RESIDENCE AT SOCCATOO AND MAGARIA. 
225 
flames : after all was over, the principal wife of Malam Moodie 
sent her compliments and thanks to me for taking care of her 
husband’s house and property. There have been three fires in the 
town in the course of the day ; they say they were done by the 
agents of the rebels, who tie a burning cotton thread to the tail of 
a large species of buzzard, with yellow head and reddish-yellow 
tail, and blue body, common in this country, which flies to the 
thatch of the house when set adrift. 
Friday, Dec. 1st. — At 4 P. M. left Soccatoo by the southern 
gate, with a camel carrying my tent and bed, with a small quantity 
of provisions. After leaving the gate, the road was over what had 
been plantations of millet, doura, and beans ; the soil a stiff red 
clay, covered with a thin layer of sand, with blocks of clay iron- 
stone, which is often mixed with white pebbles ; sometimes it 
w ould cover a space of a quarter of a mile, like a crust, of about 
from two feet to two and a half feet in thickness ; the face of the 
country almost bare of trees, but studded with villages ; the herds 
of horned cattle were to be seen in great numbers every where, 
returning to their night’s quarters, feeding as they went along. 
The country hilly, with very steep and slippery ravines in many 
places. 
At 8 P. M. halted at the camp of the sultan, which was in a 
valley of about three miles wide, and close to the bed of a small 
stream passing the east of Soccatoo, which was distant about two 
miles and a half to the north-east. After my tent was pitched, 
the Gadado sent me a sheep, and I had my share of a bullock 
that was killed. There w ere very few people with the sultan, and 
the Gadado had only three servants with him. 
Saturday, 2d. — Morning clear and cool at day-light. Rode 
out with the sultan and Gadado to mark out the site of the new 
town. I took my gun with me, intending to shoot : we rode to the 
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