ancient course of the upper river. When the upper Niger had this direction, the Wadi Taffassassent, now a dried-up river of the central Sahara, which rose in the Ahaggar mountains, is believed to have formed the upper course of the existing lower Niger. While the upper and lower parts of the Niger have all the appearance of ancient streams, the middle Niger is the result of a capture; "it has no past, it scarcely has a present" (see R. Chudeau, Sahara soudanais, Paris, 1909).

History

ploration.

recent "

Vague ideas of the existence of the river were possessed by the ancients. The great river flowing eastward reached by the Nasamonians as reported by Herodotus can be no other than the Niger. Pliny mentions a river Nigris, and ex- of the same nature with the Nile, separating Africa and Ethiopia, and forming the boundary of Gaetulia; and it is not improbable that. this is the modern Niger. In Ptolemy, too, appears along with Gir (possibly the Shari) a certain Nigir (Niyep) as one of the largest rivers of the interior; but so vague is his description that it is impossible definitely to identify it with the Niger. Arabian geographers, such as Ibn Batuta, who were acquainted with the middle course of the river, called it the Nile of the Negroes. At the same time contradictory opinions were held as to the course of the stream. It was supposed by some geographers to run west, an opinion probably first stated by Idrisi in the 12th century. Idrisi gave the Nile of Egypt and the Nile of the Negroes a common source in the Mountain of the Moon. Fountains from the mountain formed two lakes, whence issued streams which united in a very large lake. From this third lake issued two rivers-the Nile of Egypt flowing north, and that of the Negroes flowing west (see R. Dozy and M. J. de Goeje's Edrisi, Leiden, 1866: Premier Climat, 1st 4 sections). From Idrisi's description it would appear that he regarded the Shari, Lake Chad, the Benue, Niger and Senegal as one great river which emptied into the Atlantic. That the Niger flowed west and reached the ocean was also stated by Leo Africanus. The belief that a western branch of the Nile emptied itself into the Atlantic was held by Prince Henry of Portugal, who instructed the navigators he despatched to Guinea to look for the mouth of the river, and when in 1445 they entered the estuary of the Senegal the Portuguese were convinced that they had discovered the Nile of the Negroes (see Azurara's Discovery and Conquest of Guinea, Beazley and Prestage's translation, vol. ii., London, 1899, chaps. lx. and lxi., and introduction and notes). The Senegal being proved an independent river and the eastward flow of the Niger assumed, the theory that it ran into the Nile was revived, and almost to the very year in which the course of the river was actually demonstrated geographers and travellers, such as J. G. Jackson in his Empire of Marocco, first published in 1809, fought zealously for the identity of the Nile of the Negroes with the river of Egypt. The highest scientific authority of the day, Major James Rennell, believed, however, that the Niger ended, by evaporation, in the country of "Wangara "-a region located by him, through a misreading of Idrisi, far too much 1 Sir Rufane Donkin in a curious and learned work, A Dissertation on... the Niger (1829), made the Niger join the Gir, which last stream he calls the Nile of Bornu. The united river ran north, disappeared underground in the Sahara and reached the Mediterranean at "the quicksands of the gulph of Sidra." Donkin believed that the desert, advancing eastwards, would overwhelm the Egyptian Nile also in its lower course. "The Delta," he exclaims, "shall become a plashy quicksand, a second Syrtis! and the Nile shall

cease to exist from the Lower Cataract downwards."

The hydrography of northern central Africa as now known largely explains the medieval belief in a connexion between the western rivers and the Egyptian Nile. Leaving out of account the Welle-Ubangi (and Idrisi's description of the two Niles may infer a knowledge of that stream, which was supposed by Schweinfurth to form part of the Chad system), there is an almost continuous waterway from the mouth of the Senegal to that of the Nile. The upper waters of the Bakoy branch of the Senegal and those of the navigable Niger are less than 40 m. apart; the Niger communicates directly through the Benue, Lake Tuburi and the Logone with the Shari; the easternmost affluents of the Shari and the most western tributaries of the Bahr el Ghazel affluent of the Nile are within 20 m. of one another. With but three short porterages a boat could be navigated the whole of this distance. Morcover, from the confluence of the Ghazel the Nile is navigable (at high water) the entire distance to the Mediterranean. (See also SUARI.)

to the east, between 15° and 20° E. (see Rennell's map in Hornemann's Travels, 1802). To.Rennell the Benue was an eastflowing continuation of the Niger. The imagined existence of mountains-called Kong in the west and Komri (Lunar) in the east-stretching in a high and unbroken chain across Africa about 10° N. long prevented geographers from thinking of a possible southern bend to the Niger.

