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THE HILLY COUNTRY OF GURMA.

Friday, June 24th. I now left the Great River behind mc, which formed the limit between the tolerably known regions of Central Negroland and the totally unexplored countries on the southwestern side of its course; and with intense interest my thoughts were concentrated on the new region before me. However, this very day we had a sufficient specimen of what awaited. us on our march during the rainy season; for we had scarcely left the low island behind us, on which the town of Say, this hotbed of fever, is situated (with its dry prairie ground almost destitute of verdure, and covered only with a few scattered specimens of the Asclepiadea), and had ascended the steep rocky bank which borders the west side of the narrow, shallow, and irregular western branch of the river, which, being encompassed by granite boulders, was at present dry, when a dark array of thunder-clouds came, as it were, marching upon us from the southeast, and we had scarcely time to prepare for the serious assault when a terrible thunder-storm broke out, beginning with a most fearful sandwind, which enveloped the whole district in the darkness of night, and made progress for a moment quite impossible. After a while it was followed by a violent rain, which relieved the sand-storm, but lasted for nearly three hours, filling our path with water to the depth of several inches, and soaking us through to the skin, so that our march could not fail to be very uncomfortable.

It was on this account that we took up our quarters about half an hour before noon in a farming hamlet called Sanchérgu, where the people were busily employed in sowing; the plentiful rain of to-day, which was the first of the season, having rendered the fields fit for cultivation. After some search, we obtained two huts of round shape, which were situated near a sheep-pen in front of the dwelling of the proprietor. This was a cheerful and wealthy old man, who both lodged us comfortably and treated us hospitably. While my people were drying their clothes and luggage, I roved about a little, and observed, at a short distance west from the hamlet, a small rocky water-course, with pools of stagnant water, where the women were washing their clothes, while the slaves were busy in the labors of the field.

Saturday, June 25th. Having rewarded our hospitable host, we started at an early hour to pursue our march, in order to reach in time the residence of Galaijo, a distinguished chief, of whom I had heard a great many flattering reports. It was a fine morning after yesterday's storm, and the country through which our march lay was hilly, and at times presented very pleasant vales or glens, but in general it was destitute of trees, and was only insufficiently inhabited and cultivated. The view which presented itself to us of the country before us, when, after a march of about three miles and a half, we reached the highest point, was that of an extensive wilderness, the few cultivated spots being entirely hidden in the midst of the forest. Red sandstone was apparently the chief component of this hilly country, with occasionally a black tint, received from exposure to the air, and rich in oxide of iron-in fact, of the same geological feature as the border country between Kebbi and Góber. Short herbage was springing up here and there, affording but scanty food to the cattle that were grazing hereabouts.

A steep rocky declivity brought us from the higher level, which was covered with small stones, into a deep valley. But we had soon to ascend again, traversing a district which belonged to the village of Ndobúra, and bore some signs of cultivation; and a dell, which we passed a little farther on, was extremely picturesque. But the country hereabouts does not in general seem to be very fertile, and, besides, the exceptional drought of the present year had destroyed a large proportion of the crops; and it was this very unproductiveness that had induced the chief to leave his former place of residence, Shirgu, which lay a little more to the east, and to found a new dwelling-place farther west.

This place, which is called Champagóre, we reached at noon, but preferred taking up our quarters on a hill opposite the town, to the north, which was bounded on that side by a well-wooded dell, and overlooked the whole neighborhood. The town itself is inclosed by a small hilly chain toward the south, at the foot of which are the wells, seven fathoms in depth. It was to have been surrounded by a clay wall; but, only provisionally, the four gates had been finished with clay, while the rest of the town was still inclosed by a stockade. The interior of the place looks very peculiar, and quite different from the style usual in Kebbi, which is chiefly owing to the remarkable character of the magazines of corn, which consist of towers or quadrangular buildings, raised a

TOWN OF CHAMPAGO'RE.

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few feet above the ground, in order to protect them from the ants. They are from ten to fifteen feet in height, and about six feet in diameter, the walls gradually sloping inward toward the top, as shown in the accompanying wood-cut. They have no opening at

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the bottom, but only a window-like aperture near the top, through which the corn is taken in and out, and, on the whole, they are not unlike the dove-cots of Egypt. In every court-yard there were one or more of these magazines; and they far surpassed, in their whole appearance, the dwellings themselves, which, with a few exceptions, consisted of low huts, the whole of the court-yards being only surrounded by a frail fence, made of the stalks of the native corn, while in many yards, one half of the circumference

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of the huts themselves, of which there were rarely more than two, formed part of the fence.

