CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE HISTORY OF BO'RNU. 669 
Name of the King. 
Principal Events during the Reign of each King. 
Place where he 
died. 
Length of 
the Reign 
in Lunar 
Years. 
large town of Surrikulo to obedience* ; and 
the country soon became quieter than be- 
fore. Scarcely any vestige of the old dy- 
nasty was left ; even the records of it were 
purposely destroyed — a most unfortunate 
circumstance, which made it very difficult 
for me to obtain what little information I 
have been able to collect. 
The Kuka, built by Mohammed el Kanemi, 
having been destroyed by the people of 
Waday, 'Omar and his vizier built two 
towns in its place, one the eastern town, 
" billa gedibe," as the especial residence of 
the court, the other, the western town, 
" billa futebe. " Thus Kuka has become 
Kukawa. t 
Sheikh 'Omar was now in a much more fa- 
vourable position than his father, being 
sole and indisputable master of the country 
and really the king, though he disdained 
the title. He might have given it a new 
organization, ruling it with a strong and 
impartial hand ; but while he is an upright 
and straightforward man, who certainly 
would like to see the country well ad- 
ministered, he lacks that far-sighted vigour 
which is necessary for ruling an extensive 
kingdom based on a loose state of things, 
with arbitrary power above and turbulent 
habits beneath. Indeed it is most deplorable 
that he has allowed the Tawarek, or rather 
Imoshagh, those inveterate enemies of well- 
governed communities, to persist in their 
desolating and predatory habits. In the 
time of his father there were Tebu set- 
tlements near all the wells on the Fezzan 
road as far as Beduwaram ; all these have 
been deserted successively since the be- 
ginning of the reign of 'Omar, the towns 
of Lari and Wudi have been ransacked by 
the Tawarek, and not a living soul left, 
and the whole of Kanem has become the 
desolate abode of a few unfortunate com- 
munities, and the wild hunting-ground of 
continual adventurous ghazzias from every 
* 'Omar, however, made several other expeditions; one against Gujeba, which is very famous amongst the 
inhabitants. 
t It might be that even before this time the people who spoke more correctly would call the town Kukawa; that is, 
properly, " billa kukawa," the " town filled with kuka- trees," and not Kuka, which is in truth only the name of the 
tree after which the place was called. 
