JOURNEY FROM BOUSSA, ACROSS THE FERRY OF THE QUORRA, BY GUARRI AND
ZEGZEG, TO THE CITY OF KANO.
Leaving the banks of that branch of the Quorra called Menai at 10.30
in the morning of the 2d of April, I travelled on the Wawa road as
far as the Cambrie villages mentioned on my way to Boussa. Here we
turned off south-south-west ½ west., sometimes near the banks of
the river; the road winding, woody, and rocky, and cut up into deep
ravines, in which there were pools of water, and near which were the
traces of numerous wild beasts, but few were seen, and those were of
the large species of antelope. At 2 P.M. halted at one of the rocky
ravines to water the horses. I heard the Quorra roaring as if there
was a waterfall close at hand. I ascended the high rocky bank of the
ravine, and the rocky ridge which here formed the banks of the river,
where I saw the stream rushing around two low rocky and wooded islands
and among several islets and rocks, when taking a sudden short bend to
the westward, the waters dashed with great violence against the foot
of the rock on which I sat, and which might form a precipice of about
fifty feet high above the river. Just below the islands, and nearly
half way across, the river had a fall at this time of from three to
four feet; the rest of the channel was studded with rocks, some of
which were above water. It occurred to me that even if Park and Martin
had passed Boussa in safety, they would have been in imminent danger
of perishing here, most likely unheard of and unseen. When I attempted
to get up and mount my horse, after finishing a rough sketch of the
scene, I was taken with a giddiness, and lost the use of my limbs and
sight. They carried me under the shade of a tree, where I broke into
a profuse perspiration; and at 3.30 being much relieved, I mounted
and rode half an hour, when I halted at a village of the Cambrie,
called Songa, the inhabitants of which gave me the best hut in the
village: but bad was the best; it was infested with rats, scorpions,
and centipedes, and the furniture consisted of old nets, rotten wood,
and broken gourds: I therefore left it, and remained on a mat in the
open air all night. The head man of the village gave me a sheep and
some yams, and at my request sent one of his young men to the ferry,
to see if my baggage and servants had arrived. I gave the sheep and
yams to the two messengers and their attendants. The young Cambrie
man returned about midnight with an answer from the taya, saying
that Richard would be up with the baggage at the ferry in the morning.
Monday, 3d.—Morning clear and cool. These Cambrie appear to be
a lazy, harmless race of negroes; and, as I was informed, inhabit
the villages in the woods near the Quorra, in the states of Boussa,
Wawa, and Youri. They plant a little corn and yams, and keep a few
sheep and goats. The men employ their time in hunting, fishing,
and sleeping; the most laborious work falling on the women. They
are apparently a mild people; in general tall; more stupid-looking
than wild; go with very little clothing, seldom any thing more than
a skin round the waist. The young people of both sexes go entirely
naked until they have cohabited, when they put on a skin, or tobe,
as their circumstances will afford. They are, from their unwarlike
and mild dispositions, often very ill used and imposed upon. When any
of their rulers has a sudden demand for slaves or sheep, they send
and take away from the poor people their children or their flocks;
and any of the slaves of the sultans passing through their villages
live at free quarters. They are pagans; and their temple here was a
platform raised about five feet from the ground, on which were piled
the heads of the hippopotamus and the alligator. The upper and under
jaws of the alligators appeared in all to be of an equal length. I
took some of the teeth from one that was last offered. Their language
differs from that of the surrounding inhabitants.
The Quorra at this village was in one whole stream, and not above
three-fourths the breadth of the Thames at Somerset House at high
water, with a current from about two to two and a half or three
knots: the colour of the water red and muddy: the banks on each
side the river rising to the height of forty-five or fifty feet;
in some places rocky: about a quarter of a mile below, it divided
into three rocky streams.
At 7.30 A.M. left Songa: the road through a woody country, cut up by
deep ravines with very rocky beds: the rocks mostly of red and gray
granite. At 9 A.M. passed between the east end of a rocky hill,
composed of porphyry, and the river; the hills on the east side
appearing of the same: the river running with great force through
this natural gap, which appeared as if cut on purpose to let the
waters through. The river between Songa and this is full of rocky
islets and rapids. After having passed the hill about a mile, the
western bank shelved away from the river, leaving a high ridge by
the river side, composed of sand and clay, with occasionally ridges
of clay-slate, between which and the high ground it appeared as if
it had formerly been the bed of the river, and is now a swamp. The
ridge close to the river was studded with villages; the river full
of small rocky islands, and occasionally rapids. At 10.30 arrived at
the village of Comie, or, as it is more commonly called, Wonjerque,
or the king’s ferry. Here the river is all in one stream; and
this place is the great ferry of the caravans to and from Houssa,
Nyffé, &c. The village is built on the high ground, the bank shelving
gradually down to the river side, where there is a second temporary
town composed of the huts of the merchants: here and in the village
all was bustle and confusion. A caravan going to Gonja was halted
on the eastern bank; on the western, the goffle from Gonja, with
kolla nuts, &c. The village was filled with horses and men dressed
out in their gayest trappings: here merchants were offering horses
for sale; there their slaves, with gay glass beads, cords of silk,
unwrought silk, and tobes and turkadoes for sale; some dancing and
drumming; while others, more wicked, were drinking and rioting. I
was provided with a good house, and received presents of milk, honey,
eggs, ducks, sheep, and goats, as soon as it was known I had arrived;
but I returned the whole of them, and said I would accept of nothing
until my servants and baggage arrived. Several people came and said
they had left Wawa early in the morning, and that my baggage was on
the road. The widow Zuma, who is at a neighbouring village, sent me
boiled rice and a fowl, and also an invitation to go and stop at
her house until my things came, and I should cross the river; but
my anxiety for my baggage, and my being rather unwell, prevented me
accepting her invitation. I had a visit from the taya, who declares
the baggage will be here in the course of a short time. He has now
changed his tone: he says I must buy bullocks and pay for them at
once, as he will not carry my baggage: he will buy the bullocks for
me, and find men to drive them; that he will sell me those which he
has bought from the widow; and that he will trust to my generosity for
a present when I arrive at Kano; that my baggage, he said, would be
here directly, and advised me to go and stop at the widow’s until
it came. Towards evening my anxiety was very great on account of my
baggage, as no appearance of it, or any tidings that I could depend
upon was to be learnt. The governor’s son of Wawa, who is here,
offered to go to Wawa and see what was the reason they had not come.
