This night these flocks and women shall be ours." They plunged into
the water, but were soon entangled in the holes and mud of the narrow
passes. The La Salas, too, were on the alert, poured showers of arrows
upon them, and pushed forward their cavalry. The Arabs were totally
discomfited, and Barca Gana was wounded in the back through his chain
armour.
In this excursion Major Denham obtained some acquaintance with the Shouaa
Arabs, also called Dugganahs, a simple and pastoral race, whose principal
sustenance is the milk of their herds. They dwell in tents of leather
arranged in circular encampments; they wear long beards, and their
countenances are serious and expressive. Tahr, the chief, after strictly
examining into the motive of his journey, said, "And have you been three
years from your home? Are not your eyes dimmed with straining to the
north, where all your thoughts must ever be? If my eyes do not see the
wife and children of my heart for ten days, they are flowing with tears
when they should be closed in sleep." At his departure, Tahr said, "May
you die at your own tents, and in the arms of your wife and family!"
The shores of the lake are infested by the Biddoomabs, a piratical tribe
who lurk in the many islands scattered upon its ample bosom. They are
rude and savage in their manners, despising cultivation: and possessing
nearly a thousand canoes, they spread terror and desolation along the
shores.
This was the last warlike expedition which Major Denham accompanied; and
while his zeal for discovery is commendable, yet he seems to have acted
most injudiciously in exposing himself to danger, for the sake of
acquiring a cursory and superficial knowledge (all that his opportunities
enabled him to do) of certain parts of the country.
During the time that Major Denham was engaged in these excursions, we
have mentioned that Mr. Clapperton and Dr. Oudney obtained permission to
travel westward into Soudan. At Murmur Dr. Oudney expired. The territory
of the Fellatahs was under better cultivation than any part of Africa
which they had seen. In five weeks they came to Kano, the great emporium
of Houssa, and indeed of Central Africa, which contains about 30,000
stationary inhabitants, in addition to the migratory crowds, who repair
to it with merchandise from the farthest quarters of Africa. The walls
are fifteen miles in circumference, but only a fourth part of this
surface is covered with houses. The list of goods sold in the market is
varied and extensive, comprising clothing of all kinds made from the
cloth of the country, unwrought silk, Moorish and Mameluke dresses,
pieces of Egyptian linen striped with gold, sword-blades from Malta,
antimony and tin, glass and coral beads, ornaments of silver, pewter, and
brass, &c. besides cattle, vegetables, and fruits. But the chief feature
is the slave market, where the unfortunate beings are ranged, according
to their sex, in two long rows.
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