African tropical ‘bush’, the _Adansonia digitata_, or ‘Kuka’ as the
Kanuris call it. It is, indeed, distributed all over the country,[192]
for the most part in the neighbourhood of the towns, where its fibre is
made into rope and its young leaves are valued as a vegetable; but it is
not till one gets to Southern Bornu that one meets with examples truly
characteristic of the species, the bulk of whose trunks is out of all
proportion to their height; at Issege on the Yedseram there are trees
measuring fifteen metres and over in circumference. The _Adansonia_,
like the _Ceiba_, is perfectly bare during the dry weather, but the
leaves appear with the first rains and are soon followed by the big
white flowers on their long pendent stalks. Another true native of the
tropics is the Deleb palm, _Borassus aethiopum_, which is almost
entirely absent from Northern Bornu,[193] but now sometimes singly,
sometimes in groups, vies in height with the other giant trees of the
southern districts. Its trunk, straight as an arrow but thickening to a
cigar shape in the upper half and crowned with compact fan-like leaves,
forms a most effective ornament to the landscape. The trunk furnishes an
excellent weather-proof timber, and the big fruit, of a brilliant orange
yellow, is eaten all over the country, but its somewhat acid taste does
not correspond to the expectations raised by its delicious smell, which
resembles that of a pineapple. While the Deleb palm is not found in
certain districts—often a day’s march apart—yet in other places, as in
the Musgu country on the lower Logone, it appears in great numbers and
in magnificent serried rows, generally, indeed, in the immediate
neighbourhood of the towns.[194] To the fig species of this district
belongs the tree known as ‘Ganyi’, with large leathery leaves: it owes
its name to the triangular incisions which are regularly found on its
bark, and which are caused by the natives tapping it to obtain
caoutchouc. But it is impossible that the quantities obtained of this
much sought after substance can be large, for the tree is only met with
here and there quite sporadically, especially in the denser parts of the
‘bush’ overgrown with ‘vitis’ creepers as thick as a man’s arm along the
rivers in Southern Bornu.[195]
When the ‘bush’ borders on the rivers the shrubs of the undergrowth are
thickly covered with the delicate green tendrils of the Sapindaceae,
_Cardiospermum halicacabum_, which is ubiquitous all over the Sudan.
This creeper, distinguished by its dainty leaves and bladder-like fruit,
is to be met with quite regularly on the steep banks of streams. In
places where it is possible for the river to overflow its banks, other
kinds of plants which prefer a marshy or, at any rate, a damp soil, have
established themselves, such as various shrubs of Rubiaceae belonging to
the _Sarcocephalus_ species, easily distinguishable by their white
globular blossoms.[196] The swampy ground is every now and then covered
with a thick aromatic carpet having a scent something like thyme,
composed of one of the Labiatae belonging to the _Ocimum_ species
(perhaps _Ocimum viride_?); and wherever pools are able to form, the
blue star-like flowers of the _Nymphaea Zanzibariensis_ gleam once more
together with the floating bright green buds of the inevitable _Pistia
stratiotes_.
The nearer one gets to the Bornu boundary, the richer and more various
is the flora. In the neighbourhood of the big rivers, indeed, the
character of the landscape alters but little, although even here one or
two kinds of trees appear that were hitherto unrepresented. Among these
are to be reckoned the _Celtis integrifolia_, which Chevalier mentions
on the middle Shari,[197] as well as the _Khaya senegalensis_, whose
towering trunks attain magnificent proportions on the upper Yedseram,
and furnish the finest forest scenery of this region. The _Khaya_, which
has already been rooted out over a large extent of country in West
Africa, is of importance because it furnishes part of the supply of West
African mahogany. One of the most botanically remarkable shrubs of this
district is a true willow, _Salix_, which fringes the banks of the upper
Yedseram in company with the _Mimosa pudica_, and apparently belongs to
the same species as the latter, forming regular thickets on the Benue
near Lau.
