Chap. L. GENERAL CHARACTER OF MA'S-ENA'. 389 
but in general the soil, consisting of sand, dries very 
quickly after a fall of rain. 
The principal quarter of the town lies on the south 
side of the great hollow or bedd ; but even this very 
central quarter is far from being densely inhabited, 
and was less so during the first month of my residence, 
owing to the absence of the sultan. The central 
point of this quarter, at least in regard to its im- 
portance, if not to its position, is the palace of the 
sultan, the whole arrangement of which is in gene- 
ral similar to the residences of the chiefs in other 
towns, consisting of irregular clusters of clay build- 
ings and huts. But there is a remarkable feature 
in this palace, which distinguishes it in a very 
conspicuous manner from ail other buildings of the 
kind in these countries. This difference consists in 
the wall which surrounds the whole building being 
built, not of sun-dried, but of baked bricks. I have 
had an opportunity of describing, on my journey from 
Kano to Kiikawa, the ruins of the town of Gham- 
bani, which is built of the same material ; and I shall 
further on describe those of Birni or Ghasreggomo, 
the old capital of Bornu, constructed in the same 
manner. But at present the traveller looks in vain 
for such solid buildings in any of the towns of Negro- 
land ; and I was therefore not a little surprised at 
finding it here, in a place where one might least expect 
to see it.* 
* There is another ruin of baked bricks outside the town, on 
the road to A'bu-Gher. 
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