considerable time, bring horses, natron, unwrought silk, beads,
silk cords, swords that once belonged to Malta, exchanged for
bullocks at Bengazie, in the regency of Tripoli, sent to Kano and
remounted, and then sold all over the desert and the interior;
these swords will sell for ten or twenty dollars a piece or that
value, and sometimes more; cloths made up in the Moorish fashion;
looking-glasses of Italian manufacture from about a penny a piece to
a shilling in Malta; tobes or large shirts undyed, made in Bornou;
khol or lead used as blacking for the eye-lids; a small quantity
of ottar of roses, much adulterated; sweet smelling gum from Mecca;
a scented wood also from the East; silks the manufacture of Egypt;
turbans; red Moorish caps with blue silk tassels; and sometimes a few
tunics of checked silk and linen made in Egypt: the last are generally
brought by Arabs. A number of slaves are also brought from Houssa
and Bornou, who are either sold here or go further on. The Bornou
caravans never go further than this place, though generally some of
their number accompany the Houssa merchants to Agolly in Yourriba,
Gonja, and Borgoo, from which they bring Kolla or Gora nuts, cloth
of woollen, printed cottons, brass and pewter dishes, earthenware, a
few muskets, a little gold, and the wares mentioned before as brought
from Yourriba. They carry their goods on bullocks, asses, and mules;
and a great number of fine women hire themselves to carry loads on
their heads; their slaves, male and female, are also loaded. The
Bornou merchants, during their stay, stop in the town in the houses
of their friends or acquaintances, and give them a small present on
their arrival and departure, for the use of the house. The Houssa
merchants stop outside the walls in little straw huts or leathern
tents, which they erect themselves. They sell their goods and wares
in their houses or tents; the small wares they send to the market
and round to the different houses by their slaves to sell; there are
also a number of male and female brokers in the town, whom they also
intrust. The pedlers or western merchants always live in the houses
of the town, and attend the markets daily, employing their spare
time in spinning cotton, which they provide themselves with on their
arrival, and support themselves by this kind of labour. There have
been no fewer than twenty-one of these mercantile women living in my
landlady’s house at one time, all of them from Yourriba and Borgoo:
these women attend the markets at the different towns between this
and their homes, buying and selling as they go along. The caravans
from Cubbi, Youri, and Zamfra, bring principally slaves and salt,
which they exchange for natron, Gora nuts, beads, horses, tobes
dyed of a dark blue, having a glossy and coppery tinge. The slaves
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 in a long rope of raw hide,
and carry loads on their heads consisting of their master’s goods,
or his household stuff; these loads 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 making particular
inquiry. The duties which traders pay here are collected by the
people of Tabra, who take twenty cowries from every loaded person,
forty for an ass, and fifty for a loaded bullock.
The inhabitants may amount to from twelve to fifteen thousand,
including all classes, the slave and the free; they are mostly
employed in buying and selling, though there are a great number of
dyers, tailors, blacksmiths, and weavers, yet all these are engaged
in buying and selling; few of these descriptions ever go on distant
journeys to trade, and still fewer attend the wars, except it be to
buy slaves from the conquerors. I have seen slaves exposed for sale
here, the aged, infirm, and the idiot, also children at the breast,
whose mothers had either fled, died, or been put to death. The
domestic slaves are looked upon almost as the children of the family,
and if they behave well, humanely treated: the males are often freed,
and the females given in marriage to freemen, at other times to the
male domestic slaves of the family; when such is the case a house
is given to them, and if he be a mechanic, he lives in the town,
and works at his trade; if not, in the country, giving his owner
part of the produce, if not made free; in both cases they always
look upon the head of such owner’s family as their lord, and call
him or her father or mother.
The food of the free and the slave is nearly the same; perhaps the
master or mistress may have a little fat flesh, fish, or fowl, more
than their slaves, and his meat is served in a separate place and
dish; but the greatest man or woman in the country is not ashamed at
times to let their slaves eat out of the same dish, but a woman is
never allowed to eat with a man. Their food consists of ground maize,
made into puddings or loaves, and about half a pound each, sold at
five cowries each in the market; of flummery, or, as they call it in
Scotland, sowens, made from the ground millet, which is allowed to
stand covered with water, until it gets a little sour; it is then well
stirred and strained through a strainer of basketwork into another
vessel, when it is left to settle, and the water being strained off,
it is dried in the sun; when perfectly dry, it is broken into lumps
and kept in a sack or basket; when used it is put into boiling water,
and well stirred, until of a sufficient thickness; this makes a
very pleasant and healthy breakfast with a little honey or salt,
and is sold in the market at two cowries a pint every morning, and
is called Koko. They have a pudding made of ground millet, boiled
in the ley of wood ashes, which gives a red colour; this is always
eaten with fat or stewed meat, fish, or fowl. They always stew or
grill their meat: when we have it in any quantity it is half grilled
and smoked, to preserve until it is wanted to be used. Boiled beans
made up in papers of a pound or a half pound each, and wrapped in
leaves, sold for two cowries each, and called waki. Beans dried in
the sun sold at one cowrie a handful. Small balls of boiled rice,
mixed with rice flower, called Dundakaria, a cowrie a piece, mixed
with water, and serves as meat and drink. Small balls of rice,
mixed with honey and pepper, called Bakaroo, sold at five cowries
each. Small balls made from bean flowers, fried in fat, like a bunch
of grapes. Their intoxicating draughts are the palm wine called roa
bum, bouza, and aquadent, very much adulterated and mixed with pepper.
At daylight the whole household arise: 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 the leaf of a bush has been boiled
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 gora,
the flower of the tobacco plant, and the bark of a root: the outer
part of the lips, hair, and eye-brows, are stained with shuni, or
prepared indigo. Then the women who attend the market prepare their
wares for sale, and when ready go. 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 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 house, 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; numbers, at the beginning 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 very rarely betray their trust. About noon they
return home, when all have a mess of the pudding called waki, or
boiled beans, and 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 is
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.
