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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He Was Immediately Conducted To The House
Of The Gadado Or Vizier, Where Apartments Were Provided For Him And
His Servants.
The gadado, an elderly man named Simnon Bona Lima,
arrived near midnight, and came instantly to see him.
He was
excessively polite, but would on no account drink tea with
Clapperton, as he said, he was a stranger in their land, and had not
yet eaten of his bread. He told Clapperton that the sultan wished to
see him in the morning, and repeatedly assured him of experiencing
the most cordial reception. He spoke Arabic extremely well, which he
said he learned solely from the Koran.
After breakfast on the following morning, the sultan sent for
Clapperton, his residence being at no great distance. In front of it
there is a large quadrangle, into which several of the principal
streets of the city lead. They passed through three coozees, as
guardhouses, without the least detention, and were immediately
ushered into the presence of Bello, the second sultan of the
Fellatas. He was seated on a small carpet, between two pillars
supporting the roof of a thatched house, not unlike one of our
cottages. The walls and pillars were painted blue and white, in the
moorish taste and on the back wall was sketched a fire screen,
ornamented with a coarse painting of a flower-pot. An arm-chair with
an iron lamp standing on it, was placed on each side of the screen.
The sultan bade Clapperton many hearty welcomes, and asked him if he
were not much tired with his journey from Burderewa. Clapperton told
him it was the most severe travelling he had experienced between
Tripoli and Sockatoo, and thanked him for the guard, the conduct of
which he did not fail to commend in the strongest terms.
The sultan asked him a great many questions about Europe, and our
religious distinctions. He was acquainted with the names of some of
the more ancient sects, and asked whether we were Nestorians or
Socinians. To extricate himself from the embarrassment occasioned by
this question, Clapperton bluntly replied, we were called
Protestants. "What are Protestants?" said he. Clapperton attempted to
explain to him, as well as he was able, that having protested more
than two centuries and a half ago, against the superstition,
absurdities, and abuses practised in those days, we had ever since
professed to follow simply what was written "in the book of our Lord
Jesus," as they call the New Testament, and thence received the name
of Protestants. He continued to ask several other theological
questions, until Clapperton was obliged to confess himself not
sufficiently versed in religious subtleties, to resolve these knotty
points, having always left that task to others more learned than
himself.
The sultan was a noble-looking man, forty-four years of age, although
much younger in appearance, five feet ten inches high, portly in
person, with a short curling black beard, a small mouth, a fine
forehead, a grecian nose, and large black eyes.
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