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SITE OF GHASR-E’GGOMO.

29

had been entirely dry at the beginning of September, when the late Mr. Overweg had visited it, and the conclusion then drawn by him, that the river inundates its banks in November, was entirely confirmed by my own experience. . There was a great deal of cultivation along this luxuriant border, and even a little cotton was grown; but a very large amount of the latter article might be obtained here with a greater degree of industry. Besides a village at a short distance to the S.E., inhabited by Koyám, and which bears the same name as this branch of the river, there is a hamlet, consisting of about thirty cottages, inhabited by Fúlbe, or Felláta, of the tribe of the Hillega, the same tribe whom we have met in A'damáwa. They seemed to possess a considerable number of cattle, and appeared to lead a contented and retired life in this fertile but at present almost desolate region. But, unfortunately, they have been induced, by their close contact with the Kanúri, to give up the nice manner of preparing their milk, which so distinguishes the Fúlbe in other provinces; and even the cheerful way in which the women offered us their ware could not induce me to purchase of them their unclean species of sour milk, which is prepared by means of the urine of cattle.

Beautiful and rich as was the scenery of this locality, it had the disadvantage of harboring immense swarms of musquitoes, and our night's rest, in consequence, was greatly disturbed.

Thursday, December 2d. Winding round the swamp (for the nature of a swamp or kulúgu was more apparent at present than that of a branch of the river), we reached, after a march of about three miles, the site of the ancient capital of the Bórnu empire, Ghasr-éggomo, which, as I have stated on a former occasion,* was built by the King 'Alí Ghajidéni, toward the end of the fifteenth century, after the dynasty had been driven from its ancient seats in Kánem, and, after a desperate struggle between unsettled elements, began to concentrate itself under the powerful rule of this mighty king. The site was visited by the members of the former expedition, and it has been called by them by the half-Arabic name of Birni-Kadím, the "old capital," even the Bórnu people in general designating the place only by the name birni or burni. The town had nearly a regular oval shape, but, notwithstanding the great exaggerations of former Arab informants, who have asserted that this town surpassed Cairo (or Masr el Káhira) in size, and was a day's march across, was little more than six English *Vol. ii., p. 589.

miles in circumference, being encompassed by a strong wall with six or seven* gates, which, in its present dilapidated state, forms a small ridge, and seems clearly to indicate that, when the town was conquered by the Fúlbe or Felláta, the attack was made from two different sides, viz., the southwest and northwest, where the lower

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part of the wall had been dug away. The interior of the town exhibits very little that is remarkable. The principal buildings consist of baked bricks; and in the present capital not the smallest approach is made to this more solid mode of architecture.† The dimensions of the palace appear to have been very large, although nothing but the ground-plan of large empty areas can be made out at present, while the very small dimensions of the mosque, which had five aisles, seem to afford sufficient proof that none but the people intimately connected with the court used to attend the service, just as is the case at the present time; and it

*The intelligent Arab Ben 'Alí, in the interesting account which he gave to Lucas (Proceedings of the African Association, vol. i., p. 148), distinctly states the number of the gates as seven; but it is remarkable that, in all the accounts of the taking of the place by the Fulbe, mention is only made of two gates, and it is still evident, at the present time, that the western and the eastern gates were the only large ones.

† It must be this circumstance (which to the natives themselves, in the degenerate age of the later kings, appeared as a miracle) which caused the report that in Ghámbarú and Ghasr-éggomo there were buildings of the time of the Christians.

RUINS.-THE KOMADUGU.

31 serves, moreover, clearly to establish the fact that even in former times, when the empire was most flourishing, there was no such thing as a médresé, or college, attached to the mosque. The fact is, that although Bórnu at all times has had some learned men, study has always been a private affair among a few individuals, encouraged by some distinguished men who had visited Egypt and Arabia. Taking into consideration the great extent of the empire during the period of its grandeur, and the fertility and wealth of some of its provinces, which caused gold dust at that time to be brought to market here in considerable quantity, it can not be doubted that this capital contained a great deal of barbaric magnificence, and even a certain degree of civilization, much more so than is at present found in this country; and it is certainly a speculation not devoid of interest to imagine, in this town of Negroland, a splendid court, with a considerable number of learned and intelligent men gathering round their sovereign, and a priest writing down the glorious achievements of his master, and thus securing them from oblivion. Pity that he was not aware that his work might fall into the hands of people from quite another part of the world, and of so different a stage of civilization, language, and learning! else he would certainly not have failed to have given to posterity a more distinct clew to the chronology of the history of his native country.

It is remarkable that the area of the town, although thickly overgrown with rank grass, is quite bare of trees, while the wall is closely hemmed in by a dense forest; and when I entered the ruins, I found them to be the haunt of a couple of tall ostriches, the only present possessors of this once animated ground; but on the southwest corner, at some distance from the wall, there was a small hamlet.

The way in which the komádugu, assisted probably by artificial means, spreads over this whole region, is very remarkable. The passage of the country at the present season of the year, covered as it is with the thickest forest, was extremely difficult, and we had to make a very large circuit in order to reach the village of Zéngirí, where the river could be most easily crossed. I myself went, on this occasion, as far southwest as Zaraima, a village lying on a steep bank near a very strong bend or elbow of the river, which, a little above, seems to be formed by the two principal branches, the one coming from the country of Bedde, and the other more from the south; but, notwithstanding the great cir

cuit we made, we had to ford several very extensive backwaters, stretching out, in the deeper parts of the valley, amid a thick belt of the rankest vegetation, before we reached the real channel, which wound along in a meandering course inclosed between sandy banks of about twenty-five feet in elevation, and, with its rich vegetation, presenting a very interesting spectacle. The forest in this part is full of tétel, or Antelope oryx, and of the large antelope called "kargum." The few inhabitants of the district, although they do not cultivate a great deal of corn, can not suffer much from famine, so rich is the supply of the forest as well as of the water. Our evening's repast, after we had encamped near Zéngirí, was seasoned by some excellent fish from the river. However, I must observe here that the Kanúri in general are not such good hunters as the Hausa people, of whom a considerable proportion live by hunting, forming numerous parties or hunting clubs, who on certain days go out into the forest.

Friday, December 3d. Having made a good march the previous day, we were obliged, before attempting the passage of the river with our numerous beasts and heavy luggage, to allow them a day's repose; and I spent it most agreeably on the banks of the river, which was only a few yards from our encampment. Having seen this valley in the dry season, and read so many theories with regard to its connection with the Niger on one side and the Tsád on the other, it was of the highest interest to me to see it at the present time of the year, when it was full of water, and at its very highest point; and I could only wish that Captain William Allen had been able to survey this noble stream in its present state, in order to convince himself of the erroneous nature of his theory of this river running from the Tsád into the so-called Chadda, or rather Bénuwé. Though the current was not very strong, and probably did not exceed three miles an hour, it swept along as a considerable river of about one hundred and twenty yards breadth toward the Tsád, changing its course from a direction E. 12° S. to N. 35° E. While the bank on this side formed a steep sandy slope, the opposite one was flat, and richly adorned with reeds of different species, and luxuriant trees. All was quiet and repose, there being no traffic whatever on the river, with the exception of a couple of homely travelers, a man and woman, who in the simple native style were crossing the river, riding on a pair of yoked calabashes, and immerged in the water up to their middle, while they had stowed away their little clothing inside

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