The information he gave me without any pressing about that expedition was of the highest importance, for, according to him, all that Dr. Grunner went to Gando for was to ask the Emir to direct the merchants of caravans who left districts under his command to go to Togoland. It will readily be seen how very different the purely commercial aim of this expedition was to that attributed to it, the establishment of a protectorate in Gando.
The people of Girris have polite and gentle manners. Neither the men, the women, nor the children showed any of the unreasonable terror of white men usual amongst negroes, and so painful to Europeans, accustomed to countries where there is nothing of the kind.
At daybreak the next morning the children of the place came with the little spades used in the district, to clear a great space of grass near to our anchorage, in preparation for the chief’s visit to us. On our side we got ready for his reception by pitching the big tent and hoisting our flag beside it. I also made the coolies rig themselves out in their best clothes.
At eight o’clock a deafening noise announced the approach of the chief, and the procession very soon came in sight. It was headed by a number of children armed with bows and arrows, followed by mounted men with tambourines, which the riders struck perpetually with little bent rods.
At last came his Majesty himself, surrounded by a number of his wives, horrible-looking women, whose style I have already described, whilst beside him was his prime minister, if I may use such an expression, or, to give the Haussa term, his ghaladima, whose chief occupation in the palace was to shampoo his master’s feet.
Behind came crowds of men putting out all the strength of their lungs as they blew large horns, not unlike those used in Europe by the drivers of stage coaches, making a perfectly deafening din. These horns or trumpets, which must have been much the same as those that brought down the walls of Jericho, had caused the awful noise we had been disturbed by in the early morning.
The orchestra was completed by a number of heterogeneous instruments, the description of which would require a whole chapter, and the row they made really included, I do believe, every possible sound which could be produced by beating, clapping, and squeezing.
The chief wore a bubu with silver stripes, of a pretty good material, a present, I was told, from the Germans. His breeches were made of strips of velvet of different colours; he had on the red boots I had sent to him the evening before, and round a somewhat greasy fez was twisted a coral-coloured silk turban. Lastly, a tricolour sash worn across the shoulders over the half-open bubu resembled the grand cordon of some order, or the scarf of a deputy, showing up well against the black skin of his Majesty’s chest.
What an ugly, stunted, little fellow he was with it all! He reminded me of a monkey, or of some freak of nature such as is exhibited in circuses and at fairs. His intelligence too was probably on a par with theirs.
Fifty mounted men on fine horses with handsome saddles formed the chief’s escort. When they arrived they all leaped with more or less agility to the ground. The chief took his place on the throne, that is to say, on Father Hacquart’s folding-chair; his ghaladima crouched at his feet on one side, and Hadji Hamet on the other. We took up our position on benches opposite to our visitor, and the salutations began. With the combined aid of the Father and Hadji Hamet we exchanged many flowery compliments. We had not had a regular interpreter with us since we left Tenda, and now we conversed partly in Burgu and partly in Haussa, for the Fulah spoken by Suleyman and the Songhay of Mamé were rarely understood in these parts. I slipped in a request for a guide, and was told one would be with me that very evening. Noting the magnificence displayed by the chief of Ilo, I thought I had better give him and his suite handsomer presents than those I had originally intended for him. I was extremely anxious to get a guide to take us to Bussa, for the river was now at its height, and there was not a moment to lose if we wished to pass the rapids under the most favourable conditions. Moreover, I had been told that the chiefs of Ilo and Bussa were relations, so that I hoped the pilots given to me by the first would aid me in getting guides more easily from the latter.