DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY. 221 



if I had ascended the Niger, to have reached 

 Boussa. I was accompanied by a host of the 

 inhabitants, whose curiosity, although I had been 

 seven weeks among them, had not undergone the 

 least abatement. 



As the town of Fundah is generally allowed 

 by the traders to be the largest in that part of 

 the country in which it is situated, and as it has 

 always been considered by geographers and for- 

 mer travellers, as a place of importance, both 

 from its trade and position, a short account of 

 it by its first European visitor may not be mis- 

 placed, and will naturally be expected. 



Fundah is situated at the western extremity 

 of a magnificent plain, on the northern bank 

 of the river Shary, from a branch of which it is 

 distant about nine miles. It is bounded on the 

 north by a range of low hills, which, commencing 

 at the confluence of the Shary and Niger, run 

 in a direction parallel to the former. To the 

 eastward of the town a beautiful country extends 

 as far as the eye can reach. The town itself is 

 built in the form of a half moon, walled in, 

 on three sides surrounded by a ditch, and on the 

 other it is defended by a low wall and fence 

 which has again a natural defence in a deep 



