a more or less complete hierarchy of office-holders. The law was administered by judges (Alkali) deeply versed not only in the Koran, but in the commentaries of many Moslem jurists, and in theory it was strictly impartial, the Emir himself being amenable to the Alkali's court. Taxation was based on the tithe prescribed by the Koran for Moslems, and the Kurdin Kasa or tribute laid down for conquered pagans. Death duties, tolls on merchandise, and many other forms of taxation added to the revenues. The Alkali's judicial award was enforced by the executive power, and the system of rule was so admirably organized that the order of the chief, whether it concerned the labour required for buildings in the city or a levy of com or cattle, was apportioned to each town and district, and enforced by an army of messengers with extraordinary promptitude and efficiency.
In the decadence which marked the Fulani rule at the close of the nineteenth century this admirable system had become distorted, and was a mere vehicle for extortion, rapine, and cruelty. The Moslem rulers had become tyraants, delighting in torture and sensuality. Living persons were often impaled in the market-place, where their shrieks of agony were the jest of small boys till they died a lingering death; the refinement of the tortures they inflicted as described, by Dr. Miller, C.M.S., are too awful for repetition. The traditional offices were usurped by favourite slaves; the decisions of the courts were guided by bribery and extortion, and the Alkali's verdict, if unpalatable to the chief, was set aside. Additional taxes of all kinds were imposed, and arbitrary levies gave the peasantry no rest, and stifled all industry, since production was merely the mark for spoliation. Tax-gatherers lived like harpies upon the districts; from their lust no woman was safe, and their greed allowed no man to call his property his own. The warriors who had conquered in the name of Mohammed were effete. Mounted on horses covered with trappings, themselves smothered with quilted arrow-proof robes or shirts of mail, they raided the country annually for slaves.
