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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This Is The Great Ferry Of All The
Caravans To And From Nyffee, Houssa, And Is Only A Few Hours From
Wawa.
On reaching this ferry, Clapperton was told, that, so far from his
baggage having been sent on to Koolfu,
It had been stopped at Wawa,
by order of the governor; but this extraordinary proceeding was in
some degree accounted for, as it appeared that although neither
Clapperton nor Lander would have any thing to do with the corpulent
widow Zuma, she was determined not to let them off so easily, and, to
their great surprise, the travellers heard that she was at a
neighbouring village, from which she sent them a present of some
boiled rice and a fowl, giving them, at the same time, a pressing
invitation to come and stop at her house. The governor's son informed
Clapperton, that his baggage would not be allowed to leave Wawa till
the widow Zuma was sent back. "What the d - -l have I to do with the
widow?" asked Clapperton. - "You have," he replied; "and you must come
back with me and take her." Clapperton, however, refused, in the most
positive terms, to have any thing to do with or to say to her. At
this moment Lander returned from Boussa, whither he had followed his
master, to acquaint him with the detention of his baggage; all of
which was owing to the widow having left Wawa about half an hour
after he did, with drums beating before her, and a train after her,
first calling at his lodgings, before she waited on the governor.
It was also ascertained that she had given old Pascoe a female slave
for a wife, without having previously asked the governor's
permission. The widow had also intimated her intention to follow the
travellers to Kano, whence she would return to make war on the
governor, as she had done once before. "This," said Clapperton, "let
me into their politics with a vengeance; it would indeed have been a
fine end to my journey, if I had deposed old Mahommed, and set up for
myself, with a walking tun-butt for a queen." Clapperton, however,
determined to go back to Wawa, to release his baggage; and scarcely
had he got there, when the arrival of the buxom widow was announced,
her appearance and escort being as grand as she could make it, hoping
thereby to make an impression upon the flinty hearts of the
Europeans. The following is the description of her dress and
escort: - Preceding her marched a drummer, beating the instrument with
all his power, his cap being profusely decked with ostrich feathers.
A bowman walked on foot, at the head of her horse, a long train
following, consisting of tall, strong men, armed with spears, bows,
and swords. She rode on a fine horse, whose trappings were of the
first order for this semi-civilized country; the head of the horse
was ornamented with brass-plates, the neck with brass bells, and
charms sewed in various coloured leather, such as red, green, and
yellow; a scarlet breast-piece, with a brass plate in the centre;
scarlet saddle-cloth, trimmed with lace. She was dressed in red silk
trousers and morocco boots; on her head a white turban, and over her
shoulders a mantle of silk and gold. For the purpose of properly
balancing her ponderous frame on the horse, she rode in the style of
the men, a-straddle; and perhaps a more unwieldy mass never pressed
upon the loins of an animal; had she, however, been somewhat younger,
and less corpulent, there might have been some temptation to head her
party, for she certainly had been a very handsome woman, and such as
would have been thought a beauty in any country in Europe.
The widow was summoned before the governor; went on her knees, and,
after a lecture on disobedience and vanity, was dismissed; but on
turning her back, she shook the dust off her feet with great
indignation and contempt; "and," says Clapperton, "I went home,
determined never to be caught in such a foolish affair in future."
The travellers, having secured their baggage, returned to the ferry,
and crossed the Quorra. They were now on the high-road to Koolfu, the
emporium of Nyffee. In the course of the first two stages, they came
to two villages full of blacksmiths' shops, with several forges in
each. They got their iron ore from the hills, which they smelt, where
they dig it. In every village they saw a fetish house in good repair,
adorned with painted figures of human beings, as also the boa, the
alligator, and the tortoise. The country is well cultivated with
corn, yams, and cotton; but the ant-hills were the highest the
travellers had ever seen, being from fifteen to twenty feet high, and
resembling so many gothic cathedrals in miniature.
In the afternoon of the third day, they crossed a stream called the
May Yarrow, opposite the town of Tabra, by a long narrow wooden
bridge of rough branches covered with earth, the first that they had
seen in Africa; it will not, however, bear a man and horse, nor can
two horses pass at once. Tabra, which is divided by the river into
two quarters, was at this time the residence of the queen-mother of
Nyffee, who was governor ad interim during the absence of her son.
It may contain from eighteen to twenty thousand inhabitants, who,
with a few exceptions, are pagans, and they all, men and women, have
the reputation of being great drunkards. There are only a few
blacksmiths here, but a great number of weavers. The Houssa caravans
pass close to the north side of the town, but seldom enter it. Before
the civil war began, the Benin people came here to trade. The war,
which was still raging, originated in a dispute for the succession,
between Mohammed El Majia, the son of the queen-mother, who was a
moslem, and Edrisi, who was represented to be a pagan.
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