178 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. LVII. 
many signs of vegetation ; but that part nearest the 
town was agreeably enlivened by a thriving suburb 
extending as far as the kofa-n-Taramnia, and buried 
in a thicket of shady trees and hedges, thus presenting 
altogether a more animated spectacle than the interior 
of the town itself. Keeping along the machicolated 
wall, here only about twelve feet high and surrounded 
by a ditch, and following the path between it and the 
suburb, we entered the town, and turned our steps to 
the house of the gedado, where Captain Clapperton 
closed his meritorious career as an African explorer. 
The house is still in tolerable repair, f Abdii, the 
son of the gedado, who, although not very energetic, 
and still less warlike, is a man of cheerful disposition 
and good principles, having too great a veneration 
for his father, who did so much towards embellishing 
and adorning this town, to allow his residence to 
go to ruin. The old gedado had long outlived his 
master, Bello; and if I had proceeded to Sokoto 
directly from A'gades, I should still have found 
him alive ; for he only died during my presence in 
Kano, in February 1851. I will here only mention 
that it was believed for a moment in England that 
Clapperton died from the effects of poison ; but the 
amount of fatigue, privations, and sickness to which 
this most eminent of African travellers was exposed 
on his circuitous journey, by way of Niipe and Kan6, 
from the coast as far as this place, explains fully how 
he was unable to withstand the effects of the shock 
which mental disappointment exercised upon him : 
nay, it is wonderful how he bore up so long, if his 
