158 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LVII 
an average temperature of 94°, was an excellent 
abode during the hottest part of the day, when it felt 
very cool and pleasant ; but it was rather oppressive 
in the morning and evening, when the air outside was 
so much cooler. But in the courtyard there was 
not the slightest shade, all the trees in this quarter 
of the town, as well as the huts consisting of reed, 
having been swept away by a great conflagration the 
preceding year, a young korna tree, which had been 
planted at a later period, only just beginning to put 
forth its foliage. The whole courtyard, also, was in a 
most filthy state, characteristic of the mannerl of the 
natives in their present degraded moral and political 
situation. The first thing, therefore, that I had to 
do, in order to make myself tolerably comfortable, 
was to cleanse out this Augean stable, to build a hut 
for my servants, and a shady retreat for myself. 
I was well aware that the latter, which it was not 
easy to make water-tight, would become useless with 
the first considerable fall of rain ; but I entertained 
the hope that, before that time, I should be able to 
set out on my journey. 
It was market-day, there being a market held here 
every Monday and Friday, although the great mar- 
ket of Sokoto, which is much more important, even 
in the present reduced condition of that place, still 
serves to supply the wants of the inhabitants of 
all the neighbouring towns and villages at large. 
Sending, therefore, into the market in order to supply 
my most urgent wants, I found that corn, as well as 
