138 
JOURNEY FROM BOUSSA TO KANO. 
of the house. The Houssa merchants stop outside the walls in 
little straw huts or leathern tents, which they erect themselves. 
They sell their goods and wares in their houses or tents ; the 
small wares they send to the market and round to the different 
houses by their slaves to sell ; there are also a number of male 
and female brokers in the town, whom they also intrust. The 
pedlers or western merchants always live in the houses of the 
town, and attend the markets daily, employing their spare time 
in spinning cotton, which they provide themselves with on their 
arrival, and support themselves by this kind of labour. There have 
been no fewer than twenty-one of these mercantile women living 
in my landlady’s house at one time, all of them from Yourriba 
and Borgoo : these women attend the markets at the different 
towns between this and their homes, buying and selling as they 
go along. The caravans from Cubbi, Youri, and Zamfra, bring 
principally slaves and salt, which they exchange for natron, Gora 
nuts, beads, horses, tobes dyed of a dark blue, having a glossy 
and coppery tinge. The slaves intended for sale are confined in 
the house, mostly in irons, and are seldom allowed to go out of 
it, except to the well or river every morning to wash ; they are 
strictly guarded on a journey, and chained neck to neck ; or else 
tied neck to neck in a long rope of raw hide, and carry loads on 
their heads consisting of their master’s goods, or his household stuff*; 
these loads generally from fifty to sixty pounds weight, A stranger 
may remain a long time in a town without seeing any of the slaves, 
except by accident, or making particular inquiry. The duties 
which traders pay here are collected by the people of Tabra, who 
take twenty cowries from every loaded person, forty for an ass, and 
fifty for a loaded bullock. 
The inhabitants may amount to from twelve to fifteen thousand, 
including all classes, the slave and the free ; they are mostly em- 
ployed in buying and selling, though there are a great number of 
