33 



" In the neighbourhood of the capital and for a distance of even 

 eighty to a hundred miles in all directions, is a perfect garden, 

 and nothing strikes the traveller to Kano so much as this vast 

 expanse of cultivation. Whether he approaches the great city 

 from the north, south, east, or west, the same sight greets him ; 

 hitherto he has seen, nothing like it in Africa, for the most fertile 

 lands in other parts are mere patches of cultivation compared 

 with the province of Kano. Acres of Guinea corn are succeeded 

 by acres of Indian corn, wheat, rice, or other cereals ; then 

 follows a stretch of cotton and millet, the two sown together in 

 alternate rows, so that the latter may protect the former when 

 young from the fierce rays of the sun ; here is a field of indigo, 

 there a plantation of cassava (manioc) or of ground nuts ; while 

 beyond again is a veritable kitchen garden, well stocked with 

 peas, beans, bananas, sweet potatoes, onions, and every variety of 

 vegetable and herb. All these crops are produced with little 

 actual labour beyond sowing and reaping. The hoe is the only 

 agricultural implement, and the soil is hardly turned, and never 

 dressed, the rest being left to nature. Valuable trees also stand 

 scattered among the cornfields, and from them the farmer obtains, 

 simply for the gathering, many saleable articles. Such are the 

 shea-butter tree, the locust, the gambier, the tamarind, the baobab, 

 and a species of plum tree. Silkworms feed on the tamarind 

 leaves, and bees in great quantities nest in the trees near the 

 villages, being carefully preserved for the sake of their honey and 

 wax ; while the pastoral tribes possess large herds and flocks." 



Mr. (now Sir William) Wallace,* in describing the Sokoto 

 Empire and Borgu, states that " most of the land is under culti- 

 vation with the exception of perhaps a fourth lying fallow in its 

 turn. Much of the ground in the neighbourhood of the towns is 

 divided into fields by raised earth-work dykes, or hedges mostly 

 of cactus." 



" After the first rain they sow corn. The ground is not cleared, 

 indeed it hardly requires it, for undergrowth there is none, and 

 with the exception of such stumps of last year's crops as have not 

 been pulled up and used for fuel the ground is as bare as the palm 

 of one's hand. I did expect, however, that the soil would in some 

 manner get a turnover, but even this was not usually necessary, 

 the old furrows being used again and again. The corn is sown on 

 the top of them in the spaces between last year's stumps, which 

 are on an average about 3 ft. apart, while the width of the furrows 

 is generally about the same ; but this distance varies from 1 to 4 ft., 

 according to the richness or poverty of the soil. The furrows are 

 barred across with earth every 20 to 40 ft., to retain the rain, so 

 that after a heavy shower the whole country appears as if covered 

 with innumerable little reservoirs. One labourer walks with a 

 light hoe, with which he lifts small clods out at the regulation 

 distance. The sower follows him and drops six to twelve grains 

 of the cereal into each hole, pressing back the clod on top of the 

 grain with his foot. The grain ripens in from four to seven 

 months, according to the variety, the Guinea grain taking the 

 longest ; during this time the ground requires cleaning three or 

 four times. All the population are farmers, with the exception of 



* Geop:. Journ., Vol. viii., 1S96, p. 212. 

 33385 C 



