On the 18th, after breakfast, being provided with carriers and two horses, one saddled for myself, I took leave of Yarro, and left Kiama. The Houssa caravan left before me, but was to halt at another village, at a little distance from my route. The road was principally through thick woods, with a few plantations of yams, near some villages that we passed, inhabited by Fellatas. One deserted village, they said, had been abandoned last rainy season, on account of sickness; but what the disease was, I could not learn. The inhabitants of these villages were mostly Fellatas, who take care of Yarro’s cattle. The road very winding, diversified by gentle hill and dale; the soil red clay and gravel, with rocks and stones here and there, of a gritty sandstone, with large square pebbles of quartz. At 11.40 A.M. halted at the village of Bonaga, where I got a good house; and I found Yarro had sent forward two goats and a large quantity of yams, which I shared out to the carriers of the baggage. The day was excessively hot, and it was late before all the baggage came up. The head man of the village sent me three large bowls of foo-foo, with goats’ flesh dressed in the skin, which is the saving way of this country, nothing being thrown away but the hoofs and horns. Just as I was going to bed in the evening, Abubecker, who by Yarro’s order had accompanied me, to see me safe on my journey, came running into my room in his shirt, apparently in a great fright, and said the men had run away who were engaged to carry the baggage, and he must ride into the town to bring them back. I thanked him, and said I hoped he would make haste. He waited a little; and I suspected he wanted to draw a present out of me, though I had given him more than any other person in Kiama except Yarro.
Sunday, 19th.—At daybreak I had every thing ready for starting, but the manœuvring of old Abubecker kept me until 7.30 A.M.; and even then I had to give three yards of blue cloth and several strings of beads before I could get the baggage off. After starting, our road was through a thickly wooded country of fine tall trees, with little underwood, the country rising into gentle hill and dale, and the path very winding. At 10 we fell in with the Houssa caravans. They occupied a long line of march: bullocks, asses, horses, women, and men, to the amount of a thousand, all in a line, after one another, forming a very curious sight; a motley groupe, from the nearly naked girls and men carrying loads, to the ridiculously and gaudily dressed Gonja traders, riding on horseback, some of these animals being lame, and going with a halt, and all in very bad condition. The poor girls, their slaves, are compelled to travel with a heavy load on their heads, yet are as cheerful and good-natured as if they were at home grinding corn in their own native country. The road lay over a level plain covered with trees; the soil a red clay, with gravel and ore, among rocks of clay ironstone, appearing, from the softer parts, to have been washed or worn away, as if it had undergone the action of fire. We halted near to a small rainy-season stream, in which were pools of water. Here and there saw numerous traces of the large antelopes, buffaloes, and elephants. The latter, they say, the natives do not kill, because they can get plenty of other meat, and they can prevail on no one to buy the tusks. They destroy wild animals with poisoned arrows, one of which they pretend to say will kill an elephant in about an hour. They eat the flesh of the animal slain with these arrows, but cut out and throw away the piece around the poisoned wound. Yarro’s messenger has promised to show me the tree from which they get the poison when we arrive at Wawa: they tell a number of extravagant stories about its power and effects, which are too ridiculous to believe.
In the evening I went to the place where the Houssa people were encamped, in order to conclude my bargain with the taya, or head man of the caravan, and to make him sign the written agreement in Arabic by which he was to be bound to carry my baggage and presents from Boussa to Kano; and for which I was to pay him, the day after my arrival at the latter place, two hundred thousand cowries. He had always fought off the agreement, saying, I could conclude the bargain when I got over the river; that I must get the sultan of Boussa to allow me to go, and then we should conclude the bargain. I never could get him to say how much he would take them for, or even that he would take them at all. I now said he must determine, as, before I knew whether he would for certain take them or not, it would be of no use asking the sultan of Boussa; “for if I get the sultan’s leave, and you get me on the road, you may charge what you please: if he does not allow me to go, signing the agreement will do no harm, it will only be the loss of the papers. You are mistaken if you think I have any thing to fear from the sultan of Youri; I am a servant of the king of England, and will receive assistance and protection whichever route I take.” He said he would send for his partner. His partner came, Malem Mohamed, or the learned Mohamed; a man that could not read or write, but could repeat a chapter or two of the Koran by heart. He was a palavering old rogue, who always repeated, to whatever the taya said, the words “madealla, madealla,”—“very good, very good,”—without giving any answer to what I asked. I told them, it did not require much consideration about the matter: this must be done, yes or no, before I see the sultan of Boussa; for if they did not determine whether they would take my things or not, I would go direct to Youri. The taya then said, how many loads would I have? I said, fifteen bullocks or asses; that I would pay him at Kano, the day after my arrival, as I could have what money I wanted from Hadji Hat Saleh on giving him a receipt, as I had no money here; (not wishing to let them know that I had a dollar here, as it might endanger my existence and that of all my property). “Well,” says he, “I know you can have what money you want from the merchants of Kano: I and my partner will consider of the affair to-night, and give you an answer to-morrow.” The taya returned with me to my encampment, and, to my surprise, told me that I must not let it be known that I was going to the Fellatas: “Say you are going to Bornou.” “So I am,” I said; “I have got a letter for the sheikh, which I will show you to-morrow.” When the taya left me, I began to think that what Yarro of Kiama had told me was true. When I asked him to go with the caravan, says he, “Are you a merchant? if you are, go with the caravan: if you are the king of England’s messenger, you have nothing to do with them; your way is to go from one king to another, not with caravans of merchants. You will find plenty of people to put evil in your head; if you are wise, do not believe them.”
