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2
 UNLOCKING THE LAW

UNLOCKING
THE ENGLISH
LEGAL SYSTEM
5th edition Rebecca Huxley-Binns,
Jacqueline Martin and
Tom Frost

3
Fifth edition published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2017 Rebecca Huxley-Binns, Jacqueline Martin and Tom Frost

The right of Rebecca Huxley-Binns, Jacqueline Martin and Tom Frost to be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,

and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

First edition published by Hodder Education 2005

Fourth edition published by Routledge 2014

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Huxley-Binns, Rebecca, author. | Martin, Jacqueline, 1945- author. | Frost, Tom
(Lecturer in Law) author.
Title: Unlocking the English legal system/Rebecca Huxley-Binns, Jacqueline Martin, Tom
Frost.
Description: Fifth edition. | New York, NY: Routledge, 2017. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016052444| ISBN 9781138228405 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138228412
(pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Law–England.

4
Classification: LCC KD661 .H89 2017 | DDC 349.42–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016052444

ISBN: 978-1-138-22840-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-22841-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-39266-0 (ebk)

Typeset in Palatino
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear

Visit the companion website at: www.routledge.com/cw/huxley-binns

5
Contents
Acknowledgements
Guide to the book
Preface
List of figures
List of abbreviations
Table of cases
Tables of statutes and other instruments

1 THE SOURCES OF LAW

1.1 The English legal system

1.2 The sources of law

1.3 The courts

1.3.1 The Supreme Court of the UK

1.4 The common law

1.4.1 Problems of the common law
1.4.2 Development of equity

1.5 Parliament
1.5.1 Legislation
1.5.2 The enactment process

1.6 Delegated legislation

1.6.1 Statutory instruments
1.6.2 By-laws
1.6.3 Orders of the Legislative Committee of the Privy Council
1.6.4 Parliamentary control of secondary legislation
1.6.5 Judicial control of secondary legislation

1.7 The European Union

1.7.1 A brief history of the European Union
1.7.2 UK membership of the EU
1.7.3 The role of the Court of Justice of the European Union

6
 1.7.4 Effect on parliamentary sovereignty

1.8 European Convention on Human Right

1.8.1 The Human Rights Act 1998

1.9 Law reform

1.9.1 Judges
1.9.2 Parliament
1.9.3 The law reform agencies
1.9.4 Royal Commissions
1.9.5 Academics
1.9.6 Pressure groups
1.9.7 Media pressure
1.9.8 Europe

Sample essay question

Further reading

2 THE DOCTRINE OF JUDICIAL PRECEDENT

2.1 What is the doctrine of precedent?

2.2 How does the doctrine of precedent operate?

2.2.1 The court hierarchy
2.2.2 Ratio decidendi and obiter dicta
2.2.3 Persuasive precedent

2.3 The doctrine as applied in individual courts

2.3.1 The Supreme Court
2.3.2 The Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
2.3.3 The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
2.3.4 The Divisional Court of the High Court
2.3.5 The High Court
2.3.6 The Crown Court
2.3.7 County Courts and Magistrates’ Courts
2.3.8 The Court of Justice of the European Union
2.3.9 The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

7
2.4 The Human Rights Act 1998

2.5 The declaratory theory

2.6 Avoiding precedents

2.6.1 Distinguishing
2.6.2 Reversing
2.6.3 Overruling

2.7 Pros and cons of precedent

Sample essay question

Further reading

3 STATUTORY INTERPRETATION
3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 The need for statutory interpretation
3.1.2 Applying the law
3.1.3 Judicial law-making
3.1.4 Interpretation or construction?
3.1.5 Parliamentary definitions

3.2 The three ‘rules’

3.2.1 The literal rule
3.2.2 The golden rule
3.2.3 The mischief rule

3.3 The purposive approach

3.3.1 European influence

3.4 Literal approach versus purposive approach

3.5 Rules of language

3.5.1 The ejusdem generis rule
3.5.2 Expressio unius est exclusio alterius (the express mention of one thing excludes
others)
3.5.3 Noscitur a sociis (a word is known by the company it keeps)

3.6 Presumptions

8
3.7 Intrinsic and extrinsic aids
3.7.1 Intrinsic aids
3.7.2 Extrinsic aids
3.7.3 The use of Hansard
3.7.4 Law reform reports
3.7.5 International conventions

3.8 The effect of the Human Rights Act 1998

Sample essay question

Further reading

4 CIVIL COURTS
4.1 Introduction to the courts system
4.1.1 Civil and criminal cases
4.1.2 Superior courts and inferior courts
4.1.3 Appellate courts and trial courts
4.1.4 Courts and tribunals

4.2 Civil courts of trial

4.2.1 Queen’s Bench Division
4.2.2 Chancery Division
4.2.3 Family Division
4.2.4 County Court
4.2.5 Small claims
4.2.6 The track system
4.2.7 Transfer of cases between the County Court and the High Court

4.3 Problems in the civil justice system

4.3.1 The Civil Justice Review
4.3.2 The Heilbron–Hodge Committee

4.4 The Woolf Report

4.4.1 The track system
4.4.2 Civil procedure
4.4.3 Case management

9
 4.4.4 Pre-action protocols
4.4.5 Encouraging alternative dispute resolution
4.4.6 Strict timetables
4.4.7 Judgment in default and summary judgment
4.4.8 Part 36 offers to settle
4.4.9 Are the Woolf reforms a success?

4.5 Enforcement of judgment

4.6 Tribunals
4.6.1 Administrative tribunals
4.6.2 Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
4.6.3 Composition and procedure
4.6.4 Advantages and disadvantages of tribunals
4.6.5 Domestic tribunals

4.7 Alternative dispute resolution

4.7.1 Negotiation
4.7.2 Mediation
4.7.3 Conciliation
4.7.4 Online Dispute Resolution
4.7.5 Dispute resolution services
4.7.6 Arbitration
4.7.7 Encouraging the use of alternative dispute resolution

Sample essay question

Further reading

5 CRIMINAL COURTS AND PROCEDURE

5.1 Introduction

5.2 The Criminal Procedure Rules

5.3 The Crown Prosecution Service

5.3.1 Code for Crown Prosecutors
5.3.2 The Glidewell Report
5.3.3 Victims’ Right to Review

10
5.4 Advance sentence indication
5.4.1 Advance indication of sentence not plea-bargainin
5.4.2 The Goodyear rules

5.5 Courts exercising criminal jurisdiction

5.6 Appellate courts

5.6.1 The Court of Justice of the European Union
5.6.2 The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
5.6.3 The Supreme Court
5.6.4 The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
5.6.5 The High Court of Justice
5.6.6 The Crown Court – appellate jurisdiction

5.7 Criminal courts of first instance

5.7.1 Adversarial system
5.7.2 The Crown Court
5.7.3 The Magistrates’ Court

5.8 Classification of criminal offences

5.8.1 Indictable only offences
5.8.2 Summary offences
5.8.3 Offences triable either way
5.8.4 The choice: Magistrates’ Court or Crown Court?

5.9 The ‘right’ to trial by jury

5.9.1 The Mode of Trial Bills
5.9.2 The Auld Report
5.9.3 The Criminal Justice Act 2003
5.9.4 Do we have the ‘right’ to elect jury trial?

Sample essay question

Further reading

6 APPEALS
6.1 Appeals in civil proceedings
6.1.1 The Access to Justice Act 1999

11
 6.1.2 The Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
6.1.3 The Supreme Court of the UK
6.1.4 Other appeals in civil cases

6.2 Appeals in criminal proceedings

6.3 Prosecution appeals

6.3.1 Section 36 Criminal Justice Act 1972
6.3.2 Section 36 Criminal Justice Act 1988
6.3.3 Sections 54 and 55 Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996
6.3.4 Appeals against a judge’s erroneous decision – Criminal Justice Act 2003
6.3.5 Abolition of the rule against double jeopardy – Criminal Justice Act 2003

6.4 Defence appeals

6.4.1 Appeal following summary trial
6.4.2 Appeal following trial on indictment

6.5 The Supreme Court

6.6 Other courts

6.7 The Criminal Cases Review Commission

Sample essay question

Further reading

7 FUNDING
7.1 Access to justice

7.2 Public funding

7.2.1 History
7.2.2 The Access to Justice Act 1999

7.3 The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012
7.3.1 Service providers
7.3.2 Criteria for civil legal aid services
7.3.3 Availability of legal aid

7.4 Government funding in civil cases

12
 7.4.1 Means testing
7.4.2 Problems with funding of civil cases

7.5 Private funding

7.5.1 Conditional fee agreements
7.5.2 How conditional fees work
7.5.3 Success fee
7.5.4 Insurance premiums
7.5.5 Are conditional fees working?