Their marriages are the same amongst the Mohamedans as they are
in other countries, where they profess that faith. The pagan part
first agree to go together, giving the father and mother a present,
and, if rich, the present is sent with music, each separate article
being borne on the head of a female slave. The Mohamedans bury in
the same manner as they do in other parts of the world. The pagans
dig a round hole like a well, about six feet deep, sometimes in
the house, sometimes in the threshold of the door, and sometimes
in the woods: the corpse is placed in a sitting posture, with the
wrists tied round the neck, the hams and legs close to the body:
a hole is left at the mouth of the grave, and the relations and
acquaintances leave tobes, cloth, and other articles at the small
round hole, and telling the dead persons to give this to so and so:
these things are always removed before the morning by the priest. The
majority of the inhabitants of Koolfu profess to be Mahometans, the
rest Pagans, whose mode of worship I never could learn, except that
they, like the inhabitants of the other towns in Nyffé, attended
once a year in one of the southern provinces, where there was a
high hill, on which they sacrificed a black bull, a black sheep,
and a black dog. The figures on their houses of worship are much
the same as in Yourriba: the lizard, crocodile, the tortoise, and
the boa-serpent, with sometimes men and women. Their language is a
dialect of the Yourriba, but the Houssa tongue is the language of
the market. Their houses and court are kept very clean, as also the
court-yard, which is sprinkled every morning with water, having the
shell of the bean of the mitta tree boiled in it, which stains it
of a dark brown colour; and each side of the doors of the coozies
or huts are stained with indigo and ornamented with figures. The
women have the stone for grinding the corn, pepper, &c. raised on
a clay bench inside the house, so that they can stand upright while
they grind the corn; an improvement to be seen in no other part of
the interior, or in Fezzan, the women having to sit on their knees
when grinding corn. Their gourd dishes are also of the first order
for cleanliness, neatness, and good carving and staining, as also
their mats, straw bags, and baskets.
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. They are
also great cheats. The men drink very hard, even the Mahometans;
and the women are generally of easy virtue. Notwithstanding all
this against them, they are a people of a natural good disposition;
for when it is considered that they have been twice burnt out of
the town by the enemy within the last six years, and that they have
had a civil war desolating the country for the last seven years,
and been subject to the inroads of the Fellatas during twenty years,
and having neither established law nor government but what a present
sense of right and wrong dictates, I am surprised that they are as
good as they are.
I witnessed while here several acts of real kindness and goodness
of heart to one another. When the town of Bali was burnt down, every
person sent next day what they could spare of their goods, to assist
the unfortunate inhabitants. My landlady, who has given away a number
of her female slaves to freemen for wives, looks upon them as her own
children, attending them when sick; and one who had a child while I
was here, at the giving it a name, she sent seventy different dishes
of meat, corn, and drink, to assist at the feast on that occasion. In
all my dealings with them they tried and succeeded in cheating me,
but they had an idea that I was possessed of inexhaustible riches;
and besides, I differed with them in colour, in dress, in religion,
and in my manner of living. I was considered therefore as a pigeon
for them to pluck. Had they been rogues, indeed, they might have
taken all I had; but, on the contrary, I never had an article stolen,
and was even treated with the most perfect respect and civility they
were masters of.
I believe it is generally considered in England, that when a negro
slave is attached to his master, he will part with his life for
him. Instances of this kind are not so common as they ought to be,
when it is considered that all of these slaves are brought up from
their childhood, and know no other parent or protector; and if they
were to run away, or behave so ill as to cause him to sell them, they
would never be so well off as they were before. Those who are taken
when grown-up men or women, and even boys and girls, run whenever
an opportunity offers, and, whenever they can, take their owner’s
goods or cattle to assist them on their journey. Instances of this
kind happened every night.
They have very few bullocks, sheep, or goats, in the country; but
that is owing to the desolating war. Corn they have in abundance,
as that cannot be driven away by plundering parties. The surrounding
country is a level plain, well cultivated, and studded with little
walled towns and villages, along the banks of the May-yarrow, and
another little river running into it from the north. It is subject
to the Majia, but never visited by him or his people, except to
attend the market, or collect the duties from the traders. The
town of Kufu, at a short distance (not a mile), has a quarrel with
another little town about half a mile from it, called Lajo, the
latter having taken the wife of a man, whom they thought they had
killed and left for dead, and selling her; hence arose a regular
system of retaliation; and they take and sell one another whenever
they have an opportunity. Every other night almost the war-cry was
raised about stealing asses, oxen, or murder; and sometimes the
inhabitants of Koolfu would join in the fray, always siding with Kufu.
Monday, 19th.—Having been detained thus long at Koolfu, by my
own and my servant Richard’s illness, we left it this morning,
accompanied by the head man and the principal inhabitants of Koolfu,
who went with me as far as the walled and warlike village of Kufu,
where I stopped for the night. Here the head man of Koolfu introduced
me to the head man of Kufu, who provided me with a good house, and
made me a present of a sheep and some cooked meat. I had also presents
of meat sent me by the principal inhabitants. The people of Kufu, not
satisfied with having frequently seen me and my servants at Koolfu,
are in the habit of mounting some trees growing on a small hill
close to and overlooking my house and court-yard, to get another and
a last look: party came after party until sunset, when they went away.
My landlady, the widow Laddie, also accompanied me to Kufu, where she
remained all night. I thought it had been out of a great regard for
me; but I was soon let into the secret, by five of her slaves arriving
with booza and bum, which she began selling in my court-yard to the
different merchants, bullock-drivers, and slaves assembled here,
who are going to the eastward.
The village of Kufu is walled, and only about two musket shots from
the other walled village, which is to the south, and with whom they
are at heavy war. The space between is generally occupied by the
caravans bound to the eastward, who usually halt here for a week
to complete their purchases at the market of Koolfu before they
start. The country around has a rich and clay soil, planted with
indigo, cotton, Indian corn, and yams.
Tuesday, 20th.—Having given the head man of Kufu thirty Gora nuts,
with which he was well pleased, and loaded the bullocks, horse,
ass, and camel, at 6 A.M. left Kufu. The path, or road, through
a woody country: the trees consisting mostly of the micadania, or
butter tree, which does not grow to a large size; the largest only
about the size of our apple trees in Europe, and this only seldom:
their girth is not above two or three feet. The path was winding;
the soil a deep red clay, covered with a thin layer of sand.
