and the want of nourishing food : his whole wardrobe was his sheep's skin ; and although the sheikh gave him 0 tobe, he said he almost thought it a sin to indulge in the luxury of putting it on. We Were on the expedition to Munga when he arrived, and about the time of our evening meal, Abdel Gassam generally made his appearance at our tents : bad as the fare was, he found it preferable to the cold mess of flour and water he got elsewhere. He knew little or nothing of the road by which he had come to Kano, not even the names of the placés he had halted at. Abdel Gassam said he could scarcely beiïève such.good people as We were could be any thing but Moslem : but he had heard of Christians before; and when I asked how, and where, he gave the following account :—■ - “ Many years ago, before ! was born, white men, Christians, came from Sego to D’jennie, in a large boat, as big as two of Our boats. The natives went out to them in their canoes ; they Would not have done them any harm, but the Christians were afraid, and fired at them with guns, and killed several in the canoes that went near their boat : they proceeded to Timboctoo, and there the sultan sent to them one of his chiefs, and they held a parley. Thé Christians ' complained that the people wanted to rob them. The sultan was kind to thèm, and gave them supplies. Notwithstanding this, they went off suddenly in the night, which vexed the sultan, as he would have sent people with them, if they had not been afraid of them a little: and he now sent boats after them, to warn them of their danger, as there were many rocks in the belly of the river, all pointed!. However the Christians went on, and would not sniffer-the sultan’s people to come’ near them, and they all perished.”. My infoririant never heard that any thing belonging tO them was saved, but remembers himself seeing a man often with Ms'father* who was in One of the •’canoes; that' followed them, and who had seen them strike'against thé rocks—indeed he brought the neWs to Timboctoo. Their kppearance: excited a gréaC sensation' amongst the jpeople-Hhad frequently heard people talk about the Christians, and the large boat, for a whole day, at his father’s;—to tMs day they talk about them. They had guns fixed to the sides of the boat, a thing never seen before at Timboctoo, and they alarmed the people greatly. Abdel Gassam was a sort of prodigy, and could repeat the Koran from the beginning to the end. I repeatedly asked him what they would do to us, if we were to go to Timboctoo ? « Why,” answered he, “-do by.you as you now do by me, feed you. The sultan is a great man, with a large heart, and is kind to strangers. Many whites, but not like those in the great boat, come to D’jennie, and also the servants of thesq people, who he tMnks were Christians, but they do not go to Timboctoo: they come from the great water; and the Felatahs at D’jennie, by their means, supply Timboctoo with cloth and silk, yellow and red, and guns, which are much sought after. Does not know what these wMte people take back, but always heard, slaves and gold dust. The sultan of Timboctoo is a very great man, never goes out to ghrazzie; but Ms slaves go, and bring back many slaves, mostly females, from the Kerdy countries, by which he is surrounded. At D jennie and Melli, which are both subject-to Timboctoo, the population is mostly Felatah. The whole road to Timboctoo is inhabited by Moslems; but to the north and south of the route are Kerdies, who sometimes attack kafilas ; but they are very much afraid of Bello, who protects merchants. Kashna, Kano, Houssa,—one language; Timboctoo, D’jennie,—one language; but they also speak Felatah. At Sego the population is Negro, Kerdy, Kaffir. , All communication between Sego, D’jennie, and Timboctoo, is .by water: the river is very large, and called Qualla; and Kabra is the place where every tMng going from, or coming to, Timboctoo, is embarked or disembarked. Kabra is five hours distant only from Timboctoo: always understood that tMs great river, which has many names and branches, went from Nyffe south, a a 2
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