best advantage. Sometimes they even stuck a little sheep's wool on a
leg of goat's flesh, to make it pass for mutton. When a fat bull was
brought to the market to be killed, its horns were dyed red with
_henna_, the drummers attended, a mob soon collected, the news of the
animal's size and fatness spread, and all ran to buy. Near at hand were
small wood fires stuck round with wooden skewers, on which small bits of
fat and lean meat, the size of a penny-piece, were roasting,
superintended by a woman with a mat dish placed on her knees, from which
she served her guests, who were squatted round her. Indeed, the market
was as busy a one as can be seen in any country. Jugglers also, like
those of India, were practising their tricks with snakes, having
extracted the venomous fangs.
Haussa is celebrated for its boxers, the most expert of whom are found
among the butchers. Clapperton having intimated his willingness to pay
for a performance, a number of combatants arrived, attended by two
drummers and the whole body of butchers. A ring was soon formed, by the
master of the ceremonies throwing dust on the spectators to make them
stand back. The drummers entered the ring, followed by one of the
boxers, who was quite naked with the exception of a skin round his
middle. Placing himself in an attitude as if to oppose an antagonist,
he wrought his muscles into action, and then went round the ring showing
his arms to the bystanders and exclaiming: "I am a hyaena! I am a Hon!
I am able to kill all that oppose me!" To which the spectators replied,
"The blessing of God be upon thee!--Thou art a hyaena: thou art a lion."
A number of fighters then came forward, when they were next ranged in
pairs. If they happened to be friends, they laid their left breast
together twice, and exclaimed: "We are lions! we are friends!" Then one
left the ring, and another was brought forward. If the two did not
recognise one another as friends, the combat immediately commenced.
They parried with the left hand open, and struck as opportunity offered
with the right, generally aiming at the pit of the stomach and under the
ribs. Occasionally they closed with one another, when one seized the
other's head under his arm and beat it with his fist, at the same time
striking with the knee between his antagonist's thighs. Indeed, much
the same brutality was exhibited as in English prize-fights.
Clapperton, hearing that they sometimes gouged out each other's eyes,
and that such combats seldom terminated without one or more being
killed, having satisfied his curiosity, ordered the battle to cease, and
gave the promised reward.
The custom in this place is to bury the people in their own houses,
which are occupied as usual by the poorer classes; but when a great man
is buried, the house is for ever after abandoned. A corpse being
prepared for interment, the first chapter of the Koran is read over it.
The funeral takes place the same day. The bodies of slaves are dragged
out of the town and left a prey to vultures and wild beasts in most
places; but in Kano they are thrown into the morass or nearest pool of
water.
On the 22nd of February, Clapperton commenced his journey towards
Sackatoo, in company with an Arab merchant, Mahomet Jolly, having left
his Jew servant, Jacob, to return in case of his death, with his effects
to Bornou.
At the towns where he stopped he was generally taken for a _fighi_, or
teacher, and was pestered to write out charms. One day his washerwoman
insisted on being paid with a charm in writing, that would induce people
to buy earthenware of her.
After travelling for some days he was met by an escort of one hundred
and fifty horsemen with drums and trumpets, sent by Sultan Bello to
conduct him to his capital, which he reached on the 16th of March. He,
as usual, dressed himself in his naval uniform; and, as he approached
the gates, he was met by a messenger from the sultan, to bid him welcome
and to acquaint him that his master, who was out on an expedition, would
return to Sackatoo in the evening.
Large crowds were out to look at him, and he entered the city amid the
hearty welcomes of young and old. He was conducted to the house of the
_gadado_, or vizier, where apartments were provided for him and his
servants. The _gadado_ himself arrived in the evening, and was
excessively polite, but would not drink tea with him, as he said that he
was a stranger in their land, and had not yet eaten of his bread.
Next morning the sultan sent for him. Clapperton found him seated on a
small carpet, between two pillars supporting the roof a thatched house.
The walls and pillars were painted blue and white in the Moorish taste.
Giving him a hearty welcome, the sultan at once entered into
conversation. He asked numerous questions about Europe, and seemed
perfectly well acquainted with the names of the more ancient sects,
inquiring whether his visitor was a Nestorian or a Socinian. Clapperton
replied that he was a Protestant, but had to acknowledge that he was not
sufficiently versed in religious subtleties to solve all the knotty
points on which Bello wished for information. He then ordered some
books belonging to Major Denham to be brought, among which was his
journal, and they were all in a handsome manner returned. He spoke with
great bitterness of Boo-Khaloum for making predatory inroads into his
territories, next putting the puzzling question: "What was your friend
doing there?" Clapperton replied that Major Denham had no other object
than to make a short excursion into the country.
