148
 

TRAVELS IN AFRICA.     Chap. XXVI.
 

                  chap. xxyi.



     STARTING FOR KUKAWA. — THE FRONTIER-DISTRICT.



  Sunday   ^HE traveller who would  leave  a place

 March 9th.  where he has made a long residence, often

finds that his departure involves him in a great deal

of trouble, and is by no means an easy affair.   More¬

over my situation when, after much delay, I was about

to leave Kano was peculiarly embarrassing.   There

was  no caravan; the  road was infested by robbers;

and I had only one servant upon whom I could rely,

or who was really attached  to me, while I had been

so unwell the  preceding day as to be unable to  rise

from my couch.  However,  I  was  full of  confi¬

dence ;  and with the same delight with which a bird

springs forth from its  cage, I hastened to escape from

these narrow, dirty mud-walls  into  the boundless

creation.

  There being scarcely any one to assist my faithful

Gatroni, the loading of my three camels took an im¬

mense time, and  the horseman destined to accompany

me to the frontier of the Kano territory grew rather

impatient.  At length,  at about two  o'clock in  the