124 
JOURNEY FROM BOUSSA TO KANO. 
I am to go with him to the king to-morrow. I have offered two 
hundred thousand cowries to have my baggage carried, but I cannot 
even get a letter conveyed to Kano ; either so jealous are they of 
me, or they have an eye to my baggage, about which they have 
formed anxious conjectures. 1 had a present from the king’s sister 
of a sheep, for which she modestly requested a dollar and some 
beads. My new house is very snug and comfortable. I have three 
rooms for myself and servants, with houses for my horse and mare, 
an old man and his wife to look after it, and I can keep out all idle 
persons. 
Thursday, 20th. — Morning clear and warm. 1 had to remain 
to-day also, as my guide and messenger, the black eunuch, is gone 
to the Koolfu market again. At sunset he and Omar Zurmie (or 
Omar the Brave), the messenger of Bello, waited on me, and told me 
that they would leave this for the Sanson, or camp, in the course of 
the night, if I was ready, and that Zurmie had a horse ready for 
me. I said I was ready at a moment’s notice, and had been the last 
four days. In the night we had a tornado, with thunder, lightning, 
and rain. 
Friday, 21st. — This morning I left Tabra in company of Omar 
the Brave, a black eunuch, and Mohamed Ben Ahmet, the Morzukie, 
as my interpreter and servant ; and having travelled twenty-seven 
miles, came to a village called Kitako, where we passed the night. 
Saturday, 22d. — At 1. 30 A M. left Kitako. The moon through 
the thick clouds just enabling us, by the assistance of two Amars 
(spearmen) who went a-head, to thread our way through the thick 
woods, and over some of the most ticklish wooden bridges that 
ever man and horse passed over. The morning was raw and cold, 
and the path slippery and wet. At 4. 30 I got so unwell and 
unable to bear the motion of the horse, that I dismounted, and 
lay down on the wet ground without covering, or any thing 
underneath me ; for there are times when a man, to get rid of 