7.6 Advice in civil cases

7.6.1 Civil Legal Advice
7.6.2 Service providers
7.6.3 Other advice agencies
7.6.4 Citizens Advice Bureaux
7.6.5 Law centres
7.6.6 Schemes run by lawyers
7.6.7 Insurance

7.7 Legal aid in criminal cases

7.7.1 Merits test
7.7.2 Means test
7.7.3 Advice and assistance for individuals in custody
7.7.4 The Public Defender Service

Sample essay question

Further reading

8 JURIES
8.1 Introduction
8.1.1 The independence of the jury
8.1.2 Modern-day use of the jury

8.2 Jury qualifications

8.2.1 Basic qualifications
8.2.2 Disqualification from jury service

13
 8.2.3 Excusal from jury service
8.2.4 Discretionary excusals
8.2.5 Make-up of jury panels
8.2.6 Police and prosecutors on jury service

8.3 Selection at court

8.3.1 Lack of capacity
8.3.2 Vetting
8.3.3 At court
8.3.4 Challenging
8.3.5 Aids for the jury

8.4 Juries in civil cases

8.4.1 Defamation cases
8.4.2 Damages in defamation cases
8.4.3 Juries in personal injury cases

8.5 Juries in Coroners’ Courts

8.6 Juries in criminal cases

8.6.1 Verdicts

8.7 Secrecy of the jury room

8.7.1 Common law rule
8.7.2 Human rights and jury secrecy
8.7.3 Practice Direction

8.8 Research into juries

8.9 Advantages of trial by jury

8.9.1 Public confidence
8.9.2 Jury equity
8.9.3 Panel of 12

8.10 Disadvantages of trial by jury

8.10.1 Racial composition and bias
8.10.2 Media influence
8.10.3 Perverse verdicts

14
 8.10.4 Fraud trials
8.10.5 High acquittal rates
8.10.6 Other disadvantages

8.11 Alternatives to trial by jury

Sample essay question

Further reading

9 LAY MAGISTRATES
9.1 Introduction
9.1.1 Lay magistrates
9.1.2 District Judges

9.2 History of the magistracy

9.3 Qualifications for lay magistrates

9.3.1 Age
9.3.2 Limitations
9.3.3 Six key personal qualities
9.3.4 Area
9.3.5 Commitment
9.3.6 Allowances

9.4 Selection and appointment of lay magistrates

9.4.1 Recruitment
9.4.2 Advisory committees

9.5 Training of lay magistrates

9.5.1 Training for new magistrates

9.6 Resignation and removal of lay justices

9.6.1 Retirement
9.6.2 Removal

9.7 Magistrates’ duties

9.7.1 Criminal cases
9.7.2 Civil cases

15
 9.7.3 Youth Court
9.7.4 Family Court
9.7.5 Immunity from suit

9.8 The magistrates’ clerk

9.9 Advantages of using lay magistrates

9.9.1 Cross-section of society
9.9.2 Local knowledge
9.9.3 Cost
9.9.4 Legal adviser
9.9.5 Few appeals

9.10 Disadvantages of lay magistrates

9.10.1 Middle-aged, middle class
9.10.2 Prosecution bias
9.10.3 Inconsistency in sentencing
9.10.4 Reliance on the clerk

Sample essay question

Further reading

10 THE LEGAL PROFESSIONS

10.1 Paralegals and legal executives
10.1.1 Training routes to become a solicitor

10.2 Solicitors
10.2.1 Organisation
10.2.2 Education and training
10.2.3 Work
10.2.4 Complaints

10.3 Barristers
10.3.1 Organisation
10.3.2 Training
10.3.3 Work
10.3.4 Complaints

16
10.4 The legal profession – the future?

Sample essay question

Further reading

11 THE JUDICIARY
11.1 Introduction
11.1.1 The Lord Chance
11.1.2 The Constitutional Reform Act 2005
11.1.3 The Supreme Court

11.2 The judicial hierarchy

11.3 Training

11.4 A note about judicial appointments

11.5 The inferior judges

11.5.1 District Judge (Magistrates’ Court)
11.5.2 District Judge (County Court)
11.5.3 Recorder
11.5.4 Circuit Judge

11.6 The senior judges

11.6.1 High Court Judge
11.6.2 Lord Justice of Appeal
11.6.3 Head of Division
11.6.4 Justice of the Supreme Court

11.7 The composition of the judiciary

11.8 Dismissal and judicial independence

Sample essay question

Further reading

12 SENTENCING
12.1 Introduction

17
 12.1.1 Maximum sentences
12.1.2 Minimum sentences
12.1.3 Dangerous offenders
12.1.4 Young offenders

12.2 Purposes of sentencing

12.2.1 Punishment
12.2.2 Deterrence
12.2.3 Reform and rehabilitation
12.2.4 Protection of the public
12.2.5 Reparation
12.2.6 Denunciation

12.3 Custodial sentences

12.3.1 Life sentences
12.3.2 Fixed-term sentence
12.3.3 Suspended sentences

12.4 Community orders

12.4.1 Unpaid work requirement
12.4.2 Activity requirement
12.4.3 Curfew requirement
12.4.4 Exclusion order
12.4.5 Supervision requirement

12.5 Young offenders

12.5.1 Custodial sentences
12.5.2 Youth Rehabilitation Orders

12.6 Fines and discharges

12.7 Sentencing practice

12.7.1 Seriousness
12.7.2 Reduction for a guilty plea
12.7.3 Thresholds
12.7.4 Pre-sentence reports

12.8 Prison statistics

18
Sample essay question

Further reading

Index

19
Acknowledgements

The authors and publishers would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce
copyright material: extracts on p 176 from ‘Jury trials in the dock once more’ by Joshua
Rozenberg, Daily Telegraph, 1 April 2004 © Telegraph Media Group; tables on pp 291 and
295 © The Law Society © Crown copyright material is reproduced with permission of the
Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge ownership of copyright. The
publishers will be glad to make suitable arrangements with any copyright holders whom it has
not been possible to contact.

