* * * * *
The Author quits Kano to join his master — His illness on the road —
Anecdotes of the natives, and his reception by them — Pasko’s last
robbery, and elopement — He is overtaken, and brought back — The Tuarick
merchants — The Author’s arrival at Soccatoo, the metropolis of the
Falatah empire — Residence there — Pasko’s dismissal, conduct, and
marriage.
On the 25th of November I left the city of Kano, accompanied by _honest_
Pasko, who had just been liberated from his confinement, Abdulfitha the
Arab, and messengers from Bello and the governor of Kano. At one in the
afternoon our party halted at Zungugwâ; but the camel, in endeavouring
to enter by one of the narrow gates of the town, unfortunately broke two
boxes, in which were contained stationery and other articles. This
accident detained us outside the walls for more than an hour, when the
men were obliged to take the goods on their heads, and carry them to the
residence of the chief, at a distance of half a mile from the spot. I
waited on him myself shortly afterwards, and gave him a pair of
scissors, fifty needles, and a small paper of cloves, all which pleased
him highly. The chief then led me into one of his best huts, where he
told me I might remain till I felt inclined to leave the place, and
shortly afterwards sent me butter, sour milk, a couple of fine fowls,
with tuah and corn.
I awoke early in the morning of the 26th, and leaving the hut of the
hospitable chief, after a ride of six hours, came to Markee, a large,
though thinly inhabited village, the chief of which, a kind-hearted old
man, upwards, I should think, of ninety years of age, and withal very
feeble, was delighted to see me, and testified the pleasure he felt by
repeatedly shaking hands with me for the space of half an hour; and
would undoubtedly have pulled off my arm, if I had not expressed myself
too greatly fatigued to stand so long a time in one place. After a short
conversation, he conducted me into an inner apartment, and, bidding me
to sit, took from a calabash which was suspended from the ceiling a
small box made of skin, round which had been wound, with the greatest
care, upwards of five hundred yards of thread, which occupied him twenty
minutes in taking off. This having been done, he showed me four bits of
tin lying at the bottom of the box, about the size of swan and common
shot. The old chief then gave me to understand, with much seriousness,
as well as earnestness of manner, that the little balls I was looking at
had been given to him by an Arab fifteen years before, who had
positively affirmed that they were of silver, and possessed of life. The
larger pieces, the old man continued, were of the masculine, and the
smaller of the feminine gender; the latter of which would produce young
at the end of every twelve years, and till the expiration of that period
were by no means to be looked at!
In order to impart warmth to the balls, he had enveloped them in a
quantity of cotton wool, and the thread had been tied round the box,
that the offspring might have no opportunity of escaping! “But,” said
the hoary-headed chief, with a disappointed air, “though I kept them
with the utmost care, agreeably to the instructions I had received, for
twelve years, to my consternation and sorrow, at the end of that period,
I found that they had made no increase, and I begin to think that they
never will;” in saying which, the tender-hearted man was so grievously
affected that he burst into tears. It was with the greatest difficulty
that I could refrain from laughing aloud in his face; but succeeded at
length in subduing the strong inclination I had to be merry, and I told
him, with all the solemnity the occasion required, that the Arab was a
rogue and had deceived him; that the articles he had so highly valued
were bits of tin, and not of silver; that they were without life, and,
therefore, could not infuse the living principle into other inanimate
substances. I consoled the old gentleman, however, upon the hoax that
had been so successfully played off upon him, and sympathized with him
in his sorrow.
His mind soon afterwards became more composed, although at times he
could not help sobbing audibly; and after answering numerous questions
put to me about my country, I complained of indisposition, and retired
to rest.
