To my great satisfaction, we were obliged to stay here the next day, in order to await the arrival of the lámido, when, feeling greatly recruited by a good night’s and half-a-day’s rest, I crept out of my well-polished round little clay hut in the afternoon, and, crossing the neatly fenced promenade of the straggling village, ascended a neighbouring eminence formed by an irregular mass of granite blocks, to the north of our quarters. Here I spent two delicious hours in the tranquil contemplation of the picturesque scenery, which I thought the most interesting I had yet seen in this quarter of the world. The view I took presents but a very faint idea of its peculiar features; but I hope it will give some conception of the nature of this country in general, which enables the pagan natives between this district and Hamárruwa to defend their liberty and independence against the Mohammedan intruders. These tribes are, after the Démsa, who seem to form a tolerably numerous body, first, the Mbulá, probably the same who have given their name to the place situated at some distance from Mount Míndif, and mentioned above; then, further west, or north-west, the Báchama, and still further west the Tángalé, with both of whom Mr. Vogel, on his recent journey from Yákuba to Hamárruwa, has come in contact.
Tuesday, July 1.—We made a short but highly interesting march to the place of our old friend the Mʿallem Delíl. The scenery was rich and beautiful, the crops of Guinea-corn standing from four to five feet high, alternating with fields where góza, a kind of yams, were grown, and adorned with fine spreading trees, amongst which the tármu and the kúka or monkey-bread-tree predominated; even the rocky eminences were all overgrown with fresh vegetation. We then passed a sort of shallow river, or sél, which is called by the Kanúri “ngáljam,” and forms a characteristic feature of Démsa, while on our right it expanded to a conspicuous sheet of water, bordered by blocks and masses of rocks full of vegetation. It was overgrown with rank reed at the spot where we crossed it.
Only a few minutes beyond this almost stagnant water on green meadow-land, we crossed the broad and clear torrent of the Máyo Tíyel, rushing ahead over a gravelly bottom, and at times rolling along a considerable quantity of water. According to my guides, it is formed by three branches, one issuing from Báses towards the north-east, the other coming from the neighbourhood of Bélem, and the third from the north-west from Bíngel. Only a few hundred yards further on, we passed on our left another broad sheet of water, apparently of great depth, which is said to preserve the same level at all times of the year. It is full of crocodiles, and bordered by the richest vegetation, and, being apparently quite isolated, has a very curious appearance. Perhaps it is fed by subterranean sources. It is surrounded by beautiful pasture-grounds.
We then traversed a fine open country, passing some villages, while the road was enlivened by a troop of travellers (colonists from Bórnu), among whom there were some remarkably handsome women mounted on bullocks, who bore sufficient testimony to the fact that the more elevated districts of Ádamáwa are salubrious and favourable for man. We reached Bélem at about two o’clock; but before we arrived there a circumstance happened which I must not omit to mention, as it is rather characteristic: for suddenly two of Mohammed Láwl’s servants appeared with the horse which Bíllama had sold to the governor for the price of twenty slaves, returning it under some pretext, but in reality for no other reason than because he was afraid lest it might operate by way of charm, and injure him. Bíllama was to have received the slaves in the towns still before us.
We stayed in Bélem this day and the following; and I was pestered a little by the family of old Mʿallem Delíl, but particularly by his daughter, rather a handsome person, who had been divorced from her former husband (I think Mansúr, the younger brother of Mohammed Láwl), and wanted me by all means to write her a charm to get her another husband after her heart’s desire. She was a very passionate sort of woman, and when smelling, against my wish, from my phial of hartshorn, was seized with such violent convulsions, that she was carried senseless out of my tent, and remained in this state for nearly an hour. The stay here was the more disagreeable to me as it was caused partly by the trading propensities of my servant Bú-Sʿad; and not only did he buy ivory, which he had the insolence to add to the loads of my weak camels, but even three slaves, so that I was obliged to dismiss him instantly from my service, although I had nothing wherewith to pay him off. It is extremely difficult for a single European to proceed in these countries with hired servants, as he loses all control over them. This man, who had been the late Mr. Richardson’s servant as well as mine, turned out like Mukni, Mr. Richardson’s interpreter, a great slave-dealer, and in 1855, when I was leaving Central Africa, collected a numerous gang of slaves in this very country, which he had before visited as my servant.
Thursday, July 3.—We at length resumed our journey, but only to reach Saráwu Beréberé, where we took up our quarters in the comfortable courtyard which I have described on our outward journey. I will only record the pleasing fact, that, as soon as the news spread in the town of my having returned, a man whom I had cured of disease during my former stay brought me a handsome gazelle-skin as an acknowledgment.
The next day we followed our ancient road by Badaníjo, and reached Segéro; but on Saturday, after having passed Mbutúdi without any other delay than that of buying with beads a little milk from our Fúlbe friends, we took a more easterly path, which brought us to Múglebú, a village which exhibited to us an interesting picture of the exuberance that reigns in these regions at this time of the year. The huts were scarcely visible, on account of the rich crops of grain which surrounded them on all sides, while Palma Christi formed thick clusters of bushes, and a few specimens of a remarkable tree which I had never observed before, besides isolated bananas, rose above the rich mass of vegetation, and gave to the whole the charm of novelty; but the weather was so wet that I could make but a very slight sketch, and was wholly prevented from rambling about, the rain continuing the whole of the afternoon. Besides, all my energy was required to assist my three servants, who were all severely ill; and while I administered to two of them emetics, I had to soothe ʿAbdallah with a dose of laudanum. It was very fortunate indeed that I myself felt a little better. In short, our stay here was anything but agreeable, and I was worried by several people with demands which exceeded my power—such as to drive out devils, relieve impotency, and so on; but the mayor sent me a goat, fowls, milk, and a little butter. The village, which consisted of about two hundred huts, seemed to be in good circumstances.
Sunday, July 6.—When we started at a tolerably early hour in the morning, the weather was clear and favourable; but after we had crossed the little mountain-chain which surrounds the village of Múglebú at some distance to the east and north, and reached a small hamlet presenting signs of very careful cultivation, and numerous herds of cattle, we were drenched by a heavy shower. It is generally supposed that storms in the tropical climes break forth in the afternoon, or in the course of the night—and this certainly is the general rule; but if there has been a storm the day before, or during the night, and the weather has not cleared up, there can be no certainty that it will not come on again in the course of the morning. It is rather a rare phenomenon in these regions for a storm to gather in the morning on a clear sky; but nevertheless several examples even of this will be found in my meteorological tables. The natives are not at all insensible to rain; and while the Kánembú who had attached themselves to our caravan in Badaníjo were protecting their persons with their light wooden shields, the natives of the country collected thick bushes, and formed a sort of natural umbrella over their heads. To protect the head at least from wet is most essential in these climes. On another occasion, when I come to speak about the prevailing kinds of disease, I shall have to mention how dreadfully the Fulbe sometimes suffer from the maladies of the rainy season, when employed on their warlike expeditions.
Early in the morning we reached Múfi or Múbi, but were received so inhospitably that we had great difficulty in obtaining quarters, for which we were obliged to keep fighting the whole day, as a quarrelsome mʿallem wished to dislodge me from the hut of which I had taken possession. Fortunately his better half bore the inconvenience with more equanimity; and I put up cheerfully with the little trouble which she gave me from time to time by calling at the door and begging me to hand to her some little articles of her simple household furniture. My three people were so sick that they lay like so many corpses on the ground; and their condition prevented us from setting out even the following day, notwithstanding the inhospitable manner in which we were treated here, so that I had ample leisure to study minutely the architecture of my residence, of which I subjoin a ground-plan.
