Fatigued with the journey of the preceding day, the travellers lay on
their mats rather later than usual, and before they had risen, the
king's messengers and others entered their hut to give them the
salutations of the morning. Richard Lander returned Yarro's
compliment, by calling to see him at his own house, while his brother
remained at home to take care of the goods. The natives of the
country having a very indifferent reputation for honesty, compelled
them to keep a watchful eye over all their actions. A number of
mallams from Houssa paid them a visit about the middle of the day,
but a body of more ignorant Mahommedans, it was supposed, could no
where be found, for not one of them, even to their chief, who had a
youthful appearance, understood a word of Arabic.
Just before sunset, John Lander selected a present, consisting of the
following articles for the king: viz. six yards of red cloth, a
quantity of printed cottons, a pair of silver bracelets, a
looking-glass, two pair of scissors, a knife, two combs, and a
tobacco pipe. The goods having been properly secured, they repaired
with this present to the king, who received it with much apparent
satisfaction.
Yarro professed the mahommedan faith, yet it was easy to perceive the
very slender acquaintance he had obtained of the precepts of the
Koran, by the confidence which he placed in the religion of his
fathers, in placing fetishes to guard the entrance of his houses, and
adorn their half-naked walls. In one of these huts, they observed a
stool of very curious workmanship. The form of it was nearly square;
the two principal figures were each supported by four little wooden
figures of men, and another of large dimensions, seated on a clumsy
representation of a hippopotamus, was placed between them. These
images were subsequently presented to the Landers by Yarro; and they
learnt that the natives, before undertaking any water excursion,
applied for protection to the hippopotami, and other dangerous
objects of the river, to the principal figure, which was mounted on
one of those creatures. This important personage was attended by his
musicians, and guarded by soldiers, some armed with muskets, and
others with bows and arrows, who formed the legs of the stool.
In the inner apartment they discovered Yarro sitting alone, on
buffalo hides, and they were desired to place themselves near him.
The walls of this apartment were adorned with very good prints of
George IV., the Duke of York, Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington on
horseback, together with an officer of the light dragoons, in company
with a smartly dressed and happy looking English lady. Opposite to
them were hung horse accoutrements, and on each side were dirty
scraps of paper, containing select sentences from the Koran. On the
floor lay muskets, several handsomely ornamented lances, and other
weapons, all confusedly heaped together, by the side of a large
granite stone used for pounding pepper. These were the most striking
objects they observed in the king's hut, adjoining which were others,
through whose diminutive doors, the wives of Yarro were straining
their eyes to catch a glimpse of the white men.
When Lander spoke of proceeding to Yaoorie by way of Wowow and
Boussa, the king objected to their visiting, the former state, under
any condition whatever; alleging that three of the slaves who carried
the goods for Captain Clapperton, had never returned to him again,
but had remained at Wowow, where they were protected by the governor
Mahommed, and that if he should send others with them to that place,
they might do the same thing. He, therefore, promised to send them to
Boosa in four days by another road. Independently of the above
considerations, the king was highly incensed against the ruler of
Wowow for his harsh treatment of the widow Zuma, who was his friend
and relative, and who had lately fled to Boosa for the purpose of
claiming the protection of the king of that country.
It was reported that Yarro's father, the late king of Kiama, during
his life time had enjoyed the friendship of an Arab from the desert,
which was returned with equal warmth and sincerity. A similarity of
dispositions and pursuits produced a mutual interchange of kind
actions; their friendship became so great that the king was never
happy except when in the Arab's company, and as a proof of his esteem
and confidence, he gave him his favourite daughter in marriage. The
fruit of this alliance was the restless widow Zuma, and hence her
relationship to the then reigning monarch of Kiama. The friendship of
his father and the Arab lasted until the death of the latter. The
king, however, was inconsolable for his loss, and looked round him in
vain for some one to supply the place of his friend, but the ardour
of his affection was too strong, and held by the hope of following
his friend to another world, he committed suicide. This was the most
affecting instance of genuine friendship, and indeed the only one,
that came to the hearing of the travellers since they had been in the
country. Yarro was much attached to the widow Zuma, and she would
have fled to Kiama, instead of going to Boosa, if her intentions had
not been suspected, and her actions narrowly watched by the ruler of
Wowow.
