"A few minutes after you first landed, one of my people came to me, and said that a number of strange people had arrived at the market place. I sent him back again to get as near to you as he could, to hear what you intended doing. He soon after returned to me, and said that you spoke in a language which he could not understand. Not doubting that it was your intention to attack my village at night, and carry off my people, I desired them to get ready to fight. We were all prepared and eager to kill you, and came down breathing vengeance and slaughter, supposing that you were my enemies, and had landed from the opposite side of the river. But when you came to meet us unarmed, and we saw your white faces, we were all so frightened that we could not pull our bows, nor move hand or foot; and when you drew near me, and extended your hands towards me, I felt my heart faint within me, and believed that you were Children of Heaven, and had dropped from the skies." Such was the effect that the Landers had produced on him, and under this impression, he knew not what he did. "And now," said he, "white men, all I want is your forgiveness." "That you shall have most heartily," said the Landers, as they shook hands with the old chief; and having taken care to assure him that they had not come from so good a place as he had imagined, they congratulated themselves, as well as him, that this affair had ended so happily. For their own parts, they had reason to feel the most unspeakable pleasure at its favourable termination, and they offered up internally to their merciful Creator, a prayer of thanksgiving and praise for his providential interference in their behalf. It was indeed a narrow escape, and it was happy for them that their white faces and calm behaviour produced the effect it did on these people; in another minute their bodies would have been as full of arrows as a porcupine's is full of quills.
They now ascertained that the place where they now were, was the famous Bocqua market place, of which they had heard so much talk, and that the opposite bank of the river belonged to the Funda country. Their interpreter was an old Funda mallam, who understood the Houssa language perfectly, and was come to Bocqua to attend the market, which was held every nine days. The old mallam was asked the distance from Bocqua to the sea, and he told them about ten days journey. The Landers then pointed out the hills on the opposite side of the river, and asked him, where they led to. "The sea," was his answer. "And where do they lead to?" they inquired, pointing to those on the same bank of the river as themselves. He answered, "They run along way in the country we do not know." Their next concern was about the safety of the river navigation, and they anxiously inquired his opinion of it lower down, and whether there were any rocks or dangerous places. As to the river navigation, he satisfied them by saying, that he knew of no dangers, nor had he ever heard of any, but the people on the banks, he said, were very bad. They asked him, if he thought the chief would send a messenger with them, if they were to request him, even one day's journey from this place. Without the least hesitation, he answered: "No; the people of this country can go no further down the river; if they do, and are caught, they will lose their heads." Every town that he knew of on the banks of the river, was at war with its neighbour, and all the rest likewise. They then asked him how far Bornou was from Funda. To which, he replied, "Fifteen days journey." Here their conversation was interrupted by the old chief, who wished to return to the village, and the mallam was obliged to accompany him. They likewise learnt from other persons, that directly opposite, on the eastern bank, was the common path to the city of Funda, which, as they had been told at Fof, was situated three days journey up the Tshadda from the Niger; that the large river which they had observed on their course, was the celebrated Shar, Shary, or Sharry of travellers, or which is more proper than either, the Tshadda, as it is universally called throughout the country. They were also informed that the smaller stream which they passed on the 19th, flowing from the same direction, was the Coodania.
On Wednesday the 27th October, they made preparations for starting, and after experiencing rather hostile treatment from the natives, they arrived at a village called Abbazacca, where they saw an English iron bar, and feasted their eyes on the graceful cocoa-nut tree, which they had not seen so long.
It was the intention of the chief of Abbazacca to send a man with them as messenger, to a large town, of which he said that his brother was governor, but on maturer reflection, he determined to accompany them himself, expecting to obtain an adequate reward. In consequence of the lightness of his canoe, and its superiority to the old one, which they had got at Zagozhi, the chief passed them with the utmost facility, and touched at various towns and villages, to inform their inhabitants of the fact of the Christians journeying down the river, and that they had come from a country he had never heard of.
