Travels Of Richard And John Lander Into The Interior Of Africa For The Discovery Of The Course And Termination Of The Niger By Robert Huish
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They Were Armed With French Fusees, Preferring The Guns Of
The French And The Powder Of The English.
The old city of Zaria was taken by the Fellatas, within a month after
they had made themselves masters of the provinces of Goober and
Zamfra, about thirty years ago.
It took a siege of two days, when it
was evacuated by the sultan and the greater part of the inhabitants,
who took refuge in hills south and west, where they still maintain
their independence, though subject to the continual attacks of the
Fellatas. The old city is now known only by its ruined walls,
surrounding some high mounds, which were in the centre of the
enclosed area. The new city, built by the Fellatas, to the south-east
of the old, consists of a number of little villages and detached
houses, scattered over an extensive area, surrounded with high clay
walls. Near the centre of the wall stands the principal mosque, built
of clay, with a minaret nearly fifty feet high. On entering one of
the western gates, instead of finding houses, the travellers could
but just see the tops of some of them over the growing grain, at
about a quarter of a mile distance; all was walled fields full of
dhourra, with here and there a horse tethered in the open space.
The province of Zeg Zeg is the most extensive in the kingdom of
Houssa, and both Kashna and Kano were at one time tributary to its
sovereigns.
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