CHAPTER III.

EXPEDITION TO MANDARA.

It was late in the evening of the 15th April before my mind was made

up as to the practicability of accompanying the ghrazzie. I had an

interview with the sheikh, when he said, “I must refuse, because I

know not how to ensure your safety: still I wish that I could comply

with your request. The application by Boo-Khaloom for all your party

to go was out of the question; your king could not wish that a mission

sent out so far should run such risks—it was an imprudent request,

and the bashaw would never have forgiven me if I had complied with

it. You are differently situated; your sultan expressly orders you to

accompany any military expeditions: but although you are a soldier,

you will scarcely know how to take care of yourself, in an expedition

of this nature, should Boo-Khaloom meet with a repulse; and on this

account alone I cannot sanction your departure.” I replied, “that

I could not be otherwise than sensible of the anxiety he evinced

for our safety, but that the orders of my sultan must be obeyed if

possible: that although he refused his approbation, I trusted he

would not prevent my accompanying Boo-Khaloom. Indeed,” added I,

smiling, “if that is your intention, I give you notice that the

_silsel_[23] had better be put on—I shall certainly go, for I dare

not lose such an opportunity of seeing the country.”

Here ended our conference; and some time after midnight, the

negro who was to accompany me to Angornou, where I had previously

intended awaiting the arrival of Doctor Oudney, roused me to

commence my journey, adding, “We shall scarcely reach Angornou

before daylight.” My baggage and necessaries were easily carried

by one camel. My sole companion was my own negro Barca, whom I

mounted on a mule, with my small canteens under him, containing

a scanty supply of coffee: this, and a bag of rice, were all my

provisions—and I trusted to Providence for the rest. To join the

ghrazzie I was determined; but in what way it was to be accomplished,

I was not yet decided. Boo-Khaloom had left Angornou the day before;

and it was reported that he would halt one day about thirty-five

miles south of that place: the destination of the expedition still

remained a secret. Maraymy ben Soudanee, the negro whom the sheikh

had appointed to accompany me, was the same that had attended me

before in my excursion to the Tchad: he was born a slave in Mohamed

el Soudanee’s family, the sheikh’s first cousin, who was now on

his way to Mecca. As he took with him but a small retinue, Maraymy

and many others were left behind, and served as an askar, or soldier,

to the sheikh. His character amongst the sheikh’s people was one

of great bravery; his daring manner of approaching the elephants,

in our former trip, had not been unobserved by me; and during our

present excursion he gave such proofs of gallantry and goodness of

heart, at the same time laying me under obligations to him of the

most serious kind,—no less, eventually, than the preservation

of my life—that he merits every praise that it is in my power to

bestow. Maraymy spoke broken Arabic, of which he was not a little

proud: I had discovered that taciturnity was not among the number of

his failings, and we had not proceeded many miles before he began to

gratify his natural propensity with great volubility. For myself I

was unusually disinclined to conversation; many circumstances combined

to render me dissatisfied with the situation of our affairs. I felt,

at the moment, more than ever the want of a companion and friend, in

whose head and heart I could place some confidence; and Maraymy’s

account of his battles, and hair-breadth escapes from the Kerdies,

was almost unnoticed by me.

I was at length, however, roused by his question of “Does the rais

go with the ghrazzie?” “How can I,” said I, “when the sheikh

objects to it?” “But will you go, or not?” said he. “Whether

I do or do not accompany it, at present is uncertain,” replied I:

“you will proceed with me as far as Angornou, and leave me at Abde

Nibbee’s hut. I should have thought much better of the sheikh’s

conduct if he had desired you to be my companion, and sent me on

to join Boo-Khaloom.” “If the rais will tell me whether he is

determined, at all events, to proceed with the ghrazzie or not, I

will then tell him what the sheikh’s orders are to me,” added

Maraymy. “No, no!” rejoined I, “you know me well enough to

be satisfied that no service done, or information given, ever goes

unrewarded.—Tell me, if you choose, your directions; I cannot make

you acquainted with my determination.”

Maraymy held out no longer; and it was to me most gratifying to

learn, that the sheikh desired him not on any account to leave me;

that if he found I was obstinate in persisting to join the expedition,

he was to conduct me to their camp as quick as possible, and give me

in charge to Barca Gana, the sheikh’s black Mameluke, who commanded

the whole, with every possible charge to take care of me. I was not

long now in making Maraymy acquainted with my intentions. I was lavish

in my praises of the sheikh, whom my companion thought nearer a god

than any other mortal; and we entered Angornou while twilight still

spread its grey tint around, planning our departure from thence,

as soon as daylight should return.

April 16.—The whole of this day Angornou was filling fast with

strangers, in consequence of the great fsug the day following—and

it had the appearance of a bustling town of business. Abde Nibbe, at

whose hut I passed the day, was a merchant we had known at Mourzuk,

and here made good his professions of service, which had never before

been put to the test. On a clean mat, placed in a shady corner of

his hut, I slept away the heat of the day; and besides a supper of

_giddeed_ (meat dried in the sun) and rice, he regaled me with a very

pleasant drink, composed of milk, red pepper, and honey. The evening

was so sultry, that I determined on waiting until after midnight;

and about an hour before sunrise we mounted our horses.

April 17.—Our course was south, near a number of gardens; but the

only vegetable produced in them appeared to be onions. For many miles

our road was over one continued plain, covered with wheat and gussub

stubble; and a little before noon we arrived at Yeddie, twenty-one

miles from Angornou, a considerable town, walled, and governed by a

kaid. A hut was pointed out to us, after some altercation, where we

were to pass the heat of the day. I, however, took my place in the

skiffa or entrance, the coolest place I could find.

The kaid soon after paid me a visit, who it seemed was asleep

when I arrived. He was extremely desirous that I should come to

his habitation, and was greatly distressed at not having better

provided for my convenience; moving was, however, quite out of

the question. The heat was excessive; and I merely begged a little

sweet milk, and that the crowd round the door, which I was obliged to

keep open, might, if practicable, be in part dispersed; and I added,

“They are all men—pray are there no women in your town?” The

kaid, who evidently wished to make up for his former inattention,

immediately answered, “Yes, yes! plenty; and they also would like

to come and look at you, if you will give them leave.” This I was

not disposed to refuse; and the kaid, sitting by me, and Maraymy

keeping the door, so that not more than three or four came in at a

time, I received upwards of one hundred of the softer sex. Some of

them were beautiful unaffected children of nature. I had nothing to

show them but a looking-glass, and probably nothing could have pleased

them more. One insisted upon bringing her mother, another her sister,

in order to see the face she loved best reflected by the side of her

own, which appeared to give them exquisite pleasure; as on seeing the

reflection they repeatedly kissed the object of their affection. One

very young and intelligent girl asked if she might bring her child,

and on gaining permission quickly returned with an infant in her

arms: she absolutely screamed with joy; and the tears ran down her

cheeks when she saw the child’s face in the glass, who shook its

hand in token of pleasure on perceiving its own reflected image.

By four in the afternoon we were again on the road, and Maraymy

had raised my spirits by saying, “that if they had not moved on,

we should reach the camp of the Arabs, and the sheikh’s troops,

soon after sunset.” Fortunately they had not moved; and after

fourteen miles we made Merty, and to the west of the town we saw

the tents of the Arabs. Maraymy now told me, “that the sheikh

wished I should put myself under the protection of Barca Gana;

that Boo-Khaloom’s responsibility ceased on arriving at Bornou;

that _he_ was now bound to provide for my safety, and that with

his people he wished me to remain.” I should have been better

pleased to have pitched my tent close to that of my tried friend,

and amongst my old companions the Arabs; but as Maraymy assured me

the sheikh would be highly displeased, I instantly gave up the idea.

Barca Gana received me with a great deal of civility in his tent,

although he kept me several minutes waiting outside, until he had

summoned his fighi, or charm-writer—an indispensable person—and

one or two of his chiefs, to attend him. “If it was the will of

God,” he said, “I should come to no harm, and that he would

do all in his power for my convenience.” A spot was appointed

for my tent near his own; and I took my leave in order to visit the

Arabs. The cheers they all gave me, and the hearty shake of the hand

of Boo-Khaloom, made me regret that I was not to be amongst them, in

spite of all their bad qualities. Boo-Khaloom repeatedly exclaimed,

“I knew you would come; I said you would by some means or other

join us.” One of Barca Gana’s people now brought word that

we should move on by daybreak. I retired to my tent after making

Boo-Khaloom acquainted with the sheikh’s arrangements, first to

write to Doctor Oudney of my proceedings, and then to sleep off my

fatigue. Sleep, however, was my only refreshment: I was as it were

between two stools; one of my friends did not think it necessary,

and the other never intended, to send me any supper.

April 18.—Before sunrise the tents were struck, and we were all in

motion. Barca Gana, who commanded the sheikh’s people, about two

thousand strong, was a native of a town called Sankara, in Soudan,

and had fallen into the sheikh’s hands about seventeen years

before, when only nine years of age. The sheikh had always been

extremely attached to him, and had raised him with his fortunes,

to the rank he now held, as kaid, or governor, of Angala, part

of Loggun, and all the towns on the Shary, besides making him

kashella, or commander-in-chief of his troops: he was a powerful

negro, of uncommon bravery, possessing a _charm_ which he imagined

rendered him invulnerable to either balls or arrows. He was keen,

possessed great quickness of observation, and from being so long in

the sheikh’s confidence, had acquired his manner, which was gentle,

and particularly pleasing: added to this, he was a bigoted Musselman.

As I have before said, the morning of the 18th saw me riding by the

side of Barca Gana, in full march for Mandara. Two hours before noon

we made Alla, a town fourteen miles from Merty: here our tents were

pitched until the afternoon, when we again moved, and after five

hours’ march arrived at Deegoa, twenty miles from Alla. Deegoa

is a large walled town, governed by a sultan subject to the sheikh,

and may boast a population of thirty thousand. With the exception of

the immediate neighbourhood of the town, the country has been less

cleared of wood than the neighbourhood of Angornou, and consequently

is less productive. There is a very large wadey, or water-course,

full a quarter of a mile in breadth: to the south of Deegoa we found

it perfectly dry; but a large canoe, which was laid up by the side,

to be used by travellers proceeding to Mandara in the wet season.

