prince of Tóto; rocky ground, and a small rivulet or brook.
11th. About two o’clock in the afternoon arrive in Tóto, a large town
protected on the west side by a woody fáddama or valley, and on the
other sides surrounded with a clay wall. The town is said to be of about
the same enormous dimensions as Kanó (that is to say, about fifteen
miles in circuit), but more densely inhabited, and divided into two
distinct quarters, the western and the eastern, the former being
inhabited by the natives, or the Katáwa[155], as they are called by the
Háusa people, who have a distinct language (probably related to the Bása
and Núpe languages), and are pagans; while the eastern quarter is the
dwelling-place of the Moslemín, viz. people from Kátsena, Kanó, and
Bórnu, who have a chief for themselves, called el Imám, a name corrupted
by the Háusa people into that of Limáng. This Limáng is regarded in
general by the travellers as the prince; but, according to more accurate
information, the town and province of Tóto seems to be under the direct
government of the sultan of Tánda (not Fánda), whose name is Shémmage,
and who receives a great quantity of European goods, chiefly muskets,
which form his strength, from the inhabitants of Tágara or Kotú-n-karfi,
as the district is generally called by the Háusa people, near the
junction of the Bénuwé with the Kwára. This prince, by his energy and
watchfulness, had kept the conquering Fúlbe in awe; and he prohibited,
with the utmost diligence, suspicious people from being admitted into
his town. He may therefore, even after the fall of Fánda or Pánda, which
was in a wretched condition, and was taken by treachery in the beginning
of 1853, have preserved his independence; but I am not quite sure about
it. Be this as it may, surrounded on all sides by enemies, he will
scarcely be able to hold out long. Tóto, as far as I was able to make
out (although there does not appear to have ever been much intercourse
between the two towns), is distant from Fánda from thirty to thirty-five
miles E.N.E. It is, besides, three days from Kotú-n-karfi, a place the
position of which is well established, and four days from Sansan
Ederísu, a place likewise well known from the Niger expeditions, so that
we can place Tóto with tolerable exactness.
I here subjoin the itinerary from Tóto to Sansan Ederísu:—
1st day. Zángó-n-kará, a village inhabited by Núpe people, and situated
in a valley tolerably wooded.
2nd. Agáya, a large town surrounded with a clay wall, dependent on the
governor of Záriya, but inhabited by Núpe people. Soon after you leave
Zángó-n-kará in the morning, you cross a river called Gúrma by my
informant, who crossed it in a boat; it runs northward. The country is
well cultivated, and many villages are scattered about.
3rd. Kúrremi, a town surrounded with a stockade and a clay wall, but of
smaller size than Agáya. A small rivulet, not navigable, skirts the
town, running northwards; it is called Kúdduba.
4th. Sansan Ederísu, a large open village not far from the shore of the
Kwára, opposite Égga. The country well cultivated.
I will now join Katab with Kanó.
ROUTE FROM KANÓ TO KATAB.
1st day. Bebéji, the town mentioned above; in the morning you cross a
small watercourse, with a village on its south border, called Báki-n-
kogí, then pass Góra, and in the afternoon Mádobí, with a brook running
towards Bebéji; arrive here at sunset.
2nd. Báuda, a large town surrounded with a clay wall, and lying around a
rocky eminence. In the morning cross the rivulet Kamánda. A short march.
Báuda is the furthest town of Kanó in this direction.
3rd. Páke, an open place on a deep rivulet, which (often) is not
fordable; it runs westward, and seems to be identical with the kogí-n-
Kubútutu, which is crossed on the road from Bebéji to Záriya, near the
village Ánsho. There are several small hamlets on the roadside; but
cultivation is not very extensive. Arrive a little after noon.
4th. Kó-zintú, a walled place, the huts consisting of reeds; arrive at
noon. No village on the road, but a good deal of cultivation.
5th. Zintú, a large walled place with clay houses, on a considerable
rivulet passing by Záriya, and running westward. It is said not to be
fordable (probably only in the rainy season), two boats being constantly
employed for carrying over travellers. It has no fish. I think it is the
same river with the kogí-n-Gédia, which is crossed on the road from Kanó
to Sabóngarí. A short march.
6th. Káuru, a large town surrounded with a clay wall and lying on a
considerable and navigable rivulet running eastward (not westward);
arrive in the afternoon. The country is covered with dense forest.
