Page:A pilgrimage to my motherland.djvu/114

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TO MY MOTHERLAND.
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traveller had done, we were unable to find a single individual even as light as myself, though of twenty-five per cent negro blood.

One girl about twelve years old was met, who was evidently the child of some slave-trader of the coast, as she was certainly a mulatto whose father was a white man and not an Arabian, than whom she was much lighter in complexion. Every person in Ilorin is said to speak both the Aku and Fulanee languages, and we found no exception among those who were not foreigners.

The musical instruments of the people of Ilorin more nearly resemble those used in civilized countries, than those seen in other sections of Africa nearer the coast. In a large band which performed before the palace, there were several wind instruments, two or three of which were like our clarionets, and others resembled an English postman's trumpet. An old man came to play and sing for us very often. The instrument he used was the exact counterpart of the Banjo, only smaller, but played in the same way and producing similar music. Accompanied by our soi-disant jail-er, we made several excursions through the town. Except the existence of numerous mosques and markets, there is no material difference in the appearance of it from others.

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