THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF SONGHAY.

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late site of the former capital of this Nigritian empire; but the fine tamarind-trees and the beautiful date palms burst now too distinctly upon our view to allow me to relinquish the pleasure of reaching them without farther delay. It was a most interesting and cheering sight to behold a large expanse of fields of native corn take the place of the desert. The whole country became one open cultivable level, uninterrupted by any downs; and I thought at that moment that we had bid farewell to the desert forever, and entered the fertile region of Central Negroland, an expectation which, however, was not fully realized by what I observed farther

on.

But here, at least, even in the present decayed state of the country, there were some remains of industry, and the stubblefields of sába, or sorghum, were succeeded by tobacco plantations, and, after a slight interruption, by rice-grounds under water. However, darkness set in before we reached the miserable hovels of Gógó, and we encamped on a large open area, bordered round about by detached huts of matting, from which the ruins of a large tower-like building of clay arose to a considerable height, and by a fine grove of rich trees, running on into a dense underwood of siwák. The river was not visible from this point.

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF SONGHAY AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD.

Tuesday, June 20th. As soon as I had made out that Gógó was the place which for several centuries had been the capital of a strong and mighty empire in this region, I felt a more ardent desire to visit it than I had to reach Timbúktu. The latter, no doubt, had become celebrated throughout the whole of Europe on account of the commerce which centred in it; nevertheless, I was fully aware that Timbúktu had never been more than a provincial town, although it exercised considerable influence upon the neighboring regions from its being the seat of Mohammedan learning. But G'awó, or Gógó, had been the centre of a great national movement, from whence powerful and successful princes, such as the great Mohammed el Háj A'skia, spread their conquests from Kebbi, or rather Hausa, in the east, as far as Fúta in the west, and from Tawát in the north, as far as Wángara and Mósi toward the south.

Cheered at having reached this spot, I passed a tranquil night, and, rising early in the morning, lay down outside my tent, quietly enjoying the prospect over this once busy locality, which, according to the unanimous statements of former writers, was the most splendid city of Negroland, though it is now the desolate abode of a small and miserable population. Just opposite to my tent, toward the south, lay the ruined massive tower, the last remains of the principal mosque, or jíngeré-bér, of the capital, the sepulchre of the great conqueror, Mohammed. All around the wide open area where we were encamped was woven a rich corona of vegetation, among which, in the clear light of the morning, I discovered different species of trees that I had long ago lost sight of, such as date palms, tamarind-trees, ngáboré, or sycamores, and even the silk-cotton-tree, although the specimens of the latter plant were rather poor and of small growth.

Having enjoyed the scenery for some time, I went with my young Shúwa lad in order to obtain a sight of the river, of which, as yet, I had seen nothing here. Emerging from the fine group of trees, I found that only a very small creek, without an outlet at the present season, closely approached the town, while an extensive swampy lowland extended far into the river; but for several months in the year this lowland is inundated, with the exception, perhaps, of a few spots which rise to a greater height, and are adorned with talha-trees.

At present the name of G'awó is given not only to the site of the former capital, but also to the island, and even to the opposite shore of A'ribínda; and I once supposed that the chief part of the town was situated on the island, but this does not appear to have been the case; neither does it appear to have stood on the western bank. The fact is, that in former times there were two distinct quarters of Gógó, the quarter of the idolaters on the western bank toward Gúrma, and the royal and Mohammedan quarter on the castern bank toward Egypt, whence Islám, with its accompanying civilization, had been introduced. In the course of time the latter quarter would gain over the former, which from the beginning, when pagan worship was prevalent, was no doubt the more considerable.

Even at present, when all this ground was left dry by the retiring waters and formed a rich grassy island, only a few huts were seen on the island, as well as on the shore of A'ribínda. But the present inhabitants appear scarcely to be in want of the

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF GO'GO'.

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river, for only a single seaworthy boat was to be seen, and four others out of repair were lying on the shore. The natives, when I expressed my astonishment at the miserable state of their craft, complained that they had no wood for building boats. Between the huts and the little creek, which by means of a northerly branch serves to irrigate the rice-fields, there is a tobacco plantation. It is here that the finest trees are grouped together, and I now observed, that besides from twenty to twenty-five date palms, which were just full of fruit, bordering upon ripeness, there were two or three dúm palms.

Having thus surveyed the river, I took a turn round the hamlet, which altogether consists of about 300 huts, grouped in separate clusters, and surrounded by heaps of rubbish, which seemed to indicate the site of some larger buildings of the former city. While walking round the huts, the women came out from their "búge," or matting huts, and gathered cheerfully round us, exclaiming one above the other, "Nasára, nasára, Allah aákbar!" "A Christian, a Christian: God is great!" but they seemed to take a greater interest in my younger Shúwa lad than in myself, dancing round him in a very cheerful and fascinating manner. Some of them had tolerably regular features, and were tall and of good proportions. They were all dressed in the same style, very different from the dress of the women in Timbúktu, having a broad wrapper of thick woolen cloth of different colored stripes fastened below the breast, so that it came down almost to their ankles, and many of them had even fastened this dress over their shoulders by a pair of short braces, in the same way as men wear their trowsers in Europe, and others had simply fastened it from behind.

While I was thus walking round the village I met an old map who greeted me in the most cheerful manner, and attached himself to me. From what he intimated, I could not but conclude that he had come into close contact with the Christian who so many years ago navigated this river in such a mysterious manner; but, unfortunately, he was of weak understanding, and I could not make out half of what he said to me. I regretted this the more, as he conducted me through the heaps of rubbish to a long, narrow clay building at a short distance west from the mosque, where he wanted to show me something of interest, but the owner of the house refused me admittance.

Leaving then the farthermost huts on my right, I turned my VOL. III.-Hн