After spending a sleepless night, I arose unrefreshed at six in the
morning, and pursuing our journey, passed close to a large Falatah town,
called Kiowah, in the neighbourhood of which were numerous herds of
horned cattle grazing. Here, as in other parts of Houssa, the cows are
mostly white, and the sheep of the same colour, spotted with red and
black, which occasioned the latter animals to have a very agreeable
appearance at a distance, and recalled to my memory Jacob’s spotted
sheep, mentioned in Scripture. In the afternoon we arrived at Guâri, a
large walled town with an indifferent population. The beasts were unable
to enter the gate with their loads, by reason of its narrowness, and
being unwilling for the men to take them into the town on their heads,
which would have occupied a considerable time—much longer, indeed, than
my fatigue and illness would allow, I reposed for the night underneath
the branches of a large tree. On being made acquainted with my arrival,
the chief paid me a visit, and seating himself by my side, entered most
familiarly into conversation with me, in the course of which he observed
that tigers abounded in the neighbourhood, and unless I kept fires
burning during the whole of the night, my attendants and cattle would in
all probability be attacked and destroyed by those rapacious animals. He
also informed me, that two years before, the Gooberites took and
pillaged his town, putting to the sword nearly the whole of its
inhabitants, and he himself narrowly escaped with life. This was, no
doubt, the reason of the scantiness of the population, and the poverty
of the chief and his remaining subjects. As soon as the chief had
returned to the town, a new-married couple paid me a visit. To the
bride, a very interesting girl of eighteen, I gave guinea-nuts, to the
value of one hundred cowries, on accepting which she dropped on one
knee, and thanked me in a modest but graceful manner; and in the
evening, in return for the trifling present I had given her, she sent me
some butter-milk, which was an acceptable gift at that time.
At the usual hour, on the morning of the 28th, we again set out, and
halted at a small wretched looking village, called Kookay, at twelve at
noon. The inhabitants, who were as squalid in appearance as their
village was contemptible, were miserably attired, and complained sadly,
amongst other grievances, of the mischief done to their crops by
repeated visits of wild pigs, which had completely destroyed the
principal part of them.
At noon of the next day we stopped at Duncammee, a moderately sized
walled town, with an overflowing population. I was both surprised and
pleased to observe the neatness of this town, and the tidiness of its
inhabitants. Every inch of spare ground was planted with tobacco, and
tastefully fenced round with the dried stalks of that plant. The
inhabitants at the northern quarter of the town manufacture large
quantities of cotton cloths, which are neat and durable. The wall, by
which the town is surrounded, was in a decayed state, but the houses
were in excellent condition. The chief welcomed me to his dwelling, and
offered me the best apartment in it; and to remunerate his generosity I
gave him a clasp knife and a hundred needles.
On the morning of the 30th we were again in motion, and halted at Gaza
at noon. The chief, like his neighbours, was happy to see me, lodged me
in his own house, and paid every attention to my wants.
Next day we continued our journey at the usual hour, and halted at Royoó
at one o’clock at noon. In that town I became suddenly worse, lost my
sight in an extraordinary manner, and could not rise in bed from
excessive weakness and pain. Fancying I should be able to proceed no
further, and that my existence was drawing rapidly to a close, I called
Pasko to my bed-side, and implored him, after he had buried me, to take
particular care of the property he would be left in charge of, and
travel with the utmost expedition to Soccatoo, where he would be
rewarded, according to his deserts, by Captain Clapperton; for thief and
villain as he had proved himself to be, he had some good points, and I
thought that the oath he had taken before the Governor of Kano would
have bound him to honesty.
On the 1st of December I remained dreadfully ill, expecting every moment
to draw my last breath; but at two o’clock on the afternoon of the next
day I rallied a little, and although unable to sit up, determined to see
my dear master, if possible, before I died. With this object in view, I
ordered my people to prepare a couch for me on the back of the camel,
after which they lifted me gently into it, and I almost immediately
desired them to proceed.
The Chief of Royoó, who was one of Bello’s principal fighting men,
behaved particularly kindly to me, and I really believe sincerely
sympathized in my distress. He expressed his regret and sorrow at
parting with me in so languid a state, and intimated, that it would be
dangerous to go on, although he did not oppose my resolution, when he
saw it would be useless to do so. The path, the greater part of the way,
being very narrow, and thickly lined on each side with a species of
prickly thorn, I was annoyed greatly, in consequence of their sharp
points frequently tearing the covering from my bed, and exposing my body
to the intense heat of a burning sun. The Kano messenger, however,
ascertaining the cause of my uneasiness, and compassionating my misery,
rode before the camel, and with the greatest dexterity lopped off the
overhanging branches that were likely to impede the animal’s progress,
which rendered the remaining part of the journey infinitely more
tolerable. The violent shaking of the camel caused a faintness to come
over me several times on the road, on which occasions my party uniformly
halted until I revived; and in this manner we travelled till seven in
the evening, when we entered the walled town of Koólefée.