7th. Sháffero, the village mentioned in p. 564.
8th. Gída-n-bakáya, an open village inhabited by pagans, but under the
dominion of the Fúlbe; arrive at noon, having crossed in the morning the
Kadúna running westward. The country very woody.
9th. Katab; pass in the morning the village Kalá.
ROUTE FROM KANÓ TO YÁKOBA.
1st day. You arrive early in the forenoon at Sákwa, a place situated on
a running stream called “kogí-n-Sákwa.” In the morning you pass the
village of Dawáki. Sákwa was visited by Clapperton.
2nd. About two o’clock P.M. arrive at Dell, a considerable town said to
be larger than Tasáwa, after having passed another populous place, not
much less than Dell, called Gérko. The whole country is well cultivated;
and there is but little jéji, or uncultivated land, on the road. In
Róro, S.W. about one day from Dell, there are mines.
3rd. A little after noon arrive at Párna, a place not so large as Dell,
and situated at the foot of a mountain, by the side of a small rivulet.
During the morning you pass a village named Gédia, between which and
Párna there is a little wilderness.
4th. At noon you arrive at a place called Tébki (probably so called from
a pond), situated at the foot of the mountains, and the frontier-place
between the province of Kanó and that of Báuchi. The whole march leads
through a wild mountainous country, covered with wood.
5th. Arrive in the morning at Sabó-n-garí, a place situated in the
plain, and important on account of the road from Záriya (the details of
which I shall directly subjoin) joining in this place the track which
leads from Kanó. The country is well cultivated; and the people during
the rainy season dwell in huts, scattered through the fields, while
during the dry season they retire to the tops of the mountains. Soon
after leaving Tébki in the morning, you cross a small brook, and then
pass a place called Shébshi.
6th. A place whose name I cannot make out at present.
7th. Zaránda, a considerable village situated in the plain, while
towards the east rises a very lofty mountain mass, said to be the
highest mountain in Bolóboló or Báuchi. The whole country is under
cultivation; and hamlets or small villages are met in every direction.
Close to Zaránda is a rivulet, said by my informant to run
eastward.[156] Arrive in the afternoon.
8th. Yákoba (thus the name is generally pronounced, although more
correctly the accent ought to be given to the second syllable, thus,
Yakóba, or rather Yakúba) the capital of the province of Bolóboló or
Báuchi, founded by Yakúb the father of the present governor Ibrahíma.
Selmán (properly ʿOthmán), the name given by this informant to the
governor, is, I think, the name of his brother, who during his long
absence has the government of the town. The town is large, and has
twelve gates; _there is no running water near the town_, and the
inhabitants supply themselves from ráfona, or hollows. All the country
is under cultivation, and the neighbourhood is rich in hamlets. The road
keeps along the plain, all laid out in fields, shaded with trees.
The character of this town, which I have thus laid down from
information, has, in opposition to the prevalent opinion that Yákoba is
situated on a river, been entirely confirmed by Mr. Vogel’s very
important journey. Coming from the east, he found Yákoba situated on a
stony elevated level, without any running stream, but well supplied with
water, which collects round the walls of the town. He has found its
position to be 10° 47′ 30″ N. lat., and 9° 28′ 0″ E. of Gr. In
consequence of the long absence of the governor Ibrahíma (who, having
sworn not to return to his capital until he shall have subdued a warlike
pagan tribe, has been living now seven years in his “sansánne,” or
encampment, about 65 miles N.N.W. from the capital), Mr. Vogel found
Yákoba rather thinly inhabited. He has not yet forwarded an account of
the elevation of this place; but I believe that it will not be much less
than two thousand feet.[157]
ROUTE FROM KATAB TO YÁKOBA.
1st day. About ʿaser reach Alhájji, a considerable village belonging to
the province of Zegzeg, and situated at the west foot of a mountain. The
whole road leads through forest.
2nd. About noon arrive at Sabó-n-bírni, a small village consisting of
shíbki. The road is partly covered with forest, and partly cultivated;
but there are no villages, the people, during the rainy season, coming
from a great distance to cultivate the country.
3rd. About noon reach Ríruwe, a considerable place surrounded by an
earthen wall, and having a well-attended market every Tuesday. Ríruwe is
at a short distance south from Sabó-n-garí; and many persons going from
Kanó to Yákoba, prefer joining this road and leaving the other at Sabó-
n-garí.
