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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.
Gomsoo also told Clapperton, and his account was confirmed by others, that the sultan of Youri was a native of Sockna, in the regency of Tripoli, and prided himself extremely on his birth, but that he was such a drunkard, whenever any person of consequence came to visit him, that nothing proved so acceptable a present as a bottle of rum.
On receiving the presents, Gomsoo promised to give Clapperton a letter to the sultan of Youri, who was his particular friend, and with whom he had lived many years. From this person Clapperton obtained the following information respecting the death of Mr. Park, and which confirmed the previous reports which had been obtained respecting him.
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.
On the following day, Clapperton returned the visit of Mahomed Gomsoo, the chief of the Arabs, of whose excessive greediness he had been warned at Kano, but at the same time recommended to make him a handsome present, and to endeavour by all means to keep him in good humour, on account of his great influence.
He could not help suspecting the intrigues of the Arabs to be the cause, as they knew well, if the native Africans were once acquainted with English commerce by the way of the sea, their own lucrative inland trade would from that moment cease. He was much perplexed during the whole of the day, to know how to act, and went after sunset to consult Mahomed Gomsoo.
Gomsoo said he was at Youri when the English came down in a boat from Timbuctoo, and were lost, which circumstance he related in the following manner: They had arrived off a town called Boosa, and having sent a gun and some other articles as presents to the sultan of Youri, they sent to purchase a supply of onions in the market.
He was received with great kindness, and Gomsoo said he had made the sultan acquainted with their conversation. Clapperton thanked him, and expressed his earnest hope, that he had neither done nor said any thing to offend him.
But, said Clapperton, on leaving him, it is necessary for me to visit those places, or else how can the English get here? As Clapperton anticipated, Gomsoo repeated to the sultan every word he had said, for he was no sooner at home, than he was sent for by the sultan, whom he found seated with Gomsoo and two others.
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