Travels Of Richard And John Lander Into The Interior Of Africa For The Discovery Of The Course And Termination Of The Niger By Robert Huish
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The Person
Handed Him One Much Too Small, And He Quite Inadvertently Asked For A
Dagger For The Same Purpose.
The sultan was instantly thrown into a
fright; he seized his sword, and half drawing it from the scabbard,
Placed it before him, trembling all the time like an aspen leaf.
Clapperton did not deem it prudent to take the least notice of this
alarm, although it was himself who had in reality the greatest cause
of fear. On receiving the dagger, Clapperton calmly opened the case,
and returned the weapon to its owner with apparent unconcern. When
the artificial horizon was arranged, the sultan and all his
attendants had a peep at the sun, and the breach of etiquette which
Clapperton had committed, seemed to be entirely forgotten. In the
evening the sultan sent him two sheep, a camel load of wheat and
rice, and some of the finest figs which Clapperton had ever tasted in
Africa.
On the following day, Clapperton returned the visit of Mahomed
Gomsoo, the chief of the Arabs, of whose excessive greediness he had
been warned at Kano, but at the same time recommended to make him a
handsome present, and to endeavour by all means to keep him in good
humour, on account of his great influence. On receiving the presents,
Gomsoo promised to give Clapperton a letter to the sultan of Youri,
who was his particular friend, and with whom he had lived many years.
From this person Clapperton obtained the following information
respecting the death of Mr. Park, and which confirmed the previous
reports which had been obtained respecting him. Gomsoo said he was at
Youri when the English came down in a boat from Timbuctoo, and were
lost, which circumstance he related in the following manner: - They
had arrived off a town called Boosa, and having sent a gun and some
other articles as presents to the sultan of Youri, they sent to
purchase a supply of onions in the market. The sultan apprised them
of his intention to pay them a visit, and offered to send people to
guide them through the ledges of rock, which run quite across the
channel of the river a little below the town, where the banks rise
into high hills on both sides. Instead of waiting for the sultan,
they set off at night, and by daybreak next morning, a horseman
arrived at Youri, to inform the sultan that the boat had struck upon
the rocks. The people on both sides of the river then began to assail
them with arrows, upon which they threw overboard all their effects,
and two white men, arm and arm, jumped into the water, two slaves
only remaining in the boat, with some books and papers, and several
guns. One of the books was covered with wax-cloth, and still remained
in the hands of the sultan of Youri. Gomsoo also told Clapperton, and
his account was confirmed by others, that the sultan of Youri was a
native of Sockna, in the regency of Tripoli, and prided himself
extremely on his birth, but that he was such a drunkard, whenever any
person of consequence came to visit him, that nothing proved so
acceptable a present as a bottle of rum.
On Clapperton's return home from Gomsoo's, he found a message had
been left for him to wait upon the sultan, which he complied with
immediately after breakfast. He received him in an inner apartment,
attended only by a few slaves. After asking Clapperton how he did,
and several other chit chat questions, he was not a little surprised,
without a single question being put to him on the subject, to hear,
that if he wished to go to Nyffee, there were two roads leading to
it, the one direct, but beset by enemies; the other safer, but more
circuitous; that by either route he would be detained during the
rains, in a country at present in a state of rebellion, and therefore
that he ought to think seriously of these difficulties. Clapperton
assured the sultan that he had already taken the matter into
consideration, and that he was neither afraid of the dangers of the
roads nor of the rains. "Think of it with prudence," the sultan
replied, and they parted.
From the tone and manner in which the sultan pronounced the latter
sentence, Clapperton felt a foreboding that his intended visit to
Youri and Nyffee was at an end. He could not help suspecting the
intrigues of the Arabs to be the cause, as they knew well, if the
native Africans were once acquainted with English commerce by the way
of the sea, their own lucrative inland trade would from that moment
cease. He was much perplexed during the whole of the day, to know how
to act, and went after sunset to consult Mahomed Gomsoo. Clapperton
met him at the door of his house, on his way to the sultan, and
stopped him to mention what had passed, and how unaccountably strange
it appeared to him, that the sultan, after having repeatedly assured
him of being at liberty to visit every part of his dominions, should
now, for the first time, seem inclined to withdraw that permission,
adding, that before he came to Sockna, he never heard of a king
making a promise one day and breaking it the next. All this, he knew,
would find its way to the sultan. Gomsoo told Clapperton that he was
quite mistaken; for that the sultan, the gadado, and all the
principal people, entertained the highest opinion of him, and wished
for nothing so much as to cultivate the friendship of the English
nation. But, said Clapperton, on leaving him, it is necessary for me
to visit those places, or else how can the English get here? As
Clapperton anticipated, Gomsoo repeated to the sultan every word he
had said, for he was no sooner at home, than he was sent for by the
sultan, whom he found seated with Gomsoo and two others.
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