Chap. LVII. DESOLATE APPEARANCE OF THE TOWN. 175 
English, or Europeans in general, by way of the 
Niger. At present almost the whole traffic in 
foreign merchandise is in the hands of the people of 
Ghat and Agades, especially in those of Mohammed 
Boro, my friend the fugger of A'gades, who, being a 
native of A'dar, and having a numerous host of full- 
grown sons, exercises a great influence upon com- 
mercial and even political affairs in these quarters. 
Having thus commenced an acquaintance with the 
most respectable man in the town, I made a longer 
promenade through its interior, when I found the 
chief quarter, which had been the residence of Bello, 
greatly dilapidated, and the royal mansion itself in a 
state of the utmost decay. No doubt a considerable 
proportion of the inhabitants of the town, especially 
the males, had joined the expedition of e Aliyu to 
Zanfara: but as the greater part of the population 
consists of Zoromawa or Zoghoran, or, as they are 
called further westward, Jawdmbe, a peculiar tribe 
which I have mentioned before and about which 
I shall say more in another place, mixed here 
with the Imoshagh of A'dar, who do not join the 
army, the war could not exercise so great an in- 
fluence upon the desolate appearance of the place. 
The Zoromawa, in fact, are the artisans of the town, 
and the small tradesmen and brokers, and exercise a 
sort of monopoly in the art of working in leather, in 
which they are very expert, having probably learned 
it from the Emgedesiye. 
In endeavouring to survey the town, I first paid a 
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