The dynasty founded by Komáyo comprised four kings in succession, besides its founder, namely, Rámba, Téryau, Jerinnáta, and Sanáwu. Sanáwu, after a reign of thirty years, is said to have been killed by Koráwu, who came from a place named Yendútu, and founded a new dynasty (if we count backwards from the time of Ibrahím Máji) about the year 722 of the Hejra; but, of course, I do not pretend to any exactness in these dates. Whether Ibrahím Máji belonged to the same dynasty which Koráwu had founded, I am not able to say. About thirty years before the time of Ibrahím Máji, in the year 919 A.H., or 1513 A.D., occurred that eventful expedition of the great Sónghay king Háj Mohammed Áskiá which threw all these countries into the greatest confusion. According to Leo, at that time Kátsena acknowledged the supremacy of Kanó, having been subjected for only a short time to the sway of the King of Sónghay, and afterwards most probably to that of the energetic and successful King of Kébbi, who repulsed the great Áskiá. Kátsena must have fallen very soon under the supremacy of the empire of Bórnu. About fifty years after the beginning of the reign of the first Moslim king, a new dynasty commenced, that of the Hábe,[23] which, as it is unanimously stated to have ruled for a hundred and sixty-nine years, and as it was driven out by the Fúlbe in the year of the Hejra 1222, must have commenced about the year 1053 (A.D. 1643). In this latter dynasty, however, there seem to have been two factions (or families), which are noticed already in the preceding dynasty, one of which was called Chagarána, and the other Káryaghíwá.[24] But before speaking of the struggle between the Fúlbe and the Hábe, I shall say a few words about the town of Kátsena.
The town, probably, did not receive the name of the province till it had become large and predominant; which event, if Leo be correct, we must conclude did not happen much before the middle of the sixteenth century of our era, while in early times some separate villages probably occupied the site where, at a later period, the immense town spread out. The oldest of these villages is said to have been Ambutéy or Mbutéy, where we must presume Komáyo and his successors to have resided. After Gógó had been conquered by Muláy Hámed, the Emperor of Morocco, and, from a large and industrious capital, had become a provincial town, great part of the commerce which formerly centred there must have been transferred to Kátsena, although this latter place seems never to have had any considerable trade in gold, which formed the staple of the market of Gógó. Thus the town went on increasing to that enormous size, the vestiges of which still exist at the present time, although the quarter actually inhabited, comprises but a small part of its extent.
The town, if only half of its immense area were ever tolerably well inhabited, must certainly have had a population of at least a hundred thousand souls; for its circuit is between thirteen and fourteen English miles. At present, when the inhabited quarter is reduced to the north-western part, and when even this is mostly deserted, there are scarcely seven or eight thousand people living in it. In former times it was the residence of a prince, who, though he seems never to have attained to any remarkable degree of power, and was indeed almost always in some degree dependent on, or a vassal of, the King of Bórnu, nevertheless was one of the most wealthy and conspicuous rulers of Negroland.[25] Every prince at his accession to the throne had to forward a sort of tribute or present to Birni Ghasréggomo, the capital of the Bórnu empire, consisting of one hundred slaves, as a token of his obedience; but this being done, it does not appear that his sovereign rights were in any way interfered with. In fact Kátsena, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of our era, seems to have been the chief city of this part of Negroland, as well in commercial and political importance as in other respects; for here that state of civilization which had been called forth by contact with the Arabs seems to have reached its highest degree, and as the Háusa language here attained the greatest richness of form and the most refined pronunciation, so also the manners of Kátsena were distinguished by superior politeness from those of the other towns of Háusa.
But this state of things was wholly changed, when, in the very beginning of the present century, in the year 1222 of the Hejra, or 1807 of our era, the Fúlbe, called Féllani by the Háusa, and Felláta by the Bórnu people, raised to the highest pitch of fanaticism by the preaching of the Reformer or Jihádi ʿOthmán dan Fódiye, and formed into the religious and political association of the Jemmáʿa, or, as they pronounce it, Jemmára, succeeded in possessing themselves of this town. However, while Kanó fell ingloriously, and almost without resistance, into the hands of Slimán (the Háusa king el Wáli having escaped to Zária), the struggle for Kátsena was protracted and sanguinary. Indeed Mʿallem Ghomáro had carried on unrelenting war against the town for seven years, before he at length reduced it by famine; and the distress in the town is said to have been so great that a dead “ángulú” or vulture (impure food which nobody would touch in time of peace) sold for five hundred kurdí, and a kadángeré or lizard for fifty. But the struggle did not cease here; for the “Hábe” succeeded once more in expelling the conquerors from the town, without, however, being able to maintain their position, when Mʿallem Ghomáro returned with a fresh army. Five princes of Kátsena, one after the other, fell in this struggle for religious and national independence; and the Púllo general was not quite secure of his conquest till after the total destruction of the town of Dánkama, when Mágajin Háddedu was slain only four months after his predecessor Mahamúdu had succumbed in Sabóngarí. Even then the new Háusa prince Benóni, who still bore the title of “serkí-n-Kátsena,” did not lay down his arms, but maintained the contest till he likewise was conquered and slain in Túntuma.
