undred years ago, the chief commercial city of
Houssa, and of all central Africa. Yet it disappointed our traveller
on his first entry, and for a quarter of a mile scarcely appeared a
city at all. Even in its more crowded quarters, the houses rose
generally in clusters, separated by stagnant pools. The inhabited
part on the whole, did not comprise more than a fourth of the space
enclosed by the walls, the rest consisted of fields, gardens, and
swamps; however, as the whole circuit is fifteen miles, there is
space for a population moderately estimated, to be between thirty or
forty thousand. The market is held on a neck of land, between two
swamps, by which, during the rains, it is entirely overflowed, but in
the dry season it is covered with sheds of bamboo, arranged into
regular streets. Different quarters are allowed for the several kinds
of goods; some for cattle, others for vegetables, while fruits of
various descriptions, so much neglected in Bornou, are here displayed
in profusion. The fine cotton fabrics of the country are sold either
in webs, or in what are called tobes and Turkadees, with rich silken
strips or borders ready to be added. Amongst the favourite articles
are goora or kolla nuts, which are called African coffee, being
supposed to give a peculiar relish to the water drunk after them; and
crude antimony, with the black tint of which every eyebrow in Houssa
must be dyed. The Arabs also dispose here of sundry commodities that
have become obsolete in the north; the cast-off dresses of the
mamelukes and other great men, and old sword-blades from Malta. But
the busiest scene is the slave market, composed of two long ranges of
sheds, one for males and another for females. These poor creatures
are seated in rows, decked out for exhibition. The buyer scrutinizes
them as nicely as a purchaser with us does a horse, inspecting the
tongue, teeth, eyes, and limbs; making them cough and perform various
movements, to ascertain if there be any thing unsound, and in case of
a blemish appearing, or even without assigning a reason, he may
return them within three days. As soon as the slaves are sold, the
exposer gets back their finery, to be employed in ornamenting others.
Most of the captives purchased at Kano, are conveyed across the
desert, during which their masters endeavour to keep up their
spirits, by an assurance, that on passing its boundary, they will be
set free and dressed in red, which they account the gayes