We had here a violent thunder-storm, accompanied by heavy rain

during the night, which made its way plentifully into my Egyptian

tent. Before daylight on the 19th, we broke up our encampment,

and passing the wadey, continued our course through a very close

country; the road consisted of several narrow paths, passable only

for one horse at a time, and these greatly obstructed by the branches

of tulloh, and other prickly trees, which hang over them. We made

Affagay, another very large and populous town, early in the day:

this is also subject to the sheikh, and governed by a kaid. Affagay,

with the towns around it, Sogama, Kindacha, Masseram, and Kingoa,

may be said to possess upwards of twenty thousand inhabitants. To

the westward of Kingoa are the ruins of a very large town called

Dagwamba: the country for many miles round formerly bore that name,

and was governed by a sultan. The people were then all Kerdies,

and, being conquered by the former sultans of Bornou, became

Musselmans. Previous to arriving at Deegoa, we came upon a nest of

Shouaas of the tribe of Waled Salamat: this race extends to the east

quite as far as the Tchad.

Chiefs in this part of Africa are accompanied by as many personal

followers as they think proper to maintain, both as horse and footmen:

some of them form the band, if I may so call it. Barca Gana had five

mounted, who kept close behind him, three of whom carried a sort of

drum, which hung round their necks, and beat time while they sang

extempore songs; one carried a small pipe made of a reed, and the

other blew, on a buffalo’s horn, loud and deep-toned blasts, as we

moved through the wood: but by far the most entertaining and useful

were the running footmen, who preceded the kashella, and acted as

pioneers; they were twelve in number, and carried long forked poles,

with which they, with great dexterity, kept back the branches,

as they moved on at a quick pace, constantly keeping open a path,

which would without them really have been scarcely passable; they,

besides this, were constantly crying aloud something about the road,

or the expedition, as they went on. For example: “Take care of

the holes!—avoid the branches!—Here is the road!—take care of

the tulloh!—its branches are like spears—worse than spears! Keep

off the branches!” “For whom?” “Barca Gana.”—“Who in

battle is like rolling of thunder?” “Barca Gana!”—“Now for

Mandara!—now for the Kerdies!—now for the battle of spears!—Who

is our leader?” “Barca Gana.”—“Here is the wadey, but no

water.”—“God be praised!”—“In battle, who spreads terror

around him like a buffalo in his rage?” “Barca Gana[24]”.

This sort of question and answer, at once useful and exhilarating,

is constantly kept up until the time of halting. We did not move from

Affagay until the next morning, when the whole army were supplied with

bullocks and sheep. This was the first meal I had made since leaving

Angornou, and the following is their method of roasting the meat:

the sheep were killed, cut in half, and laid upon a frame-work of

wood made of strong stakes, and having four supporters; under it was

a strong fire, and by this means the meat was roasted better than I

ever saw it done in any part of Europe except my own country. Towards

the evening I received a summons from Barca Gana, and in his tent

found five or six of the chiefs assembled: half of a roasted sheep

was laid on green boughs placed on the sand before us; the black

chiefs then stripped off the dark blue shirt, their only covering;

the sharpest dagger in the party was searched for, and being given

to one who acted as carver, large slices of the flesh were cut,

distributed about, and quickly devoured without either bread or salt:

when we arrived at the bones, another side shared the same fate,

and our repast closed by huge draughts from a large wooden bowl

of rice water, honey, tamarinds, and red pepper, which nobody was

allowed to drink of but myself and the kashella.—I expressed my

satisfaction at this plentiful feast. Barca Gana said, “What the

country afforded he always lived on; that he never carried any thing

with him in these expeditions but a kind of paste, made of rice,

flour, and honey, which, mixed with water, he took, morning and

evening, when no better fare was to be had.”

On the 20th at noon we reached Delahay, our road lying through a

thick wood. Delahay is a spot surrounded by large wide-spreading

acacias, affording a delightful shade; and here there are between

thirty and forty wells of very sweet water: the huts of a numerous

tribe of Shouaas, called Hajainy, are near this place. It was a

cloudy day, sultry and oppressive; the thermometer in my tent, in the

afternoon, was at 109°. In the evening we made another halting-place,

called Hasbery, where we found no water; having come a distance of

thirty-four miles.

The whole of this country is covered with alluvial soil; has a

dark clayey appearance. Cracks, several inches in width, make the

roads difficult, and, in the wet season, the water which falls

remains on the ground for several months after. This evening,

Boo-Khaloom’s camels, unable to keep pace with the light-footed

maherhies of the Bornou people, were so long in coming up, that

he came to Barca Gana’s tent, and a few unfortunate questions

put to him, on the subject of my religion, sank me wofully in

the opinion of my Bornou friends. Boo-Khaloom had been a great

traveller, and was extremely liberal in his religious opinions for

a Musselman; more so than he dared to acknowledge to these bigoted

followers of the Prophet. The kashella’s fighi, Malem Chadily,

had always eyed me with a look of suspicion, and had once said,

when the whole army halted, at dawn, “Do you wash and pray?”

“Yes,” said I. “Where?” rejoined the fighi. “In my tent,”

I replied. This fighi, who continued throughout my mortal enemy and

annoyance, now asked Boo-Khaloom “what these English were? were

they Hanafy or Maleki?” still believing, that as we appeared a

little better than the Kerdies, or savages, that we must be Moslem

in some way or other. Boo-Khaloom answered, with some hesitation,

“No: that we were mesquine (unfortunate); that we believed not

in ‘the _book_,’ the title always given to the Koran; that we

did not _sully_, or pray, as they did, five times a day; that we

were not circumcised; that we had a book of our own, which did not

mention Saidna Mohamed, and that, blind as we were, we believed in

it: but _In sh’ allah_,” added he, “they will see their error,

and die Musselmans, for they are _naz zein zein Yassur_ (good people,

very good).” This account was followed by a general groan; and the

fighi clasped his hands, looked thoughtful, and then said, “Why

does not the great bashaw of Tripoli make them all Musselmans?”

This question made Boo-Khaloom smile: “Why!” replied Boo-Khaloom,

“that he could not very well do, great as he is; these people are

powerful, very powerful, and an affront to even one of these might

cost the bashaw his kingdom:—they are also rich, very rich.”

“May it please the Lord quickly to send all their riches into

the hands of true Musselmans,” said the fighi; to which the whole

assembly echoed “Amen.” “However,” continued Boo-Khaloom,

“there are _insara Yassur fi denier_ (a great many Christians in the

world), but the English are the best of any; they worship no images;

they believe in one God, and are almost Moslem.” This was as much

as he could say, although it raised me but little in the fighi’s

estimation; and as he decided, so every body was obliged to think.

Our rice water, and honey, was always brought in a brass basin tinned

on the inside, such as are only used by sultans and people of the

highest rank, wooden bowls being always drunk out of by the people;

and out of this basin Barca Gana and myself only were allowed to

drink. To-night, while I was drinking, the fighi made some remark;

what I left in the bowl was instantly thrown away, and soon after

a separate vessel was assigned me.

We continued our course to Ally Mabur, where there is a large lake

of still water. The horses, who had not drunk the night before,

rushed into the lake by hundreds, and, in consequence, the water

we got to drink was nearly as thick as pease-soup. The day was

dreadfully sultry. My camel not coming up, I could not pitch my

tent, and I became nearly exhausted by the intolerable heat. The

thermometer was at 113° in the best shade I could find, and covered

completely with a cloth, besides a thick woollen bornouse, I kept

up some little moisture by excluding entirely all external air;

still it was almost insupportable.

Ally Mabur, in the afternoon, and at night, halted at an open spot

in the wood called Emcheday. The trees we had seen within the last

two days were of a much larger kind, and the underwood less. We had

no water but the muddy beverage we had brought with us. Through an

open space, or break in the wood, I had this day seen part of the

Mandara hills, and had passed an extensive line of huts belonging

to the Beni-hassan Shouaas. We were now but a few miles from the

capital of Mandara, and several persons had arrived from the sultan,

within the last two days, to welcome Barca Gana; but this evening

one of his chiefs came, attended by about twenty horsemen, saying,

“that the sultan would himself meet us the next day, on the road

to Mora, his residence.” Our force had been increased, during the

march, by several Shouaa sheikhs joining us, with their followers,

both from the banks of the Tchad and from the west. We always found

them drawn up on a certain spot on the road; and their salutation

was by charging rapidly up, and shaking the spear at the kashella,

wishing he might “crush his enemies as an elephant tramples on

his victim,” and such like expressions.

By these accessions we were now upwards of three thousand strong,

all cavalry, with the exception of about eighty Arabs on foot. We

continued to approach a noble chain of hills, which were now full

in our view, of considerable height and extent, with numerous trees

growing on their steep and rugged sides. Delow, the first town

we arrived at in Mandara, formerly the residence of the sultan,

containing at least 10,000 inhabitants, has springs of beautiful

fresh water; and in the valleys fig-trees; and trees, which bore a

white flower resembling the zeringa, possessing a grateful odour,

were plentiful.

At about a mile from this town, we saw before us the sultan of

Mandara, surrounded by about five hundred horsemen, posted on a rising

ground ready to receive us, when Barca Gana instantly commanded a

halt. Different parties now charged up to the front of our line,

and wheeling suddenly round, charged back again to the sultan. These

people were finely dressed in Soudan tobes of different colours; dark

blue, and striped with yellow and red; bornouses of coarse scarlet

cloth; with large turbans of white or dark coloured cotton. Their

horses were really beautiful, larger and more powerful than any

thing found in Bornou, and they managed them with great skill. The

sultan’s guard was composed of thirty of his sons, all mounted on

very superior horses, clothed in striped silk tobes; and the skin of

the tiger-cat and leopard forming their shabracks, which hung fully

over their horses’ haunches. After these had returned to their

station in front of the sultan, we approached at full speed in our

turn, halting with the guard between us and the royal presence. The

parley then commenced, and the object of Boo-Khaloom’s visit having

been explained, we retired again to the place we had left; while

the sultan returned to the town, preceded by several men blowing

long pipes, not unlike clarionets, ornamented with shells, and two

immense trumpets from twelve to fourteen feet long, borne by men on

horseback, made of pieces of hollow wood, with a brass mouth-piece,

the sounds of which were not unpleasing.

[Illustration: Drawn by Major Denham.

Engraved by E. Finden.

ARRIVAL AT MORA.

THE CAPITAL OF MANDARA.

_Published Feb. 1826, by John Murray, London._]

The parley was carried on in the Mandara language, by means of an

interpreter; and I understood that we were to visit the sultan in

the course of the day, and hear his determination.

