. On horseback through Nigeria; or, Life and travel in the central Sudan . ruinsof the fort, and next morning moved north-east-ward along the base of the hills to Wadi. The Bimahills, with the three Tera towns of Gwani, Wadi,and Gunna, form a detached portion of Bauchiprovince, known as the Bima enclave, andadministered from the Gombe district head-quarters, while all the rest of the country to theeast of the Gongola and as far south as Gasi isincluded within the province of Bornu. Beyond Wadi lay the broken plains of Barbur,backed in the distance by the rocky escarpmentof the Bura plateau. Th
. On horseback through Nigeria; or, Life and travel in the central Sudan . ruinsof the fort, and next morning moved north-east-ward along the base of the hills to Wadi. The Bimahills, with the three Tera towns of Gwani, Wadi,and Gunna, form a detached portion of Bauchiprovince, known as the Bima enclave, andadministered from the Gombe district head-quarters, while all the rest of the country to theeast of the Gongola and as far south as Gasi isincluded within the province of Bornu. Beyond Wadi lay the broken plains of Barbur,backed in the distance by the rocky escarpmentof the Bura plateau. The Barbur towns andvillages are set for the most part close to the baseof the escarpment. All are well-walled, denselypopulated, and apparently prosperous, and my re-ception everywhere left nothing to be desired. Thepeople, like the Terawa to the west of the Gongola,are quite a superior class of pagan, and in formerdays offered a strenuous resistance to the encroach-ment of the Fulani and Kanuri of the north. The capital, Gulani, is built in a basin-shaped hollow in 170. The Ancient Kingdom of Bornu the midst of a circle of hills, which rise from agently undukting plain deeply covered with blackswamp-earth. The town is surrounded by a well-built battlemented wall and a double ditch, withlog bridges at the gates, all in an excellent stateof repair. The rest-camp is set on rising groundto the south of the town, and from the summit ofthe western hills an extensive view can be obtainedover the level plains which stretch westward tothe Gongola. The prospect, however, at this seasonwas most depressing. The thin and scrubby bushhad been burnt and blackened by the forest fires,and between the sombre stems the black earthshowed, without a single touch of green. West-ward and northward as far as one could see thismelancholy plain extended, with only a few lowand blackened hillocks to relieve the monotonyof the scene, while eastward a similar black andgloomy plain led onward to the base of
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