The sultan was a noble-looking man, somewhat portly, with short,
curling, black beard, a small mouth, a fine forehead, Grecian nose, and
large, black eyes. He was habited in a light-blue cotton _tobe_, with
white muslin turban, the small end of which he wore over the nose and
mouth in the Turaick fashion.
This was the first of many visits Clapperton paid him.
He was highly pleased with the various presents which the King of
England had sent him. He asked what he could give in return.
Clapperton replied that the most acceptable service he could render
would be to assist the King of England in putting a stop to the slave
trade.
"What!" he asked; "have you no slaves in England? What do you do for
servants?"
He was much astonished at hearing that regular wages were paid, and that
even soldiers were fed, clothed, and received pay from government.
"You are a beautiful people," he observed.
The usual question was also put: "What are you come for?" Clapperton
replied, "To see the country--its rivers, mountains, and inhabitants,
etcetera. My people had hitherto supposed yours devoid of all religion,
and not far removed from the condition of wild beasts, whereas I now
find them to be civilised, learned, humane, and pious."
On another occasion Clapperton exhibited a planisphere of the heavenly
bodies. The sultan knew all the signs of the zodiac, some of the
constellations, and many of the stars by their Arabic names. He was
greatly interested with the sextant, or, as he called it, "the
looking-glass of the sun." Clapperton showed him how to obtain an
observation with it.
The sultan made minute inquiries as to the conquests of the English in
India, and also the reason of their attack on Algiers, evidently
suspecting that they contemplated similar proceedings against his
country. Clapperton explained that the King of England had a vast
number of Moslems who were his willing subjects, and that their object
in India was to protect the natives and to give them good laws, not to
tyrannise over them; while, with regard to Algiers, the Algerines had
been punished because they persisted in making slaves of Europeans.
The sultan, however, as after events proved, was far from satisfied, his
fears being increased by the Arabs, who were aware that the chief object
of the English was to open up a trade from the west coast with the
country, and, should they succeed, they themselves would thus be
deprived of their trade across the desert from the north.
At Clapperton's request the sultan ordered a chart of the Quorra to be
drawn by one of his learned men, who asserted that that river entered
the sea at Fundah, near a town called Jagra, governed by one of Bello's
subjects.
This made the traveller still more anxious to proceed down that river to
the coast, but the sultan, though he at first promised an escort,
ultimately declined sending it, declaring that he could not sanction so
rash an enterprise, and that his guest could only return home by the way
he had come.
From an Arab chief residing here Clapperton obtained much information
about Mungo Park and the way in which he had lost his life, which
confirmed what had previously been heard.
The sultan made an especial request that an English consul and physician
should be sent to reside at Sackatoo, and Clapperton promised that he
would represent the matter to his own government, and he had no doubt
that his request would be complied with. He also begged that guns and
rockets might be sent out by way of Tripoli and Bornou, under the escort
of an Arab leader, El Wordee, who had conducted the last caravan. This
Clapperton had no doubt was a device of El Wordee's, to have the
opportunity of conducting another English mission and fleecing them as
he had done the last. When the Arab found that his plans were opposed
by the traveller, he set to work to revenge himself, and by his
machinations succeeded in compelling Clapperton to abandon his intended
journey to the sea-coast by way of Youri.
Frequent attempts were made to induce the traveller to turn Mahommedan,
especially by a famous old _maraboo_; but after his failure the Moslem
appeared to have given up the attempt as hopeless.
At length, on the 4th of May, he was allowed to take his departure from
Sackatoo, escorted by one the sultan's officers, with a party of
merchants and their slaves. As the country was in a disturbed state,
they pushed on night and day through a dense underwood, which tore their
clothes and scratched the legs of the riders. Several of the poor
natives on foot, who had taken advantage of the escort to pass through
this part of the country, overcome with fatigue and thirst, sank down
never to rise. One of Clapperton's servants also dropped, apparently
dead; but his master had him lashed on the camel, when, throwing up a
quantity of bile, he soon appeared as fresh as ever. The next day many
of the horses died, and all the people were overcome with fatigue and
thirst. On the third day no less than nine men and six horses were
found to have perished on the road.
