164 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTOIf. 



Two days after, he entered Kano, the Ghana of Edfid, 

 and which is now, as it was six hundred years ago, the 

 chief commercial city of Houssa and of all Central Africa. 

 Yet it disappointed our traveller on his first entry, and for 

 a quarter of a mile scarcely appeared a city at all. Even in 

 its more crowded quarters the houses rose generally in 

 clusters, only separated by large stagnant pools. The in- 

 habited part, on the whole, did not appear to comprise more 

 than a fourth of the space enclosed by the walls, while the 

 rest consisted of fields, gardens, and swamps ; however, as 

 the whole circuit is fifteen miles, there is space for a popu- 

 lation moderately estimated to be between 30,000 and 

 40,000. Its market, the greatest scene of commercial 

 transactions in Africa, is held on a neck of land between 

 two swamps, by which, during the rains, it is entirely over- 

 flowed ; but in the dry season it is covered with sheds, or 

 stalls of bamboo, arranged into regular streets. Different 

 quarters are allotted for the several kinds of goods ; some 

 for cattle, others for vegetables ; while fruits of various de- 

 scriptions, so much neglected in Bornou, are here displayed 

 in profiision. The fine cotton fabrics of the country are 

 sold either in webs, or in what are called tohcs and turka' 

 dees, with rich silken stripes or borders ready to be added. 

 Among the favourite articles are goora or kolla nuts, which 

 are called African coffee, being supposed to give a peculiar 

 relish to the water drunk after them ; and crude antimony, 

 with whose black tint every eyebrow in Houssa must be 

 died. The Arabs also dispose here of sundry commodities 

 that have become obsolete in the north ; the cast-off dresses 

 of the Mamelukes and other great men, and old sword- 

 blades from Malta. But the busiest scene is the slave- 

 market, composed of two long ranges of sheds, one for 

 males and another for females. These poor creatures are 

 seated in rows, decked out for exhibition ; the buyer scru- 

 tinizes them as nicely as a purchaser with us does a horse, 

 inspecting the tongue, teeth, eyes, and limbs, making them 

 cough and perform various movements, to ascertain if there 

 be any thing unsound ; and in case of a blemish appearing, 

 or even without assigning a reason, he may return them 

 within three days. As soon as the slaves are sold, the ex- 

 poser gets back their finer\% to be employed in ornamenting 

 others. Most of the captives purchased at Kano are con- 

 veyed across the Desert durinti which their masters endea- 



