Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/374

 earlier, Katsena was a centre of civilisation frequented by strangers from all quarters, and at that time the kings, although nominally vassals of Bornu, were practically independent. They offered a heroic resistance to the Fulahs, the siege of the capital lasting from 1807 to 1814, and accompanied by a frightful famine, during which carrion birds, lizards, and snakes, were sold at exorbitant prices. After its capture the Fulahs showed no mercy to the inhabitants, and endeavoured to efface all traces of their ancient independence, burning the historical records and razing to the ground the town of Dankama, where the king had taken refuge after the siege.

Kano, at present the largest place in east Haussa, lies within the Tsad basin at the foot of the Dala rock, which was formerly crowned by a citadel. Like Katsena

it consisted originally of a number of villages, which were all enclosed within carefully preserved ramparts 15 miles in circumference. Towards the south are still visible the remains of a still more ancient enclosure now covered with houses. Scattered over the irregular oval space within the walls are several flooded depressions, the largest of which extends 2 miles east and west, but is crossed in the middle by an isthmus, or "bridge," leading north to the great market-place.

Kano rose to importance only after the fall of Katsena, when traders were obliged to remove the centre of their operations to this place. Inside the walls it occupies at least 10 square miles, peopled by immigrants of every race, each residing in its own quarter. Kano carries on an active trade, especially in cotton fabrics woven and dyed by the people themselves with the cotton and indigo