Chap. LXXXIII. DEPARTURE FllOM GU^MMEL. 
377 
and his rival, had become quite desolate. The in- 
habitants had deserted their native villages, leaving 
the crops standing ripe in the fields, and forsaking 
everything which had been dear to them. Not a 
sinojle human beino: was to be seen for a stretch of 
O CD 
more than twenty-five miles, when at length we fell 
in with a party of native travellers, or fataki, who 
were going to Kano. We soon after reached the small 
town of Eanyakangwa, surrounded by a wall and 
stockade, and encamped on the stubble-fields which 
were covered with small diim-bush, not far from a 
deep well, and we were glad to find that we had at 
length reached a land of tolerable plenty, the corn 
being just half the price it was in Giimmel. There 
were also a great number of cattle, and I had a 
plentiful supply of milk ; but water was at the pre- 
sent season very scanty, and I could scarcely imagine 
what the people would do in the dry season. 
A march of a little more than two miles brought 
us to MaMm, consisting of two villages, the eastern 
one being encompassed by a clay wall which was 
being repaired, while the western one, where the pre- 
sent governor resided, was just being surrounded 
with a stockade. Between the two villages lies the 
market-place where a market is held every Sunday 
and Thursday. The present governor of Mashena, 
whose father I had visited on my former journey, is 
a young and inexperienced man, who may have some 
difficulty in protecting his province in the turbu- 
lent state into which the empire of B6rnu has been 
