to obtain some little ventilation in my hut. At length I had made myself somewhat comfortable, when the governor sent two calabashes of rice in the husk, and two others of millet, but no refreshment for the moment, though I stood very much in need of it, having been exposed to the sun during the hottest part of the day. To the master of the harbour, who had so opportunely supplied me with the large boats, I made a present of 1000 shells. Very little rain had fallen as yet in this neighbourhood; and a thunderstorm which broke out in the afternoon did not reach us. Indeed the air in this low valley, which is probably at a level of about 350 ft., was so oppressive, that I felt at times almost suffocated, and unable to breathe.

The following morning I took a ride round the place and its neighbourhood. The shape of the town is tolerably quadrangular, being encompassed on three sides by a low rampart of earth, the side towards the river being unprotected. It is of considerable size, each side measuring about 1400 yards; but the town is only thinly inhabited, the dwellings (all of which except the house of the governor, consist of matting and reeds) lying scattered about like so many separate hamlets. It is intersected from north to south by a wide shallow depression or vale encompassed by dúm palms, which are almost the only trees either inside or outside the town; and at the end of the rainy season it becomes filled with water, causing great inconvenience to the business of the town and

CHAP. LIX. TOWN AND MARKET OF SAY.

245

the intercourse between the various quarters, and greatly contributing to its unhealthiness. There can be no doubt that, in seasons when the river reaches an unusual height, the whole town is under water, the inhabitants being obliged to seek safety beyond the borders of the valley.

There is a market held every day in the eastern part, not far from the bank of the river. Poor as it is, it is of some importance in the present state of the country and hence the town has a great name as a market-place among the inhabitants of Western Súdán, a great many of whom here supply their want of native manufactures, especially of the common clothing for males and females, as the art of weaving and dyeing is greatly neglected in this quarter, cotton being cultivated only to a very small extent. But the place was most miserably supplied with provisions, there being no store of grain whatever. Everything necessary was brought day by day from the town called Sínder-the same place which I have mentioned as being situated about eighty miles higher up the river. I was greatly surprised at not finding here even a vestige of the cultivation of rice, although a large tract of ground on this low island, which, towards the rainy season becomes partly inundated, is particularly suited to that branch of cultivation. Not even onions are grown in the place; but, fortunately, I had been informed of the circumstance beforehand, and had provided myself with a

large supply of this useful article in Gando, where the onions are excellent.

Being detained in this place longer than I wished, and feeling a little better, on the Thursday following I took a ride along the river to some distance below, where it takes a westerly bend, and I was astonished at the dry and barren aspect which this island bore, even here neither rice crops nor vegetables, as might be expected along the banks of so noble a river, being seen. The island, which during the highest level the river attains becomes almost inundated, bore the aspect of a scorched treeless prairie; and disappointed in my expectation of finding a cool shade, I returned into the town, being cheerfully saluted by all the people whom I met, the name of a módibo or learned man, which preceded me, gaining me the favour of the inhabitants. While passing along the streets, I was delighted to observe a certain degree of industry displayed in small handicrafts and in the character of the interior of the households.

Everything was very dear, but particularly butter, which was scarcely to be procured at all. All the currency of the market consists of shells; but I found the most profitable merchandise to be the black cloth for female apparel from Gando, which realized a profit of eighty per cent., while the Kanó manufactures did not find a ready sale. The black Núpe tobe, of common manufacture, bought in Gando for 3300 shells, here fetched 5000, while the black

CHAP. LIX. STATE OF MARKET.-TRAFFIC.

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zenne, manufactured in Gando itself, and bought there for 1050, sold here for 2000. Of course all depends, in this respect, upon the momentary state of the intercourse of this quarter with Háusa ; and, at the present time almost all communication with that manufacturing province being interrupted, it is easy to explain how an article produced in Gando could realize such a per-centage in a town at so short a distance from that place a state of things which cannot form the general rule. At any rate for the English, or Europeans in general, Say is the most important place in all this tract of the river, if they ever succeed in crossing the rapids which obstruct the river above Rabba and especially between Búsa and Yaúri, and reaching this fine open sheet of water, the great highroad of Western Central Africa. The traffic of the natives along the river is not inconsiderable, although even this branch of industry has naturally suffered greatly from the rebellious state of the adjacent provinces, more especially those of Zabérma and Déndina; so that, at present, boats did not go further down the river than Kirotáshi, an important place situated about fifteen miles lower down, on the western bank, while in the opposite direction, up the river, there was constant intercourse as far as Kindáji, with which place I made myself sufficiently acquainted on my return journey.

About noon the second day of my stay here, I paid a visit to the governor of the town. His name

is A'bú Bakr, the son of the far-famed mållem Mohammed Jébbo. I found him a tolerably cheerful person, although he is wanting in that manliness of character which makes a lasting impression, and he bore evident signs of having been born of a female slave, while his manners appeared to me to possess something approaching to a Jewish character. He, however, was delighted to see me, as I was not only the first Christian who had ever visited this place, which Mungo Park, on his ever-memorable journey, seems to have passed by entirely unnoticed, but especially as I had come at a time when the whole intercourse of the country had been interrupted, and Arabs as well as natives were all afraid of visiting it. Having heard of the great superiority of Europeans over the Arabs, both in point of intelligence and industry, he entertained an earnest wish, if it could be accomplished without detriment to the welfare of his province, that a vessel or steamer belonging to them might come and fill his poor market with luxuries; and it was with the utmost surprise that he learned that I did not trade. But, on the other hand, this led the governor to think that, in exposing myself to such great dangers, I could not but have a very mysterious object in view; and he soon became alarmed, and asked repeatedly why I did not proceed on my journey.

I had already been informed in Gando, that A'bú Bakr, two years previously, had navigated the river with a small flotilla of boats, upwards as far as Gágho