Very striking, however, is the change in the flora in the true ‘bush’,
especially in places where the first traces of granite appear. Besides
the Leguminosae, which have hitherto been absent, the Cisalpiniaceae
become prominent, forming by far the larger number of the species of
trees of this region, especially the Combretaceae, which are so
characteristic of the hill country lying to the south. Everywhere one
now meets the _Combretum_ species, the _Anogeissus leiocarpa_, and the
Terminaliae, the chief trees of the Southern Bornu ‘bush’. By far the
commonest of these is the _Terminalia Schweinfurthi_, the shape of whose
trunk and branches might easily cause it to be mistaken for a fair-sized
oak, though its big smooth-edged leaves have somehow quite a strange
look. Differing from the other low-growing shrubs owing to its maple-
like leaf is the _Sterculia tomentosa_—closely related to the ‘kola’
tree, _Sterculia acuminata_,[198] which is not found in Bornu—and also,
owing to its pronounced tendency towards cork formation, the well-known
_Burkea africana_. At first only appearing sporadically, but afterwards
in ever-increasing numbers, one now meets two trees which play an
important rôle in the Sudan, viz. the _Parkia biglobosa_ of the
Leguminosae and the _Butyrospermum (Bassia) Parkii_, or shea-butter
tree, of the Sapotaceae. With its dainty feathery leaves and the strange
shape of its blossoms, the former is an ornament of the granite hills,
the foot of which is its favourite situation. In early spring the
velvety dark blood-red blossoms, always in pairs, appear on long hanging
stalks; in shape and size they resemble a billiard ball, and are out of
all proportion to the tree’s delicate feathery leaves. From them
develop, in the course of the summer, bunches of considerable-sized pods
whose seeds form the ingredients of the ‘dadawa’ cakes, which are
relished all over the Sudan and sold in every market; they have a
nauseous smell, however, and are only digestible by a negro’s stomach.
Much more important than the _Parkia_ is the _Butyrospermum_. It is a
moderately tall tree, its bark is full of cracks, and its foliage
reminds one at a distance of that of the Spanish chestnut, or, still
more, of that of the _Mangifera indica_; it bears a fruit whose large
single kernel is akin to the mango, and produces a vegetable oil which
keeps well and is put to various uses, and which has become of ever-
increasing importance as an article of export. The fruit has a pleasant
taste resembling a date.
This district also is particularly the home of the _Candelabra
euphorbia_, known as ‘Garuru’, which in many respects resembles the
American _Cercus_ species and in shape is also like the dragon-tree of
Teneriffe; on granite soil it reaches a height of ten metres and is
crowned by extraordinarily thick foliage. These Succulenteae are
distributed all over Bornu, and are found sporadically even in the
plains, but they are never entirely absent from any of the pagan
villages, which lie at the foot or half-way down the slope of the
isolated hills, for they possess qualities which render them of great
use to the natives. Firstly, the thorn-protected branches furnish the
best imaginable live hedge, and, secondly, the milky juice that flows
from the slightest incision is one of the chief ingredients of their
arrow poison. The small yellowish-green blossoms, which differ hardly at
all from those of the European spurge, appear towards the end of the
rainy season.
The open ‘bush’ of Southern Bornu produces grasses that surpass in
height and luxuriance anything similar from more northern landscapes. In
the great Marghi Forest, east of the Yedseram, a favourite haunt of big
game, the grass—in places where the water has dried up—reaches such a
height that it covers an elephant standing erect, and only the long neck
of the giraffe reaches above it. At the flowering time the stalks, which
can hardly be avoided when marching along a narrow path, send out at the
slightest concussion clouds of yellow pollen, which is troublesome to
man and beast alike. One can understand that this grass, which itself
reaches the very tops of the _Terminalia_, does not allow other plants
to come up. Only where in damp places short-stalked grasses form natural
pastures for the game, variegated plants appear—at least, at the
beginning of the rainy season—amongst them numbers of a sort of
_Amaryllis_ with big white and purple striped flowers and beautiful tall
ground orchids, such as the lilac-blossomed _Eulophia (Lissochilus)
dilecta_ and _Lissochilus lindleyanus_, with similar clusters of golden-
yellow blossoms.
