About noon the second day of my stay here, I paid a visit to the governor of the town. His name is Ábú Bakr, the son of the far-famed mʿallem Mohammed Jébbo. I found him a tolerably cheerful person, although he is wanting in that manliness of character which makes a lasting impression, and he bore evident signs of having been born of a female slave, while his manners appeared to me to possess something approaching to a Jewish character. He, however, was delighted to see me, as I was not only the first Christian who had ever visited this place, which Mungo Park, on his ever-memorable journey, seems to have passed by entirely unnoticed, but especially as I had come at a time when the whole intercourse of the country had been interrupted, and Arabs as well as natives were all afraid of visiting it. Having heard of the great superiority of Europeans over the Arabs, both in point of intelligence and industry, he entertained an earnest wish, if it could be accomplished without detriment to the welfare of his province, that a vessel or steamer belonging to them might come and fill his poor market with luxuries; and it was with the utmost surprise that he learned that I did not trade. But, on the other hand, this led the governor to think that, in exposing myself to such great dangers, I could not but have a very mysterious object in view; and he soon became alarmed, and asked repeatedly why I did not proceed on my journey. I had already been informed in Gando, that Ábú Bakr, two years previously, had navigated the river with a small flotilla of boats, upwards as far as Gágho or Gógó, the ancient capital of Songhay, and collected tribute from the Fúlbe or Féllani settled near that place, but that he had been prevented by the threatening attitude of the Tawárek from penetrating any further. In consequence of this expedition on the river, made in open boats which were continually filling with water, the governor was suffering very severely from rheumatism, and was scarcely able to move. Having so many petty chiefs before me, and seeing that this officer did not possess much power, I did not choose to give him a large present; but on my return the following year, when I still had something left, I made him a more considerable present of a bernús. Having entered a new country, where a language was spoken (the Songhay) with which neither I nor any of my servants was acquainted, and not being able to give much time to its study, as I had to apply myself to the Fulfúlde, the language of the conquering tribe, I was extremely anxious to take into my service a native of the country, or to liberate a Songhay slave; but I did not succeed at this time, and, in consequence, felt not so much at home in my intercourse with the inhabitants of the country through which I had next to pass, as I had done formerly. For Gurma, although originally inhabited by quite a distinct race, has been conquered and peopled by the Songhay to a great extent.