the benefit of the whole, the meaning of which not one of them understood, not even the reader. It is by no means an uncommon occurrence, both in Bornou and Houssa, for a man to be able to read the Koran fluently, who does not understand a word in it but Allah, and who is unable to read any other book.
On the 2nd of May the travellers left Tabra, and journeying along the banks of the May Yarrow, crossed a stream running into it from the north, and soon after entered the great market town of Koolfu. Captain Clapperton, it would appear, was doomed to be brought into contact with the rich widows of the country, for in this town he took up his abode with the widow Laddie, huge, fat, and deaf, but reputed to be very rich. She was a general dealer, selling salt, natron, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera; but she was more particularly famous for her booza and wabum. The former is made from a mixture of dourra, honey, chili-pepper, the root of a coarse grass on which the cattle feed, and a proportion of water; these are allowed to ferment in large earthen jars, placed near a slow fire for four or five days, when the booza is drawn off into other jars, and is fit to drink. It is very fiery and intoxicating, but is drunk freely both by moslem and pagans. Every night, a large outer hut belonging to the widow, was filled with the topers of Koolfu, who kept it up generally till dawn, with music and drink. The former consisted of the erhab or Arab guitar, the drum, the Nyffee harp, and the voice. Their songs were mostly extempore, and alluded to the company present.
On the night of the travellers' arrival, the new moon was seen, which put an end to the fast of Rhamadan. It was welcomed both by moslems and kaffirs with a cry of joy, and the next day, the town exhibited a scene of general festivity. Every one was dressed in his best, paying and receiving visits, giving and receiving presents, parading the streets with horns, guitars, and flutes, whilst groupes of men and women were seen seated under the shade at their doors, or under trees, drinking wabum or booza.
The women were dressed and painted to the height of Nyffee fashion, and the young and the modest on this day would come up and salute the men, as if old acquaintance, and bid them joy on the day; with the wool on their heads dressed, plaited, and dyed with indigo; their eyebrows painted with indigo, the eyelashes with khol, the lips stained yellow, the teeth red, and their feet and hands stained with henna; their finest and gayest clothes on; all their finest beads on their necks; their arms and legs adorned with bracelets of glass, brass, and silver; their fingers with rings of brass, pewter, silver, and copper; some had Spanish dollars soldered on the back of the rings; they too drank of the booza and wabum as freely as the men, joining in their songs, whether good or bad. In the afternoon parties of men were seen dancing, free men and slaves, all were alike; not a clouded brow was to be seen in Koolfu. But at nine in the evening, the scene was changed from joy and gladness to terror and dismay: a tornado had just begun, and the hum of voices, and the din of the people putting their things under cover from the approaching storm, had ceased at once. All was silent as death, except the thunder and the wind. The cloudy sky appeared as if on fire, each cloud rolling onwards as a sea of flame, and only surpassed in grandeur and brightness by the forked lightning, which constantly seemed to ascend and descend from what was then evidently the town of Bali on fire, only a short distance outside the walls of Koolfu. When this was extinguished a new scene began, if possible, worse than the first. The wind had increased to a hurricane. Houses were blown down; Roofs of houses going along with the wind like chaff, the shady trees in the town bending and breaking; and in the intervals between the roaring of the thunder, nothing was heard but the war cry of the men and the screams of women and children, as no one knew but that an enemy was at hand, and that they should every instant share in the fate of Bali. At last the rain fell, the fire at Bali had ceased by the town being wholly burnt down, and all was quiet and silent, as if the angel of extermination had brandished his sword over the devoted country.
Koolfu or Koolfie stands on the northern bank of the May Garrow, and contains from twelve to fifteen thousand inhabitants, including slaves. It is built in the form of an oblong square, surrounded with a clay wall, about twenty feet high, with four gates. There are a great number of dyers, tailors, blacksmiths, and weavers, but all these, together with the rest of the townsfolk, are engaged in traffic. There are besides the daily market, general markets every Monday and Saturday, which are resorted to by traders from all quarters: Youriba, Borgoo, Soccatoo, Houssa, Nyffee, and Benin. The caravans from Bornou and Houssa, which halt at Koolfu a considerable time, bring horses, natron, unwrought silk, silk cord, beads, Maltese swords from Bengazi, remounted at Kano; clothes made up in the moorish fashion, Italian looking glasses, such as sell for one penny and upwards at Malta, tobes undyed, made in Bornou, khol for the eyelids, a small quantity of attar of roses, much adulterated, gums from Mecca, silks from Egypt, moorish caps, and slaves. The latter who are intended for sale, are confined in the house mostly in irons, and are seldom allowed to go out of it, except to the well or river every morning to wash. They are strictly guarded on a journey, and chained neck to neck, or else tied neck to neck by a long rope of raw hide, and carry loads on their heads, consisting of their master's goods or household stuff; these loads are generally from fifty to sixty pounds weight. A stranger may remain a long time in a town without seeing any of the slaves, except by accident or by making a particular inquiry. Although professedly moslem, religion had not yet moulded the society of the Koolfuans into the usual gloomy monotony, nor had it succeeded in secluding or subjecting the female sex, who on the contrary, were the most active agents in every mercantile transaction. In the widow Laddie's house, no fewer than twenty-one of these female merchants were lodged at the same time that Clapperton and Lander took up their abode with her, and it may be easily supposed, that the Europeans led a most pleasant life of it. An African hut is by no means at any time an abode which an European would covet, but in addition to the suffocating heat, the mosquitoes, and many other nameless inconveniences, to be congregated with twenty or thirty females, not carrying about them the most delicious odour in the world, and making the welkin ring again with their discordant screams, there denominated singing, is a consummation by no means devoutly to be wished. In addition to other nuisances, the organ of amativeness, as the phrenologists would have it, was strongly developed in some of the skulls of the ladies, and displayed themselves in their actions towards the Europeans, who not being disposed to return their amorous advances, often made a precipitate retreat out of the hut, not being aware at the time that by avoiding Sylla, they ran a great risk of failing into Charybdis. The widow Laddie, although huge, fat, and deaf, was by no means of a cold, phlegmatic or saturnine disposition--many a wistful look she cast towards Lander, but he either would not or could not comprehend their meaning, and to punish him for his stupidity, she took care that he should not comprehend any of the significant glances, which were cast towards him by the more juvenile portion of the community. To protect him from this danger, the kind widow attended him whithersoever he went, to the great annoyance of Lander, who, in order to escape from such a living torment, betook himself to a more distant part of the town, or explored its vicinity, although very little presented itself to attract his immediate attention.
The following is the manner in which the good people of Koolfu fill up the twenty-four hours. At daylight, the whole household rise. The women begin to clean the house, the men to wash from head to foot; the women and children are then washed in water, in which has been boiled the leaf of a bush called bambarnia. When this is done, breakfast of cocoa is served out, every one having their separate dish, the women and children eating together. After breakfast, the women and children rub themselves over with the pounded red wood and a little grease, which lightens the darkness of the black skin. A score or patch of the red powder is put on some place, where it will show to the best advantage. The eyes are blacked with khol. The mistress and the better-looking females stain their teeth, and the inside of the lips, of a yellow colour, with goora, the flower of the tobacco plant, and the bark of a root; the outer parts of the lips, hair, and eyebrows are stained with shunt, or prepared indigo. Then the women, who attend the market, prepare their wares for sale, and when ready, set off, ten or twelve in a party, and following each at a stated distance. Many of these trains are seen, and their step is, so regular, that if they had been drilled by a sergeant of the foot-guards in England, they could not perform their motions with greater exactitude. The elderly women prepare, clean, and spin cotton at home, and cook the victuals; the younger females are generally sent round the town, selling the small rice balls, fried beans, &c., and bringing back a supply of water for the day. The master of the house generally takes a walk to the market, or sits in the shade at the door of his hut, hearing the news, or speaking of the price of natron or other goods. The weavers are daily employed at their trade; some are sent to cut wood, and bring it to market; others to bring grass for the horses that may belong to the house, or to take to the market to sell. A number of people at the commencement of the rainy season, are employed in clearing the ground for sowing the maize and millet, some are sent on distant journeys to buy and sell for their master or mistress, and they very rarely betray their trust. About noon, they return home, when all have a mess of the pudding called tvaki, or boiled beans. About two or three in the afternoon, they return to their different employments, on which they remain until near sunset, when they count their gains to their master or mistress, who receives it, and puts it carefully away in their strong room. They then have a meal of pudding, and a little fat or stew. The mistress of the house, when she goes to rest, has her feet put into a cold poultice of the pounded henna leaves. The young then go to dance and play, if it be moonlight, and the old to lounge and converse in the open square of the house, or in the outer coozie, where they remain until the cool of the night, or till the approach of morning drives them into shelter.
The majority of the inhabitants of Koolfu are professedly Mahommedans; the rest are pagans, who once a year, in common with the other people of Nyffee, repair to a high hill in one of the southern provinces, on which they sacrifice a black bull, a black sheep, and a black dog. On their fetish houses are sculptured, as in Youriba, the lizard, the crocodile, the tortoise, and the boa, with sometimes human figures. Their language is a dialect of the Youribanee, but the Houssa is that of the market. They are civil, but the truth is not in them; and to be detected in a lie is not the smallest disgrace; it only causes a laugh. The men drink very hard, even the Mahommedans and the women are not particularly celebrated for their chastity, although they succeeded in cheating both Clapperton and Lander; they were not, however, robbed of a single article, and they were uniformly treated with perfect respect. The people seem, indeed, by no means devoid of kindness of disposition. When the town of Bali was burned down, every person sent next day what they could spare of their goods, to assist the unfortunate inhabitants. In civilized England, when a fire takes place, thieving and robbery are the order of the day, but during the conflagration at Bali, not an article was stolen.
To their domestic slaves, they behave with the greatest humanity, looking upon them almost as children of the family. The males are often freed, and the females given in marriage to free men, or to other domestic slaves. The food of the slave and the free is nearly the same. The greatest man or woman in the country is not ashamed, at times, to let the slaves eat of the same dish; but a woman is never allowed to eat with a man. With a people, who have neither established law nor government, it is surprising that they are so good and moral as they are; it is true, they will cheat if they can, but amongst the civilized nations, who have both laws and government, cheating is by no means a rare occurrence, and by those too, who are the loudest in the professions of their honesty and integrity.
The country round Koolfu is a level plain, well cultivated, and studded with little walled towns and villages along the banks of the May Yarrow, and of a little river running into it from the north. Between the walled towns of Bullabulla and Rajadawa, the route passed through plantations of grain, indigo, and cotton; the soil clay mixed with sand, with here and there large blocks of sandstone, containing nodules of iron and veins of iron-stone.
At five days from Koolfu, the route entered at the town of Wazo, or Wazawo, the district of Koteng Koro, formerly included in Kashna; and for another five days' journey through a rich and beautiful valley, and over woody hills, the travellers reached Womba, a large walled town, where the caravans both from the east and the west generally halt a day or two, and where, as at Wazo, a toll is levied on merchandise. The town stands on a rising ground, at the eastern head of a valley watered by a small stream, having three bare rocky hills of granite to the north, east, and south. The inhabitants may amount to between ten and twelve thousand souls. The travellers were here objects of much kindness; the principal people of the place sent presents, and the lower ranks sought to obtain a sight of them by mounting the trees which overlooked their residence. The Koran does not seem to have much embarrassed these people; their only mode of studying it was to have the characters written with a black substance on a piece of board, then to wash them off and drink the water; and when asked what spiritual benefit could be derived from the mere swallowing of dirty water, they indignantly retorted, "What! do you call the name of God dirty water?" This mode of imbibing sacred truth is indeed extensively pursued throughout the interior of the African continent.
On the second day from Womba, the travellers passed through another large and populous town, called Akinjie, where also kafilas pay toll; beyond which, the route lay for two days over a very hilly country, for the most part covered with wood, and but little cultivated, till they approached Guari.
This town, the capital of a district of the same name, formerly included in Kashna, is built partly on a hill, and partly in a narrow valley, through which runs a muddy stream, that is dry in summer; this stream, the source of which is only a day's journey distant, divides in one part the states of Kotong Kora and Guari, and falls into the Kodonia in Nyffee. The district of Guari was conquered by the Fellatas, in a short time after their rising, together with the rest of Houssa. On the death of old Bello, the father of the then reigning sovereign, these districts, with the greater part of Kashna, joined in the towia, or confederacy, against the Fellatas. The chief of Zamfra was the first to shake the spear of rebellion, and he was soon joined by the natives of Goober, and the northern parts of Kashna, by Guari and Kotong Kora, and at length by the states of Youri, Cubbi, Doura, and the southern part of Zeg Zeg. The strength of Youri is said to lie in the bravery of its inhabitants, and the number of horse they can bring into the field, amounting to a thousand. Clapperton was, however, disposed to place their real strength in the hilly and woody nature of their country.
