THE SULTANATE OF
BORNU
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
OF DR. A. SCHULTZE
FIRST LIEUTENANT (RETIRED) IMPERIAL GERMAN ARMY
WITH
ADDITIONS AND APPENDICES
BY
P. ASKELL BENTON, B.A., F.R.G.S.
C. C. C. OXON.
AND A THIRD CLASS RESIDENT, BORNU PROVINCE, NORTHERN NIGERIA
Σπάρταν ἔλαχες, Σπάρταν κόσμει
Spartam nanctus es, hanc exorna
HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE
AND BOMBAY
1913
_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_
KANURI READINGS. Price 6s. net. Postage at home and abroad, 3d. extra.
NOTES ON SOME LANGUAGES OF THE WESTERN SUDAN. Price 7s. 6d. net. Postage
at home and abroad, 3d. extra.
HUMPHREY MILFORD
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE
This translation of Dr. Schultze’s monograph on Bornu has been
undertaken in the hope that it may be of use and interest to those who,
like the translator, cannot read German ‘with their feet on the fender’.
The translator’s own knowledge of German is, in fact, almost _nil_, and
the translation has been painfully worried out at odd times with the
constant aid of a dictionary. In the work of revision, however, he has
had the assistance of Alexander Siemens, Esq., and of various members of
his family, who have an intimate knowledge of both English and German;
to them the translator wishes to express his most cordial gratitude.[1]
The translation is published by permission of Herr G. W. Baedeker, of
Essen, owner of the German copyright.
It is not generally realized, even in Nigeria, how ancient and powerful
the old Bornu Empire was. In the fifteenth century it was the greatest
power in Central Africa and its boundaries extended to Fezzan, the
Niger, and practically to the Benue. The Hausas, of whom one hears so
much nowadays, were then a congérie of obscure semi-pagan tribes,[2]
while the Fulani are, of course, politically speaking, mere upstarts of
a century ago. Bornu was never conquered by the Fulani—the only state of
any size in Nigeria that was not—and, as regards the Hausas, the Kanuri
have always despised them as an inferior race.[3] According to the
article on the Azhar Mosque, the great Mohammedan University in Cairo,
by K. Vollers, in the _Encyclopaedia of Islam_ now in course of
publication, the Kanuri are given as one of the twenty-six great
‘Arwika’, into which the Azhar students are divided, and which seem to
correspond roughly to the ‘nations’ in the older German Universities:
the Hausas are not even mentioned among the ‘also rans’.
These facts are emphasized because there is a tendency among those who
have no close knowledge of Bornu towards the attitude that outside the
Hausas or Fulani there is no salvation. It is commonly believed—utterly
erroneously—and the statement has even appeared in print, that the Hausa
language is generally understood in Bornu. As a matter of fact not 1 per
cent. of the Kanuri proper either speak or understand it, and it has
made little, if any, progress during the ten years of the British
occupation of their country.
No one who knows the Kanuri of the present day would pretend that he is
a very admirable or a very amiable creature, or that he is the equal of
the Hausa either morally or mentally. He has, however, a history and a
social system of his own, as will be seen in the following pages.
The maps in this translation have been printed from the same plates as
those in the German edition in order to save expense. They, therefore,
do not show the exchange of the small piece of territory on the Shari,
known as the ‘Duck’s Bill’, between France and Germany by the recent
international agreement. A map of the country involved appears in
Macleod, _Chiefs and Cities of Central Africa_, p. 37.
The references in the foot-notes to the English edition of Barth have
been verified for me by Mr. John Arthur. He informs me that the English
and German editions vary considerably, and whole paragraphs are
sometimes omitted.
The notes in square brackets—thus [ ]—and all the Appendices except No.
I have been added by the translator. They naturally refer chiefly to
British Bornu, whereas the original author was more interested in German
Bornu.
For assistance in giving the English names of the Fauna mentioned in
Chapter VI, I have to thank the kindness of various officials of the
South Kensington Museum: Mammalia by Mr. J. G. Dollman; Birds by Mr.
Ogilvie Grant; Reptilia by Mr. Boulenger, F.R.S.; Fish by Mr. Tate
Regan; Insects by Mr. Austin and Mr. F. W. Edwards; Arachnids by Mr. S.
Hurst; Worms by Mr. Bell; Mollusca by Mr. E. A. Smith and Mr. G. C.
Robson.
I have much pleasure in acknowledging the generous kindness which allows
me to print the translation of extracts from the _Documents
scientifiques de la Mission Tilho_ appearing in the Appendices. The
information contained therein was mostly collected by MM. Tilho and
Landeroin.
For information about Denham portraits and relics in Appendix XVII I am
indebted to the present representatives of the family, H. M. Denham,
Esq., and Captains H. A. and L. S. Denham, grandsons of Admiral H. M.
Denham, the explorer’s first cousin.
I have to thank W. P. Hewby, Esq., C.M.G., Resident of Bornu, for
several corrections and suggestions, and my brother, S. Landor Benton,
for assisting me to read the proof sheets.
P. A. BENTON.
ROYAL SOCIETIES CLUB,
63 ST. JAMES ST.,
_October_ 15, 1913.
[Footnote 1: Also to D. S. K. Crosbie, Esq., 93rd Highlanders and 2nd
Batt. Northern Nigeria Regt., for assistance in revising the latter half
of the translation.]
[Footnote 2: Bornu was converted to Islam in the eleventh century, the
Hausa States not till the sixteenth.]