Wednesday, 21st.—After passing a great number of towns and villages,
we arrived at a walled town called Bullabulla, where we encamped
outside. As soon as my tent was pitched, I was surrounded by the
inhabitants. They were quite amused with my hat; and the women soon
found that I was a stranger, and no Moslem, and charged me three
times as much for any thing I wanted to buy as they would any body
else. They brought boiled beans, fowls, pudding, goats, sheep, wood,
and water, for sale. The young men were dressed in a very fanciful
manner, with a bandeau of beads, red and white; the wool cut short,
and shaved in circles and straight lines; round the neck strings
of red and white beads, with pendants of white beads attached to
the lowest string, and reaching to the upper part of the breast;
round the loins a tanned sheep or goat’s skin, cut into thongs,
to the ends of which were attached beads or cowrie shells. Those
who pretended to be Mahometans wore a tobe or large loose shirt;
but these were few in number, not more than two or three.
The young women wore a string of large beads round the loins; where
they had not beads they had pieces of bone, round which was twisted
a piece of narrow brown or blue cloth; the beads, bone, or cloth,
showing alternately, and hanging down about a foot before and behind,
fringed at the end, with cowries or beads attached to the ends of
the fringe. They appeared a good looking active set of people, but
suspicious. Every two or three women had an armed man to attend them,
and to see that they got paid for what they sold. By all accounts they
are very ill used, both by their rulers and those who are not. Their
wives and children are stolen and made slaves by every one who can
seize them; and rulers, whenever a demand is made on them, take them
by force and sell them as slaves.
Thursday, 22d.—Left Bullabulla, and travelled through plantations of
grain, indigo, and cotton; the soil and clay mixed with sand, and here
and there large blocks of sandstone, in which were nodules of iron,
and veins of clay ironstone; the face of the country diversified
with hills and dales; some of the hills to the south rising into
table-topped mounts; the country open and clear; every thing at
this season looking green and gay. Halted at the walled town of
Rajadawa, the head man of which wished me to stop in the town,
but I preferred halting outside. He sent me a present of cooked
meat, rice, and honey. I gave him in return three yards of silk,
a pair of scissors, and fifty Gora nuts. At this town they take,
for the chief of Youri, from every loaded bullock 500 cowries, and
from every loaded ass 300 cowries. The inhabitants are Cumbrie and
pagans, except the head man and about a dozen others, who profess
to be Mahometans. They say the governor, like his master of Youri,
is a great rogue; and invites people within his walls to detain them,
and screw as much out of them as he can. Rajadawa is walled (a clay
wall and ditch), and may contain from 6000 to 7000 inhabitants. The
environs are clear of wood, and planted with grain, yams, gaza
(a kind of potatoe, yellow inside, and very watery, leaving an
unpleasant taste in the mouth after eating), indigo, and cotton. We
had a plentiful market in the camp. The principal articles for sale
were raw bullocks’ flesh, fowls, millet, boiled yams, pudding, &c.
At noon on the 24th, after passing numerous villages, we arrived
at the town of Wazo, or Wazawo, the first town in the province of
Kotongkora, where the merchants had to pay 250 cowries for every
loaded ass, bullock, horse, or mule: of course I passed free, being
a white man, and went through the town with my baggage, and encamped
about a mile to the eastward of the town. The town of Wazo is built
on the shelving side of a rocky mount: on the south-east side is a
wall with two gates; the steep sides of the mountain serving as a
wall on the other side. The inhabitants are all Cumbrie and pagans;
and to-day they are holding a festival, so that we can get nothing
to buy. After my tent was pitched, I engaged one of the natives
for a few cowries to accompany me to hunt. I saw very little game,
except five antelopes, out of gunshot. On my return to the tent I
found the head man of Wazo had sent me one fowl, and some millet
for the horses, for which he expects nine or ten times the value in
return. The value of his present altogether, at the highest price,
is not above 200 cowries. I had to make my dinner of raw flour,
water, and an onion, reserving the fowl for my sick servant. During
the night heavy rain, but without thunder or lightning.
Monday, 26th.—Morning dull and cloudy. The chief servant of Wazo’s
head man came to my tent early in the morning in a great fright,
saying his master was going to hang him, as he thought he had stole
part of the present I had sent him. He said he wished that Moussa or
myself would go into the town and bear witness that he had delivered
all I gave him. I thought it was only a trick to cause further delay,
or to catch something else; I therefore sent Moussa, and on his
return had the bullocks loaded; and at 9.30 A.M. left the place
of our encampment near Wazo. Our path was rocky and very winding,
having high rocky mounts to the east, with steep perpendicular sides,
the tops of most occupied by villages and little walled towns. The
inhabitants came into the valleys with millet, boiled beans, yams,
and cashew nuts, &c. to sell; the sellers were all women, every
two or three having an armed male protector. In a narrow pass in
the valley, as I had lingered behind the caravan, I fell in with a
very interesting group, consisting of about a dozen of the natives,
all young men, gaily dressed in their beads and tasselled skins,
armed with bows and arrows and a light spear, some sitting and others
standing; in the midst of them were three Fitakies, and a jackass
without a load. The north side of the pass was formed by a high mount,
rising perpendicular for about thirty feet above the path, over which
hung trees, and on the top of the mount a little village, to which
the young men belonged; the south side was formed by a large block of
granite, on which the party were seated, the Fitakies looking as grave
as the poor ass. At first I thought it was a robbery, and began to
prepare my gun, but as I drew close and inquired what was the matter,
before I intended to fire, it proved to be the Fitakies selling a
sick jackass, which was unable to carry its load to the natives, to
kill for food, as they consider its flesh as medicine, and good for
coughs and pains in the chest. At noon arrived at the town of Wazo,
which is situated in a narrow part of the valley, partly built on the
shelving side of a mountain, which forms the south side of the pass
and valley, the other part of the town and wall, on the north side;
here the Fitakies had to pay ninety cowries for each loaded ass or
bullock; I, of course, passed without payment. After passing Worm, or
Wormzou, as it is sometimes called, the valley opened out to the south
as far as the eye could reach; the mountains on the left bending more
to the north. At 3 P.M. crossed a small stream running to the south,
whose bed, when covered with water, is dangerous to man and beast,
owing to the sharp rocks in its bed, which, from the muddiness of its
waters, are not seen. We halted at a short distance from its eastern
bank. Our place of encampment was soon filled by the inhabitants
of the neighbouring little towns, having raw goat’s flesh, boiled
beans, millet, and pudding for sale; as usual all Cumbrie, and every
two or three women attended by an armed companion to see fair play;
the men and women dressed in the same gay style as usual; upon the
whole they were a fine, active, clean-looking people: most of the
men had a bastard kind of greyhound following them, whose necks were
ornamented with colours and strings of cowries. Every man working
in the plantations, as I came along, was armed, owing, they say,
to the frequent inroads of the Fellatas. At sunset all our visitors
left us, and we had a severe storm of rain, thunder, and lightning.