Monday 20th.—At 6 A.M. left our encampment. Our road through a woody country, rising into hill and dale, with some beautiful rocky mounts, perched on the heights composed of blocks of sandstone and clay ironstone; the soil a red clay and gravel. We halted at the village of Barakina, where I stopped until the carriers came up. As I arrived at this village, a hunter came in from the chase. He had a leopard’s skin over his shoulder, a light spear in his hand, and his bow and arrows slung over his shoulder. He was followed by three cream-coloured dogs, a breed as if between the greyhound and cur: they were adorned with round collars of different coloured leather. The hunter and his dogs marched through the village as independently as ever I saw a man, without taking the least notice of us, or even looking at us. He was followed by a slave carrying a dead antelope that he had killed this morning. They say the people of Borgoo are the greatest hunters in Africa, and that the people of this village and of those we have passed live entirely by the chase; the little ground they cultivate being worked by the women.
Leaving Barakina, and travelling until noon, I came to a rocky ledge, formed like a wall, in some places rising into beautiful rocky mounts with bold precipices, shaded on the top with trees of the most luxuriant foliage. The road lay through a narrow pass in the ledge, shaded with fine tall majestic trees. Here, I said to myself, is the pass, or gates, leading to the Niger. The rocks of which the ledge is composed are of a conglomerate, formed with large square pieces of white quartz, imbedded in a shining dark gray substance; the pieces of quartz about an inch square, the strata forming an angle of about 40° with the zenith. At noon crossed the river Oli, which has a very rocky bed, and is said to be impassable, from the swiftness of the current, in the rainy season. At this place the rocks in the river were a dark clay slate: its course was from west-north-west to east-south-east. The head man of the village at the ferry told me that it had its rise in the hills to the north of Niki, ran to the north of Kiama, and entered the Quorra above Rakah. At the place where I and my baggage crossed it was dry; but all other passengers, not being in the service of a king, are required to cross at the ferry by a canoe, where they have to pay ten cowries a head for each passenger, and twenty cowries for a load for goods. After crossing, I halted at the village of the ferry, which is called Billa, on the south side of the river. I encamped under a shady tree for the superior coolness, though I was offered the best house in the village. The head man brought me a present of a sheep, some yams, milk and honey; and, a short while after my arrival, the head man of the village of Barakina arrived with a sheep, yams, and honey, making an apology for his not being at home when I passed. Alligators are plenty in the river, as one of the carriers, in going to bring water, was chased from the river side by one: parrots, paroquets, and game abound near the banks of this stream. In the evening it was reported to me that the whole of the horses were lost: whether it be to extract a present or not, time will show.
Tuesday, 21st.—It was 8 A.M. before the horses were brought back. I sent all the baggage and stores off, except three boxes, which I gave in charge to the head man of the village, who promised to forward them to me at Wawa. I gave him and the head man of the village of Barakina two yards of cloth each, with a knife and a few beads, with which they were very well pleased. An escort of four horsemen arrived to conduct me to Wawa, and at 8.30 A.M. I left Billa and the escort, who had made the head man of the village provide them with a breakfast. The road lay over a plain, well cultivated, and planted with cottons, yams, and corn in a number of places. At 10 halted under the shade of a tree, near the walls of Wawa, until the escort came up, which they did in a short time afterwards, when I proceeded with them into the town, to the gate of the governor’s house, where I halted under a large spreading tree for upwards of an hour. I then desired Yarro’s messengers to tell the governor that if I was kept longer waiting outside I should return to Kiama; that I was the king of England’s messenger, and would not be kept outside of any door in this way. They went in and told the governor, who sent out to say he was dressing to receive me, and would be out immediately. In a few minutes a number of men came out of the house, and sat down in two rows outside the door; then a high stool was brought out, and placed in the entrance; after which the great man came slowly out of the gate, with a long staff in his hand, and seated himself on the stool. He sent for me. Until then I had not dismounted. I went up and shook hands with him: he kept his hand wrapped up in the sleeve of his tobe, for fear the touch of a white kaffir should kill him. I told him at once who I was, and what I wanted. He said, every thing I wished should be done, and as I must be fatigued with my journey, I should see him again to-morrow. I was shown to a very good house, but found it excessively hot: the thermometer in the shade was 105° of Fahrenheit, which is higher than it has been since I have been in Africa this time. In the afternoon, the governor sent me a present of a goat, yams, honey, and eggs, and the same from his head man.