[Footnote 3: Cf. Benton, _Kanuri Readings_, p. 25.]
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
I became partly acquainted with the districts of which the present
volume treats as a member of the Anglo-German Yola-Chad Boundary
Commission in 1903-4.[4] In endeavouring to inform myself with regard to
the region then traversed, I found it a great inconvenience that the
standard works, which contain descriptions of the former Sultanate of
Bornu—works which are comprehensively ponderous—suffer from being very
unhandy, and that, owing to the fact of their being published a
generation ago, cannot include the latest investigations. Moreover, the
literature of the last ten or twenty years on this subject being very
scattered, the study of a highly interesting district is rendered
unusually difficult. No monograph on it has hitherto existed.
I have now attempted in the present book to comprehend in such a
monograph the essentials of the literature already known and of my own
observations, which can correct particular errors in zoology and botany
and will also deal generally with all lines of inquiry.
I have been most kindly assisted in my work by a whole number of
gentlemen, who have helped me with information in the kindred sciences
of zoology and botany, who have enabled me to examine the
comprehensively ponderous literature, who have answered various
questions, or who have simply given me advice and suggestions. They are
Drs. Marquardsen and Moisel, Professor Reichenow, Professor Volkens of
Berlin, Professor Rein of Bonn, Herr G. Seligmann of Coblenz, Professor
Boettger of Frankfurt a/M., Professor Lacroix of Paris, and Professor
Aurivilius of Stockholm. It is my pleasant duty to render them herewith
my heartiest thanks.
BONN,
_March_, 1910.
[Footnote 4: [Since writing this book Herr Schultze was a member of the
African Expedition (1910-11) of Duke Adolf Friedrich zu Mecklenburg, and
contributed a chapter on ‘German Congo and South Kameruns’ to the
account of the expedition published under the title of _From the Congo
to the Niger and the Nile_.]]
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION 11
II. HISTORY AND EXPLORATION 13
III. SITUATION AND PHYSICAL CONFORMATION 40
IV. CLIMATE 63
V. FLORA 76
VI. FAUNA 113
VII. POPULATION 168
VIII. COMMERCIAL CONDITIONS AND PROSPECTS 202
IX. LIST OF AUTHORITIES 222
APPENDIX I. LIST OF LEPIDOPTERA 234
„ II. LIST OF THE BORNU KINGS 239
„ III. THE TUBBAS (OR SEFS) AND THE SOS 246
„ IV. SHEHU LAMINO AND HIS SUCCESSORS 250
„ V. ACCOUNT OF RABEH 279
„ VI. BAUCHI ACCOUNT OF SHEHU LAMINO’S KANO CAMPAIGN 301
„ VII. REBELLION OF ABBA MASTA 303
„ VIII. METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN BRITISH BORNU 305
„ IX. LAKE CHAD AND THE BAHR EL GHAZAL 308
„ X. SOME KANURI DERIVATIONS (MOSTLY PROPER NAMES) 309
„ XI. FESTIVALS IN BORNU 320
„ XII. THE CALENDAR 322
„ XIII. LIST OF BORNU TRIBES 325
„ XIV. ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES ON BORNU PROPER 326
„ XIV A. DERIVATION OF SHUWA AND KANURI ACCORDING
TO M. CARBOU 333
„ XV. SELECTIONS FROM UNPUBLISHED CORRESPONDENCE
REGARDING OUDNEY, DENHAM, AND CLAPPERTON’S
MISSION TO BORNU IN 1821-4 336
„ XVI. BREEDS AND VARIETIES OF CATTLE, SHEEP,
AND GOATS 376
„ XVII. NOTE ON PORTRAITS OF TRAVELLERS AND AUTHORS
WHO HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT BORNU 378
„ XVIII. FADEL ALLAH AND THE FRENCH 382
„ XIX. HEAD-QUARTERS OF BRITISH BORNU 383
„ XX. CLAPPERTON’S PROMOTION TO LIEUTENANT 385
„ XXI. A BORNU PRINCE AT TRIPOLI 387
INDEX 389
MAPS
1. BORNU AND THE ADJACENT DISTRICTS
2. SKETCH-MAP OF THE WESTERN SUDAN
I
INTRODUCTION
On more than one ground the country which embraces the districts of the
once mighty Central African Sultanate of Bornu, deserves our quite
particular interest. Enclosed in the centre of the Sudan and lying on
the shores of an inland sea, this highly fruitful and thickly populated
district was the first of all the great African water-basins to be known
in Europe. For centuries, over the central plateau, two important
articles of trade, ivory and human flesh, were up to the middle of the
nineteenth century almost the exclusive aim of all expeditions which
concerned themselves with the exploration of the dark continent. It was
German travellers above all, and amongst them the most scientifically
important and authoritative of all African explorers, Heinrich Barth,[5]
who brought news to Europe of these remarkable countries, first reported
the unheard-of atrocities of the slave-trade in the heart of Africa, and
thus gave a fresh impetus to the anti-slavery movement. Scarcely were
the main avenues of exploration closed at the end of the nineteenth
century than events happened such as these parts of Africa had never
seen hitherto—events which the Great Powers of Europe made necessary by
their policy of annexation, and the land of Bornu was pushed once more
into the foreground of public interest. The end of these events was the
present political understanding, which brought large potential empires
under the protection of the three chief European Powers. Thus Germany at
the present day again claims a share in those lands in which the self-
denying and indefatigable activity of her great sons, the explorers
Barth, Overweg, Vogel, von Beurmann, Rohlfs, and Nachtigal, had been so
valiantly displayed of old, and in the great scientific and economic
problems that have still to be solved in the Sudan.