The chief, a remarkably fine old man, never having seen a white man, was
in transports the moment he learnt I was in the town; and running to the
camel, he took me from off its back, and carried me into an apartment
which had been hastily prepared for my reception. Placing me on a mat,
he took a goora nut from his pocket, and holding it betwixt his finger
and thumb, intreated me to chew one end of it, in order that he might
have the honor of eating with a white man, and a Christian; this I
succeeded in doing after some difficulty, when he immediately ate the
remainder with much apparent satisfaction. His great men, who surrounded
me, reproved the chief sharply for doing this; but quickly answering
them in a pleasant and firm tone, he said that he believed the “Little
Christian” was as good a man as himself, or any of them; which
effectually silenced their remarks. The chief shortly afterwards went
out, and returning in a few minutes with a bowl containing six quarts of
new milk, sweetened with honey, told me that he was determined to see me
swallow the whole of it before he left the apartment. Contrary to his
wishes, however, I partook sparingly of the contents of the bowl at
first, but during the night took large and repeated draughts, which
refreshed and invigorated me.
On arising the following morning, I found myself so much better, that I
travelled on horseback, although not without much difficulty, to Zunko,
a miserable village in which we slept.
At sunrise on the 4th, we resumed our journey, and after a fatiguing
ride of seven hours, arrived at Roma, a town insignificant as to size,
but which being built on an eminence, commands a delightful prospect of
the country for miles round. As soon as I entered the house of the
chief, in which I slept, he made me the accustomed presents of
provisions, &c. for which he accepted in return a pair of scissars, a
hundred needles, and a paper of cloves. Several Falatah girls of a
bright copper colour; came to me in the evening, who were exceedingly
beautiful, having delicate and graceful forms; and, with a curiosity so
natural to their sex, were all eager to catch a glimpse of the “Little
Christian,” they having before seen the “_Great_ Christian,” as my
master was called. In the course of the afternoon some of these damsels
brought me milk and butter, for which I requited them with a few glass
beads. In the night, I was rejoiced to find that my disorder, from the
effects of which I had suffered so greatly, left me entirely: and from
that hour my health rapidly and wonderfully improved.
We bade adieu to the chief of Roma early in the morning of the fifth,
and arrived at a contemptible village, called Bogell, in the course of
the afternoon. Having slept there, we pursued our journey on the
following day, and on entering Zulamee, the chief capered for joy on
welcoming me to his town, and ordered four men to guard the beasts and
property. A band of robbers having infested the neighbourhood for some
time, had committed serious depredations on the inhabitants; and the
chief, fancying that if the goods were left unprotected, they would be
stolen, desired me to discharge a gun morning and evening, that the
brigands might not think I was unprepared to receive them. They did not,
however, think proper to molest me; but the King of Kashna was not quite
so fortunate, for on the preceding day a fine horse was stolen from him,
which he never afterwards recovered. I remained at Zulamee two days, in
order to recruit the spirits of the party, and refresh the animals under
their charge.
We quitted the town on the morning of the ninth, and sleeping at
Gundumowah, a small but neat Falatah village, arrived at Sansanee on the
following day. The country traversed was thickly wooded, and the path
lay for three hours through a large bush, which having recently been
visited by a horde of elephants, the impressions of whose feet were very
perceptible, travelling was rendered extremely unpleasant, and even
dangerous. On our arrival the chief of the town ordered an open shed,
occupied by a number of calves, to be cleaned out for our reception. In
the evening, placing the baggage in the centre, I desired the men to lie
around it, whilst I reposed near the most valuable articles. Not deeming
the property sufficiently secure in so exposed a place, my sleep was
rather disturbed; and arising about ten or eleven o’clock in the night,
I found that my camel had strayed from outside the shed. Being unwilling
to arouse my drowsy companions, I went myself in quest of him; and on
returning a short time afterwards, discovered, to my infinite surprise
and alarm, that Pasko had decamped with a valuable gun, two pistols, a
cutlass, six sovereigns, nineteen dollars, twenty large and small
knives, and various other articles, which he had contrived to extract
from the boxes in which they had been secured. To deceive me, the artful
old scoundrel had put a pillow into a sack, over which he threw an old
tobe, and laid it along his own mat. On the discovery I instantly made
an alarm, and sent to the chief for a dozen armed horsemen to go in
pursuit of the robber.
