We had been so fortunate as to be joined here at Gazáwa by two small parties belonging to the salt-caravan of the Kél-owí, when, having taken in a sufficient supply of water, and reloaded all our firearms, we commenced our march, about half-past two o’clock in the morning, through the unsafe wilderness which intervenes between the independent Háusa states and that of the Fúlbe. The forest was illumed by a bright moonlight; and we pursued our march without interruption for nearly twelve hours, when we encamped about five miles beyond the melancholy site of Dánkamá, very nearly on the same spot where I had halted two years before. We were all greatly fatigued; and a _soi-disant_ sheríf from Morocco, but originally, as it seemed, belonging to the Tájakánt, who had attached himself to my caravan in Zínder in order to reach Timbúktu in my company, felt very sickly. He had suffered already a great deal in Zínder, and ought not to have exposed his small store of strength to such a severe trial. Not being able to have regard to his state of health, as there was no water here, we pursued our journey soon after midnight, and reached the well-known walls of Kátsena after a march of about six hours. It was with a peculiar feeling that I pitched my tent a few hundred yards from the gate (kófa-n-samrí) of this town, by the governor of which I had been so greatly annoyed on my first entering this country. It was not long before several Ásbenáwa people belonging to Ánnur, followed by the servants of the governor, came to salute me; and after a little while I was joined by my old tormentor the Tawáti merchant Bel- Ghét. But our meeting this time was very different from what it had been when I first saw him; for as soon as he recognized me, and heard from me that I was come to fulfil my promise of paying a visit to the sultan of Sókoto, he could not restrain his delight and excitement, and threw himself upon my neck, repeating my name several times. In fact his whole behaviour changed from this moment; and although he at times begged a few things from me, and did not procure me very generous treatment from the governor, yet, on the whole, he behaved friendly and decently. He asked me repeatedly why I had not gone to Kanó; but I told him that I had nothing to do with Kanó, that in conformity with my promise I had come to Kátsena, and that here I should make all my purchases, in order to undertake the journey to Sókoto from this place under the protection of its governor Mohammed Bello. Now, I must confess that I had another motive for not going to Kanó besides this; for the vizier of Bórnu had made it a condition that I should not go to Kanó, as my journey to the Fúlbe would else be displeasing to himself and the sheikh, by interfering with their policy, and I had found it necessary to consent to his wishes, although I foresaw that it would cause me a heavy loss, as I might have bought all the articles of which I was in want at a far