Life and Travels of Mungo Park

by Mungo Park

Under various pretences they were detained at this place for the space of seven weeks. The Quorra or Niger was only about thirty miles distant to the eastward; but though the king had promised to afford them every facility for reaching it, one delay took place after another. He endeavoured to deter them by false accounts of the dangerous nature of the route, in consequence of an alleged incursion of the Fellatahs, and insurrection of the Houssa slaves. At last, however, he suffered them to set out, by the kingdom of Borgoo, towards Houssa.

They now entered the Borgoo country. They passed several villages which had been pillaged and burnt by the Fellatahs; indeed, the whole country bore testimony to the ravages of war. Lander gives a spirited account of an adventure which happened to him in this part of the country. "We left a village at four o'clock in the afternoon; and the horse on which I rode being in better condition than the others, I was considerably in advance of the rest of the party, when the animal came to a sudden halt, and all my endeavours could not make him proceed. There he stood like a block of marble, keeping his eye riveted on something that was approaching us, and I had scarcely time to consider what it could be, when a fine antelope bounded before me with incredible swiftness, and in the next moment two huge lions, with mane and tail erect, crossed the path but a couple of yards from the horse's head, almost with equal speed, and covered with foam. A tremendous roar, which made the forest tremble, informed me in another minute that the lions had overtaken their prey; but the sudden—and unexpected appearance of these ferocious animals startled me as much as it had intimidated the horse before, and I hastened back to the party, my poor beast trembling violently the whole of the way. Fortunately the lions, which were male and female, were so eager in the chase that both the horse and its rider were unobserved by them, otherwise it might have gone hard with me, for I saw not the slightest chance of escaping. We halted in the woods that night; but fancying every sound I heard was the roaring of a lion, I could not compose myself to sleep."

Kiama, the next city at which they arrived, contains 80,000 inhabitants. The king came to meet Clapperton, attended by a singular train. He rode upon a handsome steed, followed by an admiring crowd; six young girls, each flourishing spears, and who had only a fillet on their heads, ran by his side as he galloped on. "Their light form, the vivacity of their eyes, and the ease with which they appeared to fly over the ground, made them appear something more than mortal." When the king entered the hut in which the travellers sat, these damsels, having deposited their weapons at; the door, and attired themselves in blue mantles, came in and waited upon him.

They now crossed a river which was said to have its source in Nyffe, and to flow into the Niger above Rakah. It abounded in alligators. The scenery in the neighbourhood is said to be very fine. "Our ears," says Lander, "were ravished by the warbling of hundreds of small birds, which, with parrots and parroquets, peopled the branches of the trees in the vicinity of the stream, whose delightful banks were thereby overshadowed; and the eye met a variety of beautiful objects,—groves of noble trees, verdant hills, and smiling plains, through which the river winded, carrying fertility and beauty in its course, and altogether forming a rich and charming landscape." They then arrived at Wa-wa, a large city, through which the Houssa caravans pass, and which has a population of 15,000. The inhabitants are dissolute and extravagant, spending all their money in drinking and festivity. The ladies were very attentive to the English, especially a fat widow called Zuma, who even pressed marriage upon Clapperton, after she had exhibited to him all her wealth. She afterwards gave him a good deal of trouble by following him on the journey at the head of a band of armed attendants, and he rejoiced much when he finally got rid of her.

On their way to Comie, they visited Boussa, the scene of Park's tragical end. The natives were extremely reserved upon the subject, but what they told, bore out in every particular Amadi Fatouma's account. They said that the attack was caused by the English having been mistaken for an advanced guard of Fellatahs, who were then devastating Soudan. The King of Boussa received Clapperton and Lander with great kindness. Here they found boats lying ready for them, with a message from the Sultan of Youri, requesting a visit, and promising, if they consented, to deliver up some books and papers of Mungo Park, which he said he had in his possession. Clapperton's arrangements, however, prevented him from paying this visit.

They crossed the Niger, and on entering the kingdom of Nyffe, beheld proofs of the effects of civil war. Two princes had struggled for the ascendency, one of whom, by obtaining the help of the Fellatahs, had overcome the other. As Clapperton travelled towards the camp of the conqueror, he saw nothing but ruined villages, and plantations overgrown with weeds. "This African camp consisted of a number of huts like beehives, arranged in streets, with men weaving, women spinning, markets at every green tree, holy men counting their beads, and dissolute slaves drinking; so that, but for the number of horses and armed men, and the drums beating, it might have been mistaken for a populous village." After journeying along the banks of the Mayyarrow, and passing a walled village called Gonda, they entered Coulfo, which is the most considerable market-town in Nyffe. It is enclosed by a high wall, with a deep and broad ditch beyond it, and contains about 16,000 resident inhabitants. Markets are held daily, and a great variety of articles of native and foreign manufacture are exposed for sale. Traders resort in vast numbers from Bornou and Sockatoo to the north-east, and the sea-coast to the west, with the produce of their respective countries. The inhabitants are professedly Moslems, but are by no means bigoted in their belief. The greater part of the traffic is carried on by the females, many of whom possess great wealth.

Clapperton next passed through several independent states, one of which mustered a force of 1000 cavalry.

He next came to the Fellatah district of Zeg-Zeg, one of the most beautiful and fertile parts of Central Africa. The fields bore luxuriant crops of grain; rich meadows abounded, and groves of tall trees waved upon the hills. Thence he went to Kano, which he found in a state of great commotion, a war having sprung up between the king of Bornou and the Fellatahs. Having left his baggage at this place, he proceeded to the residence of Sultan Bello, with the presents intended for that potentate. He saw bodies of troops on their way to attack Coonia; the soldiers had a peculiar appearance as they passed by the lakes formed by the river Zurmie; he thus describes the scene:—"The borders of these lakes are the resort of numbers of elephants and other wild beasts. The appearance at this season, and at the spot where I saw it, was very beautiful; all the acacia trees were in blossom, some with white flowers, others with yellow, forming a contrast with the small dusky leaves, like gold and silver tassels on a cloak of dark green velvet. I observed some fine large fish leaping in the lake. Some of the troops were bathing, others watering their horses, bullocks, camels and asses: the lake was as smooth as glass, and flowing around the roots of the trees. The sun, on its approach to the horizon, throws the shadows of the flowery acacias along its surface, like sheets of burnished gold and silver. The smoking fires on its banks, the sounding of horns, the beating of their gongs or drums, the braying of their brass and tin trumpets, the rude hut of grass and branches of trees rising as if by magic, everywhere the cries of Mohamed, Abdo, Mustafa, &c. with the neighing of horses, and the braying of asses, gave animation to the beautiful scenery of the lake, and its sloping green and woody banks."

The army, amounting to 50,000 men, under the sultan's command, surrounded the walls of Coonia. The account which Clapperton gives of the action which then took place is curious, "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 ending 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 rivers 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 the front of the Sulfcaa, the Zeg-Zeg 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 Fellatah 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 horseman would gallop up to the ditch, taking care to cover himself with his large leather 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. 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 their flanks. On the neck, even the horses' 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 semi-circular 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 foremost 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 robe, the other went through and lodged in the quilted armour opposite the shoulders."

Clapperton was desired by the sultan to repair to Sockatoo, where he found the same house in which he had formerly lodged prepared for his reception. He resided there six months, harassed by disappointment, and worn down by severe illness. No farther was this gallant and intrepid traveller to be permitted to advance; in the midst of his discoveries he was to be cut down, his dying couch tended by none but his faithful and kind companion and servant, the depth and fidelity of whose attachment is attested by the affectionate manner in which he speaks of his master.