DENHAM ATTO CLAPPERTON. 163 



of the governor of Kano, having called upon Mr. Clapperton, 

 stated it as the conviction of the whole city and his own, 

 that the English had the power of converting men into asses, 

 goats, and monkeys, and likewise that hy reading in his 

 book he could at any time commute a handful of earth into 

 gold. The traveller, having argued with him upon the dif- 

 ficulty he often found in procuring both asses and gold, in- 

 duced him, with trembling hands, to taste a cup of tea ; 

 when he became more composed, and made a sort of recanta- 

 tion of his errors. 



As the caravan proceeded they met many other travel- 

 lers, and found sitting along the road numerous females, 

 selling potatoes, beans, bits of roasted meat, and water 

 with an infusion of gussub grains ; and when they stopped 

 at any place for the night, the people crowded in such 

 numbers as to form a little fair. Mr. Clapperton attracted 

 the notice of many of the Fellata ladies, who, after examin- 

 ing him closely, declared, that had he only been less white, 

 his external appearance might have merited approbation. 



The travellers passed through Sansan, a great market- 

 place divided into three distinct towns, and Katagum, the 

 strongly-fortified capital of the province, containing about 

 6000 inhabitants. Thence they proceeded to Murmur, 

 where the severe illness under which Dr. Oudney had long 

 laboured came to a crisis. Though now in the last stage 

 of consumption, he insisted on continuing his journey, and 

 with the aid of his servant had been supported to his camel, 

 when Mr. Clapperton, seeing the ghastliness of death on 

 his countenance, insisted on replacing him in his tent ; 

 where soon after, without a groan, he breathed his last. 

 His companion caused him to be buried with the honours 

 of the country. The body was washed, wrapped in tur- 

 ban-shawls, and a wall of clay built round the grave to pro- 

 tect it from wild beasts ; two sheep also were killed and dis- 

 tributed among the poor. 



Proceeding onwards, the traveller came to Katungwa, the 

 first town of Iloussa Proper, in a country well enclosed 

 and under high cultivation. To the south was an exten- 

 sive range of rocky hills, amid which was the town of 

 Zangeia, with its buildings picturesquely scattered over 

 masses of rock. He passed also Girkwa, near a river of 

 the same name, which appears to come from thesehills, 

 and to fall into the Yeou. 



