Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/431

 other rivals as the chief medium of intercourse. Even at the sultan's court Arabic has ceased to be the official language, even those who understand it affecting to require the aid of an interpreter when it is used in their presence.

The Kanuri people are distinguished by some remarkable qualities. Extremely industrious and mostly monogamous, they take their share jointly with their wives in field operations, in weaving, dyeing, and all other handicrafts. Thus woman is held to be man's equal, in some respects even enjoying certain prerogatives, such as the right of being first saluted. Temperance is a national virtue, and in this respect the converts are much more rigid observers of the law than the preachers. Instruction is widely diffused amongst the Kanari and neighbouring peoples; all

the towns have schools attended by boys, and Kuka possesses the most valuable library in the whole of Sudan east of Timbuktu. The people of Bornu are generally regarded as the most cultured in Central Africa, and their industrial products are the most highly esteemed in all the bazaars. They are skilled workers in metal, and can even cast guns, but have hitherto done nothing to improve the communications. Many of the rivers are still crossed on frail rafts constructed of calabashes and reeds, and the general absence of highways, and consequent high price of merchandise, explains the existence of certain industries which would soon disappear were greater facilities afforded for the development of foreign trade.

Kasr Eggomo, or Birni, first capital of Bornu, stood near a lake in the Middle