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.

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