Tuesday, 4th.—I found on his return from Wawa, to my great surprise,
that my baggage would not be allowed to come until the widow Zuma
went back to Wawa. “What have I to do with the widow?” I asked
him. “Yes, you have,” says he, “and you must come back with me
and fetch her.” “Not I,” I answered; “what have I to do with
her? If I were governor of Wawa I would bring her back if I wanted
her, but I am a stranger.” “Then,” says he, “I will go if
you will send a token and a message, to say I come from you.” I
gave him my umbrella, but no message, declaring I would not send
any. The governor’s son went to the widow, and I went to Wawa,
where I arrived at noon. My trusty servant Richard arrived at the same
instant from Boussa, where he had been to seek me, and acquaint me of
the detention of my property: his only guide, a boy whose language he
did not understand, or any other but his own native English. He had
seen the sultan and midaki, who understood from the little boy who
accompanied him what he had come for. They treated him with great
kindness, making him remain all night; and in the morning sent him
with two armed men to protect him and to find me, and to desire the
governor of Wawa to allow my things to go instantly: a convincing
fact that the minds of men here must be much changed for the better
since the days of Park and Martin. He had left Wawa yesterday, to
come and inform me of the detention of my baggage, and the cause why;
which was the widow Zuma’s having left Wawa about half an hour
after I did, with drums beating before her, and a train after her,
first calling at my house before she waited on the governor; giving
Pascoe a female slave for a wife, without the governor’s permission,
which I had allowed him to accept; and the widow’s declaration
before she went away, that she intended following me to Kano, and
come back and make war on the governor, as she had done once before.
I was glad to find all my things safe; and was more amused than vexed
to think that I had been so oddly let into the politics of Wawa, and
that the old governor meant me no harm, but just to let me see his
consequence before I left Wawa. I certainly never would have thought
that the widow Zuma would have been at the head of the malcontents
in Wawa. I was now let into their politics with a vengeance; and it
was believed I was taking a very great share in them. It would have
been a fine end to my journey indeed, if I had deposed old Mohamed,
and set up for myself, with a walking tun-butt for a queen.
I sent to the governor the instant of my arrival at Wawa, to say
I was ready to wait on him. I had tea to refresh me and clear up
my ideas; and went, accompanied by his head man. My servant Ali
brought the rifle, which was loaded; but I ordered him back with a
severe reproof, as I always make a point of going unarmed; as the
least show of fear or distrust would most likely cause me to pay
dearly for my unnecessary caution. The head man said, “Ah! dua,
dua,” or that I had taken medicine to keep me from harm. I found
the governor just roused from his noon-day nap, which was done by
sound of horn. I put on as many smiles as I was master of, shook
hands with him, and asked how he did, and how he had been since I
last was blessed with the sight of him. I told him that I had seen
the sultan of Boussa, and said what a good and generous man he was;
and how well he and the midaki, his wife, and the governor’s sister,
had behaved to me. I then said, I was surprised that my things had
not come to the water side, according to his promise. He asked if the
widow was not going to take them, as he thought she was. I said, I had
nothing to do with the widow; I was a servant of the king of England,
and it was to him I looked; that I did not know the widow before I
came here. “Is she not going to Houssa with you? if she is greater
than me, let her take them.” I said, no; it was he, and not the
widow: I had nothing to say to her; and I would thank him to send me
and my things off as soon as possible. “As soon as the widow comes
back,” says he, “you shall go, not until then: send for her.” I
said, I would not send for her; I had nothing to do with her. “You
allowed your servant to take a female slave from her; send her back;
and if the widow comes back to-night you shall go to-morrow.” I
said, as to the widow’s coming or going, it was nothing to me:
with respect to Pascoe’s returning the girl, that was his affair;
and that no offence had been meant to the governor in allowing him
to accept her. He said, return her, and he would give him another;
and if the widow came to-night I should go in the morning: she was
his enemy, and was gone to stir up war against him, as she had done
once before. I said, he might blame his head man for my acquaintance
with the widow: he was present when she first came to my house; and,
as she was an enemy of the governor, he ought to have told me then,
and I, as a stranger, and the governor’s guest, would not have
allowed her to come to my house. We parted after this, and in the
evening he sent me a present of one fowl, yams, milk, and honey.
Wednesday, 5th.—This morning the widow arrived in town, with
a drummer beating before her, whose cap was bedecked with ostrich
feathers; a bow-man walking on foot at the head of her horse; a train
behind, armed with bows, swords, and spears. She rode a-straddle
on a fine horse, whose trappings were of the first order for this
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 bright brass plate in the centre; scarlet saddle-cloth,
trimmed with lace. She was dressed in red silk trowsers, and red
morocco boots; on her head a white turban, and over her shoulders
a mantle of silk and gold. Had she been somewhat younger and less
corpulent, there might have been great temptation to head her party,
for she has certainly been a very handsome woman, and such as would
have been thought a beauty in any country in Europe.
After the heat of the day was over, I went to the governor, Pascoe
having previously sent back his wife to the widow. They parted
without reluctance, though he declared that she had fallen in love
with him at first sight. She was the second wife the old fellow has
had since we left Badagry: the first he got at Jannah; she turned
out to be a thief, a jade, and used to get drunk with the king’s
wives at Katunga, for which I was obliged to order her out of the
house; but Pascoe, with tears in his eyes, begged me to forgive her,
as she really loved him, and he loved her. I was not sorry when I
heard, the day we left Katunga, that she had walked off with all
the coral and other little trinkets which Mrs. Belzoni had given
him before he left England, as I trusted it would be a lesson to
him in future. I told the governor that the widow was now arrived,
and I wished he would send me off according to his promise. He said,
he did not know that she had arrived, but would send for her. He
again repeated what he had said yesterday, and so did I; to which
I added that I should be sorry if such a foolish affair should have
any effect on the good understanding that existed between him and me
before I went to Boussa. The widow arrived, having stripped off her
finery, and put on only a common country cloth around her, and one
female slave in attendance. She saluted the governor according to
the custom of the country; that is, by kneeling down on the ground
on her knees and elbows, with the palms of her hands before her
face. It was some time before the governor spoke: he then began,
and gave her a lecture on disobedience and vanity, and asked her
where she was going: she said, after some slaves of hers who had
run away and gone to Nyffé: with which excuse, after his telling
her she did not speak the truth, she was dismissed; and when she
got outside the coozie, or hut, she shook the dust from her cloth
with the greatest contempt. “That,” says he, “is a bad woman;
none of the sultans like her; she will not pay duty on any thing:
but you shall go to-morrow.” I went home, determined never to be
caught in such a foolish affair in future, as my last journey ought
to have taught me never to make friends of the opposition party in any
place, for they were always sure to lead to trouble, if not mischief.
