About noon next day the road entered one of the large kola plantations which make this country so important to the Hausa trader; and a wonderful sight it presented, since, owing to the war, the harvest had been left ungathered, and the ground was literally covered with the great pods and the magenta-coloured “nuts” or beans. “Here is wealth going to waste!” exclaimed Dam-Bornu regretfully. “I could pick up and carry away enough to buy me a strong slave in Sálaga or even an ass to carry my goods for me.” “There is no reason why we should not take a few nuts to chew as we go,” said Dam-biri, “if we may not gather them as merchandise,” and he commenced picking up the ripe nuts and dropping them into his pocket. Now the pocket of a _riga_ occupies half the front of the garment and will hold upwards of a bushel, and Dambiri continued to drop the nuts into his riga until the huge receptacle was nearly full, a proceeding that did not escape the notice of Musa. “How wilt thou pay for all that _guru_, Dam-biri?” he asked. “I thought thou hadst spent all thy money buying merchandise at Cape Coast.” “I take but a few to chew by the way,” protested Dam-biri. “A few!” exclaimed the old man. “Thou hast nearly a slave’s load,” and he caught the loose gown and unceremoniously tipped the whole cargo out on to the ground. At the further end of the plantation we entered a large straggling village, in the main street of which a number of men were filling sacks of plaited grass with kola nuts, having first lined the sacks with fresh leaves. Their master, a swaggering over-dressed Wongára, whose cheeks bulged with kola, stood hard by haggling with the head man of the village and spitting out the orange-red juice as he talked. It seemed that _guru_ was cheap just now, and my companions loudly lamented their want of capital; for they had spent all that they possessed at Cape Coast, on cutlery, silk, and other portable wares, and had barely enough _kurdi_ (cowries) left to carry them home. “Come now, Yúsufu,” said Musa to me, “thou art a big fellow and hast no load to carry. Wilt thou not buy some _guru_ to sell at Kantámpo? It shall pay thee well.” “That will I gladly,” I replied, although I wished the _guru_ at Jericho, “but thou and our brethren, will not you buy, too? You have but small loads.” “We have no money,” he replied. “But I have,” I rejoined, “and if you will buy what you can carry, I will lend you the money wherewith to pay, if the chief will accept the gold coin of the Christians.” “Thou art a good friend, Yúsufu,” said Musa. “I will speak with our brethren and the man of the village.”