A quarter of an hour after noon we passed the considerable place Dan-Sábua, defended only by a stockade, and, with the exception of a small market-place, giving very little proof of any kind of industry existing among its inhabitants. When I passed the place three years later, it even seemed almost deserted. About two miles further on we passed a small round hill covered with underwood up to its very summit, and remarkable enough for being taken as a boundary mark between the provinces of Kátsena and Kanó; in 1854, however, the frontier was carried further north-west, near Kaférda. We encamped early in the afternoon near the village Gúrzo, separated from it only by a dell laid out in small garden-fields with wheat and onions, and obtained a good supply of the latter, but nothing else. In the night a thief almost succeeded in carrying off some of our luggage, but had to run very hard for his life.
Early the next morning we started with an enthusiastic impulse, in order to reach before night the celebrated emporium of Central Negroland. Kanó, indeed, is a name which excites enthusiasm in every traveller in these regions, from whatever quarter he may come, but principally if he arrives from the north. We thus started in the twilight, passing in the bush some herds of cattle remaining out in the pasture-grounds, and meeting several troops of travellers, which made us fancy the capital to be nearer than it really was. We listened to the tales of our comely and cheerful companion, the “babá-n-báwa” of Tágelel, who detailed to us the wonders of this African London, Birmingham, and Manchester—the vastness of the town, the palace and retinue of the governor, the immense multitudes assembled every day in its marketplace, the splendour and richness of the merchandise exposed there for sale, the various delicacies of the table, the beauty and gracefulness of its ladies. At times my fiery Tunisian mulatto shouted out from mere anticipation of the pleasures which awaited him.
Keeping steadily along, we reached, after about five miles, the very considerable town of Béchi, the well-kept high clay walls of which started forth suddenly from a most luxuriant mass of vegetation, where we saw again the beautifully feathered serdi fluttering about from branch to branch.
The town is very remarkable, as exhibiting the peculiar circumstances of the social state in this country; for it belongs partly to the Tuarek tribe of the Itísan, whose búgaje or serfs—properly half-castes, born of free mothers, but slaves from the father’s side—live here, cultivating for their lords the fields around the town. Thus we see Tuarek everywhere, not only as occasional merchants, but even as settlers and proprietors. The town has but one gate; and a great many of the houses are of the kind described above. Beyond the town the country becomes less cultivated, and is mostly covered with the wild gónda-bush, which bears a most delicious fruit, richly deserving to be called the cream-apple. I suspected it for some time to be identical with the custard-apple; but I afterwards assured myself that it is not. I call the attention of every African traveller to this fruit, which affords the greatest relief after a long day’s journey; but it does not grow on the flat clayey plains of Bórnu proper.
Beyond the little market-place of Budúmme we met the first strings of empty camels belonging to the aïri with which we had been travelling. They were returning from Kanó, where they had carried the salt, in order to retrace their steps to good pasture-grounds, while their masters remained in the capital to sell their merchandise. The drivers confirmed the information we had already received, that our protector Elaíji had not as yet arrived in the town. For he likewise possesses a large property near Kazáure, whither he had gone after parting from me at Kátsena. The country again assumed a more cheerful character; we passed several villages, and even a máriná, or dyeing-place, and the path was well frequented. Almost all the people who met us saluted us most kindly and cheerfully; and I was particularly amused by the following form of salutation: “Bárka, sanú sanú; hm! hm!” “God bless you, gently, gently; how strange!” Only a few proud Féllani, very unlike their brethren in the west, passed us without a salute. The villages are here scattered about in the most agreeable and convenient way, as farming villages ought always to be, but which is practicable only in a country in a state of considerable security and tranquillity. All their names, therefore, are in the plural form, as Tarauráwa, Jimbedáwa, Bagadáwa. The idea of a great degree of industry was inspired by the sight of a máriná near Jimbedáwa, comprising as many as twenty dyeing-pots; and here also a little market was held by the women of the district. About half-past one in the afternoon we entered the rich district of Dáwano, which almost exclusively belongs to the wealthy Dan Mália, and is chiefly inhabited by Féllani. There was here a large market-place, consisting of several rows of well-built sheds, and frequented by numbers of people. A few market-women attached themselves to our little troop, giving us assurance that we should be able to reach the “bírni” to-day, but then added that we ought to arrive at the outer gate before sunset, as it is shut at that time.
