FROM ZEGZEG TO BADAGRY. 
311 
arrived at Coulfo at two in the afternoon . I was met at the gates 
by the female in whose house we lodged on our way to Kano, 
accompanied by the most respectable of her sex in the town. They 
expressed the most lively joy at seeing me ; but when I told them 
that my father was dead, they were deeply affected, and made loud 
lamentations. Although the town was full of merchants, and her 
own house occupied with some of them, this kind old woman turned 
out her lodgers, and gave me the best apartment in it. These mer- 
chants came from Cuttum Kora, Youri, Kano, Soccatoo, Borgou, 
and Yariba, to purchase Nyffe cloth, which is the best in central 
Africa, iron bits and stirrups, brass ornaments for saddles and bridles, 
and brass ear and common rings : this traffic is carried on to a con- 
siderable extent. The good old chief sent me fowls, tuah, milk, 
and bum : my hostess gave me a sheep ; and during my stay, this 
excellent old lady sent me provisions daily. 
Remained at Coulfo five days, and finding my Yariba pony, and 
the bullock the king of Zegzeg had given me, unfit to bear the fa- 
tigues of a journey to the sea-coast, exchanged the bullock and an 
old Turkish jacket for a couple of asses ; but could not dispose of 
the pony, although I offered to sell him for a dollar. The morning 
before my departure found poor little Boussa Jack dead outside my 
hut. It was with the utmost reluctance my hostess would part with 
me ; and I left her with a promise of returning in two years. She 
gave me an order to purchase looking-glasses, &c. for her on my 
arrival in England, which 1 was to bring with me ; all which 1 pro- 
mised to do. Gave her a dollar to make a ring, and half a yard of 
scarlet damask. I took to the old chief a scarlet cap and one of 
my late master’s turbans, and begged he would not compel me to 
visit Sultan Magie at Sanson, as I had nothing to give him. He 
replied, if I did not wish to visit the sultan, to leave as soon as pos- 
sible, or he might send messengers for me. Sold 5000 cowries worth 
of needles to assist me on my journey. 
