clusively in slaves, which are given in exchange for rum, tobacco, European cloth, and cowries. This intercourse, which is constant, is entirely by land, either from Badagry, Lagos, or Dahomey. The price of a slave at Jannah, as nearly as could be calculated, was from three to four pounds sterling; their domestic slaves, however, are never sold, except for misconduct. In fact, the whole population may be considered in a state of slavery, either to the king or his caboceers. The features of the Yourriba people are described as being less characteristic of the negro than those of Badagry; the lips less thick, and the nose inclined to the aquiline; the men well made, and of an independent carriage; the women of a more coarse appearance, probably from drudgery and exposure to the sun.

Though Clapperton remained at Katunga from the 23rd of January to the 7th of March, and though the river Quorra-the mysterious and mis-called Niger-was not more than thirty miles to the eastward, he was not able to prevail on the king of Yourriba to allow him to visit it; whenever he asked for permission to do so, he was always put off with some frivolous excuse; and in this, too, the old gentleman appears to have been as cunning and as cautious as a Chinese mandarin-observing at one time, that the road was not safe at another, that the Fellatas had possession of the country; and what would the King of England say if any thing should happen to his guest? It was with some difficulty, after all, that Clapperton could prevail on him to let him depart on his journey ;-offered, if he would stay, to give him a wife; of wives, he said, he himself had plenty he did not exactly know how many, but he was sure that, hand to hand, they would reach from Katunga to Jannah.

On departing from Katunga for Kiama, a city of Borgho, Mr. Houtson took his leave of our traveller, and returned to the coast, where he shortly afterwards died. Clapperton continued his route among ruined villages, that had been sacked by the Fellatas. These marauders, it seems, have a mode of setting fire to walled towns, by tying combustibles to the tails of pigeons, which, on being let loose, fly to the tops of the thatched houses, while they keep up showers of arrows, to prevent the inhabitants from extinguishing the flames. Having crossed the river Moussa, a considerable stream which falls into the Quorra, an escort appeared to conduct our traveller to Yarro, the sultan, as they called him, of Kiama. They were mounted on remarkably fine horses, but were a lawless set of fellows, who plundered the villages as they went along, without mercy or remorse.

At Kiama, he was well received by Yarro, who assigned him an excellent house, within a square inclosure, and sent him milk, eggs, bananas, fried cheese, curds, and foo-foo

(paste of Indian corn). Shortly afterwards he paid him a visit, mounted on a beautiful red roan, attended by a number of armed men on horseback and on foot; "and six young female slaves, naked as they were born, except a stripe of narrow white cloth tied round their heads, about six inches of the ends flying out behind; each carrying a light spear in the right hand." Each of these girls, on entering the door, put a blue cloth round her waist. Yarro promised our traveller every assistance, and kept his word. On taking leave, he remounted his horse, "the young ladies undressed; and away went one of the most extraordinary cavalcades I ever saw in all my life." Extraordinary indeed! The following is his account of a second visit

"After the heat of the day was over, Yarro came, attended by all his train. The most extraordinary persons in it were himself and the bearers of his spears, which, as before, were six naked young girls, from fifteen to seventeen years of age. The only thing they wore was a white bandeau, or fillet of white cloth, round the forehead, about six inches of the ends flying behind, and a string of beads round their waists; in their right hands they carried three light spears each. Their light form, the vivacity of their eyes, and the ease with which they appeared to fly over the ground, made them appear something more than mortal as they flew alongside of his horse, when he was galloping, and making his horse curvet and bound. A man with an immense bundle of spears remained behind at a little distance, apparently to serve as a magazine for the girls to be supplied from, when their master had expended those they carried in their hands.”

Here, as in other large towns, there were music and dancing the whole night; "men's wives and maidens all join the song and dance, Mahomedans as well as Pagans." Female chastity, by our author's account, is little regarded.

"Yarro asked me if I would take his daughter for a wife; I said 'Yes,' after a great many thanks for my present. The old woman went out, and I followed with the king's head man, Abubecker. I went to the house of the daughter, which consists of several coozies, separate from those of the father, and I was shown into a very clean one: a mat was spread-I sat down-and the lady coming in and kneeling down, I asked her if she would live in my house, or I should come and live with her: she said, whatever way I wished: very well, I said, I would come and live with her, as she had the best house. She kept her kneeling posture all the time I was in the house."