We accordingly pressed on with our varied little caravan, consisting of a very lean black horse, covered with coarse wool-like hair, worth four dollars, or perhaps less; a mare, scarcely worth more in its present condition; a camel, my faithful Bú-Séfi, evidently the most respectable four-footed member of the troop, carrying a very awkward load, representing my whole travelling household, with writing-table and bedding-boards; a sumpter-ox, heavily laden; then the four human bipeds to match, viz. one half-barbarized European, one half-civilized Góberáwi Tunisian mulatto, a young lean Tébu lad, and my stout, sturdy, and grave overseer from Tágelel. As we then entered some fields of sesamum, or “nóme” (quite a new sight for me in this country, but which was soon to become of very common occurrence), Gajére descried in the distance between the trees the top of the hill Dála, and we all strained our eyes to get a first glimpse of this hill, which is the real landmark of Kanó.
The country hereabouts exhibited a new feature, some of the fields being enclosed with a bush which I had not seen before, and which was called by my intelligent guide “fidde serewukka.” In Múniyo, where I afterwards saw it used for the same purpose, it is called “mágara.” It is a kind of broom, growing to the height of ten or twelve feet, and has a milky juice, which is slightly poisonous, but by some people is employed as a cure for wounds caused by thorns. A little while afterwards we saw the first single date-palm, a tree also most characteristic of Kanó; and now, the country becoming clear, we obtained a full sight of both the hills, Dalá and Kógo-n-dútsi, which rise from the flat level of the plain; but nothing was as yet visible of the town, and we had but faint hopes of reaching it before sunset. However, we went on, though a little disheartened, as we had some foreboding that we should incur the displeasure of the governor; and passing through the gate, in front of which part of the aïri were encamped, without stopping, as if we were natives of the country, went on across open fields. It took us forty minutes to reach the house of Báwu from the gate, though this lies near the very outskirts of Dalá, the northernmost quarter of the town. It was quite dark, and we had some trouble in taking possession of the quarters assigned to us by our host.
Kanó had been sounding in my ears now for more than a year; it had been one of the great objects of our journey as the central point of commerce, as a great storehouse of information, and as the point whence more distant regions might be most successfully attempted. At length, after nearly a year’s exertions, I had reached it.
CHAPTER XXV.
RESIDENCE IN KANÓ.—VIEW OF ITS INTERIOR.—ITS HISTORY AND PRESENT STATE.—COMMERCE.
Kanó for us was a station of importance not only from a scientific, but also from an economical point of view. Instead of being provided with ready cash, we had received in Múrzuk, on account of the British Government, merchandise which, we had been assured, would not only be safer than money, but would also prove more advantageous for us. In consequence of the heavy extortions to which we were subjected on the road to Aír, and of our long delay in that country, we had been deprived of the small articles which we carried for barter, so that we were entirely thrown upon the merchandise which we had forwarded in advance from Tintéggana; and I for my part, on my arrival in Kanó, had to liquidate a debt of not less than 112,300 kurdí: viz. 55,000 for the carriage of this very merchandise from Tintéggana to Kanó; 8,300 as my share of the presents or passage-money given on the road; 18,000 to Gajére, as hire for the mare and bullock; and 31,000 to a man of the name of Háj el Dáwaki, on account of Abú-Bakr el Wákhshi, for the articles bought from him in Kátsena, in order to satisfy the governor of that place. Besides, I was aware that I had to make a considerable present to the governor of Kanó; and I was most desirous to discharge Mohammed eʾ Túnsi, whom I had discovered to be utterly useless in these countries, and who, besides his insupportable insolence, might bring me into trouble by his inconsiderate and frivolous conduct.