20
Another random document with
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 But inviting as the village was for a halt during the heat of the
day, we had, as conscientious and experienced travellers, the
stomachs of our poor animals more at heart than our own; and
having watered the horse and filled our skins, we continued on for a
while, and then halted in very rich herbage, where, however, there
was scarcely a spot free from the disagreeable “ngíbbu,” the
Pennisetum distichum. On starting again in the afternoon, the
country began to exhibit a greater variety of bush and tree; and
after a march of two hours, we reached the village Dármagwá,
surrounded with a thorny fence, and encamped near it, not far from
another little trading-party. We were soon joined by a troop of five
Tébu merchants with two camels, a horse, and two pack-oxen, who
were also going to Kúkawa, but who, unfortunately, did not suit me
as constant companions, their practice being to start early in the
morning long before daylight, which was against my principle, as
well in a scientific as in a material point of view; for neither should I
have been able to lay down the road with correctness, nor would
even the best arms have guaranteed my safety while marching in
the dark. We therefore allowed them next morning to have the start
of us for full two hours, and then followed.
Sunday, March 23.—We now entered a district which may be most
appropriately called the exclusive region of the dúm-palm or Cucifera
Thebaïca in Negroland; for though this tree is found, in large clusters
or in detached specimens, in many localities of Central Africa, yet it
is always limited to some favoured spot, especially to the bank of a
watercourse, as the komádugu near the town of Yo, and there is no
other district of such extent as this tract between Kálemrí and
Zurríkulo where the Cucifera Thebaïca is the characteristic and
almost the only tree. My Gatróni thought that the trees would
perhaps not bear fruit here; but on my second journey, in the month
of December, they were loaded with fruit.
The country has a very peculiar open character, a sandy level very
slightly undulating, covered thinly with tall reed-grass shooting forth
from separate bunches, the line of view broken only now and then
by a cluster of slender fan-palms, without a single trace of
cultivation. I was anxious afterwards to know whether this tract has
always had this monotonous, deserted character, or whether it had
contained formerly any towns and villages; and from all that I could
learn, the former seems to be the case. However, our road was
frequented, and we met several little troops of native travellers, with
one of whom I saw the first specimen of the “kúri,” a peculiar kind of
bull of immense size and strength, with proportionately, large horns
of great thickness and curving inwards. They are almost all of white
colour. Their original home is Kárgá, the cluster of islands and
swampy ground at the eastern corner of the Tsád.
After five hours’ marching, when we had just traversed a small
hollow full of herbage, the dúm-palm was for a moment superseded
by other trees, chiefly by the gáwo or karáge; but it soon after again
asserted its eminence as the predominating tree. We encamped at
length, ignorant as we were of the country, a few minutes beyond a
small village, the first human abode we had met with since we had
left Dármagwá, half an hour before noon, in the shade of a
tamarind-tree, surrounded by a thick cluster of dúm-palms. Certainly
the tamarind-tree indicated that water was near: but I was not a
little surprised, when ʿAbdallah, who was tending the camels,
brought me the news that a considerable river, now stagnant, was
close behind us. It was, as I afterwards learnt, the “Wáni,” that
branch of the komádugu Wáube (erroneously called “Yéu”) which
runs past Khadéja and joins the other branch which comes from
Katágum. We therefore watered our camels here without being
obliged to pay a single shell, and gave them a good feed, after
which we resumed our march, and were not a little astonished
when, having crossed the komádugu where it formed a narrow
meandering channel about fifty yards broad, and bordered on both
sides with trees, we discovered the town of Zurríkulo at a short
distance before us. Going round the north side of the town, we
entered the dilapidated wall on the eastern side, where there was an
open space, and pitched my tent close to the Tébu, who had arrived
already in the forenoon. Soon after, there arrived also a káfila, with
twelve camels and a number of oxen and asses, from Kúkawa, and I
was anxious to obtain some news of Mr. Richardson; but these
people were utterly ignorant of the actual or expected arrival of any
Christian in that place. They told me, however, what was not very
agreeable, that the sheikh of Bórnu was about to undertake a
pilgrimage to Mekka; but fortunately, though that was the heart’s
desire of that mild and pious man, he could not well carry it into
execution.
I had now entered Bórnu proper, the nucleus of that great Central
African empire in its second stage, after Kánem had been given up.
It is bordered towards the east by the great sea-like komádugu the
Tsád or Tsáde, and towards the west and north-west by the little
komádugu which by the members of the last expedition had been
called Yéou, from the town of that name, or rather Yó, near which
they first made its acquaintance on their way from Fezzán. I had
now left behind me those loosely attached principalities which still
preserve some sort of independence, and henceforth had only to do
with Bórnu officers. Not feeling very well, I remained in my tent
without paying my compliments to the officer here stationed, whose
name is Kashélla Sʿaid, with whom I became acquainted on another
occasion, but the good man being informed by the people that a
stranger from a great distance, who was going to visit his liege lord,
had entered his town, sent his people to welcome me, and regaled
me with several bowls of very good paste, with fresh fish, and a
bowl of milk.
Zurríkulo was once a large town, and at the time of the inroad of
Wadáÿ revolted from the sheikh, but was obliged to surrender to his
brother ʿAbd eʾ Rahmán. Since then it has gradually been decaying,
and is now half deserted. The neighbourhood of the town is full of
wild animals; and great fear was entertained by my companions for
our beasts, as we had no protection in our rear. The roaring of a lion
was heard during the night.
Monday, March 24.—Next morning, when we resumed our march,
the fan-palm for some time continued to be the prevailing tree; but
some kúkas also, or Adonsonia digitata, and other more leafy trees
began to appear, and after a while a thick underwood sprang up.
Then followed a few scattered, I might say forlorn, date-trees, which
looked like strangers in the country, transplanted into this region by
some accident. The sky was clear; and I was leaning carelessly upon
my little nag, musing on the original homes of all the plants which
now adorn different countries, when I saw advancing towards us a
strange-looking person of very fair complexion, richly dressed and
armed, and accompanied by three men on horseback, likewise
armed with musket and pistols. Seeing that he was a person of
consequence, I rode quickly up to him and saluted him, when he,
measuring me with his eyes, halted and asked me whether I was the
Christian who was expected to arrive from Kanó; and on my
answering him in the affirmative, he told me distinctly that my
fellow-traveller Yakúb (Mr. Richardson) had died before reaching
Kúkawa, and that all his property had been seized. Looking him full
in the face, I told him that this, if true, was serious news; and then
he related some particulars, which left but little doubt as to the truth
of his statement. When his name was asked, he called himself
Ismʿaíl; I learned, however, afterwards, from other people, that he
was the Sheríf el Habíb, a native of Morocco, and really of noble
blood, a very learned, but extremely passionate man, who, in
consequence of a dispute with Mʿallem Mohammed had been just
driven out of Kúkawa by the sheikh of Bórnu.
This sad intelligence deeply affected me, as it involved not only
the life of an individual, but the whole fate of the mission; and
though some room was left for doubt, yet in the first moment of
excitement, I resolved to leave my two young men behind with the
camels, and to hurry on alone on horseback. But Mohammed would
not hear of this proposal; and indeed as I certainly could not reach
Kúkawa in less than four days, and as part of the road was greatly
infested by the Tuarek, such an attempt might have exposed me to a
great deal of inconvenience. But we determined to go on as fast as
the camels would allow us. We halted at eleven o’clock, shaded by
the trunk of an immense leafless monkey-bread-tree, a little behind
the walled place Kábi, the southern quarter of which is alone
inhabited, and where our friends the Tébu had encamped. Starting
then together with them at two o’clock in the afternoon, we took the
road by Déffowa, leaving on our right that which passes Donári, the
country now assuming a more hospitable and very peculiar
character.
For here begins a zone characterized by sandy downs from one
hundred to one hundred and twenty feet high, and exhibiting on
their summits a level plain of excellent arable soil, but with few
trees, while the dells separating these downs one from the other,
and which often wind about in the most anomalous manner, are in
general richly overgrown with a rank vegetation, among which the
dúm-palm and the dúm-bush are predominant. This curious
formation, I fancy, has some connection with the great lagoon,
which in a former period must have been of much greater extent.
The intercourse on the road this afternoon was exceedingly
animated; and one motley troop followed another,—Háusa fatáki,
Bórnu traders or “tugúrchi,” Kánembú Tébu, Shúwa Arabs, and
others of the roving tribe of the Welád Slimán, all mixed together,—
while their beasts of burden formed a multifarious throng of camels,
oxen, horses, and asses. The Welád Slimán, who were bringing
camels for sale to the market of Kanó, were greatly frightened when
I told them what had happened to their brethren near Kúka mairuá,
as they were conscious that most of the camels now with them were
of the number of those which two years ago had been taken from
the Kél-owí in Bilma. As evening came on, the dells which we had to
traverse were thronged with thousands of wild pigeons, carrying on
their amorous play in the cool twilight of approaching night. All was
silent with the exception of a distant hum, becoming more and more
distinct as we wound along the side of an exuberant meandering
valley. The noise proceeded from the considerable town of Déffowa,
which we reached at a quarter past seven o’clock, and encamped at
a little distance to the north. Lively music never ceased in the town
till a late hour.
 Tuesday, March 25.—All was still silent in the place when, early in
the morning, I set out with my little troop to follow the track of our
temporary companions the Tébu. The village was surrounded only
by a light thorny fence; but it seemed to be prosperous and densely
inhabited. The country continued similar in character, but better
cultivated than the tract we had traversed the day before; and the
immense multitude of wild pigeons, which found a secure and
pleasant haunt in the rank vegetation of the hollows, made it
necessary to resort to some expedient to keep them off. High
platforms were therefore erected in the fields, in the shade of some
tree; and ropes drawn from them were fastened to poles and coated
with a peculiar vegetable extract, which caused them, if put into
motion by a person stationed upon the platform, to give forth a loud
sound, which kept the birds at a respectful distance. We saw here
also a small cotton-field. If the country were more densely inhabited
and the people more industrious and better protected by their slave-
hunting governors, all the lowlands and valley-like hollows, which