[Footnote 5: [Preceded by the Englishmen Denham and Clapperton, and
himself in the pay of the British Government.]]
II
HISTORY AND EXPLORATION
As in almost all the kingdoms of the Sudan, so also in Bornu, history
has exercised the widest influence on the present extent of the country,
on the composition of its population, and on their character. The
history of Bornu—accounts of which, beginning from the middle of the
sixteenth century, remain in native manuscript chronicles—has been made
known to us without any very great gaps by the German travellers
Heinrich Barth and Gustav Nachtigal, who made use of already existing
Arabic sources and as regards modern times wrote from personal
observation.[6] Without their information we should remain to-day in
still greater ignorance than as it happens we fortunately are of the
recent condition of this Central African empire, owing to the constant
shifting of population. This movement had not yet altogether ceased even
in very recent times.
The first mention of the name of Bornu is in the Arabic writer Ibn
Said,[7] where it appears as an integral part of the empire of Kanem.
Later, as the centre of gravity of its rulers was removed to Bornu, the
empire also took the name of this country. So when we speak to-day of a
history of Bornu, the history of Kanem is to be understood as regards
its earlier phases.
The first dynasty (according to Barth 67, according to Nachtigal 64
kings) which ruled the destinies of Kanem, i.e. Bornu, for nearly 1,200
years, traced their origin back to one Sef of Mecca,[8] son of the last
Himyaritic king. The period of time during which the first kings of
Bornu held sway, beginning almost with the Hegira, differs considerably
according to the various chronicles;[9] nevertheless, oral tradition
concerning this first dynasty, stretching back for nearly 1,000 years,
enables us to distinguish certain fixed epochs, the way in which the
Sefs pushed forward their dominion to the southern edge of the middle
Sahara, and the period at which the present province of Kanem was
included. It seems fairly probable—and several circumstances support
this view—that the immigrants halted a long time in Tubu country before
pushing farther south-westwards,[10] whereby this tribe became a part
and even an essential part of the Kanem nation.
A singular expansion of the empire first appears with the acceptance of
Islam under King Hume[11] at the end of the eleventh century. By this
step a further advance was secured over the other Central African
kingdoms; for it brought with it a proportionately high degree of
civilization and culture. Within a hundred years, under King Dunama
Dibbalami[12] (in the thirteenth century), the empire was extended over
enormous tracts of country and reached as far as Fezzan in the north,
the Nile on the east, and the present district of Dikoa[13] on the
south. Owing to this, however, the problems of administration also
increased,[14] and finally could only be solved by the help of the
‘Nokena’, a sort of Privy Council, but this again imperilled the unity
of government. Under this king also discord broke out between the two
chief nations of the empire, the kindred races of the Tubu (or Teda) and
the Kanuri, which finally for a time led to an embittered struggle,
which likewise did not contribute to the solidity of the empire. It is
also during the reign of this Dunama Dibbalami that the name Bornu is
mentioned for the first time as that of the most southernly province of
the empire, by the chronicler who is called Ibn Said.
But the chief possessions of the Sef dynasty still lay to the north of
Chad, including the most important, viz. Kanem on the north shore of the
great lake. In the next two centuries, whilst the unfortunate civil wars
brought an evident shrinkage of power and pointed to an undeniable
decay, the dynasty of the Sefs were gradually expelled from Kanem by the
kindred stock of the Bulala, from Lake Fittri, their bitterest
opponents, and compelled to remove their head-quarters to the southernly
and westernly shores of Lake Chad to the country which gave the empire
its final designation. Although Kanem was later temporarily reconquered,
still Bornu Proper remains henceforward the centre of gravity of the
empire. The tribes which had hitherto possessed the newly conquered
districts were absorbed in the conquering nation, being naturally
influenced by it both in essence and in externals; or they were
completely annihilated, like the Sos, who still live in tradition and
who, finally drained of their life-blood by their long and obstinate
resistance, have left behind in Affade the remains of a civilization
peculiar to themselves.[15]
King Ali Ghadjideni ben Dunama,[16] who reigned towards the end of the
fifteenth century, was the first to put an end to the causes of the
long-standing civil war, which had nearly led to the downfall of the
empire, by restricting within proper bounds the power of the twelve
‘Kokenawa’,[17] the members of the ‘Nokena’, who in the course of time
had become almost independent princes. He founded on the lower courses
of the River Yo the town of Ghasr Eggomo (Birni),[18] which remained the
capital of Bornu for the next 300 years and saw the empire reach its
zenith. It is very probable also that it was in Ali Dunama’s reign that
the famous Leo Africanus visited Bornu, and undertook a description of
the land and people after only a month’s stay; his description was
evidently coloured by unpleasant personal experiences, and is considered
on that account almost worthless; at most the commercial instincts of
the Bornu people there depicted may remind us of the reports of later
travellers.[19]
The most important of a line of able princes, whom the country was
permitted to enjoy during the succeeding period, was without doubt
Edriss Aloma (whose date, according to Barth, was 1571-1603),[20] who,
according to his conscientious native chronicler Iman Ahmed, left a
reputation behind him for unusual energy and circumspection together
with great philanthropy and clemency. With an army, the flower of whom
already carried fire-arms, he undertook successive campaigns for the
strengthening of his power, campaigns which extended from Aïr in the
north to Kano in the west and the country of the pagan Margis in the
south. With the rulers of Kanem, which had been already reconquered by
his predecessor, and which remained a province of Bornu till the end of
the eighteenth century, Edriss Aloma had already at the beginning of his
reign concluded a treaty of friendship. This treaty was even embodied in
duplicate written dispatches, which argues a highly developed system of
government. It speaks much for this in general, that the country, some
of whose kings performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, was and continued to
be in close touch with the politics and culture of Tripoli and Egypt,
which at that time had reached its economic zenith. Denham was the first
to establish that for the building of the walls of Ghasr Eggomo, the
ruins of which he visited, recourse was had to burnt bricks, a material
which is now no longer made use of, and he rightly deduced from this a
high degree of civilization; on Barth also the remains of the former
capital made a similar impression.[21]
The superior ability which the new rulers of the country possessed over
the former inhabitants could not remain unnoticed even by such
inhabitants themselves. A rich country, bounded on two sides, the north
and east, by stretches of sterility or absolute desert, without being
protected by any considerable natural impediments, such as standing
water, devious river-courses, or inaccessible mountain features, was
necessarily exposed to the constant danger of invasion by foreign tribes
from outside its jurisdiction. This danger was bound to increase as soon
as the cessation of continuous struggles against the hostile nature of
the desert, which kept the qualities of mind and body constantly on the
stretch, came into effect, and as soon as increasing prosperity and
intermixture with peoples of a lower morale produced an evident
weakening and modification of the Bornu nation.
