JOENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 167 



thrown down and trampled to death by the bullocks, which 

 were furiously rushing backward and forward ; however, 

 through the unremitting care of the escort, Clapperton 

 made his way safely, though not without much fatigue and 

 annoyance, along this perilous frontier. 



On the 16th March, 1824, after passing through the hilly 

 district of Kamoon, the valleys began to open, and crowds 

 of people were seen thronging to market with wood, onions, 

 indigo, and other commodities. This indicated the ap- 

 proach to Sackatoo, which they soon saw from the top of a 

 hill, and entered about noon. A multitude flocked to see 

 the white stranger, and received him with cheers of wel- 

 come. The sultan was not yet returned from a ghrazzie or 

 slave-hunt ; but the gadado, or minister, performed hand- 

 somely the honours of the place. Next day the chief 

 arrived, and instantly sent for Clapperton. The palace, as 

 usual in Africa, consisted of a sort of enclosed town, with 

 an open quadrangle in front. The stranger, on entering 

 the gate, was conducted through three huts serving as 

 guard-houses, after which he found Sultan Bello seated on 

 a small carpet in a sort of painted and ornamented cottage 

 Bello had a noble and commanding figure, with a high forehead 

 and large black eyes. He gave the traveller a hearty wel- 

 come, and, after inquiring the particulars of his journey, 

 proceeded to serious affairs. He produced books belonging 

 to Major Denham, which had been taken in the disastrous 

 battle of Dirkullah ; and, though he expressed a feeling of 

 dissatisfaction at the Major's presence on that occasion, 

 readily accepted an apology, and re:>tored the volumes. He 

 only asked to have the subject of each explained, and to 

 hear the sound of the language, which he declared to be 

 beautiful. He then began to press his visiter with theolo- 

 gical questions, and showed himself not wholly unacquainted 

 with the controversies which have agitated the Christian 

 world ; indeed he soon went beyond the depth of his visiter, 

 who was obliged to own that he was not versant in the 

 abstruser mysteries of divinity. 



The sultan now opened a frequent and familiar commu- 

 nication with the English envoy, in which he showed him- 

 self possessed of a good deal of information. The astrono- 

 mical instruments, from which, as from implements of magic. 



