the Kanuri of the west of Chad, and at the present day are identified with them, speaking practically a common language and adopting the same customs.
The dawn of the twentieth century, which inaugurated a British administration in this land of ancient traditions and civilization, found throughout its length and breadth a chaos of misrule and anarchy. Like all despots in the tropical zone, the Fulani ruler had become a merciless tyrant, practising inhuman barbarities upon a subservient but deeply discontented people, who in turn were in constant revolt. The pagan tribes which fringed the emirates and the rebellious subjects were alike the victims of ceaseless raids, for slaves, and vast areas of land were depopulated, devastated, and deluged in blood. In the west the conquering Rabeh, who, on the defeat of his master, Sulieman, by Gordon's lieutenant, Gessi Pasha, had fled from the Nile regions with the remnant of Sulieman's army, had invaded Bornu, and laid its capital, Kuka, in ruins, ousted its ruling dynasty, and sold its people into slavery.
I have said that the country inherited an ancient civilization, and it will perhaps be well to describe in a brief word the salient points of that civilization, which was not introduced by the Fulani, but adopted by them from their predecessors, and has its origin in remote antiquity.
The ruling chief was supported by a council, to whose advice he was bound to listen on all important affairs of State. In him was vested the ultimate title to land, but his principality was divided into fiefs, held in a kind of feudal tenure by the principal officers of State, who collected taxes on behalf of the Emir and of themselves. The functions of Government were delegated to a large number of office-holders holding ancient and much coveted titles, some of which are common to almost all the emirates, while others are peculiar to certain ones. The members of the ruling house had certain offices, and succession followed the Koranic rule. Each considerable town had its seriki, or chief, who in turn had