during the rainy season form so many water-channels, and retain a
great degree of moisture during the whole year, would afford the
most splendid ground for this branch of cultivation.
The repeated ascent and descent along steep slopes of deep
sandy soil more than a hundred feet high was very fatiguing for the
camels. While ascending one of these ridges, we had a very
charming view over the whole of the neat little village of Kálowa,
lying along the slope and in the hollow to our left. It was rather
small, containing about two hundred huts, but every yard was
shaded by a korna or bíto-tree (Balanites); and comfort (according
to the wants felt by the natives) and industry were everywhere
manifested. In the midst was a large open space, where the cattle
were collecting round the wells to be watered, while the people were
drawing water to fill the large round hollows, “kéle nkíbe,” made with
little clay walls to serve as troughs. The blacksmith was seen busy at
his simple work, making new hoes for the approaching season; the
weaver was sitting at his loom; several were making mats of reed;
some women were carrying water from the wells, some spinning or
cleaning the cotton, while others pounded corn for their daily
consumption. The little granaries, in order to preserve the stock of
corn from the danger of conflagration, which every moment
threatens these light structures of straw and reed, were erected on a
sandy level near the edge of the slope. Even the fowls had their little
separate abodes, also of reed, very thrifty and neat, as the
accompanying woodcut will show. Such was the simple but
nevertheless cheerful picture which this little village exhibited. My
two boys were a long way ahead of me when I awoke from my
reverie and followed them.
It was shortly before we came to
this village that we passed the
enormous skeleton of an elephant,—
the first trace of this animal which I
had seen since Gazáwa (I mean the
independent pagan place of that
name between Tasáwa and Kátsena).
The road was frequented; early in the
morning we had met a party of
tugúrchi with pack-oxen, who had
been travelling a great part of the
night, as they generally do on account of this beast of burden
bearing the heat of the day very badly. About an hour’s march
beyond Kálowa we met a party of horsemen coming from Kúkawa;
and as their head man appeared to be an intelligent person, I
approached him, and asked him the news of the place. He most
probably took me for an Arab, and told me that all was well, but that
the Christian who had been coming from a far distant country to pay
his compliments to the sheíkh had died more than twenty days ago,
in a place called Ngurútuwa, before reaching Kúkawa. There could
now be no more doubt of the sad event; and with deep emotion I
continued my march, praying to the Merciful to grant me better
success than had fallen to the lot of my companion, and to
strengthen me, that I might carry out the benevolent and humane
purposes of our mission.
 This district also has a very scanty supply of water; and it took us
more than half an hour to collect, from four wells near another small
village, a sufficient supply for my horse; but as to filling our water-
skins, it was not to be thought of. The wells were ten fathoms deep.
We halted half an hour before noon, not far from another well, at
the foot of a sandy swell upon which the little village “Mʿallem
Kerémerí” is situated. Here, as well as in the village passed in the
morning, we could not obtain beans, though the cultivation of them
is in general carried on to a great extent; but this district seemed to
produce millet or Pennisetum typhoïdeum almost exclusively—at
least no sorghum was to be seen. Keeping generally along a hollow,
which however was not much depressed, and which consisted of
arable sandy soil with a few bushes and trees, we reached the little
town or village Dunú, surrounded with a ditch and earthen wall in
decay, so that the gate had become useless. There was a large open
space inside, and as the inhabitants, who gave us a very cheerful
welcome, advised us not to encamp outside, on account of the
number of wild beasts infesting the neighbourhood, we pitched the
tent inside the wall. We might have passed a very comfortable
evening with the natives, who took great interest in me, had it not
been for my faithful old companion the Bú-Séfi, the best (or rather
the only good one) of my three camels, which, when it was growing
dark, and ʿAbdallah went to bring the animals back from their
pasture, could not be found. The careless boy had neglected to
fasten the camel’s legs; and being very hungry, it had gone in search
of better herbage. This was a very disagreeable accident for me, as I
was in the greatest hurry; and my two young lads, who were well
aware of it, went for several hours, accompanied by the inhabitants
of the place, in every direction, through the whole tract where the
camels had been grazing, lighting the ground with torches, but all in
vain.
Wearied and exhausted, they returned about midnight and lay
down to sleep, the music and dance also, which the cheerful natives
had kept up, dying away at the same time. About an hour later,
being too much excited from anxiety to obtain sleep, I went out
once more to see if all was right, when I saw my favourite coming
slowly along towards the tent; and on reaching it he laid down by
the side of his two inferior companions. There was no moonlight; the
night was very dark; evidently only the brightness of the well-known
white tent guided the “stupid” animal. But this was no great proof of
stupidity; and I am rather afraid that Europeans often make camels
stupid by their own foolish treatment of them, whereas I was wont
to treat this noble animal, which had carried myself or the heaviest
of my things all the way from Tripoli, as a sensible companion, giving
it in the beginning the peel of the oranges I was eating, of which it
was particularly fond, or a few of my dates (for which it did not fail
to turn round its beautiful neck), or granting it a little extra feed of
Negro millet which it ate like a horse. Rejoiced at seeing my
favourite, the absence of which had created such anxiety, returning
of its own accord to my tent, and lying down near it, I aroused my
servant from his sleep to tell him the joyful news. I wanted to
reward it with some corn, but it had taken such good care of itself,
that it refused its favourite food.
I was much grieved in consequence of being obliged to part with
my old companion; but camels from the coast will not stand the
effects of a rainy season in Negroland. I hoped it would safely return
to its native country; but the Arab who bought it from me, went first
to Kanó when the rainy season was already setting in, and the poor
animal died not far from the place where Mr. Richardson had
succumbed. Its fidelity will ever remain in my memory as one of the
pleasantest recollections of my journey.
Having thus got back our best carrier, though we had lost a good
night’s rest, we started early next morning over the same sort of
ground we had been traversing the last few days, and in two hours
reached the little town of Wádi, the noise from which, caused by the
pounding of grain, had been heard by us at the distance of almost a
mile. Indeed the pounding of grain has betrayed many a little village
and many a caravan. The town is considerable, but properly consists
of two different quarters walled all round, and separated from each
other by a wide open space where the cattle rest in safety.
Approving very much of this way of building a town in these
turbulent regions, we kept along the open space, but were greatly
perplexed from the number of paths branching off in every direction,
and scarcely knew which road to take. It had been my intention
originally to go to Borzári, in the hope of obtaining from the
governor of that town a horseman to carry the news of my approach
to the sheikh of Bórnu; but being here informed that I should be
obliged to make a great circuit in order to touch at that place, I
changed my plan, and took another and more direct road, which in
the beginning seemed a well-trodden highroad, but soon became a
narrow footpath, winding along from village to village without any
leading direction. However, we met several small caravans as well of
Arabs, who were going to Kanó, as of native traders or tugúrchi with
natron. Passing now over open cultivated ground, then through a
bushy thicket, we reached, about ten o’clock in the morning, the
considerable open village Kábowa, where a well-frequented and very
noisy market was being held, and halted during the heat of the day
under a shady tamarind-tree about five hundred yards to the south,
near a “kaudi” or “kabéa tseggénabé” (a yard for weaving cotton).
We had scarcely unloaded our camels, when one of the weavers
came, and, saluting me most cordially, begged me to accept of a
dish of very well prepared “fúra” or “tiggra,” with curdled milk, which
evidently formed their breakfast. The market was very partially
supplied, and did not furnish what we wanted. Natron, salt, and
túrkedí, or the cloth for female dress made in Kanó, constituted the
three articles which were plentiful; also a good many cattle, or
rather pack-oxen, were there, besides two camels and abundance of
the fruit of the dum-palm; but meat was dear, onions extremely
scarce, and beans not to be got at all, and, what was worse, the
people refused to accept shells (“kúngona” in Kanúri), of which we
had still a small supply, and wanted gábagá, or cotton stripes, of
which we had none. Our camels, therefore, which hereabouts found
plenty of their favourite and nourishing food, the aghúl or
Hedysarum Alhaggi, fared much better than we ourselves. The
neighbourhood had rather a dreary aspect; the east wind was very
high and troublesome; the well was distant, and, with a depth of
eight fathoms, did not furnish the supply necessary for the
numerous visitors to the market. Early in the afternoon we continued
our march, first in the company of some market-people returning to
their native village, then left to our judgment to discriminate, among
the numberless footpaths which intersected the country in every
direction, the one which was most direct or rather least circuitous;
for a direct highroad there is none. We became at length so heartily
tired of groping our way alone, that we attached ourselves to a
horseman who invited us to accompany him to his village, till,
becoming aware that it lay too much out of our way, we ascended
the slope of a sandy ridge to our right, on the summit on which was
situated the village Lúshiri, where we pitched our tent.
Here also the inhabitants behaved hospitably; and I had scarcely
dismounted, when a woman from a neighbouring hut brought me a
bowl of ghussub-water as a refreshment. We succeeded also in
buying here a good supply of beans and sorghum—or ngáberi, as it
is called in Kanúri; for my Kátsena horse refused to eat the millet or
argúm, and sorghum is very scarce in all this part of the country as
well as in many other districts of Bórnu, especially in the district of
Koyám. The women of the village, who were very curious to see the
interior of my tent, were greatly surprised to find that I was a
bachelor, and without a female partner, accustomed, as they were,
to see travellers in this country, at least those tolerably at their ease,
with a train of female slaves. They expressed their astonishment in
much diverting chat with each other. I got also milk and a fowl for
my supper, and the bíllama afterwards brought some “ngáji” (the
favourite Kanúri dish) for my men. As the situation of the village was
elevated, it was most interesting to see in the evening the numerous
fires of the hamlets and small towns all around, giving a favourable
idea of the local population.
Thursday, March 27.—Early in the morning we continued our
march; but we lost a great deal of time through ignorance of the
direct way. Some of the paths appear, at times, like a well-
frequented highroad, when suddenly almost every trace of them is
lost. At length, at the walled town of Gobálgorúm, we learned that
