CHAP. LIX.

GAU'MACHE'.

207

ployed in the labours of the fields, while an isolated deléb palm gave a peculiar character to the landscape. The prevailing representatives of the vegetable kingdom were the dorówa and the useful kadeña tree. The pasture-grounds were full of cattle; and everything testified to the rich nature of the district, which is still very populous. After passing another walled town perched on the high border of the swampy valley, three miles and a half beyond Badda-badda, we reached Gaúmaché, at present reduced to a small hamlet, or rather " rúmde," inhabited exclusively by slaves, and adorned by a few specimens of the butter tree and the dorówa. It was once a large walled town; but in the sanguinary war between the native Kábáwa and the conquering tribe of the Fúlbe, it was destroyed by the former.

Having crossed here a considerable stream of running water, which testified to the quantity of rain which had fallen in this district, we passed, on our left, the large walled town of Talba, where the beating of drums gave proof of warlike preparation. The fields around were adorned with numbers of deléb palms.

At a short distance from Talba lies Dáube. The whole of this district had attained a high degree of power and prosperity under the dominion of the Kanta, and had only recently begun, in consequence of the war of independence, to lose many of its former centres of human industry.

An obvious illustration of this desolation was

afforded by the little town of Yára, which we reached after another three miles. We had left the fáddama at some distance on our right, and kept along rocky ground occasionally broken by patches of fine sandy soil. But we were urgently warned, by people whom we met on our road, of the danger of an approaching ghazzia.

This place, which a short time ago was the seat of human wellbeing, had been destroyed by the enemy on the 29th of the preceding month, and all the inhabitants carried into slavery, notwithstanding the presence of the expedition which, as I have mentioned above, marched out from Gando to the succour of their countrymen. The aspect of the place was doleful and melancholy in the extreme, corresponding well with the dangerous situation in which we found ourselves; and while traversing the half-ruined village, which from a bustling little place had become the abode of death, I almost involuntarily snatched my gun, and held it steadily in my hand. But life and death in these regions are closely allied; and we had scarcely left the ruined village behind us, when, in a widening of the faddama, which again opened on our right, we were greeted by a most luxuriant rice-field, where the crops were already almost three feet high, and girt by the finest border of a rich variety of shady trees, such as the dorówa, kadé, and kágim, overtopped by a number of tall deléb palms, the golden fruit of which, half ripe, was starting forth from under the feathery foliage.

CHAP. LIX. UNSAFE STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

209

But our attention was soon diverted from the enjoyment of this scenery, to a point of greater interest to ourselves. We here observed a solitary individual, in spite of the unsafe state of the country, sitting quietly at the foot of one of the palm trees, and seemingly enjoying its fruit. Now, coupling the present state of the country with the news we had just received, we could not help greatly suspecting this man to be a spy, posted here by the enemy in order to give them information of the passers by; and I had the greatest difficulty in preventing my Méjebrí Arab, who, when there was no danger for himself, always mustered a great amount of courage, from shooting this suspicious-looking character.

Proceeding then through a very rich country, we reached, after a march of about two miles, the town of Gúlumbé, situated close to the southern border of the valley, and exhibiting extensive fields cultivated with yams and cotton. The banana constituted the chief ornament of the narrow border inclosed between the faddama on one side, and the wall of the town on the other, and the gónda or Erica Papaya, raising its feathery foliage on its slender, virginlike stem, towered proudly over the wall, as shown in the woodcut on the next page. The town was walled, of considerable size, and densely inhabited; but nevertheless the people were in such dread of the enemy, that they kept up a continual beating of drums; and although, on account of the smallness of the gate, we encamped outside, in a courtyard situated

between the wall and the border of the fáddama, we thought it prudent to fire a few shots, in order to apprize the people around that we were well prepared to receive them, to the great relief of the

inhabitants of the town, who, delighted at the unexpected addition to their strength, treated us in a very hospitable manner. The only disturbance to our night's rest was caused by the mosquitoes, which harassed us greatly and drove most of my people into the rúdu, that kind of raised hut which I have described on a former occasion, and which forms the most essential part of even the poorest dwelling in the province of Kebbi.

Monday,

After a thunder-storm accompanied by a few June 6th. drops of rain, the night was succeeded by a beautiful morning; and I felt great pleasure in

CHAP. LIX.

GU'LUMBE'.-SOLITARY PILGRIM.

211

surveying the interesting landscape, only regretting that the insecure state of the country did not allow the natives to enjoy it in tranquillity, the war having driven thousands of people from their homes, and as many more into captivity. The fields on this side of the town, as well as on the other, where we had approached it the day before, were fenced with great care, while horses and asses were grazing on the rich pasture-grounds. After a little more than a mile and a half, we passed, on our left, a farming-village called I'gené, after its master, a cheerful Púllo of advanced age, who was just inspecting the labour of his slaves in the fields. The crops hereabouts were already more than a foot above the ground; and a little further on they reached a height of two feet. Besides sorghum, yams were cultivated to a great extent; but nevertheless, on account of the insecurity of the country, dearth and famine everywhere prevailed.

A little further on we passed, on our left, a considerable sheet of water, with plenty of dorówa, large kadé, and sycamores. The deléb palms had ceased just beyond I'gené. A broad flat-topped mountain, called Hamári, at the eastern foot of which lies the town of Zóro, broke the uniform surface of the country.

Proceeding through this rich but distracted and unsafe district, I was greatly delighted when, near the walled town of Kardi, I fell in with a solitary and courageous pilgrim, a Jolof, from the shores of the Atlantic, carrying his little luggage on his head, and seemingly well prepared to defend it with his