Besides the ever-restless Tuareg, who rendered the border districts
unsafe until very recent times, the first advance parties of the Fulani,
an Hamitic conquering tribe, also showed themselves in the west of the
empire towards the end of the sixteenth century. These Fulani, inspired
by the ideas of a strict Mohammedanism, were advancing eastwards from
Senegal without a halt, and finally established the powerful empire of
Sokoto.[22] When, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Fulani
on their victorious march arrived at the lower course of the River Yo,
they met with but a feeble resistance.[23] The Bornu army was beaten
within sight of the palace, and the incapable Sultan Ahmed and his chief
men were obliged to fly from the capital, which was to a very great
extent destroyed by the victors. This happened in the year 1809.
Yet again was there to arise for the empire at this second period of
eclipse a saviour, who preserved it from complete annihilation. But this
time he did not come from the royal family itself. A man who stood quite
apart from them, Faki Mohammed el Amin el Kanemi from Fezzan, who,
however, was connected with Bornu by family ties,[24] dared to withstand
the invaders together with a handful of devoted adherents, and, as he
was successful at the very beginning, he was soon joined by so many
patriotically-minded followers—to the number of 200 horse and 2,000
foot—that he was able to bring matters to a decisive issue. By the
victorious battle of Ngornu at least the eastern part of Bornu was
cleared of the invaders, but they were able, however, to retain Katagum
on the west of the empire as a stronghold.
With the help of Mohammed el Amin, Ahmed was then enabled to regain the
old capital, though only temporarily. But neither he nor his son, who
had entirely lost the confidence of their subjects, possessed such
qualities as to restore the prestige of the empire. Willy nilly, in
spite of their own secret reluctance and the jealousy of the office-
holders, the royal family were compelled to seek the help of Mohammed el
Amin, who was the favourite of the nation and in whom it reposed the
greatest confidence as its deliverer from a foreign yoke. The influence
of this man reached such a pitch that he finally became the real ruler,
and was able in 1814 to found a capital of his own, which he called Kuka
or Kukawa, after a Kuka-tree[25] which stood on the site of his own
house. On this account Barth is quite correct in pointing out that the
year 1814 marks the birth of a new dynasty. In spite of being the real
ruler and having authority with the people as such, el Amin, with
prudent moderation, still only described himself as ‘Sheik’, while
leaving all superfluous externals and all pomp to the royal family, now
fast becoming ridiculous owing to dwindling power and constantly
changing their place of residence in an aimless and helpless fashion.
For this reason he sought continually to strengthen his authority with
the people by bringing back to their former allegiance the tributary
states of Bornu, who had revolted during the period of decay. It was
just at this period (1822-4) that the English expedition under Oudney,
Clapperton, and Denham[26] appeared and was favourably received by the
Sheik; it is to their inquiries that we owe the first reliable
information about the country. Thus Denham was a witness of the battle
of Ngala between the troops of el Amin[27] and the Bagirmis, which
resulted in a victory for Bornu. In spite of the multitudinous following
of armed men, which the wide extent of the empire made possible, el Amin
had done nothing to put an end to the shadowy royalty of the Sefua. This
was reserved for Sheik Omar, who succeeded his father after the latter’s
death in 1835. Whilst this same Omar and his troops were busy in the
west of the empire bringing the unruly Governor of Zinder to account,
the Sefua, assisted by the ruler of Wadai, made use of this favourable
opportunity to attempt to regain possession, by force of arms, of their
earlier authority. This attempt, however, failed, and the course of the
struggle was unfavourable to the old dynasty. The puppet King Ibrahim
was put on his trial as a traitor to the country by Omar and executed in
1846. His son Ali, the last of the Sefua, died on the field of battle.
Omar thus became undisputed ruler of Bornu. Although, according to
general opinion in Bornu, he did not inherit his father’s indispensable
energy, still he possessed many excellent private qualities which were
of special advantage to the German travellers, who, during his reign and
with his assistance and furtherance, were able to continue in so
admirable a manner the exploration of the Central Sudan commenced by
Denham.
