The country to the south-east and south-west appears to be an entire swamp, overflowed of course in the rainy season. Felatahs are in features, and in the manner of wearing the turban, very like the inhabitants of Tetuan in Morocco. They are here much esteemed by the people whom they rule for the impartial administration of justice, and were uniformly kind and civil to us. Our two prisoners happened to be well known, having only left the town that morning. They were accordingly liberated, but their clothes were not restored.
We were not a little indebted to the Arab merchants for the good name they gave us. They almost looked upon us as of their own nation; and although Kafirs, we, as Englishmen, were allowed to rank at least next to themselves. I really believe they would have risked their lives in our defence. Travelling in a kafila was much more pleasant than any mode we had hitherto tried; all being ready to oblige one another, and all vying in attention to us. The lake Zumbrum is about twelve miles south-south-west from Bedeguna.
Dec. 28.—At sunrise to-day the thermometer was at 45°. Our new friend, the governor, accompanied us two or three miles out of town. At parting he prayed God to bless us; and, laying his hand on his forehead, said he hoped we should ever continue friends. The road at first followed the borders of the marsh, by the side of the Little River, which suddenly breaks off to the southward, at a town called Goobeer. There we filled our goat skins with water. We continued our course, and shortly came to a strong red clay soil, densely covered with grass so long that it actually overtopped our heads, although on horseback. At sunset we halted in the woods for the night. The horses and beasts of burden were last watered, when we filled our water skins. Dr. Oudney was attacked with ague, but luckily the evening proved very mild. For two or three nights past he has had a fire in his tent, which seemed to abate the violence of his cough. This evening, addressing me with resigned composure, he said, “I feel it is all over with me. I once hoped to conduct the mission to a successful termination, but that hope has vanished. Whenever my death takes place, I wish my papers to be put into the hands of Mr. Barrow, or Professor Jameson, provided the request meets with Earl Bathurst’s approbation.” As this was a painful subject, I did not encourage its renewal, and, according to this solemn injunction of my lamented friend, I have delivered all his papers to Mr. Barrow.
Dec. 29.—After toiling two hours through a thickly wooded country, we came in view of a large plain, with numerous towns and villages. We found the towns by no means so neat as in Bornou, the coozees, or huts, being much smaller, and often in bad repair. The people raise great quantities of grain, principally gussub. We saw five ostriches, which made off from us with great speed. Dr. Oudney was a great deal better. In the afternoon we arrived at Sansan. Our horsemen skirmished a little in front of the caravan before entering the town, and then galloped up in pairs to the governor’s door, firing off their muskets. This is the common compliment paid by kafilas in such cases. The governor was absent on an expedition, headed by the governor of Katagum, against the Bedites, who are in the immediate neighbourhood. As before observed, the Bedites have never received the doctrines of Mahomet; and, although speaking the language of Bornou, and acknowledging a kind of nominal sovereignty of the Bornouese sultan, they are every where regarded as a race of outlaws, whom it is incumbent on every good Mussulman, Bornouese, or Felatah, to enslave or murder. This race is said to have no religion; but their common practice of first holding up to heaven the carcass of any animal, killed for food, belies their being atheists—a reproach attributed to them solely by their enemies. On the contrary, it harmonizes with those universal feelings of reverence and awe for a Supreme Being, which have ever existed among all nations, and in all ages. The favourite food of this persecuted tribe is said to be dogs, which they fatten for the purpose. Their country is of small extent, defended by impenetrable morasses and forests, by which alone they preserve a precarious and dangerous independence.
At Sansan we were waited upon by the principal native inhabitants, and the resident Arabs. Among the Arabs there was a cousin of the sheikh of Bornou, Hadje El Min El Hanem. The reports of our travelling companions, the merchants, contributed very much to exalt our character wherever we went.