we were on the road to Kashímma; and we determined to keep on
as straight as possible. The country which we traversed early in the
morning consisted of stiff clayey soil, and produced ngáberi; but this
was only a sort of basin of no great extent, and the landscape soon
changed its character. After we had passed Gobálgorúm, the country
became much richer in trees; and this circumstance, as well as the
increased number of waterfowl, indicated plainly that we were
approaching a branch of the wide-spreading net of the komádugu of
Bórnu.
First we came to a hollow clothed with a great profusion of
vegetation and the freshest pasturage, but at present dry, with the
exception of a fine pond of clear water on our left; and we marched
full three miles through a dense forest before we came to the real
channel, which here, running south and north, formed an
uninterrupted belt of water as far as the eye could reach, but at
present without any current. It looked just like an artificial canal,
having almost everywhere the same breadth of about fifty yards,
and, at the place where we crossed it, a depth of two feet and a
half. We halted during the heat of the day, on its eastern shore, in
the shade of one of the small gáwo-trees which border it on this
side; and after our dreary and rather uninteresting march from
Kanó, I was greatly delighted with the animated and luxuriant
character of the scene before us. The water of this komádugu,
moreover, though it was fully exposed to the power of the sun’s rays,
was delightfully cool, while that from the wells was disagreeably
warm, having a mean temperature of 77°, and quite unfit to drink
until allowed to cool. The river was full of small fish; and about
twenty boys from the village of Shógo, which lay upon the summit of
the rising ground before us, were plashing about in it in playful
exercise, and catching the fish with a large net of peculiar make,
which they dragged through the water. This komádugu too is called
Wáni; and I think it more probable that this is the continuation of
the branch which passes Katágum, than that the latter joins the
branch of Khadéja to the southward of Zurríkulo. While we were
resting here, I was pestered a little by the curiosity of a company of
gipsy-like Jétko, who, with very little luggage, traverse the country in
every direction, and are the cleverest thieves in the world. A native
of the village, whom we had met on the road, came afterwards, with
his wife, and brought me a dish of well-cooked hasty-pudding; and
on my complaining that, though in great haste, we were losing so
much time, owing to our being unacquainted with the nearest road,
he promised to serve us as a guide: but unfortunately I made him a
present too soon; and as he did not keep his word, we preferred
groping our way onwards as well as possible. Our camels had
meanwhile got a good feed in the cool shade of the trees; for if
exposed to the sun, these animals will not eat during the heat of the
day, but prefer lying down.
With fresh spirit and energy we started, therefore, at half-past two
in the afternoon, ascending the considerable slope of the ridge upon
which the village stands. At this hour the sun was very powerful, and
none of the inhabitants were to be seen, with the exception of an
industrious female who, on a clean open spot near the road, was
weaving the cotton threads into gábagá. Opposite the village to the
north of the path, was a round cluster of light Kánembú cottages
formed in a most simple way, with the long stalks of the native corn
bent so as to meet at the top, and fastened with a few ropes.
Descending immediately from this considerable ridge, we entered a
dale thickly overgrown with trees, where I was greatly astonished to
see a herd of cattle watered, with great trouble, from the wells,
while the river was close at hand; but on addressing the neatherds, I
was informed by them that the stagnant water of the komádugu at
this season is very unwholesome for cattle.
All the trees hereabouts were full of locusts, while the air was
darkened by swarms of hawks (Cenchreis), which, with a singular
instinct, followed our steps as we advanced; for on our approaching
a tree, the locusts, roused from their fatal repose and destructive
revelling, took to flight in thick clouds, when the birds dashed down
to catch them, often not only beating one another with their wings,
but even incommoding us and our animals not a little.
 The peculiar character of lofty sandy ridges and thickly overgrown
hollows continued also in this district; no dúm-palm was to be seen,
but only the dúm-bush, called ngílle by the Bórnu people. About two
miles and a half behind Shógo we passed a wide and most beautiful
basin, with rich pasture-grounds enlivened by numbers of well-fed
cattle. Stubble-fields, with small granaries such as I have described
above, were scattered about here and there. Then keeping on
through a more level country with patches of cultivation, we reached
the fields of Bandégo. The village introduced itself to our notice from
afar by the sound of noisy mirth; and I was surprised to hear that it
was occasioned by the celebration, not of a marriage, but of a
circumcision. This was the first and last time during my travels in
Negroland that I saw this ceremony performed with so much noise.
We were quietly pitching our tent on the east side of the village,
and I was about to make myself comfortable when I was not a little
affected by learning that the girls, who had been bringing little
presents to the festival, and who were just returning in procession to
their homes, belonged to Ngurútuwa, the very place where the
Christian (Mr. Richardson) had died. I then determined to
accompany them, though it was late, in order to have at least a
short glimpse of the “white man’s grave,” and to see whether it were
taken care of. If I had known, before we unloaded the camels, how
near we were to the place, I should have gone there at once to
spend the night.
Ngurútuwa,[40] once a large and celebrated place, but at present
somewhat in decay, lies in a wide and extensive plain, with very few
trees, about two miles north-east from Bandégo; but the town itself
is well shaded, and has, besides kórna and bíto, some wide-
spreading umbrageous fig-trees, under one of which Mr. Richardson
had been buried. His grave, well protected with thorn bushes,
appeared to have remained untouched, and was likely to remain so.
The natives were well aware that it was a Christian who had died
here; and they regarded the tomb with reverence. The story of his
untimely end had caused some sensation in the neighbourhood. He
arrived in a weak state in the evening, and early the next morning
he died. The people had taken great interest in the matter, and the
report they gave me of the way in which he was buried agreed in
the main circumstances with that which I afterwards received from
his servants, and of which I forwarded an account from Kúkawa.
Unfortunately I had no means of bestowing gifts on the inhabitants
of the place where my companion had died. I gave, however, a small
present to a man who promised to take especial care of the grave;
and I afterwards persuaded the vizier of Bórnu to have a stronger
fence made round it.
It was late in the evening when I returned to my tent engrossed
with reflections on my own probable fate, and sincerely thankful to
the Almighty Ruler of all things for the excellent health which I still
enjoyed notwithstanding the many fatigues which I had undergone.
My way of looking at things was not quite the same as that of my
late companion, and we had therefore often had little differences;
but I esteemed him highly for the deep sympathy which he felt for
the sufferings of the native African, and deeply lamented his death.
Full of confidence I stretched myself upon my mat, and indulged in
my simple supper, accompanied with a bowl of milk which the
inhabitants of Bandégo had brought me. The people were all
pleased with us; only the cattle, when returning from their pastures,
took offence at my strange-looking tent, which I had pitched just in
the path by which they were accustomed to return to their usual
resting-place.
Friday, March 28.—At an early hour we were again on the march,
conducted a little while by an inhabitant of the village, who
undertook to show us the direct road, which passes on its south
side. He represented the road which we were about to take as much
infested by the Kindín or Tuarek at that moment; and he advised us,
as we went on from one place to another, to make strict inquiries as
to the safety of the road before us. With this well-meant advice he
left us to our own discretion; and I pursued my way with the
unsatisfactory feeling that it might be again my fate to come into too
close contact with my friends the Tuarek, whom I had been so glad
to get rid of. Saddened with these reflections, my two young
companions also seeming a little oppressed, and trudging silently
along with the camels, we reached Aláune, once a considerable
town, but now almost deserted, and surrounded by a clay wall in a
state of great decay. Accosting the people, who were just drawing
water from the well inside the wall, and asking them about the state
of the road, we were told that, as far as Kashímma, it was safe; but
beyond that they pronounced it decidedly dangerous. We therefore
continued our march with more confidence, particularly as we met
some market-people coming from Kashímma.
Aláune is the same place which, by the members of the last
expedition, has been called Kabshári, from the name of the then
governor of the town—Bu-Bakr-Kabshári—after whom the place is
even at present often called “bílla Kabsháribe” (the town of
Kabshári). Keeping on through a country partly cultivated, partly
covered with thick underwood, which was full of locusts, we were
greatly delighted by obtaining at about eight o’clock a view of a fine
sheet of water, in the dale before us, surrounded with a luxuriant
vegetation, and descended cheerfully towards its shore, where two
magnificent tamarind-trees spread their canopy-like foliage over a
carpet of succulent turf. While enjoying this beautiful picture, I was
about to allow my poor horse a little feed of the grass, when a
woman, who had come to fetch water, told me that it was very
unwholesome.
This is the great komádugu of Bórnu, the real name of which is
“komádugu Wáube,” while, just from the same mistake which has
caused Aláune to be called Kabshári, and the river of Zyrmi, Zyrmi, it
has been called Yeou; for though it may be called the river of Yeou,
or rather of Yó, particularly in its lower course, where it passes the
town of this name, it can never be called “the river Yó,” any more
than the Thames, on account of its flowing through London, can be
called the river London.
While ordering ʿAbdallah to follow with the camels along the
lower road, I ascended with Mohammed the steep slope of the
sandy swell, rising to about three hundred feet, on the top of which
Kashímma is situated in a fine healthy situation commanding the
whole valley. It is an open place, consisting entirely of huts made of
cornstalks and reeds, but is of considerable size and well inhabited.
However, I was not disposed to make any halt here; and learning, to
my great satisfaction, that no Kindín had been seen as far as the
Eastern Ngurútuwa, I determined to go on as fast as possible, and
persuaded a netmaker to point out clearly to me the road which we
were to take; for we had now rather difficult ground before us—the
wide bottom of the valley, with its thick forest and its several watery
channels.
The path led us gradually down from the eminence upon which
Kashímma is situated, into the bushy dale with a great quantity of
ngílle, and also a few dúm-palms. Here we saw numerous footprints
of the elephant, and some of enormous size; and truly the wanderer
cannot be surprised that this colossal animal has taken possession of
these beautiful, luxuriant shores of the komádugu, from which the
native in his inborn laziness has despairingly retired, and allowed
them to be converted into an almost impenetrable jungle. The
