Not Doubting That It Was Your Intention To Attack My Village At Night, And Carry Off My People, I Desired Them To Get Ready To Fight.

We were all prepared and eager to kill you, and came down breathing vengeance and slaughter, supposing that you were my enemies, and had landed from the opposite side of the river.

But when you came to meet us unarmed, and we saw your white faces, we were all so frightened that we could not pull our bows, nor move hand or foot; and when you drew near me, and extended your hands towards me, I felt my heart faint within me, and believed that you were Children of Heaven, and had dropped from the skies." Such was the effect that the Landers had produced on him, and under this impression, he knew not what he did. "And now," said he, "white men, all I want is your forgiveness." "That you shall have most heartily," said the Landers, as they shook hands with the old chief; and having taken care to assure him that they had not come from so good a place as he had imagined, they congratulated themselves, as well as him, that this affair had ended so happily. For their own parts, they had reason to feel the most unspeakable pleasure at its favourable termination, and they offered up internally to their merciful Creator, a prayer of thanksgiving and praise for his providential interference in their behalf. It was indeed a narrow escape, and it was happy for them that their white faces and calm behaviour produced the effect it did on these people; in another minute their bodies would have been as full of arrows as a porcupine's is full of quills.

They now ascertained that the place where they now were, was the famous Bocqua market place, of which they had heard so much talk, and that the opposite bank of the river belonged to the Funda country. Their interpreter was an old Funda mallam, who understood the Houssa language perfectly, and was come to Bocqua to attend the market, which was held every nine days. The old mallam was asked the distance from Bocqua to the sea, and he told them about ten days journey. The Landers then pointed out the hills on the opposite side of the river, and asked him, where they led to. "The sea," was his answer. "And where do they lead to?" they inquired, pointing to those on the same bank of the river as themselves. He answered, "They run along way in the country we do not know." Their next concern was about the safety of the river navigation, and they anxiously inquired his opinion of it lower down, and whether there were any rocks or dangerous places. As to the river navigation, he satisfied them by saying, that he knew of no dangers, nor had he ever heard of any, but the people on the banks, he said, were very bad. They asked him, if he thought the chief would send a messenger with them, if they were to request him, even one day's journey from this place. Without the least hesitation, he answered: "No; the people of this country can go no further down the river; if they do, and are caught, they will lose their heads." Every town that he knew of on the banks of the river, was at war with its neighbour, and all the rest likewise. They then asked him how far Bornou was from Funda. To which, he replied, "Fifteen days journey." Here their conversation was interrupted by the old chief, who wished to return to the village, and the mallam was obliged to accompany him. They likewise learnt from other persons, that directly opposite, on the eastern bank, was the common path to the city of Funda, which, as they had been told at Fof, was situated three days journey up the Tshadda from the Niger; that the large river which they had observed on their course, was the celebrated Shar, Shary, or Sharry of travellers, or which is more proper than either, the Tshadda, as it is universally called throughout the country. They were also informed that the smaller stream which they passed on the 19th, flowing from the same direction, was the Coodania.

On Wednesday the 27th October, they made preparations for starting, and after experiencing rather hostile treatment from the natives, they arrived at a village called Abbazacca, where they saw an English iron bar, and feasted their eyes on the graceful cocoa-nut tree, which they had not seen so long.

It was the intention of the chief of Abbazacca to send a man with them as messenger, to a large town, of which he said that his brother was governor, but on maturer reflection, he determined to accompany them himself, expecting to obtain an adequate reward. In consequence of the lightness of his canoe, and its superiority to the old one, which they had got at Zagozhi, the chief passed them with the utmost facility, and touched at various towns and villages, to inform their inhabitants of the fact of the Christians journeying down the river, and that they had come from a country he had never heard of.

In the course of the day they came abreast of a village of pretty considerable extent, intending to pass it by on the other side; they had, however, no sooner made their appearance, than they were lustily hailed by a little squinting fellow, who kept crying out as loud as is lungs would permit him: "Holloa! you Englishmen, you come here!" They felt no inclination to obey the summons, being rather anxious to get to the town mentioned to them by the chief of Abbazacca; and as the current swept them along past the village, they took no notice of the little man, and they had already sailed beyond the landing place, when they were overtaken by about a dozen canoes, and the people in them desiring them to turn back, for that they had forgotten to pay their respects to the king.

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