Wednesday, 28th.—For the last five days we have been travelling
through a rich and beautiful valley and over woody hills, and
arrived at Womba. The capital of this province is called Kotonkora,
and distant from Womba, north, thirty miles. Before the Fellatas
took Haussa and its dependencies, Womba belonged to the province of
Kashna; and at the death of Bello’s father, it, along with the
rest of the Towias, threw off the yoke of the Fellatas, declared
its independence, which it still maintains, and joined the Towias,
or confederation, against their conquerors. All the caravans from
the east and west halt a day or two at this town, and pay for each
loaded ass or bullock five hundred cowries; besides, the head man
of each caravan makes a present, for which he receives, in return, a
dish or two of cooked meat, or a sheep. The town is in latitude 10°
35′, and longitude 7° 22′. It is situated on a rising ground,
having a commanding rocky hill of granite to the east, one on the
south, and another to the north, all bare of vegetation except a
few patches here and there; to the west is an open valley. A small
stream of water runs past the western gate, from which the town is
supplied with water. The valleys for two miles round are cleared,
cultivated, and planted with millet, doura, yams, cotton, &c., as
is likewise every spare space within the walls this year, as there
is a scarcity of grain this season throughout the whole of the
eastern interior, owing to last year’s rains being very scanty,
and they fear this may be the same. The town is walled round; the
wall is also in good repair, and has a dry ditch on the outside;
its height between twenty and thirty feet. It has four gates, which
are shut every night at sunset. The inhabitants may amount from
ten to twelve thousand souls; they possess plenty of sheep, oxen,
and horses, the latter apparently a cross from the large Bornou and
the small native African, and are a strong, hardy race, like what
in Scotland are called highland ponies, but not quite so tall.
Friday, June 30th.—At daylight loaded the bullocks, and at 7
A.M. sent them off. I went to the governor’s house and took leave
of him. He gave me a messenger to the chief of Guari, and lent me
a man to lead my camel. After leaving him, I rode and joined the
caravan. Passed two towns called Gilma, the one built on the top of
a rocky hill, the other at a few hundred yards from its base. They
are at hot war one with the other, and seldom a day passes without
some one or other belonging to either town being killed. Yesterday
we heard there were twelve of the lower town’s-people killed in a
pitched battle between them. Their usual field of battle was pointed
out to me by the messenger; it is a clear spot of about three hundred
yards broad, between the south wall of the lower town and the base
of the hill. Parties of women belonging to both towns were working
in these fields, but parties of armed men kept walking up and down
between them and the enemy.
Saturday, July 1st.—Left our encampment, and travelled through a
country well cleared and cultivated near the road planted with millet,
&c.; the soil, red clay and gravel. At 10 A.M. passed round the south
side of a town called Akingie, which was walled, large, and populous,
the environs cleared and planted with grain on the east side. Found
the town’s-people collecting the toll from the Fitakies of the
caravan who had preceded us in the morning. They had here a regular
toll-gate, not painted white and hung on hinges like those in England,
but the collectors of the toll were lusty rude fellows, armed with
clubs and staves, the head man with a sword. After passing the toll
of Akingie the country became more hilly and woody; the soil stony
and gravelly, and little cultivated. At noon arrived at the town of
Curigie, where I halted, the head man of which, having provided me
with a house, made a present of two fowls, with millet for my horses
and camel. The walls of this town are extensive, but the houses are
few, partly built on a hill and part in the valley. At this season
both inside and outside of the town has a beautiful appearance, from
the large spreading and shady trees inside the town. The houses,
some of which are built on the top of the blocks of granite which
form the hill, are beautifully situated; green plats, overhung by
shady trees, growing out of the clefts of the rocks.
Sunday, 2d.—Morning dull and cloudy. At 7.30 A.M. left Curigie. The
path through a woody country, with small cultivated spots here
and there. The soil is red clay, mixed with sand and gravel, and
diversified with gentle hill and dale. At one passed a town called
Sabonque, apparently a favourite name in Kashna from the number of
that name. They till the ground for a considerable distance, and
plant it with doura, millet, yams, and sweet potatoes. Close to the
east of the town runs a small stream, which is now full and deep. We
had to unload the bullocks and carry the baggage over; a great many
of them getting wet, and Pascoe lost my shot belt in the stream. In
the evening we halted outside the walls of a town called Guber
in Dushee. The head man, and the greater part of the inhabitants,
were out of the town, at their plantations in the country, attending
the growing grain; we therefore could get nothing for man or beast
but grass. Guber in Dushee, or “the rock without an equal,”
is situated on a height, with several large blocks of granite,
inside the walls, which are extensive: few houses are to be seen,
except those situated on the highest ground.
Monday, 3d.—At 7.40 A.M. left Guber in Dushee wet and hungry. The
country woody; the path stony, wet, slippery, and cut up by deep
ravines, through which run streams of water; the descent and ascent
dangerous to man and beast. As we approached Guari, the country
became very hilly, and the path winding; the valleys began to be
cultivated, and the road thronged with passengers; and on the sides
of the road were the remains of camps of caravans; and as we drew
closer to the city the camps were occupied by the merchants of the
caravans bound to the west. At four arrived at the walls of the
old city, and entering the western gate, rode round and over part
of the hill on which the city is built, by a footpath, which cuts
off about two miles: entered the eastern gate of the new city,
where I was met by forty horsemen sent by the chief to conduct
me into the town. I rode up to the door of the chief’s house or
castle, who came out instantly, and received me very kindly, and,
after exchanging compliments, he sent me with his chief eunuch to a
house prepared for me, where shortly after was brought a live sheep,
millet for the horses and camel, cooked meat for me and my servants,
consisting of pudding made from the seeds of grass, the same as what
is called tiff in Abyssinia, equal to any flour pudding made with
milk and eggs in England: it is called asha in Houssa: I had also
two stewed capons, the largest I ever saw.