Futika, the frontier town of Zeg Zeg, was reached on the second day from Guari; and at Zaria, where the travellers arrived on the fourth, they found themselves in a city almost wholly peopled by Fellatas, who have mosques with minarets, and live in flat-roofed houses. The population is said to exceed that of Kano, and must contain above fifty thousand inhabitants. A great number of the inhabitants are from Foota Ronda and Foota Torra, the Foulahs and Fellatas being, in fact, the same people. The people from the west professed to be well acquainted with both the English and the French, and they rattled over the names of the towns between Sierra Leone and the Senegal and Timbuctoo. They were armed with French fusees, preferring the guns of the French and the powder of the English.
The old city of Zaria was taken by the Fellatas, within a month after they had made themselves masters of the provinces of Goober and Zamfra, about thirty years ago. It took a siege of two days, when it was evacuated by the sultan and the greater part of the inhabitants, who took refuge in hills south and west, where they still maintain their independence, though subject to the continual attacks of the Fellatas. The old city is now known only by its ruined walls, surrounding some high mounds, which were in the centre of the enclosed area. The new city, built by the Fellatas, to the south-east of the old, consists of a number of little villages and detached houses, scattered over an extensive area, surrounded with high clay walls. Near the centre of the wall stands the principal mosque, built of clay, with a minaret nearly fifty feet high. On entering one of the western gates, instead of finding houses, the travellers could but just see the tops of some of them over the growing grain, at about a quarter of a mile distance; all was walled fields full of dhourra, with here and there a horse tethered in the open space.
The province of Zeg Zeg is the most extensive in the kingdom of Houssa, and both Kashna and Kano were at one time tributary to its sovereigns. The name of the country appears to be also given to the capital, and is possibly derived from it. It must, however, be observed that Lander mentions Zaria only by the name of Zeg Zeg. Prior to the Fellata conquest, Islamism is said to have been unknown in Zeg Zeg, and the southern part is still in the possession of various pagan tribes, whose country is called Boushir or Boushi, that is, the infidel country, and is said to extend to the ocean.
The country in the vicinity of the capital, Zaria, is clear of wood, and is all either in pasture or under cultivation. Its appearance at this season resembled some of the finest counties in England at the latter end of April. It was beautifully variegated with hill and dale, like the most romantic parts of England; was covered with luxuriant crops and rich pastures, and produced the best rice grown in any part of that continent. Rows of tall trees, resembling gigantic avenues of poplar, extended from hill to hill. Zaria, like many other African cities, might be considered as a district of country surrounded with walls.
After passing several towns at the distance of short stages, the travellers, on the fourth day from Zaria, entered, at the town of Dunchow, the province of Kano. A highly cultivated and populous country extends from this place to Baebaejie, the next stage. This town stands in an extensive plain, stretching towards the north till lost in the horizon. The two mounts inside the walls of Kano are just distinguishable above the horizontal line, bearing north-east by north. The hills of Nora are seen about ten miles east; to the south are the mountains of Surem, distant about twenty-five miles, while to the westward appear the tops of the hills of Aushin, in Zeg Zeg, over which the route had passed. Small towns and villages are scattered over the plain, and herds of fine white cattle were seen grazing on the fallow ground. The inhabitants of Baebaejie, amounting to about twenty or twenty-five thousand, are chiefly refugees from Bornou and Waday, and their descendants, all engaged in trade. They appeared cleanly, civil, and industrious. A broad and good road thronged with passengers and loaded animals, led in another day's journey to Kano.
Chapter XXVII
The travellers found the city of Kano in a state of dreadful agitation. There was war on every side. Hostilities had been declared between the king of Bornou and the Fellatas; the provinces of Zamfra and Goober were in open insurrection; the Tuaricks threatened an inroad; in short, there was not a quarter to which the merchants durst send a caravan. Kano being nearly mid-way between Bornou and Sockatoo, Clapperton left his baggage there, to be conveyed to the former place on his return, and set out for the capital of the sultan Bello, bearing only the presents destined for that prince. On his way he found numerous bands mustering to form an army for the attack of Coonia, the rebel metropolis of Ghoober. The appearance of these troops was very striking, as they passed along the borders of some beautiful little lakes, formed by the river Zirmie.
The appearance of the country at this season was very beautiful; all the acacia trees were in blossom, some with white flowers, others with yellow, forming a contrast with the small dusky leaves, like gold and silver tassels on a cloak of dark green velvet. Some of the troops were bathing; others watering their horses, bullocks, camels, and asses; the lake Gondamee as smooth as glass, and flowing around the roots of the trees. The sun, in its approach to the horizon, threw the shadows of the flowering acacias along its surface, like sheets of burnished gold and silver. The smoking fires on its banks, the sounding of horns, the beating of their gongs and drums, the blowing of their brass and tin trumpets; the rude huts of grass or branches of trees, rising as if by magic, everywhere the calls on the names Mahomed, Abdo, Mustafa, &c., with the neighing of horses, and the braying of asses, gave animation to the beautiful scenery of the lake, and its sloping, green, and woody banks. The only regulation that appears in these rude feudal armies is, that they take up their ground according to the situation of the provinces, east, west, north, or south; but all are otherwise huddled together, without the least regularity.
The sultan was himself encamped with the forces from Sockatoo, whither the travellers repaired to join him, and they arrived just in time to be eye-witnesses of a specimen of the military tactics and conduct of these much-dreaded Fellatas. This curious scene is thus described:--
After the mid-day prayers, all except the eunuchs, camel-drivers, and such other servants as were of use only to prevent theft, whether mounted or on foot, marched towards the object of attack, and soon arrived before the walls of the city. Clapperton accompanied them, and took up his station close to the gadado. The march had been the most disorderly that could be imagined; horse and foot intermingling in the greatest confusion, all rushing to get forward; sometimes the followers of one chief tumbling amongst those of another, when swords were half unsheathed, but all ended in making a face, or putting on a threatening aspect. They soon arrived before Coonia, the town not being above half a mile in diameter, nearly circular, and built on the banks of one of the branches of the liver, or lakes. Each chief, as he came, took his station, which, it was supposed, had been previously assigned to him. The number of fighting men brought before the town could not be less than fifty or sixty thousand, horse and foot, of which the latter amounted to more than nine-tenths. For the depth of two hundred yards, all round the walls, was a dense circle of men and horses. The horse kept out of bow-shot, while the foot went up as they felt courage or inclination, and kept up a straggling fire with about thirty muskets and the shooting of arrows. In front of the sultan, the Zeg Zeg troops had one French fusee; the Kano forces had forty-one muskets. These fellows, whenever they fired their muskets, ran out of bow-shot to load; all of them were slaves; not a single Fellata had a musket. The enemy kept up a slow and sure fight, seldom throwing away their arrows, until they saw an opportunity of letting fly with effect. Now and then a single horseman would gallop up to the ditch, and brandish his spear, the rider taking care to cover himself with his large leathern shield, and return as fast as he went, generally calling out lustily, when he got amongst his own party, "Shields to the walls! You people of the gadado, (or atego, &c.) why do you not hasten to the wall?" To which some voices would call out, "Oh, you have a good large shield to cover you." The cry of "Shields to the wall!" was constantly heard from the several chiefs to their troops; but they disregarded the call, and neither chiefs nor vassals moved from the spot. At length the men in quilted armour went up "per order." They certainly cut not a bad figure at a distance, as their helmets were ornamented with black and white ostrich feathers, and the sides of the helmets with pieces of tin, which glittered in the sun; their long quilted cloaks of gaudy colours reaching over part of their horses' tails, and hanging over the flanks. On the neck, even the horses' armour was notched or vandyked, to look like a mane; on his forehead, and over his nose, was a brass or tin plate, also a semicircular piece on each side. The rider was armed with a large spear, and he had to be assisted to mount his horse, as his quilted cloak was too heavy; it required two men to lift him on. There were six of them belonged to each governor, and six to the sultan. It was at first supposed, that the foot would take advantage of going under cover of these unwieldy machines; but no, they went alone, as fast as the poor horses could bear them, which was but a slow pace. They had one musket in Coonia, and it did wonderful execution; for it brought down the van of the quilted men, who fell from his horse like a sack of corn thrown from a horse's back at a miller's door, but both horse and man were brought off by two or three footmen. He got two balls through his breast; one went through his body and both sides of the tobe; the other went through and lodged in the quilted armour opposite the shoulders.
The cry of "Allahu akber!" (God is great), the cry of the Fellatas, was resounded through the whole army every quarter of an hour; but neither this nor "Shields to the walls!" nor "Why do not the gadado's people go up?" had any effect, except to produce a scuffle amongst themselves, when the chiefs would have to ride up and part their followers, who, instead of fighting against the enemy, were more likely to fight with one another. At sunset, the besiegers drew off, and the harmless campaign terminated in a desertion on the part of the Zirmee troops, followed by a general retreat.
The flags of the Fellatas are white, like the French, and their staff is a palm branch. They are not borne by men of honour, but by their slaves. The sultan had six borne before him; each of the governors had two. They also dress in white tobes and trousers, as an emblem of their purity in faith and intention. The most useful personage in the army, and as brave as any of them, was an old female slave of the sultan's, a native of Zamfra, five of whose former governors, she said, she had nursed. She was of a dark copper colour, in dress and countenance very much like a female esquimaux. She was mounted on a long-backed bright bay horse, with a scraggy tail, crop-eared, and the mane, as if the rats had eaten part of it, nor was it very high in condition. She rode a-straddle, had on a conical straw dish-cover for a hat, or to shade her face from the sun; a short, dirty, white bed-gown, a pair of dirty white loose and wide trousers, a pair of Houssa boots, which are wide, and come over the knee, fastened with a string round the waist. She had also a whip and spurs. At her saddle-bow hung about half a dozen gourds filled with water, and a brass basin to drink out of, and with this she supplied the wounded and the thirsty.
The army being disbanded, Clapperton obtained permission of the sultan to proceed to Sockatoo, where he found every thing ready for his reception, in the house, which he had occupied on his former visit. The traveller, however, found an entire change in the feelings of kindness and cordiality towards himself, which had been so remarkably displayed in the previous journey. Jealousy had began to fester in the breasts of the African princes. They dreaded some ambitious design in these repeated expeditions sent out by England, without any conceivable motive; for that men should undertake such long journeys, out of mere curiosity, they could never imagine. The sultan Bello had accordingly received a letter from the court of Bornou, warning him that by this very mode of sending embassies and presents, which the English were now following towards the states of central Africa, they had made themselves masters of India, and trampled on all its native princes. The writer therefore gave it as his opinion, that the European travellers should immediately be put to death. An alarm indeed had been spread through Sockatoo, that the English were coming to invade Houssa. The sultan irritated doubtless at the shameful result of his grand expedition against Coonia, felt also another and more pressing fear. War had just broken out between himself and the king of Bornou. Clapperton was on his way to visit that prince, and had left six muskets at Kano, supposed to be intended as presents to him; and six muskets in central Africa, where the whole Fellata empire could scarcely muster forty, were almost enough to turn the scale between those two great military powers. Under the impulse of these feelings, Bello proceeded to steps not exactly consistent with the character of a prince and a man of honour. He demanded a sight of the letter which Clapperton was conveying to the king of Bornou, and when this was, of course, refused, he seized it by violence. Lander was induced by false pretences to bring the baggage from Kano to Sockatoo, when forcible possession was taken of the muskets. Clapperton loudly exclaimed against these proceedings, declaring them to amount to the basest robbery, to a breach of all faith, and to be the worst actions, of which any man could be guilty. This was rather strong language to be used to a sovereign, especially to one, who could at any moment have cut off his head, and the prime ministers of the sultan dropped some unpleasant hints, as if matters might come to that issue, though in point of fact, the government did not proceed to any personal outrage. On the contrary, Bello discovered an honourable anxiety to explain his conduct, and to soothe the irritated feelings of the traveller. He even wrote to him the following letter, which it must be confessed, places the character of Bello in a very favourable light.
"In the name of God, and praise be to God, &c. &c. To Abdallah Clapperton, salutation and esteem. You are now our guest, and a guest is always welcomed by us; you are the messenger of a king, and a king's messenger is always honoured by us. You come to us under our honour as an ambassador, and an ambassador is always protected by us. There is no harm in the king's ministers sending you to the sheik Kanemi, of Bornou, nor do we see any harm in your coming, when thus sent. But when you formerly came to us from Bornou, peace was then between us and the sheik; whereas there is now war between him and ourselves; we cannot perceive any blame in our preventing warlike stores being sent to him. We continue to maintain our faith with you, and are ready to attend to all your wishes, because we consider you as a trusty friend, and one who enjoys a high degree of esteem with us. Do not encroach upon us, we will not encroach upon you; we have rights to maintain, and you have also rights to be respected. And Salam be to you."
(Signed as usual.)