In the year 1851 there arrived in Bornu, via Tripoli, the expedition
under Richardson sent out by the English Government; to it were attached
the German explorers, Dr. Heinrich Barth and Dr. Adolf Overweg. After
the premature death of the leader, who succumbed to fever[28] before
reaching the capital of Bornu, Dr. Barth undertook its leadership. From
Kukawa, which remained the proper base of operations throughout the
whole duration of their stay in the Sudan, the two Germans, but
especially Barth—Overweg died in the summer of 1852 at Maduari, on the
shores of Lake Chad,[29] which he was the first European to
navigate[30]—made longer or shorter journeys in all directions, which
extended as far as the Benue in the heart of Adamawa, and which led to
the solution of important geographical questions relative to that river.
Owing to a lack of sufficient resources of their own, the travellers,
like their predecessor Denham, were practically compelled to join in the
‘razzias’, or forays, whose chief object was the capture of slaves,
unless they were willing to let slip the opportunity of being able to
learn about lands hitherto untrodden. As they were compelled to be
passive spectators of these slave-raids, taking no part in them yet
subsequently describing them, they found themselves in the position of
turning the attention of European civilization to the existing traffic
in human flesh and to the barbarities it gave rise to, barbarities which
were enacted before their eyes and of the culpability of which their
black companions had no perception.[31] The German astronomer also, Dr.
Edward Vogel, who was sent out later by the English Government to join
the expedition on Petermann’s recommendation, in order to complete their
investigations by fixing the position of places astronomically, and who
arrived in Kukawa at the beginning of the year 1854, was obliged to make
a part of his expedition southwards in the wake of slave-raids. Barth
was the only scholar who returned home in safety (1855) from this great
Central African expedition, and he was able to leave behind him in a
five-volume work the results of his prolonged investigations; his
detailed descriptions cannot be superseded in essentials even to-day, so
limited is the economic and political revolution occasioned by the
events of the end of the nineteenth century. Vogel was less fortunate,
being destined to forfeit his life in his attempt to penetrate into
Wadai.[32] He was murdered in 1856[33] by order of the sultan of that
country. For the result of his investigations, which are of special
value with regard to the explanation of the flora, we have only the
reports published in Petermann’s _Mitteilungen_ and several of his
letters,[34] but these preserve some important conclusions. The
uncertainty of the fate of Edward Vogel induced the German traveller,
Maurice von Beurmann, to enter on a further investigation from Bornu
with regard to what was still unknown. But the same fate befell him as
his unfortunate predecessor. In the year 1863 he was strangled at
Mao,[35] at that time the capital of Kanem, at the instigation of an
officer of the Sultan of Wadai, before ever he reached that country. A
few years later, in 1866, Gerhard Rohlfs arrived in Bornu on his journey
across the dark continent from Tripoli to Lagos; he only stayed a short
time however. The last of the German travellers who visited Bornu during
the reign of Omar, and enjoyed his hospitality, was Dr. Gustav
Nachtigal. Nachtigal was selected to take to Kukawa the presents which
King William of Prussia had decided to send to Omar as a recognition of
his great services to German travellers. Starting from Tripoli in the
year 1869, Nachtigal reached Kukawa in July, 1870, by a little-known
route, passing through districts hitherto untrodden by a white man.[36]
After having acquitted himself of his mission he set forth on his
travels, choosing, like his predecessor, the capital of Bornu as a
starting-point for detailed journeys of inquiry. Thanks to his superior
powers of observation and his many-sided interests, which, moreover, lay
partly in different directions from those of his predecessor, he was
able to supplement most successfully the fundamental results of Barth’s
journeys. In order to enlarge his knowledge of the country he had, as
his predecessor had pointed out, to join as a spectator in the slave-
hunts in the almost inexhaustible slave-reservoir of the districts of
the middle Shari and Logone, but he expresses himself in the strongest
terms, as did Barth, on the unheard-of atrocities which were committed
on these occasions.[37] Finally, during Omar’s reign occurred the visit
of the Italians, Matteucci and Massari, who paid a hasty visit to Bornu
in 1880, but who were prevented by their untimely end from leaving
behind a written account of their discoveries.[38]
There can be no doubt that, out of all the kings, sultans, or sheiks who
had hitherto reigned over Bornu, Omar has been delineated for posterity
with the most justice and impartiality, thanks to the German travellers
who at such various times enjoyed his hospitality.[39] All these are in
accordance in declaring that Omar possessed a goodness and philanthropy
very unusual for a potentate of the Sudan—for he can scarcely be held
responsible for the deeply-rooted cruelty of his troops. These qualities
were often displayed towards the German travellers in a fatherly
providence, a fact which is very eloquent in view of the selfishness
natural to the native. But since this goodness was not coupled with the
energy which is quite indispensable in the conduct of African affairs,
they foreboded danger to the country. Though Omar stood high in his
people’s regard, this was not increased by the artful intrigues of his
nearest associates. His own brother, Abdur Rahman, ventured to openly
rebel against him and sought to depose him. Omar was compelled in the
end, certainly with reluctance, to resolve to allow his brother to be
executed.[40] It was fortunate for Omar that for a long time he had a
counsellor, whom he inherited from Lamino, the first wearer of the
dignity of Sheik, and whom Nachtigal describes as ‘the only _man_
amongst his hangers-on’, a race of men whose days were filled with petty
gossip.[41]
The results of Omar’s policy of inaction were bound to show themselves
fatally in the border districts and in the provinces only loosely
attached to Bornu. In spite of a standing army of 7,000 men permanently
mobilized—the old military spirit had long vanished from the rest of the
nation—the Tuaregs ventured on the most impudent raids in north-western
Bornu; the districts north of the River Yo, which Barth had described as
a kind of ‘political quarantine-station’, were thoroughly unsafe.[42]
Moreover, the vassal states of Bornu, such as Zinder, proved themselves
little to be depended on during the renewed advance of the Fulani,[43]
and the speedy rise of the neighbouring kingdom of Wadai meant an ever-
increasing danger to Bornu. After the death of Omar in 1881 he was
succeeded at short intervals by his sons Abubakr, Ibrahim, and Ashimi,