thicket became for a while very dense, a real jungle, such as I had
not yet seen in Negroland, when a clearer spot followed, overgrown
with tall coarse grass ten feet high, fed by the water which after the
rainy season covers the whole of this low ground, and offering a rich
pasture to the elephant. Then we had to traverse a branch of the
real komádugu, at present very shallow, but at times, to be crossed
only with the aid of a “mákara.” In the thick covert which bordered
upon this channel the dúm-palm was entirely predominant.
Though the thicket was here so dense, the path was well trodden,
but as soon as we reached a place which had been cleared for
cultivation we lost all traces of it, and then turned off to our right,
where we saw a small village and a farm situated in the most retired
spot imaginable. Here we found a cheerful old man, the master of
the farm, who, on hearing that we too were going eastward, begged
us, very urgently, to spend the remainder of the day in his company,
adding that he would treat us well and start early the next morning
with us for Ngurútuwa; but, however delightful it might appear to
me to dream away half a day in this wilderness, my anxiety to reach
Kúkawa compelled me to reject his proposal. However, the thicket
became so dense, that we had the utmost difficulty in getting my
bulky luggage through it.
Having made a short halt about noon to refresh ourselves and our
animals, we continued our march through the forest, which here
consisted principally of dúm-palms, farʿaón, kálgo, tʿalha-trees, and
a little siwák or Capparis sodata. The ground was covered with the
heavy footprints of the elephant, and even at this season it retained
many ponds in the channel-like hollows. A solitary maráya or
mohhor (Antilope Soemmeringii) bounded through the thicket;
indeed antelopes of any species are rare in these quarters, and on
the whole road I had seen but a single gazelle, near the village
Díggere-báre. But it seems remarkable that from the description of
the natives there cannot be the least doubt that that large and
majestic variety of antelope called addax, which is very much like a
large stag, is occasionally found here. A fine open space with rich
pastures and with hurdle-enclosures interrupted the thicket for about
a mile, after which we had to traverse, another thick covert, and
emerging from it were agreeably surprised at beholding a lake of
considerable dimensions on our left, and after a short interval
another still more considerable approaching from the north and
turning eastward, its surface furrowed by the wind and hurrying
along in little billows which dashed upon the shore. On its eastern
side lie the ruins of the celebrated town Ghámbarú, which although
not the official residence of the kings of Bórnu, was nevertheless
their favourite retreat during the flourishing period of the empire;
and those two lakes, although connected with the komádugu and
fed by it, were artificial basins, and seem to have considerable
depth; else they could scarcely have presented such a magnificent
sheet of water at this season of the year. But at present all this
district, the finest land of Bórnu in the proper sense of the word,
which once resounded with the voices and bustle of hundreds of
towns and villages, has become one impenetrable jungle, the
domain of the elephant and the lion, and with no human inhabitants
except a few scattered herdsmen or cattle-breeders, who are
exposed every moment to the predatory inroads of the Tuarek. This
condition of the finest part of the country is a disgrace to its present
rulers, who have nothing to do but to transfer hither a few hundreds
of their lazy slaves, and establish them in a fortified place,
whereupon the natives would immediately gather round them and
change this fine country along the komádugu from an impenetrable
jungle into rich fields, producing not only grain but also immense
quantities of cotton and indigo.
The town of Ghámbarú was taken and destroyed by the Jemáʿa of
the Fúlbe or Felláta at the same time with Ghasréggomo, or Bírni, in
the year of the Hejra 1224, or 1809 of our era, and has not been
since reoccupied, so that the ruins are thickly overgrown and almost
enveloped in the forest. Although I had not leisure to survey
attentively the whole area of the town, I could not help dismounting
and looking with great interest at a tolerably well-preserved building,
evidently part of a mosque, at the south-eastern corner of the wall. I
knew, from the report of the last expedition, that there were here
remains of brick buildings; but I did not expect to find the
workmanship so good. The bricks are certainly not so regularly
shaped as in Europe, but in other respects they seemed quite as
good. It is indeed a source of mournful reflection for the traveller to
compare this solid mode of building practised in former times in this
country, at least by its rulers, with the frail and ephemeral
architecture of the present day; but this impression of retrograding
power and resources is caused also by the history of the country,
which we shall soon lay before our readers. Even in the half-
barbarous country of Bagírmi we may still find the remains of very
extensive brick buildings.
Overtaking the two young companions of my adventurous journey,
I travelled on through an interesting but wild country, when at five
o’clock in the afternoon a branch of the river once more approached
on our left, and soon cut across our path, leaving no trace of it. I felt
sure that the track crossed the river here, but unfortunately allowed
myself to be overruled by my servant (who was in truth an
experienced lad); and accordingly we kept along the sandy border of
the channel, following the traces of cattle till we became assured
that there was no path in this place. Having searched for about two
hours, we were at last compelled, by the darkness which had set in,
to encamp in the midst of this dense forest; and I chose a small
hillock on the border of the river, in order to protect myself, as well
as possible, from the noxious exhalations, and spread my tent over
my luggage, in the midst of which I arranged my bed. I then
strewed, in a circle round our little encampment, dry wood and other
fuel, to be kindled in case of an attack of wild beasts, and, taking
out a parcel of cartridges, prepared for the worst. However, we
passed a quiet night, disturbed only by the roaring of a lion on the
other side of the river, and by a countless multitude of waterfowl of
various species, playing and splashing about in the water the whole
night.
Saturday, March 29.—Having convinced myself that the river could
be crossed by the path only at the place where we first came upon
it, I mounted early in the morning, after we had loaded the camels,
and returned to that spot, when, having crossed the stream, I found
the continuation of the path on the other side. At length we were
again en route, having lost altogether about three hours of our
precious time. However, my companions thought that nevertheless
we should not have been able the previous evening, in the twilight,
to reach the next station, the name of which is also Ngurútuwa; so
dense was the forest in some places, and such difficulty had we in
getting through with our luggage, so that we were at times almost
reduced to despair.
Beyond the village mentioned we should not have succeeded in
finding an outlet, had we not met with some shepherds who were
tending numerous flocks of sheep and goats. All was one thorny
covert, where kaña and bírgim, the African plum-tree, were,
together with mimosa, the predominant trees. Near the village,
however, which lies in the midst of the forest, very fine fields of
wheat occupied a considerable open space, the corn standing now
about a foot and a half high, and presented a most charming sight,
particularly when compared with the scanty industry which we had
hitherto observed in this, the finest part of the country.
Keeping then close to the narrow path, we reached, half an hour
before noon, an open place of middle size called Míkibá, and halted
between the village and the well, which, being in a hollow, is only
three fathoms deep. Being obliged to allow the camels a good feed,
as they had got nothing the previous evening, we did not start again
till four o’clock in the afternoon; and it was in vain that I
endeavoured to buy some provisions from the inhabitants with the
few indifferent articles which I had to offer them: the small fancy
wares of Nuremberg manufacture proved too worthless and frail
even for these barbarians. The people, however, endeavoured to
frighten us by their accounts of the roads before us—and indeed, as
it afterwards appeared, they were not quite wrong; but we could not
stay a night with people so inhospitable, and, besides, I had lost
already too much time.
Confiding, therefore, in my good luck, I was again in the saddle by
four o’clock, the country being now clearer of wood, though
generally in a wild, neglected state. After a little more than two
miles’ march, near a patch of cultivated ground I saw a group of
three monkeys of the same species, apparently, as those in Asben.
In general, monkeys seem not to be frequent in the inhabited parts
of Negroland. The day with its brightness was already fading away,
and darkness setting in filled us with anxiety as to where we might
pass the night with some security, when, to our great delight, we
observed in the distance to our right the light of some fires glittering
through a thicket of dúm-palms, tamarinds, and other large trees.
We endeavoured, therefore, to open a path to them, cheered in our
effort by the pleasing sound of dance and song which came from the
same direction.
It proved to be a wandering company of happy herdsmen, who
bade us a hearty welcome after they had recognized us as harmless
travellers; and, well satisfied at seeing our resolution thus rewarded,
we pitched our tent in the midst of their huts and numerous herds.
Entering then into conversation with them, I learnt to my
astonishment that they were neither Kanúri nor Háusa people, but
Felláta, or Fúlbe of the tribe of the Óbore, who, notwithstanding the
enmity existing between their kinsmen and the ruler of Bórnu, are
allowed to pasture their herds here in full security, so far as they are
able to defend themselves against the robberies of the Tuarek, and
without even paying any tribute to the sheikh. However, their
immigration into this country does not date from very ancient times;
and they appear not to have kept their stock pure from intermixture,
so that they have lost almost all the national marks of the Fulfúlde
race.
They seemed to be in easy circumstances, the elder men bringing
me each of them an immense bowl of milk, and a little fresh butter
as cleanly prepared as in any English or Swiss dairy. This was a
substantial proof of their nationality; for all over Bórnu no butter is
prepared except with the dirty and disgusting addition of some cow’s
urine, and it is all in a fluid state. The hospitable donors were greatly
delighted when I gave to each of them a sailor’s knife; but on our
part we were rather perplexed by their bounty, as I and my two boys
might easily have drowned ourselves in such a quantity of milk.
Meanwhile, as I was chatting with the old people, the younger ones
continued their singing and dancing till a late hour with a
perseverance most amusing, though little favourable for our night’s
rest; moreover, we were startled several times by some of the cattle,
which lay close to our tent, starting up occasionally and running
furiously about. There was a lion very near; but the blaze of the fires
kept him off. Our friends did not possess a single dog—but this was
another mark of nationality; they rely entirely upon their own
watchfulness.
In consequence of our disturbed night’s rest, we set out at rather
a late hour, accompanied by two of our friends, in order to show us
the ford of the komádugu, which, they told us, ran close to their
encampment. And it was well that we had their assistance; for
though the water was but three feet deep at the spot where they led