Boo-Khaloom was, as usual, very sanguine: he said “he should make

the sultan handsome presents, and that he was quite sure a Kirdy[25]

town full of people would be given him to plunder.” The Arabs were

all eagerness; they eyed the Kirdy huts, which were now visible on the

sides of mountains before us, with longing eyes; and contrasting their

own ragged and almost naked state with the appearance of the sultan of

Mandara’s people in their silk tobes, not only thought, but said,

“if Boo-Khaloom pleased, they would go no further; this would

do.” Boo-Khaloom and the Arab sheikhs had repeatedly exclaimed,

when urging El Kanemy to send them to some country for slaves,

“Never mind their numbers! arrows are nothing! and ten thousand

spears are of no importance. We have guns! guns!” exclaiming,

with their favourite imprecations, “_Nakalou-e-kelab fesaa_,”

(We’ll eat them, the dogs, quickly)—“_eich nu, abeed occul_,”

(what! why, they are negroes all!) I fancied I could see the keen

features of El Kanemy curl at these contemptuous expressions, which

equally applied to his own people; and certainly nothing could be

more galling than for him to hear them from such a handful of Arabs:

his own people were _abeed occul_, and their only arms spears and

arrows, and this he could not but feel and remember.

Towards the evening Barca Gana sent to desire me to mount, for the

purpose of visiting the sultan. We entered the town, Boo-Khaloom

and myself riding on his right and left; and at the farther end of

a large square was the sultan’s palace. As is usual on approaching

or visiting a great man, we galloped up to the skiffa at full speed,

almost entering the gates. This is a perilous sort of salutation,

but nothing must stop you; and it is seldom made except at the expense

of one or more lives. On this occasion, a man and horse, which stood

in our way, were ridden over in an instant, the horse’s leg broke,

and the man killed on the spot. The trumpets sounded as we dismounted

at the palace gate; our papouches, or outward slippers, were quickly

pulled off; and we proceeded through a wide skiffa, or entrance,

into a large court, where, under a dark blue tent of Soudan, sat

the sultan, on a mud bench, covered however with a handsome carpet

and silk pillows: he was surrounded by about two hundred persons,

all handsomely dressed in tobes of silk and coloured cotton, with

his five eunuchs; the principal men of the country sitting in front,

but all with their backs turned towards him. The manner of saluting

is curious: Barca Gana, as the sheikh’s representative, approached

to a space in front of the eunuchs, his eyes fixed on the ground;

he then sat down, with his eyes still fixed on the earth, with his

back to the sultan, and, clapping his hands together, exclaimed,

“_Engouborou dagah!_ (May you live for ever!)—_Allah kiaro!_

(God send you a happy old age!)—_La, lai, barca, barca_. (How

is it with you? blessing! blessing!)” These words were repeated

nearly by the sultan, and then sung out by all the court. The fatah

was then said, and they proceeded to business. Boo-Khaloom produced

some presents, which were carried off by the eunuchs unopened; the

sultan then expressed his wish to serve him; said he would consider

his request, and in a day or two give him his decision.

The sultan, whose name was Mohamed Bucker, was an intelligent little

man of about fifty, with a beard dyed of a most beautiful sky-blue;

he had been eyeing me for some time, as I sat between Boo-Khaloom

and Barca Gana, and first asking Boo-Khaloom his name, inquired

who I was? The answer that I was a native of a very distant and

powerful nation, friends of the bashaw of Tripoli and the sheikh,

who came to see the country, did not appear much to surprise him;

and he looked gracious as he said, “But what does he want to

see?” A fatal question however followed, and the answer appeared

to petrify the whole assembly:—“Are they Moslem?” “_La! la!_

(No! no!)” Every eye, which had before been turned towards me,

was now hastily withdrawn, and, looking round, I really felt myself

in a critical situation. “Has the great bashaw Kaffir friends?”

said the sultan. The explanation which followed was of little use:

they knew no distinctions; Christians they had merely heard of as

the worst people in the world, and, probably, until they saw us,

scarcely believed them to be human. We shortly after returned to

our camp, and I never afterwards was invited to enter the sultan of

Mandara’s presence.

Our tents had been pitched but a short distance from the town of

Mora, and on our return upwards of forty slaves, preceded by one

of the sultan’s eunuchs, came to the camp, bearing wooden bowls

filled with paste of the gussub flour, with hot fat and pepper poured

over it, mixed with a proportionate seasoning of onions. This was

considered as the very acmè of Mandara cooking; it was savoury,

and not very unpleasant; but a few sides of mutton roasted, which

came for the chiefs, was the better part of our fare. Malem Chadily

betook himself to another bowl, because on Barca Gana’s putting the

mess towards me, I had, as usual, plunged my right hand in without

any ceremony. Barca Gana saw that I observed it, and his dread of

the sheikh’s displeasure induced him to make some observation in

Bornouese, which drove the fighi out of the tent: this distressed

me, and I determined on adopting some measures for preventing the

repetition of these disagreeables.

On the 23d we halted; but I was so dreadfully bitten by the ants

and other insects, which beset us in myriads, that my hands and eyes

were so swelled that I could scarcely hold a pen, or see to use one:

added to this, the heat was again insufferable; for several hours in

the middle of the day, the thermometer was as high as 113°. Covering

myself up with all the blankets I could find afforded me the greatest

relief—these defending me as well from the flies as the power of

the sun: occasionally making my negro pour cold water on my head

was another undescribable comfort. I passed the greater part of

the evening with Boo-Khaloom, who had seen the sultan of Mandara

in the day. He complained of being delayed; but was, nevertheless,

still sanguine, and believed the sultan was endeavouring to find

him a Kerdy country, which he was to attack; it, however, never was

the intention of the sultan of Mandara to take any such steps, or

the sheikh’s wish that he should. It was against people who would

create in the Arabs a little more respect for spears and arrows,

that the sheikh wished them to be sent; and this he thought could

not better be accomplished than by consigning them to the sultan of

Mandara, whose natural enemies, as well as his own, were the Felatahs,

the most warlike people in the whole country.

Mandara had been several times conquered by these Felatah tribes,

which extend over an immense space of country: they are found

through the whole of Soudan, quite to Timbuctoo, and at D’jennie

on the Quolla they form the greatest part of the population. A very

populous town, Conally, to the west of D’jennie, is inhabited

wholly by Felatahs[26]. They are a very handsome race of people,

of a deep copper colour, who seldom mix their blood with that of the

negroes, have a peculiar language of their own, and are Moslem. They

bear some resemblance to the Shouaas, although they are quite a

distinct race. South-west of Mandara is a country called Karowa; and

these two countries were formerly governed by one sultan (Kerdy),

until Mandara was wrested from them by the Felatahs of Musfeia and

Kora. The son of the sultan of Karowa, the present sultan, succeeded

in recovering Mandara out of their hands, and has since been able to

keep possession, as they aver, from his having become Moslem—be

that as it may, he is now a Musselman, and an intelligent one for

his situation: his resources are great, and his country by nature

easy to defend. About ten years ago, he found so little defence

from the walls of his then residence Delow, against the attacks of

the Felatahs, that he built the new town Mora, nearly facing the

north, and situated under a semicircular ridge of very picturesque

mountains. These natural barriers form a strong rampart on every

side but one, and he has hitherto withstood the attempts of his

enemies. It is rather a curious circumstance that no Shouaas are to

be found in the Mandara dominions, nor any where to the south of them.

The Sheikh El Kanemy, very shortly after his successes and elevation,

saw the advantage of a powerful ally, such as the sultan of

Mandara, against the Felatahs, who were equally the dread of both

these potentates; the vicinity of Mandara to the Kerdy nations,

as well as the ease with which slaves are obtained from thence,

was also another consideration. The tribes of Shouaas, bordering

on the Mandara frontier to the north and north-east, had always

been in the habit of sending marauding parties into that part of

the country nearest to them, which the sultan had never been able

to prevent; and the sheikh no sooner saw the necessity of bringing

these dwellers in tents into subjection to the sultan of Bornou than

he determined also on making a stipulation for the discontinuance

of their inroads into the Mandara country, the peace of which they

had so long disturbed. This treaty of alliance was confirmed by

the sheikh’s receiving in marriage the daughter of the sultan

of Mandara, and the marriage portion was to be the produce of an

immediate expedition into the Kerdy country, called Musgow, to the

south-east of Mandara, by the united forces of the sheikh and the

sultan. The results were as favourable as the most savage confederacy

could have anticipated—three thousand unfortunate wretches were

dragged from their native wilds and sold to perpetual slavery; while,

probably, double that number were sacrificed to obtain them. These

nuptials are said to have been celebrated with great rejoicing, and

much barbarian splendour: the blood, however, which had been shed

in the path to the altar, one would almost think, was sufficient to

have extinguished the hymeneal torch, and annihilated the bearers.

This treaty of alliance left the sultan of Mandara no other enemies

than the Felatahs to contend with; and his power had increased too

much for him to fear any offensive measures on their part: on the

contrary, he had been at the time of our expedition for some months

seeking for an opportunity to commence hostilities himself[27]. The

Mandara force consists principally of cavalry, which, as their horses

are of a superior breed, have a very imposing appearance. Some of

the Kerdy towns occasionally furnish a few bowmen; but as their only

object is plunder in the event of a victory, on the least appearance

of a contrary result they quickly betake themselves to their mountain

habitations. The principal Mandara towns are eight in number, and all

stand in the valley: these, and the smaller ones by which they are

surrounded, all profess Islamism. The Kerdies are far more numerous;

and their dwellings are seen every where in clusters on the sides,

and even at the top, of the very hills which immediately overlook

the Mandara capital. The fires which were visible in the different

nests of these unfortunates threw a glare upon the bold peaks and

bluff promontories of granite rock by which they were surrounded,

and produced a picturesque and somewhat awful appearance. The dread

in which they hold the sultan has been considerably increased by his

close alliance with the sheikh; and the appearance of such a force

as that which accompanied Barca Gana, bivouacked in the valley, was

a most appalling sight to those who occupied the overhanging heights:

they were fully aware, that for one purpose alone would such a force

visit their country; and which of them were to be the victims,

must have been the cause of most anxious inquietude and alarm to

the whole. By the assistance of a good telescope, I could discover

those who, from the terms on which they were with Mandara, had the

greatest dread stealing off into the very heart of the mountains;

while others came towards Mora, bearing leopard skins, honey, and

slaves, plundered from a neighbouring town, as peace-offerings; also

asses and goats, with which their mountains abound: these were not,

however, on this occasion destined to suffer. The people of Musgow,

whose country it was at first reported (although without foundation)