Kiama is one of the largest cities in Borgho. Clapperton estimates it to contain, at least, thirty thousand inhabitants; but, like the rest of the people of this kingdom,

they are represented as great robbers. Yarro, however, behaved very well to our traveller, supplied him at once with horses and bearers, and advised him to go by Boussa, and not by Youri, as the latter was at war with the Fellatas. Profiting by this advice, he proceeded towards the former, and in the way, he fell in with a coffe or caravan from Ashantee and Gonja, on their route to Houssa.

"At ten, we fell in with the Houssa caravans. They occupied a long line of march: bullocks, asses, horses, women, and men, to the amount of a thousand, all in a line, one after another, forming a very curious sight; a motley group, from the nearly naked girls and men carrying loads, to the ridiculously and gaudily dressed Gonja traders, riding on horseback, some of these animals being lame, and going with a halt, and all in very bad condition. The poor girls, their slaves, are compelled to travel with a heavy load on their heads, yet are as cheerful and good-natured as if they were at home grinding corn in their own native country."

At Wawa, another city of Borgho, our traveller was well and hospitably received, the old governor of which told him, that every thing should be done that he wished. Being so near that part of the Quorra, where Mungo Park perished, our traveller thought he might get some information of this melancholy event.

"The head man's story is this: that the boat stuck fast between two rocks; that the people in it laid out four anchors a-head; that the water falls down with great rapidity from the rocks, and that the white men, in attempting to get on shore, were drowned; that crowds of people went to look at them, but the white men did not shoot at them as I had heard; that the natives were too much frightened either to shoot at them or to assist them; that there were found a great many things in the boat, books and riches which the sultan of Boussa has got; that beef cut in slices and salted was in great plenty in the boat; that the people of Boussa who had eaten of it all died, because it was human flesh, and that they knew we white men eat human flesh. I was indebted to the messenger of Yarro for a defence, who told the narrator that I was much more nice in my eating than his countrymen were. But it was with some difficulty I could persuade him that if his story was true, it was the people's own fears that had killed them; that the meat was good beef or mutton; that I had eaten more goats' flesh since I had been in this country than ever I had done in my life: that in England we eat nothing but fowls, beef, and

"I had a visit, amongst the number, from the daughter of an Arab, who is very fair, calls herself a white woman, is rich, a widow, and wants a white husband. She is said to be the richest person in Wawa, having the best house in the town, and a thousand slaves. She showed a great regard for my servant Richard, who is younger and better looking than I am: but she had passed her twentieth year, was fat, and a perfect Turkish beauty, just like a walking water-butt. All her arts were unavailing on Richard: she could not induce him to visit her at her house, though he had my per mission."

This widow, it seems, was not disposed to waste time by making regular approaches, like those by which Widow Wadman undermined the outworks of the unsuspecting Uncle Toby, but was determined to carry the citadel by storm.

"The widow Zuma has been kind enough to send me provisions ready cooked, in great abundance, ever since I have been here. Now that she has failed with Richard, she has offered Pascoe a handsome female slave for a wife, if he could manage to bring about matters with me. Not being much afraid of myself, and wishing to see the interior arrangement of her house, I went and visited her. I found her house large, and full of male and female slaves; the males lying about the outer huts, the females more in the interior. In the centre of the huts was a square one of large dimensions surrounded by a verandah, with screens of matting all around except in one place, where there was hung a tanned bullock's hide; to this spot I was led up, and, on its being drawn on one side, I saw the lady sitting cross-legged on a small Turkey carpet, like one of our hearth rugs, a large leather cushion under her left knee; her goora pot, which was a large oldfashioned English pewter mug, by her side, and a calibash of water to wash her mouth out, as she alternately kept eating goora and chewing tobacco-snuff, the custom with all ranks, male or female, who can procure them: on her right side lay a whip. Ata little distance, squatted on the ground, sat a dwarfish, hump-backed, female slave, with a wide mouth but good eyes: she had on no clothing, if I except a profusion of strings of beads and coral round her neck and waist. This personage served the purpose of a bell in our country, and what, I suppose, would in old times have been called a page. The lady herself was dressed in a white coarse muslin turban; her neck profusely decorated with necklaces of coral and gold chains, amongst which was one of rubies and gold beads; her eyebrows and eyelashes blacked, her hair dyed with indigo, and her hands and feet with henna: around her body she had a fine striped silk and cotton country cloth, which came as high as her tremendous breasts,

