DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 165 



vour to keep up their spirits by an assurance that, on pass- 

 ing its boundary, they will be set free and dressed in red, 

 -which they account the gayest of colours. SuppUes, how- 

 ever, often fail in this dreary journey, — a want felt first by 

 the slaves, many of whom perish with hunger and fatigue. 

 Mr. Clapperton heard the doleful tale of a mother who had 

 seen her child dashed to the ground, while she herself was 

 compelled by the lash to drag on an exhausted frame. Yet 

 when at all tolerably treated, they are very gay, — an obser- 

 vation generally made in regard to slaves ; but this gayety, 

 arising only from the absence of thought, probably conceals 

 much secret wretchedness. 



The regulations of the market of Kano seem to be good, 

 and strictly observed. There is a sheik who regulates the 

 police, and is said even to fix the prices, — which is going 

 too far. The dylalas, or brokers, are men of somewhat 

 high character ; packages of goods are often sold unopened, 

 and bearing merely their mark. If the purchaser afterward 

 finds any defect, he returns it to the agent, who must grant 

 compensation. The medium of exchange is not cloth as in 

 Bomou, nor iron as in Loggun, but cowries, or little shells 

 brought from the coast, twenty of which are worth a half- 

 penny, and 480 make a shilling; so that, in paying a 

 pound sterling, one has to count over 9600 cowries. Our 

 countryman admires this currency, as excluding all at- 

 tempts at forgery ; but really we should think its use very 

 tedious and inconvenient. Amid so many strangers there 

 is ample room for the trade of the restaurateur, which is oc- 

 cupied by a female seated on the ground, with a mat on her 

 knees, on which are spread vegetables, gussub-water, and 

 bits of roasted meat about the size of a penny ; these she 

 retails to her customers squatted around her. The killing 

 of a bullock forms a sort of festival at Kano ; its horns are 

 died red with henna, drums are beat, and a crowd collected, 

 who, if they approve of the appearance and condition of 

 the animal, readily become purchasers. 



Boxing in Houssa, like wrestling in Bomou, forms a fa- 

 vourite exercise, and the grand national spectacle. Mr. 

 Clapperton, having heard much of the fancy of Kano, inti- 

 mated his willingness to pay for a performance, which was 

 forthwith arranged. The whole body of butchers attended, 

 and acted as masters of the ceremonies ; while, as soon as 