It is difficult to conceive, why so reasonable and friendly a letter should have failed to subdue the irritation of the traveller; this cannot be accounted for only by his ill health, or by supposing that he was not exactly conversant with its contents. It appears, however, that the conduct of Bello had such an effect upon the spirits of Clapperton, that Lander reports, he never saw him smile afterwards. The strong constitution of Clapperton, had till this period enabled him to resist all the baneful influence of an African climate. He had recovered, though perhaps not completely, from the effects of the rash exposure which had proved fatal to his two companions, but subsequently when overcome with heat and fatigue he had lain down on a damp spot in the open air, he was soon after seized with dysentery, which continued to assume more alarming symptoms. Unable to rise from his bed, and deserted by all his African friends, who saw him no longer a favourite at court, he was watched with tender care by his faithful servant Lander, who devoted his whole time to attendance on his sick master. At length he called him to his bed-side, and said, "Richard, I shall shortly be no more; I feel myself dying." Almost choked with grief, Lander replied, "God forbid, my dear master--you will live many years yet." Clapperton replied, "don't be so much affected, my dear boy, I entreat you, it is the will of the Almighty, it cannot be helped. I should have wished to live to have been of further use to my country--and more, I should like to have died in my native land--but it is my duty to submit." He then gave particular directions as to the disposal of his papers, and of all that remained of his property, to which the strictest attention was promised. "He then," says Lander, "took my hand within his, and looking me full in the face, while a tear stood glistening in his eye, said in a low but deeply affecting tone, 'My dear Richard, if you had not been with me, I should have died long ago. I can only thank you with my latest breath for your kindness and attachment to me, and if I could have lived to return with you, you should have been placed beyond the reach of want, but God will reward you.'" He survived some days, and appeared even to rally a little, but one morning, Lander was alarmed by a peculiar rattling sound in his throat, and hastening to the bed-side found him sitting up, and staring wildly around; some indistinct words quivered on his lips, he strove but ineffectually to give them utterance, and expired without a struggle or a sigh.
Bello seems to have repented in some degree of his harsh conduct, especially after the news arrived of a great victory gained by his troops over the sultan of Bornou. He allowed Lander to perform the funeral obsequies with every mark of respect, agreeably to the sultan's own directions at Jungavie, a small village on a rising ground, about five miles to the S. E. of Sockatoo. Lander performed the last sad office of reading the English service over the remains of his generous and intrepid master; a house was erected over his grave;
"And he was left alone in his glory."
Chapter XXVIII
Lander may now be said to be in the interior of Africa, a solitary wanderer, dependent entirely on his own resources, at the same time that he received from sultan Bello, all the requisite means to enable him to return to his native country, allowing him to choose his own road, though advising him to prefer that which led through the great Desert, but Lander having already had many dealings with the Arabs, preferred the track through the negro countries.
On arriving at Kano, on his return route, Lander formed a spirited and highly laudable design, which proved him to be possessed of a mind much superior to his station, and this was nothing less than an attempt to resolve the great question, respecting the termination of the Niger, which he hoped to effect by proceeding to Funda, and thence to Benin by water. Striking off to the eastward of the route, on which, in company with his late master, he had reached Kano, he passed several walled towns, all inhabited by natives of Houssa, tributary to the Fellatas, and early on the third day from Bebajie, (as he spells it,) arrived at the foot of a high craggy mountain, called Almena, from a ruined town said to have been built by a queen of the Fantee nation, some five hundred years ago. Mahomet, Lander's servant, who had travelled far and near, and knew all the traditions of the country, gave the following story:--About five hundred years ago, a queen of the Fantee nation having quarrelled with her husband about a golden stool, in other words, we presume about the throne, probably after her husband's death, fled from her dominions with a great number of her subjects, and built a large town at the foot of this mountain, which she called Almena, from which it took its name. The town, according Lander, was surrounded with a stone wall, as the ruins plainly attest. The M. S. account of Tukroor evidently alludes to the same personage. The first who ruled over them, that is the seven provinces of Houssa, was, as it is stated, Amenah, daughter of the prince of Zag Zag, (Zeg Zeg?) She conquered them by the force of her sword, and subjected them, including Kashna and Kano, to be her tributaries. She fought and took possession of the country of Bowsher, till she reached the coast of the ocean on the right hand, and west side. She died at Atagara.
The gigantic blocks of granite forming the mountain Almena, fearfully piled on each other, and seeming ready to fall, are described as resembling the rocks near the Logan stone in Cornwall, but on a scale infinitely larger. To the eastward, a range of high hills was seen stretching from north to south, as far as the eye could reach, and Lander was informed that they extended to the salt water. They were said to be inhabited by a savage race of people called Yamyams, that is cannibals, who had formerly carried on an extensive traffic with the Houssa men, bringing elephants' teeth, and taking in exchange red cloth, beads, &c., but five years before, they had murdered a whole kafila of merchants, and afterwards eaten them, since which time, the Houssa people had been reasonably shy of dealing with them.
Sultan Bello informed Lander that he had ocular proof of the fact, that these same people are in the practice of eating human flesh. The sultan said, that on the governor of Jacoba telling him of these people, he could scarcely believe it, but on a Tuarick being hanged for theft, he saw five of these people eat a part, with which he was so disgusted, that he sent them back to Jacoba soon after. He said, that whenever a person complained of sickness amongst these men, even though only a slight headache, he is killed instantly, for fear he should be lost by death, as they will not eat a person that has died by sickness; that the person falling sick is requested by some other family, and repaid when they had a sick relation; that universally, when they went to war, the dead and wounded were always eaten; that the hearts were claimed by the head men, and that on asking them, why they ate human flesh, they said, it was better than any other, that they had no want or food, and that excepting this bad custom, they were very cleanly, and otherwise not bad people, except that they were kaffirs.
As far as the route of Lander had hitherto extended, all the streams that were crossed had a north-westerly course, and on the fifth day, he reached a large river running in the same direction called Accra. On the following day proceeding S. W., he arrived at Nammalack, built immediately under a mountain, which, rising almost perpendicularly, forms a natural wall on the north-eastern side. It is thickly wooded and abounds with thousands of hyenas, tiger cats, jackals, and monkeys, who monopolize all the animal food in the neighbourhood, the poor inhabitants not being able to keep a single bullock, sheep, or goat.
For four hours beyond this town, Lander's route continued along the foot of this range of mountains, in a continued direction of S. W., it then turned eastward through an opening in the range, and after crossing one large and three small rivers, led to Fillindushie, the frontier town of Catica. Lander speaks of the Catica or Bowchee people as the same. This district must, therefore, belong to the Bowchee country, which forms part of Zeg Zeg, according to the M. S. account of Tackroor, apparently on the Boushy, that is infidel or kirdy country, bordering on Yacoba.
The inhabitants of Catica are described as a fine handsome people, with features not at all resembling those of the negro race, and very similar to the European, but below the negroes in civilization, without any clothing, filthy in person, disgusting in manners, and destitute of natural affection; the parent selling his child with no more remorse or repugnance than he would his chicken, yet at the same time, by way of contrast, artless and good humoured. Their appearance is extremely barbarous and repulsive. They rub red clay softened with oil over their heads and bodies, and invariably wear a large semicircular piece of blue glass in the upper and lower lip, with ear-pendants of red wood. They make fetishes like the natives of Yariba.
Turning again to the S. W., the route now led over a fine and rich country, to a large river rolling to the N. W., called Coodoma (Kadoma,) which empties itself into the Quorra, near Funda. Lander reached the north-eastern bank on the tenth day, and on the morrow after three hours travelling reached Cuttup. Having heard on his route many different reports of the wealth, population and celebrated market of this place, he was surprised to find it to consist of nearly five hundred villages, almost joining each other, occupying a vast and beautiful plain, adorned with the finest trees. Amongst these, the plantain, the palm, and the cocoa-nut tree, were seen flourishing in great abundance, and the aspect of the country strikingly resembled some parts of Yariba. A considerable traffic is carried on here in slaves and bullocks, which are alike exposed in the daily market. The bullocks are bred by the Fellatas, who reside there for no other purpose.
The sultan of Cuttup being a very great man, that is, in his own estimation, Lander made him a suitable present of four yards of blue damask, the same quantity of scarlet, a print of George IV., one of the late duke of York, which, we have reason to suppose, was held in higher estimation than his whole-length colossal figure on the top of the pedestal in this country, which has the superlative honour of calling him one of the most meritorious, most puissant, and most honourable of the royal blood. Lander also made the sultan a present of other trifling articles, in return for which he received a sheep, the humps, or we should call it the rumps, of two bullocks, and stewed rice sufficient for fifty men, not being able at the time to form an accurate opinion of the extent of Lander's gourmandizing appetite, or most probably, as is generally the case in countries situated farther to the northward, judging of the appetite of others by his own. During the four days that Lander remained in these hospitable quarters, he was never in want of provisions, nor do we see how it was possible that he should be, when he had two rumps of beef, from which he could at any time cut a steak, which the most finished epicurean of Dolly's would not turn up his nose at, and stewed rice, as an entremet, sufficient for the gastronomic powers of fifty men. When it is also considered, that the sultan invariably receives as a tax the hump of every bullock that is slaughtered, weighing from twelve to fifteen pounds, and the choicest part of the animal, it is somewhat surprising that the country does not abound with hump-backed tyrants, similar to the notorious Richard of England; at all events, Lander had to congratulate himself that the humps, or rumps, were sent to him daily by the king's wives, we will suppose, out of the pure spirit of charity and benevolence, on the same principle, perhaps, that the widow Zuma invited Lander to take up his abode in her house.
It was very proper that Lander should make a return to the sultan's wives for their rumps of beef, and, therefore, he presented them with one or two gilt buttons from his jacket, and they, imagining them to be pure gold, fastened them to their ears. Little, however, did the Birmingham manufacturer suppose, when he issued these buttons from his warehouse, that they were destined one day to glitter as pendants in the ears of the wives of the sultan of Cuttup, in the heart of Africa; truly may it be said with Shakespeare,
"To what vile uses may we come at last!"
It is very possible, from some cause not worthy here of investigation, that one of the wives of the sultan had contrived to obtain a higher place in the estimation of Lander, than any of her other compeers; but, as a proof that great events from trivial causes flow, it happened that Lander set the whole court of Cuttup in a hubbub and confusion by a very simple act, to which no premeditated sin could be attached, and this act was no other, than presenting one of the wives of the sultan secretly, clandestinely, and covertly, with a most valuable article, in the shape of a large darning needle, which he carried about with him, for the purpose of repairing any sudden detriment, that might happen to any part of his habiliments. A female, whether European or African, generally takes a pride in displaying the presents that have been made her; and the favoured wife of the sultan no sooner displayed the present which she had received, than the spirit of jealousy and envy burst forth in the breast of all the remaining wives. It was a fire not easily to be quenched; it pervaded every part of the residence of the sultan; it penetrated into every hut, where one of the wives resided; discord, quarrels, and battles became the order of the day, and Lander was obliged to make a precipitate retreat from a place, where he had incautiously and innocently raised such a rebellion. On relating this anecdote to us, Lander declared, that, with a good supply of needles in his possession, he would not despair of obtaining every necessary article and accommodation throughout the whole of central Africa.
On leaving Cuttup, Lander proceeded south-south-west, over a hilly country, and on the following day, crossed the Rary, a large river flowing to the south-east. The next day, part of the route lay over steep and craggy precipices, some of them of the most awful height. From the summit of this pass, he obtained a very beautiful and extensive prospect, which would indicate the elevation to be indeed very considerable. Eight days' journey might plainly be seen before him. About half a day's journey to the east, stood a lofty hill, at the foot of which lay the large city of Jacoba. In the evening, he reached Dunrora, a town containing about four thousand inhabitants.
Lander had now reached the latitude of Funda, which, according to his information, lies about twelve days due west of Dunrora, and after seventeen perilous days' travelling from Kano, he seemed to be on the point of solving the great geographical problem respecting the termination of the supposed Niger, when, just as he was leaving Dunrora, four armed messengers from the sultan of Zeg Zeg rode up to him, bearing orders for his immediate return to the capital. Remonstrance was in vain; and, with a bad grace and a heavy heart, poor Lander complied with the mandate. He was led back to Cuttup by the same route that he had taken, and here, much against the inclination of his guards, he remained four days, suffering under an attack of dysentery. On his arrival at Zaria, he was introduced to the king; and having delivered his presents, that prince boasted of having conferred on him the greatest possible favour, since the people of Funda, being now at war with sultan Bello, would certainly have murdered any one, who had visited and carried gifts to that monarch. From this reasoning, sound or otherwise, Lander had no appeal, and was obliged to make his way back by his former path.
The subsequent part of his route was, however, rather more to the westward of his former track. The Koodoonia, where he crossed it, was much deeper, as well as broader, and much more rapid. On Lander refusing to cross the river till it had become more shallow, his guards left him in great wrath, threatening to report his conduct to their master, and they did not return for a fortnight, during which time, Lander remained at a Bowchee village, an hour distant, very ill, having nothing to eat but boiled corn, not much relishing roasted dog. The inhabitants, who came by hundreds every day to visit him, were destitute of any clothing, but behaved in a modest and becoming manner. The men did not appear to have any occupation or employment whatever. The women were generally engaged, the greater part of the day, in manufacturing oil from a black seed and the Guinea nut.
