THE DOMINATION OF KANO 253 Zaria, and Gazawa. This was the declining period of the history of Melle, and the emigration seems to have been a movement of considerable magnitude. Some of the Fulani, we are told, passed on eastward to Bornu, some were left on the way with their slaves, and all who were too weak to proceed on their journey remained in Haussaland. At this period, trade seems to have received an active stimulus, and foreign caravans are noticed as coming from various places. Berbers and Arabs came into the country, some of whom settled in Kano and some in Katsena. There was also local trade between Kano and Nupe.

This peaceful reign brings us. In the first half of the fifteenth century (probably 1 422-1459), to the reign of a king of Kano, whose name of Mohammed Rimpa has survived In all the chronicles. Under him Mohammedan civilisation spread through the country. Sherifs came to Kano from the East, bringing with them books and learning. Mosques were built, and ''religion became strong In Kano." Mohammed Rimpa was the first to observe the fast of Ramadan. He gave titles to his eunuchs, and shut his women up after the fashion of the East. Mohammed Rimpa built the walls of the town of Kano with seven gates. He also built a palace for himself, as did some of his principal officers. He divided the territory of Kano Into nine provinces, and appointed to rule over them nine subject kings. *' There was no king," says the chronicle, *'so great as Rimpa." Of contemporary history during his reign, we are told only that for eleven years Katsena was at war with her neighbour Mastur.

Mohammed Rimpa seems, indeed, to have possessed one of those commanding Individualities which, when fortune places It upon a throne, marks an epoch In the country over which it rules. From the reign of Mohammed Rimpa, Kano may be reckoned with the civilised native powers of the Soudan. Yet, as so often happens when the Influence of one man has achieved