Saturday, 1st April.—Morning cool and cloudy, with a little rain. The Houssa musician came to his appointment, and I made him play and sing. I made a sketch of his instrument, which I asked him to sell to me; but he said he had played on it to his father and mother, and they were pleased with it; they were now dead, and he would not part with it. My servant Ali was cooking a fowl for my breakfast, and having occasion to call him, he came with a knife in his hand; on seeing which, the musician started, and ran as if he had been going to be put to death instantly. The women in the house, when they saw him run, rolled on the ground, and laughed at the poor man’s fright. After breakfast I visited the sultan, and asked him to be allowed to depart, as my baggage was to have been at the river-side yesterday. He said I must not leave him to-day, and that when I came back I must stay forty days with him. I was visited by a great number of people, amongst which were many Fellatas, the chief of whom sent me a sheep, honey, and milk. The sultan, when I inquired of him again to-day about the papers of my unfortunate countrymen, said that the late imam, a Fellata, had had possession of all the books and papers, and that he had fled from Boussa some time since. This was a death-blow to all future inquiries here; and the whole of the information concerning the affair of the boat, her crew, and cargo, which I was likely to gain here, I have already stated. Every one in fact appeared uneasy when I asked for information, and said it had happened before their remembrance, or that they did not see it. They pointed out the place where the boat struck, and the unfortunate crew perished. Even this was done with caution, and as if by stealth; though, in every thing unconnected with that affair, they were most ready to give me what information I asked; and never in my life have I been treated with more hospitality or kindness. The place pointed out to me, where the boat and crew were lost, is in the eastern channel: the river being divided into three branches at this place, not one of which is more than a good pistol-shot across. A low flat island, of about a quarter of a mile in breadth, lies between the town of Boussa and the fatal spot, which is in a line, from the sultan’s house, with a double-trunked tree with white bark, standing singly on the low flat island. The bank is not particularly high at present, being only about ten feet above the level of this branch, which here breaks over a gray slate rock, extending quite across to the eastern shore: this shore rises into gentle hills, composed of gray slate, thinly scattered with trees; and the grass at this season gives it a dry and withered appearance.