The highlands of Mandara and the scattered granite masses, which make
the landscape of Southern Bornu so attractive, form at the same time
sort of islets of flora, which show unmistakable differences from the
surrounding plain. Many remarkable kinds of plants only occur here—these
rocks are an El Dorado for the botanist—and never stray down into the
plain. It is noticeable that it is near the perennial springs, which
gush out on the slopes and at the foot of these isolated hills, that one
finds the only ferns in Bornu, mostly pretty varieties of _Adianthum_,
which, besides, are identical with those of Adamawa. But amongst the
representatives of the tree flora also many interesting species are to
be found. Thus the granite rocks north of Uba are thickly overgrown with
a species of fig-tree, the ‘Bidjage’, from which Barth says that the
natives prepare their arrow poison.[199] The ‘Bidjage’, _Ficus
populifolia_, is similar in the shape of its leaves to the ‘Ngabore’
found near Lake Chad, only it has striking light grey-green leaves, but
its qualities are certainly not more poisonous than those of any other
species of fig.
The cultivated plants of Bornu are drawn from a wider range than are the
wild ones. The majority of the former belong to species which are
cultivated all over Africa south of the tropic of Cancer, or are such as
are distributed over tropical countries throughout the world.
Of the Graminae cultivated in Bornu for grain by far the most important
are the _Andropogon_ species (_Sorghum holcus_) and the bulrush-headed
millet, _Pennisetum_ (_Penicillaria_), with their different varieties.
In comparison with them all other kinds of grain play a quite
subordinate rôle—at least at present. For the cultivation of the
_Andropogon_ species on the one hand, and of the _Pennisetum_ species on
the other, Barth assumes, and Nachtigal also lays down certain
boundaries depending on the composition of the soil.[200] But this
assumption is not to be taken literally, for, especially in view of the
continuous shifting of population, the area of distribution of the
grain-stuffs has likewise been shifted in the last few decades.
The best known _Pennisetum_ is the ‘Dukhn’, _Pennisetum spicatum_
(_typhoideum_) with bulrush-like heads, which is excellently suited for
cultivation in the sandy plains of Bornu. Sown at the beginning of the
rainy season, the ‘Dukhn’ only takes two months to reach full maturity.
The grain grown on the finer and moister land is the ‘Durrha’,
_Andropogon sorghum_—called in Bornu ‘Ngafeli’—which is distributed over
the whole of tropical Africa and part of southerly subtropical Africa
and over wide districts in Asia; it is sown at the same time as ‘Dukhn’,
but ripens about a week later than the latter.[201] Besides the ‘Durrha’
itself two varieties are cultivated, the ‘Sabadu’,[202] _Andropogon
saccharatum_, and above all the ‘Massakwa’, _Andropogon cernuum_, a
grain which is grown in water, and which, sown towards the end of the
rainy season on swampy soil, is transplanted after fourteen days at
slight distances apart, and after only ten or twelve weeks with the help
of the heavy dews is ready to cut.[203]
The grain which has its proper home in this region, the wild rice,
_Oryza punctata_, is little valued; it grows wild in the swampy plains,
exposed to floods in the rainy season, between the Shari and the Mandara
highlands,[204] forms there the chief food of the elephant, but is also
gathered by the poorer classes of the population. Rice is also always
cultivated here and there in small quantities, as, for example, on the
southern shores of Chad.
Somewhat more commonly one meets with plantations of maize, _Zea
Mays_,[205] which is often cultivated in well-watered parts of Bornu
which have a fertile soil rich in mould;[206] on the other hand, the
European cereals, barley and wheat, are very seldom grown and then only
with artificial irrigation and as a dry weather crop.[207] The three
last-named kinds of grain are regarded solely as delicacies and are
scarcely to be considered as forming part of the people’s food-stuffs.
Similarly tubers are only partly acclimatized in Bornu and are only
cultivated sporadically.