that the Arabs were to plunder, sent two hundred head of their

fellow-creatures, besides other presents, to the sultan, with more

than fifty horses. Between twenty and thirty horsemen, mounted on

small, fiery, and very well formed steeds of about fourteen hands

high, with a numerous train, were the bearers of these gifts—and

a most extraordinary appearance they made. I saw them on their

leaving the sultan’s palace; and both then, and on their entrance,

they threw themselves on the ground, pouring sand on their heads,

and uttering the most piteous cries. The horsemen, who were chiefs,

were covered only by the skin of a goat or leopard, so contrived

as to hang over the left shoulder, with the head of the animal on

the breast; and being confined round the middle, was made to reach

nearly half way down the thigh, the skin of the tail and legs being

also preserved. On their heads, which were covered with long woolly,

or rather bristly, hair, coming quite over their eyes, they wore a cap

of the skin of the goat, or some fox-like animal; round their arms,

and in their ears, were rings of what to me appeared to be bone;

and round the necks of each were from one to six strings of what I

was assured were the teeth of the enemies they had slain in battle:

teeth and pieces of bone were also pendant from the clotted locks

of their hair, and with the red patches with which their body was

marked in different places, and of which colour also their own

teeth were stained, they really had a most strikingly wild, and

truly savage, appearance. What very much increased the interest I

felt in gazing upon these beings, who, to appearance, were the most

savage of their race, was the positive assertion of Boo-Khaloom

that they were Christians. I had certainly no other argument at

the moment to use, in refutation of his position, but their most

unchristian-like appearance and deportment; in this he agreed,

but added, “Wolla Insara, they are Christians!” Some of them,

however, begging permission to regale themselves on the remains of

a horse, which had died during the night in our camp, gave me, as

I thought, an unanswerable argument against him. I can scarcely,

however, at this moment forget how disconcerted I felt when he

replied, “That is nothing: I certainly never heard of Christians

eating dead horse-flesh, but I know they eat the flesh of swine,

and God knows that is worse!” “Grant me patience!” exclaimed

I to myself; “this is almost too much to bear, and to be silent.”

I endeavoured, by means of one of the Mandara people, to ask some

questions of some of these reputed Christians, but my attempts

were fruitless; they would hold no intercourse with any one; and,

on gaining permission, carried off the carcass of the horse to the

mountains, where, by the fires which blazed during the night, and

the yells that reached our ears, they no doubt held their savage

and brutal feast.

April 24.—The sultan of Mandara had given no intimation whatever

of his intentions with regard to Boo-Khaloom’s destination,

and in consequence the impatience and discontent of the latter

were extreme. Offerings poured in, from all the Kerdy nations;

and the sultan excused himself to Boo-Khaloom for the delay,

on account of the extreme tractability of the people around him,

who, he said, were becoming Musselmans without force. Again Musgow

was mentioned; adding, that the warlike arm of the Arabs, bearing

the sword of the Prophet, might turn their hearts. This hypocrisy,

however, Boo-Khaloom inveighed against most loudly to me, declaring

that the conversion of the Kerdy people would lose him (the sultan)

thousands of slaves, as their constant wars with each other afford

them the means of supplying him abundantly.

My own patience, also, this morning underwent a severe trial. I

applied to Barca Gana, by dawn of day, for one of his men to accompany

me to the mountains; and after some conversation a chief was sent with

me to the house of the suggamah (chief of the town), who sent me to

another, and he begged I might be taken to a third. They all asked me

a hundred questions, which was natural enough; begged powder—looked

at my gun—snapped the lock so often, that I feared they would

break it, exclaiming, “Y-e-o-o-o! wonderful! wonderful!” when

the fire came. At last, however, when I once got it in my hand,

I loaded both the barrels, and after that I could not induce one

of them to put their hands within five yards of it. The last great

man whose house I was taken to cunningly begged me to fire, calling

his slaves to stand round him while I complied with his request:

immediately after he asked for the gun, and carried it into an inner

court. I was kept full half an hour waiting; when about ten slaves

rushed out, gave me the gun, and told the guide to carry me to the

palace. I complained that they had stolen both my flints. Every

body came to look—crowded round me, exclaiming, “Y-e-o-o-o!”

and this was all the redress I could obtain. I soon after found out

that the flints were not my only loss; my pocket handkerchief also,

which several had petitioned for without success, had been stolen.

Arrived at the palace, I was desired to wait in the skiffa. I began

to walk about, but was told that was not allowed, that I must sit

down on the ground: after waiting nearly an hour, during which time

I was desirous more than once to return, but was told by my guide

that it was impossible until the sultan gave orders, I was conducted

into the presence of the chief eunuch; he desired me to stop within

about twelve yards of him, and then said, “The sultan could not

imagine what I wanted at the hills? Did I wish to catch the Kerdies

alone?—that I had better buy them,—he would sell me as many as

I pleased.” He then made some remark, which was not interpreted,

and which created a loud laugh in all the bystanders: the joke was

evidently at my expense, although I was not aware of its point. I

assured him, “that I did not wish to go at all to the hills if the

sultan had the slightest objection, that it was purely curiosity,

and that as to catching Kerdies, I would not take them if given to

me.” This put us all to rights; I gave him some powder, and he

was as civil as he could be to such a kafir as myself.

Six men, armed with large clubs and short daggers, were now desired

to go with me. The sultan’s anxiety for my safety, the eunuch

assured me, was the only reason I had found any difficulty. What

directions these, my satellites, had received, I know not, but they

watched me so closely, appeared so jealous of every stone I picked

up, that I did not venture to sketch the shape of a single hill. It

was now nearly mid-day, and we proceeded about three quarters of a

mile along the valley, which is on the south-west side of the town,

and advanced a little into two of the chasms, which appear in the

southernmost ridge of the chain. In one of these we found a beautiful

stream of water, bubbling from a bed of glittering sand, under two

immense blocks of granite, which seemed to form a rude arch over the

spot. Several naked people, chiefly women and girls, ran from the

place as we approached, and scrambled up the side of the mountain

with the most monkey-like agility. I was abundantly assured that this

chain of mountains, the highest parts of which, in the neighbourhood

of Mandara, do not exceed two thousand five hundred feet, extends

nearly south for more than two months’ journey—how much beyond

that they know not. The only communication, in this direction,

is by means of a few venturesome freed slaves, who penetrate into

these countries with beads and tobes, which are eagerly bought up,

as well as turkadies from Soudan, and slaves and skins are given

in exchange. The nations are very numerous; generally paint, and

stain their bodies of different colours, and live in common, without

any regard to relationship. Large lakes are frequently met with,

plentifully supplied with fish. Mangoes, wild figs, and ground nuts,

are found in the valleys. It does not appear that any other metal

besides iron, which is abundant, has been discovered in these hills:

near Karowa, to the south-west of Mandara, it is most plentiful.

The sound of the sultan’s trumpets, now heard at a distance, created

a strong sensation amongst my attendants; they all declared we must

return instantly; and when I very gently attempted to remonstrate

a little, one of them took hold of the reins of my horse without

any ceremony, turned him round, and led him on, while all the rest

followed towards the town; of course I very quietly submitted,

wondering what was the cause of alarm: it was, however, nothing

but that the Sultan was giving audience, and these gentlemen of

the chamber did not choose to be absent. They left me as soon as

we approached the houses, and I was then instantly surrounded by at

least a hundred others, who were so anxious to put their hands into,

and examine, every thing about me, that I put spurs to my horse,

and made the best of my way to the camp. I was exceedingly fatigued

with my morning’s work, and crept into my tent, where I endured

three hours of misery from a degree of excessive heat, surpassing

all I could have supposed mankind were born to suffer here below.

Barca Gana sent to me soon after, and I found him preparing to

receive one of the chief eunuchs of the sultan in his outward tent;

his people all sitting round him on the sand, with their backs

towards their chief, and eyes inclined downwards. Nothing can be

more solemn than these interviews; not an eye is raised, or a smile

seen, or a word spoken, beyond “Long life to you! A happy old

age! Blessing! Blessing! May you trample on your enemies! Please

God! Please God!” then the fatah, which is seldom or never

omitted. The great man first inquired, “why I went to the hills;

and what I wanted with the stones I had picked up, and put in

a bag which I carried near my saddle?” Barca Gana applied to

me for information, and the bag was sent for. My specimens were

not more than fifteen in number, and the eunuch, laying his hand

on two pieces of fine grained granite, and some quartz, asked,

“how many dollars they would bring in my country?” I smiled,

and told him, “Not one: that I had no object in taking them beyond

curiosity—that we had as much in England as would cover his whole

country, and that I was pleased to find similar natural productions

here. Assure the sultan,” added I, to Barca Gana, “that to take

any thing from any of the inhabitants of these countries is not the

wish of the English king: the sheikh knows our intentions, which

are rather to make them acquainted with European produce; and if

useful to them, send more into their country.” “True, true!”

said Barca Gana: “what have you brought for the sultan?”—and

here I was again in a dilemma. I had only one small looking-glass of

my own; neither knives, scissors, nor beads, although we had cases

of them at Bornou. Something, however, was necessary to be given;

I therefore sent for my trunk, and gave the sultan two French red

imitation shawls, which I had bought for my own use, my own razor,

and a pair of scissors; while for himself the eunuch took my two

remaining pocket-handkerchiefs, and a coloured muslin one, with

which he appeared to be highly delighted.

[Illustration: From a Sketch by Major Denham.

Engraved by E. Finden.

MANDARA MUSICIANS.

_Published Feb. 1826, by John Murray, London._]

April 25.—The news of the presents I had produced brought early

this morning fifteen of the sultan’s sons, with double the number

of followers, to my tent: they all wanted gunpowder, knives, and

scissors; I had however neither one nor the other to give them. Two

or three of the oldest of the princes got a French silk handkerchief

each, and one a pair of cotton socks, and, of course, the others

went away sadly discontented. I this morning ventured to make two

attempts at sketching, but my apparatus and myself were carried

off without ceremony to the sultan. My pencils marking without ink,

created great astonishment, and the facility with which its traces

were effaced by India rubber seemed still more astonishing. My old

antagonist, Malem Chadily, was there, and affected to treat me with

great complaisance: he talked a great deal about me and my country,

which made his hearers repeatedly cry out, “Y-e-o-o-o!” but

what the purport of his observations were I could not make out. I

endeavoured, however, to forget all his former rudeness, took every

thing in good part, and appeared quite upon as good terms with him

as he evidently wished to appear to be with me. Several words were

written both by him and the others, which the rubber left no remains

of; at length the fighi wrote _Bismillah arachmani aracheme_ (in the

name of the great and most merciful God), in large Koran characters;

he made so deep an impression on the paper, that, after using

the Indian rubber, the words still appeared legible: “This will

not quite disappear,” said I. “No, no!” exclaimed the fighi,

exulting; “they are the words of God, delivered to our Prophet! I

defy you to erase them!” “Probably so,” said I; “then

it will be in vain to try.” He showed the paper to the sultan,

and then around him, with great satisfaction; they all exclaimed,

“Y-e-o-o-o! _La illah el Allah! Mohammed rassoul Allah!_”—cast

looks at me expressive of mingled pity and contempt, and I was well

pleased when allowed to take my departure.

