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He was conducted to the house of the gadado, or vizier, where apartments were provided for him and his servants. The gadado himself arrived in the evening, and was excessively polite, but would not drink tea with him, as he said that he was a stranger in their land, and had not yet eaten of his bread. Next morning the sultan sent for him.
A humpbacked lad, in the service of the gadado, or vizier of Bello, who, on his way from Sockatoo, had his hand dreadfully wounded by the people of Goober, was in the habit of coming every evening to Clapperton's servants to have the wound dressed. On conversing with Clapperton himself, he told him that he had formerly been on an expedition under Abdecachman, a Fallata chief.
There are two large mosques, including the new one which was then building by the gadado, besides several other places for prayer. There is a spacious market-place in the centre of the city, and another large square in front of the sultan's residence. The inhabitants are principally Fellatas, possessing numerous slaves.
The gadado undisguisedly expressed his contempt at Ateeko's conduct, and assured him that it was entirely without the sanction of the sultan.
Occasionally a single horseman would gallop up and brandish his spear, while he covered himself with his large leathern shield, returning as fast as he went and shouting: "Shields to the wall, you soldiers of the gadado! Why do you not hasten to the wall?" Many of the soldiers answered: "You have a large shield to cover you," and disregarded the call.
The account which Clapperton gives of the action which then took place is curious, "After the midday prayers, all except the eunuchs, camel drivers, and such other servants as were of use only to prevent theft, whether mounted or on foot, marched towards the object of attack, and soon arrived before the walls of the city. I also accompanied them, and took up my station close to the Gadado.
At noon they arrived at Sockatoo, where a great number of people were assembled to look at the European traveller, and he entered the city amid the hearty welcomes of young and old. He was immediately conducted to the house of the gadado or vizier, where apartments were provided for him and his servants.
In the afternoon Clapperton repeated his visit, accompanied by the Gadado, Mahomed El Wordee, and Mahomed Gomsoo, the principal Arab of the city, to whom he had a letter of introduction from Hat Salah, at Kano. The sultan was sitting in the same apartment in which he received him in the morning, and Clapperton laid before him the presents, in the name of his majesty the king of England.
All this, he knew, would find its way to the sultan. Gomsoo told Clapperton that he was quite mistaken; for that the sultan, the gadado, and all the principal people, entertained the highest opinion of him, and wished for nothing so much as to cultivate the friendship of the English nation.
Passing through the market-place, they entered the quarters of the ruling race the Fulbe or Fellani, where conical huts of thatched work and the gonda-tree are prevalent. They first proceeded to the house of the gadado, the lord of the treasury. It was an interesting specimen of the domestic arrangements of the Fulbe, who do not disown their original character of nomadic cattle-breeders.
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