Although the marshy district on the shore of Chad is favourable to certain kinds of vegetation, yet the ‘firki’ flats appear to be without any plant growth whatever, and thus give the landscape a rather extraordinary appearance of melancholy. Although the ‘firki’ flats are, in the rainy season at any rate, a favourable soil for water-loving plants, and are in their nature fertile, yet they dry up so rapidly in the late autumn that only quickly growing plants, without being able to come to flower, can maintain themselves as long as the layer of loam retains its humidity; but after that cracks in the soil soon appear and cause the roots to dry up, so that all existing vegetation must necessarily die down. Only where there is subterraneous water or stagnant water-courses that are able to last out the dry weather are there acacias, which in some parts of this region so bare of trees furnish the only fuel, and are so stripped of their branches by the natives that with their stunted shoots they exactly resemble at first sight the pollard willows of the north. On the pools and water-courses that do last out the dry weather are found in places the flora, which appear also elsewhere in Bornu, of the smaller lakes and ponds, principally consisting of the buds of the cosmopolitan Pistia stratiotes, with its lettuce-like head and two kinds of water-lilies—the Nymphaea lotos with yellowish white, and the Nymphaea Zanzibariensis with sky-blue flowers.[188]

The farther one penetrates into the ‘bush’ towards the south-west, the south, and the south-east, the oftener do new species occur and replace by degrees the more northernly varieties. The ‘hadjlidj’ (Balanites) next disappears from the forest and the acacias are relegated to the sterile spots; only the Acacia albida remain as numerous as ever, and appear in ever finer specimens. On the other hand, the Anona Senegalensis makes itself noticeable amongst the undergrowth with its grey-green aromatic-smelling leaves; it is one of the few wild bushes to produce edible fruit. ‘Gonda-n-Kura’, as the wild paw-paw is called, is usually known by a Hausa name as opposed to the cultivated ‘gonda’, as the Carica papaya is called in the Central Sudan. Along the streams there is found a tree with dark-grey bark and leaves, not unlike though somewhat larger than the horse-chestnut, which it also resembles in the shape of its strong-smelling blossoms. It is the Vitex cuneata, belonging to the Verbenaceae and locally known as ‘Ngalibi’. Ink is prepared from its bark,[189] and its black fruit is used for food. Near it are always found other kinds of trees, whose external appearance gives the impression of regular tropical growth. Next to it is the well-named silk cotton tree, Ceiba pentandra,[190] though it is indeed far from reaching the size of those found in the primaeval forest; in favourable spots, however, along the river-banks where the ‘humus’ soil is plentiful, there are specimens which cause it to stand out as one of the tallest trees of the district. Large trees of this species were even used by the natives of the middle Shari as places of refuge during the slave raids.[191] The soft silky fluff of the seed capsules is used all over Bornu as stuffing for various articles. Its relative, the Bombax buonopozense, is very seldom found near the Ceiba; the former is a tree which can never be overlooked, owing to its big dark-red blossoms, which stand out at a distance against the background of its scanty foliage.

Typical specimens of ever-increasing size now appear of the giant of the 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.

VI

What holds good of the flora of Bornu, as regards its geographical distribution and composition, holds good also, but in a higher degree, of its animal world. The fauna of the country is a mixture of purely Ethiopian varieties and of such as are peculiar to the Mediterranean, i.e. the Sahara region, still the boundaries of the fauna overlap each other far more than is the case with the flora, owing to the easier possibility of distribution amongst animals. This holds good especially of the birds and of the winged insects; in fact the appearance of the fauna is temporarily strongly influenced by the European birds of passage who make a winter sojourn in Bornu. Again, the Ethiopian animals are a mixture of the fauna of East and West Africa. Whilst among the vertebrates the West African species prevail, it appears that the East African predominate among the invertebrates, in fact varieties appear here whose nearest known haunt lies thousands of miles distant in East or even in South-East Africa. In general the richest animal life is always displayed in the vicinity of water, firstly because the larger animals can come here to drink at all times of the year, and secondly because at the same time the richest vegetation is found here, on the existence of which the life of the smaller animals more or less depends. According to Nachtigal, the Chad islands alone must harbour a comparatively rich fauna, even as regards mammals.[221] The rocky country also, which almost always possesses a water-supply of one kind or another, and consequently a fresher and more varied vegetation, thus affording lurking-places of all sorts, is always preferred by the wild animals of the adjoining plain. The ‘Terminalia’ steppe of South Bornu appears at its poorest as regards animal life during the dry weather, under which circumstances an attentive observer may travel all day without seeing a single living creature save a few insects.

