Chap. XXXIX. VARIETY OF TREES. 
29 
hajilij, or Balanites, are wanting ; for though the town 
of Kiikawa has received its name from the circum- 
stance that a young tree of this species was found on 
the spot where the sheikh Mohammed el K&nemi, the 
father of the ruling sultan, laid the first foundation of 
the present town, nevertheless scarcely any kuka 
is seen for several miles round Kukawa. 
The sky was cloudy, and the country became less 
interesting than the day before. We met a small troop 
of native traders, with dried fish, which forms a 
great article of commerce throughout Bornu ; for 
though the Kaniiri people at present are almost 
deprived of the dominion, and even the use, of the 
fine sheet of water which spreads out in the midst 
of their territories, the fish, to which their fore- 
fathers have given the name of food (bii-ni, from 
bii, to eat), has remained a necessary article for 
making their soups. The fields in this part of the 
country were not so well looked after, and were in a 
more neglected state, but there was a tolerable variety 
of trees, though rather scanty. Besides prickly under- 
wood of talhas, there were principally the hajilij or 
bfto {Balanites JEgyptiaca), the selim, the kurna, the 
serrakh, and the gherret or Mimosa Nilotica. Farther 
on, a short time before we came to the village Kali- 
kagori, I observed a woman collecting the seeds of an 
eatable Poa, called "kreb" or "kasha," of which there 
are several species, by swinging a sort of basket through 
the rich meadow ground. These species of grasses af- 
ford a great deal of food to the inhabitants of Bornu, 