The whole of this scene was repeated to Barca Gana in his tent in

the evening, and they all exclaimed “Wonderful! Wonderful!” and

as I did not contradict any part of his account, the fighi thus

addressed me: “Rais, you have seen a miracle! I will show you

hundreds, performed alone by the words of the wonderful book! You

have a book also, you say, but it must be false.—Why? Because it

says nothing of Saidna Mohammed, that is enough.—_Shed! Shed!_

turn! turn! say ‘God is God, and Mohammed is his prophet.’ Sully

(wash), and become clean, and paradise is open to you: without this,

what can save you from eternal fire? Nothing!—Oh! I shall see

you while sitting in the third heaven, in the midst of the flames,

crying out to your friend Barca Gana and myself, ‘_Malem, saherbi!_

(friend), give me a drink or a drop of water!’ but the gulf will

be between us, and then it will be too late.” The Malem’s tears

flowed in abundance during this harangue, and every body appeared

affected by his eloquence.

I felt myself, at this period, extremely uncomfortable; and Barca

Gana, who saw my distress, called me into the inner tent, where nobody

accompanied him, except by invitation. “The fighi,” said he,

“is a _rajal alem_ (clever man).” “Very likely,” said I;

“but he surely might leave me to my own belief, as I leave him

to his.” “_Staffer Allah!_” (God forbid!) said he. “Do not

compare them.” “I do not,” said I, “God knows; but you,

Kashella, should protect me from such repeated annoyances.”

“No,” replied Barca, “in this I cannot interfere. Malem is a

holy man. Please God! you will be enlightened, and I know the sheikh

wishes it; he likes you, and would you stay amongst us, he would

give you fifty slaves of great beauty, build you a house like his

son’s, and give you wives from the families of any of his subjects

you choose!” “Were you to return to England with me, Kashella,

as you sometimes talk about, with the sheikh’s permission, would it

not be disgraceful for you to turn Christian, and remain? Were I to

do as you would have me, how should I answer to my sultan who sent

me?” “God forbid!” said he; “you are comparing our faiths

again. I propose to you eternal paradise, while you would bring me

to ——.” “Not a word more,” said I.—“Good night!”

“Peace be with you! I hope we shall always be friends,” said

he. “Please God!” returned I. “Amen!” said the kashella.

This night we had a more dreadful storm than I ever remember being

out in. The top of my Egyptian tent, which I had preferred bringing on

account of its portability, was carried completely off, and the pole

broken. The brightness of the lightning rendered it more like noon

than midnight: a tamarind-tree was torn up by its roots in the valley

near us; huge masses of stone rolled down the sides of the mountain;

and I crept into a corner of Barca Gana’s outer tent, where slept

his guard; and, although every rag about me was drenched with water,

I was in a short time insensible to the storm which raged around me.

In the morning, however, I suffered considerably from pains in all

my limbs and head. The Arabs, also, were full of complaints, and

extremely dissatisfied with their situation; they loudly exclaimed

against their delay. They had, for days, eaten nothing but a little

flour and water, without fat: the sultan of Mandara would grant

them no supply, and they demanded of Boo-Khaloom to go on, or turn

back. The rain again fell in torrents, which is an Arab’s greatest

dread, and they assembled round Boo-Khaloom’s tent, almost in a

state of mutiny. Boo-Khaloom himself was excessively ill, more,

I believe, from vexation than sickness. He had a long interview

with the sultan, and returned very much irritated: he merely told

me, as he passed, “that we should move in the evening;” and

when I asked, “if every thing went well?” he merely answered,

“_In shallah!_” (please God). The Arabs, from whom he kept his

destination a secret, received him with cheers. Whom they were going

against they cared but little, so long as there was a prospect of

plunder, and the whole camp became a busy scene of preparation.

Two hours after noon we commenced our march through a beautiful valley

to the east of Mora, winding round the hills which overhang the town,

and penetrating into the heart of the mass of mountains nearly to

the south of it. About sunset we halted in a very picturesque spot,

called Hairey, surrounded by a superb amphitheatre of hills. Barca

Gana’s tent was pitched under the shade of one side of an immense

tree, called gubberah, much resembling a fig-tree, although wanting

its delicious fruit; and the remnants of my tent, which had been

mended by his people, and now stood about three feet from the ground,

were placed on the opposite side. The trunks of these trees commonly

measure ten and twelve yards in circumference near the root, and I

have seen them covering more than half an acre of ground with their

wide-spreading branches.

[Illustration: _D. Denham._

_J. & C. Walker Sculp._

PASS OF HAIRY in the _Mandara Mountains_.

_Published as the Act directs Feby. 1826, by John Murray Albemarle

St. London._]

Soon after our arrival, the sultan’s trumpets announced his

approach, and he took up his station, at no great distance, under

a tree of the same kind: he never used a tent, but slept in an

open space, surrounded by his eunuchs. At Hairey are the remains

of a Mandara town, long since destroyed by the Felatahs; parts of

the mud walls were still standing, and under shelter of these the

troops bivouacked. The scorpions, however, made their appearance

in the course of the night in great numbers, and several men were

stung by them: on hearing the disturbance, and learning the cause,

I called my negro, and, striking a light, we killed three in my

tent; one of them was full six inches in length, of the black kind,

exactly resembling those I had seen in Tripoli.

In consequence of Boo-Khaloom’s illness, it was after daylight when

we broke up from our encampment, and probably the mountain scenery,

by which we were surrounded, could scarcely be exceeded in beauty

and richness. On all sides the apparently interminable chain of hills

closed upon our view: in rugged magnificence, and gigantic grandeur,

though not to be compared with the Higher Alps, the Apennines, the

Jura, or even the Sierra Morena, in magnitude, yet by none of these

were they surpassed in picturesque interest. The lofty peaks of Vahmy,

Savah, Joggiday, Munday, Vayah, Moyung, and Memay, with clustering

villages on their stony sides, appeared to the east and west of us;

while Horza, exceeding any of her sister hills in height, as well as

in beauty, appeared before us to the south, with its chasm or break

through which we were to pass; and the winding rugged path we were

about to tread was discernible in the distance. The valley in which

I stood had an elevation superior to that of any part of the kingdom

of Bornou, for we had gradually ascended ever since quitting Kouka;

it was in shape resembling a large pentagon, and conveyed strongly

the idea of its having been the bed or basin of some ancient lake,

for the disappearance of which all hypothesis would be vain and

useless. There were the marks of many outlets, some long and narrow

fissures, through which the waters might have broken; the channel

by which we had entered appearing most likely to have carried off

its contents.

On proceeding through the pass of Horza, where the ascent continued,

its perpendicular sides exceeding two thousand five hundred feet

in height, hung over our heads with a projection almost frightful;

the width of the valley did not exceed five hundred yards, and the

salient and re-entering angles so perfectly corresponded, that one

could almost imagine, if a similar convulsion of nature to that which

separated were to bring its sides again together, they would unite,

and leave no traces of their ever having been disjoined.

It was long after mid-day when we came to the mountain stream called

Mikwa, and it afforded an indescribable relief to our almost famished

horses and ourselves: the road, after quitting the Horza pass, had

been through an extensive and thickly-planted valley, where the tree

gubberah, the tamarind, a gigantic wild fig, and the mangoe (called

by the Mandaras _ungerengera_, and _comonah_ by the Bornouese),

flourished in great numbers and beauty. This was the first spot I had

seen in Africa where Nature seemed at all to have revelled in giving

life to the vegetable kingdom; the leaves presented a bright luxuriant

verdure, and flowers, from a profusion of climbing parasitical plants,

winding round the trunks of the trees, left the imagination in doubt

as to which of them the fair aromatic blossoms that perfumed the

air were indebted for their nourishment. The ground had frequent

irregularities; and broken masses of granite, ten and twelve feet in

height, were lying in several places, but nearly obscured by the thick

underwood growing round them, and by the trees, which had sprung up

out of their crevices. The nearest part of the hills, to which these

blocks could have originally belonged, was distant nearly two miles.

When the animals had drunk we again moved on, and after eighteen

miles of equally verdant country, more thickly wooded, we came, after

sunset, to another stream, near some low hills, called Makkeray,

where we were to halt for a few hours to refresh, and then move

again, so as to commence an attack on the Felatahs, who were said

to be only about sixteen miles distant, with the morning sun.

Our supper, this night, which indeed was also our breakfast,

consisted of a little parched corn pounded and mixed with water,

the only food we had seen since leaving Mora. Nothing could look

more like fighting than the preparations of these Bornou warriors,

although nothing could well be more unlike it than the proof they gave

on the morrow. The closely-linked iron jackets of the chiefs were

all put on, and the sound of their clumsy and ill-shapen hammers,

heard at intervals during the night, told the employment of the

greater part of their followers.

About midnight the signal was given to advance. The moon, which was

in her third quarter, afforded us a clear and beautiful light, while

we moved on silently, and in good order, the sultan of Mandara’s

force marching in parallel columns to our own, and on our right. At

dawn, the whole army halted to sully: my own faith also taught me

a morning prayer, as well as that of a Musselman, though but too

often neglected.

As the day broke on the morning of the 28th of April, a most

interesting scene presented itself. The sultan of Mandara was close

on our flank, mounted on a very beautiful cream-coloured horse,

with several large red marks about him, and followed by his six

favourite eunuchs, and thirty of his sons, all being finely dressed,

and mounted on really superb horses; besides which, they had each

from five to six others, led by as many negroes: the sultan had at

least twelve. Barca Gana’s people all wore their red scarfs, or

bornouses, over their steel jackets, and the whole had a very fine

effect. I took my position at his right hand, and at a spot called

Duggur we entered a very thick wood, in two columns, at the end of

which it was said we were to find the enemy.