Unwilling as the Landers always were to infringe upon the observance
of the Sabbath, they were nevertheless compelled on Sunday, May 30th,
to submit to the mortification of cleaning and polishing a sword and
pistol, which were sent them for that purpose by the king, against
the approaching mahommedan festival. Yarro shortly afterwards sent
them a turkey, and one of his women presented them with a roasted
badger, a quantity of yams, &c. for the use of one of their people.
On this evening, the wives of the king unanimously bestowed a severe
reprimand on their royal husband for neglecting to offer them a
portion of a bottle of rum, which was given to him on the preceding
day. The ladies scolded so lustily, that the noise was heard outside
the wall surrounding their huts, which led them to make the
discovery. To appease the indignation of the irascible ladies, and to
reconcile them to the loss of so great a dainty as a glass of rum,
they were presented with a few beads, and some other trifles, but
still it was evident that these fancy articles bore no comparison in
the eyes of the ladies with the exquisite relish of the spirituous
liquid.
It was generally supposed that the ruler of Wowow would make war on
this state, as soon as he should be made acquainted with the fact of
the Landers being at Borgoo, without having paid him a visit.
Although it was within the dominions of the king of Boossa, who was
acknowledged to be the greatest of the sovereigns of Borgoo, Wowow
was reported to have lately received a body of Nouffie horse
soldiers, consisting of eight hundred men, which rendered its chief
more powerful than either of his neighbours. These soldiers were the
remnant of the army of Ederisa, (the Edrisi of Clapperton) who was
the rightful heir to the throne of Nouffie; they deserted him in his
misfortunes, and sought a refuge in Wowow from the fury of their
successful countrymen, leaving their leader to his fate. Shortly
after the return of Richard Lander to England from his expedition
with Captain Clapperton, it was reported that Magia, who was a
younger son of the late king of Nouffie, was reinforced by the
soldiers from Soccatoo; that he took immediate advantage of the panic
into which this intelligence had thrown his brother, by attacking and
routing his army, and expelling both him, and them from their native
country. Ederisa was for some time after a wanderer, but at length he
was said to have found an asylum with one of the chiefs of a state
near the kingdom of Benin where he continued to reside in
tranquillity and retirement.
They received visits almost every hour of the day from a number of
mahommedan mallams residing at Kiama, as well as from those
merchants, who formed part of the fatakie that accompanied them
through the forest from Keeshee. The former sent two boys to pray for
them, in the expectation, it was supposed, of obtaining something
more substantial than thanks, for the good that might result to them
from their charitable remembrance of the frailty of their nature. The
boys dropped on their knees, and recited the lesson that they had
been taught, without committing a single blunder. A few needles were,
however, the only recompense it was thought proper to make them, so
that it was not likely their masters would desire any more prayers to
be offered up at the shrine of their prophet, for Christians so
illiberal and irreligious. Of all the vices of which these mahommedan
priests were guilty, and by all accounts they were not a few, slander
and defamation appeared to be by far the most general. Never did they
hear a mallam speak of his neighbours in terms of common respect.
According to his account they were all the vilest creatures under the
sun, not one escaping the lash of his censure. "Avoid that man," said
a complaisant and comfortable looking old Mahommedan, pointing to
one of his companions, as he quitted the hut, after having just
blessed him in the name of Allah, "for believe me, he will take every
opportunity of deceiving you, and if you go so far as to trust him
with any of your property, he will cheat you of every kowrie."
The venerable speaker had a number of gilt buttons, nearly new, in
his possession, which they had given him to sell, for they were
frequently obliged to make such shifts for a meal, and when his
invective was finished, he arose to take his leave, but the
self-righteous priest had neglected, in the hurry of discourse, to
secure a few buttons which he had purloined, for as he stood up they
dropped from the folds of his garment on the floor. The man's
confusion was immediately apparent, but they did not wish to punish
him further by increasing his shame, and they suffered him to go
about his business, in the belief that the circumstance had wholly
escaped their observation. Gilt buttons fetch a high price at Kiama,
from two to three hundred kowries each, and as they had a great
number of them, it was likely that from henceforth they would be of
infinite service to them. Women use buttons to ornament their
fingers, necks, and wrists, and they imagine that the brightest of
them are made of gold.