Tuesday, 4th.—I waited on the chief, and made him a present of
a silk umbrella and other articles. I then told him that what I had
given him did not belong to me, but to my master, the king of England,
who had sent me to visit Houssa and Bornou, where I had been two years
before; that I wanted the chief of Guari to give me his assistance
and protection as far as he could give it. He said he thanked me for
the present I had given him from the king, and I should have every
protection and assistance he could afford; that he and the Fellatas,
I knew, were at war, and that his sending an escort of horse to
Zegzeg with me would be of no service, and only expose me to attack
from the Fellatas who infested the road on the frontiers of the two
states; but from the last town in his territory bowmen on foot should
escort me as far as Fatika, the first town in Zegzeg, and under the
dominion of the Fellatas, and then I should be in perfect freedom
to go where I pleased; that his horsemen should go with me as far
as the last town in his territory, and would provide every thing,
and see me off, escorted by the bowmen, before they returned; that
the bowmen were the best escort in the woods I had to cross between
Guari and Zegzeg, and, God willing, I should perform it in safety,
as I had done the long and dangerous journey I had already come;
but that if I thought any other way was better, or if there was
any thing I wanted, to mention it, and if it could be got in Guari
I should have it. I thanked him; said, if there were any curious
animals or birds, I should like to have them; and if he had any
written account of the country, I should like that more than all. He
said he had no written account of the country; that no one troubled
their heads about affairs of that kind; that if I would remain with
him in Guari some time, I should have all the curious birds and
beasts in the country, but that at present every person that could
be spared was out in the country attending the growing grain; that
they had a scarcity over all the country last year, and they were
afraid the same thing might happen this year, as the rains as yet
had not been very abundant. After I left the chief I returned home,
and opened all the cases, and put the things that were wet out to dry.
Guari, formerly a district of the province of Kashna, was conquered
by the Fellatas a short while after their rising, along with the rest
of Houssa. At the death of old Bello, this, with the greater part
of the province of Kashna, made itself independent by joining in the
Towia, or confederation and rebellion against the Fellatas. Bonaga,
the chief of Zamfra, was the first to rise and shake the spear,
as they express it. He was joined instantly by the inhabitants of
the province of Goober, whose chief, a lad, was kept as a slave in
Sackatoo; but, by the assistance of his countrymen, had made his
escape, and now heads his people. The northern part of Kashna was the
next to join, under a son of their former chief or governor. Guari
and Katongkora, both districts of Kashna, and belonging to Houssa,
also joined, but declared themselves independent of the authority
of Kashna. The states of Youri and Cubbi have also since joined,
as have Doura and the southern part of Zegzeg. Youri, they say,
was forced to join by the others of the Towia, as their districts
nearly surround it. The strength of Guari lies in the bravery of
its inhabitants and the number of horse they can bring into the
field—they say a thousand: this may be all true, but I think
they owe their strength to the hilly and woody nature of their
country. The capital of this district, also called Guari, is situated
in latitude 10° 54′ north, longitude 8° 1′ east; built partly
on the north-east side of a hill, and partly in a narrow valley,
through which a muddy stream runs that is dry in the summer months;
this stream rises only a day’s journey in the mountains or hills
south of Guari, runs through part of Zamfra, and divides in one part
the states of Katongkora and Guari, and enters into the Kodonia in
Nyffé. The city or town has two walls, the old and the new; the
old in ruins ever since it was stormed by old Bello. At the rising
of the Fellatas it surrounded the hill on which the city is built,
and great part of another; the new wall runs over the ridge of
the hill, cutting the town into one half the size it was formerly;
and even now the wall is much too extensive for the inhabitants to
defend, and appears enclosing a few scattered houses and villages,
not a town or city. The house of the chief is like a walled village,
with a large clay castle at one end: this serves as the harem of the
chief, and is well filled, or, more properly speaking, there are a
great number of women in it. The other houses in the enclosure are
huts, or coozies, occupied by blacksmiths, weavers, tailors, dyers,
&c. all belonging to his household.
Friday, 7th.—Morning cloudy. At 8 A.M. loaded the bullocks and
camel, and sent them off. I went and took leave of the chief Abubuker,
where I found an escort of four horsemen ready to conduct me to the
frontier. This was more than I expected; for both he and his people
knew I was going to Bello: at least I told the chief I had a letter
and present for him: at all events they knew I had to go through
his territory—there could be no mistake as to that. The road from
Guari was hilly and woody, and winding and rocky, and filled with
sharp gravel stones; the soil a deep red clay; the rocks a slaty
sandstone: a number of what in England are called the Malacca cones
were growing by the sides of the streams.
At 1 P.M. passed the town of Makundi, where a large caravan from
the eastward had just halted, a number of the merchants of which
had seen me in Yourriba and Borgoo, and came to wish me joy and
a blessing at being so near their country. A number of tongas, or
camps, were around this town, some empty and some filled. Arrived
at the walled town of Cazigie, where I remained for the night.
Saturday, 8th.—The country, as we approached Fatika, became more
uneven and cut up by deep ravines between the long ridges which the
land formed. At 5.30 P.M. passed to the south of Fatika, which is
walled, and of considerable size. I sent to the head man to inform
him of my arrival, and to tell him who I was, and that I was going
to halt near the tonga, as the gates of the town were too narrow
to admit loaded bullocks. At 6 A.M. halted near a large camp, or
tonga. The caravan had preceded us from Guari, and had travelled
all night through the wood. They said they had seen the robbers, but
from the numbers composing the caravan they were afraid to attack. A
short while after halting, the head man of the town sent me pudding,
stewed meat, and millet for my horses and camel. I certainly felt
very light-hearted and comfortable, as I thought now I had entered
the territories actually under the dominion of the Fellatas. All my
cares were over; not even thinking of my sick servant, or the chance
of my having perhaps to-morrow as much anxiety as ever I had before.
Sunday, 9th.—Morning dull and cloudy. At 8.30 A.M. left our
encampment to the eastward of Fatika, the road winding and very
gravelly; passed through several plantations of millet, sweet
potatoes, indigo, and dourra, the path winding to the south and
south-east, when we came to the ruins of a large town, where we
turned up, E.S.E. at noon. At 1 P.M. saw the mount inside the walls
of the old city of Zaria, appearing over the long ranges which the
land forms, like islands in the midst of the sea.