4th. About one o’clock P.M. reach Úmbutú, or Mbutú, a village situated
at the foot of a mountain, on the top of which there is another place of
the same name. The inhabitants, who are very fierce, wear a bone stuck
through the chin. They do not pay any tribute to the Féllani of Záriya
nor to those of Yákoba, and constantly intercept the communication—as
happened, indeed, in 1851, during my stay in Kanó. Near the first
village is a rivulet which joins the Gurára, one of the tributary
streams of the Kwára. The whole march leads through forest.
5th. About one o’clock P.M. reach Wárji, a village situated at the foot
of a large mountain extending far to the west, on the top of which there
are other villages of the same name, whose inhabitants wage war against
the Féllani. Informant states that the inhabitants of the valley pay
tribute to the governor of Kanó; but I think he means that of Báuchi.
Cattle of a particular kind called múturú are frequent here, much
smaller than the ox, with shorter legs, without the hump, and of a grey
colour. I saw a specimen of this kind afterwards in Kúkawa.
6th. About ʿaser reach Mélanláwel, a considerable place with a clay
wall, situated in the plain at the S.E. foot of the large mountain mass
already mentioned. The whole country is laid out in cultivated fields.
7th. After ʿaser arrive at Zaránda; the country partly wild and partly
cultivated.
8th. At noon reach Yákoba.
I now proceed to give the routes from different points, obtained by the
construction of the former itineraries, and corrected also by the recent
observations of European travellers, to Wukári, the capital of that very
interesting country Korórofa, which, unfortunately, was not reached by
the late expedition on the river Bénuwé.
Close to Láfiya Beréberé, begins the territory of the Dóma, the capital
of which, called likewise Dóma (at least by my informants), is only one
day from Láfiya, and five days from Kéffi-n-Abdezénga, the road from
this latter place to Dóma passing by Haríri, a large town still
dependent upon Záriya, and distant three days from the former, and two
from the latter town. This Dóma is a large walled town; but already in
the year 1851 its governor was obliged to pay a small tribute to the
governor of Záriya. A great number of Nyffáwa, or people from Núpe, are
said to live here.
From Dóma there seem to be two roads to Wukári, although I frankly
confess that the information which I obtained with regard to them, as
well as to other parts of Korórofa, was not so clear as I might have
wished. One of these routes crosses the river at a spot called Chínkay;
the other does not name the ferry. Chínkay is not among the places laid
down hereabouts in the survey of the Bénuwé expedition; but it is
evidently either identical with, or near to Anyíshi.
From Dóma my informant goes to Kúberé; thence to Kadérku (the Bridge), a
town belonging to Dóma; thence to Kiyána, or Keána, a considerable
market-place, which he calls “bírni-n-Korórofa, kása-n-Báuchi,” the
inhabitants paying tribute as well to the Púllo governor of Báuchi as to
the native king of Korórofa. From this place, which is often mentioned
in the proceedings of the Bénuwé expedition, my informant goes to Túnga,
which he calls “Garí-n-gisherí,” stating the memorable fact, not
mentioned in those proceedings, that salt is obtained there. Close to
Túnga is a kogí or rivulet joining the Bénuwé, or rather, I think, a
creek of the river. My informant then crosses the river and reaches
Chínkay, which lies at a little distance—as he states, in a southerly
direction—from a large place called Owí. From Chínkay he proceeds to
Ákkona, which is evidently identical with the Akkwana of Crowther, who,
however, does not mention the interesting fact that “kohol” or antimony
is obtained there; from Ákkona to Jíddu (a place not mentioned by
Crowther), in a locality with small rocky mounts starting up from the
plain; thence to Árfu, and thence again to Wukári.
The other shorter route (if, indeed, it be complete) goes from Dóma to
Mínchi, which is called “Bírni kása-n-Kiyána,” a walled town of the
territory of the Kiyána; thence to Agáya (evidently different from the
place of the same name between Tóto and Égga, and therefore by one of my
informants called “Mínchi-n-Agáya); from this directly to Árfu, crossing
the Bénuwé somewhere below Anyíshi; thence by Fíya to Wukári.
