172 PROM THE NIGEE TO THE NILE 



He goes on to reflect upon the mournful comparison of this 

 solid mode of building of former times with the ephemeral 

 architecture of the Bornu of to-day as sad evidence of a 

 retrograde race. But it seems to me very difficult to believe 

 that the arts of brick- making, and of building houses solid 

 enough to rank as architecture, could ever have belonged to 

 the people of Bornu, and then have perished so utterly as 

 to leave no trace of themselves in the direct descendants of 

 those by whom these cities are said to have been founded. 

 Is it not far more likely that the powerful king who built 

 them in the fifteenth century was one of an alien dynasty, 

 which, having conquered the land, held it by military power, 

 and used in forced labour the unintelligent natives to make 

 bricks for them and build blindly from their designs ? 

 To such an origin are due the splendid castles which 

 crown the heights of the west coast of Africa — relics of the 

 Dutch occupation, that has passed away without leaving 

 a trace of the builders' art in the descendants of the slaves 

 who raised those walls for their conquerors and cemented 

 them with blood and tears. 



On October 1 Gosling arrived at Bulturi, to find that the 

 Kachella of Yo had passed through the same morning with 

 a hundred horsemen on his way to Gaidam, scouring the 

 country for Tubu raiders. He sent back a message to 

 Gosling saying that he would send a headman to Yo to see 

 after things for him. The next stopping-place was Pogwa, 

 where a good many ostriches were to be seen. From this 

 place he made a very early start at 1 A.M., doing a long 

 journey of fourteen hours that brought him into Yo. At 

 first sight Yo does not impress one very favourably, for it 



