402 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXII I 
tribe was paying tribute to his master the governor of 
Yola ; and whether it was true or not, certainly he 
did well to keep these vagabonds from preying upon 
other people while their own safety was in danger. 
At a quarter past eleven o'clock we reached the 
outskirts of K6fa, a village, which had been ransacked 
and destroyed entirely by Kashella e Ali, — the very act 
which had given rise to the complaints on the side of 
the governor of A'damawa, who claimed the supremacy 
over this place. Several huts had been already built 
up again very neatly of bongo ; for this had now 
become the general mode of architecture, giving proof 
of our advancing into the heart of the tropical climes. 
And as the dwellings were again rising, so the inha- 
bitants were likewise returning to their hearths. 
A most interesting and cheerful incident in these 
unfortunate and distracted lands, where the traveller 
has every day to observe domestic happiness trodden 
under foot, children torn from the breasts of their mo- 
thers, and wives from the embraces of their husbands, 
was here exhibited before us. Among the people 
recovered from slavery by Ibrahima's exertions was a 
young girl, a native of this village, who, as soon as 
she recognised the place from which she had been 
torn, began to run as if bewildered, making the circuit 
of all the huts. But the people were not all so fortu- 
nate as to see again those whom they had lost ; there 
were many sorrowful countenances among those who 
inquired in vain for their sons or daughters. How- 
ever, I was pleased to find that Billama was saluted 
