Wednesday, Nov. 29th.—This morning the Gadado sent to inform me that in the course of two days the sultan was going a short distance to the south of Soccatoo, to found a new town, and asked me to accompany him. At noon a fire broke out in the west quarter of the town, which consumed nearly 200 houses, and a great quantity of grain. At 3 P.M. another fire broke out in the adjoining house to that in which I was living. I had my baggage put out in the open square, in my enclosure, and placed a servant over it as sentry, and went with my two other servants to assist the wives and concubines of my friend Malam Moodie, who was out of town. They were busy in removing the household goods into the street. This I stopped, and had them put into my square; as I saw that the fire was nearly put down by the removal of the roofs of the huts in the adjoining house, and by applying wet mats. Thieves were in abundance, and a great quantity of articles were stolen belonging to the people whose house was on fire. There was fortunately little wind, or several other houses would have been burnt. As it was, the light and burning thatch was carried to a great distance. My servant, Mohamed Allah Sirkie, got great praise from the Gadado for his activity in putting a stop to the flames: after all was over, the principal wife of Malam Moodie sent her compliments and thanks to me for taking care of her husband’s house and property. There have been three fires in the town in the course of the day; they say they were done by the agents of the rebels, who tie a burning cotton thread to the tail of a large species of buzzard, with yellow head and reddish-yellow tail, and blue body, common in this country, which flies to the thatch of the house when set adrift. Friday, Dec. 1st.—At 4 P.M. left Soccatoo by the southern gate, with a camel carrying my tent and bed, with a small quantity of provisions. After leaving the gate, the road was over what had been plantations of millet, doura, and beans; the soil a stiff red clay, covered with a thin layer of sand, with blocks of clay iron-stone, which is often mixed with white pebbles; sometimes it would cover a space of a quarter of a mile, like a crust, of about from two feet to two and a half feet in thickness; the face of the country almost bare of trees, but studded with villages; the herds of horned cattle were to be seen in great numbers every where, returning to their night’s quarters, feeding as they went along. The country hilly, with very steep and slippery ravines in many places. At 8 P.M. halted at the camp of the sultan, which was in a valley of about three miles wide, and close to the bed of a small stream passing the east of Soccatoo, which was distant about two miles and a half to the north-east. After my tent was pitched, the Gadado sent me a sheep, and I had my share of a bullock that was killed. There were very few people with the sultan, and the Gadado had only three servants with him.