1830.] Ancient and Modern Systems of Slavery. 397 



pointment arid disease ; his grave was dug by four slaves, who kept 

 quarrelling and fighting during the time that poor Lander was reading; 

 the funeral service. On the 4th of May, Lander, after being plundered 

 of the remaining property, by order of the sultan, was allowed to depart, 

 and shortly afterwards joined a- caravan proceeding to Kashna. He had 

 nearly perished in the " gooher bush," and thus relates the cruel death 

 of fifty slaves who had been brought as a present to the sultan, but were 

 rejected by him. " The young Fetallah, to whom I owe my life, came 

 to me on the 7th, and informed me that the whole of the slaves of the 

 King of Jacoba being missing, a party of horsemen had been sent in 

 quest of them, and were just returned with the shocking intelligence of 

 having seen thirty-five of their dead bodies lying along the road, and 

 that hundreds of vultures were already hovering over them ; the other 

 fifteen could not be found, but were strongly suspected of having shared 

 in the same fate. These unfortunate creatures had the task of carrying 

 loads on their heads the day before, but being unable to keep up with 

 the pace of the camels were necessarily obliged to be left behind, and 

 thus perished miserably of thirst and fatigue."* 



Arriving at Kano on the 25th of Slay, he left it on the 29th, 

 proceeding to Coulfa, in Nyffe. On our journey we met, on the 8th 

 of June, on their way to Soccatoo, as a tax paid to Sultan Bello from a 

 neighbouring country, thirty slaves men, women and children, who 

 were all ill with the small-pox. The males were tied to each other by 

 the neck, with thongs made of twisted bullock's hide, but the women 

 and children were unconfined ; notwithstanding the loathsome disease 

 that hung upon those poor wretches, they all appeared merry, thought- 

 less and happy, as though they had been enjoying their freedom in per- 

 fect health !" The inhabitants of Bowchee go perfectly naked, " they 

 sell their children as slaves to the greatest strangers in the world, with 

 no greater remorse of conscience than if they had been common articles 

 of merchandize."t And he relates a very pathetic occurrence which 

 took place under his own eye, of a mother selling her daughter for a 

 necklace of beads ! At Cattup, " slaves as well as bullocks and sheep, 

 are exposed in the market, which is held daily."J 



Forced to turn aside to satisfy the curiosity of the King of Zeg-Zeg, 

 who received him kindly, he again resumed his journey for the coast, 

 attended by one male and two female slaves, whom he had purchased or 

 received in presents to supply the place of hired people, upon whom he 

 found by experience that no dependance could be placed ! He reached 

 Coulfa on the 14th of August, where he was kindly received amidst 

 lamentations for the death of his late master. Leaving Coulfa on the 

 20th, and crossing the Niger two or three days afterwards, he entered 

 Wowwow on the 24th, and was detained there till the 3d of Septem- 

 ber, when proceeding through Khiama to Katunga, Mansolah, the king, 

 again received him kindly, visited him with five hundred of his two 

 thousand wives, each armed with a small spear, and lamented the death 

 of Clapperton, singing a dirge for that event. Lander affirms that it is 

 the law of the country to send all the most beautiful young girls as 

 wives to the king." <f Cats are becoming so scarce in Yariba, by reason 

 of the bitter persecution that is carried on against them unceasingly by 

 the half starved slaves., that they are seldom seen, and in the course of a 

 few years, in all probability, these useful animals wiil be wholly exter- 



* Records, &c. Vol. ii. p. 95. f Ib. p. 114. $ Ib. p. 1N>. 