As I was standing in the shed in the afternoon of the next day, I
perceived a party of horsemen coming towards me at full gallop. On
approaching within a few yards they suddenly checked their steeds, and
brandishing their spears over their heads, exclaimed in a loud voice,
“Nasarah, Nasarah, acqui de moogoo!” (Christian, Christian, we have the
rogue!) The men informed me that a little before daybreak in the
morning, hearing the report of a gun, they rode towards the spot whence
the sound seemed to proceed, and saw Pasko perched on the top of a high
tree, the stolen articles lying at the root of it. On their threatening
to shoot him with poisoned arrows unless he immediately came down, the
old fellow hastily obeyed the summons, and delivered himself into their
hands without uttering a syllable. One of the horsemen took the
trembling scoundrel behind him, and the whole party instantly clapped
spurs to their horses, and rode swiftly towards the village. I asked
Pasko what had possessed him to abscond in so disgraceful a manner after
all the protestations he had made to serve me with fidelity. He replied,
that as his countrymen, the Gooberites, were at war with the Falatahs,
he was afraid the latter would cut off his head the moment he was
recognized in Soccatoo, and therefore he had adopted the wiser plan of
securing his person from danger by running away. Whilst he was speaking
the chief of the village, running up to us, cried out, “A blessing, a
blessing! you have caught the thief, let me take off his head!” Not
wishing to gratify the _good-natured_ Falatah in this his merciful
request, I took the punishment of Pasko into my own hands; and it being
his third or fourth offence, I ordered him to be heavily ironed, and
pinioned in the town dungeon. This sentence was rigidly enforced, and on
the following day, the criminal having expressed a wish to speak to me,
I sent for him. He came into my hut, and holding up his naked arms,
which were swollen to thrice their natural size, begged so piteously to
be liberated from his confinement, or at least to have his punishment
mitigated in some degree, that I desired he might not be pinioned again,
as that operation seemed to have given him most pain; but his irons were
not taken off till our departure from the place.
On the 13th, five hundred camels, laden with salt, obtained from the
borders of the Desert, entered Sansanee, preceded by their owners, a
party of twenty Tuarick merchants, whose appearance was singularly novel
and imposing. The men were all attired in the same fashion, and mounted
on handsome pied camels, which trotted into the town with uncommon
speed. Their dress consisted of black cotton tobes, and full trousers of
the same colour; white caps encircled with black turbans, which
concealed every part of the face but the nose and eyes; and red morocco
boots. In the right hand they held a long and highly-polished spear,
whilst the left was occupied in grasping their shields (the only
defensive armour with which the Tuaricks are acquainted), and retaining
the reins of the camels. The shields were covered with white leather,
and ornamented with a small plate of silver in the centre. As they
passed me they shook their lances, which glittered in the sun-beams, and
their appearance was certainly warlike and formidable in the extreme.
Stopping suddenly in front of the chief’s house, they all exclaimed, as
if with one voice, “Tchow!” at the sound whereof the camels fell
simultaneously on their knees, and the riders dismounted to pay their
respects. They came in a body to see me shortly afterwards, and
notwithstanding their apparent respectability, evinced not the slightest
unwillingness to beg money of me, which they did in a most importunate
manner. One of the merchants, yet more incessant in his solicitations
than his companions, amongst other shining qualities he affirmed he was
in possession of, stated with the utmost seriousness, that he was “God’s
own slave,” and on that account he was not to be overlooked. I said that
the Almighty loved his servants, and made them prosperous and happy, and
therefore he stood in no need of my assistance. The fellow, however,
would not be repulsed, but continued hanging on me, and in fact almost
tore the clothes from my back, till out of all patience, I took the
importunate slave by the shoulders, and thrust him out of the shed into
the street. As he went off, no doubt greatly humiliated in his own
estimation, he muttered some reproaches which I could not comprehend,
and said that I was the first person he had ever applied to in vain for
money. Like thousands of others, these merchants were very inquisitive,
and amongst other questions, wished to know whether many of my
countrymen had not tails like monkeys! I assured them that no human
being had that elegant appendage; but instead of believing my assertion,
they shook their heads, looked wise, and said, “You do not speak the
truth, white man, we know better than you on saying which, they surveyed
me with more attention than before, and one amongst them walked round me
several times, cautiously raising the end of my tobe, to ascertain with
certainty whether I had any thing in the shape of a tail! On observing
the man’s motions, I took off my tobe, which convinced his countrymen
that _I_ at least was without a tail, when they appeared better
satisfied; and left my shed in the course of an hour to look after their
wives and children, who were with the camels on the road, and had not
then arrived.
