most correct of all that I have yet got; and was told to me without my putting any questions, or showing any eagerness for him to go on with his story. I was often puzzled to think, after the kindness I had received at Boussa, what could have caused such a change in the minds of these people in the course of twenty years, and of their different treatment of two European travellers. I was even disposed at times to flatter myself that there was something in me that belonged to nobody else, to make them treat me and my people with so much kindness; for the friendship of the king of Boussa I consider as my only protection in this country.'—pp. 134, 135.

This is by far the most probable, and all of them corroborate the story generally disbelieved at the time, which Isaaco brought back from Amadoo-Fatima. There is yet a chance, we think, though but a slender one, that the journal of Park may be recovered.

Clapperton found, on reaching the ferry at Comie, that so far from his baggage having gone on to Koolfu, it had been stopped at Wawa by the governor; and that, to his great surprise, the widow Zuma was at a neighbouring village, from whom he presently received some boiled rice, and a fowl, with an invitation to go and stop at her house. The governor's son informed him, that his baggage would not be allowed to leave Wawa, till the widow was sent back. 'What have I to do with the widow?' asked Clapperton. You have,' he replied, and you must come back with me and take her.' Clapperton, however, positively refused to have any thing to do with or say to her. His servant Richard at this moment returned from Boussa, whither he had followed his master, to acquaint him with the detention of his baggage; told him that it was owing to the widow's having left Wawa, about half an hour after he did, with drums beating before her, and a train after her, first calling at his lodgings before she waited on the governor; that she had given old Pascoe a female slave for wife, without the governor's permission; and that she had declared, she intended following him to Kano, from whence she would return to make war on the governor, as she had done once before.This,' says Clapperton, let me into their politics with a vengeance it would have been a fine end to my journey indeed, if I had deposed old Mohamed, and set up for myself, with a walking tun-butt for a queen.' Clapperton, however, determined to go back to Wawa to release his baggage, and scarcely had he got there, when the arrival of the jolly widow was announced, whose appearance and escort we must let our traveller describe.

6

This morning the widow arrived in town, with a drummer beating before her, whose cap was bedecked with ostrich feathers; a bowman walking on foot at the head of her horse; a train behind, armed with

bows,

bows, swords, and spears. She rode a-straddle on a fine horse, whose trappings were of the first order for this country. The head of the horse was ornamented with brass plates, the neck with brass bells, and charms sewed in various coloured leather, such as red, green, and yellow; a scarlet breast-piece, with a brass plate in the centre; scarlet saddle-cloth, trimmed with lace. She was dressed in red silk trowsers, and red morocco boots; on her head a white turban, and over her shoulders a mantle of silk and gold. Had she been somewhat younger and less corpulent, there might have been great temptation to head her party, for she has certainly been a very handsome woman, and such as would have been thought a beauty in any country in Europe.'-pp. 113, 114.

The widow was summoned before the governor, went on her knees, and, after a lecture on disobedience and vanity, was dismissed; but, on turning her back, she shook the dust off her feet, with great indignation and contempt; and I went home,' says Clapperton, determined never to be caught in such a foolish affair in future.'

He now proceeded to the ferry, crossed the Quorra, which was about a quarter of a mile in width, running about two miles an hour, and from ten to fifteen feet deep. The canoes were about twenty feet long and two wide. He was now in the province of Nyffe; the country well cultivated, and the ant-hills near El Wata were the largest he ever saw, being from fifteen to twenty feet high, resembling so many Gothic cathedrals in miniature. In this part of the country, the natives smelt iron ore, and every village had three or four blacksmiths' shops in it. The houses are generally painted with figures of human beings, huge snakes, alligators, or tortoises. On arriving at Koolfu, our traveller took up his abode with a Widow Laddie, huge, fat, and deaf, very rich, sells salt, natron, booza, and roa bum, or palm wine. The booza is made from guinea corn, honey, Chili pepper, and the root of a coarse grass, and is a very fiery and intoxicating beverage. The whole night was passed in singing, dancing, and drinking booza. The women, too, dressed in all their finery, joined the men, danced, sang and drank booza with the best of them. These scenes are exactly similar to those which Burckhardt describes to have taken place among the bouza-drinkers of Berber and Shendy.

