52 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXIII. 
the beginning, nothing was inferred but that I had 
been directly forwarded by him to the governor of 
Katsena in order to see me safe to Sokoto, I took 
leave of Elaiji, thanking him and his friends for their 
trouble, and followed Bel-Ghet and his companion 
Miisa into the town. 
The immense mass of the wall, measuring in its 
lower part not less than thirty feet, and its wide cir- 
cumference, made a deep impression upon me. The 
town (if town it may be called) presented a most 
cheerful rural scene, with its detached light cottage?, 
and its stubble-fields shaded with a variety of fine 
trees ; but I suspect that this ground was not entirely 
covered with dwellings even during the most glorious 
period of Katsena. We travelled a mile and a half 
before we reached the " zinsere," a small dwelling 
used by the governor as a place of audience — on 
account, as it seems, of a splendid wide- spreading 
fig-tree growing close to it, and forming a thick shady 
canopy sufficient for a large number of people. 
I, however, was conducted to the other side of the 
building, where a quadrangular chamber projects 
from the half-decayed wall, and had there to wait a 
long time, till the governor came into town from his 
new country-seat. Having at last arrived, he called 
me, and, thanking me for remaining with him, he 
promised that I should be well treated as his guest, 
and that without delay a house should be placed at 
my disposal. He was a man of middle age, and had 
much in his manners and features which made him 