Provisions being rather scarce, I went a-shooting on the 14th, to
procure a few pigeons for dinner. The Tuarick men, women, and children,
on hearing the report of my gun, surrounded me in great numbers, and
were infinitely amazed to see the birds falling dead at my feet from the
tops of the tall trees. After examining them with the greatest
attention, they declared that I was a beautiful man, too good a one for
a Kaffir, and that I ought to be a worshipper of the true faith.
In the afternoon of the 16th, fifty armed horsemen, sent by Bello,
arrived at Sansanee, to accompany me to Soccatoo, his capital, in which
he was waiting my arrival with impatience, and urged me to prepare to
accompany them. The soldiers had brought my master’s two camels to
assist in conveying the goods, which animals, as I subsequently learnt,
the Godado had borrowed under false pretences. A messenger belonging to
the Governor of Kano, who had accompanied the escort so far on his way
to that city, came to me in the evening, unobserved by the Falatahs, and
gave me a letter from Captain Clapperton, of which the following is a
transcript:
“_Soccatoo, Wednesday, Dec._ 13, 1826.
“DEAR RICHARD,
“I hope you do well; I am still here, contrary to my expectations, and
Heaven knows when I shall be permitted to leave. This cursed Bornou war
has overturned all my plans and intentions, and set the minds of the
people generally against me, as it is pretty well understood by both
rich and poor, that I have presents for their enemy the Sheikh. I wish,
with all my heart, it was ended; no matter whether the Falatahs or
Bornouese be victorious, so I could conveniently pursue my journey. The
Sultan has told me that I may return by way of Bornou, if I insist upon
it, but raises so many obstacles, that it amounts to a prohibition. He
is evidently unwilling for me to have any dealings with his adversaries.
I do not know how this matter will end; I must acknowledge I do not like
the appearance of things just now; God grant my fears may be groundless.
Since my last I have been seriously ill with an enlargement of the
spleen,[5] but am now much relieved from the pain attendant upon this
complaint; and the swelling is also greatly reduced. I amuse myself as
often as opportunities occur, which are seldom enough, and frequently
take a ramble through the town, or a ride into the country. I generally
feel stronger after the exercise, and would recommend you to adopt a
similar practice, for, believe me, you would soon experience the benefit
of it. Three or four fires have happened here lately, which have done
much mischief; but nothing of mine, I am happy to say, has been injured
by them, although a house almost adjoining ours has been burnt to the
ground. People say the rebels of Goober are the authors of them, but I
put no confidence in these rumours, as they are without the slightest
proof. I believe I have nothing more, in the shape of news, to acquaint
you with, and my only reason for writing you at all is, to let you know
how I get on, that you may not be uneasy on my account. Adieu, Richard,
and rest assured I have your interest and welfare at heart.
“Your sincere friend and master,
“HUGH CLAPPERTON.”
“_Richard Lander, Kano._”
I was astonished, on perusing this letter, to find that my master knew
nothing of the circumstance of my having left Kano, still less of my
being so near him; and it struck me forcibly at the time that Bello
wished to get me into his power, only to become the sole possessor of
the presents intended for the Sheikh of Bornou, by laying violent hands
both on Captain Clapperton and myself. With this belief I arose next
morning, and asked the Godado’s brother, who commanded the escort, if it
was not the Sultan’s intention to take away our lives on my entering
Soccatoo, as my master knew nothing of what had transpired; but the
Falatah answered,—“Fear nothing, our King will not injure either of you;
his sole reason for sending for you is, that as he has seen but one
Christian, he feels the greatest desire to become acquainted with a
second.” “Remember the men of Boussa!” I simply retorted, when he left
me in extreme haste and great uneasiness.
The Godado’s brother was as importunate as the Tuarick merchants in
begging money of me to purchase goora nuts, for the two first days after
the arrival of the escort, and became so troublesome that I at length
told him I had no property of my own, but that all he saw belonged to my
master, without whose consent I was determined not to spare a single
cowry. The Falatah was not at all pleased at the answer; but on telling
him that on my arrival in Soccatoo he should be handsomely rewarded, he
ceased to plague me.