Clapperton was taken to the town of Kashna, where an old Arab chief, who
had resided there for some years, took compassion on him and sent an
elderly black slave woman to nurse him, with two younger attendants.
This was the first offer of the kind he had ever received from a
Mussulman, and under their care and attendance he soon recovered his
health and strength.
After meeting with numerous adventures and exposed to many dangers, on
the 8th of July he reached Kouka, when he found that Major Denham was
absent on a journey to the east side of the Chad. Hillman, the
carpenter, was busily employed in finishing a covered cart, to be used
as a carriage for the sheikh's wives. The workmanship reflected the
greatest credit on his ingenuity, though it was neither light nor
handsome.
On the 16th of August, soon after Major Denham returned from the
eastward, he and Captain Clapperton, accompanied by William Hillman the
carpenter, took their departure from Kouka, with the intention of first
visiting the shores of Lake Chad and then joining the _kafila_ which was
on its way from Soudan to Tripoli. On the morning of their departure
they went to take leave of the sheikh, whom they found in his garden.
He gave them a letter to the King of England, and a list of requests,
and expressed himself very kindly. At parting he offered his hand,
which excited an involuntary exclamation from his attendants.
Meeting with no event of any especial interest on their visit to the
lake, they joined the caravan on the 14th of September.
Throughout the journey they found that they got on as well, if not
better than their companions, who looked to them both for safety and
protection, as well as for the direction of the route. They had upwards
of fifty miles to cross, over a frightful waste of movable sand-hills,
to Zow; many of the poor children, panting with thirst, scarcely able to
creep along.
At Bilma they laid in a stock of dates for the next fourteen days,
during which man and beast nearly subsisted upon them, the slaves for
twenty days together mostly getting no other food.
Then came the stony desert, which the camels, already worn-out by the
heavy sand-hills, had to cross for nine days. El Wahr is of surpassing
dreariness, the rocks a dark sandstone of the most gloomy and barren
appearance; the wind whistles through the narrow fissures, where not a
blade of grass finds nourishment, and, as the traveller creeps under the
lowering crags to take shelter for the night, he stumbles over the
skeleton of some starved human being.
On the day they made El Wahr, and the two following, camels in great
numbers dropped down and died, or were quickly killed and the meat
brought in by the hungry slaves.
Such are some of the ordinary events of a journey across the desert.
On the 21st of January, 1825, they reached Tripoli, and soon after
embarked for Leghorn. Before leaving, however, Major Denham obtained
the freedom of a Mandara boy, whose liberation from slavery he had paid
for some months before. He now got the pacha to put his seal on the
necessary document, the only way in which a Christian can give freedom
to a slave in a Mahommedan country.
The travellers were long detained by quarantine at Leghorn, so that the
three survivors of the expedition did not teach England till the 1st of
June.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
CAPTAIN CLAPPERTON'S SECOND JOURNEY.
CAPTAIN CLAPPERTON'S SECOND JOURNEY, ACCOMPANIED BY RICHARD LANDER--
JOINED BY CAPTAIN PEARCE--MESSRS. MORRISON AND DICKSON--REACHES BENIN--
JOURNEY OF DICKSON AND COLUMBUS--THEIR DISAPPEARANCE--CLAPPERTON STARTS
FROM BADAGARRY--JOINED BY MR. HOUTSON--EXPEDITION REACHES JANNAH--
ATTACKED BY FEVER--WELL RECEIVED--FONDNESS OF PEOPLE FOR DOGS--DEATH OF
CAPTAIN PEARCE AND DR. MORRISON--THE KING OF EYEO AND HIS WIVES--
BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY--FELATAH VILLAGES--ENTER YOURIBA--THE KING'S COURT--
ENTERTAINED WITH A PLAY--MR. HOUTSON RETURNS AND DIES--CLAPPERTON, WITH
LANDER AND PASCO, PROCEEDS ALONE--REACHES WAWA, NEAR THE NIGER--THE
WIDOW ZUMA--INQUIRIES ABOUT PARK--VISITS THE SCENE OF HIS DEATH--WELL
TREATED BY KING OF WAWA--ENTERS KINGDOM OF NYFFE--LAX MAHOMMEDANS--
DESOLATED BY WARFARE--REACHES KANO--LEAVES LANDER WITH THE BAGGAGE, AND
PROCEEDS TO SACKATOO ALONE--TRYING JOURNEY--WELL RECEIVED BY BELLO--
SIEGE OF ZEG-ZEG--ABSURD STYLE OF FIGHTING--BELLO SEIZES HIS PROPERTY--
LANDER ARRIVES AT SACKATOO--ILLNESS AND DEATH OF CLAPPERTON--BURIED BY
LANDER--LANDER SETS OUT WITH INTENTION OF EXPLORING THE NIGER--WARNED
NOT TO PROCEED SOUTH--LEAVES KANO FOR THE WEST--TAKEN TO ZARIA--ALLOWED
TO PROCEED--CONTINUES JOURNEY ALONE TO BADAGARRY, AND ARRIVES IN
ENGLAND.