That the vast network of rivers on the Guinea coast, of which the Nun was the chief, known as the Oil Rivers, formed the delta of the Niger does not appear to have been suspected before the beginning of the 19th century. Consequently it was from the direction of its source that the river was first explored in modern times. In 1795 Mungo Park (q.v.) was sent out by the African Association, and was the first European to see and describe the upper river. Park landed at the Gambia, and struck the Niger near Segu (a town some distance above Sansandig) on the 20th of July 1796, where he beheld it "glittering in the morning sun as broad as the Thames at Westminster and flowing slowly to the castward" (Travels, 1st ed. p. 194). He descended the river some distance, and on his return journey went up stream as far as Bamako. In 1805 Park returned to Africa for the purpose of descending the Niger to its mouth. He started as before from the Gambia, reached the Niger, sailed down the river past Timbuktu, and on the eve of the successful accomplishment of his undertaking lost his life during an attack on his boat by the natives at Bussa (Nov. or Dec. 1805). Park held to the opinion that the Niger and Congo were one river, though in 1802 C. G. Reichard, a German geographer, had suggested that the Rio Nun was the mouth of the Niger. Owing to Park's death the results of his second journey were lost, and the work had to be begun afresh. In 1822 Major A. G. Laing (who had reached Timbuktu by way of Tripoli) obtained some accurate information concerning the sources of the river, and in 1828 the French explorer René Caillié went by boat from Jenné to the port of Timbuktu. In 1826 Bussa was reached from Benin by Hugh Clapperton, and his servant Richard Lander. On Clapperton's death Richard Lander and his brother John led in 1830 ar expedition which went overland from Badagry to the Niger Canoeing down the river from Yawri-60 m. above Bussa-to the mouth of the Rio Nun they finally settled the doubt as to the lower course of the stream. In 1832 Macgregor Laird established the African Steamship Company, and Richard Lander and R. A. K. Oldfield (as members of its first expedition) ascended the Niger to Rabba, and the Benue as far as Dagbo (So m.), In 1841 an expedition, consisting of three steamers of the British navy, under Captain (afterwards Admiral) H. D. Trotter, went up to Egga (Egam), but was forced to return owing to sickness and mortality.

Heinrich Barth (1851-1854) made known to Europe the course of the river from Timbuktu to Say. Barth sailed down from Saraiyamo (situated on a tributary stream south-west of Timbukutu) to Kabara; then skirted the left bank to a small town called Bornu in 16° N., and the right thence to Say. In 1880-1881 the German E. R. Flegel ascended the Niger to Gomba opposite the confluence of the Sokoto river with the main stream, and about 70 m. below Barth's southmost point. Zweifel and Moustier, sent out by M. Verminck, a Marseilles merchant, discovered (1879) the sources of the Falico, &c., and in 1885 the Tembi source was visited by Captain Brouet, a French officer. Indeed the additions to the knowledge of the Niger during the last two decades of the 19th century were largely the work of French officers engaged in the extension of French influence throughout the western Sudan, From 1880 onwards Colonel (afterward General) Gallieni took a leading part in the operations on the upper river, where in 1883 a small gunboat, the Niger, was launched for the protection of the newly established French posts. In 1885 a voyage was made by Captain Delanneau

In 1816 James McQueen correctly divined that there was a great west-flowing tributary (the Benue) to the Niger, and that after its confluence the river ran south to the Atlantic. See his View of Northern Central Africa (1821) and Geographical Survey of Africa (1840).

See Ephémérides géographiques, vol. xii. (Weimar, Aug. 1803).

past the ruins of Sansandig, as far as Diafarabe. In 1887 the gunboat made a more extended voyage, reaching the port of Timbuktu, and correcting the mapping of the river down to that point. In 1894-1895 attention was directed to the middle and lower Niger, to which several expeditions started from the coast of Guinea. A still more important expedition was that of Lieutenant Hourst, who, starting from Timbuktu in January 1896, navigated the Niger from that point to its mouth, executing a careful survey of the river and the various obstructions to navigation. A voyage made in 1897 by Lieutenant de Chevigné showed that at low water the section between Timbuktu and Ansongo presents great difficulties, but the voyage from Timbuktu to Say was again successfully accomplished in 1899 by Captain Granderye. In 1901 Captain E. Lenfant ascended the river with a flotilla from its mouth to Say, and he demonstrated the "normal practicability" of the route, despite the Bussa rapids. The delta of the Niger has been partially surveyed since it became British territory by various ship captains, officials of the Royal Niger Company and others, including Sir Harry Johnston, sometime British consul for the Oil Rivers.