Every thing being in readiness, on the 19th, I liberated old Pasko, who
seemed dispirited, and truly sorry for the offence he had been guilty
of, and at two in the afternoon I quitted the town with the escort, but
was obliged to leave a bullock behind, the animal being lamed, and
unable to walk a hundred steps without stumbling. Having travelled at a
rapid rate through the dreaded “Goober Bush,” we arrived, much fatigued,
at Magaria, about eleven o’clock the next night. The poor horses and
camels having suffered dreadfully during the journey from thirst and
over-exertion, we were obliged to remain in the town two days, in order
that they might enjoy a little rest. During our stay I resided in a
house belonging to the Godado, whose brother supplied me with abundance
of excellent provisions. I was requested by some of the principal
inhabitants to kill a few birds with my gun, that several strangers then
in the town might have an opportunity of seeing in what manner they were
procured in my country. I soon gratified their curiosity, by shooting a
small bird at the distance of fifty yards; on which they betrayed the
utmost surprise, nor would they believe for a long time that it was
really dead, but kept turning it round, and feeling whether it had
actually received a wound.
On the 23rd we quitted the town of Magaria, and, to my great joy,
entered Soccatoo about two o’clock in the afternoon of the same day,
after a disagreeable and wearisome journey (from Kano) of nearly a
month. Not having seen my master for the period of a quarter of a year,
I made the greatest haste to his house; but not finding him at home, I
was conducted to the Godado’s, with whose owner I found him in earnest
conversation. Although certainly surprised, he was glad to see me, and
we walked home together.
The day after my arrival (24th December), Sultan Bello sent a messenger
to request my master and myself to repair without delay to his
residence. As soon as we were admitted into his presence, he abruptly
began the conversation by inquiring the nature of the presents I had
with me, and was extremely solicitous to know if I had left any of them
behind in Kano, for the Sheikh of Bornou. I replied that I had not. “Are
you sure of that?” rejoined the Sultan. I answered with firmness a
second time in the negative. Bello then demanded the King of England’s
letters to the Sheikh, which my master, after a short pause, reluctantly
produced; but vehemently opposed the Sultan’s wishes for him to open and
read them, observing, that as soon as his sovereign should discover, on
his return to England, that he had so unfaithfully broken his trust, he
would instantly be beheaded. The Falatah prince then took the letters
into his own hands, and on his graciously waving his hand in token that
he wished to have nothing more to say, we bowed, and left the apartment.
We had not returned to our hut a great while, when the Godado, his
brother, Hat Sallah, (who had received secret instructions to overtake
me on the road,) with several of the principal inhabitants of Soccatoo,
entered, and demanded, in the name of the Sultan, the presents intended
for the Sheikh of Bornou, together with all the arms and ammunition
which we should not want ourselves. My master became violently agitated
when their errand was communicated, and rising from the mat on which he
had been reposing, exclaimed with energy and bitterness:—
“There is no faith in any of you; you are an unjust people; you are
worse than highway robbers!”
The Falatahs cautioned him to be more moderate in his expressions, or it
might cost him his head.
“If I lose my head,” retorted the Captain, in the same determined tone
and manner, “it will be for no other crime than that of speaking for the
just rights of my king and country; I repeat, you are a nation of
scoundrels and robbers.”
Hat Sallah entreated him (in Arabic) to express himself with less
emphasis, and in milder language before the people, who would carry
every word he had uttered to their sovereign. I also joined in the same
request, and begged him, as the attempt at resistance, for people so
circumstanced as we were, would be the height of imprudence, to accede
to the commands of the sultan, how tyrannical soever they might be. At
length, after much persuasion, Capt. Clapperton consented that the
presents in question should be produced; but desired the godado, on his
leaving the apartment, to inform his king that he never wished to see
him again; and that his business with him, after such perfidious
conduct, was at an end.
A short time after they had quitted our house, Mallam Mudey returned
with a message from Bello, stating it to be the intention of that
monarch to write to his _friend_ the King of England, in explanation of
his behaviour; but my master assured the holy man that _his_ sovereign
would not even look at the superscription of a letter from Bello, after
being made acquainted with the dastardly action by which he had so
disgraced himself.