who, however, were not in a position to avert the impending ruin. When,
in 1892, the French traveller Monteil visited Bornu, whose sultan at
that time was Ashimi, Zinder had long belonged to Bornu only in name,
while constant robberies and intrigues on the part of Wadai were the
order of the day and remained unpunished.[44]
Such were the relations of Bornu at the end of the eighties of the last
century, while far to the east, in the region of the middle Nile, events
were preparing which fundamentally revolutionized in the years that
followed the whole state of affairs in North Central Africa, and finally
delivered the death-blow of the Bornu empire in its old form. When
Suliman, son of the notorious slave-raider Zobeir Pasha, after a long
and bitter struggle with Gessi Pasha,[45] surrendered to the latter in
1879, Rabeh, one of his most powerful followers, who had urgently
dissuaded him from surrender, declared himself independent of him.[46] A
great part of Suliman’s following joined Rabeh,[47] and under their new
leader soon left the Egyptian Sudan and turned their steps westwards,
with Gessi Pasha at first still in pursuit. The flower of Rabeh’s troops
consisted of ‘dervishes’, that incomparable material for African
soldiery, who gave proofs at the famous battles of Khartoum and Omdurman
of such unparalleled courage and contempt of death. With this force,
which received constant increases from the army of Slatin Pasha himself,
Rabeh conquered by degrees the whole Eastern Sudan; Wadai alone, though
it indeed also suffered defeat, was able to maintain independence by
means of a compromise concluded with Rabeh. His raids extended
southwards as far as Bangasso in the Congo State. Although Rabeh
declined all connexion with the Mahdi[48], then at the height of his
power, he knew how to make skilful use for his own purposes of the wave
of fanaticism let loose by the Dervishes, and probably also of the ideas
of the religious sect of the Senussi.[49]
In 1892 began Rabeh’s campaign against Bagirmi, which asked for help
from Wadai and even from Bornu, but from the latter in vain. After
having vanquished the troops of Wadai, Rabeh in 1893 crossed the Shari
and laid waste in a very short time the flourishing towns and districts
on both banks of this river. At first Sultan Ashimi took some
preliminary steps to ward off the formidable danger from his country.
But the Bornu troops, unused to war, who were dispatched against Rabeh,
suffered a complete defeat; their commander, Malla Kerim, was by order
of the conqueror sewn up in a freshly-flayed bullock hide, and so found
a horrible death exposed to the rays of the African sun.[50] Ashimi
himself, at the head of his troops, suffered a still more complete
defeat not far from Kukawa. He himself fled, but was thereupon killed by
his own nephew, Abba Kiari,[51] with whom before this he had had a
quarrel of long standing. Abba Kiari then even succeeded in surprising
and beating Rabeh in front of the capital, but this victory of the Bornu
troops was changed into crushing defeat, owing to their scattering too
early in order to plunder the enemy’s camp; their leader was captured
and executed. The fate of Bornu was thus sealed. Rabeh’s victory was
followed immediately by the destruction of Kukawa, at that time one of
the largest towns of the Sudan. Such of the royal family as did not fall
into captivity were able to save their lives. Omar Sanda, the eldest son
of Ashimi, first sought asylum in Mandara, but during Rabeh’s campaign
against that sultan fled from there to Zinder, where he was dependent on
the bounty of his former vassal, who now at last had become quite
independent. Rabeh now determined to consolidate his influence in the
lately conquered districts before pushing his dominion further. He built
up the ancient town of Dikoa into a capital, whither flowed all the
riches of the Central Sudan, and made it a place which, with its
reported population of 100,000 souls, surpassed all other towns in these
latitudes from the Senegal to the Nile. The town was surrounded with a
strong wall, inside which the conqueror established an impregnable
citadel which contained his palace and the barracks, stabling, armoury,
and powder magazine for his troops. Everything was arranged with the
greatest precision, probably on the example of the English in the
Egyptian Sudan. The troops were even regularly drilled,[52] and every
Friday a parade of the whole armed force took place, which gave Rabeh an
opportunity of assuring himself of the readiness of his forces to take
the field.[53] Estimates vary as to the actual numbers of his army,
which was distributed between Dikoa and a border garrison on the Shari,
but they certainly amounted to at least 20,000 men.[54] The provisioning
of these masses of troops, who were encumbered with large additions of
women and children, weighed heavily on the districts hardly yet
incorporated as a result of the recent campaigns. Moreover, the slave-
hunts were an oppressive scourge in the populous districts, which
provided women and slaves for the soldiery, who were detested for their
imperious dealings. To this was added the fact that Rabeh enforced the
legal ordinances of the Koran with a strictness that the population,
though very largely Mohammedan, were bound to feel as a sweeping
limitation of personal liberty. In quite external matters also Rabeh
sought to make his influence prevalent. Foureau mentions as ‘Rabeh’s
mark’ (a sort of notched cross on the face forming an enormous raised
scar) a kind of tattooing or brand, which the people of two communities,
whom the traveller met with, bore on their foreheads.[55] The
conqueror’s influence extended even to dress, and in this direction,
indeed, with very little compulsion; a sort of shirt with three shield-
shaped pieces of cloth sewn on, which is very smart and yet practical
for all occasions, has partly displaced the Sudan ‘tobe’, the usual
native dress for men.[56]
Of whatever kind the influence of Rabeh and his followers may have shown
itself, this much is certain, that their pitiless cruelty, which spared
neither pagan nor Mohammedan, drew upon them the deep-rooted hatred of
the subjugated peoples, a circumstance which will be of great weight in
the occurrences which now follow. While Rabeh on the one side sought to
preserve good relations with the border powers in order to keep open the
high roads into his country, on the other, his preparations for
extending his rule over Zinder and Sokoto struck a blow at this, and
were followed in the years 1893 and 1894 by the partition—at any rate on
the map—of the Lake Chad countries between the three colonial powers
interested, viz. Germany, England, and France. The French, who had
already pushed their advance posts into the region of the upper Shari,
were the first of the three powers to move, and in a very tentative way
to further the practical joining up of their newly acquired possessions
within their great African colonial empire. They consequently very soon
came into conflict with Rabeh.