A messenger arrived this day at the king's house with the
information, that Doncasson, the ex-king of Houssa, had recently
taken no less than twelve towns in that empire from the Fellatas, in
which he had been greatly assisted by the sheik of Bornou. The
Fellatas have a tradition, that when Danfodio, Bello's father, and
the first king of Soccatoo, was a simple shepherd, he made a vow to
the great author of evil, that if he would assist him in the
subjugating the kingdom of Houssa, he would be his slave for ever
after. The request of Danfodio, it is reported, was complied with on
his own conditions, but for no longer than thirty years, after which
the aborigines of the country were to regain their liberty, and
re-establish their ancient laws and institutions. The term was now
nearly expired, and the Fellatas began already, said the Houssa men,
to tremble with apprehensions at the prospect of this tradition being
realized.
June 1st, was the eve of the Bebun Sàlah, or great prayer day, and
which is generally employed by the Mussulmans in Kiama, in making
preparations for a festival which was to commence on the following
day, and to be continued till the evening of the ensuing day. Every
one in the town, who is in possession of the means, is obliged to
slaughter either a bullock or a sheep on the anniversary of this day,
and those who are not in possession of money sufficient to procure a
whole bullock or sheep, are compelled to purchase a portion of the
latter, at least, for the purpose of showing respect and reverence
for the "Bebun Sàlah." The Mahommedans make a practice on this
occasion of slaughtering the sheep, which may have been their
companion in their peregrinations during the past year, and as soon
as the holidays are over, they procure another to supply its place,
and at the return of the festival, to undergo a similar fate. The
company of one of these animals is preferred by the natives to that
of a dog.
On the following morning a company of eight or ten drummers awoke
them by the dismal noise of their drums, and by the exclamation of
"_turawa au, azhie_," signifying, "white men, we wish you fortune,"
which was repeated in a high shrill tone every minute.
During the night, Kiama was visited by a thunder storm, which
continued with dreadful violence for many hours, and the torrents of
rain which fell, threatened to overwhelm them in their huts. Before
they were aware of it, the water had rushed in at the door, and had
completely soaked their mats and bedclothes, setting every light
article in the room afloat. After much trouble they succeeded in
draining it off, and prevented its further ingress, when they lit a
large fire in the centre of the hut, and laid themselves down by the
side of it to sleep. Towards morning it also rained heavily again,
and to all appearances the wet season had at length fairly set in.
Under those circumstances, it would be found almost next to
impossible to travel much further, and if they were fortunate to
reach Yaoorie, they would be obliged to remain there some time, till
the roads should have become sufficiently hard and dry for their
future progress. Their chief hope was, that the rains might not be so
incessant at their commencement, so as to render the path to Yaoorie
impassable.
On Wednesday June 2nd, the threatening appearance of the weather
prevented the Mahommedans from repairing to the spot, which they had
selected for the purposes of devotion, so early in the morning as
they, could have wished, but the clouds having dispersed, they had
all assembled there between the hours of nine and ten.
The worshippers arranged themselves in six lines or rows, the women
forming the last, and sat down on as many ridges of earth, which had
apparently been thrown up for the purpose. The chief mallam no sooner
began a prayer, than the talking and noise of the multitude ceased,
and the deepest attention seemed to be paid by every one, though the
substance of what he said could only be guessed at, because it was in
Arabic, which none of them understood a word of. The ceremony much
resembled that which was performed at Badagry; and the forms, which
are generally practised, it is supposed, on all public religious
meetings in mahommedan countries, such as ablution, prostration, &c.,
were observed on this occasion. The king, however, did not rise, as
he should have done, when the worshippers stood up, but satisfied
himself with uttering the name of Allah, and by simple prostration
only. When the usual form of prayer had been gone through, the chief
mallam placed himself on a hillock, and for about five minutes read
to the people a few loose pages of the Koran, which he held in his
hand. While thus engaged, two priests of inferior order knelt beside
him to hold the hem of his tobe, and a third, in the same position,
held the skirts from behind. After he had finished reading, the
priest descended from the hillock, and with the help of his
assistants, slaughtered a sheep which had been bound and brought to
him for sacrifice. The blood of the animal was caught in a calabash,
and the king and the more devoted of his subjects washed their hands
in it, and sprinkled some of it on the ground. The conclusion of the
ceremony was announced by the discharge of a few old muskets, and
with drums beating and fifes playing, the people returned to their
respective homes. The majority of them were smartly dressed in all
the finery they could procure. About a hundred of the men rode on
horseback, with lances and other weapons in their hands, which, with
the gay trappings of the horses, gave them a respectable appearance.