From the favourable report which Clapperton on his return home brought
of the Sultan Bello of Sackatoo, and his wish to open up a commercial
intercourse with the English, the Government determined at once to send
out another expedition, in the hopes that that object might be carried
out, and that means might be found for putting a check on the slave
trade in that part of Africa.
Clapperton, now raised to the rank of commander, was placed at the head
of the expedition. Captain Pearce and a Mr Morrison, a naval surgeon,
were appointed to serve under him. He also engaged the services of Mr
Dickson, another surgeon, and of a very intelligent young man, Richard
Lander, who was to act as his servant.
As Sultan Bello stated that two large towns under his government existed
near the coast, called Funda and Raka, and that he would send down
messengers, whom his friends would meet on their arrival, it was settled
that the expedition should proceed to the Bight of Benin, and thence
make their way to Sackatoo. Losing no time, the very year after his
return Clapperton sailed from Portsmouth on board HM sloop "Brazen,"
and, touching at Sierra Leone, arrived at Benin on the 26th of November.
Mr Dickson, wishing to make his way alone to Sackatoo, was landed at
Whidah, taking with him Columbus, Denham's former servant, and from
thence, in company with a Portuguese of the name of De Sousa, he set off
for Dahomey. Here he was well received and was sent forward to a place
called Shar, seventeen days' journey from Dahomey. From thence he was
known to have set forward with another escort, but from that time
nothing whatever was heard of him or his attendant, Columbus.
At Benin Clapperton met an English merchant of the name of Houtson, who
advised him not to ascend the river, but to take a route from Badagarry
across the country to Katunga, the capital of Youriba.
Under the sanction of the King of Badagarry, the mission set out on its
long and perilous journey on the 7th of December, accompanied by Mr
Houtson.
At Badagarry Clapperton had engaged an old negro, who had been a sailor,
named Pasco, and who, speaking English, was likely to prove useful as an
interpreter.
Travelling on sixty miles, the mission entered the town of Jannah. By
this time all its members were suffering greatly from the climate;
Captain Pearce and Dr Morrison especially were very ill, and Richard
Lander was also suffering. Those who were able had ridden on horseback,
but the sick were carried in hammocks.
They halted in the palaver-house, an open shed, which was soon
surrounded by thousands of people making a great noise. Here they
waited till the caboceer, or chief man, made his appearance. He came
gorgeously attired in a large yellow silk shirt and red velvet cap, with
a silver-mounted whip ornamented with beads in one hand, and a stick
covered with bells in the other, which he rattled whenever he spoke. He
took his seat on a large leathern cushion, placed on a scarlet cloth.
When Captain Clapperton was going to sit down on the cloth, the
attendant ladies pulled it from under him; so he took his seat on a mat.
The females then sang in chorus very beautifully. The members of the
commission then shook hands with the caboceer, who said he was glad to
see them, and that whatever they had to say to the King of Eyeo must
first be delivered to him. Their reply was that they had nothing to
say, except to request that the king would grant them a passage through
his country. His answer was that he was glad, that they should see the
King of Eyeo's face, and that he would give them a good path and forward
them on without trouble; but that they must ride on horseback, as his
people were unaccustomed to carry hammocks. They were then shown to a
house, where they remained during their stay.
As Captain Clapperton and Mr Houtson walked through the town, they were
followed by an immense crowd, who rushed over the baskets in the
market-place, the boys darting under the stalls, the women bawling after
those who had scattered their goods; yet not a word of disrespect was
uttered to the strangers. They remarked the kind way in which the dogs
in this place were treated, their necks ornamented with collars of
different colours, and cowries. No great man was without one, which
always has a boy to take care of it.
