those of its sister provinces, Youri, Wawa, and Khiama, derive
their origin from Bornu. Lander says that the natives
of these states preserve a tradition that the whole country was
colonized originally from Bornu, which opinions all classes
implicitly believe. He adds that, like the Carthaginians of
old, the people of Borgho send annually presents by way of
acknowledgment to their ancientjeountry.
This account is in some degree confirmed by the fact noticed
both by Clapperton and Lander, that the Borgho people
are not the aborigines of the country which they now
inhabit. Remains of the ancient inhabitants are the Cumbrie
people, a raee of outcasts who are now driven into the mountains
and forests, or have taken refuge in the islands of the
Nile. ThejDumbrie are described by Lander as a harmless,
stupid race, of simple habits, who are treated with contempt
by their neighbours and sold into slavery.
Clapperton was informed by the sultan of Boussa, that .the
first people who inhabited that country^were the Cumbrie;
that his ancestors and the people of Boussa and Niki, came
into Borgho a long time ago from Bornu; and that Jhe sultans
of Niki, Yarriba, Khiama, Wawa and Youri, pay tribute
to Bornu.* He says, that the language of Boussa and the
Borgho states differs only as a dialect from that of Yarriba.
He thus describes the Cumbrie: “ They are a lazy, harmless
race of Negroes, inhabiting the villages in the woods near
the Quorra in the states Boussa, Youri, and-Wawa. They
plant com and yams, and keep a few sheep and goatH: The'y
are nearly naked, rather tall, more stupid-looking than wild.
Their language differs from that of the surrounding inhabitants/?“^
In the province of Katongkora in Youri, the people of Wazo
and Rajadawa, walled towns containing from six thousand
to seven thousand inhabitants, are all Pagan Cumbrie. Clapperton
says, they are a fine, active^clean-looking people; and
in this part of the country the men and women are gaily
dressed. It does not appear that they differ in physical characters
from the other inhabitants of Borgho, although it is
Clapperton, p. 103.
evident that they form a distinct,- and4n. many respects, a
peculiar race/ ’
Several Négro states are mentioned by late travellers in
the'-'countries bordering on Bother and Yarriba, and to the
northward of Benin, as Jacoba and Adamowa ; but whether
the inhabitants arè Of the Yarribean and Borgho race or belong
to distinct nations we are not informed.
Physical Characters of the Natives'of Borgho and Yarriba.
The people'of Borgho and Yarriba speak the same lan-
'guage, though with some differences of dialect; they mdy
therefore be. considered as forming onfe race. .
" Clapperton assurés, us, that the general ~âppearan$| of the
Yarribeans had léSs of the characteristic featur^iof the Nbgrd
than any other African people he had seen : tlp r lip ^ re
thick, and their/Uoses more inclinedtopie aquiline shape than
fhose of other Negroes. The same writer describes/!ie -ult.in
of Boussa, as à finely-formed man, with j*aw high forehead,
large eyes, Roman nose; .his chin covered,-with about an
inch and a half of beard. Lander says, that his features were
more like the European than those of .a' Negro. He was
struck with the regularity of features, elegancerof form, and
impréssive dignity of manners and appearance in the, pa'ble
monarch Khiama.*
The men of Wawa are, according fo Landes,’ in most instances,
tall and well-formed, and the women handsome^'
having far greater pretensions to beauty .than, the n atiy ^ Of
Yarriba or Khiama.
The saine writer informs US, in the account of his second
journey, that many of the women:of Larro, in Yarriba,.;ar^pf
a bright copper-colour, and that great* numbers of the population
of that town are fairer than mûlattppgïy/
Mr. Lander says that the people of Borgho are more-cleanly
than their neighbours of Yàrriba, apd would be more handsome
if they had not weak eyes. That pa^fri which?!,in the
eyes of others is perfectly white, is in theirs of a, smoky yellow.
Clapperton makes the same observation of the people of
* Clapperton’s Second E^ped, p. 57.