for the beauty of its scenery, although the former part of our march led through a well-cultivated and populous district; and the heat reflected, during the middle of the day, from the bleak soil clad only with a scanty vegetation, was oppressive in the extreme, although it was the month of December. Thus I passed the walled town of Grémarí✶ without feeling myself induced, by the herd of cattle just assembled near the wall, to make a halt, the ground here becoming excessively barren and hot. On reaching the town of Borzári, I preferred encamping outside, although there was not the least shade; my heavy luggage and my numerous party rendering quarters inside the town rather inconvenient. The governor, to whom I sent a small present, treated me very hospitably, sending me a heifer, a large provision of rice, several dishes of prepared food, and two large bowls of milk. This excellent man, whose name is Kashélla Manzo, besides the government of his province, had to regulate the whole intercourse along this road, being instructed at the time especially to pre

I will here mention, as an instance how careful travellers, even those tolerably well acquainted with the languages of the country through which they travel, must be with regard to the names of places, that when first passing this town I asked a man its name, and, not having distinctly heard what he said, I asked another person who stood by; and he said "mannawáji." Supposing at the time that this was the name of the place, I wrote it down, but soon convinced myself that it meant nothing but "he does not want to speak," or "refuses to answer," and I then learnt on further inquiry that the real name of the town was Grémarí.

CHAP. LIII.

BORZA'RI.

33

vent the exportation of horses from the Bórnu territory into the Hausa states.

The town, which is surrounded with a low crenellated wall and a ditch in good repair, is of considerable size and well built, and may contain from 7000 to 8000 inhabitants; but there is no great industry to be seen, nor is there a good market. The wells measure ten fathoms in depth.

Our direct road from this point would have led straight to Zurríkulo; but an officer of the name of A'dama, who was to accompany me to Zínder, having joined me, I was induced to take a more southerly road, by way of Donári, which constituted his estate; and I was very glad afterwards that I did so, as this road made me acquainted with the peculiar character of the territory of Bedde, which I should not otherwise have touched at.

The first part of our march led through Tuesday, a more dreary tract of country, which was December 7th. neither very picturesque nor exhibited any great signs of industry among the natives; but after a stretch of a little more than eleven miles, large, wide-spreading tamarind trees announced a more fertile district, and a few hundred yards further on we reached the border of one of the great swampy creeks connected with the south-western branch of the komádugu, and intersecting the territory of Bedde, which we had now entered. We kept close along its border, which was adorned by fine, luxuriant trees, till we encamped at a short distance from Dáddeger, a place inhabited by

Bedde, and at that time forming part of the estate of Malá Ibrám. The village is situated on a small mound close to the swamp or jungle; for the water is so thickly covered with forest, that no portion of the aqueous element is to be seen. It forms rather what the Kanúri call an ngáljam (that is to say, a swampy shallow creek or backwater, having little or no inclination) than a kulúgu; and there can be no doubt of its connection with the great komádugu of Bórnu. The natives call it at this spot Gojágwa*, and further on, Máje. They are pagans, and wear nothing but a narrow leather apron or funó round their loinst, with the exception of a few Kanúri, who are living amongst them, and who cultivate a small quantity of cotton, for which the banks of the swamp are very well suited, and would no doubt be extensively used for this purpose if the country were inhabited by civilized people.

The Bedde, according to their language, are closely related to the Manga, but, as far as I had an opportunity of judging, are much inferior to them in bodily development, being not at all distinguished for their stature; but it is very probable that the inhabitants of these places in the border district, who come into

I almost suspect that this is the water of which Mr. Hutchinson, when in Ashanti, heard a report from the natives under the name "koumouda Gaiguina." (Bowdich's Mission to Ashantee, p. 213.)

What Koelle relates (Kanúri Proverbs, p. 82, text; p. 211, transl.) on the authority of his informant, that the Bedde, or Bode as he writes, wear wide shirts, "kálgu," besides the funó, of course (as is the case also with the Marghí) can only have reference to those amongst them who have adopted Islám.

CHAP. LIII. THE BEDDE AND THEIR KOMA'DUGU. 35

continual contact with their masters the Bórnu people, are more degenerate than those in the interior, who, protected by the several branches of the komádugu and the swamps and forests connected with them, keep up a spirit of national independence, possessing even a considerable number of a small breed of horses, which they ride without saddle or harness, and in the same barbaric manner as the Músgu.

Wednesday,

December 8th.

The district which we traversed in the morning was distinguished by a great number of kúka or monkey-bread trees, the first one we saw being destitute of leaves, though full of fruit; but gradually, as we approached a more considerable sheet of water, they became adorned with a profusion of rich foliage, and we here met several small parties laden with baskets, of an elongated shape, full of the young leaves of this tree, which, as "kálu kúka," constitute the most common vegetable of the natives. Besides the kúka, large karáge and kórna or jujube trees (Zizyphus), and now and then a fine tamarind tree, though not of such great size as I was wont to see, adorned the landscape.

We had just crossed a swamp, at present dry, surrounded on one side by fine fig trees and gerredh of such luxuriant growth that I was scarcely able to recognize the tree, and on the other by talha trees, when, about noon, we emerged into open cultivated ground, and were here greeted with the sight of a pretty sheet of open water, breaking forth from the forest on our left, and dividing into two branches,

which receded in the distance. The Bedde call it Thaba-kenáma. The water is full of fish, which is dried by the inhabitants, and, either in its natural form or pounded and formed into balls, constitutes an important article of export. We met a good many people laden with it.

It was here that, while admiring this riverlike sheet of water, I recognized, among a troop of native travellers, my friend the sherif Mohammed Ben A'hmed, to whom I was indebted for a couple of hours very pleasantly and usefully spent during my stay in Yóla, and for the route from Mozambique to the lake Nyanja, or, as it is commonly called, Nyassi. I for a moment hoped that it might be my fate, in the company of this man, to penetrate through the large belt of the unknown equatorial region of this continent towards the Indian Ocean. But as he was now on his way from Zinder to Kúkawa, we had only a few moments allowed for conversation and the exchange of compliments, when we separated in opposite directions, never to meet again, my fate carrying me westward, while he was soon to succumb to the effects of the climate of Negroland.

Three miles further on, turning a little more southward from our westerly direction, we reached the town of Géshiya, once a strong place and surrounded by a clay wall, but at present in a state of great decay, although it is still tolerably peopled, the groups of conical huts being separated by fences of matting into several quarters. Here we encamped