ought it prudent first to consult the gadado, particularly as
the sultan had gone on an expedition, and was not expected to return
for five days. Clapperton began to fear lest a bad construction might
be put upon his visit to this mean prince, who, on the death of his
father, Bello the First, had aspired to the throne, and even had
himself proclaimed sultan in Sockatoo; from the mere circumstance of
his brother Bello, the present sultan, having expressed the
intention, during his father's lifetime, of resigning the splendour
of royalty for the tranquillity of a holy and learned life. Ateeko
had even the audacity to enter his brother's house, preceded by drums
and trumpets; and when Bello inquired the cause of the tumult, he
received the first intimation of his brother's perfidy in the answer,
"The sultan Ateeko is come." Bello, nowise disconcerted, immediately
ordered the usurper into his presence, when Ateeko pleaded, in
vindication of his conduct, his brother's proposed disinclination to
reign; to which the sultan only deigned to reply, "Go and take off
these trappings, or I will take off your head." Ateeko, with
characteristic abjectness of spirit, began to wring his hands, as if
washing them in water, and called God and the prophet to witness that
his motives were innocent and upright, since which time he has
remained in the utmost obscurity. According, however, to another
authority, Bello confined him to the house for twelve months, and
then a reconciliation took place between them. We are apt to speak of
the sovereigns of barbarous and uncivilized nations as deficient in
those virtues for which civilized sovereigns are or ought to be
distinguished; but we suspect that few of the latter would have acted
towards the usurper of his throne with the same magnanimity as was
displayed by the Fellata sovereign.

On visiting the gadado, he told Clapperton by no means to go to
Ateeko whilst the sultan was absent, as his visit at this juncture
might be regarded with a very jealous eye by the people, who would
not hesitate to charge him with a plot to place Ateeko on the throne,
by the assistance of England. The gadado undisguisedly expressed his
contempt at Ateeko's conduct, and assured him that it was entirely
without the sanction of the sultan.

On the return of the sultan from the army, permission was given to
Clapperton to purchase from Ateeko the sorry remains of Major
Denham's baggage; accompanied, therefore, by El W