170 CLAPPERTON S SECOND JOURNEY. 



cuit, becomes the Shary,'and pours itself into the immense 

 basin of the Tchad, are points on which his informants va- 

 ried greatly. 



Returning by a different route, Mr. Clapperton visited 

 Zirmie, the capital of Zamfra, a kind of outIav?ed city, the 

 inhabitants of which are esteemed the greatest rogues in 

 Houssa, and where all runaway slaves find protection. He 

 passed also through Kashna or Cassina, the metropolis of a 

 kingdom which, till the late rise of the Fellata power, had 

 ruled over all Africa from Bornou to the Niger. In its 

 present subject and fallen state, the inhabited part does not 

 cover a tenth of the wide circuit enclosed by its walls ; yet 

 a considerable trade is still carried on with theTuaricks, or 

 with caravans coming across the Desert by the route of 

 Ghadamis and Tuat. Here our traveller met with much 

 kindness from Hadgi Ahmet, a powerful and wealthy Arab 

 chief, who even took him into his seraglio, and desired him, 

 out of fifty black damsels, to make his choice, — a complai- 

 sance, nothing resembling which had ever before been shown 

 by a Mussulman. But our countryman, being indisposed* 

 only picked out an ancient maiden to serve as a nurse. 



Mr. Clapperton rejoined Major Denham at Kouka, 

 whence they set out, and recrossed the Desert together in 

 the latter part of the year 1824. They reached Tripoli in 

 January, 1825, and soon after embarked for Leghorn ; but 

 being detained by contrary winds and quarantine regula 

 tions, did not reach London till the month of June. 



CHAPTER XHL 



Clapperton' s Second Journey — Laing — Ccdllie. 



It has appeared, that in spite of some occasional sjmnp- 

 toms of jealousy, and even of alarm, the sultan of the Fel- 

 latas had manifested a very considerable inclination to cul- 

 tivate intercourse with the English. He was even under- 

 stood to have promised that messengers should be kept in 

 waiting at Rakah and Fundahj or at some port on the coast, 



