Having here considered whether we should go on or take up our quarters in Múbi, which was close by, we decided upon the latter, and entered the place. But we had to wait a long while in front of the governor’s house, and were at length conducted into quarters so insufficient that we preferred encamping outside the town, and pitched our tent near a tree, which promised to afford us a shady place during the hot hours of the day. But we had scarcely made ourselves comfortable when the governor’s servants came and requested me most urgently to come into the town, promising us good lodgings; I therefore gave way, and told them that I would go to my promised quarters towards night. As long as the weather was dry, the open air was much more agreeable; and I turned our open encampment to account by taking accurate angles of all the summits around; but a storm in my small and weak tent was a very uncomfortable thing, and I gladly accepted the offer of good quarters for the night.
In the course of the afternoon almost the whole population of the town came out to see me and my camels, and the governor himself came on horseback, inviting me into his own house, when I showed him my chronometer, compass, and telescope, which created immense excitement, but still greater was the astonishment of those particularly who knew how to read, at the very small print in my Prayer-Book. The amiable side of the character of the Fúlbe is their intelligence and vivacity, but they have a great natural disposition to malice, and are not by any means so good-natured as the real Blacks; for they really are—certainly more in their character than in their colour—a distinct race between the Arab and Berber on the one side and the Negro stock on the other, although I would not suppose that the ancients had taken their prototype of Leucæthiopes from them. However striking may be the linguistic indications of a connection of this tribe with the Kaffers of South Africa, there can be no doubt that historically they have proceeded from the west towards the east. But of this more on another occasion.
I stayed out till the sun went down, and before leaving my open dwelling sketched the long range of mountains to the east, together with the Fingting.
Between Mount Meshíla and Mount Kírya a road leads to the seats of the Komá.
The whole plain affords excellent pasture, and the town itself is a straggling place of great extent. That part of the governor’s house which he assigned to me consisted of a courtyard with a very spacious and cool hut, having two doors or openings, and the ground-floor was strewn with pebbles instead of sand, which seems to be the custom here throughout the rainy season. My host spent a great part of the evening in our company. I made him a present of ten sheets of paper, which, as a learned man in a retired spot who had never before seen so much writing material together, caused him a great deal of delight, though he seemed to be of a sullen temper. He informed me that the Fúlbe settled here belonged to the tribe of the Híllega.
Thursday, June 12.—Although the weather was very gloomy, we set out in the morning through the rich grassy plain, which only round the settlements was laid out in cultivated fields; we crossed and re-crossed the river of the day before, which keeps meandering through the plain. When we reached the village Bagma, which was cheerfully enlivened by a numerous herd of cattle, I was struck with the size and shape of the huts, which testified to the difference of the climate which we had entered, not less than to the mode of living of the inhabitants. Some of these huts were from forty to sixty feet long, about fifteen broad, and from ten to twelve high, narrowing above to a ridge, and thatched all over, no distinction being made between roof and wall; others had a very peculiar shape, consisting of three semicircles.
The reason for making the huts so spacious is the necessity of sheltering the cattle, particularly young cattle, against the inclemency of the weather. Some of them were nothing better than stables, while others combined this distinction with that of a dwelling-house for the owner. The village is separated into two quarters by the river, and is inhabited entirely by Mohammedans. The news of a marvellous novelty soon stirred up the whole village, and young and old, male and female, all gathered round our motley troop, and thronged about us in innocent mirth, and as we proceeded the people came running from the distant fields to see the wonder; but the wonder was not myself, but the camel, an animal which many of them had never seen, fifteen years having elapsed since one had passed along this road. The chorus of shrill voices, “gelóba, gelóba,” was led by two young wanton Púllo girls, slender as antelopes, and wearing nothing but a light apron of striped cotton round their loins, who, jumping about and laughing at the stupidity of these enormous animals, accompanied us for about two miles along the fertile plain. We passed a herd of about three hundred cattle. Gradually the country became covered with forest, with the exception of patches of cultivated ground, and we entered between those mountains which had been during the whole morning in front of us; here also granite prevailed, and all the mountains were covered with underwood.
About nine o’clock the path divided, and my companions for a long time were at a loss to decide which of the two they should follow; Bíllama having some objection to pass the night in Mbutúdi, which he thought was only inhabited by pagans, and preferring Múglebú, where he had acquaintances; but at length the people of Ádamáwa carried their point, and we chose the westernmost road, which passes by Mbutúdi. The wilderness now gave way to open pastures, and we passed some cornfields when we came to the farm of a wealthy Púllo named Alkáso, who in the midst of a numerous family was leading here the life of a patriarch. Hearing that a stranger from a far-distant country was passing by, the venerable old man came out of his village to salute me, accompanied by his sons, and two of the latter, who had evidently no idea of the heresy of the Christian religion, ran a long distance by the side of my horse, and did not turn back till I had given them my blessing. Pleasant as was their innocent behaviour, showing a spirit full of confidence, I was rather glad when they were gone, as I wished to take some angles of the mountains which appeared scattered through the wild and gloomy plain on our right.