Chap. XXV. SALT-TRADE. — IVORY. 
133 
salt which I have above computed as comprising the 
airi with which I reached Katsena, we may suppose 
one-third to be sold in the province of Kano ; and 
therefore that hereby a value of from fifty to eighty 
millions annually is drained from the country. But 
we must not forget that the money which is paid for 
this requisite (and not only for that consumed in 
Kan6, but also in other provinces) is entirely laid 
out by the sellers in buying the produce of Kano* ; 
viz., cloth and corn. Here, therefore, is an abso- 
lute balance — a real exchange of necessaries and 
wants. 
As for ivory, at present it does not form a very 
important branch of the commerce of Kano ; and I 
scarcely believe that more than one hundred kantars 
pass through this place. The lowest price of the 
kantar is in general thirty dollars, or 75,000 kurdi; 
but it often rises to forty dollars, or 100,000 kurcli, 
and even more, though I have seen it bought with 
ready money for twenty-five dollars. 
Of European goods the greatest proportion is still 
imported by the northern road, while the natural 
road, by way of the great eastern branch of the so- 
called Niger, will and must, in the course of events, 
be soon opened. 
But 1 must here speak about a point of very great 
importance for the English, both as regards their 
honour and their commercial activity. The final 
opening of the lower course of the Kwara has been 
K 3 