Of the mammals, the various kinds of monkeys in Bornu next deserve our particular attention: their numbers are exceedingly large and in spite of the most impudent raids on the cornfields they are scarcely interfered with at all; they venture into the closest proximity to man, and often display a boldness of behaviour that one hardly finds in any other mammal. Thus they enter even the towns themselves, climbing the walls with the utmost unconcern, bent on deliberate mischief.[222]

The Cercopithecus species, or long-tailed monkeys, are very widely distributed over Bornu. For they do not belong especially to the hiding-places among the rocks as the baboons do. They are present wherever a fairly large and dense growth of trees affords them sufficient shelter, and so they are to be found right within the Sahara, in the hill country of Aïr, the most northernly place for Ethiopian fauna, where they are even represented by two different species.[223] They live always in troops and especially frequent the ‘bush’ in the neighbourhood of human habitations, where the millet and guinea-corn fields are their objective, in which in a short time they can cause incredible damage, in spite of all precautions by the owners. The best known long-tailed monkeys of Bornu are the Cercopithecus viridis, and the hussar monkey, Cercopithecus ruber,[224] the former belonging more to the flat regions of the north, and the latter inhabiting rather the ‘bush’ and the granite rocks of South Bornu.

The dog-faced apes, the baboons, appear to be distributed still farther to the north than the long-tailed monkeys; but they rather prefer rocky localities and for this reason are principally to be met with in the most northernly and the most southernly districts of Bornu, though they also frequent the plain, as Nachtigal was able to observe near the town of Affade. Where, however, one finds only a fairly considerable granite formation, there one may reckon with the greatest certainty on the presence of baboons. Considering the slight protection afforded by their surroundings, which often consists only in the similarity of colouring between their skins and the rocks they inhabit, the baboons (relying on their formidable teeth) display still greater boldness than the long-tailed monkeys, and only retire from the cornfields selected for plunder if energetically pursued, barking furiously, and with their cheek-pouches filled to bursting.[225] The only living thing that they fear is the leopard, their bitterest enemy. The commonest dog-faced monkey found in Bornu belongs to the species Cynocephalus babuin,[226] but there is another somewhat larger species in the higher mountains—whose males have a lion-like appearance owing to their thick manes—but this species is not yet definitely classified.

Analogous to the monkey tribe, one meets at Ulugo near Lake Chad and also in other places in the open acacia ‘bush’ a purely night-prowling beast, the ‘galago’, Otolicnus galago,[227] which is about the size of a squirrel. Among the numerous bats is included a very large light-yellow species, which one occasionally disturbs out of the trees during the daytime, also a flying dog, Cynonycteris stramineus,[228] of considerable size, which always appears in large numbers and flits round the fruit-bearing fig-trees or kuka-trees at sundown, but makes itself especially noticeable by its noisiness at the beginning of the rainy season.

Bornu is extraordinarily rich in beasts of prey, whose presence is explained by the abundance of game and the considerable flocks and herds owned by the natives. All the big feline species of Africa are found in Bornu. At the head of these stands the lion, which, owing to the smallness of the mane in the male, approaches the Senegal variety. In Bornu proper he is always rare[229] or perhaps often overlooked, though he is certainly distributed all over the country; but he naturally prefers to frequent the thick ‘bush’ of the river banks, where the game come to water, and he is always sure of a rich and certain prey. It is here also that he is most in evidence. He is most frequently met with on the north shore of Chad[230] and in the riverain district of the Shari and the Logone, where also other game is found in the greatest abundance. Dominik, who was able to certify to the presence of eight lions at a single spot on the Shari at the same time, relates that according to Arab reports the lions here hold regular ‘drives’ for game.[231] According to Kund, the quantity of lions in these parts has temporarily become so great, that some smaller hamlets have been compelled to shift their quarters.[232] The presence of the lions is so serious, that they not only endanger the herds, but even repeatedly attack human beings. Denham, for instance, relates that during his stay in Kukawa, a woman slave was seized by a lioness,[233] and in quite recent times men have been repeatedly carried off by lions in the districts near the Shari.[234]