Not deeming it safe, according to the advice of the sultan of Zeg Zeg, to pursue his homeward way by the route of Funda, he chose the Youriba road; and, after serious delays, he reached Badagry on the 21st November 1827; but here he was nearly losing his life, owing to the vindictive jealousy of the Portuguese slave-merchants, who denounced him to the king as a spy sent by the English government. The consequence was, that it was resolved by the chief men to subject him to the ordeal of drinking a fetish. "If you come to do bad," they said, "it will kill you; but if not, it cannot hurt you." There was no alternative or escape. Poor Lander swallowed the contents of the bowl, and then walked hastily out of the hut through the armed men who surrounded it, to his own lodgings, where he lost no time in getting rid of the fetish drink by a powerful emetic. He afterwards learned, that it almost always proved fatal. When the king and his chiefs found, after five days, that Lander survived, they changed their minds, and became extremely kind, concluding that he was under the special protection of God. The Portuguese, however, he had reason to believe, would have taken the first opportunity to assassinate him. His life at this place was in continual danger, until, fortunately, Captain Laing, of the brig Maria of London, of which Fullerton was the chief mate, and afterwards commander, hearing that there was a white man about sixty miles up the country, who was in a most deplorable condition, and suspecting that he might be one of the travellers sent out on the expedition to explore the interior of Africa, despatched a messenger with instructions to bring him away. The parties who held him were, however, not disposed to part with him without a ransom, the amount of which was fixed at nearly £70, which was paid by Captain Laing in broadcloths, gunpowder, and other articles, and which was subsequently refunded by the African Society. Lander arrived in England on the 30th April 1828, on which occasion we were introduced to him by the late Captain Fullerton, from whose papers the following history of Lander's second journey is compiled.
Chapter XXIX
The journeys of Denham and Clapperton made a great accession to our knowledge of interior Africa, they having completed a diagonal section from Tripoli to the gulf of Benin; they explored numerous kingdoms, either altogether unknown, or indicated only by the most imperfect rumour. New mountains, lakes, and rivers had been discovered and delineated, yet the course of the Niger remained wrapt in mystery nearly as deep as ever. Its stream had been traced very little lower than Boussa, which Park had reached, and where his career was brought to so fatal a termination. The unhappy issue of Clapperton's last attempt chilled for a time the zeal for African discovery; but that high spirit of adventure which animates Britons was soon found acting powerfully in a quarter, where there was least reason to expect it. Partaking of the character which animated his master, Lander endeavoured, on his return towards the coast, to follow a direction, which, but for unforeseen circumstances, would have led to the solution of the great problem. After reaching England, he still cherished the same spirit; in our frequent conversations with him, he expressed it to be his decided opinion, that the termination of the Niger would be found between the fifth and tenth degree of north latitude, and his subsequent discoveries proved his opinion to be correct. Undeterred by the recollection of so much peril and hardship, he tendered his services to the government to make one effort more, in order to reach the mouth of this mysterious river; his offer was accepted, but on terms which make it abundantly evident that the enterprise was not undertaken from any mercenary impulse. The manner in which he had acquitted himself of his trust, amidst the difficulties with which he had to contend after the death of Clapperton, bespoke him as being worthy to be sent out on such a mission, when scientific observations were not expected, and the result has proved the justness of the opinion, that was entertained of him. Descended from Cornish parents, having been born at Truro, and not gifted with any extraordinary talent, it was not his fortune to boast either the honour of high birth, or even to possess the advantages of a common-place education. His leading quality was a determined spirit of perseverance, which no obstacles could intimidate or subdue. In society, particularly in the company of those distinguished for their talents or literary attainments, his reserve and bashfulness were insuperable, and it was not until a degree of intimacy was established by frequent association, that he could be brought to communicate the sentiments of his mind, or to impress a belief upon the company, that he was possessed of any superior qualifications.
His younger brother, John Lander, who, influenced by a laudable desire to assist in the solution of the geographical problem, was of a very different turn of mind. He was brought up to the profession of a printer, and, as a compositor, had frequent opportunities of enriching his mind with various branches of knowledge, and in time became himself the author of several essays in prose and verse, by no means discreditable to his talents. Being naturally gifted with an exuberant imagination, his descriptions partake of the inflated and bombastic; but we have reason to know, that the information which he gives is deduced from authentic sources, without the usual exaggeration proverbially belonging to travellers.
The following were the instructions given by government to Richard Lander:--
"Downing-street, 31st December 1829.
"Sir,
"I am directed by secretary Sir George Murray to acquaint you, that he has deemed it expedient to accept the offer, which you have made, to proceed to Africa, accompanied by your brother, for the purpose of ascertaining the course of the great river, which was crossed by the late Captain Clapperton on his journey to Sockatoo; and a passage having been accordingly engaged for you and your brother, on board of the Alert, merchant vessel, which is proceeding to Cape Coast Castle, on the western coast of Africa, I am to desire that you will embark immediately on board that vessel.
"In the event of your falling in with any of his Majesty's ships of war on the coast of Africa, previously to your arrival at Cape Coast Castle, you will prevail on the master to use every endeavour to speak with such ship of war, and to deliver to the officer commanding her, the letter of which you are the bearer, and which is to require him to convey yourself and your brother to Badagry, to present you to the king, and to give you such assistance as may be required to enable you to set out on your journey.
"You should incur as little delay as possible at Badagry, in order that, by reaching the hilly country, you may be more secure from those fevers, which are known to be prevalent on the low lands of the sea-coast. You are to proceed by the same road as on a previous occasion, as far as Katunga, unless you shall be able to find, on the northern side of the mountains, a road which will lead to Funda, on the Quorra or Niger; in which case, you are to proceed direct to Funda. If, however, it should be necessary to go as far as Katunga, you are to use your endeavours to prevail on the chief of that country to assist you on your way to the Quorra, and with the means of tracing down, either by land or water, the course of that river as far as Funda.
"On your arrival at this place, you are to be very particular in your observations, so as to enable you to give a correct statement.
"1st, Whether any, and what rivers fall into the Quorra at or near that place; or whether the whole or any part of the Quorra turns to the eastward.
"2nd, Whether there is at Funda, or in the neighbourhood, any lake or collection of waters or large swamps; in which case, you are to go round such lake or swamp, and be very particular in examining whether any river flows into or out of it, and in what direction it takes its course.
"3rd, If you should find that at Funda, the Quorra continues to flow to the southward, you are to follow it to the sea, where, in this case, it may be presumed to empty its waters; but if it should be found to turn off to the eastward, in which case it will most probably fall into the lake Tchad, you are to follow its course in that direction, as far as you conceive you can venture to do, with due regard to your personal safety, to Bornou; in which case it will be for you to determine, whether it may not be advisable to return home by the way of Fezzan and Tripoli: if, however, after proceeding in an easterly course for some distance, the river should be found to turn off towards the south, you are to follow it, as before, down to the sea. In short, after having once gained the banks of the Quorra, either from Katunga or lower down, you are to follow its course, if possible, to its termination, wherever that may be.
"Should you be of opinion that the sultan of Youri can safely be communicated with, you are at liberty to send your brother with a present to that chief, to ask, in the king's name, for certain books or papers, which he is supposed to have, that belonged to the late Mr. Park; but you are not necessarily yourself to wait for your brother's return, but to proceed in the execution of the main object of your mission, to ascertain the course and termination of the Niger.
"You are to take every opportunity of sending down to the coast a brief extract of your proceedings and observations, furnishing the bearer with a note, setting forth the reward he is to have for his trouble, and requesting any English person to whom it is presented to pay that reward, on the faith that it will be repaid him by the British government.
"For the performance of this service, you are furnished with all the articles which you have required for your personal convenience during your journey, together with a sum of two hundred dollars in coin; and in case, upon your arrival at Badagry, you should find it absolutely necessary to provide yourself with a further supply of dollars, you will be at liberty to draw upon this department for any sum not exceeding three hundred dollars.
"During the ensuing year, the sum of one hundred pounds will be paid to your wife in quarterly payments; and upon your return, a gratuity of one hundred pounds will be paid to yourself.
"All the papers and observations, which you shall bring back with you, are to be delivered by you at this office; and you will be entitled to receive any pecuniary consideration which may be obtained from the publication of the account of your journey. "I am, Sir, &c. &c.
(Signed) "R. W. HAY."
"To Mr. Richard Lander."
In pursuance of these instructions, Richard Lander and his brother embarked at Portsmouth, on the 9th January 1830, in the brig Alert, for Cape Coast Castle, where they arrived on the 22nd of the following month, after a boisterous and unpleasant passage. Here they were fortunate enough to engage old Pascoe and his wife, with Jowdie, who had been employed on the last expedition, with Ibrahim and Mina, two Bornou men, who were well acquainted with English manners, and could converse in the Houssa language. These individuals promised to be very useful on the expedition, more especially old Pascoe, whose merits as an interpreter were unquestionable.
After remaining at Cape Coast Castle eight days, they accompanied Mr. M'Lean, the president of the council at that place, on a visit to Mr. Hutchinson, commandant at Anamaboo, about nine miles distant from Cape Coast. Mr. Hutchinson lived in his castle, like an English baron in the feudal times, untinctured, however, by barbarism or ignorance; for the polished, refinements of life have insinuated themselves into his dwelling, though it is entirely surrounded by savages, and though the charming sound of a lady's voice is seldom or never heard in his lonely hall. His silken banner, his turreted castle, his devoted vassals, his hospitality, and even his very solitariness, all conspired to recall to the mind the manners and way of life of an old English baron, in one of the most interesting periods of our history, whilst the highly chivalrous and romantic spirit of the gentleman alluded to, was strictly in unison with the impression. Mr. Hutchinson had resided a number of years on the coast, and was one of the few individuals, who had visited the capital of Ashantee, in which he resided eight months, and obtained a better acquaintance with the manners, customs, and pursuits of that warlike, enterprising, and original nation, than any other European whatever. In the Ashantee war he took a very active part, and rendered important and valuable services to the cause he so warmly espoused.
They resided at the fort till the 4th March, and then sailed in the Alert for Accra, where they expected to find a vessel to take them to Badagry, in the Bight of Benin, agreeably to their instructions.
In two days they arrived opposite the British fort at Accra, and, after staying there a week, they embarked on board the Clinker, Lieutenant Matson, commander; and having sailed direct for Badagry, they dropped anchor in the roadstead in the front of that town on the 19th. From the commander of the Clinker they received a young man of colour, named Antonio, son to the chief of Bonny, who eagerly embraced the opportunity of proceeding with them into the interior, being impressed with the notion that he should be enabled to reach his home and country by means of the Great River, or Niger.
In the earlier part of the afternoon of the 22nd March, they sailed towards the beach in one of the brig's boats, and having been taken into a canoe that was waiting at the edge of the breakers to receive them, they were plied over a tremendous surf, and flung with violence on the burning sands.
Wet and uncomfortable as this accident had rendered them, having no change of linen at hand, they walked to a small creek about the distance of a quarter of a mile from the sea shore, where they were taken into a native canoe, and conveyed safely through an extremely narrow channel, overhung with luxuriant vegetation, into the Badagry river, which is a branch of the Lagos. It is a beautiful body of water, resembling a lake in miniature; its surface is smooth and transparent as glass, and its picturesque banks are shaded by trees of a lively verdure. They were soon landed on the opposite side, when their road lay over a magnificent plain, on which deer, antelopes, and buffaloes were often observed to feed. Numbers of men, women, and children followed them to the town of Badagry, making the most terrific noises at their heels, but whether these were symptoms of satisfaction or displeasure, admiration or ridicule, they could not at first understand. They were soon, however, satisfied that the latter feeling was predominant, and indeed their clothing was sufficient to excite the laughter of any people, for it certainly was not African, nor had it any pretensions to be characterized as European. In the first place, the covering of the head consisted of a straw hat, larger than an umbrella, a scarlet mahommedan tobe or tunic and belt, with boots, and full Turkish trousers. So unusual a dress might well cause the people to laugh heartily; they were all evidently highly amused, but the more modest of the females, unwilling to give them any uneasiness, turned aside to conceal the titter, from which they were utterly unable to refrain.
On their way they observed various groups of people seated under the spreading branches of superb trees, vending provisions and country cloth, and on their approach, many of them arose and bowed, whilst others fell on their knees before them in token of respect. They reached the dwelling, which had been prepared for them about three o'clock in the afternoon, but as the day was too far advanced to visit the chief or king, they sent a messenger to inform him of their intention of paying him their respects on the following morning.
Towards evening, Richard Lander his brother being too fatigued to accompany him, took a saunter in the immediate vicinity of his residence, when he found, that in one respect, the streets of Badagry, if they might be so called, and the streets of London, bore a very great resemblance. It might be the mere effect of female curiosity, to ascertain what kind of a man's visage could possibly be concealed under such a preposterous hat, or it might be for any other purpose, which his penetration could not discover, but certain it was, that ever and anon a black visage, with white and pearly teeth, and an expressive grin of the countenance, somewhat similar to that of the monkey in a state of excited pleasure, protruded itself under the canopy of straw, which protected his head, but he, who had withstood the amorous advances of the widow Zuma, or of the fat and deaf widow Laddie, could not be supposed to yield to the fascinations and allurements of a Badagry houri. Richard therefore returned to his dwelling, fully satisfied with himself, but by no means having satisfied the ladies of Badagry, that an European was a man of love or gallantry.