us through, it was much deeper on both sides, and we might easily
have met with an accident. It was here about five and thirty yards
across, and was quite stagnant. It is, doubtless, the same water
which I had crossed at Kashímma, where, with its several branches,
it occupied an immense valley, and again just before I came to the
Eastern Ngurútuwa.
Our hospitable friends did not leave us till they had assisted us
through the extremely dense covert which borders the eastern bank
of the river. They then returned, recommending us very strongly to
be on our guard, as we should have the komádugu always on our
left, where some robbers were generally lurking. We had not
proceeded far when we met an archer on horseback following the
traces of a band of Tuarek, who, as he told us, had last night made
an attack upon another encampment or village of herdsmen, but had
been beaten off. He pursued his way in order to make out whether
the robbers had withdrawn. An archer on horseback is an unheard-of
thing not only in Bórnu, but in almost all Negroland, except with the
Fúlbe; but even among them it is rare. Fortunately the country was
here tolerably open, so that we could not be taken by surprise, and
we were greatly reassured when we met a troop of native travellers,
three of whom were carrying each a pair of bukhsa or ngibú,
immense calabashes joined at the bottom by a piece of strong wood,
but open on the top.
These are the simple ferry-boats of the country, capable of
carrying one or two persons, who have nothing besides their clothes
(which they may deposit inside the calabashes), safely, but certainly
not dryly, across a stream. In order to transport heavier things, three
pairs, joined in the way I shall have an opportunity of describing at
another time, will form a sufficiently buoyant raft. This would form
the most useful expedient for any European traveller who should
undertake to penetrate into the equatorial regions, which abound in
water; but if he has much luggage, he ought to have four pairs of
calabashes, and a strong frame to extend across them.
 The great advantage of such a portable boat is, that the parts can
be most easily carried on men’s backs through the most rugged and
mountainous regions, while the raft so formed will be strong
enough, if the parts are well fastened together, for going down a
river; but of course, if they came into contact with rocks, the
calabashes would be liable to break. Horses must swim across a
river in these countries; but even their crossing a powerful stream
safely would be greatly facilitated if they were protected against the
current by such a float lying along their sides. On my succeeding
journeys I often wished to be in the possession of such a boat.
Amusing myself with such thoughts, and indulging in happy
anticipations of future discoveries, I continued my solitary march
cheerfully and with confidence. To our left the channel of the
komádugu once approached, but soon receded again and gave way
to the site of a considerable deserted town, containing at present
but a small hamlet of cattle-breeders, and called significantly “fáto
ghaná” (few huts). The country was here adorned with trees of fine
foliage, and was enlivened besides by large flocks of goats and
sheep, and by a small caravan which we fell in with. We then
passed, on our right, a considerable pool of stagnant water,
apparently caused by the overflowing of the komádugu, and further
on observed a few patches of cotton-ground well fenced and
protected from the cattle. Then followed stubble-fields adorned with
fine trees, in the shade of which the cattle reposed in animated
groups. The soil consisted of sand, and was burrowed throughout in
large holes by the earth-hog (Orycteropus Æthiopicus).
Thus about half-past ten we reached the neat little village Ájirí,
and encamped at a short distance from it, under a cluster of
beautiful and shady tamarind-trees, not knowing that, as the
cemetery of some venerated persons, it was a sanctified place;
however, on being informed of this circumstance, we were careful
not to pollute it. I now learned that I had not followed the shortest
track to Kúkawa, which passes by Kamsándi, but that Yusuf (Mr.
Richardson’s interpreter), with the Christian’s property, had also
taken this road. I might therefore have pursued my journey directly
to that residence, and should have had the company of a corn-
caravan, which was about to set forward in the afternoon; but as it
was absolutely necessary that I should send word to the sheikh that
I was coming, and as there was no other governor or officer on the
track before me from whom I might obtain a decent and trustworthy
messenger, I preferred going a little more out of my way in order to
visit the Kashélla Khér-Alla, an officer stationed by the sheikh in the
most exposed place of this district, in order to protect it against the
inroads of the Tuarek.
Having, therefore, taken a hearty leave of the villagers, who had
all collected round me, listening with astonishment and delight to
the performance of my musical box, I started again at an early hour
in the afternoon, accompanied, for a little while, by the bíllama, and
continuing in a north-easterly direction. The country in general
presented nothing but pasture-grounds, with only some cultivation
of grain and patches of cotton-fields near the hamlet Yerálla, which,
after a little more than three miles, we passed on our left. Further
on, the komádugu again approached on the same side; and we were
obliged to go round it at a sharp angle to reach the village where the
Kashélla had his residence.
Having pitched the tent, I went to pay him my compliments, and
had the satisfaction to find him a friendly, cheerful person, who at
once ordered one of his best men to mount and to start for Kúkawa,
in order to carry to the vizier the news of my arrival. He is a
liberated slave, who, having distinguished himself by his valour in
the unfortunate battle at Kúsuri, has been stationed here at the
vizier’s suggestion. His power, however, is not great, considering the
wide extent of the district which he has to protect, as he has only
seventy horsemen under his command, twenty of whom are
constantly employed in watching the motions of the predatory bands
of the Tuarek. These are chiefly the inhabitants of the little
principality of Alákkos, of which I have had occasion to speak above,
who, like all the Tuarek, in general are not very fond of serious
fighting, but rather try to carry off a good booty, in slaves or cattle,
by surprise. Khér-Alla has already done a great deal for the security
and welfare of the district where he resides, the population of which
is intermixed with Tébu elements, and cannot be trusted; but he
evidently cannot extend his protecting hand much further westward
than Ájiri.
Feeling deeply the disgraceful state of this the finest portion of
Bórnu, I afterwards advised the vizier to build watch-towers all along
the komádugu, from the town Yó, as far as the western Ngurútuwa,
the place where Mr. Richardson died, which would make it easy to
keep off the sudden inroads of these predatory tribes, and, in
consequence, the whole country would become the secure abode of
a numerous population; but even the best of these mighty men
cares more for the silver ornaments of his numerous wives than for
the welfare of his people. I presented Khér-Alla with a red cap, a
pair of English scissors, and some other small things; and he spent
the whole evening in my tent, listening with delight to the cheerful
Swiss air played by my musical box.
Monday, March 31.—At a tolerably early hour, I set out to continue
my march, accompanied by a younger brother and a trusty servant
of the kashélla, both on horseback, and traversed the entire district.
It is called Dúchi, and is well inhabited in a great number of widely
scattered villages. The soil is sandy, and cornfields and pasture-
grounds succeed each other alternately; but I did not see much
cattle. I was astonished also to find so little cultivation of cotton.
Having met a small troop of tugúrchi with pack-oxen, we made a
halt, a little after eleven o’clock, near the first village of the district,
Dímberwá.
My two companions wanted to obtain here a guide for me, but
were unsuccessful; however, after we had started again at three
o’clock, they procured a man from the bíllama of the next village,
and then left me. I wished to obtain a guide to conduct me at once
to Kúkawa; but I was obliged to submit to this arrangement, though
nothing is more tedious and wearisome than to be obliged to change
the guide at every little place, particularly if the traveller be in a
hurry. It might be inferred, from the number of little paths crossing
each other in every direction, that the country is thickly inhabited;
and a considerable troop of tugúrchi gave proof of some intercourse.
Dark-coloured, swampy ground, called “ánge,” at times interrupted
the sandy soil, which was covered with fine pasture; and we
gradually ascended a little. I had already changed my guide four
times, when, after some trouble, I obtained another at the village
Gúsumrí; but the former guide had scarcely turned his back, when
his successor in office decamped, most probably in order not to miss
his supper, and, after some useless threatening, I had again to grope
my way onward as well as I could. Darkness was already setting in
when I encamped near the village Bággem, where I was treated
hospitably by the inhabitants of the nearest cottage.
Tuesday, April 1.—Keeping through an open country with sandy
soil and good pasture, we reached, a little after nine o’clock, the well
of Úra, a village lying at some distance to the left of the path, and
here filled a water-skin, and watered the horse; but, hurrying on as
we were, perhaps we did not allow the poor beast sufficient time to
fill his stomach. Having then marched on through an open country,
where large trees cease altogether, only detached clusters of bushes
appearing here and there, and where we saw a large herd of
ostriches and a troop of gazelles, we halted a little before noon in
the scanty shade of a small Balanites.
About two o’clock in the afternoon, after man and beast had
enjoyed a little repose and food, we prepared to continue our
march; and my horse was already saddled, my bernús hanging over
the saddle, when I perceived that my two youngsters could not
manage our swift and capricious she-camel, and that, having
escaped from their hands, although her forelegs were tied together,
she baffled all their efforts to catch her again. Confiding, therefore,
in the staid and obedient disposition of my horse, I ran to assist
them, and we at length succeeded in catching the camel; but when I
returned to the place where I had left my horse, it was gone, and it
was with some difficulty that we found its tracks, showing that it had
returned in the direction whence we had come. It had strayed nearly
as far as the well of Úra, when it was most fortunately stopped by
some musketeers marching to Kúkawa, who met my boy, when he
had already gone halfway in pursuit of it.
In consequence of this contretemps, it was five o’clock when we
again set out on our march; and in order to retrieve the lost time, I
kept steadily on till half an hour before midnight. At seven o’clock we
passed a considerable village, called Búwa, where the troops, horse
and foot, which had passed us some time before, had taken up their
quarters, and two miles further on we had villages on our right and
left; but still there were few signs of population, probably because,
owing to the lateness of the hour, the fires were extinguished. We
encamped, at length, near a small village, but had reason to repent
our choice; for while we were unable to procure a drop of water, the
inhabitants being obliged to bring their supply from a considerable
distance, we were annoyed the whole night by a violent quarrel
between a man and his two wives. But here I must remark that I
very rarely witnessed such disgusting scenes during the whole of my
travels in Negroland.
 CHAPTER XXVIII.
ARRIVAL AT KÚKAWA.

