266 A TROPICAL DEPENDENCY liberate the attention of Gober, and to change the direction of its miHtary activity. The march of its armies from this date onward was directed to the south instead of the north.

Katsena alone of the Haussa States was able to resist successfully the practised strength of this warlike state. Zamfara was subdued by it about the year 1750, and in Kano the century was chiefly occupied by a long conflict with varying results. Reign after reign has the same record of fighting with Gober, and sometimes success is recorded, sometimes defeat, till at last, about the middle of the century, Gober, under the leadership of the king Babari, who had established himself on the throne of Zamfara, triumphed over Kano. Yet the subjection was not complete. Through this ceaseless wrangle the life of Kano may be seen to be holding on a more or less uninterrupted way. The wealth of the province seems to have helped the town to weather its many storms. A king at the beginning of the seventeenth century is recorded as being the first to take tax in cows from the Fulani who were settled in the province. In the intervals of war we are told that learning prospered and that trade was developed. After the war with Gober had reached its climax, Kano, though conquered, appeared no whit the worse. The king under whom the defeat took place is described as "bad," but of the next we are told that he reigned for fifteen years, and ''he was great, kind, and peaceful. The country was prosperous under him, and he was much loved." Three more reigns bring us to the end of the eighteenth century, and under them we hear only of prosperity. One king who reigned for eight years, perhaps about 1770 to 1778, was the first to bring guns into Kano, and is described as being almost like an Arab in everything. The last king mentioned by the Kano chronicler is Al Wall, of whom we are told nothing but that his mother's name was Bawuya, and that he was a very powerful king. Earth mentions that, on the conquest of Kano by the Fulani in the early years of the nineteenth