Monday, 10th.—Morning cloudy, with rain. At 7 A.M. the rain ceased,
and we loaded our animals, and started at eight. Shaped our path
across gentle rising and declining ridges; the soil a deep red clay,
with now and then rocks of sandstone and clay ironstone, and the
country woody. Within about four or five miles of Zaria the country
became altogether clear of wood: except a patch here and there,
all was in pasture, or planted with rice, millet, and dourra. Herds
of beautiful cattle were feeding in the valleys, or lying chewing
the cud on the higher grounds. Zaria was seen to the eastward, and
known by its tall trees, like a long avenue of gigantic poplars;
running across the horizon from north to south, stretching from the
south end of one detached mount to the north end of another. At two,
entered one of the gates on the west side of Zaria; but, instead
of finding houses, I could just see their tops over the growing
grain. At about a quarter of a mile distance all was walled fields,
full of growing millet and dourra, with here and there a horse or
mare tethered in the open spaces.
At sunset Abdulkrum, the acting governor, arrived, and waited on
me instantly. He was very kind, offered me his own house to live
in if I did not like the one I was in; sent for a fine fat sheep,
with plenty of provisions for man and beast.
Tuesday, 11th.—Morning dull and cloudy. After breakfast I had
a visit from Abdulkrum. I told him who I was, and what I was, and
where I was going; and desired he would give me a messenger to Kano,
as I intended going to Sackatoo by that route. He said he would send
to the sultan, or governor, and inform him of my arrival; that the
messenger would return in three days, and in the meantime I should
have every assistance that he could afford me. I told him I wanted
the loan of a horse to Kano, and should leave my little mare until
she recovered, when she was to be sent to me, and I would pay all
expenses. Abdulkrum appears to be a very good fellow, but is in
great distress he tells me; and there is nothing in his possession
but he will give me if I will only relieve him, for he declares I
can. A number of visitors coming in put an end to his story, as it
appears to be with him a great secret.
The old city of Zaria was taken by the Fellatas about a month after
they had taken the provinces of Goober and Zamfra, in or about the
year 1800, as they do not care much about a year or two. It only
stood a siege of two days; the sultan and the greater part of the
inhabitants flying to the southern and western part of the province,
which is hilly, and inhabited by pagans. Here they still remain, and
preserve their independence, though the Fellatas seldom let a month
pass without making an attack on them; but of late they have suffered
severely, and begin to be more cautious in their attacks. The old city
is now only known by its ruined wall surrounding the before-mentioned
mounts, which were in the centre of the city.
The new city built by the Fellatas, the walls of which extend from the
south-east side of the old, about two miles to the south, enclosing a
great space of ground, on which are built a number of little villages
and detached houses, is surrounded by high clay walls. Abdulkrum’s
house, where I lived, is in latitude 10° 59′ north, and longitude
8° 42′ east. Near the centre of the wall stands the principal
mosque, built of clay, having a minaret about forty or fifty feet
high. The principal market is at the south end, inside the walls,
and here the caravans make their tongas, or camps. One twentieth
is exacted from the merchants as a duty; and they dread halting at
Zaria, from the rapacity of the inhabitants, who are all Fellatas,
and often keep travelling by secret paths through the woody country,
to evade the city, until they enter the province of Guari. The house
of the governor is north of the great mosque, and is surrounded
by a high clay wall; inside this wall are large coozies, or huts,
surmounted by ostrich eggs, and some single rooms of a square form,
with a flat roof. The houses of the principal inhabitants are much
the same. Of the number of inhabitants I can form no estimate: they
say there are more than in Kano, which I should suppose to contain
40 or 50,000 at least. They are mostly all Fellatas; a great many of
them from Foota Bonda and Foota Torra, and know the French and English
well they say; but I am sorry to add, that they have not improved by
their acquaintance. They rattle over the names of the towns between
Sierra Leone, or the Senegal, and Timbuctoo, like a, b, c, then sit
down, and will not start until they get something. These fellows
are generally armed with French fusees. They prefer the guns of the
French and the powder of the English. The late governor was a native
of Foota Bonda: so that the Foulahs and the Fellatas are the same
people. Foota Bonda, Foota Torra, &c. they call Meli. They now possess
Jinnee, near Timbuctoo, and I think will soon have the whole of the
interior. Inside the walls there are a great number of shady trees,
which are pruned every year for fire-wood; they look at a distance
like immense poplars: swamps, corn fields, and green plats, make
up the rest of the town. Date trees, palm oil trees, papas, melons,
plantains, Indian corn, millet, dourra, rice, yams, sweet potatoes,
&c. are in abundance, particularly rice. They say they raise more and
better rice than all the rest of Houssa put together. Horses, sheep,
and horned cattle abound in every part of the province inhabited by
the Fellatas. Game is also in abundance; such as antelopes of all
the different kinds. Guinea fowls and partridges are also in great
numbers. The elephant and buffalo inhabit the southern part of the
province, which they say is twelve days south of Zaria, and reaches
close to the salt water. It is bounded by the province of Kano to the
east; Jacoba to the south-east; by the mountains inhabited by pagans
to the south, where they say the sea is; by Nyffé to the south-west;
Guari and Kashna to the north and west. The environs of the city
are beautiful, being formed of gentle ridges of land and plains;
here and there fine large shady trees, and small streams of water;
the rocky mounts to the north and south adding to the beauty of the
scene. A small river, dry in summer, runs at a little distance from
the eastward wall: its course is south.
Friday, 14th.—Morning clear. No messenger having arrived from the
governor, as was expected, I had the bullocks and camel loaded, and
told Abdulkrum I would stay no longer, and if he attempted to stop me,
it would be at his peril. He said there was not the least objection
to my going; that, on the contrary, he would send a messenger of his
own with me to Kano, and should accompany me part of the way. It was 8
A.M. before I was able to leave the town, Abdulkrum proceeding with
me: he has behaved very well to me while I remained in Zaria, and is
as decent a Fellata as I ever met with; and he is the only man in the
place who bears a good name with strangers. Poor man, his secret came
out at last. He was very earnest and rather bashful about it for a
Mahometan. It was as usual with them who have too many wives: one,
he said, was the governor’s daughter, and he was convinced I had
medicine that would be of use to him. It was too serious a matter, and
lay too near his heart, for me to laugh at him, or to say I had none;
so I gave him a box of Seidlitz powders, the effervescing of which
surprised him very much, desiring him to take one once a week. He
was made perfectly happy, and fully believed in their virtue. It is
the first time I have given medicine for such a disorder, generally
laughing them out of asking me for such a thing. As he and I rode
after the bullock, a great deal of our conversation was about England,
which he, as well as a great many others here, declares to be a small
island in the midst of the sea. I had hard work to convince him to
the contrary. He then talked a great deal about the inferiority of
the Christians to the true believers in battle. I told him he had
never yet had Christians to deal with in battle, or he would tell
another story. “Oh! do not say that,” says he; “did we not kill
forty at Adamowa, and make all the rest run away?” I said they were
all Mahometans and Arabs, not a Christian amongst them: but all I
could say he would not be convinced, until I told him he lied like
a thief, and whenever I saw Bello I should insist on his writing to
the governors of the different provinces of Houssa, to inform their
people of the truth of that affair: that it was Arabs and Mahometans,
headed by Boobecker Bookaloom, who made the attack on Adamowa; and
that they had, to save themselves, taken advantage of our being in
Bornou at the time to throw it on our backs. Mr. Abdulkrum began to
be a little alarmed at the earnestness of my language and threat,
and begged I would think no more about it; he himself knew it was
a lie told by the Arabs to save their credit. We parted not quite
such good friends as we had been.
