THE SO-CALLED NIGRllIAX, THE OLD PONTOON OF YOLA.

CHAPTER X FROM BUSSA TO THE SEA; CONCLUSION OF OUR VOYAGE The whole of the morning of the 3rd was occupied in receiving visits from people more or less nearly related to the chief, and in the afternoon I was informed that his Majesty himself would receive me.

We crossed a marsh between the village and the bank, and duly arrived at Bussa.

There is nothing very imposing about the town, and it has been recently much damaged by fire. We stopped at the door of a big round hut, some thirty-five to forty-five feet in diameter, which was really very well built. After a brief delay we were admitted.

The chief of Bussa was squatting on a bench of hardened earth, some twenty inches high, and wore a bubii of doubtful cleanliness, and a cap such as that worn by the eunuch in Moliere's play to which I alluded in speaking of Dendi. The bench was covered with just such a red 446