The tubers consist of the following: _Colocasia antiquorum_, _Dioscorea
batatas_, _Manihot utilissima_, and _Ipomoea batatas_, all lately
introduced for the first time and gradually imported into Bornu from the
south. From the north the onion has been brought into the country by the
Arabs. It grows excellently on the banks of Chad and reaches an
extraordinary size. But there are at any rate some plants long
established in Bornu which are cultivated as vegetables, such as the
‘Karass’, _Hibiscus esculentus_, whose pods furnish a slimy but
pleasant-tasting vegetable. The mallow, allied in habits to that grown
in the peasant gardens of Central Europe, and with flowers similar to
those of the cotton-plant, which is likewise its relative, is to be
found in almost all the villages of Bornu. Indigenous likewise to the
Sudan is the giant pumpkin, _Cucurbita pepo_—or _Cucurbita maxima_
according to Barth[208]—which thrives everywhere and often covers the
houses with thick tendrils and in the flooded districts of Lake Chad
stretches over vast areas, which in the dry weather one can distinguish
even at a distance by the big white gourds. Sesame[209] also, _Sesamum
indicum_, equally esteemed both as a vegetable and as an oil-producing
plant, has long been cultivated in Bornu; its thimble-shaped white or
red flowers are regularly to be found in the neighbourhood of the
villages. A more debatable question is the origin of the two varieties
of ground-nut which are distributed over almost the whole of tropical
Africa; their scientific names are _Arachis hypogaea_ and _Voandzeia
subterranea_, and they are widely cultivated both as vegetables and for
the production of oil; the fact that each has a name of its own in all
the languages of the country, argues that they found an entrance into
the very centre of the Sudan at least a long time ago. Of true pod-
bearing plants two are cultivated in many places, a bean, the
_Phaseolus_, and a variety of _Dolichos_.[210] From Asia have doubtless
come the tomato, _Solanum lycopersicum_, and the cress, _Lepidium
sativum_,[211] which are both grown in the gardens of Central Bornu.
Besides these quite a number of wild plants furnish both vegetables and
fruit. Bornu is extraordinarily poor in trees or bushes that are
cultivated for the sake of their fruit. The only fruit-tree of this kind
really worth mentioning is the paw-paw,[212] _Carica papaya_, which,
however, does not extend to the northern parts of Bornu. The
Aurantiaceae fruit-trees, which are so widely distributed elsewhere in
similar tropical and subtropical countries, are only represented by a
few scattered lime-trees—obviously introduced by the Arabs from the
North—in the gardens of the bigger towns of North and Central Bornu,
such as Zinder, Kukawa, and Dikoa.[213] It is equally seldom that one
meets with true spice-plants in Bornu. It is not till one gets to the
southern districts that one finds that the capsicum-pepper, imported
from Adamawa, has here and there obtained a firm footing.
The predilection of the natives for narcotics, some of which are hardly
ever found growing in the country, while others on the contrary are
extensively cultivated, is an argument that the former were first
introduced, while the latter had already long belonged to the Central
Sudan, very probably even at the time of the discovery of America.[214]
The most important, in fact almost the only narcotic cultivated in
Bornu, is tobacco, which is grown everywhere—especially in dried-up
sandy river-beds—but above all in Musgu country.[215] From the proofs
which he adduces there is more than usual to be said for Barth’s view
that the species of tobacco grown there is indigenous to that region.
With much more justice might it be contested that those plants were
indigenous in Bornu, for which there might be adduced the possibility of
introduction from the East contemporaneously with the extension of
Islam. To these belong indigo, _Indigofera tinctoria_, cultivated for
the production of dye, and henna, _Lawsonia inermis_. The former is
grown especially in the southern districts for the production of the
indispensable dye for dyeing blue cloths; henna, used for dyeing the
finger-nails red, is grown in smaller quantities in all Mohammedan
districts of Bornu.
