In the mean time, some of the people of Zamfra, coming post without loads or arms, were on their way to assist their friends, who were sticking in the mud, and to drag the governor’s baggage out of the swamp. I asked them, in a good-natured way, to lend a hand to help out my bullock, that was still sticking in the bog. “Well,” say they, “christian, give us that meat you have got in your dish, and we will assist you.” “Take it,” said I, “my lads;” and giving them the sheep’s heart, which was boiled and covered with fat, they divided it among them; and going to the spot where the unfortunate bullock was, had him out in an instant.
After letting the bullock breathe a little, we started again, but had new difficulties to encounter. There was a second stream to cross, worse than the former: I stripped, and waded over, leading my horse. On the other side, under a tree, I found a sick Fellata unable to move, with a burning fever, a native of one of the neighbouring villages; his friends, he said, had taken away his horse, and left him there, to the mercy of whoever might choose to assist him.
About mid-day arrived at the court of Bello; the Gadado saw me passing to my quarters, and sent to request I would halt, and to say I must go to the sultan, who would excuse every thing about my dress, as he was so anxious to see me. I accordingly dismounted, and accompanying the Gadado, we were instantly shown into the residence of Bello, which was formed of a number of huts, screened off by cloth fixed to poles, making quite a little village of itself. His reception of me was most kind and gratifying; he asked after the health of the king of England, and if we were still at peace, and how I had found all my friends. He was surprised when I said I had not seen them, and that I had remained only four months in England. He said, he had not received either of my letters, the one from Bornou, or that which had been sent by the way of Ghadamis from Tripoli. He asked me if I had not experienced a great many difficulties in getting through Yourriba; said he had heard of me when I was at Eyeo or Katunga, and that he had sent a messenger to that place, to assist me in getting through; and had also sent another to Koolfu; but neither of whom, as I told him, had I seen.
During this interview, it began to rain, thunder, and lighten very heavily; but as he and the old Gadado remained exposed to it, I was of course obliged to do so too. He had heard, he observed, that our camels had died on the road, but said he would send one of his men with a camel this evening, and who would take care that all my baggage should arrive safely at Soccatoo; but that it would be better that every thing should remain with me, until my setting out for the capital, where I could then deliver to him the present, and the king of England’s letter, as he intended making an attack on the capital of Goobur on the morrow. The rain having now ceased, I was permitted to take leave, and made the best of my way to that part of the camp assigned to me, which was not far distant from the sultan’s abode.
During the night, a pretty strict guard was kept, by horsemen in quilted armour; and all the horses in the camp were saddled at sunset, and remained so during the night.
Bello’s appearance was very little altered from what it was when I saw him last, except that he had got a little lustier, and dressed somewhat better. He was dressed to-day in a white striped muslin shirt and turban, and the finest tobes that the country produces.
Monday, 16th.—Morning clear, with a heavy dew. At 4 A.M. all was ready for commencing the war; but it was six before they started; the intermediate time being spent mostly in praying. I kept close to the Gadado, as it was his wish I should do so. Our path was through the plantations of millet and dourra of the enemy. At 8, the sultan halted under a tree, and gave orders for a camp to be formed, which was speedily done by the troops, cutting or pulling up the millet and dourra, and making huts, fences, and screens of the stalks. I waited on the sultan, who was dismounted, and sitting under the shade of the tree, near which he had halted. He was surrounded by the governors of the different provinces, who were all, with the exception of the governor of Adamawa, better dressed than himself.
