Jan. 12.—Dr. Oudney drank a cup of coffee at day-break, and, by his desire, I ordered the camels to be loaded. I then assisted him to dress, and, with the support of his servant, he came out of the tent; but, before he could be lifted on the camel, I observed the ghastliness of death in his countenance, and had him immediately replaced in the tent. I sat down by his side, and, with unspeakable grief, witnessed his last breath, which was without a struggle or a groan. I now sent to the governor of the town to request his permission to bury the deceased, which he readily granted; and I had a grave made about five yards to the north of an old mimosa tree, a little beyond the southern gate of the town. The body being first washed, after the custom of the country, was dressed by my directions, in clothes made of turban shawls, which we were carrying with us as presents. The corpse was borne to the grave by our servants, and I read over it the funeral service of the church of England, before it was consigned to the earth; I afterwards caused the grave to be enclosed with a wall of clay, to keep off beasts of prey, and had two sheep killed and distributed among the poor.
Thus died, at the age of 32 years, Walter Oudney, M. D., a man of unassuming deportment, pleasing manners, stedfast perseverance, and undaunted enterprise; while his mind was fraught at once with knowledge, virtue, and religion. At any time, and in any place, to be bereaved of such a friend, had proved a severe trial; but to me, his friend and fellow traveller, labouring also under disease, and now left alone amid a strange people, and proceeding through a country which had hitherto never been trod by European foot, the loss was severe and afflicting in the extreme.
FOOTNOTES:
[65]It is much to be regretted that the state of the thermometer was not here noted; more particularly as a question has arisen as to the correctness of this statement, which is however repeated by Dr. Oudney almost in the same words.
SECTION II.
FROM MURMUR TO KANO.
At day-break, on the following morning, I resumed my journey, trusting to the salutary effects of change of air and abstinence, as the best remedies both for mind and body. The road was swampy, and we crossed a narrow stream called Shashum, that falls into the Yow, near the town. There were numerous villages on all sides.
Jan. 14.—Thermometer 52°. Our road lay through a well cultivated country; at nine o’clock, A.M., we came to the town of Digoo, having an indifferent double wall, and a triple ditch nearly filled up. The town contained very few houses, but date trees were in great abundance; outside the walls, however, there were several villages, or rather detached clusters of houses. The country afterwards began to rise into ridges, running nearly east and west; our road lying along one of them, gave me an excellent view of beautiful villages all around, and herds of cattle grazing in the open country. In the evening we halted under the walls of a town called Boogawa; this is the last town in the province of Katagum: I did not enter it.
Jan. 15.—The road to-day was through a thickly wooded country. Before mid-day, we again crossed the Shashum, which here runs nearly due north. The camel-drivers brought me a quantity of wild figs, which they found on the trees by the road side, near the river. We next entered an open, well cultivated country, and in the evening halted at a town called Katungwa, which is surrounded by a wall, and has a number of fine date trees. This was the first town I entered in the kingdom of Haussa Proper. I was visited by a Felatah, who had been at Bagdad, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Mecca, and belonged to the order of Dervishes. He was a chattering little fellow, and told me he had seen the Wahabees at Mecca, who, he said, were the same people and spoke the same language as the Felatahs. I made him a present of a pair of scissors and a snuff-box, of which he seemed very proud, and sent me a bowl of bazeen in the evening. I here saw a range of low rocky hills, stretching nearly south-west. They are called, in the language of Haussa, Dooshee, or The Rocks, from which a large town on one of the roads leading from Katagum to Kano takes its name. Since we left the Wells of Bellkashiffra, on the southern borders of the great desert, we had not met with rocks, or even pebbles, till now, the very channels of the rivers being destitute of stones, and the whole country consisting of soft alluvial clay. The camels were missing, and I sent all the servants after them; they were not brought back before midnight, being found on their return to Bornou.
Jan. 16.—The country still open and well cultivated, and the villages numerous. We met crowds of people coming from Kano with goods. Some carried them on their heads, others had asses or bullocks, according to their wealth. All were armed with bows and arrows, and several with swords; the Bornouese are known by carrying spears.