vassal of Zinder. Close to Tumtúmma, on the west, lies the considerable town of Gorgom.

Leaving the principal road on our right, and following a more southerly one, we encamped near the village of Gúmda, which consisted of two hamlets inhabited exclusively by Tawárek slaves. But the territory belongs likewise to the province of Tumtúmma. A troop of fatáki, or native traders, were encamped near us.

Tuesday, February 1st. The surface of the country through which our road lay was broken by depressions of larger or smaller extent, where the dúm palm flourished in great numbers-a tree which is very common in the territory of Tasáwa, which we entered a short time before we reached the village of Káso. We had here descended altogether, most probably, a couple of hundred feet, although the descent was not regular, and was broken by an occasional ascent. The road was well frequented by people coming from the west with cotton, which they sell to advantage in Zínder.

We made a long stretch, on account of the scarcity of water, passing the large village of Shabáre, which attracted our attention from the distance by the beating of drums, but could not supply us with a sufficient quantity of water, its well measuring twentyfive fathoms in depth, and, nevertheless, being almost dry; and thus we proceeded till we reached Maíjirgí, after a march of almost twenty-five miles. The village is named from a troughlike* depression, on the slope of which it is situated, and which, toward the south, contains a considerable grove of dúm palms. We encamped close to the well, which is fourteen fathoms deep, at some distance from the village, which has a tolerably comfortable appearance, although it had been ransacked two years before by the governor of Kátsena; but, in these regions, dwelling-places are as easily restored as they are destroyed. The inhabitants are notorious for their thievish propensities, and we had to take precautions accordingly. The whole of this country is rich in beans; and we bought plenty of dried bean-tressels, which are made up in small bundles, and called "haráwa" by the Arabs, affording most excellent food for the camels.

Wednesday, February 2d. Several native travelers had attached themselves to my troop. Among them was an abominable slavedealer who was continually beating his poor victims. I was extremely glad to get rid of this man here, he, as well as the other * "Jirgi" means boat, as well as a large trough for watering the cattle.

people, being bound for Tasáwa, which I was to leave at some distance on my right. While my people were loading the camels, I roved about, making a very pleasant promenade along the vale, which was richly adorned with dúm palms. Having set out at length, keeping a little too much toward the west, and crossing the great high road which comes from Tasáwa, we passed several villages on our road, while dúm palms and tamarind-trees enliv ened the country where the ground was not cultivated, but especially the many small and irregular hollows which we traversed. Having lost one of our camels, which died on the road, we encamped near a village (the name of which, by accident, I did not learn) situated in a large vale rich in dúm palms, and encompassed on the east side by a regular ridge of sandhills of considerable height. Rice was cultivated in the beds beside the onions, while wheat, which is generally raised in this way, was not grown at all. As I have frequently observed, there is no rice cultivated in the whole of Bórnu, this village constituting, I think, the easternmost limit of the cultivation of this most important article of food, which is the chief staff of life in the whole of Kébbi and along the Niger. The wells in this valley were only three feet deep, and richly provided with water; and the whole vale was altogether remarkable.

Thursday, February 3d. The dense grove of dúm palms through which our road led afforded a most picturesque spectacle in the clear light of the morning sky, and reminded me of the extensive groves of palm-trees which I had seen in more northern climes, while large piles of the fruit of the fan palm, stored up by the natives, excited the facetious remarks of those among my people who were natives of Fezzán; and they sneered at the poverty and misery of these negroes, who, being deprived by nature of that delicious and far-famed fruit of the nobler Phoenix, were reduced to the poor and tasteless produce of this vile tree. We then left the shallow bottom of the vale, with its wells seven fathoms in depth, at the side of a village a short distance to the east. The country then became more open; and after a march of four miles, we reached the shallow faddama of Gazawa, and, leaving the town at a short distance on our right, encamped a little to the south, not far from a fine old tamarind-tree.

I was enjoying the shade of this splendid tree, when my friend the serkí-n-turáwa, whom, on my first entrance into the Hausa country, I introduced to the reader as a specimen of an African dandy, came up, on a splendid horse, to pay his compliments to

me. The petty chief of Gazawa and his people had been much afraid, after they had received the news of my approach, that I might take another road, in order to avoid making them a present, which has the same value as the toll in a European country. He told me that they had already sent off several horsemen in order to see what direction I had pursued, and he expressed his satisfaction that I had come to him of my own free will; but, on the other hand, he did not fail to remind me that on my former passage through the country I had not given them any thing on account of the powerful protection of Elaíji, which I enjoyed at that time. This was very true; and, in consequence, I had here to make presents to four different persons, although I only remained half a day: first, this little officious friend of mine; then the governor of the town himself, together with his liege lord, the chief of Marádi; and, finally, Sadíku, the former Púllo governor of Kátsena, who at present resided in this town.

Having satisfied the serkí-n-turáwa, I wrapped a bernús and a shawl or zubéta in a handkerchief, and went to pay my respects to the governor, whose name, as I have stated on a former occasion, is Raffa, and whom I found to be a pleasant old fellow. He was well satisfied with his present, though he expressed his apprehension that his liege lord, the prince of Marádi, who would not fail to hear of my having passed through the country, would demand something for himself; and he advised me, therefore, to send to that chief a few medicines.

