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 further 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 further west.

CHAP. LX.

TOWN OF CHAMPAGO'RE.

253

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 neighbourhood. The town itself is inclosed by a small hilly chain towards 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 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 inwards towards the top, as shown in the accompanying woodcut. They have no opening at the bottom, but only a windowlike

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 courtyard 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 courtyards being only surrounded by a frail fence, made of the stalks of the native corn, while, in many yards, one half of the circumference 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

CHAP. LX.

MOHAMMED GALAIJO.

255

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 afterwards 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 Hámed 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

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

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 smail band, formed first an alliance with Galaijo, who himself had embraced Islám; and, thus closely allied, they spread their conquests over the neighbouring country. But, after having succeeded in establishing a strong power, Mohamined Lebbo demanded homage and allegiance from his ally Galaijo, under the pretext of his having brought the ensign, or túta, of Islám from Sifáwa, 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 further eastward. Here he was received with open