In the afternoon, all the inhabitants of the town, and many from the
little villages in the neighbourhood, assembled to witness the horse
racing, which always takes place on the anniversary of the Belun
Sàlah, and to which every one had been looking forward with the
greatest impatience. Previously to its commencement, the king with
his principal attendants rode slowly on round the town, more for the
purpose of receiving the admiration and plaudits of his people, than
to observe where distress more particularly prevailed, which was his
avowed intention. In this respect we do not see that the African
kings are a jot worse than the Europeans; it is true, indeed, that
the African monarch has in some measure the advantage over the
European, for we have never heard that any European king,
particularly an English one, ever even conceived the idea of parading
the town in which he might reside, for the purpose of finding and
relieving the distressed, but when he does condescend to show himself
amongst the people, to whom he is indebted for the victuals which he
eats, it is for the purpose of attending some state mummery, or
seeing a number of human beings standing in a row, with the weapons
of murder in their hands, but which, when called into action to
gratify the senseless ambition of the said king, is called privileged
homicide. An inspection of these human machines is called a review;
were some kings to institute a review of their own actions, it would
be better for themselves, and better for the people, to whom a blind
and stupid fortune has given him as their log.
The kings of Africa, like other kings, attach a great importance to a
great noise, called a salute, and, therefore, a hint was given to the
Landers to bring their pistols with them to the race course, that
they might salute the king as he rode by them; a salute is the same
thing, whether it be from a pop-gun or a two and thirty pounder, for
all salutes generally end in smoke, which shows their folly and
insignificance. The Landers felt a strong inclination to witness the
amusements of the day, and they arrived at the course rather sooner
than was necessary, which, however, afforded them a fairer
opportunity of observing the various groups of people, which were
flocking to the scene of amusement.
The race course was bounded on the north by low granite hills, on the
south by a forest, and on the east and west by tall shady trees;
amongst which, were habitations of the people. Under the shadow of
these magnificent trees, the spectators were assembled, and testified
their happiness by their noisy mirth and animated gestures. When the
Landers arrived, the king had not yet made his appearance on the
course, but his absence was fully compensated by the pleasure they
derived from watching the anxious and animated countenances of the
multitude, and in passing their opinions on the taste of the women in
the choice and adjustment of their fanciful and many coloured
dresses. The wives and younger children of the chief, sat near them
in a group by themselves, and were distinguished from their
companions by their superior dress. Manchester cloths of an inferior
quality, but of the most showy patterns, and dresses made of common
English bed-furniture, were fastened round the waist of several sooty
maidens, who, for the sake of fluttering a short hour in the gaze of
their countrymen, had sacrificed in clothes the earnings of a twelve
months labour. All the women had ornamented their necks with strings
of beads, and their wrists with bracelets of various patterns, some
made of glass beads, some of brass, and others of copper, and some
again of a mixture of both metals; their ankles were also adorned
with different sorts of rings, of neat workmanship.
The distant sound of drums gave notice of the king's approach, and
every eye was immediately directed to the quarter whence he was
expected. The cavalcade shortly appeared, and four horsemen first
drew up in front of the chiefs house, which was near the centre of
the course, and close to the spot where his wives and children, and
themselves were sitting. Several men bearing on their heads an
immense number of arrows in large quivers of leopard's skin, came
next, followed by two persons, who, by their extraordinary antics and
gestures, were concluded to be buffoons. These two last were employed
in throwing sticks into the air as they went on, and adroitly
catching them in falling, besides performing many whimsical and
ridiculous feats. Behind them, and immediately preceding the king, a
group of little boys nearly naked, came dancing merrily along,
flourishing cows' tails over their heads in all directions.
