There were two respectable men with the caravan, Háj Hassan, a man belonging to the family of el Kánemi, and in whose company Mr. Vogel afterwards travelled from Fezzán to Bórnu, and Mohammed Titíwi. On the 2nd of May, therefore, I went to pay a visit to these men, but found only Titíwi, to whom I recommended my servant. He promised to render him all needful assistance. I had but little intercourse with this man, yet this little occurred on important occasions, and so his name has become a pleasant remembrance to me. I first met him when sending off the literary remains of my unfortunate companion. I at the same time ventured to introduce myself to Her Majesty’s Government, and to try if it would so far rely upon me, a foreigner, as to entrust me with the further direction of the expedition, and to ask for means; it was then Titíwi again who brought me the most honourable despatches from the British Government, authorizing me to carry out the expedition just as it had been intended, and at the same time means for doing so. It was Titíwi, who on the day when I was leaving Kúkawa on my long adventurous journey to Timbúktu, came to my house to wish me success in my arduous undertaking; and it was Titíwi again, who, on the 2nd of August, 1855, came to the consul’s house, in Tripoli, to congratulate me on my successful return from the interior.
He was an intelligent man, and being informed that I was about to undertake a journey to Ádamáwa, the dangers of which he well knew, he expressed his astonishment that I should make the attempt with a weak horse, such as I was then riding. My horse, though it had recovered a little from its lameness, and was getting strength from a course of dumplings made of the husk of Negro corn mixed with natron, which it had to swallow every morning and evening, was anything but a good charger; and having previously determined to look about for a better horse, I was only confirmed in my intention by the observation of the experienced merchant.
This was one of the largest slave caravans which departed during my stay in Bórnu; for, if I am not mistaken, there were seven hundred and fifty slaves in the possession of the merchants who went with it. Slaves are as yet the principal export from Bórnu, and will be so till the slave-trade on the north coast is abolished.
Overweg had not yet arrived, although we had received information that he was on his way directly from Zínder, having given up his intention of visiting Kanó. Before I set out on my journey to Ádamáwa, it was essential that I should confer with him about many things, and particularly as to what he himself should first undertake, but the rainy season was fast approaching even here, while in Ádamáwa it had set in long ago, and it seemed necessary that I should not delay any longer. In the afternoon of the 5th of May, we had the first unmistakable token of the rainy season—a few heavy claps of thunder followed by rain. But I did not tarry; the very same day I bought in the market all that was necessary for my journey, and the next day succeeded in purchasing a very handsome and strong grey horse, “keri bul,” for twelve hundred and seventy rotls, equal at that moment to two-and-thirty Austrian dollars, while I sold my weak horse which the sheikh had given me for nine hundred rotls, or twenty-two dollars and a half.
Having also bought an Arab saddle, I felt myself quite a match for anybody, and hearing in the afternoon that the sheikh had gone to Gawánge, a place two miles and a half east from the town towards the lake, I mounted my new steed, and setting off at a gallop, posted myself before the palace just when ʿOmár was about to come out with the flourishing of the trumpets, sounding the Háusa word “gashí, gashí,” “Here he is, here he is.” The sheikh was very handsomely dressed in a fine white bernús over another of light blue colour, and very well mounted on a fine black horse “fir kéra.” He was accompanied by several of his and the vizier’s courtiers, and about two hundred horsemen, who were partly riding by his side, partly galloping on in advance and returning again to the rear, while sixty slaves, wearing red jackets over their shirts, and armed with matchlocks, ran in front of and behind his horse. The vizier, who saw me first, saluted me very kindly, and sent Hámza Weled el Góni to take me to the sheikh, who made a halt, and asked me very graciously how I was going on, and how my excursion to the lake had amused me. Having then taken notice of my sprightly horse, the vizier called my servant, and expressed his regret, that the horse which they had presented to me had not proved good, saying that I ought to have informed them, when they would have given me a better one. I promised to do so another time, and did not forget the warning.
Wednesday, May 7.—Mr. Overweg arrived. The way in which he was announced to me was so singular as to merit description. It was about an hour before noon, and I was busy collecting some interesting information from my friend Ibrahím el Futáwi about Tagánet, when suddenly the little Maʿadi arrived. This lad, a liberated slave, had been Mr. Richardson’s servant, and is frequently mentioned in that gentleman’s journal. As he had been among those of my companion’s people who, to my great regret, had left Kúkawa the day before I arrived without having their claims settled, I was very glad when he came back, but could not learn from him how it happened that he returned; when, after some chat, he told me, incidentally, that the tabíb (Mr. Overweg) was also come, and was waiting for me in Kálilwá. Of course it was the latter who, meeting the lad on the road, had brought him back, and had sent him now expressly to inform me of his arrival. This dull but good-natured lad, who was afterwards severely wounded in the service of the mission, is now Mr. Vogel’s chief servant.
As soon as I fully understood the purport of this important message, I ordered my horse to be saddled, and mounted. The sun was extremely powerful, just about noon, shortly before the setting in of the rainy season, and as I had forgotten, in the hurry and excitement, to wind a turban round my cap, I very nearly suffered a sunstroke. A traveller cannot be too careful of his head in these countries.
I found Overweg in the shade of a nebek-tree near Kálilwá. He looked greatly fatigued and much worse than when I left him, four months ago, at Tasáwa: indeed, as he told me, he had been very sickly in Zínder—so sickly, that he had been much afraid lest he should soon follow Mr. Richardson to the grave. Perhaps the news which he just then heard of our companion’s death made him more uneasy about his own illness. However, we were glad to meet again alive, and expressed our hopes to be able to do a good deal for the exploration of these countries. He had had an opportunity of witnessing, during his stay in Góber and Marádi, the interesting struggle going on between this noblest part of the Háusa nation and the Fúlbe, who threaten their political as well as religious independence; and he was deeply impressed with the charming scenes of unrestrained cheerful life which he had witnessed in those pagan communities; while I, for my part, could assure him that my reception in Bórnu seemed to guarantee success, although, under existing circumstances, there seemed to be very little hope that we should ever be able to make a journey all round the Tsád; but I thought that, with the assistance of those people in Bínder and Maduwári whom I had just visited, and who appeared to be on friendly terms with the islanders, it might be possible to explore the navigable part of the lagoon in the boat.
Mr. Overweg was, in some respects, very badly off, having no clothes with him except those which he actually wore, all his luggage being still in Kanó, though he had sent two men to fetch it. I was therefore obliged to lend him my own things, and he took up his quarters in another part of our house, though it was rather small for our joint establishment. The vizier was very glad of his arrival, and, in fulfilment of his engagement to deliver all the things left by Mr. Richardson as soon as Mr. Overweg should arrive, he sent all the half-empty boxes of our late companion in the evening of the next day; even the gun and pistols, and the other things which had been sold, were returned, with the single exception of Mr. Richardson’s watch, which, as the sheikh was very fond of it, and kept it near him night and day, I thought it prudent to spare him the mortification of returning.