THE JOURNEY OF THE BOATS TO YO 171 



very much on the long marches in the heat over heavy 

 ground. 



He arrived at Bulturi in the evening ; a Mobbur town, 

 where the people were friendly and gave him food. At the 

 smaller villages they ran away, but the larger towns turned 

 out in force to view the sight of the white man and the iron 

 boats, and at one place the civil old king lined the bank 

 with his women, who clapped their hands and made a shrill 

 yodeling noise, rattling their tongues against the roofs of 

 their mouths. 



One day a party of Tubu horsemen followed the boats 

 along the left bank of the river, threatening to attack Jose. 

 But when they discovered there were six soldiers on board, 

 they cleared off. 



I must not get too far down the river before mentioning 

 the famous ruins of Ghambaru and Birni, which are spoken 

 of by Barth in his " Travels." They are situated on the 

 right bank, a few miles apart and thirty miles or so from 

 Guidam. Those of Birni, which I visited on my own journey 

 down to Yo, consist of a broad grass-covered, circular wall 

 and outer ditch about a mile in circumference, reminding 

 one very forcibly of a Roman encampment. They are so 

 buried over with turf that I could find no trace of bricks. 

 But GosUng, speaking of the ruins of Ghambaru, says, " The 

 bricks are in a wonderful state of preservation and one bit 

 of the wall that is still standing is 15 ft. high. The thickness 

 of the walls is 2 ft. 6 in., and the bricks are laid in alternate 

 header and stretcher rows." Barth says that these towns 

 were the favourite retreats of the ancient Kings of Bornu, 

 and were destroyed by the invading Fulani in the year 1809. 



