DEFECTIVE CURRENCY.

55

week's necessaries in the market is all the more harassing, as there is not at present any standard money for buying and selling; for the ancient standard of the country, viz., the pound of copper, has long since fallen into disuse, though the name, "rotl,” still remains. The "gábagá," or cotton strips, which then became usual, have lately begun to be supplanted by the cowries or "kúngona," which have been introduced, as it seems, rather by a speculation of the ruling people than by a natural want of the inhabitants,* though nobody can deny that they are very useful for buying small articles, and infinitely more convenient than cotton strips. Eight cowries or kúngona are reckoned equal to one gábagá, and four gábagá, or two-andthirty kúngona, to one rotl. Then, for buying larger objects, there are shirts of all kinds and sizes, from the "dóra," the coarsest and smallest one, quite unfit for use, and worth six rotls, up to the large ones, worth fifty or sixty rotls. But, while this is a standard value, the relation of the rotl and the Austrian dollar,† which is pretty well current in Bórnu, is subject to extreme fluctuation, due, I must confess, at least partly, to the speculations of the ruling men, and principally to that of my friend the Háj Beshír. Indeed, I can not defend him against the reproach of having speculated to the great detriment of the public; so that when he had collected a great amount of kúngona, and wished to give it currency, the dollar would suddenly fall as low as to five-and-forty or fifty rotls, while at other times it would fetch as much as one hundred rotls, or three thousand two hundred shells, that is, seven hundred shells more than in Kanó. The great advantage of the market in Kanó is that there is one standard coin, which, if a too large amount of dollars be not on a sudden set in circulation, will always preserve the same value.

But to return to the market. A small farmer who brings his

I shall have occasion to mention what an influence the introductien of cowries into Bórnu, by draining the Hausa country of this article, has had upon the demand for cowries in Yoruba and on the coast in the years following 1849.

The Austrian dollar, the "bú-tér," though less in intrinsic value, is better liked in Bórnu than the Spanish one, the "bú medf'a."

corn to the Monday market, or the "kásukú létenínbe,” in Kúkawa, will on no account take his payment in shells, and will rarely accept of a dollar: the person, therefore, who wishes to buy corn, if he has only dollars, must first exchange a dollar for shells, or rather buy shells; then with the shells he must buy a "kúlgu” or shirt; and, after a good deal of bartering, he may thus succeed in buying the corn, be it some kind of argúm, wheat, or rice. However, these two articles are not always to be got, while more frequently they are only in small quantities. The rice sold in Kúkawa is wild rice, the refuse of the elephants, and of a very inferior description.

The fatigue to be undergone in the market is such that I have very often seen my servants return in a state of the utmost exhaustion. Most of the articles sold on the great Monday fair may also be found in the small afternoon markets or durríya, but only in small quantity and at a higher price, and some articles will be sought for there in vain. But while there is certainly a great deal of trouble in the market of Kúkawa, it must be acknowledged that the necessaries of life are cheaper there than in any other place which I have visited in Central Africa, almost half as cheap again as in Kátsena and Sokóto, a third cheaper than in Kanó, and about a fourth cheaper than in Timbúktu. About the cheapness of meat and corn in the latter place, which is, indeed, a very remarkable fact, and struck me with the utmost surprise when I first reached that celebrated town, I shall speak in the proper place. But I must remark that dukhn, argum móro, or millet (Pennisetum typhoïdeum), is in greater quantity, and therefore cheaper, in Kúkawa than the durra or sorghum, "ngáberi,” just as it is in Timbúktu and Kanó, while in Bagírmi durra is much cheaper. The ngáberi of Bórnu, however, particularly that kind of it which is called matíya, and which is distinguished by its whiteness, is most excellent; and the "senásin," a kind of thin pancake prepared from this grain, is the lightest and best food for a European in this country.

Of course, the price of food varies greatly according to the season, the lowest rates ruling about a month or two after the

PRICES OF PROVISIONS.

57

harvest, when all the corn in the country has been thrashed, and the highest rates just about the harvest time. In general, a dollar will purchase in Kúkawa three ox-loads, "kátkun knémube," of argúm; a dollar and a half will buy a very good ox of about six hundred pounds' weight; two dollars fetch a packox ("knému") or a milch-cow ("fé mádarabé"); one dollar, two good sheep; from seventeen to twenty rotls, a "téndu" of butter, containing about four pounds' weight. For wheat and rice, the general rule in Negroland is that they fetch double price of the native corn. Rice might seem indigenous in Central Africa, growing wild every where, as well in Bághena, in Western Africa, as in Kótoko or Bagírmi. Wheat, on the contrary, was evidently introduced some hundred years ago, together with onions, the favorite food of the Arab, to the merits of which the native African is insensible, although it is a most wholesome article of diet in this climate, as I shall have repeatedly occasion

to state.

