106 
JOURNEY FROM KATUNGA TO BOUSSA. 
is Mohamed. Milk is liis fetish, and which he, therefore, does not 
taste. This I learnt when he drank tea with me. They eat monkeys, 
dogs, cats, rats, fish, beef, and mutton ; the latter only on great 
occasions, or when they sacrifice. This morning when I was with 
the sultan, his breakfast was brought in, which I was asked to par- 
take of. It consisted of a large grilled water-rat with the skin on, 
some very fine boiled rice, with dried fish stewed in palm oil, and 
fried or stewed alligators’ eggs, and fresh Quorra water. I eat 
some of the stewed fish and rice, and they were much amused at 
my not eating the rat and the eggs. Their arms are, the how, 
sword, spear, and a heavy club of about two feet and a half in 
length, bent at the end and loaded with iron : their defensive 
armour is a tanned leather shield, of a circular form, and the tobe 
or large shirt gathered in folds round the body, and made fast 
round the waist with a belt. 
From the front of the Sultan’s house they pointed out to me a 
high table-topped mountain, bearing by compass north-north-east, 
distant from twenty-five to thirty miles. On the south-west side of 
this mountain they say Youri lies ; and the Quorra runs past the 
west end of the mountain. 
When I went to take leave of the sultan and midaki, the latter 
made me a present of a fine young native horse ; his brother, a fine 
young man, accompanied me ; the head man, or, as he is called, the 
avoikin sirka and the principal people of Boussa, also accompanied 
me to the banks of the Menai, when I crossed and took leave of 
them ; the messenger of the sultan of Boussa, and a messenger of 
the king of Youri, to whom I had promised to deliver a present 
for his master when I got to the ferry, attending me. Thus ended 
my visit to Boussa. 
