CHAPTER XLVI MILITARY OCCUPATION OF THE SOUTHERN EMIRATES AND BORNU At the end of December 1900 the return of the troops from Ashantee relieved the position of some of its acuteness.

The first thing to be done was evidently to bring hostilities with Kontagora and Nupe to an end. An expedition in force was immediately organised, which marched against the combined armies of the emirs, and was entirely successful. The town of Kontagora was captured, and the emir barely effected his escape, flying with a few followers to the north. It was observed that on their march to Kontagora the troops passed through an absolutely depopulated country. The Emir of Kontagora was one of the worst examples of Fulani chiefs who raided the peasantry of their own provinces for slaves. This emir, at a later period, was captured by the British, and when remonstrated with by the High Commissioner, and urged to abjure slave-raiding and to accept British protection, he replied with graphic force: '*Can you stop a cat from mousing? When I die I shall be found with a slave in my mouth." His downfall was received by the population of the province with great joy, and the event was made the occasion of a public conciliatory move towards the Emir of Sokoto, who, as suzerain of Kontagora, was invited by the High Commissioner to nominate a successor to the deposed Ibrahim. Sokoto did not respond, and for some time the throne of Kontagora remained empty.

In Nupe, where the result of British victories was equally complete, the High Commissioner took his stand 426