The country at present, on this side of Zaria, looks like some of the
finest in England, about the latter end of the month of April. All
around is green and beautiful, with only trees here and there. The
soil a red clay, mixed with gravel. The cultivated ground continued
until 11 A.M. when we entered a wood of low trees, which continued
until noon, when we found ourselves amongst the cultivated grounds
belonging to the town of Leokoro, which we passed, and halted on
the east side. It is of considerable size, walled round, but the
wall is in very bad condition, being broken and falling down in
several places. The houses are in good repair, and the inhabitants
numerous. Towards sunset several large herds of cattle came in
from grazing in the neighbouring woods, and were secured in thorny
enclosures outside the walls for the night.
Saturday, 15th.—At 4.30 P.M. arrived and halted at a town called
Roma, in English, Soup, whose walls are extensive; and, from the
number of shady trees within them, must have once been a populous and
well inhabited place. The present inhabitants do not amount to more
than forty, poor, mean, and miserable. They were all collected under
one of the old shady trees in the town to receive me, with their chief
man at their head, bearing a long white wand, or peeled palm-tree
branch in his hand, dressed in a ragged dirty white tobe, his skin
spotted black and white like a leopard with disease. He conducted
me to his house, which was large and spacious; but the courts were
overgrown with weeds and grass; the roofs of the huts falling in;
the floors wet, damp, and dirty. I could not amongst the whole find
one fit to shelter man or beast. I went out, and he accompanied me
until, amongst the untenanted houses, I found one, where I put my
baggage for the night. He brought me a little corn in a gourd for
my horses, and I asked him the cause of the sad state in which the
town was: he said, the Fellatas, and held his peace. “Why is your
house in such a state?” I asked. He said he once had fifty wives,
but they had all run away one after another, and he could not take
care of it himself. Plenty of guinea fowls came to roost on the shady
tree. Towards sunset I went out and shot six, which served all hands.
Sunday, 16th.—At 12.20 halted at the town of Aushin, where I was
provided with as good a house as the place afforded; and this being
the day of the aid kebur, or great feast, they had killed a bullock,
of which the head man of the town sent me a part, with Indian corn
for my horses and camel. I had not taken possession of my house more
than ten minutes, and hung my watch and compass up to the rafters,
as was my usual custom, than, having occasion to go out, I found
my watch torn forcibly from the ring; but I fortunately caught the
thief, who was one of the bullock drivers: I threatened him very much,
but was glad I had got my watch again without any serious injury. The
bullocks on this day’s journey were nearly all worn out; it was with
great difficulty we could get two of them on with very light loads.
Monday, 17th.—Having passed Roma and several other towns, at
noon of this day we entered the town of Dunchow, the first to the
westward in the province of Kano. I rode up to the head man’s
house, who was just coming out of his door to take his ride; a
jolly looking tall Fellata, about thirty years of age. After we had
exchanged compliments, he took me to a very good house to lodge in,
and promised to send me every thing I wanted, which was food for
man and beast. I got corn sent me in abundance, but nothing else;
all his other promises proved to be nothing but empty words.
Tuesday, 18th.—Clear and cool. Thermometer at sunrise 68° F. in the
open air. After giving the head man of Dunchow a knife, and a lecture
for not performing his promises to me, in giving me meat or milk,
or lending me a horse, he said, they had no meat, because they had
killed no bullock; no milk, as all the young women were dancing last
night, as their custom is after the _aid_, and they did not milk the
cows; his horses had all been killed this summer at the war with the
sheik of Bornou. All these excuses were made with as much ease as he
made the promises, and I could not help admiring the courtier-like
manner in which he behaved, though he has only been here a month
as governor. At 7 A.M. I left Dunchow and its polite governor,
and travelled through a well cultivated and populous country, the
inhabitants of the villages all out in their plantations, giving the
millet and dourra the second hoeing, and drawing the earth up to the
roots of the grain: the soil a fine black mould, covered with a thin
layer of sand. Passed several plantations of rice, which was sown
in beds in the low and swampy grounds; also beds of sweet potatoes,
yams, and a root called goza, like a small short yam, more watery,
and of a yellow colour inside: it has a broad flat leaf.
At 2 P.M. entered the town of Baebaegie. I rode to the house of the
governor, whose head man gave me a part of his house to lodge in;
and shortly after I had halted he sent me a sheep, two fowls, some
wheat, the first I had seen since I left England, and plenty of millet
for my horses and camel. I sent him in return a knife, six yards of
red silk, a gilt chain, and a pair of scissars. In the evening the
governor sent me pudding, boiled rice, milk, and stewed meat.