I was not a little surprised, towards sunset, by a visit from the king of Dahomey’s messengers. I thought that all my prospects were now blasted; that they had been sent to detain me, and bring me back; but my fears were soon allayed, by their saying that they were on their way home; that they had heard white men had arrived here, and they had come to pay their respects to me; that they had been in Youri, and twelve months since had left Dahomey; that the king of Dahomey had sent them to get a camel, but the war between the people of Youri and the Fellatas prevented any camels coming to Youri. These men brought two muskets to salute me with; they had been here twelve days, and were intending to leave this for their own country as soon as they could procure an answer from the governor.
I am lodged in the house of a widow, whose husband was one of the governor’s head men. She is the only wife that bore children to the deceased, and in consequence was not taken and sold at her husband’s death. She wears a rope round her head, another round her neck, and one round her waist, until she has passed her time of mourning, or procures another husband; but I suspect this will be until she dies, as she is ugly in the extreme. I had a visit, amongst the number, from the daughter of an Arab, who is very fair, calls herself a white woman, is rich, a widow, and wants a white husband. She is said to be the richest person in Wawa, having the best house in the town, and a thousand slaves. She showed a great regard for my servant Richard, who is younger and better looking than I am: but she had passed her twentieth year, was fat, and a perfect Turkish beauty, just like a walking water-butt. All her arts were unavailing on Richard: she could not induce him to visit her at her house, though he had my permission.
The next day I went, after sending to say I was ready to give the governor his present, to his house, accompanied by his head man, and gave him seven yards of red cloth, seven yards of blue cloth, seven yards of blue silk, an umbrella, ten strings of beads, and a phosphorus box, after showing them off to the greatest advantage, a thing never to be neglected in Africa. I sat down and told him what I have told them all, and which has been so often repeated. He said there were two roads, one where there was war, the other peace. The one where there was war was by Youri; that the sultan of that country was out fighting the Fellatas: the other by the way the merchants went, through Nyffé, which was safe, and he would advise me to go by that road. I thanked him, and said I would follow his advice, for that I had nothing to do with war. Says he, “You are come to make peace among all people, and make the kings leave off war.” I said, “God willing, I would do what I could.” This opinion of my being a peace-maker prevails strongly in all places that I have been in: perhaps it may arise from the people of the coast and those of Dahomey informing them of the active part we take in preventing the slave trade. He said he should send to the sultan of Boussa, and tell him to forward me by the way of Nyffé, with the merchants, as the other road was bad; that he had never had such a valuable present from any one before; and that I should see every thing I pleased in his country. I told him that three white men who were with me had died on the road; that I was very anxious to get to Bornou before the rains, as being a dry sandy country, I considered that there I was safe: but that in this country or Houssa it was very unsafe and unhealthy for white men to be caught by the rains. The governor is a thin, spare, old man; he had on a cap in the form of a foraging cap, with some of the Stuart tartan riband in several folds around it, a white tobe or large shirt, a Moorish kaftan of Manchester cotton, and a pair of sandals on his feet. The room in which he received me had nothing worth note but the stool on which he sat, which had two lizards carved in bas relief on the top, and the heads of two as handles for carrying it. His house is inside a high square clay wall, with one gate on the western side, and consists of coozies, or circular huts, built of clay and thatched, and one square tower of clay, having little projections at each corner, and an ostrich egg on the top of each of the huts.
After returning home I had numerous visitors, who brought presents of rum, palm wine, and pitto, none of which I would accept, nor allow to be brought into the house for the servants; but as for my man Ali, an Arab, whose freedom I had purchased at Badagry and taken as a servant, all my care could not prevent him from getting drunk. He is a confirmed liar and a thief, and I have often regretted that I gave him his freedom, as I cannot well get rid of him here. The inhabitants of this place appear to be the most roaring, drinking set of any other town I have yet seen. Last night, until near morning, nothing was to be heard but fiddles, Arab guitars, castanets, and singing.