134 
TRAVELS IN NORTHERN AFRICA. 
CHAP. III. 
at all times large ; but after the rains it overflows the country. 
During the inundation the natives use rafts floated on gourds? 
which grow to an extraordinary size. A quantity of these are 
scooped out, and lashed together ; a deck is then formed of brush- 
wood, or bundles of rushes. 
The only palpable inaccuracy in liis account (and which, indeed, 
is a great one) is that relating to the course of these rivers : he was 
by no means certain whether they flowed to or from the east, and 
always concluded by saying, that he never had thought it worth 
while to remember the circumstance. 
From Kashna to Sakkatoo is nine days and a half west. This 
place is the residence of Bello, son of the celebrated Fellata chief 
Hatman Danfodio. It is a walled town of much consideration, 
three days east of Gooberr, which is also a Fellata town, and one 
day east of Kebbi (the Cabi of our maps.) The natives are now a 
settled people, but were once wanderers of the warhke tribe of 
Fellata, who, some years since, came from the west, and succeeded 
in overcoming the whole of Soudan, carrying their conquests as far 
as old Birnie, and causing the Sultan and his people to remove five 
days farther to the eastward. These conquests have, in the end, 
occasioned their ruin ; for not having it in their power to continue 
a force in each subjugated country, they became scattered, and 
were easily driven back by the different tribes who had been sub- 
ject to them. They now are not found (except in small parties) 
farther east than Kashna. Their complexion being of a much 
lighter hue than that of the other tribes, they call themselves 
white ; their colour resembles that of our gipsies in England. 
Many female slaves are brought to Morzouk from their nation, 
and are very handsome women. The men I have never seen, and 
I understand that in the late wars all the male prisoners were put 
to death. They walk very erect, and have rather a haughty 
