Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/420

 352 WEST AFEICA. Crops are also raised of maize, rice, sesame, and ground-nuts, besides a little wheat and barley, which, like the fig, citron, and pomegranate, are of recent introduction. These trees grow to an enormous size, but the fruits are inferior in flavour to those of the Mediterranean regions. Horned cattle, horses, asses, sheep, and goats thrive well, and' despite the pre- cepts of Islam, the people of Kuka keep herds of swine, which act as scavengers in concert with the carrion birds. In Bornu camels are rare, except in the north, where the Koyam people have succeeded in acclimatising a particular variety. Of oxen there are several breeds, of which one is distinguished by enormous horns growing in the form of a lyre 20 inches in circumference at the base ; while another has a hump like that of the zebu, and short movable horns rocking at every step. The horses, introduced from the north during the period of the Mohammedan invasion, are of the Barbary stock, which they still equal in endur- ance, vivacity, and speed. All these domestic animals are carefully tended in well- kept stables, and protected against the "evil eye" by high enclosures furnished with amulets. Wadai. In the Tsad basin the political preponderance belongs at present to Wadai, or Borgu, which is, nevertheless, neither the richest nor the most populous state in this region. Wadai, properly so-called, is a country of small extent lying west of the low Tirdze range, scarcely one- tenth of the subdued territory, not even reckon- ing the vassal states of Kanem and Baghirmi. The sultan's dominions, which are scarcely anywhere clearly defined, are officially conterminous with Dar-For, from which, however, they are separated by no natural frontier, but rather by an inter- mediate neutral zone or borderland occupied by nomad populations. Towards the north and north-west the frontiers oscillate with the migrations of subject tribes moving from camping- ground to camping-ground ; the western limits also are frequently modified by wars and marauding expeditions, while southwards the territories of the reduced tribes have no known confines. But the area of the empire with all its tributary states and dependencies may be roughl}' estimated at about 180,000 square miles, with a scanty population — according to Nachtigal, not exceeding two millions six hundred thousand. Nearly all the attempts hitherto made to visit Wadai have ended in disaster. Curry and Beurmann both perished, one approaching from the east, the other from the west. Yogel reached the capital in 1855, but only to be murdered by the fanatical Mussulman inhabitants; Nachtigal, however, who crossed the frontier in 1873, was more fortunate, by his prudent conduct overcoming prejudice and securing friends even amongst the most zealous Mohammedans. Matteucci and Massari also were at least able to traverse the country rapidly and under escort in 1879. • The Arab element is relatively much larger in Wadai than in any other part of Central or Western Sudan. The indigenous races have, nevertheless, maintained the preponderance, and the Negro Maba nation, comprising one- seventh of the