Chap. LVII. SHEIKH ' OTHMA'n. — SULTAN BELLO. 153 
to pay him homage, and by his son Mohammed 
Bello. He took up his residence first at Gando, 
where he was besieged for a long time, and after- 
wards at Sifawa, till, as described by Captain Clap- 
perton in the excellent and concise account of this 
struggle * which he has given in the report of his 
second journey, Othman ended his life in a sort of 
fanatical ecstasy or madness. 
He was followed by Mohammed Bello, who en- 
deavoured to introduce more order into the empire 
thus consolidated, and who, on the whole, must rank 
high among the African princes, being distinguished 
not less by his great love of learning and science 
than by his warlike spirit, although his military 
achievements were far from being always successful. 
But he has had the misfortune, after enjoying a 
great name in Europe, for a short time, for the kind 
and generous spirit in which he received Captain 
Clapperton on his first journey, to incur the se- 
severest condemnation on account of the manner in 
which he treated that same enterprising traveller on 
his second journey. No doubt he was a distinguished 
ruler ; but he must not be judged according to 
European ideas. He had to struggle hard, not less 
against the native tribes anxious to assert their inde- 
pendence, than against his great rival Mohammed el 
Kanemithe king of Bornu, who, just at the time of 
Clapperton's second stay, pressed him very closely, 
* Clapperton's Second Journey, p. 203, et seq. 
