But a European will achieve what the natives of the country themselves deem impossible; and my friends the Zoromáwa merchants, who wanted to induce me to relinquish my project, had perhaps their own private interests in view. They probably entertained the hope that, in case of my being prevented from penetrating westward, I should be obliged to sell my stock here, which I now kept back as a provision for the road before me. By way of consoling them, I gave them a parcel of beads of the kind called dankasáwa, which I found useless for the countries through which I had to pass, in exchange for some shells I was in want of for the daily expenses of my household. Meanwhile I collected a good deal of information concerning the topography of the neighbouring provinces, and the remarkable manner in which the province of Kebbi has been portioned out between the two empires of Gando and Sókoto. I also compiled an outline of the history of this country, which began greatly to attract my attention. Meanwhile, in order to preserve my health, I took a ride almost every day, out of the town, and was in particular much interested in an excursion which I made in the afternoon of the 16th, in a northerly direction, on the road to Saláme, which is at the same time the great highroad to Ádar and Ágades. A cheerful aspect was especially exhibited by the village of Fáchi, stretching out to a considerable length from east to west, and skirted by a small watercourse, which inundates and fertilizes the neighbouring grounds during the rainy season, so that the people are able to raise, besides two species of yams, namely gwáza and rógo, a good deal of tobacco and cotton. Beyond, a wide open plain spreads out, covered with the plant “kakma,” which looks very much like aghúl (_Hedysarum Alhaggi_). But the whole of this ground so near the capital is now very unsafe under the weak rule of ʿAlíyu, and exposed to continual inroads of the energetic Góberáwa; and a few days later the village of Saláme itself was ransacked by the enemy, and a good many slaves carried off. The more desperate the condition of the country was, the more remarkable appeared to me the outward show of dominion which was maintained; in proof of this I may state that the very day we received the news of a new outbreak of the general mutiny of the native tribes, the tribute from the provinces of Kanó and Záriya entered the town. [Sidenote: Wednesday, April 20th.]