Monday, 12th.—I went out to hunt on the flats on foot, with a Fellata to drive in the game, my servants being all knocked up, and too tired to accompany me. After getting on the ground, I lay down amongst the long grass, and sent out the Fellata, who twice drove the game close to where I was lying, but on both occasions I was sound asleep, being overcome with fatigue, and I got up and returned home. As I was returning I fell in with an old sow and five pigs: I let fly at her, as she with her whole family were coming up to take a look at me. This, as I did not hit any of them, did not at all disturb her or her brood, who, by their size, might be about nine months old; she, with four of the young ones, only turned on one side, and walked slowly amongst the long grass. As I came nearer, the fifth, a young boar, came snorting up, with his tail erect, to within pistol shot; I presented the gun to him, but he seemed to care very little for me, and I did not like to kill him. After both had satisfied ourselves with looking at one another, he, seeing the whole of his relations in safety, turned round with a grunt, and strutted after them, with as little fear in his gesture as if he had been lord of the soil. The wild hogs of Africa, both in Borgo, Houssa, and Bornou, are the same in appearance, having a head much larger in proportion to their bodies than the domestic hog of Europe. In Yourriba and Nyffé the snout is very broad and round, with two large tusks on each side, one in each jaw, both upper and lower turning up, the lower fitting also the upper and outside; the back of the neck covered with a mane of upright bristles of a snuff-brown colour, no other hair appearing on any other part, except at the tip of the tail: they are universally of the same colour, a dark mouse or lead colour: the height of a full grown boar is about three and a half or four feet, and from the tip of the snout to the root of the tail about five feet. They have also two warts on each side of the head, on a line with the nose, the largest below the ear, two inches and a half, the other about an inch lower down, upon the end of the upper tusk, which look like two horns.
Tuesday, 13th.—I did not go out until nearly mid-day, and then went to the south of the town, amongst the hills and woods, but again was unsuccessful. Though the traces of game of all kinds were numerous, yet I saw nothing but one flock of antelopes, which I could not get near; guinea-fowl were in plenty, but as shy as before. The hills were composed of loose clay, iron-stone rocks on the surface, and a red clay and sand for the depth of about four or five feet, then a dull whitish or rather bluish clay, containing shining particles of mica underneath. Several of the stones had rounded pebbles imbedded in them; others were, on breaking, like yellow ochre; the outer surfaces of all as if they had been burnt in the fire. This is owing to the weather I suppose, as well as the appearance of having been melted from the rains and sand beating on them, and wearing away the soft parts. The blocks of rock never exceed six feet square when loose, and when covering a flat, never above three or four feet thick over the clay soil. I forgot to mention that the greater number, when broke, present a glistening or shining appearance, like iron-ore, and that they are much heavier than pieces of sandstone of the same bulk. After tiring myself amongst the hills to no purpose, and I and my guides being very thirsty, we went across to the north, to a small lake on the flat or plain, to drink. Here I fell in with a party of Fellata girls washing their gourds, from which their people, who had a temporary bullock or cattle village close at hand, under the shade of some large adansonia (kouka trees), had just gone out on the flats with their cattle. They gave me curdled milk and water to drink; after which I lay down by the side of the lake, and took the bridle off my horse, to let him enjoy himself also amongst the fine green grass.
Wednesday, 14th.—I did not go out to-day, as I had had such bad success, and was too much fatigued. A courier arrived from the Gadado, bringing intelligence of the Sheik El Kanemi being defeated with great loss, and that he had fled towards Bornou; the governors of Fudba and Zegzeg had beaten him; and that the governor of Kano had joined them, with all his forces, in the rear. Duncoroa, governor of Katagum, Ben Gumso of Hadiga, &c. were in front of the sheik, so that he will not be able to return to Bornou if they manœuvre right. The Fellatas are all in great glee on the occasion, and they do not spare him the name of Dan Caria, or son of a b——h.
