Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/432

 Yeu basin on the border of the Manga territory. Although the enclosure is only 6 miles in circumference, it is said to have contained at one time as many as two hundred thousand inhabitants, but both Birni and the neighbouring Gambera, residence of the sultan, were destroyed in 1809 or 1810 by the conquering Fulahs. The court was then removed to Kafila, called also Birni-el-Jedid, or "New Birni," which lay much nearer Lake Tsad, but which in a few years was replaced by Ngornu, near the south-west angle of the lake. Then followed a change of dynastv, which led to the foundation of a new capital, called Kuka, from a baobab growing on the spot. Kukawa, the form current in West Sudan, is said to mean in Kanuri "he two baobabs."

Kuka, one of the great cities of the interior of the continent, is said by Nachtigal to have a population of from fifty to sixty thousand, without counting the pilgrims, traders, adventurers from all parts of Sudan and of the Moslem world from Marocco to Mesopotamia. It consists of two distinct quarters, forming two regular parallelograms surrounded by walls, with groups of cabins dotted round about. From the neighbouring plain, stretching away towards the south-west shore of the lake, the city is scarcely visible, the trees overshadowing every house giving it rather the appearance of a thickly wooded tract. The western and more populous section, forming a regular quadrilateral nearly two square miles in extent, is the centre of all the life and trade of the place, the eastern section, containing the royal palace and most of the courtiers, being comparatively deserted. During the rainy season the streets are converted into quagmires, and stagnant ponds are even formed, in one of which Nachtigal saw a little crocodile living on the offal thrown to him by the neighbours.

Once a week a great fair is held on the west side, attended by over ten thousand persons, and stocked with European and Eastern wares of all sorts. Needles are in great demand, and Barth, who had a large supply, became known as the "Prince of Needles." Visitors are surprised at the low figures for which costly goods are offered for sale, which is due to the fact that this is the great market for second-hand goods imported especially from Egypt and Asia Minor. But of all the "commodities," the most important are human beings—slaves, eunuchs, court dwarfs. In 1870, Nachtigal witnessed the departure of a caravan of fourteen hundred slaves, of whom one-third were destined for Egypt, the rest for Rhat and Tripoli. Rohlfs speaks of another conveying four thousand captives, which left in successive detachments, taking a fortnight to get clear of Kuka. Since the first half of the present century the legal currency has been Maria Theresa crown pieces, the Spanish douro, and cowries, four thousand of the last mentioned being equivalent to the crown piece at the time of Nachtigal's visit.

Some 30 miles south-east of Kuka, and close to the lake, lies Ngornu, the second largest town in Bornu proper. Owing to the periodical inundations and consequent erosions, Ngornu, like all the coast villages, is constantly moving westwards. To the perils of the floods are added the incessant incursions of the Yedina pirates, who lie in ambush or fall suddenly on the people working in the outskirts. Kawa and Banca are also exposed to these surprises, while Ngigmi and the other coast