In 1897 Gentil, a civil officer of the French Congo, undertook a voyage
down the Shari from the region of the upper Ubanghi, in order to bring
the Sultanate of Bagirmi under French influence. He met with a far-
sighted reception from this Sultan, who hoped to be preserved from the
yoke of Rabeh by the arrival of the French. The _Léon Blot_,[57] the
little river gunboat which carried the expedition, penetrated right to
the Shari delta unmolested by Rabeh’s garrisons, and returned unmolested
also, being greeted everywhere with a friendly reception by the river
people.[58] Thereupon Gentil without delay betook himself to Paris, in
order to set on foot a big expedition from thence. Meanwhile Rabeh
revenged himself for Gentil’s demonstrative reception there by laying
waste the whole of Bagirmi. Moreover, the unfortunate French trader, de
Béhagle, who was accidentally mixed up in the economic politics of the
Chad region, fell a victim to Rabeh’s fury and, by his orders, was
hanged in Dikoa.[59] Gentil’s representative Prins only waited for the
arrival of the expedition: as soon as it entered the Shari in the summer
of 1899 the campaign against Rabeh immediately commenced. Very
unfortunately for the French the beginning of the campaign miscarried,
for the leader of the advance-guard, Bretonnet, who had greatly under-
estimated the enemy’s strength, allowed himself to be misled into making
a premature attack. In the battle at Togbao on the Shari, Rabeh directed
his troops in person and Bretonnet’s column was completely annihilated;
its leader fell and all the rifles and three guns fell into the hands of
the enemy.[60]
Hereupon Gentil advanced in person and defeated Rabeh in the autumn of
the same year in the desperately contested battle of Kuno; but the heavy
losses suffered by his own troops determined him to await in Fort
Archambault fresh reinforcements from the Congo. By a fortunate accident
two further French expeditions arrived almost simultaneously in the Lake
Chad region. At the beginning of December the expedition under Joalland
and Meynier coming from Zinder by way of Kanem reached the Shari, but it
was not till the beginning of the following year that they effected a
junction with Gentil. On the 2nd of November the ‘Sahara Mission’ under
the scientist Foureau arrived in Zinder from Asben. In their presence
Omar Sanda, the man who had fled to Zinder, was proclaimed—somewhat
prematurely—as Sultan of Bornu by his followers.[61] Foureau too
thereupon marched via Kanem to the Shari, where he joined Joalland. At
this point Major Lamy, who had hitherto been in charge of the escort of
the ‘Sahara Mission’, took over chief command of the combined forces,
which soon afterwards came into touch with Rabeh’s outposts. On the 3rd
of March, 1900, the French succeeded in capturing Kusseri, but they
could not strike a decisive blow against Rabeh until the arrival of
Gentil. On the very next day after his arrival, on the 22nd of April,
the decisive battle was fought,[62] when the French brought into action
800 riflemen armed with modern weapons against the entire fighting force
of Rabeh. Whilst the battle was at its height, Rabeh fell;[63] he had
taken up his position at the ‘Tata’, or earthwork constructed by his
troops. His head was brought into the French camp. But the French had
also bought their victory dearly: Lamy was mortally wounded and Capt. de
Cointet killed. The enemy fled with headlong speed to Dikoa, which
however soon afterwards fell into the hands of the French. Yet even this
by no means put an end to the struggle, for the remains of the beaten
army rallied under Fadel Allah, Niebe, and Mahmud, the still
youthful[64] sons of their fallen leader, of whom Fadel Allah especially
gave the French plenty more to do, though the latter had on their side
the sympathy and to some extent the assistance of the exasperated
natives. Meanwhile Omar was installed as Sultan in Dikoa by Gentil, but
was very soon relegated again to banishment for having made attempts on
the life of his benefactor. He was then replaced by his brother
Garbai.[65] Fadel Allah had shifted the scene of his activities to the
River Yedseram, and thus threatened to be a standing danger to the
neighbourhood of Dikoa, although the French remained victors in the
hard-fought battles which were contested along the river at Issege and
Mubi. In spite of the successes of the French, the energetic son of
Rabeh managed to again reconquer Dikoa, after having completely defeated
the Sultan. The French punitive expedition, which immediately followed,
was so energetically conducted that Fadel Allah was obliged to fly to
Gujba, far inside English territory. Here he came into touch with the
English,[66] under whose protection he put himself, and through whose
mediation he hoped to become Sultan of Bornu. The English were
favourably disposed towards the suggestions, or rather, the expressed
wishes of Fadel Allah on this point,[67] and would certainly have helped
him towards their realization, had not events forestalled them. Fadel
Allah was killed in renewed fighting with the French, and the question
was thus arranged in the simplest and most satisfactory fashion. Above
all, the country recovered the tranquillity which it had lacked for so
long.
