166 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LVII. 
But a European will achieve what the natives of 
the country themselves deem impossible; and my 
friends the Zoromawa merchants, who wanted to 
induce me to relinquish my project, had perhaps their 
own private interests in view. They probably enter- 
tained the hope that, in case of my being prevented 
from penetrating westward, I should be obliged to 
sell my stock here, which I now kept back as a pro- 
vision for the road before me. By way of consoling 
them, I gave them a parcel of beads of the kind 
called dankasawa, which I found useless for the 
countries through which I had to pass, in exchange 
for some shells I was in want of for the daily expenses 
of my household. 
Meanwhile I collected a good deal of information 
concerning the topography of the neighbouring pro- 
vinces, and the remarkable manner in which the pro- 
vince of Kebbi has been portioned out between the 
two empires of Gando and Sokoto. I also compiled 
an outline of the history of this country, which 
began greatly to attract my attention. Meanwhile, in 
order to preserve my health, I took a ride almost 
every day, out of the town, and was in particular 
much interested in an excursion which I made in 
the afternoon of the 16th, in a northerly direction, 
on the road to Salame, which is at the same time 
the great highroad to A'dar and A'gades. A cheer- 
ful aspect was especially exhibited by the village of 
Fachi, stretching out to a considerable length from 
east to west, and skirted by a small watercourse, 