As the governor said I should go to-morrow, I took him at his word,
and accordingly left Wawa the second time, determined that politics
should never bring me back to the place again. We halted at a village
of the Cambrie, remained here an hour, then proceeded an hour, and
halted at another, where the gentlemen seized a sheep, as they had
done at the former place. I gave them a severe lecture, which they
listened to very quietly, but killed the sheep, lighted a fire, and
roasted it with the skin on, before the poor Cambrie its owner. In
the evening I arrived at the ferry, where I had an excellent house,
and plenty of presents of sheep, eggs, and honey, sent to me and my
friends: the carriers arriving at sunset with the baggage, and living
at free quarters on the inhabitants, as they had done on the Cambrie.
Being unwell, I remained at the ferry three days; and on the 10th,
about noon, having got all my baggage over, I crossed the Quorra,
which at this time was about a quarter of a mile in width, running
at the rate of two miles an hour, and in the middle ten or twelve
feet deep. The ferry is crossed by canoes of about twenty feet long
and two broad. Cattle are occasionally made to swim over.
The four rogues of slaves wanted to cheat me out of my horse, and
urgently invited me to pass over first. I told them, when I saw the
horses fairly over I would go, but not until then: at which they
were evidently much disappointed; and as it was, they succeeded in
cheating me out of one which the governor had lent me.
The master of the house in which I lived in Comie, a very respectable
man, and formerly head man to the king of Nyffé, but who had fled
to escape the civil war, told me that the river was full of rocks
and islands nearly the whole way to the sea, which it entered at the
town of Fundah; that the people of that country visited the southern
parts of Nyffé; that the people of Benin came up by land, and had
the river to cross, as they never travelled by water if they could
avoid it, it being against their fetish; that the river farther down
ran more to the eastward, until joined by the river Kadania, flowing
from the east, when it turned to the west, and fell into the sea.
I now proceeded on my journey towards Kano, and having travelled
about six miles, came to a walled village called Dallu; and beyond
that five miles to El Wata, which appeared to be inhabited by
blacksmiths. Though the village was small, I counted, on the way
to where I was to lodge, four large blacksmiths’ shops with five
forges in each. The blacksmiths were very civil to me; they gave me
their best house, some corn for my horses, and a goat and some yams.
The natives of Borgoo, of whom I have now taken leave, and to whom
the Arabs and their neighbouring nations give such a bad character
for theft and robbery, always behaved honestly to me. I never lost
the smallest article while amongst them. I have travelled and hunted
alone with them, and myself, servants, and baggage, have been at
their mercy. I ever found them cheerful, obliging, good-natured,
and communicative; and the plundering of the sheep, goats, &c. from
the villages, by the slaves of Yarro and Mohamed of Wawa, was not the
act of natives of Borgoo, but of Houssa; as were the four messengers
of Wawa, who had also formed a design to plunder me. These persons
are nearly half-starved, and possessed with the idea that it is only
right their masters’ subjects should feed them when on a journey,
as they have no other provision but what they can catch in this
manner; and therefore all they can lay their hands on is considered
by them as good and lawful prize. They are more warlike than any
of their neighbours; more bold and independent also: and parties
of two or three will infest the roads of the neighbouring kingdoms,
and carry off passengers whom they may meet, and sell them as slaves.
The kingdom, as I have already said, is divided into the petty states
of Niki, Kiama, Wawa, and Boussa, of which Boussa is considered the
head, Niki the next. The governors are all hereditary as long as
they can keep their place. These states sometimes make war upon one
another, when the sultan of Boussa interferes, and makes both parties
pay. The kingdom is bounded on the east by the Quorra; on the south by
Yourriba; on the west by Dahomey; and on the north by a large country
called Gourma, which they assert to be inhabited by naked savages,
but the Mahomedans say by a civilized people, and governed by a
powerful sultan. The country is eleven days’ journey from north
to south, and thirty from east to west: its rivers are the Quorra,
Moussa, and Oli: its mountains are the range which passes through
Yourriba, Youri, Zamfra, Guari, and Zegzeg. The face of the country
is partly plain and partly mountainous, abounding in game of all
the kinds common to Africa; and the inhabitants are said to be great
hunters. Through Borgoo the caravans from Houssa and Bornou pass to
Gonja and Yourriba. They have few cattle, but plenty of corn, yams,
plantains, and limes. Their religion is paganism, but they offer no
human sacrifices.
Tuesday, 11th.—Left El Wata, the country around which is well
cultivated. The ant-hills here are the highest I have ever seen,
being from fifteen to twenty feet high, resembling so many Gothic
cathedrals in miniature. Halted at another walled village to change
carriers, which, like El Wata, was also full of blacksmiths. In
all the villages I passed through to-day there is a fetish-house,
or pagan house of worship, in good repair; showing that the head
people and the majority of the inhabitants, though pagans, have a
regard for religion. Figures of human beings are painted on these
houses, as are also the boa, the alligator, and the tortoise. The
country is well cultivated, and planted with corn, and yams, and
cotton. They have plenty of sheep and goats, a few small horses, but
no cows; and large plantations of bananas and plantains are seen by
the river side. The blacksmiths are still in great numbers. They get
their iron ore from the hills, which they smelt where they dig it,
and which is done without mining. The taya paid me a visit, wishing
me to remain at this place to-morrow, as an army of the Fellatas
were in Koolfu, on their return to Sockatoo. He still shuffles off
his bargain, and begged hard that I would remain here until the
day after to-morrow, as the Fellatas would then be gone. I said I
had nothing to do with the Fellatas; they would not hurt me: that
he had put me off from day to day, always making a fresh bargain,
different from the one he had made before. I offered him half the
money here, on his giving me proper security; but he began haggling
again, and went off without coming to any certain agreement, as he
has always done. I however determined to get to Koolfu to-morrow
if possible, as these Fellatas are the very people I want to meet,
more particularly if they are from Sockatoo.