With regard to cotton, by far the most important and almost the only
cultivated plant applied in Bornu to textile uses,[216] it is certain
that it was not brought to the Central Sudan from the New World, even if
one regards it as an immigrant. Rohlfs expresses himself as follows
about cotton: ‘It is quite certain that the cotton-shrub is to be
regarded as a plant indigenous to Africa; at least, this theory is
supported by its wide distribution over the African continent, as well
as by the abundance of words for cotton which are to be found in all the
negro kingdoms. The word ‘Kalkutta’, which the Kanuris use, appears to
be derived from the Arabic in the same way as the German ‘Kattun’ (and
the English ‘cotton’).[217] Barth also mentions that in the time of
Edriss Aloma cotton was already cultivated in the Sudan,[218] at a time,
too, when its introduction from America was at least very unlikely. The
cotton cultivated in Bornu and Adamawa is the perennial variety
classified by Passarge[219] as _Gossypium arboreum_, which in many
places, such as Ngornu on the shores of Chad, reaches a height of over
two metres. It is cultivated in Bornu wherever the influence of Islam
prevails and where the majority of the people wear clothes.[220] Its
favourite situation is the banks of rivers rich in mould and not too
much exposed to floods and the vicinity of loamy low-lying ground
strongly impregnated with sand.
Amongst other plants of importance which are grown for industrial
purposes is the _Cucurbita_ species, from which are manufactured by far
the largest number of household vessels except those used for cooking.
Besides the well-known _Cucurbita pepo_, which not only furnishes
calabashes but also serves for the manufacture of floats, there is also
the bottle-gourd, _Lagenaria vulgaris_, particularly trained as a
creeper on houses or fences. Its fruit is of very many different shapes
and this has led to different designations of the plant; however, it is
merely one and the same species assuming various forms.
[Footnote 143: The names cited below are mostly taken from the
specifications of a small collection of characteristic plants which I
brought back with me from the Chad countries, and which were kindly
identified for me by Professor Dr. Volkens. Other names are mostly to be
found in Nachtigal, i. 554, and ii. 383; Passarge, p. 536; Foureau,
_Doc. sc._, i. 391.]
[Footnote 144: In certain favourable places in Abyssinia, which is in
about the same latitude as Bornu, Heuglin often met with a profusion of
epiphytic orchids, the most characteristic plant of damp tropical
regions. In Bornu one would seek such things in vain; they are not to be
found even along the water-courses. Heuglin, _Reise nach Abessinien_,
pp. 386 and 397.]
[Footnote 145: Foureau, _Doc. sc._, i. 452.]
[Footnote 146: [Paw-paws have been introduced into some of the larger
towns in British Bornu, but do not flourish. From the ‘raphia’ comes
piassava fibre.]]
[Footnote 147: Foureau, _D’Alger au Congo_, p. 771, and _Doc. sc._, i.
456 and 545; and Chevalier, _La Géographie_, ix (1904), p. 351, where
_Coffea excelsa_ is also mentioned.]
[Footnote 148: Rohlfs asserts that there is a great ‘mimosa-forest’,
i.e. a forest of trees of the acacia species, which passes north of
Kukawa and appears to ‘extend like a ribbon, in many places four or five
days’ journey broad, right across the African continent from the West
Coast to the Red Sea’. Rohlfs, ii. 285.]
[Footnote 149: Lenfant, p. 152.]
[Footnote 150: Nachtigal, i. 558.]
[Footnote 151: Cf. Foureau, _D’Alger au Congo_, p. 576, where it is said
that ‘the bark at the base of the trees is always thickened somewhat as
a consequence of the frequency of these fires; it becomes wrinkled and
thick like cork, and forms as it were a sort of protective cuirass for
the trees’.]
[Footnote 152: It appears therefore that, as a matter of fact, the bush
fires can do no great damage to the trees and shrubs. On the other hand,
Chudeau asserts that the salt industry, which uses up a great deal of
fire-wood, has absolutely denuded some parts of North-West Bornu of
timber. _La Géographie_, xv (1907), p. 332.]
[Footnote 153: Denham, ii. 143, where the traveller says: ‘Not a fruit
of any description can be found in the whole kingdom.’ [This is an
exaggeration. Fruit is very scarce in Bornu, but water-melons, dates,
paw-paws, and limes can sometimes be obtained. Possibly some of these
have been introduced since Denham’s time. There are also _Kurna_ and
other wild fruit-trees.]]
[Footnote 154: In Central Bornu I have even found during the dry season
in sandy places a species of _Anastatica_, a typical desert plant.]
[Footnote 155: Rohlfs mentions that a whole district in Tripoli is
called after it (Rohlfs, i. 31).]