I went in the afternoon to pay my compliments to the chief. The portal of his residence has quite a stately appearance, as shown in the preceding wood-cut, bearing evident testimony to an attempt at architectural decoration; but the spacious courtyard inside, which was inclosed by a low clay wall, full of rubbish and poor mean-looking huts, did not correspond with the stately character of the entrance. However, the dwelling itself, although simple, is not so mean, and, besides two spacious clay halls, includes some very airy and cool corridors built entirely of wood. Having been first received by Galaijo in one of the clay halls, I was conducted afterward to a more private audience in one of these corridors; and here, while delivering my present,* I had a fair opportunity of surveying the exterior of this interesting man.

Mohammed Galaijo, at the time of my visit, was a man of about seventy years of age, of an extremely pleasant and almost European expression of countenance, and of middle stature. He was dressed very simply, in a light-blue tobe, with a white shawl wound round his face. Galaijo, son of Hambodéjo, son of Páte, son of Hamed Yella, succeeded his father-probably the very chief who treated Mungo Park so hospitably during his stay in Másina-in the year of the Hejra 1231. He was then the most. powerful chief of Másina, or Melle, which, since the overthrow of the Songhay empire by Múlay Hámed el Dhéhebí, the Emperor of Morocco, had been left to itself, and was consequently split into several petty kingdoms, the three other powerful chiefs of that country being the A'rdo Másina, the A'rdo Fíttogel, and Gél Hamma Mána. But just at the time when Galaijo became ruler, the great religious movement of the Fúlbe of Góber began, under the Reformer 'Othmán, and, instigated by their example, and fired with religious zeal, a chief went forth from them in order to spread Islám among that section of the Fúlbe which was established along the upper course of the Niger. This man was Mohammed or Hámed Lebbo, who, arriving in the country of Másina in the beginning of the year 1233 of the Hejra, at the head of a small band, formed first an alliance with Galaijo, who himself had embraced Islám; and thus, closely allied, they spread their conquests over the neighboring country. But, after having

The present consisted of a red cap, half a piece of muslin, and some smaller articles.

MOHAMMED GALAIJO.

183

succeeded in establishing a strong power, Mohammed Lebbo demanded homage and allegiance from his ally Galaijo, under the pretext of his having brought the ensign, or túta, of Islám from Sifawa, the place mentioned on a former occasion, where the Reformer 'Othmán dan Fódiye resided at the time, together with his brother 'Abd Alláhi. Upon this, Galaijo, feeling little inclined to cede the dominion of the country over which his claims had been established from ancient times, entered into a violent struggle with the new-comer; but after an unsuccessful resistance, carried on for three years, he was obliged to give up his former residence, Konári, and, with the rest of his partisans, to seek a new home farther eastward. Here he was received with open arms by the ruler of Gando, who was not at all pleased with the independent bearing of Lebbo and his son A'hmedu, by whom he was succeeded—those people, being borne away by a pure reformatory view of their religion, and elated by their victory, going so far as to dispatch a message to their kinsmen in Sókoto and Gando, to the effect that, if they would not reduce the number of their wives to two, and renounce their wide effeminate dress, they would pay them a hostile visit; and it is on this account that, even at the present time, there is no amicable relation whatever subsisting between the courts of Sokoto and Gando on the one hand, and that of Hamda-Allahi on the other.

The chief of Gando therefore granted Galaijo an extensive although not very fertile district in his territories, where he has now been settled for almost thirty years. Thus we find, in this region, a small court of its own, and a whole community bearing no resemblance whatever to the customs of the people around them, but having faithfully preserved the manners and institutions of their native country, Másina; for, while all the neighboring Fúlbe are rather a slender race of men, with expressive and sharply-cut features, who make it a rule to dress in white colors, we find here quite the reverse: a set of sturdy men, with round, open countenances, and long black curly hair, all uniformly clad in light blue tobes, and almost all of them armed with muskets. I was utterly surprised at the noble bearing of several of the courtiers, but especially that of the vizier and the commander-in-chief or lámido. konno, both of whom reminded me of Europeans. The old chief. even at the present time, keeps up a continual intercourse with Timbúktu, where his eldest son was at the time studying, and which place he did not leave until some time after my arrival. Indeed, the town of Konári is still said to belong to Galaijo.

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