It Is Enclosed By A High Wall, With A Deep And
Broad Ditch Beyond It, And Contains About 16,000 Resident Inhabitants.
Markets Are Held Daily, And A Great Variety Of Articles Of Native And
Foreign Manufacture Are Exposed For Sale.
Traders resort in vast numbers
from Bornou and Sockatoo to the north-east, and the sea-coast to the
west, with the produce of their respective countries.
The inhabitants are
professedly Moslems, but are by no means bigoted in their belief. The
greater part of the traffic is carried on by the females, many of whom
possess great wealth.
Clapperton next passed through several independent states, one of which
mustered a force of 1000 cavalry.
He next came to the Fellatah district of Zeg-Zeg, one of the most
beautiful and fertile parts of Central Africa. The fields bore luxuriant
crops of grain; rich meadows abounded, and groves of tall trees waved
upon the hills. Thence he went to Kano, which he found in a state of
great commotion, a war having sprung up between the king of Bornou and
the Fellatahs. Having left his baggage at this place, he proceeded to the
residence of Sultan Bello, with the presents intended for that potentate.
He saw bodies of troops on their way to attack Coonia; the soldiers had a
peculiar appearance as they passed by the lakes formed by the river
Zurmie; he thus describes the scene: - "The borders of these lakes are the
resort of numbers of elephants and other wild beasts. The appearance at
this season, and at the spot where I saw it, was very beautiful; all the
acacia trees were in blossom, some with white flowers, others with
yellow, forming a contrast with the small dusky leaves, like gold and
silver tassels on a cloak of dark green velvet. I observed some fine
large fish leaping in the lake. Some of the troops were bathing, others
watering their horses, bullocks, camels and asses: the lake was as smooth
as glass, and flowing around the roots of the trees. The sun, on its
approach to the horizon, throws the shadows of the flowery acacias along
its surface, like sheets of burnished gold and silver. The smoking fires
on its banks, the sounding of horns, the beating of their gongs or drums,
the braying of their brass and tin trumpets, the rude hut of grass and
branches of trees rising as if by magic, everywhere the cries of Mohamed,
Abdo, Mustafa, &c. with the neighing of horses, and the braying of asses,
gave animation to the beautiful scenery of the lake, and its sloping
green and woody banks."
The army, amounting to 50,000 men, under the sultan's command, surrounded
the walls of Coonia. The account which Clapperton gives of the action
which then took place is curious, "After the midday prayers, all except
the eunuchs, camel drivers, and such other servants as were of use only
to prevent theft, whether mounted or on foot, marched towards the object
of attack, and soon arrived before the walls of the city. I also
accompanied them, and took up my station close to the Gadado. The march
had been the most disorderly that can be imagined; horse and foot
intermingling in the greatest confusion, all rushing to get forward;
sometimes the followers of one chief tumbling amongst those of another,
when swords were half unsheathed, but all ending in making a face, or
putting on a threatening aspect. We soon arrived before Coonia, the
capital of the rebels of Goobur, which was not above half a mile in
diameter, being nearly circular, and built on the bank of one of the
branches of the rivers or lakes, which I have mentioned. Each chief, as
he came up, took his station, which, I suppose, had previously been
assigned to him. The number of fighting men brought before the town could
not, I think, be less than fifty or sixty thousand, horse and foot, of
which the foot amounted to more than nine-tenths. For the depth of two
hundred yards all round the walls, was a dense circle of men and horses.
The horse kept out of bow-shot, while the foot went up as they felt
courage or inclination, and kept up a straggling fire, with about thirty
muskets and the shooting of arrows. In the front of the Sulfcaa, the
Zeg-Zeg troops had one French fusil: the Kano forces had forty-one
muskets. These fellows, whenever they fired their pieces, ran out of
bow-shot to load; all of them were slaves: not a single Fellatah had a
musket. The enemy kept up a sure and slow fight, seldom throwing away
their arrows, until they saw an opportunity of letting fly with effect.
Now and then a single horseman would gallop up to the ditch, taking care
to cover himself with his large leather shield, and return as fast as he
went, generally calling out lustily when he got among his own party,
'Shields to the wall!' 'You people of the Gadado or Atego,' &c, 'why
don't you hasten to the wall?' To which some voices would call out, 'Oh!
you have a good large shield to cover you!' The cry of 'Shields to the
wall!' was constantly heard from the several chiefs to their troops; but
they disregarded the call, and neither chiefs nor vassals moved from the
spot. At length the men in quilted armour went up. They certainly cut not
a bad figure at a distance, as their helmets were ornamented with black
and white ostrich feathers, and the sides of the helmets with pieces of
tin, which glittered in the sun, their long quilted cloaks of gaudy
colours, reaching over part of the horses' tails, and hanging over their
flanks. On the neck, even the horses' armour was notched or vandyked, to
look like a mane; on his forehead and over his nose, was a brass or tin
plate, as also a semi-circular piece on each side.
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