Soccatoo has been considerably enlarged by the present sultan, and is
indisputably the most important city in the interior of Africa. The wall
that surrounds the capital of the Falatah empire, does not indeed
encompass so large a portion of ground as that of Kano, but its
population is treble the amount; and allowing the latter city to contain
forty thousand souls, the aggregate number of inhabitants in Soccatoo
will be one hundred and twenty thousand; which computation I do not
conceive to be over-rated.
Kano is distant from Soccatoo twenty regular days journey, or about two
hundred and fifty English miles. The metropolis is built in a pleasant
situation, on the summit of a gently elevated spot of land, and has a
river flowing near the northern end, which enters the Quorra four days
journey from Cubbé. The wall is high, and provided with eleven gates;
but has an extremely heavy appearance. Architecture, as a science, is
not cultivated in the interior; and the termites can rear as elegant a
mansion as the natives, and in a far more ingenious manner. The
habitations in Soccatoo are constructed like those of Kano, with clay,
and have a dull, gloomy appearance.
An old Haussan with two asses arrived in the city one day from Egypt.
Having stopped in the different towns through which he had to pass, for
the purpose of trafficking with their inhabitants, he had accomplished
the long and dangerous journey in little more than a twelvemonth. He
informed me that he had undergone great privations on the road, and had
well nigh perished of thirst on more than one occasion. He had had no
human companion to cheer him; and his affection for the brute associates
of his lonely pilgrimage was singularly great. They had fared in common
with himself; they had eaten and slept together; and, said the old man,
as he drove away the patient-looking animals, “I would as soon lose my
life as be deprived of them.” The Haussan observed that it was his
intention to proceed to Tombuctoo the following week, and that on his
return he should pay me a visit, but I never saw or heard any thing of
him afterwards.
The people of Soccatoo cry their provisions round the city; and milk,
fish, &c. are daily hawked through the streets by the lower orders,
whose voices are as loud and shrill as those heard in London. The cry of
“_Nono de mi!_” (milk and butter) always put me in mind of bells
belonging to village churches; there was something peculiarly plaintive
in the rising and falling of the voice of the young female who used to
vend those articles morning and evening in the immediate neighbourhood
of our dwelling; and, in my opinion, it strikingly resembled them in
sound. “Namah du tonkah,” mutton (literally “flesh of the sheep”);
“Namah de la comma” (camel’s meat); “Namah du acquia” (beef); “Gorassa”
(little cakes made of pounded wheat); are also cried every morning; as
is likewise “dowah,” and every other variety of grain produced in
Haussa.
Wheat was first imported into Haussa by the Arabs about a century ago;
and even now they have the exclusive cultivation of it. Bread is only to
be met with in two cities, Soccatoo and Zaria, and is manufactured by
the female slaves of the Arabs, who sell it publicly by retail for their
masters. For a very good reason I never tasted any of it whilst in
Africa, and therefore can say nothing as to its good or bad quality.
Pasko, whom my master had dismissed his service the moment he was made
acquainted with his two-fold villainy, without paying the wages that
were due to him, applied to a native lawyer in Soccatoo for advice; but
the learned Falatah having patiently listened to the details of his
case, discarded him, with the assurance, that if he had been Abdullah
(Captain Clapperton’s travelling name), instead of rewarding him, he
would have cut off his head!
Under this consolation the old man, having a small sum of money in his
possession, turned snuff-merchant, but being cheated by every body,
became insolvent in the course of a very short time, and, in order to
procure a slender maintenance, was ultimately obliged to cut wood from a
neighbouring forest. In the height of his prosperity as a tradesman,
Pasko, forgetting all his former vows and misfortunes and contrary to
his usual custom, formally paid his addresses to a black slave, named
Mattah Gewow (literally Miss, or woman-elephant), in the household of
Ben Gumso, an Arab. This woman, a native of Yariba, which country is
notorious for ugly females, had a countenance inexpressibly hideous, but
was well known by all ranks in Soccatoo, as the most experienced maker
of _tuah_[6] which that or any other city could produce. In addition to
the other attractions of this lady, a huge white tooth hung from her
upper jaw, affectionately embracing the nether lip; and her chin was
bristled most divinely with a slender but conspicuous and stubborn
beard,—she being the only individual of her sex I had seen in the
country possessing so masculine an ornament. Mattah Gewow was in the
decline of life, having seen between fifty and sixty dry seasons pass
over her head, and had, in her earlier years, been allured from the
paths of innocence and virtue by a blind fiddler in the pay of the late
and present sultan, who had refused to make her reparation by marriage.