During the latter part of the night, while riding on in front with

Maramy, the sheikh’s negro, who had accompanied me from Kouka, and

who appeared to attach himself more closely to me as we approached

danger, we had started several animals of the leopard species,

who ran from us so swiftly, twisting their long tails in the air,

as to prevent our getting near them. We, however, now started one

of a larger kind, which Maramy assured me was so satiated with the

blood of a negro, whose carcass we found lying in the wood, that

he would be easily killed. I rode up to the spot just as a Shouaa

had planted the first spear in him, which passed through the neck, a

little above the shoulder, and came down between the animal’s legs;

he rolled over, broke the spear, and bounded off with the lower half

in his body. Another Shouaa galloped up within two arms’ length, and

thrust a second through his loins; and the savage animal, with a woful

howl, was in the act of springing on his pursuer, when an Arab shot

him through the head with a ball, which killed him on the spot. It

was a male panther (zazerma) of a very large size, and measured,

from the point of the tail to the nose, eight feet two inches; the

skin was yellow, and beautifully marked with orbicular spots on

the upper part of the body, while underneath, and at the throat,

the spots were oblong and irregular, intermixed with white. These

animals are found in great numbers in the woods bordering on Mandara:

there are also leopards, the skins of which I saw, but not in great

numbers. The panthers are as insidious as they are cruel; they will

not attack any thing that is likely to make resistance, but have been

known to watch a child for hours, while near the protection of huts

or people. It will often spring on a grown person, male or female,

while carrying a burthen, but always from behind: the flesh of a child

or of a young kid it will sometimes devour, but when any full-grown

animal falls a prey to its ferocity, it sucks the blood alone.

A range of minor hills, of more recent formation than the granite

chain from which they emanate (which I cannot but suppose to form a

part of El Gibel Gumhr, or Mountains of the Moon), approaches quite

to the skirts of the extensive wood through which we were passing;

and numerous deep ravines, and dry water-courses, rendered the passage

tedious and difficult. On emerging from the wood, the large Felatah

town of Dirkulla was perceivable, and the Arabs were formed in front,

headed by Boo-Khaloom: they were flanked on each side by a large body

of cavalry; and, as they moved on, shouting the Arab war-cry, which is

very inspiring, I thought I could perceive a smile pass between Barca

Gana and his chiefs, at Boo-Khaloom’s expense. Dirkulla was quickly

burnt, and another smaller town near it; and the few inhabitants that

were found in them, who were chiefly infants, and aged persons unable

to escape, were put to death without mercy, or thrown into the flames.

We now came to a third town, in a situation capable of being defended

against assailants ten times as numerous as the besieged: this town

was called Musfeia. It was built on a rising ground between two low

hills at the base of others, forming part of the mass of the Mandara

mountains: a dry wadey extended along the front; beyond the wadey

a swamp; between this and the wood the road was crossed by a deep

ravine, which was not passable for more than two or three horses at a

time. The Felatahs had carried a very strong fence of palisades, well

pointed, and fastened together with thongs of raw hide, six feet in

height, from one hill to the other, and had placed their bowmen behind

the palisades, and on the rising ground, with the wadey before them;

their horse were all under cover of the hills and the town:—this was

a strong position. The Arabs, however, moved on with great gallantry,

without any support or co-operation from the Bornou or Mandara troops,

and notwithstanding the showers of arrows, some poisoned, which

were poured on them from behind the palisades, Boo-Khaloom, with his

handful of Arabs, carried them in about half an hour, and dashed on,

driving the Felatahs up the sides of the hills. The women were every

where seen supplying their protectors with fresh arrows during this

struggle; and when they retreated to the hills, still shooting on

their pursuers, the women assisted by rolling down huge masses of the

rock, previously undermined for the purpose, which killed several of

the Arabs, and wounded others. Barca Gana, and about one hundred of

the Bornou spearmen, now supported Boo-Khaloom, and pierced through

and through some fifty unfortunates who were left wounded near the

stakes. I rode by his side as he pushed on quite into the town, and a

very desperate skirmish took place between Barca Gana’s people and

a small body of the Felatahs. These warriors throw the spear with

great dexterity; and three times I saw the man transfixed to the

earth who was dismounted for the purpose of firing the town, and as

often were those who rushed forward for that purpose sacrificed for

their temerity, by the Felatahs. Barca Gana, whose muscular arm was

almost gigantic, threw eight spears, which all told, some of them at

a distance of thirty or thirty-five yards, and one particularly on

a Felatah chief, who with his own hand had brought four to the ground.

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · “Incidet ictus,

Ingens ad terram duplicato poplite Turnus.”

Had either the Mandara or the sheikh’s troops now moved up boldly,

notwithstanding the defence these people made, and the reinforcements

which showed themselves to the south-west, they must have carried

the town with the heights overlooking it, along which the Arabs were

driving the Felatahs by the terror their miserable guns excited;

but, instead of this, they still kept on the other side of the wadey,

out of reach of the arrows.

[Illustration: From a Sketch by Major Denham.

Engraved by E. Finden.

ATTACK ON MUSFEIA.

_Published Feb. 1826, by John Murray, London._]

The Felatahs seeing their backwardness, now made an attack in their

turn: the arrows fell so thick that there was no standing against

them, and the Arabs gave way. The Felatah horse now came on; and

had not the little band round Barca Gana, and Boo-Khaloom, with a

few of his mounted Arabs, given them a very spirited check, not one

of us would probably have lived to see the following day: as it was,

Barca Gana had three horses hit under him, two of which died almost

immediately, the arrows being poisoned, and poor Boo-Khaloom’s

horse and himself received their death-wounds by arrows of the same

description. My horse was badly wounded in the neck, just above the

shoulder, and in the near hind leg: an arrow had struck me in the

face as it passed, merely drawing the blood, and I had two sticking

in my bornouse. The Arabs had suffered terribly; most of them had

two or three wounds, and one dropped near me with five sticking

in his head alone: two of Boo-Khaloom’s slaves were killed also,

near his person.

No sooner did the Mandara and Bornou troops see the defeat of the

Arabs, than they, one and all, took to flight in the most dastardly

manner, without having once been exposed to the arrows of the enemy,

and in the utmost confusion. The sultan of Mandara led the way, who

was prepared to take advantage of whatever plunder the success of

the Arabs might throw in his way, but no less determined to leave the

field the moment the fortune of the day appeared to be against them.

I now for the first time, as I saw Barca Gana on a fresh horse,

lamented my own folly in so exposing myself, badly prepared as I was

for accidents. If either of my horse’s wounds were from poisoned

arrows, I felt that nothing could save me: however there was not much

time for reflection; we instantly became a flying mass, and plunged,

in the greatest disorder, into that wood we had but a few hours

before moved through with order, and very different feelings. I had

got a little to the westward of Barca Gana, in the confusion which

took place on our passing the ravine which had been left just in our

rear, and where upwards of one hundred of the Bornowy were speared

by the Felatahs, and was following at a round gallop the steps of

one of the Mandara eunuchs, who, I observed, kept a good look out,

his head being constantly turned over his left shoulder, with a face

expressive of the greatest dismay—when the cries behind, of the

Felatah horse pursuing, made us both quicken our paces. The spur,

however, had the effect of incapacitating my beast altogether,

as the arrow, I found afterwards, had reached the shoulder-bone,

and in passing over some rough ground, he stumbled and fell. Almost

before I was on my legs, the Felatahs were upon me; I had, however,

kept hold of the bridle, and seizing a pistol from the holsters,

I presented it at two of these ferocious savages, who were pressing

me with their spears: they instantly went off; but another who came

on me more boldly, just as I was endeavouring to mount, received the

contents somewhere in his left shoulder, and again I was enabled to

place my foot in the stirrup. Remounted, I again pushed my retreat;

I had not, however, proceeded many hundred yards, when my horse

again came down, with such violence as to throw me against a tree

at a considerable distance; and alarmed at the horses behind him,

he quickly got up and escaped, leaving me on foot and unarmed.

The eunuch and his four followers were here butchered, after a very

slight resistance, and stripped within a few yards of me: their

cries were dreadful; and even now the feelings of that moment are

fresh in my memory: my hopes of life were too faint to deserve the

name. I was almost instantly surrounded, and incapable of making

the least resistance, as I was unarmed—was as speedily stripped,

and whilst attempting first to save my shirt and then my trowsers,

I was thrown on the ground. My pursuers made several thrusts at me

with their spears, that badly wounded my hands in two places, and

slightly my body, just under my ribs on the right side: indeed, I saw

nothing before me but the same cruel death I had seen unmercifully

inflicted on the few who had fallen into the power of those who now

had possession of me; and they were alone prevented from murdering

me, in the first instance, I am persuaded, by the fear of injuring

the value of my clothes, which appeared to them a rich booty—but

it was otherwise ordained.

My shirt was now absolutely torn off my back, and I was left

perfectly naked. When my plunderers began to quarrel for the spoil,

the idea of escape came like lightning across my mind, and without

a moment’s hesitation or reflection I crept under the belly of

the horse nearest me, and started as fast as my legs could carry

me for the thickest part of the wood: two of the Felatahs followed,

and I ran on to the eastward, knowing that our stragglers would be

in that direction, but still almost as much afraid of friends as

foes. My pursuers gained on me, for the prickly underwood not only

obstructed my passage, but tore my flesh miserably; and the delight

with which I saw a mountain-stream gliding along at the bottom of

a deep ravine cannot be imagined. My strength had almost left me,

and I seized the young branches issuing from the stump of a large

tree which overhung the ravine, for the purpose of letting myself

down into the water, as the sides were precipitous, when, under my

hand, as the branch yielded to the weight of my body, a large liffa,

the worst kind of serpent this country produces, rose from its coil,

as if in the very act of striking. I was horror-struck, and deprived

for a moment of all recollection—the branch slipped from my hand,

and I tumbled headlong into the water beneath; this shock, however,

revived me, and with three strokes of my arms I reached the opposite

bank, which, with difficulty, I crawled up; and then, for the first

time, felt myself safe from my pursuers.

Scarcely had I audibly congratulated myself on my escape, when the

forlorn and wretched situation in which I was, without even a rag

to cover me, flashed with all its force upon my imagination. I was

perfectly collected, though fully alive to all the danger to which my

state exposed me, and had already begun to plan my night’s rest,

in the top of one of the tamarind-trees, in order to escape the

panthers which, as I had seen, abounded in these woods, when the

idea of the liffas, almost as numerous, and equally to be dreaded,

excited a shudder of despair.

