144 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. XXV. 
thousand free people, besides at least an equal number 
of slaves ; so that the whole population of the province 
amounts to more than half a million ; though it may 
greatly exceed this number. The governor is able 
to raise an army of seven thousand horse, and more 
than twenty thousand men on foot. In the most 
flourishing state of the country, the governor of Kano 
is said to have been able to bring into the field as 
many as ten thousand horse. 
The tribute which he levies is very large, con- 
sidering the state of the country, amounting alto- 
gether to about one hundred millions of kurdi, besides 
the presents received from merchants. The most con* 
siderable item of his revenue consists in the "kurdi- 
n-kasa " (what is called in Kaniiri " larderam "), or 
the ground-rent. It is said to amount to ninety mil- 
lions, and is levied, both here and in the province 
of Katsena, not from the ground under cultivation, 
but every head of a family has to pay two thousand 
five hundred kurdi, or just a Spanish dollar; in the 
province of Zegzeg, on the contrary, the kurdi-n-kasa 
is a tax of five hundred kurdi levied on every fertana 
or hoe, and a single hoe will cultivate a piece of 
ground capable of producing from one hundred to 
two hundred " demmi " or sheaves of grain (sorghum 
and pennisetum), each of which contains two kel, 
while fifty kel are reckoned sufficient for a man's 
sustenance during a whole year. Besides the kurdi- 
n-kasa, the governor levies an annual tax called 
