HAUSSALAND 263 size of which the circuit was between thirteen and fourteen English miles, and was divided into quarters, of which the names give some indication of its activities.

There was the "old quarter," which was believed to have been the site of the original town ; there was the Melle, or ''strangers' quarters," which would seem by its double name to have been associated with the Fulani immigration from Melle ; there were also the quarters for people from Bornu and Gober, and there was an Arab quarter. There were quarters for the diifFerent trades and industries, saddlers, shoemakers, dyers, &c.

There was, as in all great towns, a students' quarter ; there was — not far off — a dancing quarter. There was a government, or official quarter. There were quarters taking their names from the eight gates of the town, and besides these, innumerable others of which, after a list of native names approaching to a hundred, it is said : ** These are the names of the larger quarters of the town, but there are still many smaller ones."

The province of Katsena, extending — within probably fluctuating limits — to a considerable distance beyond the town, contained places of importance of which the names compose a long list. The town has now fallen from its former greatness, and has shrunk to a fraction of its dimensions ; but the province, like the province of Kano, retains its natural advantages. It is thus described by Dr. Barth, writing about half a century ago : " Altogether the province of Katsena is one of the finest parts of Negroland, and being situated just at the water parting of the Chad and the Niger, at a general elevation of from 1200 to 1500 feet, it enjoys the advantage of being at once well watered and well drained, the chain of hills which diversify its surface sending down numerous rapid streams, so that it is less insalubrious than other regions of this continent. Its productions are varied and rich." In the country lying between Katsena and Kano, though devastated at the time of his passage by civil war, Dr. Barth proceeds to enumerate