1, House where I was lodged during my first stay in Kátsena in 1851; 2, House belonging to the quarter Dóka where I was lodged in 1853; 3, The Zénsere; 4, Palace of the governor; 5, Market-place; 6, Old mosque; 7, Kofa-n-Gúga; 8, Kofa-n-Yendúkki; 9, Kofa-n-Koya; 10, Kofa-n-Gazúbi; 11, Kofa-n-Káura; 12, Kofa-n-Marúsa; 13, Kofa-n-Dúrdu; 14, Kofa-n-Samrí; 15, A brook formed by a spring; 16, Former place of encampment of salt caravan.
From this time the town declined rapidly, and all the principal foreign merchants migrated to Kanó, where they were beyond the reach of this constant struggle; and even the Ásbenáwa transferred their salt-market to the latter place, which now became the emporium of this part of Negroland, while Kátsena retained but secondary importance as the seat of a governor. This is indeed to be lamented, as the situation of the town is excellent, and, both on account of its position to the various routes and of its greater salubrity, is far preferable to Kanó. However, as matters stand, unless either the Fúlbe succeed in crushing entirely the independent provinces to the north and north-west (which, in the present weak state of the empire of Sókoto, is far from probable), or till the Goberáwa and Mariadáwa, whose king still bears the title of serkí-n-Kátsena, reconquer this town, it will continue to decline and become more desolate every year. In fact Mohammed Béllo, the present governor, had conceived the design of giving up this immense town altogether, and of founding a new residence of smaller compass in its neighbourhood; but his liege lord, Alíyu, the Emír el Múmenín, would not allow him to do so.
The only inhabited part of the town at present is the north-west quarter, although any one who should omit to take into account the population scattered over the other parts, principally round about the residence of the governor, and the people settled in the hamlets near the gates, would make a great mistake. Here it may be added, that most of the importance which Kátsena has still preserved, in a commercial aspect, is due to its position with respect to Núpe, with which it keeps up a tolerably lively intercourse, the route from it to that industrious but most unfortunate country being practicable even for camels, while the road from Kanó can only be travelled with horses and asses. Almost all the more considerable native merchants in Kátsena are Wangaráwa (Eastern Mandingoes).
The province of Kátsena was formerly far more extensive than it is at present, but it has been curtailed, in order not to leave its governor too much inducement to make himself independent. Besides, many parts of it, being much exposed to the continual incursions of the independent Háusáwa, have greatly suffered, so that probably the population of the whole province does not now exceed three hundred thousand souls, of whom only about one-half seem to pay tribute. Every head of a family has to pay here two thousand five hundred kurdí-n-kassa, or ground-rent, and the whole of the kurdí-n-kassa of the province is estimated by those best acquainted with the affairs of the country at from twenty to thirty millions; a tax of five hundred kurdí is levied also on every slave. The military force of the province consists of two thousand horsemen, and about eight thousand men on foot, most of them archers. Altogether the province of Kátsena is one of the finest parts of Negroland, and being situated just at the water-parting between the basin of the Tsád and that of the Kwára, at a general elevation of from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred feet, it enjoys the advantage of being at once well watered and well drained, the chains of hills which diversify its surface sending down numerous rapid streams, so that it is less insalubrious than other regions of this continent. Its productions are varied and rich, though its elevated situation seems unfavourable to the growth of cotton. But, on the other side, useful trees seem to be more numerous in this district than in any other under the same latitude; and the áyaba or banana, and the gónda or papaya, are found in many favoured spots, while the dorówa or Parkia, the tsámia or tamarind, and the kadeña, or the Shea butter-tree (Bassia Parkii), are the most common trees everywhere, and very often form thick clusters.