224 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



consisting of one street of wretched huts built by the refugees 

 from the fallen city of Burmi, and about seven miles farther 

 on, after journeying through open country sparsely dotted 

 with trees, a rise in the ground brought us in sight of that 

 ill-fated place. At a distance we could not see its desolation, 

 and it appeared still to be a hving city, with its strong walls 

 and white houses of good architecture, above which rose the 

 dark green tops of groups of date palms. But on approach- 

 ing we saw the great cracks and holes in the walls and 

 roofless houses ; not a hving being stirred in the streets, 

 and all the open places were green with high-standing corn. 

 This is the place where the Fulani power was broken once 

 and for all by the British, in what was, perhaps, one of 

 the most picturesque fights of modern times. 



In March 1903, when a British force marched against 

 Kano, they found the great iron gates of the city closed. 

 But when these were blown open, the place offered no further 

 resistance and order was restored and the market in full 

 swing by the evening of the same day. Subsequently, after 

 a shght opposition and some fighting, the city of Sokoto 

 was subdued, but the Sultan Attahiru made his escape and 

 fled southwards to the holy hill of Bima where he hoped to rally 

 his followers, who were even then in considerable numbers. 

 It was then that Captain Hamilton-Browne with Lieutenant 

 Lawrence and a company of men made a successful night 

 march and surprised the rebels at Gwoni at the foot of the 

 hill, capturing their camp and infhcting heavy losses upon 

 them. Thereupon the chief mallam, the fanatic ruler of 

 Burmi, at whose hands a British force some few months 

 before had suffered a reverse and been obliged to retreat to 



