Chap. LIX. SITUATION OF Bl'RNT-N-KEBBI. 213 
acea and with the bush tsada or bider, the delicious 
cherrylike fruit of which I have mentioned repeatedly, 
and, slightly ascending, reached, a little before eleven 
o'clock, the beautiful site of the former more exten- 
sive wall of the large town of Birni-n-Kebbi. It was 
founded in this commanding position by the dynasty 
of the Kanta, at the time when the rival Songhay 
empire was dashed to pieces and became the prey of 
foreigners and of a number of small tribes, who had 
once been kept in a state of insignificance and sub- 
jection. 
Under such circumstances Kebbi, besides being the 
seat of a powerful kingdom, became also the centre 
of a considerable trade even in gold, till it was de- 
stroyed by the Fulbe under 'Abd Allahi, in the year of 
the Hejra 1221, when a great deal of gold and silver 
is said to have been found among the ruins. The 
royal palace, however (the ruins of which I visited), 
does not seem to have been very extensive ; but this in 
part may be attributed to the fact that a great portion 
of the residence consisted of straw huts for the female 
department and the followers.* The walls of the 
present town are almost a mile distant from those of 
the old one, lying close to the steep slope which, with 
a descent of about 250 feet, goes down here into the 
large green valley or faddama which intersects the 
whole of Kebbi from E.N.E. to W.S.W., and is 
* Kalgo, at the northern foot of the mountain, lies south-west 
from here, and the town of Gurma, at present destroyed, north- 
east beyond the valley. 
r 3 