In addition to the main stream, the Niger basin was made known by exploration during the last quarter of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th. The journeys of the German traveller G. A. Krause (north from the Gold Coast, 1886-1887) and the French Captain Binger (Senegal to Ivory Coast, 18871880) first defined its southern limits by revealing the unexpected northward extension of the basins of the Guinea coast streams, especially the Volta and Komoe, a fact which explained the absence of important tributaries within the Niger bend. This was crossed for the first time, in its fullest extent, by Colonel P. L. Monteil (French) in 1890-1891. At the eastern end of the basin much light has been thrown on the system of the Benue. In 1851 Barth crossed the Benue at its junction with the Faro, but the region of its sources was first explored by Flegel (1882-1884), who traversed the whole southern basin of the river and reached Ngaundere. Other German travellers added to the knowledge of the southern tributaries, the Tarabba, Donga and others, which in the rains bring down a large body of water from the highlands of southern Adamawa. British travellers who have done work in the same region are Sir W. Wallace, L. H. Moseley, W. P. Hewby, P. A. Talbot and Captain Claud Alexander. The last-named two were members of an expedition led by Lieut. Boyd-Alexander, who himself crossed Africa from the Niger to the Nile. Messrs Talbot and Claud Alexander surveyed the country between Ibi on the Benue and Lake Chad, mapping (1904) a considerable part of the Gongola.' In 1854 the Benue itself was ascended 400 m. by the "Pleiad " expedition, and in 1889 to 13° E., and the Kebbi to Bifara by Major (afterwards Sir Claude) Macdonald, further progress towards the Tuburi marsh being prevented by the shallowness of the water. The upper basin of the Benue was also traversed by the French expeditions of Mizon (1892) and Maistre (1892-1893), the latter passing to the south of the Tuburi marsh without definitely settling the hydrographical question connected with it. This was accomplished by Captain Lenfant in 1903. He ascended the Kebbi and discovered the Lata Fall, continuing up the river to its point of issue from Tuburi. Crossing the marshes he found and navigated the narrow river leading to the Logone. Save for the porterage round the Lata Fall the whole journey from the mouth of the Niger to Lake Chad was made by water. The Benue in the neighbourhood of Yola was mapped in 1903-1904 by an Anglo-German boundary commission.

From 1904 onwards the French undertook works on the Niger between Bamako-whence there is railway communication with the Senegal and Ansongo with a view to deepening the channel and removing obstructions to navigation. In 1910 the British began dredging with the object of obtaining from the mouth of the river to Baro a minimum depth of 6 ft. of water.

1 Captain Claud Alexander died of fever in northern Nigeria on the 30th of November 1904. His brother, Lieut. Boyd Alexander, in a subsequent expedition across Africa was murdered in Wadai on the 2nd of April 1910.

AUTHORITIES.-Mungo Park, Travels in the Interior Districts of in the Years 1795, 1796 and 1797 (London, 1799). À Africa geographical appendix by Major James Rennell summarizes the information then available about the Niger. R. and J. Lander, Journal of an Expedition to explore the Course and Termination of the Niger (3 vols. London, 1833); H. Barth, Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa, vols. iv. and v. (London, 1857-1858); Gen. J. S. Gallieni, Mission d'exploration du Haut Niger (Paris, 1885); E. Caron, De Saint Louis au Port de Timbouktou; Voyage d'une cannonière française (Paris, 1891); M. Hourst, Sur le Niger et au pays des Touaregs (Paris, 1898), English Niger (London, 1898). The political references in this book are translation, French Enterprise in Africa Exploration of the marked by jealous hostility to the British. Col. J. K. Trotter, The Niger Sources (London, 1897); Sir H. H. Johnston," The Niger Delta," Proc. R.G.S. (December 1888); Sir F. Lugard, "An Expedition to Borgu on the Niger," Geo. Jnl. (September 1895); E. chiefly a demonstration that the Bussa rapids are not an absolute Lenfant, Le Niger; voie ouverte à notre empire africain (Paris, 1903), bar to navigation.

...

The foregoing books deal almost entirely with the Niger. For the Benue see, besides Barth's Travels, A. F. Mockler Ferryman, Up the Niger; Narrative of Major Claude Macdonald's Mission to the Niger and Benue Rivers... (London, 1892); L. Mizon, " Itinéraire de la source de la Benóué au confluent des rivières Kadeï et Mambéré" and other papers in the Bull. Soc. Géog. Paris for 1895 and 1896; E. Lenfant, La Grande Route du Chad (Paris, 1905); Col. L. Jackson, C. Maistre, A travers l'Afrique central du Congo au Niger (Paris, 1895): "The Anglo-German Boundary Expedition in Nigeria," Geo. Jni. (July 1905); P. A. Talbot," Survey Work by the Alexander Gosling Expedition: Northern Nigeria 1904-1905, idem (February 1906); Boyd Alexander, From the Niger to the Nile, vol. i. (London, 1907). struction in Nigeria (1905) and Further Correspondence, &c. (1909), The British Blue Books, Correspondence relating to Railway Concontain information about the navigability of the lower Niger and of the Kaduna. The best maps are those published by the French and British War Offices; an Atlas du cours du Niger de Tombouctou Hourst and others, was published in Paris in 1899. aux rapides de Boussa in 50 sheets on the scale of 1: 50,000, by Licut. (F. R. C.)

