Saturday, 25th.—Clear and warm. At noon the taja visited me, when, after a great deal of unnecessary palavering and manœuvring on his part, we came to the following bargain,—that he is to carry all my baggage and stores to Kano for 200,000 cowries. I also found out that he does not go to Boussa, but crosses the Quorra at a place called Comie, and goes to Koolfu in Nyffé, where he stops for a few days. I am therefore to ask the governor here to carry my baggage to Koolfu, where the taja will find bullocks. I must however go out of the way to visit the sultan of Boussa, as all this part of the country is nominally under him. The sultan of Niki is next to him, and equal to him in power. My baggage, therefore, and stores with my servants must proceed to Koolfu without me, as I have no other alternative but to take this route or that of Youri. After the taja left me, I went to the governor, and acquainted him with the agreement I had come to with the taja, who immediately promised to send a messenger with myself to Boussa, and another with my servants and baggage to see them safe to Koolfu. I would not on any account miss the opportunity of going to Boussa, being most anxious to see the spot where Park and Martin died, and perhaps get their papers. If I am detained, my servants go on with the taja; and I have left directions with them how to proceed in the event of my death or other accidents. Sunday, 26th.—On inquiring to-day of the same person, the governor’s head man, concerning the fate of Park and Martin, he said the natives did shoot arrows at them, but not until guns had been fired from the boat: in all other parts of the story he agreed with what he had told before, adding, that the boat was to be seen above water every Sunday. They all treat the affair with a great deal of seriousness, and look on the place where the boat was wrecked with awe and superstition, telling some most marvellous stories about her and her ill-fated crew. I also learnt from this man their manner of burial in Borgoo, which is as follows: they dig a deep round hole like a well; the corpse is put in the hole in a sitting posture, with the wrists bound tight round the neck, the legs bent, and the thighs, legs, and arms, bound tight round the body. The grave is made in the floor of the deceased’s house, and his horse and dog, if he has any, are killed to serve him in the next world. The Mahometans bury in their usual fashion, and have a burying-ground on the east side of the town, inside the walls.