Wednesday, 12th.—In the afternoon of this day we halted at a
village, after crossing a wooden bridge over a stream called the
May-yarrow. It was rudely constructed of rough branches covered with
earth; long, and so narrow that two horses could not pass at one
time. It is the first I have seen in Africa. I remained here only a
few minutes, when I went to another village, where the carriers, after
setting the baggage down, ran off. As soon as myself and servants
arrived we were instantly surrounded by the whole male population of
the village, all armed with bows and arrows, their knives in their
hands, and bow-rings on their thumbs, perfectly ready for war. I
could not help being much amused at their uncalled for alarm; and
to prove to them how tranquil I felt, I dismounted from my horse,
and sat quietly down on the baggage, ordering my servants to do the
same. They pretended not to understand a word of the Houssa language;
for that they did not understand it was next to impossible, as not
a town or village between this and Badagry occurred in which we did
not find one or more that could speak that language; and the Boussa
messenger not having come up, we could not talk to them in the Nyffé
tongue. For a little time silence prevailed, when all at once they
seized on the baggage, each man taking something, until the whole
was gone. I now re-mounted, with my servants, and followed. They ran
along as fast as it was possible for them, and we rode after them;
at length we came to another village, where the people understood
Houssa, and asked what I wanted. I said, to stop all night. These
voluntary carriers however took up the baggage again, and crossing
the May-yarrow by a wooden bridge, entered the town of Tabra, which
is in fact the same town I had reached, the river dividing it into
two parts. Having also crossed, I was taken with my things in front
of the head man’s house; where they questioned and cross-questioned
me as to whether I was going to their king or not; but to none of
their questions did I think fit to give a direct answer. When they
found I was not disposed to commit myself they carried my things to
a house for the night. Here for the first time I had to buy wood,
grass, and corn: they always asking, “Where is the money?” before
they would give me any thing. I sent Ali off to the chief of the
Fellatas, with a letter addressed to Bello, as I find they leave
Koolfu at day-break. I therefore missed them by being detained and
humbugged on the road, through the manœuvres of the taya, who was
very anxious I should not see the Fellatas.
Thursday, 13th.—The whole of this day was spent in expectation of
my paying a visit to the queen of Nyffé, who is at present residing
here; but in the evening I was informed she could not receive me,
as the king her husband is absent, at a town called Raba, two
days’ journey distant; but that I may see the king’s mother
in the morning, who will inform me when and how I am to proceed to
Kano. During the night thunder, lightning, and rain.
Friday, 14th.—After breakfast I went and visited the queen-mother,
according to last night’s arrangement; I took with me as a present
a Chinese crape shawl, part of a string of coral, and a mock gold
chain, and some silk. In the outer coozie of her house I found mats
spread for me, and a sheep-skin for her majesty. Her male attendants
were mostly all old men, without teeth. In this company I remained
for near a quarter of an hour. Then came in a number of women past
their teens, and seated themselves on the mats opposite to me. They
were decently dressed, in short check bed-gowns, the manufacture of
the country, with a stuffing in the breast, which made them appear
full-breasted. Around their loins they wore striped cotton cloths,
which reached down to their ankles. Their woolly hair was dressed in
the crest fashion; over which they wore a cap flowered and ornamented
with red and white silk; around which there was tied a piece of check,
flowered with white silk and fringed at each end, the ends hanging
down: this was about the breadth of a broad riband. After sitting in
profound silence for some time, they looking at me and I at them; at
last her majesty made her appearance, dressed in a large white tobe or
shirt. On her head she wore a coarse green cloth cap with two flaps,
and trimmed with red tape. She was old, walked with a staff, and had
only one eye. I rose to receive her, and shook her by the hand. She
sat down on the sheep-skin, and I on the mat beside her. After asking
after her health, and she doing the same, and how I had fared on my
journey, I began to display my present before her, told her who I
was, and where I wished to go. She appeared much gratified with the
present, particularly the chain; said I ought to go and see her son
the king, who was only two or three days distant, and he would forward
me to where I wished, and be glad to see me. I said I would go with
pleasure, but the rains had now set in; and that I wished to proceed
on my journey with the taya; that I had a great number of books for
Bello, and the Sheik of Bornou, and they would all be spoiled if
they got wet; that this country was very sickly in the rains; and
that three white men who accompanied me had died already. She said
she had sent a messenger to her son the night of my arrival; that
he would return to-night or to-morrow morning, and he would bring
orders to say whether I was to go to Raba, or not; that if I went,
they would detain the taya until my return. I said, “Very well;
but I must have a horse, as both mine have sore backs.” I then
took leave of her majesty, as she is called. A native of Moorzuk,
named Mohamed Ben Ahmet, who has long resided in this country, served
as my interpreter. He is married to one of the king’s daughters;
he is styled in Nyffe El Magia. I had the following account from
Ben Ahmet: that this woman was the late king of Nyffe’s relation;
that her son Mohamed El Magia, who is a Mahometan, is fighting with
the other, who is called Edrisi and a pagan, for the kingdom; that
Mohamed is assisted by the Fellatas, and the other, who has the
best right, by the people of Nyffe; that Mohamed has gained every
battle this summer, and that there is no doubt of his gaining the
day; that there is a cessation of hostilities during the rains;
that next summer will decide the fate of Edrisi; that Mohamed can
read and write Arabic; is a great drunkard, but very generous.
Tabra is on the north bank of the river May-yarrow, over which is
a narrow wooden bridge, which will not bear a man and horse. This
bridge connects it to a part of the town on the other side the river,
which is also surrounded on the three sides by a wall. The two parts
may contain from eighteen to twenty thousand inhabitants; they are
the occasional residence of the Magia, who has a house here; and
it is also the place of his birth. His mother during his absence is
considered as governor assisted by the _sirtain fada_, or master of
the ceremonies. There appears to be plenty of sheep and goats, and
plantations of yams, plantains, calavances, millet, and limes. The
river is always full of water, and may be about twenty yards broad,
shaded with large trees; the banks rise with a gentle ascent from
the river, and are planted with yams, millet, &c. There are only a
few blacksmiths, but a great number of weavers. The inhabitants,
with a few exceptions, are pagans, and they all, men and women,
have the reputation of being great drunkards. The Houssa caravans
pass close to the north side of the town, but seldom halt here. It
was deserted last year, when Edrisi was driven here with his army;
the inhabitants flying to Ingastrie in Youri, and to the province
of Wawa; but are now mostly returned.