In the course of the day they came abreast of a village of pretty considerable extent, intending to pass it by on the other side; they had, however, no sooner made their appearance, than they were lustily hailed by a little squinting fellow, who kept crying out as loud as is lungs would permit him: "Holloa! you Englishmen, you come here!" They felt no inclination to obey the summons, being rather anxious to get to the town mentioned to them by the chief of Abbazacca; and as the current swept them along past the village, they took no notice of the little man, and they had already sailed beyond the landing place, when they were overtaken by about a dozen canoes, and the people in them desiring them to turn back, for that they had forgotten to pay their respects to the king. The name of the village was Damaggoo. Being in no condition to force themselves from the men, who had interrupted them with so little ceremony, they pulled with all their strength against the current, and after an hour's exertion landed amidst the cheers and huzzas of a multitude of people. The first person they observed at the landing place, was their little friend in the red jacket, whom they found out afterwards was a messenger from the chief of Bonny.
Whilst a hut was preparing for them, they were conducted over a bog to a large fetish tree, at the root of which they were made to sit down, till the arrival of the chief, who made his appearance in a few minutes, bringing with him a goat and other provisions as a present. He put a great many questions respecting themselves and their country, the places they had come from, their distance up the river, and also concerning the river itself, and was astonished at their answers.
They were now conducted through filthy streets of mud to a very diminutive hut, which they found excessively warm, owing to the small quantity of light and air, which were admitted into it only through a narrow aperture, opening into a gloomy and dismal passage. The appearance of the inside was better than that of the outside, being rudely plastered with clay, and surrounded with indifferently carved fetish figures, either painted or chalked a red colour.
As signs of European intercourse, with which the Landers, as it might be reasonably supposed, were highly delighted, they received from the chief as a present some fofo, a quantity of stewed goat, sufficient for thirty persons, and a small case bottle of rum, a luxury which they had not enjoyed since they left Kiama; the latter was a treat that they did not expect, although it was of the most inferior kind.
Early on the morning of the 28th, the chief paid them a visit, accompanied by a Nouffie mallam; he gave them a pressing invitation to come and see him, which was readily accepted, and on proceeding to the residence, they passed through a variety of low huts, which led to the one in which he was sitting. He accosted them with cheerfulness, and placed mats for them to sit upon, and rum was produced to make them comfortable withal. He wished to know in what way they had got through the country, for he had learnt that they had come a long journey; and after having related to them some of their adventures, he appeared quite astonished, and promised as far as he was able to imitate those good men in the treatment of his guests. When Antonio, their interpreter, explained to them that they were ambassadors from the great king of white men, he seemed highly delighted, and said, "Something must be done for you to-morrow;" and left them to conjecture for a short time what that something would be, but they soon learnt that he intended to make rejoicings with all his people, that they would fire off their muskets, and pass a night in dancing and revelry. He requested them to wait eight days longer, when he expected his people back from the Bocqua market. "I think," he added, "that the chief of Bocqua's messenger and our people will be a sufficient protection." The Landers readily assented to his proposal, and told him that as all their presents were expended, they would send him some from the sea coast, if he would allow a person to accompany them thither, on whom he could depend to bring them back to him. He expressed himself much gratified with this offer, and said that his own son should accompany them, and that although his people had never been lower down the river than to a place called Kirree, about a day's journey from hence, he had no doubt that they should reach the sea in safety. He then promised with solemnity, that he would consent to their departure in the time that he had specified, and having shaken hands, they parted.
The Landers, however, found that the old chief was not so punctual to his word as they had a right to expect, for he was every day consulting his fetish and his mallams, and they were all unanimous in their opinion, that the departure of the white men should be delayed for a short time. This to them was a most vexatious proceeding. Their determination of departing was not, however, to be shaken, although the entrails of some fowls which the chief consulted, declared that the time of their departure was very inauspicious. According to the chief's own arrangement, the people of the Landers were to embark in the leaky canoe, with the heaviest of the luggage, and themselves were to travel in one of the chief's canoes, and to take along with them whatever was of most consequence. To this regulation they could not raise any plausible objection, because their old canoe had been partially repaired.