Having kept along the rising ground, and passed several little hamlets adorned with monkey-bread-trees, we had to cross very difficult swampy ground, which, a little later in the season, must be avoided by a long circuit. Two months later Mount Bágelé must look almost like an island, so surrounded is it on all sides by deep inlets and swamps. The detached cone of Mount Takabéllo, rising to a height of about a thousand feet above the plain, for some time formed a conspicuous object in front of us on our winding path, till at length, a little before noon, we reached the outskirts of the capital in a state of mind not exempt from anxious feeling.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
MY RECEPTION IN YÓLA.—SHORT STAY.—DISMISSAL.
At length I had reached the capital of Ádamáwa, having had altogether a very lucky and successful journey; but now all depended upon the manner in which I should be received in this place: for although it was quite enough to have successfully penetrated so far, after having discovered and crossed the upper course of that large river, about the identity of which with the Chadda there could be little doubt, I entertained the hope that I might be allowed to penetrate further south, and investigate at least part of the basin of the river. I had heard so much about the fertile character of those regions, that I was intensely desirous to see something of them.
It was an unfavourable circumstance that we arrived on a Friday, and just during the heat of the day. The streets were almost deserted; and no person met us in order to impart to us, by a friendly welcome, a feeling of cheerfulness and confidence.
Yóla is a large open place, consisting, with a few exceptions, of conical huts surrounded by spacious courtyards, and even by cornfields, the houses of the governor and those of his brothers being alone built of clay. Keeping along the principal street, we continued our march for a mile and a quarter before we reached the house of the governor, which lies on the west side of a small open area, opposite the mosque, a flat oblong, building, or rather hall, enclosed with clay walls, and covered with a flat thatched roof a little inclined on one side. Having reached this place, my companions fired a salute, which, considering the nature of Bíllama’s mission, and the peculiar character of the governor, which this officer ought to have known, and perhaps also since it happened to be Friday, was not very judicious.
Be this as it may, the courtiers or attendants of the governor, attracted by the firing, came out one after another, and informed us that their master must go to the mosque to say his midday prayers[67] before he could attend to us or assign us quarters. We therefore dismounted and sat down in the scanty shade of a jéja or caoutchouc-tree, which adorns the place between the palace and the mosque, while a great number of people, amounting to several hundreds, gradually collected, all eager to salute me and shake hands with me. Fortunately, it was not long before Láwl came out of his palace and went into the mosque; and then I obtained a few moments’ respite, the people all following him, with the exception of the young ones, who very luckily found the camels a worthier object of their curiosity than me. It had been my intention to salute the governor when he was crossing the place, but I was advised not to do so, as it might interfere with his devotional feelings.
The prayer was short; and when it was over I was surrounded by much larger numbers than before, and, being fatigued and hungry, I felt greatly annoyed by the endless saluting and shaking of hands. At length we were ordered to take up our quarters in the house of Ardo Ghámmawa, a brother of our fellow-traveller Íbrahíma; but this being close to the east end of the town, we were not much pleased with the arrangement, as it not only obliged us for the moment to return the whole way we had come, but also for the future deprived us of an unreserved and friendly intercourse with the governor. This was not calculated to inspire us with confidence as to the success of our proceedings.
It was past two o’clock in the afternoon when at length I reached my quarters and took possession of a large, well-ventilated, and neat “záure,” or hall, the walls of which were all painted. In the inner courtyard there was also a very neat and snug little hut, but that was all, and we had great trouble in obtaining quarters for Bú-Sʿad and the Mʿallem in some of the neighbouring courtyards. I felt rather fatigued and not quite at my ease, and therefore could not much enjoy a dish of an extremely good pudding of bairi or sorghum, with excellent clear butter, and a large bowl of milk; but nevertheless, although a storm, accompanied with much rain, broke out in the evening and rendered the air rather humid, I remained the whole night where I was, instead of retiring into the well-protected though rather sultry hut.
Saturday, June 21.—In the morning I selected my presents for the governor, the principal part of which consisted of a very handsome red cloth bernús, which we had found among the things left by the late Mr. Richardson; but when we were ready to go we received the information that Láwl was in his fields, and that we could not see him. Meanwhile I received a visit from an Arab from the far-distant west, with whom I had made acquaintance in Kúkawa, and who had given me some very valuable information. It was el Mukhtár, of the tribe of the Idésan in Bághena, who had previously paid a visit to Ádamáwa, and was well acquainted with the country. It is always very pleasant for a traveller to meet another roving spirit somewhere again, particularly in a country like Central Africa. Having acknowledged his visit by the gift of a knife and a little frankincense, I presented our host, the Ardo Ghámmawa, with a fine “ríga gíwa” (an “elephant-shirt”)—that is to say, one of those enormous wide black shirts made only in Núpe, and which was one of the few articles which I had been able to provide in Kanó for the furtherance of my plans. The family of the Ardo had formerly been settled in Ghámmawa, in the south-western province of Bórnu, but, when the Fúlbe were driven back from that country, emigrated and settled here. But this man still bears the title “Ardo Ghámmawa”—“the mayor of (the Fúlbe community of) Ghámmawa.”