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The natives say they are not aborigines of Borghoo, but that they are descendants of the natives of Houssa and Nyffé. They speak a Yariba dialect, but the Wow-wow women are pretty, which those of Yariba are not. The men are muscular and well-made, but have a dissipated look. Their religion is a lax kind of Mahommedanism tinctured with paganism.
Boussa, which the traveller reached at last, is not a regular town, but consists of groups of scattered houses on an island of the Quorra, situated in lat. 10 degrees 14 minutes N., and long. 6 degrees 11 minutes E. The province of which it is the capital is the most densely populated of Borghoo. The inhabitants are all Pagans, even the sultan, although his name is Mahommed.
From Katunga the Landers travelled to Borghoo, by way of Atoupa, Bumbum a town much frequented by the merchants of Houssa, Borghoo, and other provinces trading with Gonja Kishi, on the frontiers of Yarriba, and Moussa, on the river of the same name, beyond which they were met by an escort sent to join them by the Sultan of Borghoo.
Soon after leaving Katunga, Clapperton crossed the Mousa, a tributary of the Quorra and entered Kiama, one of the halting-places of the caravans trading between Houssa and Borghoo, and Gandja, on the frontiers of Ashantee. Kiama contains no less than 13,000 inhabitants, who are considered the greatest thieves in Africa. To say a man is from Borghoo is to brand him as a blackguard at once.
Before leaving Borghoo, Clapperton recorded his conviction of the baselessness of the bad reputation of the inhabitants, who had been branded everywhere as thieves and robbers. He had completely explored their country, travelled and hunted amongst them alone, and never had the slightest reason to complain.
Fetiches and gri-gris were hung over his door, and in one of his huts there was a square stool, supported on two sides by four little wooden effigies of men. The character, manners, and costumes of the people of Borghoo differ essentially from those of the natives of Yarriba.
Before reaching it he had to cross the Oli, a tributary of the Quorra, and to pass through Wow-wow, a district of Borghoo, the capital of which, also called Wow-wow, contained some 18,000 inhabitants. It was one of the cleanest and best built towns the traveller had entered since he left Badagry. The streets are wide and well kept, and the houses are round, with conical thatched roofs.
"Perhaps no two people in the universe residing so near each other," says the narrative, "differ more widely ... than the natives of Yarriba and Borghoo.
The Landers next passed the large town of Congi, the Songa of Clapperton, and then Inguazilligie, the rendezvous of merchants travelling between Nouffe and the districts north-east of Borghoo. Below Inguazilligie they halted at Patashie, a large fertile island of great beauty, planted with palm groves and magnificent trees.
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