The whole country was enveloped in a thick fog when we started in the morning; so that the passage of the komádugu, with its steep banks, caused a considerable crowding and pushing, which was far from agreeable. When we had got safely over, we had to pass a thick forest, consisting of “bíto” and “kindín,” or talha-trees; and on our left appeared the large walled place of Áfagé, a considerable town, but not so large as Díkowa. After only a short interval, we saw another town on our right, called Kodége, the walls of which were in an advanced state of decay, but were at present adorned with living battlements of male and female spectators.
Proceeding a short distance onward, we encamped at an early hour to the westward of another walled town, called Zógoma. The whole of this district, favoured as it is by nature, seems to have been once in a very flourishing condition. It was, however, rather odd that we should have encamped here, as the horses had to be led back to Áfagé for water.
I had scarcely pitched my tent, when that cruel minister of police, Lamíno, a man whose character my friend Háj Edrís used significantly to describe in the few words, “Kárgo díbbi, kíndi díbbi” (“Bad in heart, and bad in deed”), brought into my presence a famous cut-throat of the name of Barka-ngólo, whose neck was secured in a large machine called “bégo,” consisting of two pieces of wood from four to five feet in length, and very heavy, so that every movement was accompanied with the greatest pain. Nevertheless my mischievous friend persuaded himself that it would gratify me to see this miserable wretch fight with another culprit secured in the same manner, by giving to each of them a long whip of hippopotamus-hide, and forcing them by threats to flog each other. It was a horrible sight; and I had great difficulty in convincing my cruel friend that such a scene was far from being agreeable to me. In order to get rid of him, I presented him with a quantity of cloves to give to his beloved ʿAáisha, of whose culinary powers we had already had several proofs. He was greatly pleased with my present; and with an amorous smile he described to me how deeply he was in love with his darling, saying that he loved her, and she loved him also: “and,” added he, in a very sentimental way, “such a mutual love is the greatest bliss on earth.” Europeans must not fancy that there is no such feeling among these Africans as love, although it is not quite so ethereal as it sometimes seems to be with us. Notwithstanding these amorous declarations, which sounded very ridiculous coming from such a mass of flesh as he was, I was glad when he was gone.
We were now approaching hostile territory, and in the evening a “gangéma,” or proclamation accompanied by beat of drum, was made throughout the whole encampment, to the effect that the train of camels and pack-oxen, which previously had greatly hemmed in the cavalry, should not start until after the former had moved on. Zógoma is the farthest town of the Bórnu territory in this direction; and the following day we encamped in a district of the name of Mása, close to a swamp, thickly covered with water-plants, principally the Pistia stratiotes. Several Shúwa villages were lying about at short distances from each other.
On the road we passed some cotton-plantations and stubble-fields. The chief agricultural produce of Mása consisted of “sábade,” the sweet sorghum or Sorghum saccharatum. This sort of grain I had not yet seen in the course of my journey; but in Díkowa my friend Malá Ibrám had sent me a large quantity of it, in order that I might indulge in this African luxury. At that period I was surprised at the great length of these stalks, some of which measured fourteen feet; but how astonished was I afterwards, when, in the course of my travels in the luxuriant valleys of Kebbi, I found specimens of twice that length! This evening the vizier treated us with the marrow of the “sábade,” which, in snow-white pieces of about eight inches in length, were neatly placed upon a straw cover or “féfe,” such as are used in the country. While indulging in this simple African dainty, our conversation, very naturally, turned upon the cultivation as well as the preparation of sugar, which is one of those articles of European industry that most excites the admiration of the natives of this country. But when they learn in what a filthy manner it is refined, they become horrified, and hesitate whether they shall say farewell to this indulgence, or overcome the scruples and prejudices of their creed.
There is no doubt that the “sábade” would yield a rich produce of sugar; but it is not necessary to have recourse to this expedient, as the sugar-cane itself grows wild in several regions of Negroland, and we shall actually find a small plantation of it, and boiling-houses, on a small scale, carried on by a native in the neighbourhood of Sókoto. Our conversation at these African soirées with the vizier became sometimes so learned, that even Ptolemy with his “Mandros oros” was quoted. But, sad as it must seem to all who, like myself, delight in going back into remote antiquity, this famous mountain, which at the first sight seems to be an ancient memorial of the Mándará mountains of some seventeen hundred years standing, appears to belong entirely to Western Africa. Our kind host always found great delight in every kind of information; it was only a pity he was wanting in manly energy to carry out his good projects.
Monday, Dec. 8.—Woe to those regions through which an army takes its march in these parts of the world, were it even their own country. We passed this morning some very extensive cornfields, the crops of which were of the most luxuriant growth; but notwithstanding the piteous clamours, and even the threats of the slaves who were watching on the highly raised platforms in order to keep away the birds from the corn, the rich ears fell a prey to the hungry horsemen, for their own sustenance and that of their animals. These raised platforms are here called “górgo”; and the ropes which were fastened between them and the trees were provided with small hollow gourds, “káre,” filled with stones, which, when set in motion, were intended to frighten away the birds. After a tolerable march, we took up our encampment near the straggling hamlet Delhé, a locality touched at by Major Denham, on his unfortunate expedition to Mándará, but placed by him much too far southward.
All the cottages in these Shúwa villages have a conical roof rising to a great elevation, and tapering like a sugar-loaf,—the thatch being put on in a very irregular way, and fastened with ropes, though it is pleasantly and cheerfully adorned by the climbers of the “ságade” or “kubéwa,” a species of the Cucurbita melopepo (squash gourd), if not identical with it, the fruit of which, when boiled, has a very pleasant taste, and in some regions of Negroland, as far as Timbúktu, forms the principal vegetable for seasoning food.
The long duration of the rainy season here, as well as in Ádamáwa, renders sheds for the cattle necessary; and these consist of huts constructed similarly to the dwellings of man, but more spacious, with the exception that the walls consist merely of trunks of trees. The Shúwa of this village, as well as those of a neighbouring one, which after the name of a chief is called Háj Amaka, belong to the tribe of the Bulgówa, or ʿAwisíya. The place where we encamped was full of brushwood; and it took us a long time to pitch our tents. The variation of the temperature was so great, that I caught a severe cold; it was therefore agreeable to me that we remained here the following day: for while, during the greatest heat, at two o’clock P.M., the thermometer in the ventilated tent showed often from 93° to 96° Fahr., during the night it generally fell to between 50° and 53°. The vizier was kind enough, when I did not come to his soirée, to send one of his young slaves with a censer; but I was so unfortunate as to excite the anger of the little tyrannical messenger, who wanted me to imitate their own custom, which is, to place the censer under their wide shirt, and, by drawing the opening close over the head, to concentrate the fumes arising from the incense under their shirt, and receive it into the face, while I, thinking this rather too much, was satisfied with holding my face over it.