The city of Eyeo (in Houssa language, Katunga), the capital of Yourriba, is situated in latitude 8° 59′ north, longitude 6° 12′ east. It is built on the sloping side and round the base of a small range of granite hills, which, as it were, forms the citadel of the town; they are formed of stupendous blocks of gray granite of the softest kind, some of which are seen hanging from the summits, in the most frightful manner, while others, resting on very small bases, appear as if the least touch would send them down into the valley beneath. The soil on which the town is built is formed of clay and gravel, mixed with sand, which has obviously been produced from the crumbling granite. The appearance of these hills is that of a mass of rocks left bare by the tide. A belt of thick wood runs round the walls, which are built of clay, and about twenty feet high, and surrounded by a dry ditch. There are ten gates in the walls, which are about fifteen miles in circumference, of an oval shape, about four miles in diameter one way, and six miles the other, the south end leaning against the rocky hills, and forming an inaccessible barrier in that quarter. The king’s houses and those of his women occupy about a square mile, and are on the south side of the hills, having two large parks, one in front, and another facing the north. They are all built of clay, and have thatched roofs, similar to those nearer the coast. The posts supporting the verandahs and the doors of the king’s and caboceers’ houses are generally carved in bas relief, with figures representing the boa killing an antelope or a hog, or with processions of warriors attended by drummers. The latter are by no means meanly executed, conveying the expression and attitude of the principal man in the groupe with a lofty air, and the drummer well pleased with his own music, or rather deafening noise. There are seven different markets, which are held every evening; being generally opened about three or four o’clock. The chief articles exposed for sale are yams, corn, calavances, plantains, and bananas; vegetable butter, seeds of the colycynth, which forms a great article of food, sweetmeats, goats, fowls, sheep, and lambs; and also cloth of the manufacture of the country, and their various implements of agriculture. The price of a small goat is from 1500 to 2000 cowries; a large sheep, 3000 to 5,000; a fowl, 150 to 200; yams, 4000 per hundred; a horse, 80 to 100,000; and a cow from 20 to 30,000; a prime slave, 40 to 60,000;—2000 cowries being equal to one Spanish dollar. Trona, or natron, is brought here from Bornou, and sold to all parts of the coast, where it is much in request, to mix with snuff, and also as a medicine.
Saturday, 25th.—This afternoon we had a visit from the king; he brought with him a duck, some rice, and goora nuts. I told him I was all ready to go, whenever he chose to give me the escort and messengers. He said the caboceers of the different towns through which I had to pass were still here, but as soon as they left I should go. I asked him, as I was writing to England, what he wanted from thence. He said, a brass crown, fine yellow and blue cloth, large coral, some gaudy carpeting, an English drum, and about half a ton of cowries. The whole of this curious catalogue would not cost, as I suppose, more than £200. I told him, therefore, that I should send the list home.
Sunday, 26th.—Morning dull and hazy, with an oppressive sultry heat, the wind north-north-east, causing the same depression of spirits as the siroc wind in the Mediterranean, and which affected every one of the party, and made us all sigh for a breeze, and to proceed on our journey.
Wednesday, 1st March.—On this day the weather began to clear up, with a fine breeze from the eastward. Our friend the fat eunuch is evidently playing the rogue with us, as we neither can get provisions, wood, nor water, but with the greatest difficulty. He sees he has got all I intend to give, either to the king or any body else. A messenger of the caboceer of Jannah went and returned from Rakah to-day, to buy trona. The Yourriba name of Rakah is Saguda: the Quorra is only about two hours’ easy walking to the eastward of it. The following day, in the afternoon, I had a visit from the king. I asked him why I was longer detained; said I had waited with patience through the several times he had appointed for my starting, but it appeared I was just as far from getting away as ever. He hesitated, and gave me an evasive answer. I asked him to tell me distinctly. No, he could not do that, as he wished to get me a large horse to ride before I went. I said I would ride a small one. He then said he had only one. I asked him if he would allow me to hire horses from the caboceers. “What,” he replied, “will they say of me, if I allow you to go away in this way after your king sending me such a present?” He then begged I would stop for three days more, until he could get horses, and I should certainly go. I pointed out to him the number of times he had broken his word: he said the reason he would not fix a day now was, that he might not break his word again.
Monday, 6th.—It was not before the 6th that the king paid me another visit, and told me, that the Yarro messengers were ready, and that I might go to-morrow or next day, and that he intended to give me a horse. I thanked him, and told him I was quite ready and determined to set off to-morrow, as delays here were dangerous. Accordingly, the next day, when every thing was ready for starting, I was again visited by the king, who, after giving me in charge of what he called the Yarro messenger, told me that the sultan Yarro would take the greatest care of my baggage, and forward me to the king of Youri. He then made me a present of a horse, for which I thanked him, and took my leave.
CHAPTER III.
JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS FROM KATUNGA, OR EYEO, TO BOUSA, ON THE NIGER, OR QUORRA, THE PLACE WHERE MUNGO PARK PERISHED.
At three o’clock in the afternoon I set out from Katunga, and passed the gates of the town, with the same escort I had on entering it, headed, as before, by the king’s brother. In the evening we halted at the village of Assina for the night, where I got two fowls and some yams. The poor people were just returning to their houses, from which they had been driven out by the Fellatas last year, who continue to infest the country, even up to the gates of Katunga.
Wednesday, 8th.—Left the village of Assina; the morning dull, but cool and pleasant; arrived at Tshow, where I had breakfast, and left it at 10 A.M., and after travelling over very bad roads, cut up and crossed by deep rocky ravines, reached the higher ground, which was well cultivated; but their villages appeared to be all in ruins, which my guides told me were destroyed last year by the Fellatas. At noon arrived at the town of Algi, which is now rising from its ruins; it having shared the same fate as the villages I had passed. The inhabitants are now returning to their ruined dwellings, some of which they have already repaired; they said they had nothing but a little grain, and a few yams for seed; of these they gave me part, and the best house in the town. The Yarro messenger had not made his appearance, and I now learned, that Algi no longer belonged to the king of Yourriba, but to Yarro, the chief or sultan of Kiama, a petty state of the kingdom of Borgoo; that Kiama was the name of the province, and Yarro the name of the sultan, as he is called. I gave the king of Yourriba’s brother, who commanded the escort, a fathom of red cloth, and ten coral beads, as he is to return to Katunga as soon as he has seen me off from this place.