Clapperton, However, Was By No Means Disposed To Enter So Suddenly Into A Matrimonial Speculation, And He Began To Look Rather Serious At The Offer Which Was So Unexpectedly, But So Lovingly Made To Him.

This being observed by the widow, she sent for her looking-glass, and after having taken a full examination

Of herself, in every position which the glass would allow her, she offered it to Clapperton, observing, that certainly she was a little older than he was, but that circumstance, in her opinion, should not operate as a bar to their matrimonial union. This was rather too much for Clapperton to endure, and, taking the first opportunity, he made his retreat with all possible expedition, determining never to come to such close quarters again with the amorous widow.

On his arrival at his residence, Clapperton could not refrain from laughing at his adventure with the African widow, and informed Lander, that he had now an opportunity of establishing himself for life; for although he had rejected the matrimonial advances of the widow, there was little doubt, that, rather than not obtain a husband, she would not hesitate to make the offer of her hand to any other white man, who might present himself. Lander, however, was still more averse from matrimony than his master, at least with the African beauty; and although a frequent invitation was sent to him, yet he very politely declined the acceptance of it, and therefore, as far as the Europeans were concerned, the widow remained without a husband.

Lander gives us no very flattering account of the character of the inhabitants. In the town of Wawa, which is supposed to contain 20,000 inhabitants, he does not believe the virtue of chastity to exist. Even the widow Zuma let out her female slaves for hire, like the rest of the people of the town. Drinking is the prevailing vice amongst all classes, nor is it confined to the male sex, for Clapperton was for three or four days pestered by the governor's daughter, who used to come several times during the day, painted and bedizened in the highest style of Wawa fashion, but she was always half tipsy. This lady, like the widow, had also a design upon the hearts of the Europeans. On some of these occasions, she expressed her extreme readiness to prolong her visit during the whole of the night, but Clapperton informed her, that at night he was employed in prayer, and looking at the stars, an occupation which she could not comprehend; and further he told her, that he never drank any thing stronger than wa-in-zafir, a name which they give to tea, literally, however, being hot water. Not being able to soften the obdurate heart of Clapperton, nor to wean him from the unsociable habit of looking at the stars at night, she always left him with a flood of tears.

In this part of Borgoo, as well as in the neighbourhood of Algi, and in all the countries between them and the sea, that Lander passed through, he met with tribes of Fellatas, nearly white, who are not moslem, but pagan. "They are certainly," he says, "the same people, as they speak the same language, and have the same features and colour, except those who have crossed with the negro. They are as fair as the lower class of Portuguese or Spaniards, lead a pastoral life, shifting from place to place as they find grass for their horned cattle, and live in temporary huts of reeds or long grass."

From Wawa there are two roads leading to the Fellata country, one by Youri, the other through Nyffee. The former was reported to be unsafe, the sultan of the country being out, fighting the Fellatas. The latter crosses the Quorra at Comie, and runs direct to Koolfu, in Nyffee. It was necessary, however, for Clapperton to proceed in the first instance to Boussa, to visit its sultan, to whom all this part of Borgoo is nominally subject. They were also particularly anxious to see the spot where Park and his companions perished, and, if possible, to recover their papers.

Leaving Wawa at daybreak on the 30th March, the travellers passed over a woody country, and at length entered a range of low rocky hills, composed of pudding stone. At the end of an opening in the range was a beautiful sugar loaf mountain, overlooking all the rest, and bearing from the village half a mile E. S. E. The name of Mount George was given to it by Clapperton. The valleys were cultivated with yams, corn, and maize; and on the same day the travellers arrived at Ingum, the first village belonging to Boussa, situated on the north-eastern side of the hills. At four hours from Ingum, they halted at a village of the Cumbrie or Cambric, an aboriginal race of kaffirs, inhabiting the woods on both sides of the river. About an hour further, they arrived at the ferry over the Menai, where it falls into another branch of the Quorra, and in about a quarter of an hour's ride from the opposite bank, they entered the western gate of Boussa. The walls, which appeared very extensive, were undergoing repair. Bands of male and female slaves, singing in chorus, accompanied by a band of drums and flutes, were passing to and from the river, to mix the clay they were building with. Every great man had his own part of the wall to build, like the Jews when they built the walls of Jerusalem, every one opposite to his own house.

The city of Boussa is situated on an island formed by the Quorra, in latitude 10 deg. 14' N. longitude 6 deg. 11' E. It stands nearest the westernmost branch of the Menai, which is about twenty yards in breadth, and runs with a slow and sluggish current. The place pointed out to Lander as the spot where Park perished, is in the eastern channel.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 153 of 302
Words from 155708 to 156712 of 309561