NIGERIA, a British protectorate in West Africa occupying the lower basin of the Niger and the country between that river and Lake Chad, including the Fula empire (i.e. the Hausa States) and the greater part of Bornu. It embraces most of the territory in the square formed by the meridians of 3° and 14° E. and the parallels of 4° and 14° N., and bas an area of about 338,000 sq. m. The protectorate is bounded W., N. and N.E. by French possessions (Dahomey, Upper Senegal and Niger colony, and Chad territory), S.E. by the German colony of Camercon and S. by the Atlantic. Physical Features.-The country is divisible, broadly, into three zones running parallel with the coast: (1) the delta, (2) forest region, giving place to (3) the plateau region. The coast line, some 500 m. in length, extends along the Gulf of Guinea from 2° 46′ 55′′ E. to 8° 45′ E. ending at the Rio del Rey, the point where the great bend eastwards of the continent ceases and the land turns south. The Niger (q.v.), which enters the protectorate at its N.W. corner and flows thence S.E. to the Atlantic, receives, 250 m. from the sea, the Benue, which, rising in the mountains of Adamawa south of Lake Chad, flows west across the plateau. Into the huge delta of the Niger several other rivers (the " Oil Rivers ") empty themselves; the chief being, on the west, the Benin (q.v.), and on the east the Brass. East of the Niger delta is that formed by the Imo or Opobo, Bonny and other streams, and still farther east is the Calabar estuary, mainly formed by the Cross river (q.v.). West of the Niger delta are several independent streams discharging into lagoons, which here line the coast. The most westerly of these streams, the Ogun, enters the Lagos lagoon, which is connected by navigable waterways with the Niger (see LAGOS).

The delta region is swampy, and forms, for a distance of from 40 to 70 m. inland, a network of interlacing creeks and broad sluggish channels fringed with monotonous mangrove forests. The main rivers are navigable for ocean-going steamers for a distance of from 15 to 40 m. from their mouths. Beyond the delta firm ground takes the place of mud and the mangroves disappear. The land rises gradually at first, becoming, however, in many districts very hilly, and is covered with dense forests. The Niger at its confluence with the Benue is not more than 250 ft. above the sea. North of this point are hills forming the walls of the plateau which extends over the centre of the

protectorate and is part of the great plateau of North Africa. This plateau, broken only by the valleys of the rivers, does not attain an elevation approaching that of the plateaus of the southern half of the continent, the culminating point (apart from particular mountain districts), situated in about 10° N., reaching a height of 3000 ft. only. The valleys of the Niger and Benue, especially the latter, are very much lower, the town of Yola on the Benue, some 400 m. inland, lying at an altitude of little over 600 ft. The surface is generally undulating, with isolated "table mountains". of granite and sandstone often rising abruptly from the plain. It is clothed largely with thin forest, but becomes more open to the north until, near the French frontier, the arid steppes bordering the Sahara are reached. Much of the country north of Zaria (11° N.) is covered with heavy loose sand. The most mountainous districts are northern Bauchi (a little north of 10°), where heights of 6000 to 7000 ft. occur; parts of Muri, along the north bank of the Benue; and the southern border of the Benue basin, where the hills (consisting of ironstone, quartz and granite) appear rich in minerals. The mountainous area covers some 50,000 sq. m. On the east the plateau sinks to the plains of Bornu (q.v.), which extend to Lake Chad. Tributaries of the Niger traverse the western portion of the country, the most noteworthy being the Gulbin Kebbi or Sokoto river and the Kaduna, which flows

Emery Walker a

through a valley not more than 500 ft. above the sea. The north-eastern part of the country drains to Lake Chad by the Waube or Yo, an intermittent stream, which in its lower course forms the Anglo-French boundary. The western portion of Lake Chad (q.v.) belongs to the protectorate, which contains no other large lake. The water parting between the Chad and Niger systems runs N.W. and S.E. from about Katsena in 13° N. to the Bauchi hills. Of the tributaries of the Benue the most important is the Gongola. During the dry season most of the small rivers cease running and the water in the larger streams is low. The great rise of the Niger within the pro tectorate takes place in August and September and there is a second rise about the beginning of the year.

