to have been built by a queen
of the Fantee nation, some five hundred years ago. Mahomet, Lander's
servant, who had travelled far and near, and knew all the traditions
of the country, gave the following story:--About five hundred years
ago, a queen of the Fantee nation having quarrelled with her husband
about a golden stool, in other words, we presume about the throne,
probably after her husband's death, fled from her dominions with a
great number of her subjects, and built a large town at the foot of
this mountain, which she called Almena, from which it took its name.
The town, according Lander, was surrounded with a stone wall, as the
ruins plainly attest. The M. S. account of Tukroor evidently alludes
to the same personage. The first who ruled over them, that is the
seven provinces of Houssa, was, as it is stated, Amenah, daughter of
the prince of Zag Zag, (Zeg Zeg?) She conquered them by the force of
her sword, and subjected them, including Kashna and Kano, to be her
tributaries. She fought and took possession of the country of
Bowsher, till she reached the coast of the ocean on the right hand,
and west side. She died at Atagara.

The gigantic blocks of granite forming the mountain Almena, fearfully
piled on each other, and seeming ready to fall, are described as
resembling the rocks near the Logan stone in Cornwall, but on a scale
infinitely larger. To the eastward, a range of high hills was seen
stretching from north to south, as far as the eye could reach, and
Lander was informed that they extended to the salt water. They were
said to be inhabited by a savage race of people called Yamyams, that
is cannibals, who had formerly carried on an extensive traffic with
the Houssa men, bringing elephants' teeth, and taking in exchange red
cloth, beads, &c., but five years before, they had murdered a whole
kafila of merchants, and afterwards eaten them, since which time, the
Houssa people had been reasonably shy of dealing with them.

Sultan Bello informed Lander that he had ocular proof of the fact,
that these same people are in the practice of eating human flesh. The
sultan said, that on the governor of Jacoba telling him of these
people, he could scarcely believe it, but on a Tuarick being hanged
for theft, he saw five of these people eat a part, with which he was
so disgusted, that he sent them back to Jacoba soon after. He said,
that whenever a person complained of sickness amongst these men, even
though only a sli