34 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXIX. 
it appeared to me a very disagreeable and intolerable 
abode. Nevertheless we rode to the house of the shiti- 
ma, or rather, in the full form, Shitima Yoma (which is 
the title the governor bears), a large building of clay. 
He was just about taking another wife ; and large 
quantities of corn, intended as provision for his new 
household, were heaped up in front of it.* Having 
applied to his men for quarters, a small courtyard with 
a large hut was assigned to us in another part of the 
town, and we went there ; but it was impossible for 
me to make myself in any way comfortable in this nar- 
row space, where a small gawo afforded very scanty 
shade. Being almost suffocated, and feeling very un- 
well, I mounted my horse again, and hastened out of 
the gate, and was very glad to have regained the fresh 
air. We then encamped about 600 yards from the 
town, near a shady tamarind-tree ; and I stretched my 
feeble limbs on the ground, and fell into a sort of 
lethargy for some hours, enjoying a luxurious tranquil- 
* The marriage (niga) ceremonies in this country fill a whole 
week. The first day is dedicated to the feasting on the favourite 
" nakia," the paste mentioned before ; the second to the "tiggra," a 
dried paste made of millet, with an immense quantity of pepper ; 
the third to the "ngaji," the common dish made of sorghum, with 
a little fish sauce, if possible ; the fourth day is called " liktere," I 
think from the taking away the emblems of the virginal state of the 
bride, " larussa ; " the fifth, the bride is placed on a mat or bushi, 
from which she rises seven times, and kneels down as often ; this is 
called " bushiro," or " buchiro genatsin ;" the next day, which must 
be a Friday, her female friends wash her head while singing, and in 
the evening she is placed upon a horse and brought to the house 
of the bridegroom, where the final act of the niga is accomplished. 
The Kanuri are very peculiar in the distinction of a marriage with 
a virgin, " fero," or " fero kuyanga," or a widow, or " kamo zawar." 