Geology. The fundamental formation consists of crystalline rocks. From the edge of the coast belt to near the confluence of the Benue and Niger they are overlain by unfossiliferous sandstones, lying undisturbed and possibly of the age of the sandstones of the Congo basin. Limestones, with fossils indicating a Tertiary age, have been found near Sokoto. Superficial deposits occupy the coast belt. Recent alluvium and a thick deposit of black earth border the upper reaches of the Benue and cover wide areas around Lake Chad.

Climate. The country lies wholly within the tropics. The climate of the coast-lands is moist and hot, and extremely unhealthy. malarial fever being prevalent and deadly. The annual rainfall in the delta regions varies between 100 and 140 or more inches: the mean temperature is over 80° F. The heat does not vary greatly, rarely

sinking below 70°, and not often exceeding 100° in the shade. The direction of the prevailing wind is S.W. Though unfavourable for the permanent residence of white men, the interior is much less deadly than the coast-lands. The northern part is a land of tornadoes. At the close of the dry season (end of February) cyclones from the N.E., usually accompanied by rain and thunder, burst over the land. They increase in frequency until they merge in the heavy rains which last from July to October. Then the hamattan," or hot, dry wind from the Sahara, begins and brings with it clouds of impalpable dust. At this period the nights are cold, and in the north January and February are cold even in the day-time, while frosts are experienced in the neighbourhood of Lake Chad. The temperature in the central part of the protectorate is much the same average as at the coast, but the range is far greater, varying from a shade minimum of 59° to a shade maximum of 107 The rainfall is much scantier on the plateaus than in the maritime regions, averaging in Northern Nigeria about 50 in. a year. There is evidence of the increasing desiccation of the whole country north of the forest belt. This desiccation is partly attributable to the unrestricted felling of wood practised for many centuries by the inhabitants. Along the northern border of the protectorate this has resulted in the encroachment of the Saharan desert over once fertile districts.

The natives of the northern regions do not suffer to any extent from fever unless they move to a part of the country some distance from their home. Leprosy is common, especially in the inland towns; while ophthalmia is prevalent in the north, especially among the poorer classes, who are compelled to expose themselves to the blinding dust from the deserts and the excessive glare of the sun reflected from the burning sand.

Fauna and Flora.-The animals of Nigeria include the elephant, lion, leopard, giraffe, hyena, West-African buffalo, many kinds of antelope and gazelle and smaller game. Monkeys are numerous in the forests, and snakes are common. The camel is found in the northern regions bordering the Sahara. In the rivers are rhinoceros, hippopotamus and crocodile. The manatus is also found. The birds include the ostrich, marabout, vultures, kites, hawks, ground hornbill, great bustard, guinea fowl, partridge, lesser bustard, quail, snipe, duck, widgeon, teal, geese of various kinds, paraquets, doves, blue, bronze and green pigeons, and many others. Domestic animals include the horse and donkey in the plateaus, but baggage animals are rare in the coast-lands, where the tsetse fly is found. Mosquitoes are also abundant throughout the delta. Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats are numerous throughout the country. The mangrove is the characteristic tree of the swamps. North of the swamps the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) flourishes abundantly. It is common as far as about 7° N. Rubber vines, mahogany, ebony and many valuable timber trees are found in the forest zone. Other trees, found chiefly on the plateaus, are the baobab, the shea-butter tree, the locust tree, gambier, palms, including the date and dum palm (Hyphaene), the tamarind, and, in the arid regions, the acacia and mimosa.

Inhabitants.-The population of Nigeria is estimated at 15,000,000. The Europeans (mostly British) number about a thousand, and are civil servants, soldiers, traders or missionaries. In the delta district and the forest zone the inhabitants are typical negroes. Besides the people of Benin, the coast tribes include the Jekri, living on the lower part of the Benin river and akin to the Yoruba, the Ijos, living in the delta cast of the main mouth of the Niger, and the Ibos, occupying a wide tract of country just above the delta and extending for 100 m. east from the Niger to the Cross river. South of the Ibos live the Aros, a tribe of relatively great intelligence, who dominated many of the surrounding tribes and possessed an oracle or ju-ju of reputed great power. On the middle Cross river live the Akuna-kunas, an agricultural race, and in the Calabar region are the Efiks, Ibibios and Kwas. All these tribes are fetish worshippers, though Christian and Moslem missionaries have made numerous converts. The Efiks, a coast tribe which has come much into contact with white men, have adopted several European customs, and educated Efiks are employed in government service. The great secret society called Egbo (q.v.) is an Efik institution. Each tribe has a different ju-ju, and each speaks a separate language or dialect, the most widely diffused tongues being the Ibo and Efik, which have been reduced to writing. In general little clothing is worn, but none of the tribes go absolutely nude. In colour the majority are dark chocolate, others are coal-black (a tint much admired by the natives themselves) or dark yellow-brown. Cannibalism, human sacrifices and other revolting practices common to the tribes, are being gradually stamped out under British control. Returns at Zungeru for 1903.

