JOURNEY FROM BOUSSA TO KANO. 
117 
and therefore all they can lay their hands on is considered by them 
as good and lawful prize. They are more warlike than any of their 
neighbours; more bold and independent also : and parties of two 
or three will infest the roads of the neighbouring kingdoms, and 
carry off passengers whom they may meet, and sell them as slaves. 
The kingdom, as I have already said, is divided into the petty 
states of Niki, Iviama, Wawa, and Boussa, of which Boussa is con- 
sidered the head, Niki the next. The governors are all hereditary 
as long as they can keep their place. These states sometimes make 
war upon one another, when the sultan of Boussa interferes, and 
makes both parties pay. The kingdom is bounded on the east by 
the Quorra ; on the south by Yourriba ; on the west by Dahomey; 
and on the north by a large country called Gourma, which they assert 
to be inhabited by naked savages, but the Mahomedans say by a 
civilized people, and governed by a powerful sultan. The country 
is eleven days’ journey from north to south, and thirty from east to 
west : its rivers are the Quorra, Moussa, and Oli : its mountains 
are the range which passes through Yourriba, Youri, Zamfra, 
Guari, and Zegzeg. The face of the country is partly plain and 
partly mountainous, abounding in game of all the kinds common to 
Africa ; and the inhabitants are said to be great hunters. Through 
Borgoo the caravans from Houssa and Bornou pass to Gonja and 
Yourriba. They have few cattle, but plenty of corn, yams, plan- 
tains, and limes. Their religion is paganism, but they offer no 
human sacrifices. 
Tuesday, lltli. — Left El Wata, the country around which is well 
cultivated. The ant-hills here are the highest I have ever seen, 
being from fifteen to twenty feet high, resembling so many Gothic 
cathedrals in miniature. Halted at another walled village to 
change carriers, which, like El Wata, was also full of blacksmiths. 
In all the villages I passed through to-day there is a fetish-house, 
or pagan house of worship, in good repair ; showing that the head 