At nine o'clock on the morning of the 23rd March, agreeably to the promise which they had made on the preceding day, they visited the chief at his residence, which was somewhat more than half a mile from their own. On their entrance, the potent chief of Badagry was sitting on a couple of boxes, which, for aught Lander knew, might at one time have belonged to a Hong merchant at Canton; the boxes were placed in a small bamboo apartment, on the sides of which were suspended a great number of muskets and swords, with a few paltry umbrellas, and a couple of horses' tails, which are used for the purpose of brushing away flies and other insects.
King Adooley looked up in the faces of his visitors without making any observation, it perhaps not being the etiquette of kings in that part of the world, to make any observation at all on subjects before them, nor did he even condescend to rise from his seat to congratulate them on their arrival. He appeared in deep reflection, and thoughtfully rested his elbow on an old wooden table, pillowing his head on his hand. One of the most venerable and ancient of his subjects was squatted at the feet of his master, smoking from a pipe of extraordinary length; whilst Lantern, his eldest son and heir apparent, was kneeling at his side, the Badagry etiquette not allowing the youth to sit in the presence of his father. Everything bore an air of gloom and sadness, totally different from what they had been led to expect. They shook hands, but the royal pressure was so very faint, that it was scarcely perceptible, yet, notwithstanding this apparent coldness, they seated themselves one on each side, without ceremony or embarrassment. It was evident that neither Lander nor his brother knew how to deport themselves in the presence of a king, a thing which the former had never seen in his life but at the courts of Africa, and they, God knows, were not calculated to give him an exalted idea of royalty; but when it had been ascertained, that it was contrary to etiquette at the court of Badagry, for even the heir apparent to assume any other attitude in the royal presence than that of kneeling, it might have occurred to the European travellers, that seating themselves without permission, in the presence of so august a personage as the king of Badagry, might be the forerunner of their heads being severed from their body, which, as it has been detailed in a preceding part of this work, is in that part of the country, a ceremony very easily and speedily despatched. It was, however, necessary that some conversation should take place between the king and his visitors, and therefore the latter began in the true old English fashion, to inquire about the state of his health, not forgetting to inform him at the same time, that they found the weather uncommonly hot, which could not well have been otherwise, considering that they were at that moment not much more than 5° to the northward of the equator. In regard to the state of his health, he answered them only with a languid smile, and relapsed into his former thoughtlessness. Not being able to break in upon the taciturnity of the monarch, they had recourse to a method which seldom fails of "unknitting the brow of care," and that was by a display to the best advantage, of the presents, which they had brought for him from England. Badagry is not the only kingdom in which, if a present be made to the king, the sole return that is received for it, is the honour of having been allowed to offer it, and this experience was acquired by our travellers, for the king certainly accepted the presents, but without the slightest demonstration of pleasure or satisfaction; the king scarcely deigned to look at the presents, and they were carried away by the attendants, with real or seeming indifference. To be permitted to kiss the hand of the sable monarch could not rationally be expected, as an honour conferred upon them for the presents, which they had delivered, but it was mortifying to them not to receive a word of acknowledgement, not even the tithe of a gracious smile; they accordingly said not a word, but they had seen enough to convince them that all was not right. A reserve, the cause whereof they could not define, and a coldness towards them, for which they could in no wise account, marked the conduct of the once spirited and good-natured chief of Badagry, and prepared them to anticipate various difficulties in the prosecution of their plans, which they were persuaded would require much art and influence to surmount. The brow of the monarch relaxed for a moment, and an attempt was made on the part of Richard Lander to enter into conversation with him, but on a sudden the king rose from his boxes, and left them to converse with themselves.
After waiting a considerable time, and the king not returning, a messenger was despatched to acquaint him, that the patience of his visitors was nearly exhausted, and they would feel obliged by his immediate return, in order to put an end to their conference or palaver, as it is emphatically styled, as speedily as possible. On the receipt of this message, the king hastened back, and entered the apartment with a melancholy countenance, which was partially concealed behind large volumes of smoke, from a tobacco pipe, which he was using. He seated himself between them as before, and gave them to understand in a very low tone of voice, that he was but just recovering from a severe illness, and from the effect of a series of misfortunes, which had rendered him almost brokenhearted. His celebrated generals Bombanee and Poser, and all his most able warriors had either been slain in battle, or fallen by other violent means. The former in particular, whose loss he more especially lamented, had been captured by the Lagos people, who were his most inveterate enemies. When this unfortunate man was taken prisoner, his right hand was immediately nailed to his head, and the other lopped off like a twig. In this manner he was paraded through the town, and exposed to the view of the people, whose curiosity being satiated, Bombanee's head was at length severed from his shoulders, and being dried in the sun and beaten to dust, was sent in triumph to the chief of Badagry. To add to his calamities, Adooley's house, which contained an immense quantity of gunpowder, had been blown up by accident, and destroyed all his property, consisting of a variety of presents, most of them very valuable, that had been made him by Captain Clapperton, by European merchants, and traders in slaves. The chief and his women escaped with difficulty from the conflagration; but as it was the custom to keep the muskets and other firearms constantly loaded, their contents were discharged into the bodies and legs of those individuals, who had flocked to the spot on the first alarm. The flames spread with astonishing rapidity, notwithstanding every exertion, and ended in the destruction of a great part of the town. This accounted in some measure for the sad and grievous expression so strongly depicted on the chiefs countenance; but still another and more powerful reason had doubtless influenced him on this occasion.
On returning to their residence, a number of principal men, as they style themselves, were introduced to compliment them on coming to their country, although their true and only motive for visiting their quarters was the expectation of obtaining rum, which is the great object of attraction to all of them. They had been annoyed during the greater part of this day by a tribe of ragged beggars, whose importunity was really disgusting. The men were in general old, flat-headed, and pot-bellied. The women skinny and flap-eared. To these garrulous ladies and gentlemen they were obliged to talk and laugh, shake hands, crack fingers, bend their bodies, bow their heads, and place their hands with great solemnity on their heads and breasts. They had not indeed a moment's relaxation from this excessive fatigue, and had Job, amongst his other trials, been exposed to the horrors of an interminable African palaver, his patience would most certainly have forsaken him. Lander was of opinion that he never would be a general favourite with this ever-grinning and loquacious people. If he laughed, and he was obliged to laugh, it was done against his inclination, and consequently with a very bad grace. At this time, Lander, speaking of himself, says, "for the first five years of my life, I have been told, that I was never even seen to smile, and since that period, Heaven knows my merriment has been confined to particular and extraordinary occasions only. How then is it possible, that I can be grinning and playing the fool from morning to night, positively without any just incentive to do so, and sweltering at the same time under a sun that causes my body to burn with intense heat, giving it the appearance of shrivelled parchment. Fortunately these savages--for savages they most certainly are in the fullest extent of the word--cannot distinguish between real and fictitious joy; and although I was vexed at heart, and wished them, all at the bottom of the Red Sea, or somewhere else, I have every reason to believe that my forced attempts to please the natives have so far been successful, and that I have obtained the reputation, which I certainly do not deserve, of being one of the pleasantest and best-tempered persons in the world."
This candid exposition, which Lander gives of his own character is fully borne out by our own personal observation. On no occasion do we remember that we ever saw a smile sit upon his countenance, and as to a laugh, it appeared to be an act which he dreaded to commit. He seemed always to be brooding over some great and commanding idea, which absorbed the whole of his mind, and which he felt a consciousness within him, that he had not the ability to carry into execution, at the same time that he feared to let a word escape him, which could give a clue to the subject, which was then working within him. In this respect, he was not well fitted for a traveller in a country where, if his nature would not allow him, it became a matter of policy, if not of necessity, to appear high-hearted and gay, and frequently to join in the amusements of the people amongst whom he might be residing. Lander himself was not ignorant of the Arab adage, "Beware of the man who never laughs;" and, therefore, as he was likely to be thrown amongst those very people, he ought to have practised himself in the art of laughing, so as not to rouse their suspicions, which, it is well known, if once roused, are not again easily allayed.
To return to the narrative, one of the fetishmen sent them a present of a duck, almost as large as an English goose; but as the fellow expected ten times its value in return, it was no great proof of the benevolence of his disposition. They were now obliged to station armed men around their house, for the purpose of protecting their goods from the rapacity of a multitude of thieves that infested this place, and who displayed the greatest cunning imaginable to ingratiate themselves with the travellers. On the following morning, they awoke unrefreshed at daybreak; the noise of children crying, the firing of guns, and the discordant sound of drums and horns, preventing them from enjoying the sweetness of repose, so infinitely desirable, after a long day spent in a routine or tiresome ceremony and etiquette.
On the 24th March, one of the chief messengers, who was a Houssa mallam, or priest, presented himself at the door of their house, followed by a large and handsome spotted sheep from his native country, whose neck was adorned with little bells, which made a pretty jingling noise. They were much prepossessed in this man's favour by the calmness and serenity of his countenance, and the modesty, or rather timidity of his manners. He was dressed in the Houssa costume, cap, tobe, trousers, and sandals. He wore four large silver rings on his thumb, and his left wrist was ornamented with a solid silver bracelet: this was the only individual, who had as yet visited them purely from disinterested motives, as all the others made a practice to beg whenever they favoured them with their company.
The chief's eldest son was with them during the greater part of this day. The manners of this young man were reserved, but respectful. He was a great admirer of the English, and had obtained a smattering of their language. Although his appearance was extremely boyish, he had already three wives, and was the father of two children. His front teeth were filed to a point, after the manner of the Logos people; but, notwithstanding this disadvantage, his features bore less marks of ferocity than they had observed in the countenance of any one of his countrymen, while his general deportment was infinitely more pleasing and humble than theirs. When asked whether, if it were in his power to do so, he would injure the travellers, or any European, who might hereafter visit Badagry, he made no reply, but silently approached their seat, and falling on his knees at their feet, he pressed Richard Lander with eagerness to his soft naked bosom, and affectionately kissed his hand. No language or expression could have been half so eloquent.
They were now preparing to proceed on their journey, when they learned with surprise and sorrow, that a part of the populace had expressed themselves decidedly hostile to their projects, and that the leaders were continually with Adooley, using all their influence, and exercising all their cunning, in order to awaken his slumbering jealousy. They endeavoured to persuade him to demand, before he granted them leave to pass through his country, a sum of money, which, they were aware, was not in the power of the travellers to pay; and therefore it was imagined they would be compelled to abandon the undertaking. The first intimation they received of the effect of these insinuations on the mind of the chief, was brought to them by a person, who pronounced himself to be "on their side." This man assured them, with an ominous visage, that Adooley had declared, in the hearing of all the people, that the coat which Richard Lander had given him was intended for a boy, and not a man; it was therefore unworthy his acceptance as a king, and he considered that by the gift, they meant to insult him. The coat alluded to by Adooley was certainly extremely old-fashioned, and belonged to a surgeon in the navy about twenty years ago, notwithstanding which, it was almost as good as new, and was made showy by the addition of a pair of tarnished gold epaulets. It was, however, clear to Lander, that as this very same coat had been, only two days before, received with great satisfaction, that some enemy of theirs had been striving to render the chief discontented and mistrustful. To counteract the efforts of the malicious, they judged it prudent to sound the dispositions of those, who they were inclined to believe, from the fondness which they evinced for their rum, that they were favourable to their intentions and devoted to their interests.
At this time, there were two mulattoes residing in the town, one of whom, by name Hooper, acted as interpreter to Adooley, and shared a good deal of his confidence. He was born at Cape Coast Castle, in 1780, and was for many years a soldier in the African corps. His father was an Englishman, and he boasted of being a British subject. He was excessively vain of his origin, yet he was the most confirmed drunkard alive, always getting intoxicated before breakfast, and remaining in a soaking state all day long. This did not, however, make him regardless of his own interest, to which, on the contrary, he was ever alive, and indeed sacrificed every other feeling. The other mulatto could read and write English tolerably well, having received his education at Sierra Leone; he was a slave to Adooley, and was almost as great a drunkard as Hooper. These drunken political advisers of the chief they had little difficulty in bribing over to their interests; they had likewise been tampering with several native chiefs, apparently with equal success. Unfortunately every one here styled himself a great and powerful man, and Hooper himself calls a host of ragged scoundrels "noblemen and gentlemen," each of whom he advised Lander to conciliate with presents, and especially spirituous liquors, in order to do away any evil impression they might secretly have received, and obtain their suffrages, though it should be at the expense of half the goods in their possession. There is hardly any knowing who is monarch here, or even what form of government prevails; independently of the king of kings himself, the redoubtable Adooley, four fellows assume the title of royalty, namely, the kings of Spanish-town, of Portuguese-town, of English-town, and of French-town, Badagry being divided into four districts, bearing the names of the European nations just mentioned.