I now saw horsemen through the trees, still farther to the east,

and determined on reaching them, if possible, whether friends

or enemies; and the feelings of gratitude and joy with which

I recognised Barca Gana and Boo-Khaloom, with about six Arabs,

although they also were pressed closely by a party of the Felatahs,

was beyond description. The guns and pistols of the Arab sheikhs

kept the Felatahs in check, and assisted in some measure the retreat

of the footmen. I hailed them with all my might; but the noise and

confusion which prevailed, from the cries of those who were falling

under the Felatah spears, the cheers of the Arabs rallying and their

enemies pursuing, would have drowned all attempts to make myself

heard, had not Maramy, the sheikh’s negro, seen and known me at a

distance. To this man I was indebted for my second escape; riding up

to me, he assisted me to mount behind him, while the arrows whistled

over our heads, and we then galloped off to the rear as fast as his

wounded horse could carry us: after we had gone a mile or two, and

the pursuit had something cooled, in consequence of all the baggage

having been abandoned to the enemy, Boo-Khaloom rode up to me, and

desired one of the Arabs to cover me with a bornouse. This was a

most welcome relief, for the burning sun had already begun to blister

my neck and back, and gave me the greatest pain. Shortly after, the

effects of the poisoned wound in his foot caused our excellent friend

to breathe his last: Maramy exclaimed, “Look, look! Boo-Khaloom

is dead!” I turned my head, almost as great an exertion as I was

capable of, and saw him drop from the horse into the arms of his

favourite Arab—he never spoke after. They said he had only swooned;

there was no water, however, to revive him; and about an hour after,

when we came to Makkeray, he was past the reach of restoratives.

About the time Boo-Khaloom dropped, Barca Gana ordered a slave to

bring me a horse, from which he had just dismounted, being the

third that had been wounded under him in the course of the day;

his wound was in the chest. Maramy cried, “_Sidi rais!_ do not

mount him; he will die!” In a moment, for only a moment was given

me, I decided on remaining with Maramy. Two Arabs, panting with

fatigue, then seized the bridle, mounted, and pressed their retreat:

in less than half an hour he fell to rise no more, and both the

Arabs were butchered before they could recover themselves. Had we

not now arrived at the water as we did, I do not think it possible

that I could have supported the thirst by which I was consuming. I

tried several times to speak in reply to Maramy’s directions to

hold tight, when we came to breaks or inequalities in the ground;

but it was impossible; and a painful straining at the stomach and

throat was the only effect produced by the effort.

On coming to the stream, the horses, with blood gushing from their

nostrils, rushed into the shallow water, and, letting myself down

from behind Maramy, I knelt down amongst them, and seemed to imbibe

new life by the copious draughts of the muddy beverage which I

swallowed. Of what followed I have no recollection: Maramy told me

afterwards that I staggered across the stream, which was not above my

hips, and fell down at the foot of a tree on the other side. About

a quarter of an hour’s halt took place here for the benefit of

stragglers, and to tie poor Boo-Khaloom’s body on a horse’s back,

at the end of which Maramy awoke me from a deep sleep, and I found

my strength wonderfully increased: not so, however, our horse, for

he had become stiff, and could scarcely move. As I learnt afterwards,

a conversation had taken place about me, while I slept, which rendered

my obligations to Maramy still greater: he had reported to Barca Gana

the state of his horse, and the impossibility of carrying me on,

when the chief, irritated by his losses and defeat, as well as at

my having refused his horse, by which means, he said, it had come

by its death, replied, “Then leave him behind. By the head of the

Prophet! believers enough have breathed their last to-day. What

is there extraordinary in a Christian’s death?” “_Raas il

Nibbe-Salaam Yassarat il le mated el Yeom ash min gieb l’can e mut

Nesserani Wahad_.” My old antagonist Malem Chadily replied, “No,

God has preserved him; let us not forsake him!” Maramy returned to

the tree, and said “his heart told him what to do.” He awoke me,

assisted me to mount, and we moved on as before, but with tottering

steps and less speed. The effect produced on the horses that were

wounded by poisoned arrows was extraordinary: immediately after

drinking they dropped, and instantly died, the blood gushing from

their nose, mouth, and ears. More than thirty horses were lost at

this spot from the effects of the poison.

In this way we continued our retreat, and it was after midnight when

we halted in the sultan of Mandara’s territory. Riding more than

forty-five miles, in such an unprovided state, on the bare back of

a lean horse, the powerful consequences may be imagined. I was in a

deplorable state the whole night; and notwithstanding the irritation

of the flesh wounds was augmented by the woollen covering the Arab

had thrown over me, teeming as it was with vermin, it was evening

the next day before I could get a shirt, when one man who had two,

both of which he had worn eight or ten days at least, gave me one,

on a promise of getting a new one at Kouka. Barca Gana, who had no

tent but the one he had left behind him with his women at Mora, on

our advance, could offer me no shelter; and he was besides so ill,

or chagrined, as to remain invisible the whole day. I could scarcely

turn from one side to the other, but still, except at intervals when

my friend Maramy supplied me with a drink made from parched corn,

bruised, and steeped in water, a grateful beverage, I slept under

a tree nearly the whole night and day, of the 29th. Towards the

evening I was exceedingly disordered and ill, and had a pleasing

proof of the kind-heartedness of a Bornouese.

Mai Meegamy, the dethroned sultan of a country to the south-west of

Angornou, and now subject to the sheikh, took me by the hand as I had

crawled out of my nest for a few minutes, and with many exclamations

of sorrow, and a countenance full of commiseration, led me to his

leather tent, and, sitting down quickly, disrobed himself of his

trowsers, insisting I should put them on. Really, no act of charity

could exceed this! I was exceedingly affected at so unexpected a

friend, for I had scarcely seen, or spoken three words to him; but

not so much so as himself, when I refused to accept of them:—he shed

tears in abundance; and thinking, which was the fact, that I conceived

he had offered the only ones he had, immediately called a slave,

whom he stripped of those necessary appendages to a man’s dress,

according to our ideas, and putting them on himself, insisted again

on my taking those he had first offered me. I accepted this offer,

and thanked him with a full heart; and Meegamy was my great friend

from that moment until I quitted the sheikh’s dominions.

We found that forty-five of the Arabs were killed, and nearly

all wounded; their camels, and every thing they possessed,

lost. Some of them had been unable to keep up on the retreat,

but had huddled together in threes and fours during the night,

and by showing resistance, and pointing their guns, had driven the

Felatahs off. Their wounds were some of them exceedingly severe,

and several died during the day and night of the 29th; their bodies,

as well as poor Boo-Khaloom’s, becoming instantly swollen and

black; and sometimes, immediately after death, blood issuing

from the nose and mouth, which the Bornou people declared to be

in consequence of the arrows having been poisoned. The surviving

Arabs, who had now lost all their former arrogance and boasting,

humbly entreated Barca Gana to supply them with a little corn to save

them from starving. The sultan of Mandara behaved to them unkindly,

though not worse than they deserved, refused all manner of supplies,

and kept Boo-Khaloom’s saddle, horse-trappings, and the clothes

in which he died. He also began making preparations for defending

himself against the Felatahs, who, he feared, might pay him a visit;

and on the morning of the 30th April we left Mora, heartily wishing

them success, should they make the attempt.

Boo-Khaloom’s imprudence in having suffered himself to be persuaded

to attack the Felatahs became now apparent, as although, in case

of his overcoming them, he might have appropriated to himself

all the slaves, both male and female, that he found amongst them;

yet the Felatahs themselves were Moslem, and he could not have made

them slaves. He was, however, most likely deceived by promises of a

Kerdy country to plunder, in the event of his success against these

powerful people, alike the dreaded enemies of the sheikh and the

sultan of Mandara.

My wounded horse, which had been caught towards the evening of the

fight by the Shouaas, and brought to me, was in too bad a state for

me to mount, and Barca Gana procured me another. My pistols had been

stolen from the holsters; but, fortunately, my saddle and bridle,

though broken, remained. Thus ended our most unsuccessful expedition;

it had, however, injustice and oppression for its basis, and who

can regret its failure?

We returned with great expedition, considering the wretched state we

were in. On the sixth day after our departure from Mora, we arrived

in Kouka, a distance of one hundred and eighty miles: the wounded

Arabs remained behind, being unable to keep up with the chief, and

did not arrive until four days after us. I suffered much, both in

mind and body, but complained not; indeed all complaint would have

been ill-timed, where few were enduring less than myself. My black

servant had lost mule, canteens, and every thing, principally from

keeping too near me in the action; and, by his obeying implicitly

the strict orders I had given him not to fire on the Felatahs, he had

narrowly escaped with his life. Bruised and lame, he could render me

no assistance, and usually came in some hours after we had halted

on our resting-ground. In the mid-day halts I usually crept under

Mai Meegamy’s tent; but at night I laid me down on the ground,

close to that of Barca Gana, in order that my horse might get a feed

of corn. I always fell into a sound sleep at night, as soon as I lay

down, after drinking Maramy’s beverage, who had supplied me with a

little bag of parched corn, which he had procured at Mora; and about

midnight a slave of the chief, whose name was, most singularly like my

own, Denhamah, always awoke me, to eat some gussub, paste, and fat,

mixed with a green herb called _meloheia_ in Arabic. This was thrust

out from under Barca Gana’s tent, and consisted generally of his

leavings: pride was sometimes nearly choking me, but hunger was the

paramount feeling: I smothered the former, ate, and was thankful. It

was in reality a great kindness; for besides myself and the chief,

not one, I believe, in the remnant of our army, tasted any thing but

_engagy_, parched corn and cold water, during the whole six days of

our march. On the night of the 4th of May we arrived at Angornou.

The extreme kindness of the sheikh, however, was some consolation

to me, after all my sufferings. He said, in a letter to Barca Gana,

“that he should have grieved had any thing serious happened to me;

that my escape was providential, and a proof of God’s protection;

and that my head was saved for good purposes.” He also sent me

some linen he had procured from our huts at Kouka, and a dress of the

country; and the interest taken by their governor in the fate of such

a kaffir, as they thought me, increased exceedingly the respect of

his servants towards me. The next morning we arrived at the capital.

I presented Barca Gana with a brace of French ornamented pistols,

and with pink taffeta sufficient for a tobe, which he received with

great delight. The sheikh sent me a horse in lieu of the wounded

one which I had left at Merty, with but small hopes of his recovery;

and my bruises and wounds, which were at first but trifling, got well

so surprisingly quick, from the extreme low diet I had from necessity

been kept to, that I was not in so bad a condition as might have been

expected. My losses, however, were severe; my trunk with nearly all my

linen, my canteens, a mule, my azimuth compass, my drawing-case, with

a sketch of the hills, were also lost, although I obtained another

sketch the morning of our quitting Mora. Such events, however, must

sometimes be the consequence of exploring countries like these. The

places I had visited were full of interest, and could never have

been seen, except by means of a military expedition, without still

greater risk. The dominions of the sheikh, in consequence of his

being so extraordinarily enlightened for an inhabitant of central

Africa, appear to be open to us; but on looking around, when one

sees dethroned sultans nearly as common as bankrupts in England;

where the strong arm for the time being has hitherto changed the

destiny of kings and kingdoms; no discoveries can be accomplished

beyond this, without the greatest hazard both of life and property.