Wednesday, 19th.—The town of Baebaegie is in latitude 11° 34′
north, and longitude 9° 13′ east, and stands as it were in the
midst of a large plain, having in sight, from the granite mount
about a musket shot outside the southern gate, the hills of Nora,
about ten miles east; to the south, the mountains of Surem, distant
about twenty-five miles; to the west I could distinguish the tops of
one or two of the hills of Aushin, in Zegzeg; to the north a plain
bounded only by the horizon; to the north-east the two mounts inside
the walls of Kano could just be distinguished above the horizontal
line, bearing north-east by north. One hill bore north, breaking the
horizontal line, twenty or twenty-two miles; the land, every where
the eye turned, looked beautiful; the grain was just high enough
to wave with the wind; little towns and villages were numerous; the
trees full of foliage, none being left hardly but such as were fit
for use, such as the micadania or butter-tree, the nutta or durow,
and the tamarind: heads of fine white cattle were seen grazing on
the fallow ground; horses and mares were tethered in the small spaces
left between the plantations in cultivation; women, to the amount of a
hundred, were thrashing out corn with large sticks, on the flat rock
at the base of the mount, the wind, blowing fresh from the westward,
serving them as a winnowing machine. The town was below, in the form
of an oblong square, the four sides facing the four cardinal points;
the head man’s house in the centre of the town, and is like one of
the old keeps or castles in Scotland, near the Borders; it is also of
the Moorish form, and the general one for all the governor’s houses
in Houssa. A high clay tower, through which is the gate or entrance
from each side, overtops a wall of clay about twenty feet high, in the
form of a square; inside are huts or coozies for the women, eunuchs,
domestics, and horses; the governor occupying the upper part of the
tower in times of alarm and danger, and his men-slaves and armed
retainers the lower. This, like all the others, is built of clay,
and is three stories high, with a flat roof and battlement. In the
lower story, at each side, and above the gate, are oblong holes,
which serve for archers and to give light in the upper stories;
the windows are like ours in England in form, four on each side,
but no attention as to regularity in placing them; the windows are
either shut by a mat on the side next the wind, or by a number of
coloured and plaited lines of grass strung over a small rod, which
is hung across the top of the window; the ends falling down, admit
sufficient air and light, and keep out flies. This plan is also used
for the doors of inner apartments in the lower houses, and requires no
opening or shutting. The rooms in the town are supported by pillars
formed by lashing long poles together until sufficiently strong,
and, when they are up, plastering them thickly over in all parts
with clay, and then a coating of cow-dung, to prevent the white
ants and other insects eating away the wood; the great beams are
formed in the same manner. The floors of the upper rooms are first
laid with rafters of stout poles, then short diagonal pieces are
laid over as close as they can be laid, then a coating of clay and
small gravel is laid six or eight inches thick. The walls are made,
first by mixing clay well up with a little chopped grass or cow-dung,
and making it up in lumps of two handfuls, and letting it dry in the
sun; when dry, they build with them as our masons would do with rough
stones, laying a thick layer of well-wrought soft clay between each
layer of hardened lumps, and a good thick coat outside: their hand
is the only trowel; and, without plumb-line or level, they manage
to make pretty fair walls and buildings, taking these things into
consideration. The walls outside, before the commencement of every
rainy season, get a fresh plastering, the tops are repaired, and parts
that may be washed down are built up. The water is conveyed from the
tops of the houses, clear of the walls, by long, baked, clay funnels,
like what are used on the tops of smoky chimneys in England, and look
like great guns mounted on the tops of the walls. The other houses
of the town are like almost all others outside the capital towns, a
number of circular huts within a high, square, clay wall; frequently
a single room, with a flat roof, used by the master of the house as
a safe repository for his goods. Every house has two or three date
trees within this wall or enclosure, which bear fruit twice a year,
like those of Kashna and Kano; once before or at the commencement of
the rains, the other after the rains a month or forty days. They use
two pieces of flat board or gourd, one fixed, the other moveable,
to which is attached a line for the purpose of clapping one against
the other to frighten the vampire-bat and a kind of jay which lodge
on the trees and destroy a great quantity of fruit. The ibis, stork,
crane, adjutant-crane, and several other birds, build their nests
in the shady trees of the town. A market is held daily, which is
well attended: grain, oxen, sheep, and all the necessaries of life,
abound. A tame ostrich is kept in the market-place to avert the evil
eye—a Bornou and eastern custom. There are several places of prayer
in the town, but one principal mosque or jama, as they call them,
stands on the right of the governor’s house, forming one side
of the square before his door. The inhabitants may amount to about
twenty or twenty-five thousand, the greater part of whom are refugees
from Bornou and Wadey, and their descendants, who are all engaged in
trade: from the little I saw of them, they appeared to be cleanly,
civil, and industrious. In the afternoon I went through a great
number of these houses, shooting pigeons, of which there are four
kinds here: the domestic or house pigeon, the large wood dove,
a larger kind with a fleshy substance round the outside of the eye
like the carrier pigeon, and the small dove with purple breast and
black ring round the neck. The inhabitants offered not the least
objections to my shooting in their court-yards, but were as much
amused as I was, and afforded me every assistance in procuring the
wounded birds. At sunset I took leave of the governor, who lent me a
horse and a messenger to go with me early to Kano to provide a house,
for I had not yet heard from Hadje Salah. The governor’s son sent
me a present of a turkey and some wheat, but I sent him nothing in
return, as all my things were packed up ready for starting.
Thursday, 20th.—Daylight, fresh breezes and cloudy; thermometer,
at sunrise, 75° Fahrenheit. Landed the bullocks, and saw them out
of the north gate of Baebaegie, when I started ahead, on the horse
I had borrowed from the governor, his servant and the messenger
of Zaria accompanying me. I left the baggage in charge of Richard,
desiring him to halt at the nearest town or village if it should come
on to rain, and not to start in the morning if the weather was bad. My
road was through a well-cultivated country, the soil clay and gravel;
the villages were numerous, the inhabitants of which were busy in
their plantations, dressing up the earth to the roots of the dourra,
and hoeing away the weeds. The road was broad and good, thronged
with passengers, asses and bullocks loaded with goods and grain,
going to and returning from Kano. At 7 A.M. crossed a small stream
which runs south and falls into the Girkwa. At 8.30 A.M. passed the
town of Madagie, which is walled, and appeared to be well filled with
houses and inhabitants. At noon, arrived at the banks of the river
which passes Girkwa, and which rises amongst the hills of Aushin. All
the streams to the south of the granite ridge passing Roma, close
to the south of Kashna, fall into this river. One considerable river
passing Duncomee and Fariroa, flows south of Kano close to the walls
of Girkwa, runs east past the town and hills of Dushie, near Katagum,
and enters the river Yoau near Hadega. This is the river which has
been spoken of by the Arabs as coming from Timbuctoo, and continuing
its course to the Nile of Egypt. It is dry for nearly the whole length
of its course during six months: the stream, when full, is broad but
shallow; at this place, about 100 or 120 yards across: its waters are
now muddy with yesterday’s rains; the depth five feet. I got wet
up to the middle as I crossed, the horse I rode being a small one,
and at times off his legs and swimming. I halted on the other side
to dry my clothes, and after an hour’s rest under a tree, when my
clothes were pretty well drained and half dry, I again started, and,
about five in the evening, arrived at the city of Kano.