Dec. 30.—At noon I found the latitude of our encampment to be 12° 20′ 48″ north by meridian alt. of lower limb of sun. Sansan in Arabic signifies “the gathering,” where the scattered parties of an army assemble previous to an expedition. The town had its name from a late sultan of Bornou, making it the rendezvous of his army when he went to conquer Haussa. The place where he pitched his tent is still held in great veneration, and the buildings around it were first erected by his army. The neighbouring district also abounds in towns and villages, which, together with Bedeguna and Sansan, are under the governor of Katagum, who is himself subordinate to the governor of Kano. Sansan is formed of three distinct towns, called Sansan Birnee, Sidi Boori, and Sansan Bana. The principal one, in which the governor resides, is Sansan Birnee, or Sansan Gora, signifying “the walled,” from a low clay wall in ruins, surrounded by a dry ditch almost filled up. The mosque is without a roof, and the huts and houses of the inhabitants are old and dilapidated. Sidi Boori, another of the three towns, having a signification so indecent that I must forbear to translate it, is about half a mile west of Sansan Birnee, and inhabited by Shauah Arabs. The third town, called Sansan Bana, or, “of the banners,” where the sultan’s tent stood, is about a mile distant from Sansan Birnee, and is inhabited by Bornouese, who are here in great numbers, and were first brought by force from Old Birnee, and other towns of Bornou. At present they are quite reconciled to the change, and now remain from choice.
The sister of the sultan of Bornou, having been made captive by the Felatahs, was living here with her husband in great obscurity, although her brother, the sultan, is surrounded by all the barbaric magnificence of central Africa. She came out to meet the kafila, along with several of her countrywomen, from whom she was nowise distinguished in attire. The dress of Bornouese women consists of one or two turkadees, blue, white, or striped, as before described. The turkadee is wrapped rather tightly round the body, and hangs down from the bosom, below the knees. If a second is worn, as by women of some consideration, it is commonly flung over the head and shoulders. Their sandals are the same as those of men, of tanned leather, or of the undressed hide, according to their circumstances. The hair is plaited in five close tresses,—one like a crest along the crown, and two at each side, and thickly bedaubed with indigo. They dye their eyebrows, hands, arms, feet, and legs of the same colour, except the nails of the fingers and toes and the palms of the hands, which are stained red with henna. They blacken the eyelashes with crude antimony in powder. The ornaments for the ear are not pendent like ours, but little green studs, or buttons, fixed in the lobe. The very poorest wear strings of glass beads round the neck, and the wealthy are adorned with armlets and anklets of horn or brass. Ornaments of silver are very rare, and of gold hardly ever seen.
Dec. 31.—At sunrise the thermometer was 42°. Being market day, I took a stroll to see what was going on. The market-place was on a rising ground, a little to the south of Sansan Birnee. The place of itself is a little village. The goods were exposed for sale in booths, or houses, open at the side next the street. The different wares were arranged each in its particular quarter,—knives, scissors, needles, and beads; silken cords and pieces of silk; sword slings and koghel cases; gubga tobes and turkadoes; beef, mutton, and fowls; gussub, beans, Indian corn, &c. They have four different kinds of Indian corn,—the yellow, the red, the white, and the Egyptian. The last is reckoned the best. There were stalls, besides, for making and mending every thing in common use. Bands of music, composed of drums, flutes, and a kind of guitar, with strings of horsehair, called the Erbale, each after its own rude fashion, were parading from booth to booth, to attract the attention of customers.
Jan. 1, 1824.—Dr. Oudney was now very unwell. This morning we had a visit from an ex-governor, of the name of Jesus, who had left the army last night. He told us the commanders would to-day commence their return to their different governments, as they were unable to penetrate into the Bede territory. This person gave us several broad hints to make him a present; but we found ourselves too poor to understand him. At eight o’clock in the morning we resumed our journey, over a level country. The winding road was little broader than a footpath. We passed numerous small towns and villages, with plantations of cotton, gussub, and Indian corn. There was more wood as we re-approached the Yow, and the villages and cotton plantations were also more numerous. We halted at a village called Obenda, not above a quarter of a mile distant from the Yow. We could procure no milk for Dr. Oudney, and his appetite was much worse. We had nothing but kouskasoo and dweeda. The former is a well known preparation of wheaten flour steamed over meat, and in very general use among the Moors and Arabs. The dweeda is also of wheaten flour, and a kind of coarse macaroni.
Jan. 2.—Dr. Oudney was this morning in a very weak state. I bought a pound of coffee for three dollars from one of the merchants of our kafila, as a cup of coffee was all that he could take. To-day we followed a very troublesome zigzag track, for regular road there was none. We passed many villages, adjoining to which were long double rows of granaries. At first we were much puzzled with the novelty of their appearance; but on a closer examination we found they were constructed of matting in the usual way, and raised on poles to prevent white ants and grubs from getting at the grain. Near the Yow there were large fields of wheat, and plantations of cotton. The people were then raising the second crop of wheat, by means of irrigation.