JOURNEY FROM BOUSSA TO KANO. 
153 
of caravans ; and as we drew closer to the city the camps were oc- 
cupied by the merchants of the caravans bound to the west. At 
fourarrived at the walls of the old city, and entering the western gate, 
rode round and over part of the hill on which the city is built, by a 
footpath, which cuts off about two miles : entered the eastern gate 
of the new city, where I was met by forty horsemen sent by the 
chief to conduct me into the town. I rode up to the door of the 
chief’s house or castle, who came out instantly, and received me 
very kindly, and, after exchanging compliments, he sent me with 
his chief eunuch to a house prepared for me, where shortly after 
was brought a live sheep, millet for the horses and camel, cooked 
meat for me and my servants, consisting of pudding made from 
the seeds of grass, the same as what is called tiff in Abyssinia, 
equal to any flour pudding made with milk and eggs in England : 
it is called asha in Houssa : I had also two stew ed capons, the 
largest I ever saw. 
Tuesday, 4th.— I w r aited on the chief, and made him a present 
of a silk umbrella and other articles. I then told him that what 
I had given him did not belong to me, but to my master, the king 
of England, who had sent me to visit Houssa and Bornou, where 
I had been two years before ; that I wanted the chief of Guari to 
give me his assistance and protection as far as he could give it. 
He said he thanked me for the present I had given him from the 
king, and I should have every protection and assistance he could 
afford ; that he and the F ellatas, I knew, were at war, and that his 
sending an escort of horse to Zegzeg w ith me would be of no ser- 
vice, and only expose me to attack from the Fellatas who infested 
the road on the frontiers of the two states ; but from the last town 
in his territory bowmen on foot should escort me as far as Fatika, 
the first town in Zegzeg, and under the dominion of the Fellatas, 
and then I should be in perfect freedom to go where I pleased ; 
that his horsemen should go with me as far as the last town in his 
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