I now give an itinerary from Darróro to Wukári, unfortunately of the
same abridged and incomplete character. Proceeding at a slow rate with
short stations, my informant goes first to a large place called Zúngur;
thence crossing a small rivulet, which he calls by the very unscientific
name of “kogí-n-Mamúdu” (the river of Makhmúd), to Dull, a large but
dilapidated place dependent on Yákoba; thence to Gar, a small place in a
mountainous district: thence to Búrrum, the country continuing
mountainous; thence to Gémbat; thence to Wáze, a very large town, said
(probably with some exaggeration) to be as large as Kanó, and the
residence of a governor or chief named Hamma ben ʿAbdu. It stands upon a
mountain or hill; and a river or creek is said to skirt the town.
This important place can be reached in three good days’ marches from
Yákoba, sleeping the first night, after a very long and fatiguing day’s
journey through a mountainous country (granite, as it seems), in Gásge,
a town as large as Ngórnu, inhabited by Fúlbe and native pagans, and the
second in Yúnguru. Yúnguru is a town inhabited by the conquering tribe,
while the native pagans live in straggling villages along the valleys.
This is another long day’s march, and the country mountainous. The third
day’s journey is shorter; and Wáze is reached after about eight hours’
march. In the dry season at least, when the river may be easily crossed
either by swimming or even occasionally by fording it, a good tourist
will reach Wukári from Wáze in one day. My informant, proceeding at a
slow rate, and perhaps not in a direct line, went from this to Dámpar, a
place near the Bénuwé, where it has come under the notice of the Bénuwé
expedition; then, crossing several creeks which he calls “ráfi-n-
dórina,” and “kogí-n-Deñi,” and the river itself, passed the places
Mákera, Usé (a small village in the plain), then Aíkiri (with a kogí)
and a place which he calls Zangó Ladán (probably the station, “zangó,”
where a toll or tax, “ladán,” is paid, and thus at length reached the
capital Wukári.
I have also a _soi-disant_ itinerary from Láfiya Beréberé to Wukári; but
I will only name the places situated on this route without stating the
order in which they succeed each other. These are Oví, which seems to be
a large town distant one day from Ázzara, which is said to be west from
Aíkiri, the place mentioned above; then Kíbi, Dóya, Áboné, Aíro, Kanjé,
Agwatáshi, Dédderé.
I will now say a few words about Wukári, the capital of Korórofa, which
it is much to be regretted that the last expedition on the river was
unable to reach; but the next will, I hope, be more successful in this
respect[158], if they have the good fortune of finding the country still
in a flourishing state. Even the name of this important place was
scarcely known[159] before my researches in 1851, while the name of the
country, Korórofa, though well known to former geographers, had been
erased from recent maps. Wukári was placed in my map close to the river,
a few miles only too far north and east; but had I been able to correct
it according to my latest information, from which I learnt that it lay
not on the main river itself, but on a small branch[160], I should have
laid it down exactly in the right position.
Wukári lies on the west side of a small rivulet, called, by my Háusa
informants, “kogí-n-Kalám,” which is said to join the Bénuwé, or, as the
great river is called in at least one of the dialects of Korórofa, which
seems not to have come under the notice of the expedition, “Zánfir.” In
a straight line, Wukári is only a good morning’s walk (“tafíyan
hantsi”)—that is, about ten miles—from the shores of the Bénuwé. The
town is said to be very large, even larger than Kanó; not however, like
the latter, embracing a wide extent of fields, but densely inhabited to
the very walls. The people do not drink the water of the rivulet which
skirts their town, but supply their wants from ponds in its interior,
probably like those in Kanó. They are distinguished by their dark
complexion, and features not disfigured by shasháwa or tattooing, by
their long hair and their neat shirts, or rather plaids, “zénne,” which
they wrap round the body. Indeed the inhabitants of Korórofa are
celebrated all over this part of Africa for their cotton cloth, which is
said to be of very fine texture, but also very narrow, being only the
breadth of two fingers. They are said to have a peculiar kind of cotton
called “worzi” by the Arabs, and mentioned already by that accurate and
princely geographer Abú ʿObéd Allah el Bekri, in 1068, though without
naming the district of Negroland where the plant grew[161], and not
without some exaggeration. There seems to be a kind of coffee indigenous
to the country. A great deal of dóya, or yam, is cultivated; and áyaba
(_Musa paradisiaca_) seems to be the most common tree in the southern
provinces. The only essential defect under which this nation suffers,
besides their division into many separate tribes, seems to be the
despotism of the government, which evidently checks also the energy of
the people in defending their independence against the restless Fúlbe,
who are constantly gaining ground, and, if Her Britannic Majesty’s
government do not hasten to interfere, will in a very short time take
possession of this kingdom.
