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Soon after passing into the main river, they landed at the town of Lever, or Layaba, which contains a great number of inhabitants, and was then in the hands of the Fellatahs; here they remained till the 4th October. The river at this place ran deep, and was free from rocks.
The greater part of the soldiers remained without the range of the arrows of the Fellatahs; who, being joined by fresh troops, and seeing that their assailants were few in number, advanced to the attack, discharging showers of poisoned arrows. Most of the Arabs were hurt; their horses staggered under them; Boo Khaloom and his charger received wounds which afterwards proved to be mortal.
During the time that Major Denham was engaged in these excursions, we have mentioned that Mr. Clapperton and Dr. Oudney obtained permission to travel westward into Soudan. At Murmur Dr. Oudney expired. The territory of the Fellatahs was under better cultivation than any part of Africa which they had seen.
The Fellatahs had been heard of for the first time, and their identity with the Fans had been ascertained by Clapperton in his second journey. It had been proved that these Fellatahs had created a vast empire in the north and west of Africa, and also that beyond a doubt they did not belong to the negro race.
The Sultan would not permit the Englishmen to enter Nyffé or Bornou, and told them there was nothing for them but to go back to Boussa. Richard Lander at once wrote to the king of that town, asking permission to buy a canoe in which to go to Funda, as the road by land was infested by plundering Fellatahs.
Clapperton remained at Katunga from the 24th January to the 7th March, 1826. He was entertained there with great hospitality by the sultan, who, however, refused to give him permission to go to Houssa and Bornou by way of Nyffé or Toppa, urging as reasons that Nyffé was distracted by civil war, and one of the pretenders to the throne had called in the aid of the Fellatahs.
But the undaunted Fellatahs recovering from their surprise, entrenched themselves within a strongly fortified place farther up the hills, called Musfeia, in front of which were swamps and palisades.
The people of this province, who were very numerous before the invasion of the Fellatahs, are armed with bows and arrows, and trade in tobacco, nuts, gouro, antimony, tanned hares' skins, and cotton stuffs in the piece and made into clothes. The caravan soon left the banks of the Yeou or Gambarou, and entered a wooded country, which was evidently under water in the rainy season.
Gouari, capital of the province of the same name, is situated in lat. 10 degrees 54 minutes N., and long. 8 degrees 1 minute E. At Fatika Clapperton entered Zegzeg, subject to the Fellatahs, after which he visited Zariyah, a singular-looking town laid out with plantations of millet, woods of bushy trees, vegetable gardens, &c., alternating with marshes, lawns, and houses.
He endeavoured to deter them by false accounts of the dangerous nature of the route, in consequence of an alleged incursion of the Fellatahs, and insurrection of the Houssa slaves. At last, however, he suffered them to set out, by the kingdom of Borgoo, towards Houssa. They now entered the Borgoo country.
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