404 
COPPER-SMITHS. 
cloths, and grass mats of native manufacture, were the 
principal things brought to the markets. 
The mountains about the Confluence are highly fer- 
ruginous. At Sterling Hill, the peroxide of iron occurs 
in great abundance, in the form of pea-iron ore, of a very 
beautiful character. The natives, however, do not know 
how to profit by it. 
Copper is found in Haussa, but where, we could not 
learn. At Fandah there were coppersmiths, who smelt 
it. We saw a great deal of dross lying about, but we 
sought in vain the apparatus or the mineral in its original 
state. Whether the manufacturer suspected us of some 
sinister intention of depriving him of it by the magical 
power they all believed us to possess, or that he did not 
understand our imperfectly interpreted wishes, we cannot 
say ; but after leading us to different huts, we only saw 
a quantity of dross, and the sheet copper of which he 
was making bowls of pipes. 
Trona, which is a kind of alkali, is brought from 
Haussa. Salt, very bad and dirly, is said to come from 
Bishi. 
The above catalogue is not very tempting to the 
European merchant ; but it must be remembered that it 
comprises merely the articles in demand among them- 
selves, with the exception of slaves and ivory, which are 
for the foreign market. It is, however, sufficient to 
know, that it is a fertile country, situate in a tropical 
climate, to be certain that it has immense natural pro- 
