VISIT THE SULTAN OF MINYO. 
307 
province of Minyo, and where the father of the 
present Sultan resided. It is a little less than 
Burai. Here we are told that, after all, Minyo is 
not the name of the Sultan, as before mentioned, 
but the name of the province, which is sometimes 
called Minyoma, as being more euphonic : but all 
people love harmony in language. This province 
is considered the most powerful of the empire of 
Bornou. 
15th. — Having selected my present for his 
highness the Sultan, consisting of a piece of cotton 
velvet for a tobe (ten mahboubs), a head of sugar, 
a little cinnamon and cloves, a piece of muslin for 
turbans, and a cotton handkerchief, I paid my 
visit under the escort of the Kashalla, and the 
Sultan's major-domo, a man carrying a large stick 
with a great knob at the end. We went straight 
to the palace, a considerable building, built of clay, 
like the Sultan's house at Zinder, in the shape of a 
fort or castle. 
We were first ushered into an audience-room 
or hall, of large dimensions, with little light, adapted 
for an African climate. It is newly built, and 
indeed not yet finished. The architecture is the 
same as the public buildings or houses of the chief 
officers in Kuka. Here we waited a quarter of an 
hour, during which time the people poured in from 
all quarters. At length, we were ushered into the 
presence. I found the Sultan to be a good-looking 
black, with features not much stamped with the 