The natives declare that the leopard, Felis leopardus, the second largest of the feline tribe found in the country, occasionally attacks human beings, and in view of the fact that similar depredations are reported from other parts of Africa, it can scarcely be doubted that they occur in Bornu. Whilst the Bornu lion prefers the plains, the leopard is rather a mountain animal, for the clefts in the rocks and the ravines thickly overgrown with vegetation furnish him with numerous lurking-places and also harbour large quantities of baboons, which form his principal prey.

Of the other feline animals the cheetah, Cynailurus guttatus, is the third largest; this is something like a dog and is often tamed, but it is distinctly rare. It seems to prefer very dry localities, whilst another species, the serval, Felis serval, with longer legs and larger ears, especially common near Lake Chad, has a predilection for swampy thickets, where it is very destructive to the wild-fowl. The last of the known species is the Summoli, Felis caracal, a true lynx with long prick ears; this appears to show all the characteristics of its European relative,[235] and like it too is only found very sporadically.

The wild dog tribe are likewise well represented in Bornu. At night-time may be heard everywhere the howl of the jackal, by far the commonest of the smaller beasts of prey. The jackal, Canis mesomelas, on the one hand, is useful by exterminating mice and removing carrion left lying about, but on the other hand is a nuisance, owing to the depredations which he commits in the poultry-yard, and by often dragging into the light of day corpses which have been only carelessly buried; in the latter respect he is a worse offender even than the hyena.

Remarkable for the similarity which the climate of Bornu has in many respects with that of the Southern Sahara, is the presence of so pronounced a desert animal as is the ‘Fenek’, Canis cerdo.[236] This was met with by Barth, not only in the northern districts round Munio, where its appearance would not cause especial astonishment, but also on the Shari.[237] Here also Dominik confirms the presence of that most interesting of the dog species of this region, the Hyena-dog, Lycaon pictus, which hunts in packs and forms the link between the dog proper and the hyena.[238]

As in all the ‘bush’ regions of Africa, so also in Bornu, there is no lack of hyenas; they have hitherto been classified under two species,[239] the smaller and very common striped hyena, Hyaena striata, and the larger and somewhat rarer spotted variety, Hyaena crocuta; they make themselves useful, like the vultures and the jackals, by the removal of carrion, but like the latter they leave no buried corpse undisturbed, unless prevented from doing so by every possible means. Although primarily a carrion-eater, the hyena by no means despises a living prey, and the countless bold seizures and attacks on cattle, of which the herdsmen of Bornu have to complain, more often fall to the guilty account of the hyena—who indeed draws the greater quantity of his carrion from the neighbourhood of the shambles—than to that of the lion or the leopard.[240] Whether they also attack sleeping men, as the natives assert, may be left undecided.

To what may be called the slinking variety of the cat tribe belongs the civet-cat, Viverra civetta, which is found all over Bornu, and is often kept as a domestic animal by the natives for the production of the civet, which is extracted in a pure state from the cuticle of the strong-smelling posterior gland of the Viverra.[241] Three other smaller beasts of prey, relatives of the civet-cat, which live in Bornu, are also here and there kept in captivity by the natives, apparently for the extirpation of mice; these are the furze-cat, Genetta dongolana;[242] the Ichneumon, Herpestes ichneumon; and the striped mongoose, Herpestes taeniotus; they are extraordinarily tame there.[243]

The animals of the marten tribe are less numerous in Bornu. Worthy of notice also is the existence of an otter, ‘Lutra’, with very handsome jet black fur, which is caught now and then in Chad by the Kanembu, and of the African skunk, Putorius zorilla. In Bornu as elsewhere the rodents are numerously represented. Rats and mice are a regular plague in the low-lying districts, especially where ‘firki’ soil alternates with sand-dunes; the rats, however, are caught by the Kotokos and brought to the markets to be sold as food.[244] A kind of burrowing mouse together with a species of hare[245] undermine the surface of the sand-dunes studded with ‘Calotropis’ and ‘Zizyphus’ trees, thus rendering it difficult for pedestrians as well as mounted men to cross such places. Of the porcupine tribe at any rate the Hystrix cristata is found in Bornu; the fallen quills of this large rodent, whose colouring makes them unmistakable, are often found in the ‘bush’.

