THE HAUSSA STATES 239 generally hostile to each other, their own traditions point to a more ancient period when they were united in some form of federal bond.

Their mythical history, which presumably reflects some political reality, is that Biram, the father of the states, wedding Diggera — which is the name of a Berber settlement in the desert to the north of Haussaland — had six children, of whom Zaria and Katsena were first born as twins, then Kano and Rano, another pair of twins, and after them Gober and Daura. To each of his children the progenitor of the Haussa States is said to have assigned certain duties. Gober, the most northerly of the states, which in historic times has served as a military rampart between peaceful Haussaland and the warlike tribes of the desert, was appointed war chief, with the special duty of defending his brethren. Kano and Rano, safe behind this rampart, were appointed ministers of industry — dyeing, weaving, &c. Katsena and Daura were ministers of intercourse and trade, and Zaria, which is a province of great extent lying south of the others, and dividing their fruitful plains from the hilly country of Bautchi, was . appointed chief of the slaves, with the special duty of providing a supply of labour for the industry of his brothers. Bautchi, the hilly country in question, was for many centuries the home of the cannibal and the hunting-ground for slaves, its name, which is a corruption of Boushy, meaning the country of the Bauwa, or the slaves.

In this myth we get a fairly clear picture of a union of states, of which the northern and southern frontiers were actively defended, and where the Soudanese practice of raiding to the south for a labour supply, by means of which the industry of the Central States was maintained, was in full force. But this condition of things received a still further development before any period of which we have contemporary historic observation, for according to the myth the legitimate children of Biram were presently increased by seven illegitimate children. These are the