Passing the daily market, crowded with people, he rode to
the palace, which bordered a large promenade on the east. It was
flanked by a mosque, a building of clay with a tower on one side, while
houses of grandees enclosed the place on the north and south sides.

On approaching the house of the vizier, to whom he had been directed, he
found assembled before it about two hundred gorgeously-dressed horsemen.
The vizier, who was just about to mount his horse in order to pay his
daily visit to the sheikh, saluted him cheerfully and told him that he
had already known him from the letter which had been despatched. While
he rode to the sheikh he ordered one of the people to show the doctor
his quarters.

Some days passed before he was introduced to the sheikh. In the
meantime he had a good deal of trouble regarding the means of paying Mr
Richardson's servants. By great firmness he obtained possession of all
Mr Richardson's property, which would otherwise have been appropriated
by the chiefs. He found the sheikh reclining upon a divan in a fine,
airy hall. He was of a glossy black colour, with regular features, but
a little too round to be expressive; dressed in a light _tobe_, with a
bournous wrapped round his shoulder, and a dark red shawl round his head
with great care.

The doctor spent a considerable time in Kukawa, devoting himself to the
study of the language, and making enquiries about the surrounding
country. Kukawa was not so bustling a place as Kano, but thickly
inhabited, and on market-day crowded with people.

He became acquainted with many visitors to the place, among them a
_hadji_, Ibrahim. On one occasion Ibrahim, being unwell, asked the
doctor for medicine, and received in return five doses, which he was to
take on successive days; but Ibrahim, being in a great hurry to get
well, took the whole at once, and was very nearly dying in consequence--
an event which would have placed the doctor in a very dangerous
position.

His stay at Kukawa was agreeably interrupted by an excursion to Ngornu
in which he accompanied the sheikh, and from thence paid a visit to the
shores of Lake Chad. Attended by two horsemen and his servants, he set
out for the lake. After an hour's ride they reached swampy ground, and
had to make their way through the water, often up to their knees on
horseback. After the dry and dreary journey over sands, he found it
very pleasant thus wading through deep water. Two boats were