Koolfu is a sort of central market, where traders meet from every part of Soudan and western Africa. It is a walled town, with four gates, and may contain from twelve to fifteen thousand inhabitants, including all classes, the slave and the free, who live together and eat together without distinction, the men slaves with the men, and the women with the women; for, in the true VOL. XXXIX. NO, LXXVII.

M

style

style of all orientals, the two sexes eat their meals apart, and never sit down to any repast together. They are represented as a kindhearted people, and affectionate towards one another, but they will cheat, if they can-and who is there, we may ask, that does not, in the way of trade? From Koolfu to Kufu the country was. woody, the trees along the path consisting mostly of the butter tree. The villages were numerous, and cultivation extensive; but so insecure did the inhabitants consider themselves, that every man, working in the fields, was armed to defend himself against the inroads of the Fellatas.

Zaria, the capital of Zeg-zeg, is a large city, inhabited almost wholly by Fellatas, who have their mosques with minarets, and their houses flat roofed. It is said to be more populous than Kano, a city which is estimated by Clapperton to contain from thirty to forty thousand inhabitants. Many of them are from Foota Bonda and Foota Torra, and seem to know and to have had dealings with the French and English on the coast, and, as our author says, have not improved by the acquaintance. The environs of this city are said to be beautiful-like some of the finest parts of England in the month of April, and grain and fruits of various kinds are cultivated both within and without the walls. The beauty and fertility of the country continued all the way to Kano, which our traveller entered on the 20th July, 1826.

Here Clapperton met his former friend and acquaintance, Hadje Hat Sala, who informed him of the state of the war between Bello and the Sheik of Bornou. Though still in bad health, he determined to proceed at once to Bello, and to leave his servant Richard and old Pascoe at Kano, under the protection of Hadje, who was authorized to grant them whatever money they might want. At Jaza he met his old friend the Gadado, or prime minister; who greeted him with great kindness; told him that Bello had received his letter from Koolfu, and had sent a messenger to conduct him to Soccatoo. It seems, however, that the gadado prevailed on him to remain for some time in Kano, where he was plundered of several articles, and, among others, of his journal and remark book, a circumstance which has occasioned an hiatus in his narrative from July to October, on the 12th of which month we find him, with a part of the Sultan's army, near Zurmie, on the borders of a large lake, or rather chain of lakes, on the plain of Gondamie, approaching nearly to Soc

catoo.

The borders of these lakes are the resort of numbers of elephants and other wild beasts. The appearance at this season, and at the spot where I saw it, was very beautiful; all the acacia trees were in blossom, some with white flowers, others with yellow, forming a con

trast

trast with the small dusky leaves, like gold and silver tassels on a cloak of dark green velvet. I observed some fine large fish leaping in the lake. Some of the troops were bathing; others watering their horses, bullocks, camels, and asses: the lake as smooth as glass, and flowing around the roots of the trees. The snn, on its approach to the horizon, throws the shadows of the flowery acacias along its surface, like sheets of burnished gold and silver. The smoking fires on its banks, the sounding of horns, the beating of their gongs or drums, the braying of their brass and tin trumpets, the rude huts of grass or branches of trees rising as if by magic, every where the calls on the names of Mohamed, Abdo, Mustafa, &c., with the neighing of horses and the braying of asses, gave animation to the beautiful scenery of the lake, and its sloping green and woody banks.'p. 181.

He now learned from the gadado that the Sultan Bello was encamped before Coonia, the capital city of Goobur, which had rebelled against him, and which he was determined to subdue before he returned to Soccatoo. The Kano troops therefore moved forwards, and Clapperton along with them. They soon reached the main army; Bello received him most kindly; told him he had sent two messengers, one of whom went as far as to Katunga; said he would receive the king's letter and present at Soccatoo, as he intended to make his attack on the city the following day. We cannot omit Clapperton's description of this curious assault.