Sunday, 16th.—I was visited by the _sirtain fada_ this morning,
who had just returned from seeing the Fellatas safe out of Koolfu:
he told me that the Benin people, before the civil war began, came
here to trade; that the Quorra ran into the sea, behind Benin, at
Fundah; that the Nyffe people and those of Benin were the same people;
that Benin paid tribute to Nyffe—(this is common with all negroes,
to exalt their native country above all others, in their accounts to
strangers). He said they got their salt from a town called Affaga,
near the sea: this is the Laro or Alaro of Yourriba, and in possession
of the Fellatas. In the evening an eunuch, a messenger, arrived from
the king, to take me to the Sanson, or gathering-place, where he was;
and to stop the taya.
Monday, 17th.—This morning a messenger of the king of Youri arrived,
bringing me a present of a camel, to assist in carrying my baggage
to Kano. He said the king, before he left Youri, had shown him two
books, very large, and printed, that had belonged to the white men,
that were lost in the boat at Boussa; that he had been offered a
hundred and seventy mitgalls of gold for them, by a merchant from
Bornou, who had been sent by a Christian on purpose for them. I
advised him to tell the king, that he ought to have sold them; that
I would not give five mitgalls for them; but that if he would send
them, I 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. I gave him
for his master one of the mock-gold chains, a common sword, and ten
yards of silk, and said I would give him a handsome gun and some more
silk, if he would send the books. On asking him if there were any
books like my journal, which I showed him, he said there was one,
but that his master had given it to an Arab merchant ten years ago;
but the merchant was killed by the Fellatas on his way to Kano, and
what had become of that book afterwards he did not know. He also
told me, that the fifteen men whom I had seen at Wawa belonging
to Dahomey were slave-merchants; that they had bought a hundred
slaves at Youri; that they also bought small red beads that came
from Tripoli; that at Wawa they were to get a hundred more slaves,
when they would return to Dahomey; that these people bring cloths,
earthen ware, brass and pewter dishes, and sell them in Houssa,
Nyffe, and Youri, for slaves and beads.
Wednesday, 19th.—Dull and cloudy this morning. The eunuch came
with his horse ready saddled, but without one for me. I told him I
was all ready, but would not go until he brought me a horse. He then
pretended that he was going, and asked if I had no present to send
to the king. I said I had, but should give it myself when I saw him;
not until then. He then departed; when a Fellata, calling himself
a messenger from Bello, residing with the king, came and said he
would make the eunuch stop, and removed my baggage and myself to
a good and quiet house, as the one I was in was much disturbed by
women and children; and it is settled that I am to go with him to
the king to-morrow. I have offered two hundred thousand cowries to
have my baggage carried, but I cannot even get a letter conveyed
to Kano; either so jealous are they of me, or they have an eye to
my baggage, about which they have formed anxious conjectures. I
had a present from the king’s sister of a sheep, for which she
modestly requested a dollar and some beads. My new house is very
snug and comfortable. I have three rooms for myself and servants,
with houses for my horse and mare, an old man and his wife to look
after it, and I can keep out all idle persons.
Thursday, 20th.—Morning clear and warm. I had to remain to-day also,
as my guide and messenger, the black eunuch, is gone to the Koolfu
market again. At sunset he and Omar Zurmie (or Omar the Brave),
the messenger of Bello, waited on me, and told me that they would
leave this for the Sanson, or camp, in the course of the night, if
I was ready, and that Zurmie had a horse ready for me. I said I was
ready at a moment’s notice, and had been the last four days. In
the night we had a tornado, with thunder, lightning, and rain.
Friday, 21st.—This morning I left Tabra in company of Omar the
Brave, a black eunuch, and Mohamed Ben Ahmet, the Morzukie, as my
interpreter and servant; and having travelled twenty-seven miles,
came to a village called Kitako, where we passed the night.
Saturday, 22d.—At 1.30 A.M. left Kitako. The moon through the
thick clouds just enabling us, by the assistance of two Amars
(spearmen) who went a-head, to thread our way through the thick
woods, and over some of the most ticklish wooden bridges that ever
man and horse passed over. The morning was raw and cold, and the
path slippery and wet. At 4.30 I got so unwell and unable to bear
the motion of the horse, that I dismounted, and lay down on the
wet ground without covering, or any thing underneath me; for there
are times when a man, to get rid of his present sickness, will try
any remedy, whatever may be the after consequences: this was my
case, and I lay until six, when I rose much better of my sickness,
but with severe pains in the bones. A short while after starting,
I crossed over the wall of a ruined town called Jinne, or Janne,
through plantations of indigo and cotton, choked up with weeds. The
morning was raw and cloudy. A few of the ragged inhabitants were up;
two or three of the most miserable starved horses I ever saw were
tied to stakes close to the few huts that were rebuilt, their backs
dreadfully lacerated, the skin being nearly off from the shoulder to
the rump, and their eyes running with matter. Only for the verdure
of the trees at this season, and a beautiful stream of clear water,
whose banks were planted with plantain and palm-oil trees, this
would have been one of the most miserable scenes I ever saw in
my life. After passing the stream twice, without bridges, whose
banks were very steep and slippery, with several deep round holes,
as man traps, on each side the road, I ascended the plain above,
from whence I saw the ruins of several other towns and villages along
the banks of the ravine. At eight passed the ruins of another town;
and at nine I met, attended by a great rabble, armed with pickaxes,
hoes, and hatchets, Mohamed El Magia, or the would-be king, mounted
on horseback, and halted under a tree. When they told me there was
the Magia waiting to receive me, I rode up and shook hands with
him. He asked me after my health, and how I had fared on the road,
and then told the eunuch who was with me to take me to his house;
he then rode past, as I was informed, to complete the ruin of the
last, as I thought already ruined, town I had passed through. He was
mounted on a good bay horse, whose saddle was ornamented with pieces
of silver and brass; the breastpiece with large silver plates hanging
down from it, like what is represented in the prints of Roman and
eastern emperors’ horses. He is a tall man, with a sort of stupid
expression of countenance, having a large mouth and snagged teeth,
with which he makes himself look worse when he attempts to smile,
and looks indeed like any thing but a king or a soldier. He wore
a black velvet cap, with two flaps over the ears, and trimmed with
red silk, a blue and white striped tobe, red boots, part of leather
and part red cloth, in rags; in his hand he had a black staff,
with a silver head; his slaves were carrying a coast-made umbrella
and his sword. I paid him every decent respect, and put on as many
smiles as I was able, as I know that those ragged and dirty rogues,
when they have power, have more pride than a real king, and expect a
great deal more respect, and cannot bear a man to look serious. At
ten I arrived at the Sanson, or camp, where I was lodged in the
eunuchs’ part, having a small unoccupied hut separated from the
rest allotted for me to live in. Here I was left to myself until
3 P.M., when the eunuch came and told me the king had arrived,
and wished to see me. I went directly, taking a present, which I
displayed before him. When the articles were taken away by an eunuch,
I told him who and what I was, where I was going, and that I wanted
his assistance and protection to the governors of Guari or Zegzeg,
in Houssa; that I had been well treated by every king and governor
between Badagry on the sea-coast, to Tabra in his dominions, and
I hoped for the same favourable reception from him. He said it was
easy to do all that I had asked, and he would do it.
