8 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



shortly come and see me. He rode up in the afternoon, 



escorted by about forty arrowmen. He was of shaggy 



appearance, with a thick grizzled beard. On his head he 



wore a large-brimmed, high conical straw hat of Hausa 



make, which shaded his blunt features and kindly, bright 



eyes. His body was clad in a long arrow-proof coat, and over 



his shoulder a quiver of arrows was slung. At his girdle 



hung the Koran in a leathern pouch, and at his side a sword, 



while in his hand he carried a bow. Altogether a warlike 



figure of a man. But his looks belied his reputation, which 



was one of weakness. Indeed, all the power is in the hands of 



the Kachella although he is not such a big man as the king. 



However, he expressed himself as very keen to accompany 



me, and we engaged at once in a council of war. I told him 



I was prepared to start immediately, but he advised our 



waiting until nightfall, as the heat was now very great, and 



the men I had brought from Arregi would be better for a 



rest before doing a forced march of twenty-one miles to 



Bulturi. To this proposition I agreed. Accordingly, after 



a'short rest and a meal I started at five o'clock that evening, 



having arranged to meet the king at a rendezvous a short 



distance from the town, where he had gone to summon a few 



more men. There we assembled for the march and mustered 



our forces. Besides myself, Jose and the l<ing, there were 



only the six horsemen I had raised at Arregi, as the Kachella 



had taken almost every available man from Yo with him. 



Indeed, when I had entered Yo that day, the town wore a 



most deserted appearance and there was hardly a man to be 



seen ; the women and children, left thus unprotected, were 



for the most part in their houses. The rest of our force 