Toward the evening, they received an invitation from the former of these chieftains, who by all accounts was originally the sole governor of the country, until his authority was wrested from him by a more powerful hand. He was then living in retirement, and subsisted by purchasing slaves, and selling them to Portuguese and Spanish traders. They found in him a meek and venerable old man, of respectable appearance. He was surrounded by a number of men and boys, his household slaves, who were all armed with pistols, daggers, muskets, cutlasses, swords, &c., the manufacture of various European countries. In the first place, he assured them, that nothing could give him more pleasure than to welcome them to Badagry, and he very much wondered that they had not visited him before. If they had a present to give him, he said, he would thank them; but if they had not, still he would thank them. A table was then brought out into the court before the house, on which decanters and glasses, with a burning liquor obtained from the Portuguese, were placed. In one corner of the yard was a little hut, not more than two feet in height, wherein had been placed a fetish figure, to preserve the chief from any danger or mischief, which their presence might otherwise have entailed upon him. A portion of the spirit was poured into one of the glasses, and from it emptied into each of the others, and then drunk by the attendant that had fetched it from the house. This is an old custom, introduced no doubt to prevent masters from being poisoned by the treachery of their slaves. As soon as the decanters had been emptied of their contents, other ardent spirits were introduced, but as Richard Lander imagined that fetish water had been mingled with it, they simply took a tea-spoonful into their mouths, and privately ejected it on the ground. The old chief promised to return their visit on the morrow, and lifting up his hands and eyes to heaven, like a child in the attitude of prayer, he invoked the Almighty to preserve and bless them; they then saluted him in the usual manner, and returned well pleased to their own habitation.
Chapter XXX
They were now most anxious to proceed on their journey, out the chief, Adooley, evaded their solicitations to depart, under the most frivolous and absurd pretences. He asserted that his principal reason for detaining them against their inclinations, was the apprehension he entertained for their safety, the road not being considered in a good state. Under this impression, he despatched a messenger to Jenna, to ascertain if the affairs of that country warranted him sending them thither. The old king of Jenna, who, it will be recollected, behaved so kindly to Captain Clapperton, was dead; his successor had been appointed, but he had not at that time arrived from Katunga. That being the case, there would not be any one at Jenna to receive them. Meantime, the rainy season was fast approaching, as was sufficiently announced by repeated showers and occasional tornadoes. They were also the more anxious to leave this abominable place, as they were informed that a sacrifice of no less than three hundred human beings, of both sexes and all ages, was shortly to take place, such as has been described in the second journey of Clapperton. They often heard the cries of many of these poor wretches, and the heart sickened with horror at the bare contemplation of such a scene as awaited them, should they remain much longer at Badagry.
Early on the morning of the 25th March, the house of the travellers was filled with visitors, and from that time to the evening they resigned themselves to a species of punishment, which cannot be characterized by any other terms than an earthly purgatory. After cracking fingers a hundred times, and grinning as often, they were informed, that the chief's messenger had returned from Jenna, but for some reason, which Lander could not define, the man was almost immediately sent back again, and they were told that they could not quit Badagry until he again made his appearance. It is the custom in this place, that when a man cannot pay his respects in person to another, he sends a servant with a sword or cane, in the same manner as a gentleman delivers his card in England. They this day received a number of compliments in this fashion, and it is almost superfluous to say that a cane or a sword was at all times a more welcome and agreeable visitor than its owner would have been.
They had scarcely finished their morning repast, when Hooper introduced himself for his accustomed glass of spirits, to prevent him, according to his own account, from getting sick. He took the opportunity of informing them, that it would be absolutely necessary to visit the noblemen, who had declared themselves on their side. As they strove to court popularity and conciliate the vagabonds by every means in their power, they approved of Hooper's counsel, and went in the first place, to the house of the late General Poser, which was at that time under the superintendence of his head man. Him they found squatting indolently on a mat, and several old people were holding a conversation with him. As the death of Poser was not generally known to the people, it being concealed from them, for fear of exciting a commotion in the town, he having been universally loved and respected they were not permitted even to mention his name, and the steward set them the example, by prudently confining his conversation to the necessity of making him a present proportionate to his expectations, and the dignity of his situation. Muskets and other warlike instruments were suspended from the sides of the apartment, and its ceiling was decorated with fetishes and Arab texts in profusion. Gin and water were produced, and partaken of with avidity by all present, more especially by the two mulattoes that had attended them, which being done, the head man wished the great spirit to prosper them in all their undertakings, and told them not to forget his present by any means. They shortly afterwards took their leave, and quitted the apartment with feelings of considerable satisfaction, for its confined air was so impure, that a longer stay, to say the least of it, would have been highly unpleasant. As it was, they had consumed so much time in Poser's house, that they found it necessary to alter their intention of visiting the other chiefs, and therefore resolved to pay their respects to Adooley, whom they had not seen for two days. Accordingly, they repaired immediately to his residence, and were welcomed to it with a much better grace, than on any previous occasion.
The chief was eating an undrest onion, and seated on an old table, dangling his legs underneath, with a vacant thoughtlessness of manner, which their abrupt intrusion somewhat dissipated. He informed them of his intention to send them on their journey on the day after to-morrow, when he expected that the people of Jenna would be in a suitable condition to receive them. He was full of good nature, and promised to make Richard Lander a present of a horse, which he had brought with him from Sockatoo on the former expedition, adding, that he would sell another to John Lander. So far, their visit was attended with satisfaction, but it was rather destroyed by Adooley informing them that it was his particular wish to examine the goods, which they intended to take with them into the bush, as the enclosed country is called, in order that he might satisfy himself that there were no objectionable articles amongst them. Having expressed their thanks to Adooley for his well-timed present, and agreed to the examination of their baggage, they all partook of a little spirit and water, which soon made them the best friends in the universe. During this palaver, the chief's sister and two of his wives were ogling at the travellers, and giggling with all the playfulness of the most finished coquette, until the approach of the chief of the English-town and the remainder of the travellers' party put a sudden stop to their entertainment, on which they presently left the apartment. These men came to settle a domestic quarrel, which was soon decided by the chief, who, after receiving the usual salutation of dropping on the knees with the face to the earth, chatted and laughed immoderately; this was considered by the travellers as a happy omen. In that country, very little ceremony is observed by the meanest of the people towards their sovereign, they converse with him with as little reserve, as if he were no better than themselves, while he pays as much attention to their complaints, as to those of the principal people of the country. An African king is therefore of some use, but there are kings in other parts of the world, of whose use it would be a very difficult matter to find any traces, and who know as much of the complaints or grievances of their subjects, as of the nucleus of the earth. Nor was king Adooley supposed to be entirely destitute of the virtues of hospitality, for it was observed that the remainder of his onion was divided equally amongst the chiefs, who had come to visit him, and was received by them with marks of the highest satisfaction.
In the afternoon, a herald proclaimed the approach to the habitation of the venerable chief of Spanish-town, with a long suite of thirty followers. The old man's dress was very simple, consisting only of a cap and turban, with a large piece of Manchester cotton flung over his right shoulder, and held under his left arm. This is infinitely more graceful and becoming in the natives, than the most showy European apparel, in any variety of which, indeed, they generally look highly ridiculous. After they had made the chief and all his attendants nearly tipsy, the former began to be very talkative and amusing, continuing to chat without interruption for a considerable time, not omitting to whisper occasionally to the interpreter, by no means to forget, after his departure, to remind the travellers of the present they had promised him, it being considered the height of rudeness to mention any thing of the kind aloud in his presence. The rum had operated so cheerily upon his followers in the yard, that fat and lean, old and young, all commenced dancing, and continued performing the most laughable antics, till they were no longer able to stand. It amused the travellers infinitely to observe these creatures, with their old solemn placid-looking chief at their head, staggering out at the door way; they were in truth, but too happy to get rid of them at so cheap a rate. Hooper shortly afterwards came with a petition from twelve gentlemen of English-town, for the sum of a hundred and twenty dollars to be divided amongst them, and having no resource, they were compelled to submit to the demand of these rapacious scoundrels.
Late in the evening, they received the threatened visit from Adooley, who came to examine the contents of the boxes. He was borne in a hammock by two men, and was dressed in an English linen shirt, a Spanish cloak or mantle, with a cap, turban and sandals; his attendants were three half-dressed little boys, who, one by one, placed themselves at their master's feet, as they were in the regular habit of doing; one of them carried a long sword, another a pistol, and a third a kind of knapsack, filled with tobacco. The chief was presented with brandy, equal in strength to spirits of wine, and he swallowed a large quantity of it with exquisite pleasure. The boys were permitted to drink a portion of the liquor every time that it was poured into a glass for Adooley, but, though it was so very strong, it produced no grimace, nor the slightest distortion of countenance in these little fellows. The fondness of the natives, or rather their passion for spirituous liquors is astonishing, and they are valued entirely in proportion to the intoxicating effects they occasion. Adooley smoked nearly all the while he remained in Lander's house. As each box was opened, however, he would take the pipe slowly from his mouth, as if perfectly heedless of what was going forward, and from the couch on which he was reclining, he regarded with intense curiosity each article, as it was held out to his observation. Every thing that in his opinion demanded a closer examination, or more properly speaking, every thing he took a fancy to, was put into his hands at his own request, but as it would be grossly impolite to return it after it had been soiled by his fingers, with the utmost nonchalance, the chief delivered it over to the care of his recumbent pages, who carefully secured it between their legs. Adooley's good taste could not of course be questioned, and it did not much surprise, though it grieved the Landers, to observe a large portion of almost every article in the boxes speedily passing through his hands into those of his juvenile minions. Nothing seemed unworthy of his acceptance, from a piece of fine scarlet cloth to a child's farthing whistle; indeed he appeared to be particularly pleased with the latter article, for he no sooner made it sound, than he put on a horrible grin of delight, and requested a couple of the instruments, that he might amuse himself with them in his leisure moments. Although he had received guns, ammunition, and a variety of goods, to the amount of nearly three hundred ounces of gold, reckoning each ounce to be worth two pounds sterling, yet he was so far from being satisfied, that he was continually grumbling forth his discontent. Gratitude, however, was unknown to him, as well as to his subjects. The more that was given them, the more pressing were their importunities for other favours; the very food that he ate, and the clothes that he wore, were begged in so fawning a tone and manner, as to create disgust and contempt at the first interview.
It was nearly midnight, before Adooley rose from his seat to depart, when he very ceremoniously took his leave, with broad cloth and cottons, pipes, snuff-boxes, and knives, paper, ink, whistles, &c., and even some of the books of the travellers, not a line of which he could comprehend; so avaricious was this king of Badagry.
They rose early on the morning of the 26th, for the purpose of arranging some trifling matters and taking their breakfast in quietness and comfort; but they had scarcely sitten down, when their half-naked grinning acquaintance entered to pay them the compliments of the day. Notwithstanding their chagrin, so ludicrous were the perpetual bowing and scraping of these their friends, in imitation of Europeans, that they could not forbear laughing in good earnest. Their rum, which had been kindly supplied them by Lieutenant Matson, they were happy to find was nearly all consumed, and the number of their general visitors had diminished in exact proportion to the decrease of the spirit, so that they were now beginning to feel the enjoyment of an hour or two's quiet in the course of the day, which was a luxury they could hardly have anticipated. The chief sent his son to them, requesting a few needles and some small shot; they could ill spare the latter, but it would have been impolitic to have refused his urgent solicitations, whatever might have been their tendency.
The horses promised by Adooley were now sent for them to examine. They appeared strong and in good condition, and if they played them no wicked pranks in "the bush," no doubt they would be found eminently serviceable.
In the evening, Poser's headman, who, it was understood, was one of the chiefs first captains, returned their visit of the preceding day, followed by a multitude of friends and retainers. He had been determined, it was believed, before he left home, to be in an ill humour with the travellers, and perhaps he had treated himself with an extra dram upon the occasion. This great bully introduced himself into their dwelling; his huge round face, inflamed with scorn, anger, and "potations deep." He drank with more avidity than his countrymen, but the liquor produced no good impression upon him, serving rather to increase his dissatisfaction and choler. He asked for every thing which he saw, and when they had gratified him to the best of their power, he began to be very abusive and noisy. He said he was convinced that they had come into the country with no good intentions, and accused them of deceit and insincerity in their professions, or, in plainer terms, that they had been guilty of a direct falsehood, in stating that they had no other motive for undertaking the journey than to recover the papers of Mr. Park at Youri. He was assured that they were afraid to tell the true reasons for leaving their own country. They withstood his invectives with tolerable composure, and the disgraceful old fellow left them in a pet, about half an hour after his arrival.
John Lander, we find, on referring to this part of their journey says, "It is really a discouraging reflection, that, notwithstanding the sacrifices we have made of all private feeling and personal comfort, for the purpose of conciliating the good opinion of the people here; the constant fatigue and inconvenience to which we have been subjected; the little arts we have practised; the forced laughter; the unnatural grin: the never-ending shaking of hands, &c. &c., besides the dismal noises and unsavoury smells to which our organs have been exposed, still, after all, some scoundrels are to be found hardened against us by hatred and prejudice, and so ungrateful for all our gifts and attentions, as to take a delight in poisoning the minds of the people against us, by publicly asserting that we are English spies, and make use of other inventions equally false and malicious. Pitiable, indeed, must be the lot of that man, who is obliged to drag on a year of existence in so miserable a place as this. Nevertheless we are in health and spirits, and perhaps feel a secret pride in being able to subdue our rising dissatisfaction, and in overcoming difficulties, which at a first glance seemed to be insurmountable. By the blessing of Heaven, we shall proceed prosperously in our undertaking; for in the divine goodness do we alone repose all our confidence and hopes of success. We may say that pleasure and enjoyment have accompanied us hither. The clearness of the sky is pleasant, and its brilliancy, the softness of the moon, the twinkling brightness of the stars, and the silence of night, the warbling and the flight of birds, the hum of insects, and the varied and luxuriant aspect of beautiful nature, are all charming to us; and what on earth can be more soothing and delightful than the thoughts of home and kindred, and anticipations of a holier and more glorious existence; these are true pleasures, of which the barbarians cannot deprive us."