From that period to the time of our visiting Soccatoo, no sable swain
had been emboldened to pay her any marked attentions; and the injured
woman was inconsolable under the thoughts of living for ever in “single
blessedness,” when the affectionate Pasko, having casually partaken of
her far-famed tuah, pronounced it to be the best he had ever tasted, and
immediately offered his heart and person, which, after a few _invisible_
blushes on the lady’s part, were modestly accepted. The betrothed, as
soon as they perfectly understood each other, spent all their leisure
moments in their own delightful society, Pasko extolling the charms of
the peerless Miss Elephant to the skies, and Miss Elephant returning the
compliment by perpetually discovering fresh subjects for admiration and
love in the person and physiognomy of the incomparable snuff-merchant.
Thus the first few evenings of their courtship were passed, at which
time I was a constant visiter at Ben Gumso’s, and often overheard their
tender discourse. I broke in upon the lovers one day rather
unexpectedly, in the midst of their dalliance, when Pasko was pouring
out an eloquent and passionate eulogium on the graces of his Mattah,
who, on observing me,
“_Blush’d_ at the praise of her own loveliness!”
and, with her adorer, looked exceedingly foolish. Being unwilling to
disturb the harmony that had prevailed before my intrusion, I left the
happy couple to enjoy themselves as they thought proper, and quitted the
house.
A day having been fixed upon for the marriage ceremony, the suitor
determined to spend it jovially; and his own finances being at a very
low ebb, he borrowed four thousand cowries of Ben Gumso, in order that
nothing might be wanting to stamp dignity and consequence on the
celebration of the festival. Pasko had just before embraced Islamism,
and rigidly observed the outward rules of that belief; besides which he
was well skilled in all the learning and knowledge of the Falatahs; so
that the Arab did not hesitate to advance him the money he sought, on
the faith of his bare promise of re-payment. The evening preceding the
ceremony, Pasko sent a present of snuff, an old shirt, &c. to Mattah,
which was acknowleged by a bowl of rich tuah; and the compact was thus
formally ratified. On the following morning the “fatha” was read, and
Pasko and the _lovely_ Mattah became man and wife. Agreeably to promise,
the happy bridegroom spent the day merrily with a friend or two he had
invited; but so far forgot himself, his newly-adopted religion, and the
respect he owed his bride, that towards evening he became intoxicated;
indeed so much so that he was bereaved of his reason; and Mattah, who
was only _tipsy_, perceiving her husband in this pickle, was very wrath,
and pouring a whole bowl of hot half-boiled tuah over his head, face,
and breast, gave him a sound drubbing with an empty calabash, and turned
the unfortunate snuff-merchant out into the street half dead, where he
remained in a state of insensibility till the next morning. On awaking,
and finding himself bespattered from head to foot with tuah, Pasko had a
confused recollection of the preceding evening’s debauch, and its
disastrous consequences; but instead of disturbing the slumbers of his
amiable wife, he strolled listlessly towards our hut, sorely distressed
in mind and body, where I met him an hour or so afterwards, the end of
his tobe being completely saturated with his tears, which were yet
flowing, and his whole appearance looking uncommonly grotesque. After
making me acquainted with the melancholy tale of his mishap, he begged
me to use my influence in order to compromise matters betwixt his gentle
consort and himself, and assured me that if I succeeded, when occasion
needed, he would cheerfully lay down his life for me.
Wishing to be better acquainted with a woman, whose excessive ugliness
and skilful tuah-making were the table talk of the whole kingdom of
Houssa, I willingly embraced the proposition, and making a visit to Ben
Gumso’s, had the good fortune to reconcile the angry lady to her
sorrowing lord, after which they lived very happily together, till
Pasko’s bankruptcy broke in upon their domestic felicity, and drove the
ill-fated man into the woods. To the credit of Mattah, however, be it
spoken, she did not abandon her husband in his mournful reverse of
fortune; but, with an attachment worthy of her sex, supplied him, as far
as she was able, with food and raiment; and their parting interview, on
Pasko’s leaving Soccatoo with me, was beyond description natural,
tender, and pathetic.