Trial by ordeal and domestic slavery are still among the recog nized institutions.

In the northern parts of Nigeria the inhabitants are of more mixed blood, the negro substratum having been to a great extent driven out by the northern races of the continent. The most important race in Northern Nigeria is that of the Hausa (q.v.), among whom the superior classes adopted Mahommedanism in the 13th and 14th centuries. While the lower classes remained pagan, a fairly civilized system of administration, with an efficient judicial and fiscal organization, was established in the Hausa territories. The Hausa are keen traders and make excellent soldiers.

At the beginning of the 19th century the Hausa territories were conquered by another dominant Mahommedan race, the Fula (q.v.), who form a separate caste of cattle-rearers. Arab merchants are settled in some of the larger Hausa towns.

The

In general the people living in the river valleys have been unaffected by Moslem propaganda either in blood or religion. Thus along the banks of the Niger, Benue and other streams, the inhabitants are negro and pagans, and generally of a purely savage though often rather fine type. Of these the Munshi, who inhabit the district nearest the junction of the Benue with the Niger, were long noted for their intractability and hostility to strangers, whom they attacked with poisoned arrows. Yoraghums, their neighbours, were cannibals. Nearer Yola live the Battas, who also had a bad reputation. These tribes, under British influence, are turning to trade and agricultural pursuits. In the central hilly region of Kachia are other pagan tribes. They wear no clothes and their bodies are covered with hair. South of the Benue, near the Niger confluence, dwell the savage and warlike Okpotos, Bassas and other tribes. In the districts of Illorin and Borgu, west of the Niger, the inhabitants are also negroes and pagan, but of a more advanced type than the tribes of the river valleys. To attempt any complete list of the tribes inhabiting Northern Nigeria would be vain. In the one province of Bauchi as many as sixty native languages are spoken.

In Bornu (q.v.) the population consists of (1) Berberi or Kanuri, the ruling race, containing a mixture of Berber and negro blood, with many lesser indigenous tribes; (2) so-called Arabs, and (3) Fula. The country to the back of Lagos is largely inhabited by Yorubas (q.v.), and the people of Borgu according to some native traditions claim to have had a Coptic origin. Towns.-A large proportion of the population dwells in towns. The chief ports are Lagos (q.v.), capital of Southern Nigeria, with a population of about 50,000; Calabar (q.v.), pop. about 15,000, known as Old Calabar and Duke Town, on the Calabar river; Opobo, Bonny Town and Brass Town, all on the rivers of the same name. Brass Town contains a fine church, the gift of a native chief. These places are east of the Nun or main mouth of the Niger, where, on the western bank, is Akassa. Here are important engineering works and a slip for repairing ships. Further west at the Forcados mouth of the Niger is a town of the same name, which is the principal port mouth of the Benin river, and Bende, about 50 m. N.W. of Calabar, of entry for the river. Benin (q.v.), about 60 m. inland from the were noted ju-ju towns and have large populations. Wari and Sapele are towns in the Benin district. Owo, some 50 m. N. of Benin city, is an important trade centre for the Yoruba country, in which are the large cities of Abeokuta, Ibadan and Illorin, all separately noticed. On the Niger at the head of the delta are Asaba (west bank) and Onitsha (east bank); Iddah (Ida), in the palm-oil zone; Lokoja on the west bank opposite the confluence with the Benue, and the headquarters of the protectorate's military force; Baro, Northern Nigeria railway; Egga, Mureji (at the Kaduna confluence), on the east bank, 70 m. above Lokoja, the river terminus of the Jebba and Bussa (q.v.). The administrative headquarters of Northern Nigeria are at Zungeru, on the Kaduna river, in 6° 09′ 40′′ E., 9° 48' 32" N.