So writes John Lander, in the enthusiasm of his imagination; but unfortunately the reality did not come up to the picture which his fancy had drawn; for although the softness of the moon, and the silence of night, and the brightness of the stars, might be all very pleasant objects, even under an equatorial sun, yet the following account of some of the disagreeables, when taken in contrast, rather tends to overbalance the sum of the agreeables. Thus we find, that on the day subsequent to that on which John Lander had written his rhapsody on the agreeables of Badagry, the noise and jargon of their guests pursued them even in their sleep, and their dreams were disturbed by fancied palavers, which were more unpleasant and vexatious, if possible, in their effects than real ones. Early on the morning of the 25th, they were roused from one of these painful slumbers to listen to the dismal yell of the hyenas, the shrill crowing of cocks, the hum of night flies and mosquitoes, and the hoarse croaking of frogs, together with the chirping of myriads of crickets and other insects, which resounded through the air, as though it had been pierced with a thousand whistles. The silence of night, under these circumstances, could not have been very pleasant to them, and it scarcely amounts to a question, whether the warbling of the birds could afford any great delight, if the hyenas and the mosquitoes, and the frogs and the crickets considered themselves privileged to make up the chorus.
The sun had scarcely risen, when two Mahommedans arrived at their house, with an invitation for them to accompany them to the spot selected for the performance of their religious rites and observances. This being a novelty, they embraced the proposal with pleasure, and followed the men to the distance of about a mile from their house. Here they observed a number of Mahommedans sitting in detached groups, actively employed in the duties of lustration and ablution. It was a bare space of ground, edged with trees, and covered with sand. The Mussulmans were obliged to bring water with them in calabashes. Seated in a convenient situation, under the spreading branches of a myrtle tree, the two travellers could observe, without being seen, all the actions of the Mussulmans. A number of boys, however, soon intruded themselves upon their privacy; and, in truth, they were more amused by the artlessness and playfulness of their manners, than with all the grave and stupid mummery of the Mahommedan worshippers. Groups of people were continually arriving at the spot, and these were welcomed by an occasional flourish of music from a native clarionet, &c. They were clad in all their finery, their apparel being as gaudy as it was various. The coup d'oeil presented by no means an uninteresting spectacle. Loose tobes, with caps and turbans striped and plain, red, blue, and black, were not unpleasantly contrasted with the original native costume of figured cotton, thrown loosely over the shoulders, and immense rush hats. Manchester cottons, of the most glaring patterns, were conspicuous amongst the crowd; but these were cast in the shade by scarfs of green silk, ornamented with leaves and flowers of gold, and aprons covered with silver spangles. Very young children appeared bending under the weight of clothes and ornaments, whilst boys of maturer years carried a variety of offensive weapons. The Turkish scimitar, the French sabre, the Portuguese dagger confined in a silver case, all gleamed brightly, and heavy cutlasses, with rude native knives, were likewise exhibited, half-devoured by cankering rust. Clumsy muskets and fowling-pieces, as well as Arab pistole, were also handled with delight by the joyful Mussulmans. In number the religionists were about a hundred and fifty. Not long after the arrival of the two brothers, they formed themselves into six lines, and having laid aside many of their superfluous ornaments, and a portion of their clothing, they put on the most sedate countenance, and commenced their devotional exercises in a spirit of seriousness and apparent fervour, worthy of a better place and a more amiable creed. In the exterior forms of their religion, at least, the Mussulmans are here complete adepts, as this spectacle was well calculated to convince the two Europeans, and the little which they had hitherto seen of them, led them to form a very favourable opinion of their general temperance and sobriety. The ceremony was no sooner concluded, than muskets, carbines, and pistols were discharged on all sides. The clarionet again struck up a note of joy, and was supported by long Arab drums, strings of bells, and a solitary kettle-drum. The musicians, like the ancient minstrels of Europe, were encouraged by trifling presents from the more charitable of the multitude. All seemed cheerful and happy, and, on leaving the Landers, several out of compliment, it was supposed, discharged their pieces at their heels, and were evidently delighted with themselves, with the two English, and the whole world.
In the path, the Landers met a fellow approaching the scene of innocent dissipation, clothed most fantastically in a flannel dress and riding on the back, on what they were informed was a wooden horse. He was surrounded by natives of all ages, who were laughing most extravagantly at the unnatural capering of the thing, and admiring the ingenuity of the contrivance. The figure itself was entirely concealed with cloths, which rendered it impossible to discover by what agency it was moved. Its head was covered with red cloth, and a pair of sheep's ears answered the purpose for which they were intended tolerably well. Yet, on the whole, though it was easy to perceive that a horse was intended to be represented by it, the figure was executed clumsily enough. As soon as this party had joined the individuals assembled near the place of worship, a startling shriek of laughter testified the tumultuous joy of the wondering multitude. The sun shone out resplendently on the happy groups of fancifully dressed persons, whose showy, various-coloured garments, and sooty skin, contrasted with the picturesque and lovely appearance of the scenery, produced an unspeakably charming effect. The foliage exhibited every variety and tint of green, from the sombre shade of the melancholy yew, to the lively verdure of the poplar and young oak. "For myself," says John Lander, "I was delighted with the agreeable ramble, and imagined that I could distinguish from the notes of the songsters of the grove, the swelling strains of the English skylark and thrush, with the more gentle warbling of the finch and linnet. It was indeed a brilliant morning, teeming with life and beauty, and recalled to my memory a thousand affecting associations of sanguine boyhood, when I was thoughtless and happy. The barbarians around me were all cheerful and full of joy. I have heard that like sorrow, joy is contagious, and I believe that it is, for it inspired me with a similar gentle feeling."
"The 27th March in this place, is what May-day is in many country places in England, and it strongly reminded us of it. But here unfortunately there are no white faces to enliven us, and a want of the lovely complexion of our beautiful countrywomen, tinged with 'its celestial red,' is severely felt; and so is the total absence here of that golden chain of kindness, which links them to the ruder associates of their festive enjoyments. By and by, doubtless, familiarity with black faces will reconcile me to them, but at present I am compelled to own, that I cannot help feeling a considerable share of aversion towards their jetty complexions, in common I believe with most strangers that visit this place."
Owing to the holiday, which is equally prized and enjoyed by Mahommedan and pagan, their visitors on this day have been almost exclusively confined to a party of Houssa mallams, who entered their dwelling in the forenoon, perfumed all over with musk, more for the purpose of gratifying their vanity by displaying their finery before them, than of paying the travellers the compliment of the day, which was avowedly the sole object of their intrusion. One or two of them were masticating the goora nut, and others had their lips, teeth, and finger nails stained red. Each of the mallams was attended by a well-dressed little boy of agreeable countenance, who acted as page to his master, and was his protegé. Neither of the men would eat or drink with those who they came to visit, yet whilst they were in their company, they seemed cheerful and good humoured, and were communicative and highly intelligent. In answer to the questions put to them, they; were informed that two rivers enter the Quorra, or great river of Funda, one of which is called the Coodonie, and the other the Tshadda, (from the lake Tshad); that a schooner might sail from Bornou to Fundah, on the latter river, without difficulty; that Funda is only twenty-four hours pull from Benin, and twenty-nine days' journey from Bornou. At the close of a long and to the travellers rather an interesting conversation, their visitors expressed themselves highly gratified with their reception, and left the hut to repair to their own habitations.
These men, though slaves to Adooley, are very respectable, and are never called upon by their master, except when required to go to war, supporting themselves by trading for slaves, which they sell to Europeans. They wore decent nouffie tobes, (qu Nyffee,) Arab red caps, and Houssa sandals. The mallams, both in their manners and conversation, are infinitely superior to the ungentle, and malignant natives of Badagry.
March 28th fell on a Sunday, and luckily for the travellers, the inhabitants of the place considered it as a holiday, and their singing, dancing, and savage jollity possessed greater charms for them than an empty rum cask, though backed by two white faces. With a trifling exception or so, they were in consequence unmolested by their visitors of the everlasting grin and unwearied tongue during the day. This happy circumstance afforded them an opportunity, and ample leisure for spending the Sabbath in a manner most agreeable to their feelings; by devoting the greater part of it to the impressive duties of their divine religion, in humbling themselves before the mercy seat of the great Author of their being, and imploring him to be their refuge and guardian, to shield them from every danger, and to render their undertakings hopeful and prosperous.
As yet no crime of any peculiar atrocity had been committed, to impress the travellers with an unfavourable opinion of the moral character of the people amongst whom they were then residing, but on this evening of the Sabbath, a Fantee was robbed of his effects, and stabbed by an assassin below the ribs, so that his life was despaired of. The most unlucky part, however, of this tragical affair to Richard Lander, was, that the natives, from some cause, which he could not divine, had imbibed the conceit that he was skilled in surgery. In vain, he protested that he knew nothing of the anatomy of the human frame--there were many present, who knew far better than he did himself, and therefore, nolens volens, he was obliged to visit the patient. It was certainly the first time that Richard Lander had been called in to exercise his surgical skill, and it must be admitted that in one sense, he was well adapted for the character of a bone-setter, or other offices for which the gentlemen of the lancet are notorious. This trait in his character consisted in a gravity of countenance well befitting the individual, who presents himself to his anxious patient, to pronounce the great question of life and death, and the greater the ignorance of the individual, the deeper and more solemn is the countenance, which he assumes. If Richard Lander had been in the least inclined to a risible disposition, perhaps no occasion was more likely to call it into action, than when he saw himself followed by two or three hundred savages, under an imputation of possessing the power of curing an individual, who had been stabbed nearly to the heart, when at the same time, he knew as much of the art of stopping an haemorrhage, as he did of the art of delivering one of the queens of Badagry of an heir to "the golden stool." Fortunately, however, for the new debutant in the medical profession, the victim of the assassin had died a few minutes before the English doctor arrived, and right glad he was, for had he found his patient alive, and he had afterwards died, no doubt whatever rested on his mind, that his death would be attributed to the want of skill on the part of his medical attendant, who, by way of reward for his interference, would have run no small risk of being buried in the same grave as the individual, whose life he had sacrificed to his ignorance and want of skill. From this dilemma he was fortunately relieved, but he had scarcely returned to his habitation, than he was called upon to attend a fetish, or a religious rite, that was to be performed over the remains of a native, who had been found dead, but who was in perfect health a few hours before. This kind of coroner's inquest appeared most strange to the travellers, when it was well known to them that the king of Badagry, so far from following the example of other kings, who are so extremely anxious about the life of their subjects, often amuses himself with chopping off two or three hundred heads of his subjects, in order that the path to his apartments may be paved with their skulls; and should there not be quite a sufficient number to complete the job, the deficiency is made up with the same indifference, as a schoolboy strikes off the heads of the poppies in the corn fields. The ceremony observed at this fetish, had a great resemblance to an Irish wake; and could the mourners have been able to obtain the requisite supply of spirits, there is very little doubt that there would not have been a mourner present, who would not have exhibited himself in the state of the most beastly intoxication. The lament of the relatives of the deceased was doleful in the highest degree, and no sounds could be more dismally mournful than those shrieked forth by them on this occasion.
The Sabbath was nearly over, when a summons was received from Adooley, to repair to his residence, in order finally to settle the business relative to their journey into the interior, but they refused to have any disputes with him on the Sabbath, and therefore promised to wait on him the following morning. Accordingly after breakfast, they redeemed their pledge, by paying him the promised visit. Adooley received them with his accustomed politeness and gracious smile. He prefaced his wish by saying, that he wished to inform them of his intention, to detain them at Badagry a day or two longer, the "path" not being considered in a fit state for; travelling, rather than his reputation should suffer by leading them into danger, which would undoubtedly be the case, if he had not adopted his present resolution. Yet, he continued, they might depend upon his word as a king, that they should be at liberty to depart on the following Thursday at the latest. Now the Landers well knew that the country was never in a more peaceable or quiet state than at the moment he was speaking, and they were consequently mortified beyond measure, at the perpetual evasions and contradictions of this chief. They also regretted that the dry season was drawing fast to a close, and that then they would be obliged to travel in the rainy months.
