g of horns, the beating of their gongs and drums, the
blowing of their brass and tin trumpets; the rude huts of grass or
branches of trees, rising as if by magic, everywhere the calls on the
names Mahomed, Abdo, Mustafa, &c., with the neighing of horses, and
the braying of asses, gave animation to the beautiful scenery of the
lake, and its sloping, green, and woody banks. The only regulation
that appears in these rude feudal armies is, that they take up their
ground according to the situation of the provinces, east, west,
north, or south; but all are otherwise huddled together, without the
least regularity.

The sultan was himself encamped with the forces from Sockatoo,
whither the travellers repaired to join him, and they arrived just in
time to be eye-witnesses of a specimen of the military tactics and
conduct of these much-dreaded Fellatas. This curious scene is thus
described:--

After the mid-day prayers, all except the eunuchs, camel-drivers, and
such other servants as were of use only to prevent theft, whether
mounted or on foot, marched towards the object of attack, and soon
arrived before the walls of the city. Clapperton accompanied them,
and took up his station close to the gadado. The march had been the
most disorderly that could be imagined; horse and foot intermingling
in the greatest confusion, all rushing to get forward; sometimes the
followers of one chief tumbling amongst those of another, when swords
were half unsheathed, but all ended in making a face, or putting on a
threatening aspect. They soon arrived before Coonia, the town not
being above half a mile in diameter, nearly circular, and built on
the banks of one of the branches of the liver, or lakes. Each chief,
as he came, took his station, which, it was supposed, had been
previously assigned to him. The number of fighting men brought before
the town could not be less than fifty or sixty thousand, horse and
foot, of which the latter amounted to more than nine-tenths. For the
depth of two hundred yards, all round the walls, was a dense circle
of men and horses. The horse kept out of bow-shot, while the foot
went up as they felt courage or inclination, and kept up a straggling
fire with about thirty muskets and the shooting of arrows. In front
of the sultan, the Zeg Zeg troops had one French fusee; the Kano
forces had forty-one muskets. These fellows, whenever they fired
their muskets, ran out of bow-shot to load; all of them were slaves;
not a