No. XIII.

NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR.—In my translation of the first part of this pamphlet, I stated that the second part embraced only the details of the battles and actions that took place when Sultan Bello’s father conquered his present dominions; which details are those of the battles of Kashnah, Dowra, Kanoo, Kabi, and of three actions in the province of Kadawee. These being of no general interest, I considered it superfluous to translate the whole; but, in order to give an idea of the military tactics of the Africans, and the manner of their warfare, I have selected the account of the first battle of Kadawee, which is the longest, and somewhat interesting.

A Narrative of the first Battle of Kadawee.

“When we assembled and consulted together, respecting the conquest of Kadawee, and our opinions agreed upon its execution, we encamped out, with our troops, commanded by general Aly Jedo. After leaving Manee, or Moona, we marched till we arrived at the west suburbs of the capital, where we found the infidels prepared and intrenched within some thickets. We fought them; and God Almighty gave us the victory. We then proceeded till we reached Boori, about half a day’s journey from Kadawee, where our friends, the tribes of the Falateen, who had fought the infidels at the right side suburbs, sent and announced to us that they (the infidels) had embraced Mooslemanism; and that a great number, of both settlers and wanderers, who had been beaten by our other troops, had also followed their example. The fight continued on that day till our soldiers reached Jerwa; which place is very near the capital. At sunset, I and my guards retired from the western suburbs, but our people besieged the southern; and the next morning when our brother, the pious Namooda, arrived with his troops, they advanced upon the eastern suburbs. We then held a council and agreed to attack the city, notwithstanding the immense number of the enemy’s troops (whose amount God only knows) that was collected in it. This being known, every one of our party, who were besieged in it, and made their escape, came to us. After encamping at Manee, and most of our friends and people had joined us, we marched, commanded by the great vizier Abdullah, till we arrived at Boori, where we stayed till the rest of our followers reached us. We now marched towards Ghazik, and early in the morning came near the capital, which was very strongly fortified, and well protected by being situated between trees and thickets. Our general hastened and advanced till he reached the vanguard of the enemy, where he found that they had prepared, on each side of the town, a company to defend it. They sallied forth, and bore upon our left; we resisted and fought them for an hour, while their people, from the fortifications of the city, were shooting upon our troops volleys of arrows: so that we were attacked on one side by their troops, who came out to us, and on the other by their archers from the town. During this engagement my uncle was wounded in the foot. God Almighty, however, helped us against them, and we routed their troops; and, when we obtained this advantage of their backs, the battle became very hot and sanguinary. I pursued them with a portion of our troops (while the rest, on the right wing of the army, remained fighting against the city), till I drove them towards the place where I was encamped. I then sent to the right wing to join me; and, while we were thus engaged, the enemy came out with a fresh body of horsemen and followed us. On seeing this movement, I hid myself, with a number of my cavalry, till they passed and got near our troops, whereupon I started and bore upon them from behind; by which surprise God dispersed and made them fly. We then returned to our troops, and encamped till the next morning, when the enemy sent out against us an immense number of horsemen, at whose head we thought was their prince himself. Our cavalry started and met them; and after a severe battle, routed them. We pursued them till we reached Zoghrob, on the right side of the capital, where we rested three nights, and then marched to re-attack it. On Sunday morning we fought the enemy most terribly, till it appeared as if the city was on the point of being opened to us. In this battle a great number of our people fell martyrs, and we killed as many of the enemy. At sunset we retired to the camp.

“Here the Tawarek conducted themselves with treachery and deceit: they came to us and declared their submission; but, afterwards, they went to the infidel Soodan, and united with them against us. They, likewise, on seeing our success in the first action, swore and agreed among themselves, to seize upon and capture our family. But our friend and brother, the most virtuous among them, Ahmed ben Heeda, having written to us a detail of their design, and cautioned us, we immediately despatched a part of our troops, headed by the vizier, to protect our family. I remained with the rest of the army, contending with the enemy, till the vizier returned and brought the family safe to us.

“During his absence, however, I sent a body of soldiers to seize upon Ackoowee; which they pillaged, and returned safely, bringing with them an immense booty.

“In the mean time the noble shaikh, my father, moved with a multitude of troops, and arrived at Boori; where, on hearing of his march, I repaired to meet him.

“The Tawarek again deceived us, by writing letters, in which they pledged themselves to meet and unite with us. But when they assembled and joined us, and we encamped at Thunthoo, and our people were scattered in search of provisions, while only the nobles and leaders remained in the camp, we were surprised by the appearance of the enemy near us. The nobles then started to encounter them with what they could collect of our troops, while I and my company were intrenched behind our baggage and animals. At this moment, our friend, the pious brother of the shaikh Saado, came to our assistance, with the royal standard in his hand, and desired that we should advance against the enemy immediately. I told him, he had better wait till they approached us nearer. He refused, and advanced by himself and people. I, being very ill, was obliged to remain behind. They reached the enemy, prepared, and darted upon them. After a severe action of an hour, the enemy fled, but not without a great number of our people having fallen martyrs. By this time, our uncle, the vizier, came to our succour, followed by the noble shaikh, our father, and his party.

“They pursued the enemy, and God gave them the victory, and enabled them to plunge their weapons into their bodies, and disperse them in shreds (small parties). In this engagement we lost about 2,000 martyrs, most of whom were of our best soldiers, and of the most pious and virtuous of our men: as the chief justice Mohammed Thanboo, the noble Saado, Mahmood Ghordam, Mohammed Jamm, the learned and intelligent poet and reciter Zaid, Aboo-bakr Bingoo, the true diviner Es-sudani, and several others. After burying as many as we could of them, we retired and encamped till the next morning, when we buried the rest. This battle took place about two miles from Kadawee.”

The manuscript ends thus:

“Ended, by the grace and assistance of God, the writing of this extract, by the hand of its writer, on Wednesday about noon, the 29th of Rajab, 1239 of Hejra, for Rayes Abdallah, the English Christian, in the city of Sackatoo, of the country of Houssa, residence of the prince of the believers, Mohammed Bello; whom may God cause to be ever victorious! Amen.”