The fruits of Bornou are as delicious as they are abundant. The most common species are grapes, apricots, and porbegranates, lemons, limes, and water and musk melons. there is a valuable tree called the Kedeynah, indigenous, and, as far as wekimw, pecu liar to this country, in form and height resembling the olive, and the lemon in its leaf, and bearing a nut, of which the kernel and shell are both in great estima tion, the first as a fruit, the last on account of the oil extracted from it, which the people of Bornon burn in their lamps as a substitute for the oil of olives.
The supply Of animal' food in Bornou, is even more ample and varied than its vegetable stores. Innumerable flocks of sheep, and herds of goats and cows, with amazing numbers of horses; buffaloes, and camels, (the flesh of which is highly esteem ed,) brduze on the vales and the mountains of this favoured country. The common fowl is also rear ed by the inhabitants ; and their bees are extreme ly numerous. Their game consists of the huad dee, and other species of antelopes, the partridge, the wild duck, and the ostrich, the flesh of which they prize above every other. Their other wild animals are the lion, the leopard; the civet cat, the small wolf, the fox, the wild 'dog, with which they hunt the antelope, the elephant which is rare and of which they make no use, the crocodile, the hippopo tamus, and a large and singular animal called Zara- pat, which is described as resembling the camel in its head and body, as having a long and slender neck like the ostrich, as being much taller at the shoulder than the haunches, and as defended by so tough a skin, as to furnish the natives with shields that no weapon can pierce. Like all countries in similar la titudes, Bornou is much infested with dangerous or loathsome reptiles, especially snakes and scorpions, centipedes and toads. The camel, the horse, the ass, and the mule, are common throughout the country ; the dog which they employ in hunting their game, appears to be their only domestic animal.
In Bornou; the houses are similar in form to those of Tripoli, and throughout the whole empire the same mode of building prevails. Four walls inclosing a square, are first erected ; within these,'"and parallel to them, are built four other walls ; the intervening space is then divided into different apartments, and covered with a roof. Thus the space within the interior walls determines the size' of the court ; the space between the walls determines the width of the apartmenti ' • and the rooms are of the same height as the walls. On the outside of the house there is usu
ally a second square or large yard, surrounded by a wall, for the accommodation of the cattle. In the construction of the walls, the following method is in variably adopted : A trench being made for the foundation, is filled with dry and solid materials, ram med in with force, and levelled ; over these is placed a layer of tempered mud or clay, in which are re gularly fixed a proper number of stones. Thus with alternate layers of clay and stones, the wall is raised to the height of six or seven feet, when the workmen, suspend its progress for a week, that it may have time to settle, and become compact ; for which pur pose they water it every day. The roofs are for med of branches of the palm-tree, intermixed with brushwood, and covered with layers of earth, in such a Manner as at first to be water proof, though the violence of the wind and rain generally destroys them before the end of the second year. The whole build ing is white-washed with a species of chalk.
Though the symmetry, of the houses, and their ge neral resemblance to each other, would easily have ad mitted of a regular arrangement of streets, yet all the towns of Bornou consist of houses straggling wide of each other, and placed without method or rule. The obvious propriety of giving to the principal mosque a central situation, exhibits the only proof of atten tion to general convenience." The towns, in gene ral, have no external defence ; but Bornou, the capi tal, is surrounded by a wall of fourteen feet in height, the foundations of which are from eight to ten feet deep, and which seems to be very firmly built. A ditch surrounds the whole ; and in the wall there are four gates, opening to the east, west, north, and south, which are carefully shut every evening at sunset, to protect the inhabitants from any sudden surprise.
Less attention is paid to the furniture of the houses than to their structure. Among the lower classes, the only articles of furniture are mats covered with a sheep skin, upon which they sleep, an earthen pot, a pan of the same kind, two or three wooden dishes, two wooden bowls, an old carpet, a lamp for oil, and sometimes a copper kettle. Besides these utensils, the richer inhabitants possess leathern cushions stuffed with wool, several brass and copper vessels, a hand= some carpet, and a sort of candlestick ; for instead of vegetable oil, „which is used by the common people, they employ the light of candles manufactured from bees wax, and the tallow of sheep.