Apart from the sea and river ports and the towns in Yorubaland, the chief centres of population are in the open plains east of the Niger. They are the capitals of various states founded by the Hausa. Of these cities the most important is Kano (q.v.), the great emporium of trade for the central Sudan, where Tuareg and Arab from the north meet merchants from the Niger, Lake Chad and the far southern regions. It is situated in 12° N. and 8° 32′ E. Some 220 m. W.N.W. of Kano is Sokoto, on a tributary of the Niger of the same name. Sokoto is the religious and political centre of the Fula. Next in importance among the Hausa towns are Bauchi (or Yakoba), pop. over 50,000, 140 m. S.E. of Kano; Zaria (g.v.), pop.

about 60,000, 82 m. S.S.W. of Kano; Katsena (g.v.), 84 m. N.W. of Kano; Hadeija, near the N. eastern frontier; Gando, 60 m. S.W. of Sokoto; Bida (q.v.), 25 m. N.W. of Egga on the Niger; and Yola (q.v.) on the Benue near the German frontier. Jegga, 85 m. S.W. of Sokoto, is an important entrepôt for trade from the hinterland of the Guinea coast and the Hausa states. The chief towns of Bornu are Kuka (q.v.) on Lake Chad, and Maidugari, some 70 m. S.W. of that lake. Most of these towns are capitals of provinces and residences of native princes subordinate to the British administration. They are nearly all surrounded by strong mud walls and outer dry moats. Their interior is divided into a series of compounds, each entered through a flat-roofed audience chamber. Inside are the bechive-shaped huts of the household. The gateways are strongly fortified. In addition to the towns mentioned there are many others containing populations of from 10,000 to 20,000, the bulk of the inhabitants of the Hausa countries being town dwellers. Communications.-The rivers are the great highways of communication, but, in consequence of the lowness of the water between October and May, navigation is then only possible for shallow draught stern-wheel steamers and launches. From the Forcados mouth of the Niger steamers can ascend the main stream as far as Jebba, a distance of 530 m. and, at some risk, to Fort Goldie, 30 m. farther up at the foot of the Bussa rapids. Steamers can also ascend the Benue to Yola, 480 m., above the confluence of that river with the Niger at Lokoja. It is also possible by this route to proceed by small boat via the Shari system to Lake Chad. The Kaduna from its confluence with the Niger can be ascended by steamer 50 m. to Barijuko, which is 22 m. by rail from Zungeru. The Gongola is navigable at high water for 130 m. from its junction with the Benue. In the delta region every place of importance is easily reached by river steamers, and there is a regular service between Forcados and Lagos by the lagoons. The Cross river is navigable 240 m. up to and beyond the frontier of Cameroon.

A 3 ft. 6 in. gauge railway from the port of Lagos to Ibadan was completed in 1900, the distance by rail being 123 m. Only about half that distance intervenes between Ibadan and the sea. This line was, during 1906-1910, extended via Oshogbo, Illorin and Jebba to Zungeru, whence it is continued to She, 40 m. E. of Zungeru and about 450 m. from Lagos, where a junction is effected with the BaroKano line. A small light surface line 22 m. long, 2 ft. 6 in. gauge was built (1901-1902)in Northern Nigeria between Barijuko on the Kaduna and the capital, Zungeru, and proved most successful and lucrative. In 1907 the construction was begun of a 3 ft. 6 in. railway from Baro on the Niger via Bida and Zaria to Kano-a distance of about 400 m. Good roads connect some of the great Hausa cities, and Kano and Kuka are starting-points for caravans across the Sahara to the Mediterranean. There are also old established caravan routes from Kano to Ashanti and neighbouring countries.

Regular communication is maintained with Europe by steamers running between Liverpool and Forcados, Bonny and Calabar, the steamers calling at other West African ports en route. The time occupied between Liverpool and Forcados is about seventeen days. Other steamers ply between the ports named (and others in the protectorate) and London and Hamburg. There is telegraphic communication between Brass and Bonny and Europe by submarine cable, and land lines from Calabar to Lagos and from Lagos to Jebba, Lokoja, Zungeru, Kano, &c., a connexion being also effected with the telegraph system of French West Africa.

Agriculture. The natives of the coast region cultivate yams and other food plants, but in that district agriculture proper scarcely exists, the fruit of the oil-palm supplying an easy means of obtaining almost everything that the natives require. In the plains of the north, inhabited by Hausa and by agricultural pagan tribes, and in the fertile river valleys, agriculture is regularly carried on. Rice and wheat are cultivated in many parts, though the staple food is guinea corn. Sweet potatoes, ground nuts, yams, onions and other vegetables are largely grown. Of fruits, dates, pomegranates, citrons and bananas abound in certain areas. The shea-butter tree supplies an excellent oil for lamps, and also for cooking, though it is only used by the poorer classes. The most important vegetable products are cotton and indigo, which are universally grown. Tobacco and kola nuts are also grown."