It is natural that in a land like Bornu, where ants and termites play so important a part, ant-eaters are not wanting.[246] Clear traces of this animal’s formidable digging-claws are to be found at practically every ant-hill, provided it is situated in the open ‘bush’. The ground-pig, Orycteropus senegalensis,[247] is certainly found, and very probably also one of the armadillos (‘Manis’) peculiar to the African ‘bush’ districts, though up to the present certain information of this has not been forthcoming. By far the most characteristic of the wild mammals whose tracks one meets in Bornu—one might almost say one is dogged by them—belong to the antelope family so rich in different species. The astonishing abundance of antelope in most districts of Bornu, not only of species, but also of individuals, is explained by Nachtigal on the ground that the great profusion of domestic animals suitable for the butcher renders it unnecessary to trap wild ones.[248] The most striking of all the antelopes, if one may reckon it among that tribe, is the giraffe, Camelopardalis girafa,[249] which is found, though somewhat rarely, in the great stretches of uninhabited ‘bush’, sheltered by the tall acacias, and which also wanders from here into the more settled districts. It belongs also to the tree-covered steppes to the north of Chad,[250] from whence its distribution extends far into the Southern Sahara, as well as all over Bornu.[251] The high granite hills to the south of Bornu form its first natural boundary.[252] The antelopes proper are found in Bornu at the present day partly sporadically and partly in regular herds, separated according to species, but similar in their habits. The great majority of the species belong equally to Bornu and to the Southern Sahara.[253] The best known or the most striking are: the widely-distributed Dorcas Gazelle, Antilope dorcas, often tamed as a pet—the Soemmering’s gazelle, Antilope Soemmeringii—the Antilope arabica—the Mpala, Antilope melampus—the Bubal Hartebeest, Bubalis bubalis—the red Hartebeest, Bubalis caama—the reed-buck, Redunca eleotragus—the water-buck, Cobus ellipsiprymnus—the beautiful horse antelope, Hippotragus niger—the sable antelope, Oryx leucoryx—the addax antelope, Addax nasomaculata—the Kudu, Strepsiceros Kudu—and the harnessed antelope, Tragelaphus scriptus, as well as a diminutive tufted duiker, Cephalolophus spec. As a rule only the addax antelope and the ‘mpala’ form themselves into largish herds, often a hundred strong. The former prefer dry localities; the latter, often in company with the water-buck, are especially fond of the swampy southern shore of Chad.[254]

Of other ruminants there is finally also found in Bornu the buffalo or bush cow, Bos caffer. Its favourite haunts are little-frequented places on the Chad shore and the swampy lowlands between the Logone and the Shari.[255]

The many-toed animals are represented in Bornu by all the giant species of Africa, as well as by the very small animals belonging to this family. Of those general in Bornu the elephant deserves by far the largest share of attention, owing not least to the tragic fate to which he is destined as a result of the ruthless pursuit to which he is subjected. Even if one always reckons that the number of these beasts is larger than it is in reality, one must add to this the fact that even travellers such as Barth were deceived as to their numbers owing to ignorance of the elephant’s habits of life. Dominik rightly emphasizes the point[256] that the activity of three elephants is enough to leave traces that easily lead one to the false assumption that they have been made by a larger herd of these pachyderms. Only thus is it to be explained that Barth speaks of thousands of elephants,[257] while the number of the largest herd which he himself observed only reached 96 head.[258] If one takes into consideration the elephants which Barth actually saw, it constitutes a diminution already considerable in the number of these giant beasts since Denham’s time, for the latter observed herds still numbering 150 or even 400.[259] Since then the number of elephants has steadily diminished, so that even the numbers of a herd alleged to contain 50 head, observed by the English members of the Anglo-German Boundary Commission in the winter of 1903-4, must certainly be taken as an over rather than an underestimate. Although Kund mentions at the same period the appearance of a herd 200 strong on the Shari,[260] his statement must certainly be grounded on greatly exaggerated reports from natives.