They Called Out, "What!

Be so near them, and not eat them?

- No, no, let us on; this night, these flocks and women shall be ours." Barca Gana suffered himself to be hurried away, and plunged in amongst the foremost. Soon, however, the troops began to sink into the holes, or stick in the mud; their guns and powder were wetted, and became useless; while the enemy, who knew every step, and could ride through the water as quickly as on land, at once charged the invaders in front, and sent round a detachment to take them in the rear. The assault was accordingly soon changed into a disgraceful flight, in which those who had been the loudest in urging to this rash onset set the example. Barca Gana, who had boasted himself invulnerable, was deeply wounded through his coat of mail and four cotton tobes, and with difficulty rescued by his chiefs from five La Sala horsemen, who had vowed his death. The army returned to their quarters in disappointment and dismay, and with a severe loss. During the whole night, the Dugganah women were heard bewailing their husbands, who had fallen, in dirges composed for the occasion, and with plaintive notes, which could not be listened to without the deepest sympathy. Major Denham was deterred by this disaster from making any further attempt to penetrate to the eastern shores of the Tchad.

The Beddoomahs are another tribe who inhabit extensive and rugged islands, in the interior of the lake, amid its deep waters, which they navigate with nearly a thousand large boats. They neither cultivate the ground, nor rear flocks and herds, while their manners appeared to Major Denham, the rudest and most savage observed even among Africans - the Musgows always excepted. They have adopted as a religious creed, that God having withheld from them corn and cattle, which the nations around enjoy, has given in their stead strength and courage, to be employed in taking these good things from all in whose possession they may be found. To this belief they act up in the most devout manner, spreading terror and desolation over all the shores of this inland sea, no part of which, even in the immediate vicinity of the great capitals, is for a moment secure from their ravages. The most powerful and warlike of the Bornou sovereigns, finding among their subjects neither the requisite skill nor experience in navigation, make no attempt to cope with the Biddoomahs on these watery domains, and thus give up the lake to their undisputed sway.

While Major Denham was thus traversing in every direction Bornou, and the surrounding countries, Lieutenant Clapperton and Dr. Oudney were proceeding through Houssa, by a route less varied and hazardous indeed, but disclosing forms both of nature and society fully as interesting. They departed from Kouka on the 14th December 1823, and passing the site of old Birnie, found the banks of the Yeou fertile, and diversified with towns and villages.

On entering Katagum, the most easterly Fellata province, they observed a superior style of culture; two crops of wheat being raised in one season by irrigation, and the grain stored in covered sheds, elevated from the ground on posts. The country to the south was covered with extensive swamps and mountains, tenanted by rude and pagan tribes, who furnish to the faithful an inexhaustible supply of slaves. The practice of travelling with a caravan was found very advantageous, from the help it afforded, as well as from the good reports spread by the merchants, respecting their European companions. In Bornou, these last had been viewed with almost unmingled horror, and for having eaten their bread under the extremest necessity, a man had his testimony rejected in a court of justice. Some young Bornouese ladies, who accosted Major Denham, having ventured to say a word in his favour, an attendant matron exclaimed, "Be silent, he is an uncircumcised kafir - neither washes nor prays, eats pork, and will go to hell." Upon which the others screamed, and ran off. But in Houssa, this horror was not so great, and was mingled with the belief, that they possessed supernatural powers. Not only did the sick come in crowds expecting to be cured, but the ladies solicited amulets to restore their beauty, to preserve the affections of their lovers, and even to destroy a hated rival. The son of the governor of Kano, having called upon Clapperton, stated it was the conviction of the whole city and his own, that the English had the power of converting men into asses, goats, and monkeys, and likewise that by reading in his book, he could at any time commute a handful of earth into gold. The traveller having declared to him the difficulty he often found in procuring both asses and gold, induced him with trembling hands to taste a cup of tea, when he became more composed, and made a sort of recantation of his errors.

As the caravan proceeded they met many other travellers, and found sitting along the road, numerous females selling potatoes, beans, bits of roasted meat, and water with an infusion of gussub-grains; and when they stopped at any place for the night, the people crowded in such numbers as to form a little fair. Clapperton attracted the notice of many of the Fellata ladies, who, after examining him closely, declared, that had he only been less white, his external appearance might have merited approbation.

The travellers passed through Sansan, a great market place, divided into three distinct towns, and Katagum, the strongly fortified capital of the province, containing about eight thousand inhabitants. Thence they proceeded to Murmur, where the severe illness under which Dr. Oudney had long laboured, came to a crisis. Though now in the last stage of consumption, he insisted on continuing his journey and with the aid of his servant had been supported to his camel, when Clapperton, seeing the ghastliness of death on his countenance, insisted on replacing him in his tent, where, soon after, without a groan, he breathed his last.

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