All the handicrafts, as those of blacksmiths, saddlers, &c., are under
the immediate control of the king, and can be exercised only by his own
people. He monopolizes the foreign trade, none of his subjects having a
right to buy. The name of the present king is said to be Ánju Zénki. His
authority, nevertheless, does not now seem to extend, in reality, far
beyond the walls of Wukári; and the Háusa traders, while they give him
the title of “serkí-n-gulbí” (lord of the river), call the governor of
Chónkoy, or Gónkoy, “serkí-n-géro” (lord of the corn, or rather millet),
intimating that the country-towns are rather in the hands of this latter
prince. The inhabitants of Wukári, as well as of the towns in the
interior, are expressly stated to be armed only with spears, none but
the people near the banks of the Bénuwé using bows. Small articles are
bought and sold for iron hoes, called “akíka,” of which forty will buy a
slave; more valuable objects are bartered for salt or clothes.[162]
East, about one day’s journey from Wukári, are said to be Júggum and
Gónkoy: Júggum is the name of a considerable place; but as for Gónkoy, I
was unable to ascertain whether it was the name of a district or a town.
Gónkoy is said to be three days and a half from Bú-mánda, the stations
on the road being at the villages or towns of Úriyó, Úrbo, then, near
the máyo, Mantáje (?), Bú-mánda being reached on the fourth day; and I
have another itinerary leading from Bú-mánda to Júggum in five days,
through a country desolated by those predatory wars by which the Fúlbe
are so distinguished. Only one day before reaching Júggum there is a
place inhabited by pagans, called Gánte. I will further mention here
some places around Wukári: though, from the imperfect character of my
information, I am not able to lay them down on the map, nevertheless I
hope a list of them will prove useful to the next expedition up the
river. Along the south side of the river are said to lie east from
Gónkoy the places Balli, Júbu, Tinto; one day south from Wukári the town
Kónte; then westward, and towards the north-west, the following places,
some of them on the north side of the Bénuwé: Kúrgoy (a walled town),
Úngosálla, Toríña, Ákata (near a rivulet, the residence of a chief
called Jímmi), Kondé, Bémbem, Mínchi-n-Agáya (on the north side of the
Bénuwé), Kátsena Alla (a name most probably corrupted by the Háusa
traders), a large town situated on the east side of a river or rivulet.
Between Kátsena Alla and Fánda there are said to be the following
places: Zangó kogí-n-Alla (a whimsical fatáki name—that is to say, used
by the native traders), with Mínchi or Múnchi (Mitsi) inhabitants,
Dúchi-n-Díkku (a place situated between two mountains), the town
Gedímmir, and the town Áyirkú-n-girké.
Korórofa does not appear to be the native name either of the country or
of the tribe; but I cannot exactly say whether it only originates with
the Háusa traders, and whether the name Djúku, or Júku, applies to the
whole nation or only to a portion of it. Bábai, or Báibai, I think is
not the original native name of the people, but only an appellation
given them by the Háusa traders. There are certainly several different
dialects prevailing in the country, since that of which I wrote down
some hundred words from the mouth of the Koána or Kwána Ábbade, a native
of the village Búmánda, appears to have very little, if any, relation to
the Tiwi of Koelle, or the Mitsi of Crowther, or to any other mentioned
by them; but it must be borne in mind that the gentlemen composing the
expedition seem not to have collected any specimens whatever of the
Djúku, which they themselves state to be the language of Korórofa, and I
feel satisfied that the dialect spoken by the Kwána differs but little
from that of the people of Wukári. The Kwána (called Konáwa by the Háusa
people), at least those of Júggum, have the curious and disgusting
custom of forming an artificial ulcer behind the ear, which in Wadáy is
the distinguishing mark of valour. They wear white and black shirts, and
have horses and cattle. They cultivate various species of Negro corn,
and have many large trees. This same informant of mine, Ábbade, named to
me the following divisions of the Korórofa, which I give here as an
imperfect notice, hoping that it may lead succeeding travellers to
further inquiries and to clearer information: the Agáwi, Jímmolo,
Churíbolo (the second syllable is not clear in my manuscript journal),
Bashikkári, Jemsáli, Bakawelíno, Kéwe, Ndau, Bínderi, Jáufeni.