The sheikh laid all the blame of the defeat upon the Mandara troops,

and assured me that I should see how his people fought when he was

with them, in an expedition which he contemplated against Munga, a

country to the west. I told him that I was quite ready to accompany

him; and this assurance seemed to give him particular satisfaction.

Of the Mandara chain, and its surrounding and incumbent hills,

though full of interest, I regret my inability to give a more perfect

account. Such few observations, however, as struck me on my visiting

them, I shall lay before the reader. It is on occasions like this,

that a traveller laments the want of extensive scientific knowledge. I

must therefore request those under whose eye these remarks may come

to regard them in the light they are offered, not as pretensions

to knowledge, but merely very humble endeavours at communicating

information to the best of my ability.

The elevation gradually increases in advancing towards the equator;

and the soil, on approaching Delow, where the northernmost point

of the Mandara chain commences, is covered with a glittering

micaceous sand, principally decomposed granite, which forms a

productive earth. The hills extend in apparently interminable ridges

east-south-east, south-west, and west; while to the south several

masses or systems of hills, if I may so express myself, spread

themselves out in almost every picturesque form and direction that

can be imagined. Those nearest the eye apparently do not exceed

2500 feet in height; but the towering peaks which appear in the

distance are several thousand feet higher. They are composed of

enormous blocks of granite, both detached and reclining on each

other, presenting the most rugged faces and sides. The interstices

and fissures appeared to be filled with a yellow quartzose earth, in

which were growing mosses and lichens: trees of considerable size also

grow from between them. On almost all the hills that I approached,

clusters of huts were seen in several places towards the centre,

and sometimes quite at the summit; generally on the flats of the

ridges. At the base of these mountains, and also at a considerable

elevation on their sides, are incumbent masses of what appeared

to be the decomposed fragments of primitive rocks recompounded,

and united anew by a species of natural cement. At some distance

from the base of those which I ascended from the valley of Mora,

were collections of quartzose rocks, of great variety and colour;

fragments of hornblende, and several large abutments of porphyroidal

rocks. About one hundred yards above the spring which I have before

mentioned, in a space between two projecting masses of rock, were

numerous shells, some petrified and finely preserved, while others

were perforated by insects, worm-eaten, and destroyed: they were

confusedly mixed with fragments of granite, quartz, sand and clay;

and in some cases adhered to pieces of the composition rocks: the

greater part were of the oyster kind. Various specimens of these,

with pieces of every variety of the structure of the hills, I had

collected, but they were all lost in the general confusion of the

battle; and on the return of the army I was unable to do more than

procure a few specimens of the northernmost part of the mountains;

and the half of these were lost by my negro.

Of the extent of this chain, or rather these groups of mountains,

I can form no idea, except from the information of the Mandara

people. I have met with a man who (by the way) wanted to persuade

me that he was a son of Hornemann by his slave, although, from his

appearance, he must have been born ten years before that unfortunate

traveller entered this country. He said he had been twenty days south

of Mandara, to a country called Adamowa, which he described as being

situated in the centre of a plain surrounded by mountains ten times

higher than any we could see; that he went first to Mona or Monana,

which was five days, and then to Bogo, which was seven more; and

here, for one Soudan tobe, the sultan gave him four slaves. After

eight days’ travelling from this latter country, he arrived at

Adamowa. These people, he says (that is, the Kerdies on the hills;

for Adamowa itself is occupied by Felatahs), eat the flesh of

horses, mules, and asses, or of any wild animal that they kill:

nobody but the sultans and their children are clothed; all the rest

of the nation go naked; the men sometimes wear a skin round the loins,

but the women nothing. This man, who was called Kaid-Moussa-ben-Yusuf

(Hornemann’s name), spoke to me of several extensive lakes which he

had seen in this journey, and also described with great clearness

a river running between two very high ridges of the mountains,

which he crossed previous to arriving at Adamowa. This river he

declared to run from the west, and to be the same as the Quolla or

Quana at Nyffe, Kora, and at Raka, but not the same as the river

at Kano, which had nothing to do with the Shary, and which ran

into the Tchad; but the main body of the water ran on to the south

of Begharmi, was then called the D’Ago, and went eastward to the

Nile. Kaid-Moussa was a very intelligent fellow, had visited Nyffe,

Raka, Waday, and Darfur; by which latter place also, he said this

river passed. He was most particularly clear in all his accounts,

and his statement agreed in some points with the information a Shouaa

named Dreess-boo-Raas-ben-aboo-Deleel had given me; therefore I was

the more inclined to pay attention to it. To the south of this river,

the population is entirely Kerdy, until the Great Desert. This desert

is passed several times in the year by kafilas with white people,

not Christians, who bring goods from the great sea: some of these

reach Adamowa. He himself saw white loaf sugar, such as the merchants

brought here from Tripoli to the sheikh, and a gun or two, with

metal pots and pans, and arrack (rum). The inhabitants were unanimous

in declaring these mountains to extend southward for two months’

journey; and in describing them, Yusuf called them “kou kora, kora,

kantaga,”—mountains large, large, moon mountains. And from the

increased love of enterprise apparent in our rising generation, we

may one day hope to be as well acquainted with the true character

of these stupendous mountains as with the lofty peaks of the Andes.

The extreme southern peak which I could discern was that called

Mendify, which rose into the air with singular boldness. It was said

to be a distance from Musfeia of two long days’ journey,—say

thirty-five miles. At that distance, it had all the character of an

alpine peak, of a most patriarchal height. I could perceive with

a glass other mountains extending from its sides, the forms of

which bore a tranquil character, compared with the arid and steep

peaks which overlooked them. It resembled very much in appearance

“Les Arguilles,” as they appear looking at them from the

Mer-de-Glace. The following outline may serve to show their shape

and character.

[Illustration]

Iron is found in abundance in all the Mandara hills; but no other

metal, that I was informed of. All the houses or huts at Mandara have

outer doors to the court, which are made of pieces of wood, hasped

together with iron. They make hinges, small bars, and a sort of hoe

used to weed the corn, and send them for sale to the Bornou towns. The

iron they use is mostly brought from the west near Karowa. I went

to the house of a blacksmith, for the purpose of seeing some of the

metal in its natural state, and found four men with a very rude forge,

formed by a hole in the sand: the bellows were two kid skins, with

an iron tube fixed in each, which tubes were conveyed underneath the

fire. The wind was produced by a man blowing these skins, which were

open at the top to let in the air. Their hammers were two pieces of

iron, weighing about two pounds each, and a coarse piece of the same

metal for an anvil; and considering their implements, they worked

with some tact. I regretted much that I had not an English hammer

to give them. Large masses of the iron, as nature produces it, were

lying about; and they appeared to me as so many rusty earthy masses.

In appearance, the people of Mandara differ from the Bornouese,

or Kanoury (as they call themselves); and the difference is all in

favour of the former. The men are intelligent and lively, with high

though flat foreheads, large sparkling eyes, wiry curled hair, noses

inclining to the aquiline, and features altogether less flattened

than the Bornouese. The women are proverbial for their good looks,—I

cannot say beauty. I must allow them, however, all their acknowledged

celebrity of form: they are certainly singularly gifted with the

Hottentot protuberance; their hands and feet are delightfully small;

and as these are all esteemed qualifications in the eye of a Turk,

Mandara slaves will always obtain an advanced price. Certainly I never

saw so much of them as when sporting in their native wilds, with not

so much covering on as one of Eve’s fig-leaves. A man who took me

to be a Moorish merchant led me to his house, in order to show me

the best looking slaves in Mandara. He had three, all under sixteen,

yet quite women; for these are precocious climes; and certainly,

for negresses, they were the most pleasing and perfectly formed I had

ever seen. They had simply a piece of blue striped linen round their

loins, yet they knew not their nakedness. Many of these beauties

are to be seen at Kouka and Angornou: they are never, however,

exposed in the fsug, but sold in the houses of the merchants. So

much depends on the magnitude of those attractions for which their

southern sisters are so celebrated, that I have known a man about

to make a purchase of one out of three, regardless of the charms

of feature, turn their faces from him, and looking at them behind,

just above the hips, as we dress a line of soldiers, make choice of

her whose person most projected beyond that of her companions.

The day before the Rhamadan, which commenced on the 13th instant

(May), I had an interview with the sheikh, who mentioned his intended

departure for Munga; and after some conversation, it was agreed that

I should proceed to Old Bornou or Birnie; and after seeing that part

of the country, the ruins of the town of Gambarou, and the river of

that name, which is said to come from Soudan; that I should follow

its course, and join him at a place called Kabshary on the same

river, to which he was about to proceed by a different route. The

whole population was in confusion at the departure of this ghrazzie,

and nearly all the people of Kouka, with the exception of the kadi,

were to accompany the sheikh. Previously, however, to his departure,

he had determined on sending off a courier to Tripoli, with an account

of Boo Khaloom’s death, and we availed ourselves of the opportunity

by writing to England. On the 17th of May the courier departed; and

on the 18th the sheikh began his march, and bivouacked at Dowergoo.

[Illustration]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 23: _Silsel_: irons placed round the necks of refractory

slaves.]

[Footnote 24: The band also sang some extempore verses on my joining

them, of which the following is nearly a literal translation, and

delighted their chief excessively.

Christian man he come,

Friend of us and sheikhobe;

White man, when he hear my song,

Fine new tobe give me.

Christian man all white,

And dollars white have he;

Kanourie like him come,

Black man’s friend to be.

See Felatah, how he run;

Barca Gana shake his spear:

White man carry two-mouthed gun,

That’s what make Felatah fear.]

[Footnote 25: A general term for unbelievers.]

[Footnote 26: Abdul Kassum-ben-Maliki came from this town, and speaks

of his people as having great influence with the sultan of Timbuctoo:

their language is alike; and he conversed as freely with a Felatah

slave from Musfeia, as if she had been his countrywoman, although they

were born probably fifteen hundred miles distant from each other.]

[Footnote 27: A deputation of twenty-seven from Musfeia and Zouay

had but a short time before arrived at Mora, for the purpose of

arranging some detention of property belonging to them, which had

been seized by the Mandara people. They were admitted to a parley;

but had no sooner quitted the presence of the sultan, than the throats

of all of them were instantly cut by the eunuchs and their slaves.]