Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/397

 Badamijo, held by the Fali people, and near the divide Uba, the most advanced Fulah settlement in the direction of Lake Tsad.

The Gongola, which joins the Benue a little below Yola, waters the important provinces of Bautchi and Kalam, vassal states of the Fulah empire. Near the source lies the capital, Garo n' Bautchi, better known by the name of Yakoba (Yakobari), either from its founder or from the neighbouring Yako tribe. Like Yola, it is a modern place, built at the beginning of the present century by a

converted Moslem chief, to whom the Fulah sultan had given in fief the vast territory lying between the province of Kano and the Benue. Yakoba stands over 8,000 feet above sea-level in the northern part of this region, surrounded by lofty mountains, whence streams flow in various directions towards the Gongola and other tributaries of the Benue. Thanks to its favourable position at the converging point of several caravan routes, and to other advantages, it increased rapidly, and at the time of Rohlf's visit was said to have already a population of one hundred and fifty thousand, mostly Haussawa.