Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/442

 which was captured by the Sultan of Wadai in 1871, is the largest town in the kingdom, and before the siege had a population of at least twenty thousand. According to Nachtigal, Bugoman, on the left bank of the Shari, is only one-fourth as large, but occupies one of the most convenient points for caravans to cross the river. Together with its neighbour, Kokorotché, it supplies nearly all the corn required by the markets of the capital.

Kanga, perched on a northern bluff in the Gheré hills to the east of the kingdom,

is held by an independent Sokoro tribe; yet it is regarded by the Baghirmi nation as a sort of metropolis, being the traditional home of the royal dynasty. Southwards stretch the still-unexplored regions watered by the Shari headstreams, and ascending either towards the sources of the Welle or towards a divide between the Tsad and Congo basins. Here lies the Central African region, where the most important geographical discoveries have still to be made in the Dark Continent.