From thence, in about five days, they reach the City of Kánem, the capital of an extensive and fertile province, of which it bears the name, and in which the inhabitants, who are composed of Musselmen and Pagans, breed multitudes of cattle, and raise innumerable horses for the service of the King.
A journey of ten days more concludes their labour, and brings them to the imperial City of Bornou.[13]
Bornou, the name which the natives give to the country, is distinguished in Arabic by the appellation of Bernou or Bernoa, a word that signifies the land of Noah, for the Arabs conceive that, on the first retiring of the deluge, its mountains received the Ark.
The Climate, as may naturally be expected in a kingdom which seems to be bounded by the 16th and the 26th parallels of latitude, is characterized by excessive, though not by uniform heat. Two seasons, the one commencing soon after the middle of April, the other at the same period of October, may be said to divide the year. The first is introduced by violent winds that bring with them, from the South East and South, an intense heat, with a deluge of sultry rain, and such tempests of thunder and lightning as destroy multitudes of the cattle, and many of the people. During the rainy period (the continuance of which is from three to nine successive days, with short intervals from the occasional changes of the wind to the North or West) the inhabitants confine themselves closely to their dwellings; but the rest of the first season, however sultry and however occasionally wet, is not incompatible with the necessary labours of the husbandman and the shepherd.
At the commencement of the second season in the latter part of October, the ardent heat subsides; the air becomes soft and mild; the weather continues perfectly serene; and as the year declines, an unwelcome coolness precedes the rising of the sun.
The inhabitants, though consisting of such a multitude of nations that thirty languages are said to be spoken in the empire, are alike in their Complexion, which is entirely black, but are not of the Negro cast.
In a climate so warm, the chief recommendations of Dress are decency and ornament: among the poorest, therefore, by whom the first only is regarded, a kind of girdle for the waist is sometimes the only covering; but in general a turban, consisting, as in Barbary, of a red woollen cap, surrounded by folds of cotton, together with a loose robe of coloured cotton of a coarser kind, are also worn.[14]
The Grain that constitutes the principal object of culture in Bornou is Indian corn, of two different kinds, which are distinguished in the country by the names of the gassób, and the gamphúly.
The gassób, which in its general shape resembles the common reed, is of two species; the first grows with a long stalk that bears an ear, which in length is from eight to twelve inches, and contains, in little husks or cavities, from three to five hundred grains, of the size of small pease. The second species, which is common in Tripoli, differs no otherwise from the first than in the shorter size of the ear.
The gamphúly is distinguished from the gassób, by the bulk of the stalk, for that of the gamphúly is much thicker, by the number of its ears, for it has several on the same reed, and by the size of the grain, which is considerably larger. This kind of corn is frequently seen in Spain, and is there called Maize.