The king rode onwards, followed by a number of fine-looking men, on
handsome steeds, and the motley cavalcade all drew up in front of his
house, where they awaited his further orders without dismounting.
This the Landers thought was the proper time to give the first
salute, so they accordingly fired three rounds, and their example was
immediately followed by two soldiers with muskets, which were made at
least a century and a half ago, nevertheless, they yielded fire,
smoke, noise, and a stink, which are in general the component parts
of all royal salutes.
Preparations in the mean time had been going on for the race, and the
horses with their riders made their appearance. The men were dressed
in caps, and loose tobes and trousers of every colour; boots of red
morocco leather, and turbans of white and blue cotton. Their horses
were gaily caparisoned; strings of little brass bells covered their
heads; their breasts were ornamented with bright red cloth and
tassels of silk and cotton, a large guilted pad of neatly embroidered
patchwork was placed under the saddle of each; and little charms,
inclosed in red and yellow cloth were attached to the bridle with
bits of tinsel. The Arab saddle and stirrup were in common use, and
the whole group presented an imposing appearance.
The signal for starting was made, and the impatient animals sprung
forward, and set off at a full gallop. The riders brandished their
spears, the little boys flourished their cow's tail; the buffoons
performed their antics, muskets were discharged, and the chief
himself, mounted on the finest horse on the ground, watched the
progress of the race, while tears of delight were starting from his
eyes. The sun shone gloriously on the tobes of green, white, yellow,
blue, and crimson, as they fluttered in the breeze; and with the
fanciful caps, the glittering spears, the jingling of the horses'
bells, the animated looks and warlike bearing of their riders,
presented one of the most extraordinary and pleasing sights that they
had ever witnessed. The race was well contested, and terminated only
by the horses being fatigued and out of breath; but though every one
was emulous to outstrip his companion, honour and fame were the only
reward of the competitors.
The king maintained his seat on horseback during these amusements,
without even once dismounting to converse with his wives and
children, who were sitting on the ground on each side of him. His
dress was showy rather than rich, consisting of a red cap, enveloped
in the large folds of a white muslin turban; two under tobes of blue
and scarlet cloth, and an outer one of white muslin; red trousers,
and boots of scarlet and yellow leather. His horse seemed distressed
by the weight of his rider, and the various ornaments and trappings
with which his head, breast, and body were bedecked. The chief's
eldest and youngest sons were near his women and other children,
mounted on two noble-looking horses. The eldest of these youths was
about eleven years of age. The youngest being not more than three,
was held on the back of his animal by a male attendant, as he was
unable to sit upright on the saddle without this assistance. The
child's dress was ill suited to his age. He wore on his head a light
cap of Manchester cotton, but it overhung the upper part of his face,
and together with its ends, which flapped over each cheek, hid nearly
the whole of his countenance from view; his tobe and trousers were
made exactly in the same fashion as those of a man, and two large
belts of blue cotton, which crossed each other, confined the tobe to
his body. The little legs of the child were swallowed up in clumsy
yellow boots, big enough for his father, and though he was rather
pretty, his whimsical dress gave him altogether so odd an appearance,
that he might have been taken for any thing but what he really was.
A few of the women on the ground by the side of the king wore large
white dresses, which covered their persons like a winding sheet.
Young virgins, according to custom, appeared in a state of nudity;
many of them had wild flowers stuck behind their ears, and strings of
beads, &c., round their loins; but want of clothing did not seem to
damp their pleasure in the entertainment, for they entered with as
much zest as any of their companions. Of the different coloured tobes
worn by the men, none looked so well as those of a deep crimson
colour on some of the horsemen; but the clear white tobes of the
mahommedan priests, of whom not less than a hundred were present on
the occasion, were extremely neat and becoming. The sport terminated
without the slightest accident, and the king dismounting was a signal
for the people to disperse.