and reached as low as her ankles; in her right hand she held a fan made of stained grass, of a square form. She desired me to sit down on the carpet beside her, which I did, and she began fanning me, and sent hump-back to bring out her finery for me to look at; which consisted of four gold brace lets, two large paper dressing-cases, with looking-glasses, and several strings of coral, silver rings, and bracelets, with a number of other trifling articles. After a number of compliments, and giving me an account of all her wealth, I was led through one apartment into another, cool, clean, and ornamented with pewter dishes and bright brass pans. She now told me her husband had been dead these ten years, that she had only one son, and he was darker than herself; that she loved white men, and would go to Boussa with me; that she would send for a malem, or man of learning, and read the fatha with me. I thought this was carrying the joke a little too far, and began to look very serious, on which she sent for the looking-glass, and looking at herself, then offering it me, said, to be sure she was rather older than me, but very little, and what of that? This was too much, and I made my retreat as soon as I could, determined never to come to such close quarters with her again."

Wawa is said to contain from 18 to 20,000 inhabitants; it is surrounded by a good high clay wall, and dry ditch; and is described as the neatest, most compact, and best walled town between it and Badagry. The following, however, is no very flattering account of its inhabitants.

"The virtue of chastity I do not believe to exist in Wawa. Even the widow Zuma lets out her female slaves for hire, like the rest of the people of the town. Neither is sobriety held as a virtue. I never was in a place in my life where drunkenness was so general. Governor, priest, and layman, and even some of the ladies, drink to excess. I was pestered for three or four days by the governor's daughter, who used to come several times in a day, painted and bedizened in the highest style of Wawa fashion, but always half tipsy; I could only get rid of her by telling her that I prayed and looked at the stars all night, never drank any thing stronger than roa-in-zafir, which they call my tea-literally hot water: she always departed in a flood of tears. Notwithstanding their want of chastity, and drunkenness, they are a merry people, and have behaved well to me. They appear to have plenty of the necessaries of life, and a great many of the luxuries, some of which they would be better without -this being the direct road from Bornou, Houssa, and Nyffé, to Gonja, Dahomey, and Jannah."

They are, notwithstanding, said to be honest, cheerful, good-natured, and hospit

able. The women good-looking, and the men strong and well made, partly Mahomedans and partly Pagans.

From hence, it was settled that our traveller should proceed across the Quorra, to a city called Koolfu; but as Boussa was higher up the river than the common ferry of Comie, and he was determined to visit the spot where Mungo Park perished, the governor promised to forward his servant and baggage to the former place, where he was to meet them after his visit to Boussa. This town he found, on his arrival, to be situated on an island formed by two branches of the Quorra, the smaller and more westerly one named the Menai, which he crossed by a canoe, the horses swimming over. On waiting on the sultan, by whom, as usual, he was kindly received, his first inquiry was concerning some white men, who were lost in the river some twenty years ago, near this place.

"He seemed rather uneasy at this question, and I observed that he stammered in his speech. He assured me he had nothing belonging to them; that he was a little boy when the event happened. I said I wanted nothing but the books and papers, and to learn from him a correct account of the manner of their death; and that with his permission, I would go and visit the spot where they were lost. He said no, I must not go; it was a very bad place. Having heard that part of the boat still remained, I asked him if it was so: he replied that such a report was untrue; that she did remain on the rocks for some time after, but had gone to pieces and floated down the river long ago. I said if he would give me the books and papers it would be the greatest favour he could possibly confer on me. He again assured me that nothing remained with him— every thing of that kind had gone into the hands of the learned men; but that if any were now in existence he would procure them and give them to me. I then asked him if he would allow me to inquire of the old people in the town the particulars of the affair, as some of them must have seen it. He appeared very uneasy, gave me no answer, and I did not press him further."

Not satisfied with this, Clapperton returned to the subject :—

"The sultan, when I inquired of him again to-day about the papers of my unfortunate countryman, said that the late imam, a Fellata, had had possession of all the books and papers, and that he had fled from Boussa some time since. This was a death-blow to all future inquiries here; and the whole of the information concerning the affair of the boat, her crew, and cargo, which I was likely to gain here, I have already stated. Every one, in fact, appeared uneasy when I asked for information, and said it had happened before their remembrance, or that they

I was often puzzled to think, after the kindness I had received at Boussa, what could have caused such a change in the minds of these people in the course of twenty years, and of their different treatment of two European travellers. I was even disposed at times to flatter myself that there was something in me that belonged to nobody else, to make them treat me and my people with so much kindness; for the friendship of the King of Boussa I consider as my only protection in this country."