Sunday, 23d.—This morning I was much better, having shut my little
straw hut up as close as possible, so that I was as if in a steam
bath all night. I have ever found this and fasting a good cure for
most disorders.
The king went through the camp, attended by a great rabble, a slave
carrying the umbrella I had given him over his head. He paid me
a visit, and began, as soon as he had seated himself, to show me
his staff of authority, a black stick, about four feet long, with a
silver head. He said I had got some of the same kind, and he wanted
one. I said I could not indulge him with one, unless I gave him that
intended for Bello. He then begged my travelling knife and fork. I
said, “What, then, I am to go without, and eat with my fingers! he
had better go to Tabra, and take all I had.” He observed he would
certainly not do that; that he would send me to Kano, and that I
should go in five or six days after this. He then went home, and
sent me, as a present, a small country horse, which will do well
enough for Pascoe to ride. I have now two horses and a mare.
The Sanson, or camp, is like a large square village, built of
small bee-hive-like huts, thatched with straw, having four large
broad streets, and with a square or clear place near the huts of
the king. Only for the number of horses feeding, and some picketed
near the huts, and the men all going armed, and numbers of drums
beating, it would pass for a well-inhabited village. Here are to be
seen weavers, taylors, women spinning cotton, others reeling off,
some selling foo-foo and accassons, others crying yams and paste,
little markets at every green tree, holy men counting their beads,
and dissolute slaves drinking _roa bum_.
Monday, 24th.—Morning cool and cloudy. In the early part of the
morning I went to take leave of the king, whom I 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. This may seem odd to an Englishman;
but it is very common for a man, both in Bornou and Houssa, to be
able to read the Koran fluently, and not understand a word in it but
“Allah,” or able to read any other book. They left off reading
when I came in; and as soon as the compliments of the morning were
over, the king begged me to give him my sword, which I flatly refused,
but promised to give him the five dollars, the staff, and the pistol,
whenever I was permitted to leave this for Kano, which he promised I
should do, and pointed out a person whom he said he would send with
me as a messenger; and that a merchant from Koolfu would come and
agree about the price he was to have for carrying my baggage. I
thanked him, and took my leave. He is one of the most beggarly
rogues I have yet met with; every thing he saw or heard that I was
possessed of he begged, not like a person that wished to have them
because they were scarce or rare, but with a mean greediness that
was disgusting. Though I had given him a better present than he had
ever got in his life before, he told me that I said “No, no,”
to every thing he asked for. He has been the ruin of his country
by his unnatural ambition, and by calling in the Fellatas, who will
remove him out of the way the moment he is of no more use to them;
even now he dares not move without their permission. It is said that
he has put to death his brother and two of his sons. Through him the
greater part of the industrious population of Nyffé have either been
killed, sold as slaves, or fled from their native country. To remove
him now would be charity; and the sooner the better for his country.
At 8.30 in the morning I left the Sanson, and riding on ahead of
old Malam Fama, the Morzukie, I halted under a tree at eleven to let
the horses feed, and the Malam to come up with the sheep. At noon,
Mahomed having joined, I started with a plundering party who were
going the same road. They told me they were going to seize some
villagers who had returned to build up their ruined huts and sow
a little millet without first praying for leave to the Magia. On
crossing one of the small rivers and ascending the steep and slippery
bank, the chief of this band checked his horse, and both horse and
rider fell souse into the water. He was close behind me, but I left
his companions to pick him up. On the 25th we once more reached Tabra.
I have observed more people with bad teeth and the loss of the front
teeth in Nyffé than any other country in Africa, or indeed any other
country. The males mostly are those who lose their teeth. Whether
it may arise from the universal custom of chewing snuff mixed with
natron or not, I do not pretend to say. The white of the eye in the
black population is in general bilious-looking and bloodshot. There
is scarcely one exception, unless it be in those below eighteen or
twenty years of age.
Tuesday, May 2.—This morning I left Tabra, and travelling
along the banks of the May-yarrow, passed the walled village of
Gonda. Having crossed a stream coming from the north, and running
into the May-yarrow, I entered the walled town of Koolfu, the
greatest market town in this portion of Nyffé, and resorted to by
trading people from all parts of the interior. I was provided with
a good house; and the head man of the town, a plausible fellow,
was very officious, but at the same time giving broad hints for a
present. Mohamed Kalu, the madagoo or head man of the goffle from
Bornou, has to remain here until after the Rhamadan. I was visited
by all the principal people in the place, as a matter of curiosity,
though many of them had seen me at Tabra.