Mineral Products.-Tin ore of excellent quality is found in the province of Bauchi, alkali salts are abundant in Kano province, iron ore and red and yellow ochres are found in Kontagora and other provinces, kaolin (china clay) and limestone in the west central regions. Silver and lead have been found in the Benue area.1 Trade.-Throughout Nigeria local trade is active and has shown rapid increase under British rule. Its further development will be fostered by the improvement of communications which is taking place. Export trade in the delta and forest regions is almost entirely confined to "jungle produce," the most important articles being palm oil and palm kernel. Rubber, ebony and other timber, cocoa and gum copal, come next in importance. Cotton is also grown for expert. The quantity of palm oil exported annually exceeds 12.000,000 gallons, and is worth over £600,000. Of palm kernels See Colonial Office Reports, Northern Nigeria Mineral Survey 1906-1907; Southern Nigeria Mineral Survey 1905-1907 (Miscella acous, Nos. 59, 67, 68).

50,000 to 70,000 tons are shipped yearly, with an average value of £500,000 a year. The principal imports are cotton goods (nearly all from the United Kingdom), and in the southern region spirits-gin and geneva-almost wholly from Holland and Germany, salt, rice and other provisions, tobacco, hardware, cutlery and building material, &c., mostly from the United Kingdom. The value of the trade (imports and exports) of Southern Nigeria (exclusive of Lagos) increased from £1,566,000 in 1894-1895 to £3.464,000 in 1905. In 1906 the total trade, inclusive of Lagos, was valued at £6,299,000imports. £3,148,000; exports. £3,151,000,

Northern Nigeria up to the moment of the British occupation the foreign trade was chiefly in the hands of Tripoli Arabs whose caravans crossed the desert at great risk and expense, and carried to the markets of Kuka and Kano tea, sugar and other European goods, taking away the skins and feathers which constituted the principal articles of export to the Mediterranean coast. There was also a very considerable caravan trade in native goods which the industrious Hausa population carried for great distances through the western and central states of the Sudan. The principal articles of this trade are salt, kola nuts, ivory, leather, sodium carbonates and spices. The centre of the cloth manufacture is Kano. The cloth is made of the cotton grown in the country, woven on small handlooms and dyed either with indigo or with a magenta dye obtained from the bark of a tree. If the Hausa history, which exists in written form, be correct, the manufacture of this cloth has been carried on in Kano since the 9th century. Kano and the district around it clothes half the population of the Sudan. The kola nut, chewed by almost every native of the country, is brought from west of the Niger, traders from Ashanti, Accra and Yorubaland frequenting the markets of Jegga. Salt and "potash are imported from Absen in the Sahara; and ivory, ostrich feathers and leather goods are exported to Tripoli. The principal exports to Great Britain have come hitherto from the forest regions, and are of the same class as the forest products of the south. Rubber constitutes at present the most important export. The cultivation of cotton is however indigenous to the country. Inquiries made under the auspices of the British Cotton Growing Association have led to the conclusion that Northern Nigeria offers the most promising field contained within the empire for the growth of cotton required to render Lancashire looms independent of foreign supplies. Steps have been taken to stimulate the native industry, and it is hoped that cotton may take the place in Northern Nigeria which palm oil and kernels occupy in the coast zone. Any great expansion in the cotton trade is however dependent on the development of cheap and efficient means of transport--hence the importance, commercially, of the Baro-Kano railway, with its base on the navigable Niger. With the increase of transport facilities it is probable that the trade with the Mediterranean coasts will also be diverted to the south, and profits able minor branches of trade would be formed in leather, ostrich feathers, gums, fibres, &c. The imports from Great Britain, which come via Forcados, are mostly cotton goods, provisions and hardware. The importation of spirits is prohibited north of 7° N. Currency and Banking.-The legal currency, and that in general use, is British sterling. There is a subsidiary coinage (introduced in 1908) consisting of a nickel penny and a nickel tenth of a penny (the last-named was first coined in aluminium, but this metal proved unsuitable and was withdrawn). Cowries (1000=3d.) are still occasionally employed, and on the coast, accounts are sometimes kept in gallons of palm oil. Banking is in the hands of the Bank of British West Africa and the Bank of Nigeria. There is also a government savings bank.

History.

Of the early history of the races inhabiting the coast lands little is known. The Beni appear to have been the most powerful race at the time of the discovery of the coast by the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the kings of Benin in the 17th century ruled a large part of the south-western portion of the existing British protectorate (see BENIN). The Benin influence does not seem to have reached east of the Forcados mouth of the Niger. In the greater part of the delta region each town owned a different chief and there was no one dominant tribe. Among these people, who occupied a low position even among the degenerate coast negroes, and who were constantly raided by the more virile tribes of the interior, trading stations were established by the Portuguese, and later on by other Europeans, British traders appearing as early as the 17th century. There was no assertion of political rights by the white men, who were largely at the mercy of the natives, and who rarely ventured far from their ships or the "factories" established on the various rivers and estuaries.

By the end of the 18th century British enterprise had almost entirely displaced that of other nations on the Niger coast. But the principal trade of all Europeans was still in slaves.