Sockatoo Is Surrounded By A Wall About Twenty-Five Feet High, With Twelve
Gates, Which Are Closed At Sunset.
There are two large mosques, one of
which is about 800 feet long, built in rather a handsome style, and
adorned with wooden pillars.
There is a spacious market-place. The
principal inhabitants live in clusters of flat-roofed cottages, built in
the Moorish style, and surrounded by high walls.
The sultan dissuaded Clapperton from his intention of journeying to the
western countries and the Gulf of Benin; giving him an account of the
dangerous and indeed almost impracticable nature of the route.
Clapperton, therefore, resolved to return. Before he departed, he
received an account of Park's death, which nearly coincided with the
statement of Amadi Fatouma. He passed through Kashna, which before the
rise of the Fellatahs, had been the most powerful kingdom in Africa its
power having extended from Bornou to the Niger. It still carries on a
considerable traffic with the Tuaricks. On the 8th July, he reached
Kouka, where he was joined by Major Denham, and both returned in safety,
after having suffered much in their harassing march across the desert.
CHAPTER XXXIII
_Clapperton's Second Journey_.
Encouraged by the discoveries made by Denham and Clapperton, and by the
safe return of two members of the mission, government resolved to send
out another expedition. Captain Clapperton, Captain Pearce, a good
draftsman, and Mr. Morrison, a naval surgeon, were the gentlemen selected
for this enterprize. They landed at Badagry about the beginning of
December 1825, and set out on their journey on the 7th.
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