Thursday, 15th.—Took leave of Moodie, and left Magaria after 6 A.M., sending two camels with Richard and Moodie to the village where I had halted on my way to Magaria. I proceeded along the foot of the hills, skirting the river, the bed of which is now dry in a number of places. I shot one duck and two guinea-fowls, the latter of which were very numerous; but the boys had that morning been hunting them, and they were very wild. I also saw one elephant, a number of hogs, seven of what the Arabs call the red bullock, and the people of Bornou the corigum. I take them to be the nylghau, but only a variety in colour. In Bornou they are of a dark brown; here they are of a cream colour. I shot several; they are of the antelope tribe, very fierce when wounded, and will give battle when attacked. At sunset I returned, and had a plentiful supply of pudding from the old malem; and the guinea-fowls and duck feasted all hands.
Friday, 16th.—At daylight started, and rode on to the Sanson, where I arrived at 10 A.M. The sultan sent, as soon as I arrived, to ask how I was, and to tell me he wished to see me next day. The messenger between him and me, since the Gadado is gone, is old Yargoorma, who acts in that capacity when the Gadado is here. She also sits up all night in the room he sleeps in, and keeps his fire alight. She is a shrewd old woman, of strong natural sense; and has apartments in the Gadado’s house, and also in the sultan’s, and possesses upwards of forty male and female slaves, though herself a slave. This possessing slaves and property is not uncommon for slaves here, which, if they have no children, go at their death to their master.
Saturday, 17th.—Clear and warm. At 3 A.M. old Yargoorma came and told me the sultan wished to see me. I went, and found him alone. He asked after my health, and if my exercise in hunting had cured me of the spleen, which is considerably reduced, and I am now free from pain. He also asked after Richard, my servant; if his legs and feet had got better; a disorder of which he is also cured. The feet and ankles first swell, and cause great pain, not being able to walk; then it proceeds to the calves of the legs, knees, and thigh-joints. Purgative medicines are of little service; and the soles and ankles are so painful the patient can walk but with great difficulty, and great pain afterwards. The swelling is not like the scurvy, as on pressing the finger on the part it is attended with great pain, and does not leave a hollow after the finger is taken off.
I told him of the difficulty and the impossibility it was for me to get the skin, head, and feet-bones of two wild hogs, as he wished, because my servants would not touch them if I killed them. He said he would send for two, and I might either have them skinned myself, or they would bring the skins for me. I thanked him, and said I would prefer them skinned in the woods, as, were they brought to me alive, my house would be filled with idle people, and the whole town would never leave off talking about it whenever they saw me. Good, he said, and ordered a eunuch to give orders to the hunters to bring two as soon as possible. He asked me if we eat pork? I said yes, and the flesh was very good when they were well fed; we only eat it sparingly; the fat, I said, was always used for salves. I said it was much better to eat than dogs’ flesh, which they sold publicly in the market at Tripoli; and all the great in Fezzan eat dogs’ flesh whenever they could procure it. This account Sidi Sheik, who had just come in, confirmed. The sultan said, it was strange what people would eat: in the district of Umburm, belonging to Jacoba, they eat human flesh. I said I did not think any people existed on the face of the earth that eat their own kind as food; that certainly there were some savages in different parts of the world who eat their enemies. The sultan said he had seen them eat human flesh; that on the governor of Jacoba telling him of these people, he could hardly believe it himself; but on a Tuarick being hanged for theft, he saw five of these people eat a part, with which he was so disgusted that he sent them back to Jacoba soon after. He said that whenever a person complained of sickness amongst these men, even though only a slight headach, they are killed instantly, for fear they should be lost by death, as they will not eat a person that has died by sickness; that the person falling sick is requested by some other family, and repaid when they had a sick relation; that universally when they went to war, the dead and wounded were always eaten; that the hearts were claimed by the head men; and that, on asking them why they eat human flesh, they said it was better than any other; that the heart and breasts of a woman were the best part of the body; and that they had no