n
their necks; their arms and legs adorned with bracelets of glass,
brass, and silver; their fingers with rings of brass, pewter, silver,
and copper; some had Spanish dollars soldered on the back of the
rings; they too drank of the booza and wabum as freely as the men,
joining in their songs, whether good or bad. In the afternoon parties
of men were seen dancing, free men and slaves, all were alike; not a
clouded brow was to be seen in Koolfu. But at nine in the evening,
the scene was changed from joy and gladness to terror and dismay: a
tornado had just begun, and the hum of voices, and the din of the
people putting their things under cover from the approaching storm,
had ceased at once. All was silent as death, except the thunder and
the wind. The cloudy sky appeared as if on fire, each cloud rolling
onwards as a sea of flame, and only surpassed in grandeur and
brightness by the forked lightning, which constantly seemed to ascend
and descend from what was then evidently the town of Bali on fire,
only a short distance outside the walls of Koolfu. When this was
extinguished a new scene began, if possible, worse than the first.
The wind had increased to a hurricane. Houses were blown down;
Roofs of houses going along with the wind like chaff, the shady trees
in the town bending and breaking; and in the intervals between the
roaring of the thunder, nothing was heard but the war cry of the men
and the screams of women and children, as no one knew but that an
enemy was at hand, and that they should every instant share in the
fate of Bali. At last the rain fell, the fire at Bali had ceased by
the town being wholly burnt down, and all was quiet and silent, as if
the angel of extermination had brandished his sword over the devoted
country.

Koolfu or Koolfie stands on the northern bank of the May Garrow, and
contains from twelve to fifteen thousand inhabitants, including
slaves. It is built in the form of an oblong square, surrounded with
a clay wall, about twenty feet high, with four gates. There are a
great number of dyers, tailors, blacksmiths, and weavers, but all
these, together with the rest of the townsfolk, are engaged in
traffic. There are besides the daily market, general markets every
Monday and Saturday, which are resorted to by traders from all
quarters: Youriba, Borgoo, Soccatoo, Houssa, Nyffee, and Benin.
The caravans from Bornou and Houssa, which halt at Koolfu a
considerable time, bring horses, natron, unwr