Chapter III · (continued 2)

Saturday, 1st April.—Morning cool and cloudy, with a little rain. The Houssa musician came to his appointment, and I made him play and sing. I made a sketch of his instrument, which I asked him to sell to me; but he said he had played on it to his father and mother, and they were pleased with it; they were now dead, and he would not part with it. My servant Ali was cooking a fowl for my breakfast, and having occasion to call him, he came with a knife in his hand; on seeing which, the musician started, and ran as if he had been going to be put to death instantly. The women in the house, when they saw him run, rolled on the ground, and laughed at the poor man’s fright. After breakfast I visited the sultan, and asked him to be allowed to depart, as my baggage was to have been at the river-side yesterday. He said I must not leave him to-day, and that when I came back I must stay forty days with him. I was visited by a great number of people, amongst which were many Fellatas, the chief of whom sent me a sheep, honey, and milk. The sultan, when I inquired of him again to-day about the papers of my unfortunate countrymen, 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 did not see it. They pointed out the place where the boat struck, and the unfortunate crew perished. Even this was done with caution, and as if by stealth; though, in every thing unconnected with that affair, they were most ready to give me what information I asked; and never in my life have I been treated with more hospitality or kindness.

The place pointed out to me, where the boat and crew were lost, is in the eastern channel: the river being divided into three branches at this place, not one of which is more than a good pistol-shot across. A low flat island, of about a quarter of a mile in breadth, lies between the town of Boussa and the fatal spot, which is in a line, from the sultan’s house, with a double-trunked tree with white bark, standing singly on the low flat island. The bank is not particularly high at present, being only about ten feet above the level of this branch, which here breaks over a gray slate rock, extending quite across to the eastern shore: this shore rises into gentle hills, composed of gray slate, thinly scattered with trees; and the grass at this season gives it a dry and withered appearance.

The city of Boussa is situated on an island in the river Quorra, and is in latitude 10° 14′ north, longitude 6° 11′ east. The course of the Quorra here is from north-north-west to south-south-east by compass; and, as they informed me, is full of islands and rocks as far up the river as they were acquainted with it, and the same below. Boussa stands nearest the westernmost branch, which is called by the natives the river Menai; the other two branches have no other name than the Quorra. The Menai’s stream is slow and sluggish; those of the other two strong, with eddies and whirlpools breaking over rocks, which in some places appear above water. Boussa island, as I shall call it, is about three miles in length from north to south, and a mile and a half in breadth at the broadest part. A ridge of rock, composed of gray slate, runs from one end of the island to the other, forming a precipice from twenty to thirty feet high on the eastern side, and shelving gently down on the west: below this precipice extends a beautiful holm or meadow, nearly the whole length of the island, and about three hundred yards broad, to the banks of the river, where there are several rocky mounds, on which villages to the number of four are built. The wall of Boussa is about a quarter of a mile from the banks of the Menai, and unites with the two extremities of the rocky precipice, where they fall in with the banks of the river; and may be about three quarters of a mile or a mile in length. The houses are built in clusters, or forming small villages, inside the wall, not occupying above one-tenth of the ground enclosed. Outside the walls, on the same island, are several villages, with plantations of corn, yams, and cotton. The language of the people of Boussa is the same as the other states of Borgoo, and appears to be a dialect of the Yourriba: but the Houssa language is understood by all classes, even by the Cambrie. I should not think that the whole of the inhabitants living between the wall and the river amounted to more than ten or twelve thousand; but I was informed that the state of Boussa was more populous than all the other provinces of Borgoo; and that, next to Houssa, the sultan of Boussa, from that state alone, could raise more horse than any other prince between Houssa and the sea. The inhabitants, with a very few exceptions, are pagans, as is the sultan, though his name is Mohamed. Milk is his fetish, and which he, therefore, does not taste. This I learnt when he drank tea with me. They eat monkeys, dogs, cats, rats, fish, beef, and mutton; the latter only on great occasions, or when they sacrifice. This morning when I was with the sultan, his breakfast was brought in, which I was asked to partake of. It consisted of a large grilled water-rat with the skin on, some very fine boiled rice, with dried fish stewed in palm oil, and fried or stewed alligators’ eggs, and fresh Quorra water. I eat some of the stewed fish and rice, and they were much amused at my not eating the rat and the eggs. Their arms are, the bow, sword, spear, and a heavy club of about two feet and a half in length, bent at the end and loaded with iron: their defensive armour is a tanned leather shield, of a circular form, and the tobe or large shirt gathered in folds round the body, and made fast round the waist with a belt.

From the front of the Sultan’s house they pointed out to me a high table-topped mountain, bearing by compass north-north-east, distant from twenty-five to thirty miles. On the south-west side of this mountain they say Youri lies; and the Quorra runs past the west end of the mountain.

When I went to take leave of the sultan and midaki, the latter made me a present of a fine young native horse; his brother, a fine young man, accompanied me; the head man, or, as he is called, the avoikin sirka and the principal people of Boussa, also accompanied me to the banks of the Menai, when I crossed and took leave of them; the messenger of the sultan of Boussa, and a messenger of the king of Youri, to whom I had promised to deliver a present for his master when I got to the ferry, attending me. Thus ended my visit to Boussa.