paper ; 2. From the south, English cloth, salt, German dyes and 

 Austrian beads. Exports to Europe are leather, ivory, and 

 feathers, the bulk of which go to Tripoli. 



For a radius of 30 miles round the city of Kano, the country is 

 closely cultivated and densely populated. There are many 

 streams but water is obtained chiefly from wells 15 to 40 ft. deep. 

 The drainage is to the Wobe river, which flows into Lake Chad. 

 All the African grain crops are grown, "dawa" (Andropogon 

 Sorghum, Brot., var. vulgaris. Hack.) and "gero" Pennisetum 

 typlioideum, Rich.) being the staples, the latter especially in the 

 north. Irrigation is practised along the river banks, and crops of 

 wheat, ob ions, tobacco, sugar-cane, cassava, and other valuable 

 products are raised. 



Sir William Wallace* gives an interesting account of the iron 

 smelting industry at Fawa, one of the chief towns in the 

 province. 



The province of Bomu has an area of about 33,000 square miles. 

 It is mainly a vast plain, stoneless, except for rare outcrops of 

 ironstone, and consists of porous fissured black earth, known 

 as " cotton soil " in India, alternating with or more probably over- 

 laid by sand and broken only by sand dunes. Water is apparently 

 found everywhere at a depth of 54 ft. corresponding to the level 

 of Lake Chad. On the northern boundary of the province is a 

 remarkable Salt desertf described by Lt.-Col. Elliot, R.E.,as follows : 

 u The meridian that ascends northward from the parallel of 

 13° 20' N. to 14° N. passes roughly through the middle of it. It is 

 covered with grass about 4 ft. high, diversified here and there by 

 lines of Borassus palms, which mark the course of the depressions 

 where water is usually to be found at a small depth below the 

 surface, even if they do not contain pools. Deposits, sometimes 

 of potash, sometimes of what the African is pleased to call table 

 salt, are left wherever the water dries. These deposits are worked 

 by the natives who come from long distances at the end of the 

 rains and establish themselves at the workings in temporary 

 shelters made of palm leaves or grass. They scrape up the soil 

 newly impregnated by the evaporated and infiltrated water, carry 

 it off and fill it into strong baskets, placed in a frame above an 

 earthen pot, water is poured over to dissolve out the salt, and when 

 the receiver below is full of brine it is taken away and evaporated 

 by boiling. The salt thus obtained is not pleasant to European 

 taste nor is it advisable to indulge freely in it. It is neatly 

 packed in mats made of palm leaves and carried long distances to 

 trade."{ 



* Geog. Journ., Vol. viii., 1896, p. 214 ; ' ; Notes on a journey through the Sokoto 

 Empire and Borgu " in 1894. 



f This region is called by Capt. Cochrane, the Salt Lake Area, where the 

 natives come in the cool season (October to March) to make salt. Be found 

 numerous lakes occupying depressions of the ground surrounded by a few palm 

 trees (Geog. Journ., Vol. xxiii., 1904, p. 127). In a report on some samples of 

 salt from the Bomu Province, examined at the Imperial Institute, it is stated 

 that the area in which the salt is produced appears to extend over about 500 square 

 miles, and to be due west of Kuka, and about 70 miles from the shores of Lake 

 Chad, part of the area lving in French territory (Col. Rep., Misc., No. 46, 1908, 

 p. 2). 



X Geog. Journ., Vol. xxiv,, 1904, p. 517, "The Anglo-French Niger-Chad 

 Boundary Commission.'' 