Of fruits, the most common are the two sorts of ground-nut, "kólché" and "gángala," the former of which is a very important article of food, though by no means on so large a scale as in the eastern parts of Adamáwa; the "bíto," the fruit of the hajilij or Balanites Ægyptiaca (which is so much valued by the Kanúri, that, according to a common proverb, a bítotree and a milch-cow are just the same "Késka bítowa féwa mádarabé kal”); a kind of Physalis, the native name of which I have forgotten; the bírgim, or the African plum, of which I shall speak farther on; the kórna, or the fruit of the Rhamnus lotus; and fruit of the dúm-palm, "kírzim," or Cucifera Thebaica.

Of vegetables, the most common in the market are beans of various descriptions, which likewise form a very important article of food in many districts, certainly as much as the third of the whole consumption; onions, consumed in great quanity by the Arabs, but not by the natives, who prefer to season their food with the young leaves of the monkey-bread-tree, "kálu kúka," or the "káras," or with a sauce made from dried fish. There are no sweet potatoes and no yams in this part of Bórnu,

the consequence of which is that the food of the natives is less varied than in Háusa, Kébbi, or Yoruba. Yams are brought to this country as rarities, and are given as presents to influential persons.

Camels sell at from eight to twenty dollars. When there is no caravan in preparation, a very tolerable beast may be bought for the former price; but when a caravan is about to start, the best will fetch as much as twenty dollars-very rarely more; and a good camel may always be had for about fifteen dollars. Some camels may be bought for four or five dollars each, but can not be relied on.

Very strong traveling horses for servants were, during my first visit, purchasable for from six to eight dollars, while an excellent horse would not fetch more than thirty dollars; but in the year 1854 the price had risen considerably, in consequence of the exportation of horses, which had formerly been forbidden, having been permitted, and great numbers having been exported to the west-chiefly to Múniyo, Kátsena, and Márádi. A firstrate horse of foreign race, however, is much dearer, and will sometimes fetch as much as three hundred dollars. I shall have another opportunity of speaking of the horses of Bórnu, which is rather an interesting and important subject, as the breed is excellent, and, besides being very handsome and of good height, they bear fatigue marvelously—a fact of which one of my own horses gave the best proof, having carried me during three years of almost incessant fatigue on my expedition to Kánem, to the Músgu country, to Bagírmi, to Timbúktu, and back to Kanó, where my poor dear companion died in December, 1854: and let it be taken into consideration that, though I myself am not very heavy, I constantly carried with me a double-barreled gun, one or two pairs of pistols, a quantity of powder and shot, several instruments, my journals, and generally even my coffee-pot and some little provision.

But to return to the picture of life which the town of Kúkawa presents. With the exception of Mondays, when just during the hottest hours of the day there is much crowd and bustle in the market-place, it is very dull from about noon till three o'clock

BORNU WOMEN.-PROMENADE.

59

in the afternoon; and even during the rest of the day those scenes of industry which in the varied panorama of Kanó meet the eye are here sought for in vain. Instead of those numerous dyeingyards or máriná, full of life and bustle, though certainly also productive of much filth and foul odors, which spread over the town of Kanó, there is only a single and a very poor máriná in Kúkawa; no beating of tobes is heard, nor the sound of any other handicraft.

There is a great difference of character between these two towns; and, as I have said above, the Bórnu people are by temperament far more phlegmatic than those of Kanó. The women in general are much more ugly, with square, short figures, large heads, and broad noses with immense nostrils, disfigured still more by the enormity of a red bead or coral worn in the nostril. Nevertheless, they are certainly quite as coquettish, and, as far as I had occasion to observe, at least as wanton also as the more cheerful and sprightly Háusa women. I have never seen a Háusa woman strolling about the streets with her gown trailing after her on the ground, the fashion of the women. of Kúkawa, and wearing on her shoulders some Manchester print of a showy pattern, keeping the ends of it in her hands, while she throws her arms about in a coquettish manner. In a word, their dress, as well as their demeanor, is far more decent and agreeable. The best part in the dress or ornaments of the Bórnu women is the silver ornament (the fállafálle kélabé”) which they wear on the back of the head, and which in taller figures, when the hair is plaited in the form of a helmet, is very becoming; but it is not every woman who can afford such an ornament, and many a one sacrifices her better interests for this decoration.

The most animated quarter of the two towns is the great thoroughfare, which, proceeding by the southern side of the palace in the western town, traverses it from west to east, and leads straight to the sheikh's residence in the eastern town. This is the "dendal" or promenade, a locality which has its imitation, on a less or greater scale, in every town of the country. This road, during the whole day, is crowded by numbers