110 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. LVI. 
The wall was in excellent repair, and well provided 
with loopholes for the bowmen, and it was even 
strengthened by a second wall, of lesser height, on 
the outside. The town has three gates. The wells 
were three fathoms in depth. 
Thursday, The country on the other side of the 
March 24th. ^ own 0 f K urav £ seemed to surpass in 
beauty the district which we had left behind us ; and 
the bentang tree, the sacred tree of the former pagan 
inhabitants, rose here to its full majestic growth, 
while, besides the dorowa and the butter tree, the 
ngdbbore (or sycamore) and the dunnia appeared in 
abundance. The cultivation was here limited to 
sorghum or Indian millet. After awhile the ground 
became rather undulating, and we had to cross several 
small watercourses, at present dry, while boulders of 
granite protruded here and there. The path was 
enlivened by the several troops of horsemen which 
constituted our expeditionary corps. There was first 
the governor of Katsena himself, with a body of about 
200 horse ; then there was an auxiliary squadron of 
about fifty horse, sent by Dembo the governor of 
Kazaure; and lastly Kaura, the serki-n-yaki, or com- 
mander-in-chief of Katsena, with a body of about 
thirty-five well-mounted troopers. This officer, at 
the present time, is the most warlike man in the 
province of Katsena, and had greatly contributed to 
the overthrow and disgrace of Sadiku the former 
governor, in the hope that the government of the 
province might fall to his share ; but he had been 
