A short time after this interview with the beautiful and amorous widow Zuma, Clapperton went to Boussa, leaving Lander and his baggage in Wawa; and though the widow did not actually accompany him in his journey thither, as she had intimated her intention of doing; yet she followed very speedily after him. On this occasion, Lander informs us, she was dressed in a mantle of scarlet silk and gold, and loose trowsers of scarlet silk, with red morocco boots, and an ample white turban on her head; she rode astride on a noble horse decorated with brass plates and bells, with a profusion of charms or amulets in green, red, and yellow leather. Her saddle-cloth was of scarlet, and both widow and horse were singularly imposing. In her train were many spearmen and bowmen on horseback, with a band of musicians furnished with drums, fiddles, guitars, and flutes. The romantic intention of Zuma was to accompany Clapperton wherever he went. The Sultan, however, was anxious, for the sake of his revenue and the security of his throne, to counteract the widow’s designs; and his first step for that end was to put an embargo on Lander and Clapperton’s baggage, and his next was to despatch a strong party in pursuit of the fugitive widow, with strict injunctions to bring her back. This was accomplished, and, on her submission, she was pardoned. The travellers saw the widow no more, and the serious consequences by which this singular adventure was likely to be followed, made them resolve to be more cautious in future in giving encouragement to the advances of the African ladies. But Zuma was not the only belle of distinction who wished to attach herself to Clapperton. He was, while at Wawa, haunted even to annoyance by another lady of high rank. “I was pestered,” he says, “for three or four days by the governor’s daughter, who used to come several times in the day, painted and bedizened in the highest style of Wawa fashion, but always half tipsy; I could only get rid of her by telling her that I prayed and looked at the stars all night, never drank any thing stronger than _roa in zafir_, which they call my tea—literally hot water: She always departed in a flood of tears.” As Clapperton and Lander proceeded on their journey towards Sackatoo, the latter was seized with dysentery, and while he continued ill and weak, he experienced the kindness of his generous master in a very marked manner. Though his own strength was fast declining, Lander says of him, “whenever we came to a stream which was too deep to ford, and unfurnished with a ferry-boat, being too weak myself to swim, my generous master used to take me on his shoulders, and often times at the imminent risk of his own life, carry me in safety to the opposite bank.”