Wednesday, April 2.—This was to be a most momentous day of my

travels; for I was to reach that place which was the first distinct
object of our mission, and I was to come into contact with those
people on whose ill or goodwill depended the whole success of our
mission. Although encamped late at night, we were again up at an
early hour; but in endeavouring to return to the track which we had
left the preceding night, we inadvertently crossed it, and so came to
another village, with a very numerous herd of cattle, where we
became aware of our error, and then had to regain the main road.
Two miles afterwards there was a very great change in the character
of the country; for the sandy soil which had characterized the district
all along the komádugu now gave way to clay, where water is only
met with at a considerable depth. We met a troop of tugúrchi, who
informed us that none of the villages along our track at the present
moment had a supply of water, not even the considerable village
Kangáruwa, but that at the never-failing well of Beshér I should be
able to water my horse. This news only served to confirm me in my
resolution to ride on in advance, in order as well to water my poor
beast before the greatest heat of the day, as to reach the residence
in good time.
I therefore took leave of my two young servants, and, giving
Mohammed strict orders to follow me with the camels as fast as
possible, I hastened on. The wooded level became now interrupted
from time to time by bare naked concavities, or shallow hollows,
consisting of black sedimentary soil, where, during the rainy season,
the water collects and, drying up gradually, leaves a most fertile
sediment for the cultivation of the másakwá. This is a peculiar kind
of holcus (Holcus cernuus), which forms a very important article in
the agriculture of Bórnu. Sown soon after the end of the rainy
season, it grows up entirely by the fructifying power of the soil, and
ripens with the assistance only of the abundant dews, which fall here
usually in the months following the rainy season. These hollows,
which are the most characteristic natural feature in the whole
country, and which encompass the south-western corner of the great
lagoon of Central Africa throughout a distance of more than sixty
miles from its present shore, are called “ghadír” by the Arabs “fírki,”
or “ánge,” by the Kanúri. Indeed they amply testify to the far greater
extent of the lagoon in ante-historical times.
Pushing on through a country of this description, and passing
several villages, I reached about noon Beshér, a group of villages
scattered over the cornfields, where numerous horsemen of the
sheikh were quartered; and being unable myself to find the well, I
made a bargain with one of the people to water my horse, for which
he exacted from me forty “kúngona” or cowries. However, when I
had squatted down for a moment’s rest in the shade of a small
talha-tree, his wife, who had been looking on, began to reprove him
for driving so hard a bargain with a young inexperienced stranger;
and then she brought me a little tiggra and curdled milk diluted with
water, and afterwards some ngáji, or paste of sorghum.
Having thus recruited my strength, I continued my march; but my
horse, not having fared so well, was nearly exhausted. The heat was
intense; and therefore we proceeded but slowly till I reached
Kálilwá, when I began seriously to reflect on my situation, which was
very peculiar. I was now approaching the residence of the chief
whom the mission, of which I had the honour to form part, was
especially sent out to salute, in a very poor plight, without resources
of any kind, and left entirely by myself owing to the death of the
director. I was close to this place, a large town, and was about to
enter it without a single companion. The heat being just at its
highest, no living being was to be seen either in the village or on the
road; and I hesitated a moment, considering whether it would not
be better to wait here for my camels. But my timid reluctance being
confounded by the thought that my people might be far behind, and