want of food, as an excuse for eating one another. Indian corn, millet, doura, and sweet potatoes were in plenty; that both men and women went naked, though their houses were much neater and cleaner than those of the common people of Soccatoo; that, excepting this bad custom, they were very cleanly, and otherwise not bad people, except that they were Kaffirs; that he would make me a present of some of them to let the king of England see that such was the fact. I said, I would rather be excused taking them, as both the king and the people of England would be too much disgusted at seeing such a sight. You will see them, he said, when you go to Jacoba: he would write to the governor to show them to me when I went. I then told him I wished as soon as possible to go to Jacoba, as I had been here now five months very idle. He said that the rebels of Zamfra had sent to beg for peace, and that, as soon as their sultan or chief arrived, he would send me through that part of Zamfra which I had not seen, and I should see the gold ores said to be there; that I should also see Adamawa and the Shari; and that he would send me afterwards to the sea, by the way of a country called Kano, bordering on the sea, and going to the south of the province of Zegzeg, and whose sultan had sent a messenger a short while after I left Soccatoo on my former journey, wishing to open a trade with Houssa. I said that the sooner he could send me the better, as he would have every thing that he could wish from England much cheaper than he could have by the way of the desert. He asked me again who the eleven slave-dealers were that his cousin, Mohamed Ben Abdullah, had taken at his camp at Nyffé; and if I knew that they were Christians. He said they were black; and had come from, or by the way of Borgoo; and what ought to be done with them; for Abdullah had seized them, and written to know what he should do with them. I said, he had better either take their goods, and send them away home, or have them brought up here; that they were not Christians, but I thought natives of Dahomey, and part of the same gang I had seen at Wawa in Borgoo; as it was common for the Mahomedans to call all persons, not agreeing with them in faith, Christians or Jews. After this I took leave; and in the evening he sent me a fine fat sheep, and two pomegranates from his garden.
Monday, 19th.—A courier from the Gadado arrived at Kano with a letter to the sultan, informing him of the defeat of the sheik of Bornou, and his retreat, with the loss of all his baggage, camels, and tents, two hundred and nine horses, and a number of slaves. The sultan sent me the letter to read, and the sheik’s water-pot, made of copper. This is an article of the first importance to a Mahomedan great man; he never travels without one. It had been cut in three different places by a sword, not in taking it, as it was found in the tent, but hacked by some of them to vent their rage on the poor pot, as they could not do it on the sheik.
Saturday, 24th.—At day-break the pagans whom the sultan had sent to kill and skin a wild boar for me arrived with the skins of a boar, a sow, and one of their young ones. All the idle people in the neighbourhood had come to have a peep, as did several of the better sort of people, some of whom sat down to see me and the poor pagan, whose name is Whidah, and his sons go through the operation of salting and packing the skins. They asked Whidah if he eat the flesh? He answered, Yes, and very good it is too. It is quite ridiculous to see how much those people dread even to touch any part of the animal’s skin, and know not for what reason, only because they have heard others say so. I told them it was better meat than dogs’ flesh, which the people of Fezzan and those of Tripoli eat; and at Tripoli dogs’ flesh was publicly sold in the market; true they were Moslem, and had not a pig, which was more cleanly in its eating, and better to be eaten than a dog. My servants, the ignorant rascals, would not come near, and if there had been others to be hired, I would have paid them off. I first strewed the poison slightly over the inner part of the hides, then plenty of finely pounded salt, and made Whidah and his sons rub all well in, strewed them over with dried grass, and packed each separately in a mat, and gave them in charge to Whidah, to have them properly dried, and to take the flesh off the bones of the heads. The news soon got to the market that I had such things in my house; and on sending to the market to buy three new mats, the owner said he would sell them to me, but would not bring them to my house; and now the pigs and I are the whole talk of Soccatoo.
Sunday, 25th.—Divine service. Nothing worth remarking has happened since the 25th, except that I was laid up for the last four days with ague.