A short time after these events the English attracted Sultan Garbai and
his following to that part of Bornu that belonged to their sphere of
influence. Thereupon the French put in Omar Sanda, a nephew of the other
Omar deposed by themselves, as an opposition Sultan in Dikoa,[68] to
prevent that town being depopulated. The part of Bornu situated between
the Yedseram and the Shari still remained under the administration of
the French garrisons in Dikoa and the places on the latter river. It was
not till the arrival of the German expedition under Lieut.-Col. Pavel
(1902) that the territory, which had hitherto only been German on the
map, was actually brought under the protection of the Empire. After
various experiments, the part of Bornu which had fallen to Germany was
finally formed into a province under the name of the German Chad
Territory, whose administrative head-quarters were established at
Kusseri. Such was the position taken up by the colonial powers
interested towards the economic investigation and development of the
country. The English have certainly had more pressing and important
problems to solve in their great Niger Protectorate than the development
of Bornu, which is its remotest province; so that our knowledge of the
British part of the country has not been substantially increased since
Rohlfs’ and Nachtigal’s time.[69] The exact opposite is true of the
German part, which is what will be chiefly described in the following
pages; for it has been so thoroughly explored in all directions by
Germans as well as French in supplement of already existing materials,
that very little remains to be done in the geographical department of
inquiry. Besides Commissions, which have laid down in actual practice
the political boundaries hitherto only theoretical, the country has been
traversed by larger or smaller expeditions, who have accomplished
valuable economic discoveries. The French have been especially active in
seeking to approach the solution of one of the most interesting of
geographical questions, i.e. the difficult problem of Lake Chad, a task
which has not even to-day been finally and incontestably accomplished.
[Footnote 6: Barth, vol. ii, chap. xxix, and Chronological Table, vol.
ii, p. 633; Nachtigal, ii. 392.]
[Footnote 7: Nachtigal, ii. 401. In the same passage he treats of the
etymology of the word ‘Bornu’.]
[Footnote 8: [Vid. Appendix III.]]
[Footnote 9: Nachtigal, ii. 394.]
[Footnote 10: Nachtigal, ii. 400.]
[Footnote 11: [Hume ben Abd el Djelil, 1086-97. No. 12 on Vischer’s list
of Bornu kings, vid. Appendix II.]]
[Footnote 12: [1221-59. No. 17 _idem_.]]
[Footnote 13: At that time it was even in close relations with Tunis.
Ibn Chaldun, ii. 346.]
[Footnote 14: Barth, Chronological Table, vol. ii, p. 647.]
[Footnote 15: Nachtigal, ii. 404. Cf. _Deutsches Kolonialblatt_, xvii,
p. 802.]
[Footnote 16: [Does not appear, under that name at any rate, in
Vischer’s list. Barth gives his date as 1472-1504, Nachtigal as 1465-92,
Landeroin as 1437-65.]]
[Footnote 17: [Or Koganawa = grandees. Cf. ‘Kogana’ in Vocabulary of
Benton, _Kanuri Readings_.]]
[Footnote 18: [For derivation vid. note [8].]]
[Footnote 19: Leo Africanus, iii. 308. Still less trustworthy is the
account given by Ibn Batuta. Ibn Batuta, iii. 441.]
[Footnote 20: [Vischer, _idem_; Nachtigal, 1563-1614; Landeroin,
1545-96. He is called Aloma because he is said to have been buried in
the middle of the little lake of Alo near Maiduguri.]]
[Footnote 21: Denham, i. 211; Barth, iv. 23, vid. also Barth, ii. 658.]
[Footnote 22: Barth, ii. 649.]
[Footnote 23: [St. John, p. 214, relates that the Bornu army mistook a
herd of ostriches for the Fulani invaders and fled in panic.]]
[Footnote 24: [Lamino (el Amin) was the son of a Kanembu, Sheikh Langa,
and an Arab woman from Zouïla in the Tripolitaine. Like his father, he
studied as a young man with the Koyams of Gaserregomo (Kasr Kumo), and
accompanied him on a pilgrimage to Mecca. His father having died at
Medina, Sheikh Lamino returned to Kanem. Tilho, _Doc. sc._ ii. 358.]]
[Footnote 25: _Adansonia digitata_. [Tilho, _Doc. sc._ i. 221, gives its
astronomical position as lat. 12° 55′ 36″, long. 11° 13′ 34″. Kukawa no
longer exists except as a mass of ruins and as a farm hamlet. Provincial
head-quarters were moved to Maiduguri (Maifoni) in 1906, and the new
town of Shehuri (Yeriwa) built for the Shehu and his following.]]
[Footnote 26: [They were accompanied by William Hillman, a naval
carpenter, at a salary of £120 per annum (Denham, i. xvii). He returned
safely to Europe, as did Denham and Clapperton.
Dr. Walter Oudney, M.D., died at Murmur, near Katagum, on January 12,
1824 (Denham, ii. 227).