Having made this declaration, Adooley requested them to write on paper in his presence, for a few things, which he wished to procure from Cape Coast Castle, or from England, as a return for the protection he had promised them. Amongst other articles enumerated were four regimental coats, such as are worn by the king of England, being for his own immediate wear, and forty less splendid than the king of England's, for his captains; two long brass guns, to run on swivels; fifty muskets; twenty barrels of gunpowder; four handsome swords, and forty cutlasses; to which were added, two puncheons of rum; a carpenter's chest of tools, with oils, paint and brushes; the king himself boasting that he was a blacksmith, carpenter, painter, and indeed every trade but a tailor. Independently of these trifles, as he termed them, he wished to Obtain half a dozen rockets, and a rocket gun, with a soldier from Cape Coast capable of undertaking the management of it; and lastly, he modestly ordered two puncheons of kowries to be sent him, for the purpose of defraying in part the expences, he had incurred in repelling the attacks of the men of Porto Novo, Atta, Juncullee; the tribes inhabiting those places having made war upon him, for allowing Captain Clapperton's last mission to proceed into the interior without their consent. They now asked jocosely, whether Adooley would be satisfied with these various articles, when, having considered for a few moments, and conversed aloud to a few of his chiefs, who were in the apartment at the time, he replied that he had forgotten to mention his want of a large umbrella, four casks of grape shot, and a barrel of flints, which having also inserted in the list, the letter was finally folded and sealed. It was then delivered into the hands of Adooley, who said that he should send it by Accra, one of his head men, to Cape Coast Castle, and that the man would wait there till all the articles should be procured for him. If that be the case, the Landers imagined that Accra would have a very long time to wait.
The interpreter of the Landers, old Hooper, having been suspected by the chief to be in their interest, a young man, named Tookwee, who understood a little English, was sent for, and commanded to remain during the whole conference, in order to detect any error that Hooper might make, and to see that every thing enumerated by the chief, should be written in the list of articles.
During this long and serious conversation, the Landers were highly amused with a singular kind of concert, which was formed by three little bells, which were fastened to the tails of the same number of cats by a long string, and made a jingling noise, whenever the animals thought proper to play off any of their antics. As an accompaniment to this singular kind of music, they were favoured with the strains of an organ, which instrument was turned by a little boy, placed purposely in a corner of the apartment.
In the afternoon, a young Jenna woman came to visit them, accompanied by a female friend from Houssa. Her hair was traced with such extraordinary neatness, that John Lander expressed a wish to examine it more minutely. The girl had never beheld such a thing as a white man before, and permission was granted with a great deal of coyness, mixed up perhaps with a small portion of fear, which was apparent as she was slowly untying her turban. No sooner, however, was the curiosity of the travellers gratified, than a demand of two hundred kowries was insisted on by her companion, that, it was alleged, being the price paid in the interior by the male sex to scrutinize a lady's hair. They were obliged to conform to the usual custom, at which the women expressed themselves highly delighted. The hair, which had excited the admiration of the travellers, was made up in the shape of a hussar's helmet, and very ingeniously traced on the top. Irregular figures were likewise braided on each side of the head, and a band of worked thread, dyed in indigo, encircled it below the natural hair, which seemed, by its tightness and closeness, to have been glued fast to the skin. This young Jenna woman was by far the most interesting, both in face and form, of any they had seen since their landing; and her prettiness was rendered more engaging by her retiring modesty and perfect artlessness of manner, which, whether observed in black or white, are sure to command the esteem and reverence of the other sex. Her eyelids were stained with a bluish-black powder, which is the same kind of substance, it is supposed, as that described in a note in Mr. Beckford's Vatheck. Her person was excessively clean, and her apparel flowing, neat, and graceful. Before taking leave, the girl's unworthy companion informed John Lander, that her protegée was married, but that as her husband was left behind at Jenna, she would prevail on her to visit the travellers in the evening after sunset. Of course they expressed their abhorrence of the proposal, and were really grieved to reflect, that, with so much meekness, innocence, modesty, and beauty, their timid friend should be exposed to the wiles of a crafty and wicked woman. On this occasion, John Lander says, "We have longed to discover a solitary virtue lingering amongst the natives of this place, but as yet our search has been ineffectual."
As a contrast to the youthful individual just described, an old withered woman entered their residence in the evening, and began professing the most unbounded affection for both the travellers. She had drank so much rum that she could scarcely stand. She first began to pay her attentions to John Lander, who, being the more sprightly of the two, she thought was the most likely to accede to her wishes; she happened, however, to be the owner of a most forbidding countenance, and four of her front teeth had disappeared from her upper jaw, which caused a singular and disagreeable indention of the upper lip. The travellers were disgusted with the appearance and hateful familiarity of this ancient hag, who had thus paid so ill a compliment to their vanity, and subsequently they forced her out of the yard without any ceremony.
The travellers now ascertained that the king would not allow them to go to Jenna by the nearest beaten path, on the plea, that, as sacred fetish land would lie in their way, they would die the moment in which they trod upon it.
The pleasant news was now received, that the king of Jenna had arrived at that town from Katunga. His messenger reached Badagry on the 30th March, and immediately paid a visit to the Landers, accompanied by a friend. They regaled him with a glass of rum, according to their general custom, the first mouthful of which he squirted from his own into the mouth of his associate, and vice versa. This was the first time they had witnessed this dirty and disgusting practice.
Adooley again sent for the travellers, he having recollected some articles, which were necessary to complete the cargo, which the king of England was to send him. To their great surprise, however, the first article that he demanded was nothing less than a gun-boat, with a hundred men from England, as a kind of body-guard; for his own private and immediate use, however, he demanded a few common tobacco-pipes. It was a very easy matter to give a bill for the gun-boat and the hundred men, neither of which, they well knew, would be duly honoured; for, before they could come back protested to king Adooley, the drawers of it knew they would be far beyond his power; and they had received such specimens of the extreme nobleness and generosity of his character, that they determined never to throw themselves in his power again. In regard, however, to the tobacco-pipes, they dared not part with them on any account, because, considering the long journey, they had before them, they were convinced they had nothing to spare; indeed it was their opinion, that the presents would be all exhausted long before the journey was completed, and this was in a great measure to be imputed to the rapacity of Adooley, when he examined their boxes. With the same facility that they could have written the order for the gun-boat and the hundred men, they now wrote a paper for forty ounces of gold, worth there about two pounds an ounce, to be distributed amongst the chief of the English-town and the rest of their partisans. Adooley had now summed up the measure of his demands; the travellers were most agreeably surprised by an assurance from him, that they should quit Badagry on the morrow, with the newly-arrived Jenna messenger. They accordingly adjusted all their little matters to the apparent satisfaction of all parties, nor could they help wishing, for the sake of their credit, that they might never meet such needy and importunate friends as pestered them during their residence at Badagry.
In regard to king Adooley, we have been furnished with some most interesting particulars respecting him, and some of his actions certainly exhibit a nobleness of character seldom to be found in the savage. His conduct towards the Landers was distinguished by the greatest rapacity and duplicity, whilst in his intercourse with his own immediate connexions, his actions cannot be surpassed by any of the great heroes of antiquity. He evinced in early youth an active and ingenious disposition, and an extraordinary fondness for mechanical employments and pursuits. This bias of Adooley soon attracted the attention and notice of his father, and this revered parent did all that his slender means afforded of cherishing it, and of encouraging him to persevere in his industrious habits. Whilst yet a boy, Adooley was a tolerable carpenter, smith, painter, and gunner. He soon won the admiration of his father, who displayed greater partiality and affection for him, than for either of his other children, and on his death nominated this favorite son his successor, to the exclusion of his first-born, which is against the laws of the country, the eldest son being invariably understood as the legitimate heir. For some time, however, after his decease, no notice was taken of the dying request of the Lagos chieftain; his eldest son ruled in his stead, notwithstanding his last injunction, and Adooley for a few years wisely submitted to his brother without murmuring or complaint. The young men at length quarrelled, and Adooley calling to remembrance the words and wishes of his father, rose up against the chief, whom he denounced an usurper, and vehemently called upon his friends to join him in disputing his authority, and endeavour to divest him of his power and consequence. All the slaves of his deceased parent, amongst whom were a great number of Houssa mallams; all who bore any personal dislike to the ruling chief, or were discontented with his form of government; those who preferred Adooley, and the discontented of all ranks, formed themselves into a strong body, and resolved to support the pretensions of their favourite. The brothers agreed to decide the quarrel by the sword, and having come to a general engagement, the partizans of the younger were completely routed, and fled with their leader before the victorious arms of the opposing party.
Fearing the result of this contest, Adooley, with a spirit of filial piety, which is not rare amongst savages, and is truly noble, dug out of the earth, wherein it had been deposited, the skull of his father, and took it along with him in his flight, in order that it might not be dishonoured in his absence, for he loved his father with extraordinary tenderness, and cherished his memory as dearly as his own life. The headless body of the venerable chief, like those of his ancestors, had been sent to Benin, in order that its bones might adorn the sacred temple at that place, agreeably to an ancient and respected custom, which has ever been religiously conformed to, and tenaciously held by the Lagos people. But Adooley displayed at the same time another beautiful trait of piety and filial tenderness. At the period of his defeat, he had an aged and infirm mother living, and her he determined to take with him, let the consequences be what they might. With his accustomed foresight, he had previously made a kind of cage or box, in case there should be a necessity for removing her. His father's skull having been disinterred and secured, he implored his mother to take immediate advantage of this cage, as the only means of escaping with life. She willingly acceded to her son's request, and was borne off on the shoulders of four slaves, to a village not far distant from Lagos, accompanied by Adooley and his fugitive train, where they imagined themselves secure from further molestation. In this opinion, however, they were deceived, for the more fortunate chief, suspicious of his brother's intentions, and dreading his influence, would not suffer him to remain long in peace, but drove him out soon after, and hunted him from place to place like a wild beast. In this manner, retreating from his brother, he at last reached the flourishing town of Badagry, and being quite wearied with his exertions and fatigues, and disheartened by his misfortunes, he set down his beloved mother on the grass, and began to weep by her side. The principal people of the town were well acquainted with his circumstances, and admiring the nobleness of his sentiments, they not only pitied him, but resolved to protect and befriend him to the last.
For this purpose they presently invited him to attend a council, which they had hastily formed. When in the midst of them, perceiving tears falling fast down his cheeks, they asked him why he wept so? "Foolish boy," said they, "wipe away those tears, for they are unworthy of you, and show yourself a man and a prince. From this moment we adopt you our chief, you shall lead us on to war, and we will fight against your brother, and either prevail over him or perish. Here your mother may dwell in safety, and here shall your father's skull be reverenced as it ought to be. Come then, lay aside your fears, and lead us on against your enemies."
These enemies were in the bush, and hovering near Badagry, when Adooley and his generous friends sallied out against them. The fighting or rather skirmishing lasted many days, and many people, it is said, were slain on both sides. But the advantage was decidedly in favour of the Badagrians, whose superior knowledge of the district and secret paths of the wood, was of considerable service to them, enabling them to lie in ambush, and attack their enemies by surprise. The Lagos people at length gave up the unequal contest in despair, and returned to their own country. Adooley was thus left in quiet possession of an important and influential town, which declared itself independent of Lagos for ever. Since then various unsuccessful attempts have been made to compel the Badagrians to return to their allegiance. The latter, however, have bravely defended their rights, and in consequence their independency has been acknowledged by the neighbouring tribes.
In the year 1829, the warlike chief of Lagos died, and Adooley considering it to be a favourable opportunity for his re-assertion of his claims to the vacant "stool," as it is called, determined to do so, and assembled his faithful Badagrians for the purpose of making an attack on his native town. He imagined that as his brother was dead, he should experience little opposition from his countrymen; but he soon discovered that he had formed an erroneous opinion, for almost at his very outset, he met with a stout resistance. His brother had left an infant son, and him the people declared to be his legitimate heir, and unanimously resolved to support him.
The sanguine invaders were repulsed, and entirely defeated, notwithstanding their tried bravery and utter contempt of danger; and were forced to return home in confusion without having accomplished any thing. In this unfortunate expedition Bombanee and all the principal warriors were slain. A similar attempt has been made on Lagos more than once, and with a similar result. On the arrival of the Landers at Badagry, Adooley was but just recovering from the effects of these various mortifications and other disasters; and singular enough, he had the artfulness, as has been previously noticed, of laying the whole blame of them to his having permitted the last African mission to pass through his territories, contrary to the wishes of his neighbours, and those, who were interested in the matter.
Justice is not unfrequently administered at Badagry by means of a large wooden cap, having three corners, which is placed on the head of the culprit at the period of his examination. This fantastic piece of mechanism, no doubt by the structure of internal springs, may be made to move and shake without any visible agent, on the same principle as the enchanted Turk, or any other figure in our puppet shows. It is believed that the native priests are alone in the secret. When the cap is observed to shake whilst on the head of a suspected person, he is condemned without any further evidence being required; but should it remain without any perceptible motion, his innocence is apparent and he is forthwith acquitted. The frame of this wonderful cap makes a great fuss in the town, and as many wonderful stories are told of it here, as were related in England, a century or two ago, of the famous brazen head of Roger Bacon.
A respectable man, the chief of French-town, was tried by the ordeal of the cap a short time since, for having, it was alleged, accepted a bribe of the Lagos chieftain to destroy Adooley by poison. The fatal cap was no sooner put upon his head than it was observed to move slightly and then to become more violently agitated. The criminal felt its motion, and was terrified to such a degree that he fell down in a swoon. On awakening, he confessed his guilt, and implored forgiveness, which was granted him by Adooley, because, it was said, of his sorrow and contrition, but really, no doubt, of his birth and connexions.
During the stay of the Landers at Badagry, the thermometer of Fahrenheit ranged between 86° and 94° in their hut, but being oftener stationary nearer the latter, than the former.