326 THE AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. 
on the east by Zanfara and Bornou. Cassina, the 
capital, is situated five journeys to the north of the 
Niger, in N. lat. 16° W, and W. long. 11° 45'. 
Cassina is not mentioned by Edrisi, being proba- 
bly at that period subject to Ghana, which has 
now, in its turn, become one of its provinces. Af- 
ter the power of Tombuctoo was reduced by the 
arms of Marocco, it was long considered as the 
most powerful central empire in Africa ; but, at 
present, though the Sultan of Cassina still enume- 
rates a thousand towns and villages in his exten- 
sive domains, he is reckoned much inferior in 
power to the Emperor of Bornou. The territories 
of Cassina consist of a large proportion of land of 
amazing fertility, interspersed with arid wastes, 
where the rays of the sun, reflected from the sand, 
glow like an immense furnace with intense and 
suffocating heat, and sandy heaths, where the 
odoriferous she plant, which, though superior in 
fragrance, resembles the wild thyme of Europe, 
vegetates luxuriantly. The surface of the ground 
is generally level, though interrupted by naked 
rocks, and rising in some places into mountains 
of considerable elevation. The soil is sandy, but 
intermixed in various proportions with a flat black 
vegetable mould, insalubrious, in some degree, to 
animal life. As the rains are more temperate 
than in some of the more northern districts of 
Africa, the ground is extremely productive of 