The people, hearing that a Brazilian brig had arrived at Badagarry, were
preparing to set out on a slaving expedition to a place to the eastward.
Slave-dealers as the people were, they deserve to be commended for their
honesty; for during the whole journey hitherto, although the mission had
had ten relays of carriers, not a single article had been stolen.
A few days after, Dr Morrison, who continued to get worse, requested to
return, hoping that the sea air would restore him. Mr Houtson
accompanied him back to Jannah. The next day Dawson, a seaman, who,
while suffering from ague caught at Jannah, had fallen off into the
water in the morning, died in the evening. Three days afterwards
Captain Pearce, who, supported by his wonderful spirits, insisted upon
coming on, grew much morse, and at nine in the evening he breathed his
last.
The death of his friend was a serious loss to Clapperton, for he was
eminently qualified by his talents and perseverance to render essential
service to the mission.
Another three days passed, when Mr Houtson returned with the sad news
that Dr Morrison had died at Jannah on the same day as Captain Pearce.
Mr Houtson, though unwell, still insisted on accompanying Clapperton.
Powerful as the king of Eyeo pretended to be, he employed his wives in
every place to trade for him, and, like women of the common class, they
were seen carrying large loads on their heads from town to town.
On the 6th of January, 1826, the travellers entered the town of Chocho,
beyond which their road lay through beautiful rocky valleys, cultivated
in many places, and planted with cotton, corn, yarns, and bananas, and
many watered by little streams. Numbers of little huts were seen
perched on the tops and in the hollows of the hills. Beautiful as the
country was, it was the scene of the miserable devastating wars carried
on in all parts of Africa for the purpose of obtaining slaves to be sold
on the coast.
On the 8th they entered Duffo, a town containing fifteen thousand
people. The crowd which came to see them in the house where they were
lodged was immense. When the people were told to go away, they said:
"No; if white man would not come out, they would come in to see him."
They passed numerous other large towns, and were received in a friendly
manner by the caboceers, and were well supplied with fowls, sheep, and
goats. Yet the people, though kind, were exceedingly curious, and
allowed them but little rest.
Further eastward they passed a number of Felatah villages, whose
inhabitants live there as they do in most other parts of Africa,
attending to the pasturage of their cattle, without interfering in the
customs of the country, or receiving any annoyance from the natives.
Some of them, as they passed, brought them milk to drink.
Further on, however, they came to a number of villages, some of which
had been destroyed by the Felatahs, their walls being already covered
with weeds.
As they approached Katunga, the capital of Youriba, the caboceer, with
an enormous escort, came out to meet them. His musicians kept drumming,
playing, dancing, and singing all night.
The country round was well-cultivated. The city, as they saw it lying
below them, appeared surrounded and studded with green, shady trees,
forming a belt round the base of a granite mountain.
The king was found seated under the verandah of his house, with two red
and blue umbrellas, raised on large poles, held over him by slaves.
The crowd, as they advanced, had to be kept back with sticks and whips;
but they were used in a good-natured manner.
Clapperton was told that he must prostrate himself before the king; but
this he declined doing, saying that he would turn back unless he was
allowed to act as he would do before his own sovereign; that he would
only take off his hat, and bow, and shake hands with his majesty, if he
pleased. The king agreed to this, and the English were introduced in
due form.
Behind the king were an immense number of ladies, so closely packed that
it was impossible to count them. They stood up as the strangers
approached, and cheered them, shouting "Oh, oh, oh!" equivalent to
"Hurra!" while the men outside joined them.
The king had on a large white shirt, with a blue one under it, and a
pasteboard crown, covered with blue cotton, made apparently by some
European on the coast, and sent up to him as a present.
Comfortable apartments were provided for them, and in the evening the
king himself made his appearance, plainly dressed, with a long staff in
his hand, saying that he could not sleep till he had personally
ascertained how they were.
They spent two very pleasant days here, resting after the fatigues of
their journey. The king pressed them to remain to see the national
amusements, which would begin in about two months. On this, Mr Houtson
enquired whether they were such as took place at Dahomey, on which the
king declared that no human beings were ever sacrificed in Youriba, and
that if he ordered the King of Dahomey to desist from such a practice he
must obey him.
The king had sent forward a messenger to open the way to Nyffe, and till
he returned they were compelled to remain at the capital.