One of their lucky omens took place at the moment. My servant, who had assisted in bringing the presents, got up to receive the Goora nuts presented to me by the governor’s orders, and in rising he overturned a pot of honey which had also been given to us, but without breaking it, the honey running out on the floor. Had the pot been broken, the omen would have been unfortunate. As it was, the governor was highly elated, and graciously ordered the poor to be called in to lick up the honey. They immediately made their appearance, equally rejoiced at the lucky omen, and upon their knees quickly despatched the honey, not without much strife and squabbling. One man came off with a double allowance, happening to have a long beard, which he carefully cleaned into his hand for a bonne bouche, after the repast on the ground was finished.
We took leave of the governor and returned to our tents, where a great concourse of men and women flocked to Dr. Oudney for medicines. In the evening we had boiled dried meat, with bazeen, and excellent bread, sent us by our friend Hameda; also milk from the governor, and a live sheep from a black shreef, who had applied to Dr. Oudney for advice. To-day the Doctor felt himself very weak, in consequence of a diarrhœa, and the want of proper comforts in his infirm condition. At noon I took an observation of the sun. At first the natives eagerly crowded round me, but sat down very quietly at a little distance, on telling them they were in my way. I was asked the old question every where repeatedly, if I was looking at my country. I explained to them, as well as I was able, that I merely ascertained in this manner how far south I had come from home.
Jan. 4th.—The weather cold and hazy,—thermometer 48°. Mohamoud El Wordee having gone to a city called Hadeeja, one day’s journey to the northward, where he was to remain a day or two, it was agreed beforehand we should go into the town and live in Hameda’s house until El Wordee’s return, as the kafila was to proceed to Kano the following day. At sunrise the governor sent to us to come into town, but on account of Dr. Oudney’s illness, we waited till the heat of the day. About noon we had the camels loaded, and Dr. Oudney and I rode forward, accompanied by the governor’s people and Hadje ben Hamed, the sheikh of the kafila, or chief who regulates its march, stage, and route. On entering the town, we were conducted to a house that adjoined Hameda’s, which we supposed to be his. The people around us, after consulting together, told us we had better go and see the governor. Dr. Oudney assented, but wished first to wait for our baggage. The people, however, urged us to go without further delay; and we complied with their entreaties. The governor met us at the gate of his residence, took us by the hand, and led us first to one coozee, then to another, saying, “This is for you,—that is for the Doctor,—there is a place for your horses.” Seating himself on a mat, he bade us sit down. Our baggage was brought to us in a few minutes. “Abdullah,” said he, addressing me by my travelling name, “show me the glass with which you look at the sun.” It seemed the people had told him what they saw me doing yesterday. I had now to explain to him the use of my compass, sextant, spy-glass, and other instruments. He begged of me a little of the quicksilver used for an artificial horizon in taking observations. This was like asking me to part with my heart’s blood; but as he was a governor, and evidently a man of considerable influence, I could not refuse him. I took much pains to make him understand the use of the watch and sextant. I easily made him comprehend the latter, by telling him it was to enable me to find out the distance north or south, from any other place: illustrating the matter, by telling him the north star was higher in the heavens at Mourzuk than here, and still higher at Tripoli; a circumstance the natives of these countries all confirmed, to whom I shifted the trouble of making further explanations. The telescope next was an object of surprise. He said all the places he saw were brought near to him, and ascended the walls and house tops to have a better view. Each of his attendants also had a peep; but an old shreef would on no account look through it, but ran away as if from a serpent ready to sting him. As to these shreefs, or alleged descendants of the Prophet, some of whom are as black as jet, I wonder what Mahomet, were he to rise from the dead, would say to his sable progeny, not merely black in colour, but with the true Negro features! The phenomenon, however, is less wonderful, when we consider how soon an intermixture, whether black or white, is lost in the course of a few generations, although the lineal descent continue uninterrupted.
We received a plentiful supply of provisions from Hameda. The governor also sent us fish and ficcory. The latter consists of pounded Guinea corn dried in the sun, mixed with water or milk, and seasoned with pepper, but has a sour, disagreeable taste.
Katagum, the capital of a province of the same name, is in lat. 12° 17′ 11″ north, and in long. about 11° east. This province formed the frontier of Bornou before the Felatah conquest. At present it includes the subject provinces of Sansan and Bedeguna. It extends nearly one day’s journey to the northward, and five days’ journey to the southward, where it is bounded by an independent territory, called after the inhabitants Kurry-kurry. On the east it is bounded by the kingdom of Bornou, and on the west by the neighbouring province of Kano. From the best information I could obtain, the whole province can send into the field about 4,000 horse and 20,000 foot, armed with bows, swords, and spears. The principal productions are grain and bullocks, which, with slaves brought from the adjoining territories of the Kafirs, are the staple articles of trade. Here we found, for the first time, kowrie shells in circulation as money; for hitherto native cloth, or some other commodity of standard price, had been the common medium of exchange. This city was the strongest we had seen since we left Tripoli. It is in the form of a square, the sides facing the cardinal points of the compass, with four corresponding gates, which are regularly opened and shut at sunrise and sunset. It is defended by two parallel walls of red clay, and three dry ditches, one without, one within, and the third between the two walls, which are about twenty feet high and ten feet broad at the base, gradually decreasing upwards to a breadth just sufficient for a narrow footpath. This is protected by a low parapet, and is ascended by flights of steps at convenient distances. Both walls are of the same height, without loopholes or towers, and, instead of being crenelated, terminate in a waving line. The gates are defended by a platform inside over the entrance, where a body of townsmen take their station to repel assailants. The three ditches are of equal dimensions, each about fifteen feet deep and twenty feet wide. There is only one mosque, and this almost in ruins. The governor’s residence is in the centre of the city, and occupies a space of about 500 yards square. The governor and principal inhabitants have houses made entirely of clay, besides the coozees already described. They are flat-roofed, in the Turkish style, and sometimes of two stories, with square or semicircular openings for windows. The city may contain from 7,000 to 8,000 inhabitants; including all merchants and tradesmen, together with the servants or slaves of the governor.
