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Chap. LV. APPROACH OF THE RAINY SEASON. 101 
— the independent pagans as well as the conquering 
Fiilbe, — having in their pay numbers of spies in the 
towns of their enemies. Only two days before the 
Goberawa left their home, they killed Bii-Bakr the 
chief spy whom f AKyu, the sultan of Sokoto, enter- 
tained in their town. 
In the company of the ghaladfma there was a 
younger brother of his, of the name of Al-hattu, who 
had lost the better portion of the character of a free 
man by a mixture of slave-blood, and behaved, at 
times, like the most intolerable beggar ; but he 
proved of great service to me in my endeavour to 
become acquainted with all the characteristic features 
of the country and its inhabitants. 
Besides this man, my principal acquaintance during 
my stay in Katsena this time was a Tawati of the 
name of 'Abd e' Rahman, a very amiable and social 
man, and, as a faki, possessing a certain degree of 
learning. He had been a great friend of the sultan 
Bello, and expatiated with the greatest enthusiasm on 
the qualities and achievements of this distinguished 
ruler of Negroland. He also gave me the first hints 
of some of the most important subjects relating to 
the geography and history of Western Negroland, 
and called my attention particularly to a man whom 
he represented as the most learned of the present 
generation of the inhabitants of Sokoto, and from 
whom, he assured me, I should not fail to obtain what 
information I wanted. This man was e Abd el Kader 
H 3 