This is by far the most probable, and all of them corroborate the story generally disbelieved at the time, which Isaaco brought back from Amadoo-Fatima. There is yet a chance, we think, though but a slender one, that the journal of Park may be recovered. Clapperton found, on reaching the ferry at Comie, that so far from his baggage having gone on to Koolfu, it had been stopped at Wawa by the governor; and that, to his great surprise, the widow Zuma was at a neighbouring village, from whom he presently received some boiled rice, and a fowl, with an invitation to go and stop at her house. The governor's son informed him, that his baggage would not be allowed to leave Wawa, till the widow was sent back. "What have I to do with the widow?" asked Clapperton. "You have," he replied, " and you must come back with me and take her." Clapperton, however, positively refused to have any thing to do with or say to her. His servant Richard at this moment returned from Boussa, whither he had followed his master, to acquaint him with the detention of his baggage; told him that it was owing to the widow's having left Wawa, about half an hour after he did, with drums beating before her, and a train after her, first calling at his lodgings before she waited on the governor; that she had given old Pascoe a female slave for wife, without the governor's permission; and that she had declared, she intended following him to Kano, from whence she would return to make war on the governor, as she had done once before. "This," says Clapperton, " let me into their politics with a vengeance: it would have been a fine end to my journey indeed, if I had deposed old Mohammed, and set up for myself, with a walking tun-butt for a queen." Clapperton, however, determined to go back to Wawa to release his baggage, and scarcely had he got there, when the arrival of the jolly widow was announced, whose appearance and escort we must let our traveller describe.

"This morning the widow arrived in town, with a drummer beating before her, whose cap was bedecked with ostrich feathers; a bowman walking on foot at the head of her horse; a train behind, armed with bows, swords, and spears. She rode a-straddle on a fine horse, whose trappings were of the first order for this country.

The head of the horse was ornamented with brass plates, the neck with brass bells, and charms sewed in various coloured leather, such as red, green, and yellow; a scarlet breast-piece, with a brass plate in the centre; scarlet saddle-cloth, trimmed with lace. She was dressed in red silk trousers, and red morocco boots; on her head a white turban, and over her shoulders a mantle of silk and gold. Had she been somewhat younger and less corpulent, there might have been great temptation to head her party, for she has certainly been a very handsome woman, and such as would have been thought a beauty in any country in Europe."

The widow was summoned before the governor, went on her knees, and, after a lecture on disobedience and vanity, was dismissed; but, on turning her back, she shook the dust off her feet, with great indignation and contempt; and "I went home," says Clapperton," determined never to be caught in such a foolish affair in future."

He now proceeded to the ferry, crossed the Quorra, which was about a quarter of a mile in width, running about two miles an hour, and from ten to fifteen feet deep. The canoes were about twenty feet long and two wide. He was now in the province of Nyffé; the country well cultivated, and the ant-hills near El Wata were the largest he ever saw, being from fifteen to twenty feet high, resembling so many Gothic cathedrals in miniature. In this part of the country the natives smelt iron ore, and every village had three or four blacksmiths' shops in it. The houses are generally painted with figures of human beings, huge snakes, alligators, or tortoises. On arriving at Koolfu, our traveller took up his abode with a Widow Laddie, huge, fat, and dea', very rich, sells salt, natron, booza, and roa bum, or palm wine. The booza is made from guinea corn, honey, Chili pepper, and the root of a coarse grass, and is a very fiery and intoxicating beverage. The whole night was passed in singing, dancing, and drinking booza. The women, too, dressed in all their finery, joined the men, danced, sang, and drank booza with the best of them. These scenes are exactly similar to those which Burckhardt describes to have taken place among the bouzadrinkers of Berber and Shendy.

Koolfu is a sort of central market, where traders meet from every part of Soudan and western Africa. It is a walled town, with four gates, and may contain from twelve to fifteen thousand inhabitants, including all classes, the slave and the free, who live together and eat together without distinction, the men slaves with the men, and the women with the women; for, in the true style of all orientals, the two sexes eat their meals apart, and never sit down to any repast together. They are represented as a kindhearted people, and affectionate towards one another, but they will cheat, if they can