Not far to the southward of Katagum is the country of Yacoba, of which I shall mention a few particulars, collected from natives who were here in slavery, as well as from Hameda. It is called by the Mahometan nations Boushy, or country of infidels. It is extremely hilly: the hills, consisting of limestone, are said to yield antimony and silver. The inhabitants have received the name of Yemyems, or cannibals; but with what justice I know not. Most probably the imputation is an idle Arab tale, and undoubtedly the more suspicious, from the well known Moslem abhorrence of Kafirs. On interrogating the Arabs more strictly, they allowed they had never witnessed the fact; but affirmed they had seen human heads and limbs hung up in the dwellings of the inhabitants. At Mourzuk, when we first arrived, a similar report was circulated to our defamation; whether in jest or earnest, I could not ascertain; but the prejudice soon wore off when we were better known.
The river Yow, which is within a quarter of a mile of Katagum, is said to take its rise to the southward among the hills of Boushy, between Adamowa and Jacoba, and after passing Katagum, to turn abruptly to the eastward; it finally empties itself into the Tshad. Its waters were dull and sluggish, as far as we observed; and during the middle of the dry season the naked channel and a few pools of water, sometimes far apart, are all that remain of the river. The breadth of the channel, at the place where we last crossed, was, as above mentioned, about 150 yards; and this may be taken as a fair average breadth from that spot downwards as far as the lake, where, however, the depth seemed considerably increased. There is a prevalent opinion among the inhabitants and Arab merchants that, during the rainy season, the waters of this river rise and fall alternately every seven days; which notion, perhaps, originates in a kind of vicissitude in the fall of rain that I have remarked myself during my residence in Bornou.
Jan. 5.—Dr. Oudney thought himself a little better, but the diarrhœa still continued. The kafila left us this morning for Kano. We had a visit from the governor; I happened to be from home, and was sent for. On my return the governor was gone, and had left a message for me to follow him with the compass, spy-glass, &c. as he wished me to show them to some men of rank: I followed, and found him seated in the company of two or three Felatahs, to whom I had to explain the use of the instruments over again; but a good deal of trouble was taken off my hands by the governor himself, and his Fezzanee servants. I was then taken to visit his favourite wife, who pretended, of course, to be much frightened at the sight of a Christian; she was a jolly, good looking, black wench. The governor had a great number of other women besides, whose dwellings were all very clean and neat. I was next conducted through other quarters of the residence; and, on reaching the stables, we all sat down in an open court, where the cadi and another learned Felatah joined us. The same explanations had again to be repeated. The cadi, who had made the pilgrimage of Mecca, and was acquainted with Arabic learning, appeared to be a man of sense and discernment, and explained the use of the watch to his countrymen with much perspicuity; he was a Felatah, about fifty years of age,—his complexion coal black,—with a hook nose, large eyes, and a full bushy beard. The office of cadi or judge, I may remark, is frequently hereditary, and there is one in every town to administer justice: his sole qualification is a competent knowledge of the Koran, although his decisions can be reversed only by the governor of the province, or the sultan of the country.
The governor resides in a large square, surrounded by a wall of red clay, at least thirty feet high, and divided by lower walls into four principal quarters: besides several flat-roofed houses of clay, it contained a number of coozees, for the most part ranged in a single row, just within the great walls. These are principally for the slaves and guards attached to the governor’s establishment; it was here we were lodged, the entrance being guarded night and day. Near the eastern gate there was a sort of council or audience hall, from which a passage led to the women’s apartments, on the north side of the square. The stables occupied one quarter, each horse having a hut to itself. The pillars that supported a room over the western gate were superior to any I had seen in central Africa; they were formed of the trunks of the palm tree, fashioned into columns, with rude pedestals and capitals of no inelegant appearance, all incrusted with clay.
Jan. 6.—Dr. Oudney was much better to-day. In the afternoon we had a visit from the governor: I had again to show him the sextant and other instruments. He was particularly inquisitive about the rockets we had given to the sheikh of Bornou; he persisted we had still some of them remaining, and when convinced of the contrary, seemed exceedingly desirous I should make him a few. I assured him, with regret, of my inability; while I professed it to be an express duty imposed on me by the king my master, to instruct him and his countrymen in every thing useful and curious. Among many other questions, he asked me if I ever prayed; I said, I should not be a good man if I did not pray, but that we usually prayed alone: at which answer he was highly amused.