THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE 493 supplied the returning caravans with European goods in exchange.

These caravans were, however, confined to the interior. They were not allowed to pass through Ilorin in the south-west, but were obliged to receive from the Ilorin middlemen any goods which they desired to purchase from the coast. Similarly Lagos traders from the coast were prevented from passing to the north. Ilorin held the position of a buffer trade state, in which the whole of the exchange trade was done by local brokers. An equally impassable barrier existed on the south-eastern frontier. The greater part of the southern pagan belt was entirely impenetrable by peaceful caravans. There existed only one or two roads by which it was possible to cross it, and on those the tolls were so extortionate that the exactions on the road amounted to half the goods of the caravan. A similar exaction was made on the return journey, and, in addition, there was all the risk of murder and pillage. This trade was directed towards what is now German territory, but the dangers of the road rendered it practically impossible. On the northern frontier, trade from Tripoli via Chad to Kano took some months for the journey, and cost about £0 per ton of merchandise carried, in addition to heavy risks of pillage and murder in the desert.

Since the introduction of British government the roads of the Protectorate have been rendered practically safe, and traders travel singly or in couples where caravans used to think it necessary to travel in strength. The tolls, though still retained in principle, have been reduced to a relatively small percentage upon the value of goods carried, and the safety of the roads has now thrown open the passage to the coast. An experimental down journey was made by an Arab trader from Tripoli in the early part of this year. He took a caravan of eighteen oxen from Kano to Zungeru, and was amazed at the security and convenience of a road which he had believed to be impassable. He went on personally to Lagos, and