The forenoon of Wednesday also I gave up to the solicitation of my Ádamáwa companions, and usefully employed my time in writing “bolíde Fulfúlde,” or the language of the Fúlbe, and more particularly the dialect spoken in Ádamáwa, which is indeed very different from the Fulfúlde spoken in Góber and Kébbi. Meanwhile old Mʿallem Katúri was bitten by a scorpion, and I had to dress the wound with a few drops of ammonia, for which he was very grateful.
In the afternoon we pursued our march; and I then became aware that we had made a great détour, Maídugurí, as well as Mábaní, not lying on the direct route. We had been joined in the latter place by a party of “pilgrim traders” from the far-distant Másena, or, as in European maps the name is generally written, Massina, on their home-journey from Mekka, who excited much interest in me. The chief person among them was a native of Hamd-Alláhi, the capital of the new Púllo kingdom of Mélle, or Másena, who carried with him a considerable number of books, which he had bought in the east more for the purposes of trade than for his own use. He was mounted on a camel, but had also a pack-ox laden with salt, which he had been told he might dispose of to great advantage in Ádamáwa. Thus pilgrims are always trading in these countries. But this poor man was not very successful; for his books were partly spoiled in crossing the river Bénuwé, and his camel died during the rainy season in Ádamáwa. However, he thence continued his journey homewards, while his four companions returned eastward and met with me once more in Logón, and the last time on the banks of the Shári. Two of them were mounted on fine asses, which they had brought with them from Dár-Fúr.
Our way led us through a populous and fertile country, first along the meandering course of the komádugu, which was here lined with ngábbore or ficus, and with the birgim or diña (as it is called in Háusa), a tree attaining a height of from thirty to forty feet, but not spreading wide, with leaves of a darkish green, and fruit like a small plum, but less soft, and of a black colour, though it was not yet ripe. Here I was greeted by the cheerful sight of the first corn-crop of the season which I had yet seen—having lately sprung up, and adorning the fields with its lively fresh green. Rain had been very copious hereabouts; and several large pools were formed along the komádugu, in which the boys of the neighbouring villages were catching small fish three or four inches long, while in other places the banks of the river were overgrown with beautifully fresh grass. Having crossed and re-crossed the fiumara, we ascended its steep left bank, which in some places exhibited regular strata of sandstone. Here we passed a little dyeing-yard of two or three pots, while several small patches of indigo were seen at the foot of the bank, and a bustling group of men and cattle gathered round the well. Villages were seen lying about in every direction; and single cottages, scattered about here and there, gave evidence of a sense of security. The cornfields were most agreeably broken by tracts covered with the bushes of the wild gónda, which has a most delicious fruit, of a fine cream-like taste, and of the size of a peach, a great part of which, however, is occupied by the stone. The country through which we passed was so interesting to me, and my conversation with my Háusa mʿallem about the labours of the field so animated, that we made a good stretch without being well aware of it, and took up our quarters in a place called Pálamarí when it was already dark. However, our evening rest passed less agreeably than our afternoon’s ride, owing to a violent conjugal quarrel in an adjoining cottage, the voices of the leading pair in the dispute being supported by the shrill voices of village gossips.
Thursday, June 5.—In riding through the village, as we set out in the morning, I observed that the yards were unusually spacious, and the cottages very large; but it struck me that I did not see a single “bóngo,” or hut of clay walls, and I thought myself justified in drawing the conclusion that the inhabitants must find shelter enough under their light thatched walls, and consequently that the rainy season is moderate here.
We had scarcely emerged from the narrow lanes of the village, when I was gratified with the first sight of the mountainous region; it was Mount Deládebá or Dalántubá, which appeared towards the south, and the sight of which filled my heart with joyous anticipations not unlike those with which, on my first wandering in 1840, I enjoyed the distant view of the Tyrolean Alps from the village Semling, near Munich. But our march was but a pretence; we had not been a full hour on the road, crossing a country adorned chiefly with the bushes of the wild gónda, when Bíllama left the path and entered the village Fúgo Mozári. The reason was, that to-day (Thursday) the market was held in the neighbouring Ujé Kasúkulá, and it was essential that some of our party should visit, or (to use their expression) “eat” this market.
However, I did not stay long in our quarters, which, though comfortable, were rather close, and of an extremely labyrinthine character, being divided into several small yards separated from each other by narrow passages enclosed with high síggedí mats. After a brief delay I mounted again with Bíllama and Bú-Sʿad and after two miles reached the market-town, crossing on our path a shallow branch of the komádugu, overgrown with succulent herbage, and exhibiting a scene of busy life.
The market was already well attended, and answered to its fame. As it is held every Thursday and Sunday, it is visited not only by people from Kúkawa, but also from Kanó, for which reason European as well as Háusa manufactures are often cheaper in Ujé than in Kúkawa. This we found to be the case with common paper, “tre lune.” The articles with which the market is provided from Kúkawa are chiefly natron and salt; and I myself bought here a good supply of this latter article, as it has a great value in Ádamáwa, and may be used as well for buying small objects as for presents. Ujé, however, derives also great importance from the slave-trade, situated as it is on the border of several pagan tribes; and I have often heard it said that in the neighbourhood of Ujé a husband will sell his wife, or a father his child, when in want of money; but this may be an exaggeration. It is true, however, that slaves who have run away from Kúkawa are generally to be found here. There might be from five to six thousand customers; but there would be many more, if any security were guaranteed to the visitors, from the many independent tribes who are living round about, especially the Marghí, Bábir, and Kerékeré. But, as it is, I did not see a single individual in the market who by his dress did not bear testimony to his Mohammedan profession.
Making several times the round of the market, I greatly excited the astonishment of the native traders, who had never seen a European. I then started with Bíllama on an excursion to Aláwó, the burial place of the great Bórnu king Edrís Alawóma, although the weather was extremely sultry, and the sun almost insupportable. The whole country is densely inhabited; and my companion, who had formerly been governor of the district, was everywhere kindly saluted by the inhabitants, particularly the women, who would kneel down by the roadside to pay him their respects. However, I was prevented from seeing the sepulchre itself by an immense morass extending in front of the town of Aláwó, and the turning of which would have demanded a great circuit. Numberless flocks of waterfowl enlivened it, while rank herbage and dense forest bordered it all round.
We therefore thought it better to return, particularly as a storm was evidently gathering; but we first went to an encampment of Shúwa, where we found a numerous family engaged, under the shade of a wide-spreading ngábbore, in all the various occupations of household work; but we were very inhospitably received when we begged for something to drink. I shall often have occasion to mention the inhospitality of these people, whom I was sometimes inclined to take for Jews by descent, rather than real Arabs. Passing then the village Pálamarí, and keeping along the lovely bed of the fiumara, bordered by fine wide-spreading trees, and richly overgrown with succulent grass, upon which numbers of horses were feeding, we reached our quarters just in time; for shortly afterwards the storm, which had been hanging in the air the whole day, and had made the heat about noon more insupportable than I ever felt it in my life, came down with considerable violence. The consequence was that I was driven from the cool shed which I had occupied in the morning, into the interior of a hut, where flies and bugs molested me greatly. The sheds or stalls, which are often made with great care, but never waterproof, have the great inconvenience in the rainy season, that while they do not exclude the rain, they retain the humidity, and at the same time shut out the air from the huts to which they are attached.