After the midday prayers, all, except the eunuchs, camel drivers, and such other servants as were of use only to prevent theft, whether mounted or on foot, marched towards the object of attack; and soon arrived before the walls of the city. I also accompanied them, and took up my station close to the Gadado. The march had been the most disorderly that can be imagined; horse and foot intermingling in the greatest confusion, all rushing to get forward; sometimes the followers of one chief tumbling amongst those of another, when swords were half unsheathed, but all ended in making a face, or putting on a threatening aspect. We soon arrived before Coonia, the capital of the rebels of Goobur, which was not above half a mile in diameter, being nearly circular, and built on the bank of one of the branches of the river, or lakes, which I have mentioned. Each chief, as he came up, took his station, which, I suppose, had previously been assigned to him. The number of fighting men brought before the town could not, I think, be less than fifty or sixty thousand, horse and foot, of which the foot amounted to more than nine-tenths. For the depth of two hundred yards, all round the walls was a dense circle of men and horses. The horse kept out of bow-shot, while the foot went up as they felt courage or inclination, and kept up a straggling fire with about thirty muskets, and the shooting of arrows. In front of the sultan, the Zegzeg troops had one French fusil: the Kano forces had forty-one muskets. These fellows, whenever they fired their pieces, ran out of bow-shot to load; all of them were slaves; not a single Fellata had a musket. The enemy kept up a sure and slow fight, seldom throwing away their arrows until they saw an opportunity of letting fly with effect. Now and then a single horse would gallop up to the ditch, and brandish his spear, the rider taking care to cover himself with his large leathern shield, and return as fast as he went, generally calling out lustily, when he got among his own party, “Shields to the wall!” “You people of the Gadado, or Atego,” &c., “why don’t you hasten to the wall?” To which some voices would call out, “Oh! you have a good large shield to cover you!” The cry of “Shields to the wall” was constantly heard from the several chiefs to their troops; but they disregarded the call, and neither chiefs nor vassals moved from the spot. At length the men in quilted armour went up “per order.” They certainly cut not a bad figure at a distance, as their helmets were ornamented with black and white ostrich feathers, and the sides of the helmets with pieces of tin, which glittered in the sun, their long quilted cloaks of gaudy colours reaching over part of the horses’ tails, and hanging over the flanks. On the neck, even the horse’s armour was notched, or vandyked, to look like a mane; on his forehead and over his nose was a brass or tin plate, as also a semicircular piece on each side. The rider was armed with a large spear; and he had to be assisted to mount his horse, as his quilted cloak was too heavy; it required two men to lift him on; and there were six of them belonging to each governor, and six to the sultan. I at first thought the foot would take advantage of going under cover of these unwieldy machines; but no, they went alone, as fast as the poor horses could bear them, which was but a slow pace. They had one musket in Coonia, and it did wonderful execution, for it brought down the van of the quilted men, who fell from his horse like a sack of corn thrown from a horse’s back at a miller’s door; but both horse and man were brought off by two or three footmen. He had got two balls through his breast; one went through his body and both sides of the tobe; the other went through and lodged in the quilted armour opposite the shoulders.
The cry of “Allahu Akber,” or, “God is great,” was resounded through the whole army every quarter of an hour at least (this is the war-cry of the Fellatas); but neither this, nor “Shields to the wall,” nor “Why don’t the Gadado’s people go up,” had any effect, except to produce a scuffle among themselves, when the chiefs would have to ride up and part their followers, who, instead of fighting against the enemy, were more likely to fight with one another. There were three Arabs of Ghadamis in the army, armed at all points. Hameda, the sultan’s merchant, was one. He was mounted on a fine black Tuarick horse, armed with a spear and shield, an Arab musket, brace of pistols, blunderbuss, sword and dagger. The other two, Abdelkrim, and Beni Omar, armed with musket, pistols, sword, and dagger. Abdelkrim was mounted; Omar on foot, who received a ball from the Coonia musket, which carried away his cartouche box, with all his ammunition, early in the attack. The other two, Hameda and Abdelkrim, kept behind the sultan and Gadado the whole of the action, and always joined lustily in the cry of “Allahu Akber.” Once Hameda asked me, when I was near him, why I did not join in the cry: was it not a good place? I told him to hold his peace for a fool: my God understood English as well as Arabic.
The most useful, and as brave as any one of us, was an old female slave of the sultan’s, a native of Zamfra, five of whose former governors she said she had nursed. She was of a dark copper colour. In dress and countenance very like one of Captain Lyon’s female Esquimaux. She was mounted on a long-backed bright bay horse, with a scraggy tail, crop-eared, and the mane as if the rats had eaten part of it; and he was not in high condition. She rode a-straddle; had on a conical straw dish-cover for a hat, or to shade her face from the sun, a short dirty white bedgown, a pair of dirty white loose and wide trowsers, a pair of Houssa boots, which are wide, and came up over the knee, fastened with a string round the waist. She had also a whip and spurs. At her saddle-bow hung about half a dozen gourds, filled with water, and a brass basin to drink out of; and with this she supplied the wounded and the thirsty. I certainly was much obliged to her, for she twice gave me a basin of water. The heat and dust made thirst almost intolerable. Numbers went into the shade as they got tired, and also to drink at the river. When it drew near sunset the sultan dismounted, and his shield was held over him for a shade. In this way we continued until sunset, when the sultan mounted. We left the walls of Coonia for the camp. Upon the whole, it was as poor a fight as can possibly be imagined; and, though the doctrine of predestination is professed by Mahomedans, in no one instance have I seen them act as men believing such a doctrine. The feudal forces are most contemptible; ever more ready to fight with one another than they are with the enemy of their king and country, and rarely acting in concert. During the night we were cut off from water by the inhabitants of Coonia, and a cry was raised that they had come out to attack us, when the whole of the forces of Zamfra, horse and foot, were tumbling over us in our quarter, pell-mell, who should get the soonest out of danger. I had not undressed, but had my horse saddled, and the camels loaded. My servants would have run too, but I made them stop and load the camels, when I sent them off with those of the Gadado, which now only remained.