[Footnote 156: Single plants reach a height of 5 metres; the stems
covered with spongy bark are as thick as a man’s arm. Cf. Barth, ii.
197. [Kanuri, ‘kayo’, Hausa, ‘tumfafia’.]]
[Footnote 157: Nachtigal, i. 261; Chudeau, _La Géographie_, xv, p. 327.]
[Footnote 158: Cf. also Barth, ii. 319, and Nachtigal, i. 582.]
[Footnote 159: [Incorrect.]]
[Footnote 160: Barth, ii. 212 and 314.]
[Footnote 161: Barth, iv. 46 (German edition).]
[Footnote 162: Barth, moreover, mentions also a species of _Chamaerops_
indigenous to Bornu (Barth, iii. 170).]
[Footnote 163: Barth, iii. 96, 99, 100, 105; Nachtigal, ii. 322. Von
Beurmann found in Bornu yet another unclassified species of _Phoenix_,
vide _Zeitschrift für allgemeine Erdkunde_, xv, p. 287.]
[Footnote 164: Barth, iii. 42-3 (Barth erroneously calls the plant
‘siwak’). Nachtigal, i. 414 and 555.]
[Footnote 165: Foureau, _D’Alger au Congo_, pp. 588 and 590.]
[Footnote 166: Barth, iii. 26.]
[Footnote 167: Cf. Nachtigal, i. 413, and Foureau, _Documents
scientifiques_, i. 408.]
[Footnote 168: [Called in Kanuri ‘Kige̥’ or ‘Kighir’.]]
[Footnote 169: Barth, ii. 314.]
[Footnote 170: Cf. Foureau, _Documents scientifiques_, i. 441. In the
same passage a whole number of other species of acacia are cited. [Cf.
_Bulletin of the Imperial Institute_, 1908, 6. 47 and 1910, 8. 352.]]
[Footnote 171: Barth, iii. 58 (there called _Mimosa ferruginea_).]
[Footnote 172: Nachtigal, ii. 487.]
[Footnote 173: Foureau, _Documents scientifiques_, i. 441.]
[Footnote 174: [Hausa ‘gawo’, Kanuri ‘Karage̥’.]]
[Footnote 175: Foureau mentions the same peculiarity for the _Acacia
Trentiniani_, a smaller species belonging chiefly to Aïr, but found also
in Bornu.]
[Footnote 176: Cf. also Nachtigal, ii. 383.]
[Footnote 177: Barth, iv. 87-8, and Chudeau, _La Géographie_, xv, p.
333, where it is said that the northern boundary of this plant is
coterminous with that of the white-ant.]
[Footnote 178: Barth, iv. 118.]
[Footnote 179: _Petermann’s Mitteilungen_, Ergänzungsh., 34. p. 2, and
Rohlfs, ii. p. 15. The latter says: ‘The stems of this plant are, when
young, four-edged and pulpy, but later become rounded. At the base they
are as thick as a man’s arm, and from their juice mixed with that of
other plants is prepared the dreaded arrow-poison, the least drop of
which, if introduced into a wound, causes almost instant death,
according to native accounts.’ Passarge, however, on p. 162 of his book,
when mentioning this plant, only states that it is used throughout West
Africa as a medicine for gonorrhoea.]
[Footnote 180: Cf. Barth, ii. 371-2, and iii. 141 and 157. Nachtigal
identifies this species with _Ficus sycomorus_. Nachtigal, i. 663. [For
monographs on caoutchouc vid. list published by A. Challamel of Paris.]]
[Footnote 181: Nachtigal, ii. 269 [_Rehaina_].]
[Footnote 182: Denham, i. 76; cf. also Barth, iv. 66 (German edition).]
[Footnote 183: Barth, ii. 198. [In times of famine it is even pounded
and eaten by the poor.]]
[Footnote 184: Barth, ii. 387; Rohlfs, ii. 30. In spite of careful
inquiries during my stay in Bornu, I could not find this plant. [It is
quite well known. Its root is shaped like a potato, with pulp like a
radish, and milky juice.]]