Monday, 8th.—Clear and cool. The house in which I live is one of
the best in Koolfu. I have three separate coozies parted off from
the rest of the house, and a place for my stud, which now amounts to
two horses and a mare. My landlady is a widow, large, fat, and deaf,
with an only child, a daughter, about five years old; a spoiled
child. The widow Laddie, as she is called, is considered to be
very rich. She is a merchant; sells salt, natron, and various other
articles: but what she is most famed for is her booza and roa bum,
as the palm wine is called; and every night the large outer hut is
filled with the topers of Koolfu, who are provided with music as well
as drink, and keep it up generally until the dawn of morning separates
them. Their music consists of the drum, erbab, or guitar of the Arabs,
the Nyffé harp, and the voice. Their songs are mostly extempore,
and allude to the company present. The booza is made from a mixture
of doura, or Guinea corn, honey, Chili pepper, the root of a coarse
grass on which the cattle feed, and a proportion of water: these are
thrown in equal proportions into large earthen jars, open at top,
and are allowed to ferment near a slow fire for four or five days,
when the booza is fit to drink, and is put into earthen jars. It is
a very fiery and intoxicating beverage; but, whether Mohamedan or
pagan, they all drink, and agree very well together when in their
cups. At first neither I nor my servants could sleep for their noise,
but now I have got used to it. This night the new moon was seen,
and Mohamedan and pagan joined in the cry of joy. My landlady had
thirteen pieces of wood, on each of which was written by the Bornou
malem the word “Bismillah,” the only word he could write. These
boards she then washed and drank the water, and gave to her family
to drink. She offered some of it to me; but I said I never drank
dirty water: and I thought that if she and her servants had taken
a comfortable cup of booza or bum it would have done them more good
than drinking the washings of a board written over with ink; for the
man was a rogue who had made her pay for such stuff. “What!”
says she, “do you call the name of God dirty water? it was good
to take it.” These rogues, who call themselves malems, impose on
the poor ignorant people very much; and the pagans are as fond of
having these charms as the Mohamedans. These dirty draughts are a
cure for all evils, present and to come, and are called by the people
_dua_. Some of their fighting men will confine themselves to their
houses for thirty or forty days, fasting during the day, and only
drinking and washing with this dirty stuff. If a man is fortunate,
or does any feat above the common, it is attributed to the dua, or
medicine: neither his wit nor the grace of God gains a man any thing.
Tuesday, 9th.—Clear and warm. The new moon having been seen last
night put an end to the fast of the Rhamadan; and this day is kept
throughout the northern interior by Mohamedan and Kafir. Every
one was dressed in his best, paying and receiving visits, giving
and receiving presents, parading the streets with horns, guitars,
and flutes; groups of men and women seated under the shade at their
doors, or under shady trees, drinking roa bum or booza. I also had
my share of visitors: the head man of the town came to drink hot
water, as they call my tea. The chief of Ingaskie, the second town
in Youri, only a day’s journey distant, sent me a present of a
sheep, some rice, and a thousand gora nuts, for which he expects
double the amount in return. The women were dressed and painted
to the height of Nyffé perfection; and the young and modest on
this day would come up and salute the men as if old acquaintances,
and bid them joy on the day; with the wool on their heads dressed,
plaited, and dyed with indigo; their eyebrows painted with indigo,
the eyelashes with khol, the lips stained yellow, the teeth red,
and their feet and hands stained with henna; their finest and
gayest clothes on; all their finest beads on their necks; their
arms and legs adorned with bracelets of glass, brass, and silver,
their fingers with rings of brass, pewter, silver, and copper; some
had Spanish dollars soldered on the back of the rings. They, too,
drank of the booza and roa bum as freely as the men, joining in their
songs, whether good or bad. In the afternoon, parties of men were seen
dancing: free men and slaves all were alike; not a clouded brow was
to be seen in Koolfu; but at nine in the evening the scene was changed
from joy and gladness to terror and dismay; a tornado had just began,
and the hum of voices and the din of people putting their things under
cover from the approaching storm had ceased at once. All was silent
as death, except the thunder and the wind. The clouded sky appeared
as if on fire; each cloud rolling towards us as a sea of flame, and
only surpassed in grandeur and brightness by the forked lightning,
which constantly seemed to ascend and descend from what was now
evidently the town of Bali on fire, only a short distance outside
the walls of Koolfu. When this was extinguished a new scene began, if
possible worse than the first. The wind had increased to a hurricane;
houses were blown down; roofs of houses going along with the wind like
chaff, the shady trees in the town bending and breaking; and, in the
intervals between the roaring of the thunder, nothing heard but the
war-cry of the men and the screams of women and children, as no one
knew but that an enemy was at hand, and that we should every instant
share in the fate of Bali. I had the fire-arms loaded when I learned
this, and stationed Richard and Pascoe at the door of each hut, and
took the command of my landlady’s house, securing the outer door,
and putting all the fires out. One old woman roasting ground nuts,
quite unconcerned, made as much noise as if she had been going to be
put to death when the water was thrown over her fire. At last the
rain fell: the fire in Bali had ceased by its being wholly burnt
down. In our house we escaped with the roof blown off one coozie,
and a shed blown down. All was now quiet; and I went to rest with
that satisfaction every man feels when his neighbour’s house is
burnt down and his own, thank God! has escaped.
Sunday, 14th.—Mohamed, the Fezzanie, whom I had hired at Tabra,
and whom I had sent to the chief of Youri for the books and papers
of the late Mungo Park, returned, bringing me a letter from that
person, which contained the following account of the death of that
unfortunate traveller: that not the least injury was done to him
at Youri, or by the people of that country; that the people of
Boussa had killed them, and taken all their riches; that the books
in his possession were given him by the Imam of Boussa; that they
were lying on the top of the goods in the boat when she was taken;
that not a soul was left alive belonging to the boat; that the
bodies of two black men were found in the boat chained together;
that the white men jumped overboard; that the boat was made of two
canoes joined fast together, with an awning or roof behind; that he,
the sultan, had a gun, double-barrelled, and a sword, and two books
that had belonged to those in the boat; that he would give me the
books whenever I went to Youri myself for them, not until then.
Monday, 15th.—I am still very weak; Richard worse. I had a letter
from the learned Abdurahman, of Kora, a noted chief of banditti,
and who once, with his followers, overran Nyffé, and held possession
of the capital six months. He now keeps the town of Kora, a day’s
journey to the north-east, and is much feared by Mohamedan and
Kafir. He is a native of Nyffé. He is particularly anxious that I
should visit him, as he wants my acquaintance, and begs I will give
him the Psalms of David in Arabic, which he hears I have got. His
letter was written on part of the picture of the frontispiece of
an European book, apparently Spanish or Portuguese. He says he
has something to communicate to me, which cannot be done but by a
personal interview; but unless he come to Koolfu I told his messenger,
I could not see him.
