It Was At First Supposed, That The Foot Would Take Advantage Of Going Under Cover Of These Unwieldy Machines; But No, They Went Alone, As Fast As The Poor Horses Could Bear Them, Which Was But A Slow Pace.

They had one musket in Coonia, and it did wonderful execution; for it brought down the van of the

Quilted men, who fell from his horse like a sack of corn thrown from a horse's back at a miller's door, but both horse and man were brought off by two or three footmen. He got two balls through his breast; one went through his body and both sides of the tobe; the other went through and lodged in the quilted armour opposite the shoulders.

The cry of "Allahu akber!" (God is great), the cry of the Fellatas, was resounded through the whole army every quarter of an hour; but neither this nor "Shields to the walls!" nor "Why do not the gadado's people go up?" had any effect, except to produce a scuffle amongst themselves, when the chiefs would have to ride up and part their followers, who, instead of fighting against the enemy, were more likely to fight with one another. At sunset, the besiegers drew off, and the harmless campaign terminated in a desertion on the part of the Zirmee troops, followed by a general retreat.

The flags of the Fellatas are white, like the French, and their staff is a palm branch. They are not borne by men of honour, but by their slaves. The sultan had six borne before him; each of the governors had two. They also dress in white tobes and trousers, as an emblem of their purity in faith and intention. The most useful personage in the army, and as brave as any of them, was an old female slave of the sultan's, a native of Zamfra, five of whose former governors, she said, she had nursed. She was of a dark copper colour, in dress and countenance very much like a female esquimaux. She was mounted on a long-backed bright bay horse, with a scraggy tail, crop-eared, and the mane, as if the rats had eaten part of it, nor was it very high in condition. She rode a-straddle, had on a conical straw dish-cover for a hat, or to shade her face from the sun; a short, dirty, white bed-gown, a pair of dirty white loose and wide trousers, a pair of Houssa boots, which are wide, and come over the knee, fastened with a string round the waist. She had also a whip and spurs. At her saddle-bow hung about half a dozen gourds filled with water, and a brass basin to drink out of, and with this she supplied the wounded and the thirsty.

The army being disbanded, Clapperton obtained permission of the sultan to proceed to Sockatoo, where he found every thing ready for his reception, in the house, which he had occupied on his former visit. The traveller, however, found an entire change in the feelings of kindness and cordiality towards himself, which had been so remarkably displayed in the previous journey. Jealousy had began to fester in the breasts of the African princes. They dreaded some ambitious design in these repeated expeditions sent out by England, without any conceivable motive; for that men should undertake such long journeys, out of mere curiosity, they could never imagine. The sultan Bello had accordingly received a letter from the court of Bornou, warning him that by this very mode of sending embassies and presents, which the English were now following towards the states of central Africa, they had made themselves masters of India, and trampled on all its native princes. The writer therefore gave it as his opinion, that the European travellers should immediately be put to death. An alarm indeed had been spread through Sockatoo, that the English were coming to invade Houssa. The sultan irritated doubtless at the shameful result of his grand expedition against Coonia, felt also another and more pressing fear. War had just broken out between himself and the king of Bornou. Clapperton was on his way to visit that prince, and had left six muskets at Kano, supposed to be intended as presents to him; and six muskets in central Africa, where the whole Fellata empire could scarcely muster forty, were almost enough to turn the scale between those two great military powers. Under the impulse of these feelings, Bello proceeded to steps not exactly consistent with the character of a prince and a man of honour. He demanded a sight of the letter which Clapperton was conveying to the king of Bornou, and when this was, of course, refused, he seized it by violence. Lander was induced by false pretences to bring the baggage from Kano to Sockatoo, when forcible possession was taken of the muskets. Clapperton loudly exclaimed against these proceedings, declaring them to amount to the basest robbery, to a breach of all faith, and to be the worst actions, of which any man could be guilty. This was rather strong language to be used to a sovereign, especially to one, who could at any moment have cut off his head, and the prime ministers of the sultan dropped some unpleasant hints, as if matters might come to that issue, though in point of fact, the government did not proceed to any personal outrage. On the contrary, Bello discovered an honourable anxiety to explain his conduct, and to soothe the irritated feelings of the traveller. He even wrote to him the following letter, which it must be confessed, places the character of Bello in a very favourable light.

"In the name of God, and praise be to God, &c. &c. To Abdallah Clapperton, salutation and esteem. You are now our guest, and a guest is always welcomed by us; you are the messenger of a king, and a king's messenger is always honoured by us.

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