After the midday prayers, all, except the eunuchs, camel drivers, and such other servants as were of use only to prevent theft, whether mounted or on foot, marched towards the object of attack; and soon arrived before the walls of the city. I also accompanied them, and took up my station close to the Gadado. The march had been the most disorderly that can be imagined; horse and foot intermingling in the greatest confusion, all rushing to get forward; sometimes the followers of one chief tumbling amongst those of another, when swords were half unsheathed, but all ended in making a face, or putting on a threatening aspect. We soon arrived before Coonia, the capital of the rebels of Goobur, which was not above half a mile in diameter, being nearly circular, and built on the bank of one of the branches of the rivers, or lakes, which I have mentioned. Each chief, as he came up, took his station, which, I suppose, had previously been assigned to him. The number of fighting men brought before the town could not, I think, be less than fifty or sixty thousand, horse and foot, of which the foot amounted to more than nine-tenths. For the depth of two hundred yards, all round the walls was a dense circle of men and horses. The horse kept out of bow-shot, while the foot went up as they felt courage or inclination, and kept up a straggling fire with about thirty muskets, and the shooting of arrows. In front of the sultan, the Zegzeg troops had one French fusil: the Kano forces had forty-one muskets. These fellows, whenever they fired their pieces,

M 2

ran

66

ran out of bow-shot to load; all of them were slaves; not a single Fellata had a musket. The enemy kept up a sure and slow fight, seldom throwing away their arrows, until they saw an opportunity of letting fly with effect. Now and then a single horse would gallop up to the ditch, and brandish his spear, the rider taking care to cover himself with his large leathern shield, and return as fast as he went, generally calling out lustily, when he got among his own party, Shields to the wall!" "You people of the Gadado, or Atego," &c., “ why don't you hasten to the wall?" To which some voices would call out, "Oh! you have a good large shield to cover you!" The cry of "Shields to the wall," was constantly heard from the several chiefs to their troops; but they disregarded the call, and neither chiefs nor vassals moved from the spot. At length the men in quilted armour went up per order." They certainly cut not a bad figure at a distance, as their helmets were ornamented with black and white ostrich feathers, and the sides of the helmets with pieces of tin, which glittered in the sun, their long quilted cloaks of gaudy colours, reaching over part of the horses' tails, and hanging over the flanks. On the neck, even the horse's armour was notched, or vandyked, to look like a mane; on his forehead and over his nose, was a brass or tin plate, as also a semicircular piece on each side. The rider was armed with a large spear; and he had to be assisted to mount his horse, as his quilted cloak was too heavy; it required two men to lift him on; and there were six of them belonging to each governor, and six to the sultan. I at first thought the foot would take advantage of going under cover of these unwieldy machines; but no, they went alone, as fast as the poor horses could bear them, which was but a slow pace. They had one musket in Coonia, and it did wonderful execution, for it brought down the van of the quilted men, who fell from his horse like a sack of corn thrown from a horse's back at a miller's door; but both horse and man were brought off by two or three footmen. He had got two balls through his breast; one went through his body and both sides of the tobe: the other went through and lodged in the quilted armour opposite the shoulders.'-p. 185-187.

Nor must the services of the old picturesque nurse be overlooked.

• The most useful, and as brave as any one of us, was an old female slave of the sultan's, a native of Zamfra, five of whose former governors she said she had nursed. She was of a dark copper colour. In dress and countenance, very like one of Captain Lyon's female Esquimaux. She was mounted on a long-backed bright bay horse, with a scraggy tail, crop-eared, and the mane as if the rats had eaten part of it; and he was not in high condition. She rode a-straddle; had on a conical straw dish-cover for a hat, or to shade her face from the sun, a short, dirty, white bedgown, a pair of dirty, white, loose and wide trowsers, a pair of Houssa boots, which are wide, and came up over the knee, fastened with a string round the waist. She had also a whip and spurs. At her saddle-bow hung about half a dozen gourds,