Tuesday, 23d.—Cool and cloudy. A large caravan arrived from
Yourriba. They had come through Borgoo, where they sold what natron
they had remaining after they left Yourriba. They were in Katunga when
I was there; but were forbidden to hold any communication with us,
on pain of having their throats cut. They told me that my friend
the fat eunuch had endeavoured to hire a man to assassinate me,
but that they were all afraid. There are strong reports of a war
between the Sheik El Kanami and the Fellatas. They say the sheik has
taken the city of Hadija, and that the governor of Kano is gone out
to meet him, as he is advancing upon Kano. Whether it is a report
to please the Nyffé people, who cannot bear the Fellatas, or not,
I do not know. We had a number of such reports when in Bornou last
journey. In the evening a messenger from the sultan of Boussa arrived,
bringing me a present of a beautiful little mare. The messenger of the
sultan was accompanied by another person from the midaki, a female
slave, bringing me rice, yams, and butter. He brought a message
from the sultan desiring me to kill a she-goat, and distribute the
flesh amongst the inhabitants of Koolfu the day before I left it;
that he had distributed gora nuts and salt for me at Boussa, which
would do for Koolfu. I was also desired not to eat any meat that
came cooked from the west, and which would be sent by the Magia’s
female relations from Tabra, as they intended to take away my life
by poison. Through the night continual rain, thunder, and lightning.
Thursday, 25th.—Sent Sheeref Mohamed to Raba, a town possessed by
the Fellatas, three days south of this, on the banks of the Quorra,
with a message to the late Imam of Boussa, who, he says, has got some
of the books belonging to the late Mungo Park: one, he tells me,
was carried to Yourriba by a Fellata, as a charm and preservative
against musket balls. He is either to buy them, or I will give him
Arabic books for them in exchange.
Friday, June 17th.—This evening I was talking with a man that is
married to one of my landlady’s female slaves, called her daughter,
about the manners of the Cumbrie and about England; when he gave the
following account of the death of Park and his companions, of which he
was an eye-witness: He said that when the boat came down the river,
it happened unfortunately just at the time that the Fellatas first
rose in arms, and were ravaging Goober and Zamfra; that the sultan of
Boussa, on hearing that the persons in the boat were white men, and
that the boat was different from any that had ever been seen before,
as she had a house at one end, called his people together from the
neighbouring towns, attacked and killed them, not doubting that they
were the advance guard of the Fellata army then ravaging Soudan,
under the command of Malem Danfodio, the father of the present Bello;
that one of the white men was a tall man with long hair; that they
fought for three days before they were all killed; that the people in
the neighbourhood were very much alarmed, and great numbers fled to
Nyffé and other countries, thinking that the Fellatas were certainly
coming among them. The number of persons in the boat was only four,
two white men and two blacks: that they found great treasure in the
boat; but that the people had all died who eat of the meat that was
found in her. This account I believe to be the most correct of all
that I have yet got; and was told without my putting any questions,
or showing any eagerness for him to go on with his story. I was
often puzzled to think, after the kindness I had received at Boussa,
what could have caused such a change in the minds of these people
in the course of twenty years, and of their different treatment of
two European travellers. I was even disposed at times to flatter
myself that there was something in me that belonged to nobody else,
to make them treat me and my people with so much kindness; for the
friendship of the king of Boussa I consider as my only protection
in this country.
Koolfu, or, as it is called by many, Koolfie, is the principal town
for trade in Nyffé at present; and at all times a central point
for trade in this part of the interior. It is situated on the north
bank of the river May-yarrow; and it is surrounded by a clay wall
about twenty feet high, and has four gates. It is built in the form
of an oblong square, having its longest diameter from east to west;
there is a long irregular street runs through it, from which lead
a number of smaller streets. There are two large open spaces near
the east and west ends of the town, in which are booths, and large
shady trees, to protect the people from the heat of the sun, when
attending the markets, which are daily held in those places: there
are, besides the daily markets, two weekly markets on Mondays and
Saturdays, which are resorted to by traders and people inhabiting
the sea coast. Ajoolly and the other towns in Yourriba, Cubbi,
Youri, Borgoo, Sockatoo, and Zamfra on the north, Bornou and Houssa
on the east, and, before the civil war, people from Benin, Jabbo,
and the southern parts of Nyffé, used to resort to this town as a
central point of trade, where the natives of the different countries
were sure to get a ready sale for their goods; either selling them
for cowries, or exchanging them for others by way of barter. Those
who sold their goods for cowries attend the market daily, and when
they have completed their sale, buy at once the goods or wares they
want, and return home. Such is the way of the small traders, who
are nine out of ten women, and are principally from the west part
of the Quorra, even as far off as Niki: they carry their goods on
their heads in packages, from sixty to eighty and a hundred pounds
weight. The goods these people bring from the west are principally
salt, and cloths worn by the women round their loins, of about six
yards in length and two in breadth, made of the narrow striped cloth,
in which red silk is generally woven, and a great deal of blue cotton;
this is called Azane, and the best are worth about three thousand
to five thousand cowries, or two dollars:—Jabbo cloths, which are
about the same length as the others, and about the breadth of our
sail-cloth, are worn by slaves, and have a stripe or two of blue
in them; the poor classes also wear them, men and women:—Peppers,
called monsoura, shitta, and kimba; monsoura is like our East India
pepper; shitta is the malagetta pepper of the coast; kimba is a small
thin pepper, growing on a bush, near the sea coast, in Yourriba,
of a red colour, like Chili pepper:—Red wood from Benin, which
is pounded to a powder and made into a paste; women and children
are rubbed with this, mixed with a little grease, every morning;
and very frequently a woman is to be seen with a large score of
it on her face, arms, or some part of her body, as a cure for some
imaginary pain or other:—A small quantity of calico or red cloth is
sometimes brought, which is of European manufacture. They take back
principally natron, beads made at Venice of various kinds, and come
by the way of Tripoli and Ghadamis, and unwrought silk of various
colours, principally red, of about one ounce in weight, and is sold
here at three thousand cowries; it and natron are as good as cowries.