I then rode to Sadíku, the son of the famous M'allem 'Omáro, or Ghomaro, who had been eight years governor of Kátsena, after the death of his father, till, having excited the fear or wrath of his liege lord, in consequence of calumnies representing him as endeavoring to make himself independent, he was deposed by 'Alíyu, the second successor of Bello, and obliged to seek safety among the enemies of his nation. Sadíku was a stately person, of tall figure, a serious expression of countenance, and a high, powerful chest, such as I have rarely seen in Negroland, and still less among the tribe of the Fúlbe. However, he is not a pure Púllo, being the offspring of a Bórnu female slave. He had something melancholy about him; and this was very natural, as he could not well be sincerely beloved by those among whom he was obliged to live, and in whose company he carried on a relentless war against his kinsmen. Sadíku's house, which was in the ut most decay, was a convincing proof either that he was in reality VOL. III.-F

miserably off, or that he felt obliged to pretend poverty and misery. He understood Arabic tolerably well, although he only spoke very little. He expressed much regret on hearing of the death of Mr. Overweg, whom he had known during his residence in Marádi; but having heard how strictly Europeans adhere to their promise, he expressed his astonishment that he had never received an Arabic New Testament, which Mr. Overweg had promised him; but I was glad to be able to inform him that it was not the fault of my late lamented companion, who, I knew, had forwarded a copy to him, by way of Zínder, immediately after his arrival in Kúkawa. Fortunately, I had a copy or two of the New Testament with me, and therefore made him very happy by adding this book to the other little presents which I gave him. When I left the company of this man, I was obliged to take a drink of furá with Serkí-n-turáwa-however, not as a proof of sincere hospitality, but as a means of begging some farther things from me; and I was glad at length to get rid of this troublesome young fellow.

Friday, February 4th. We had been so fortunate as to be joined here at Gazáwa by two small parties belonging to the salt-caravan of the Kél-owí, when, having taken in a sufficient supply of water, and reloaded all our fire-arms, we commenced our march, about half past two o'clock in the morning, through the unsafe wilderness which intervenes between the independent Háusa states and that of the Fúlbe. The forest was illumed by a bright moonlight; and we pursued our march without interruption for nearly twelve hours, when we encamped about five miles beyond the melancholy site of Dánkamá, very nearly on the same spot where I had halted two years before. We were all greatly fatigued; and a soi-disant sherif from Morocco, but originally, as it seemed, belonging to the Tájakánt, who had attached himself to my caravan in Zínder in order to reach Timbuktu in my company, felt very sickly. He had suffered already a great deal in Zínder, and ought not to have exposed his small store of strength to such severe trial. Not being able to have regard to his state of health, as there was no water here, we pursued our journey soon after midnight, and reached the well-known walls of Kátsena after a march of about six hours.

It was with a peculiar feeling that I pitched my tent a few hundred yards from the gate (kófa-n-samrí) of this town, by the governor of which I had been so greatly annoyed on my first en

tering this country. It was not long before several A'sbenáwa people belonging to A'nnur, followed by the servants of the gov ernor, came to salute me; and after a little while I was joined by my old tormentor, the Tawáti merchant Bel-Ghét. But our meeting this time was very different from what it had been when I first saw him; for as soon as he recognized me, and heard from me that I was come to fulfill my promise of paying a visit to the Sultan of Sokoto, he could not restrain his delight and excitement, and threw himself upon my neck, repeating my name several times. In fact, his whole behavior changed from this moment; and although he at times begged a few things from me, and did not procure me very generous treatment from the governor, yet, on the whole, he behaved friendly and decently. He asked me repeatedly why I had not gone to Kanó; but I told him that I had nothing to do with Kanó; that, in conformity with my prom ise, I had come to Kátsena, and that here I should make all my purchases, in order to undertake the journey to Sokoto from this place under the protection of its governor, Mohammed Bello. Now I must confess that I had another motive for not going to Kanó besides this; for the Vizier of Bórnu had made it a condition that I should not go to Kanó, as my journey to the Fúlbe would else be displeasing to himself and the sheikh, by interfering with their policy, and I had found it necessary to consent to his wishes, although I foresaw that it would cause me a heavy loss, as I might have bought all the articles of which I was in want at a far cheaper rate in the great central market of Negroland than I was able to do in Kátsena.

I staid outside the town until the following morning, while my quarters in the town were preparing. There was an animated intercourse along my place of encampment, between the old capital and the new place Wagóje, which the governor had founded two years before; and I received the compliments of several active Fúlbe, whose expressive countenances bore sufficient evidence of the fact that their habits were not yet spoiled by the influence of the softer manners of the subjected tribe, although such an amalgamation has already begun to take place in many parts of Háusa.

The house which was assigned to me inside the town was spacious, but rather old, and so full of ants that I was obliged to take the greatest care to protect not only my luggage, but my person from these voracious insects. They not only destroyed every thing that was suspended on pegs from the walls, but while sitting