With regard to the empire of Sókoto, there happened at this time a catastrophe which, while it was an unmistakeable proof of the debility of that vast agglomeration of provinces, proved at the same time extremely favourable to Bórnu. For on the 1st of August the news arrived that Bowári or Bokhári, the exiled governor of Khadéja, who had conquered the town and killed his brother, had thrown back, with great loss, an immense army sent against him by ʿAlíyu, the emperor of Sókoto, under the command of his prime minister, ʿAbdu Gedádo, and composed of the forces of the provinces of Kanó, Báuchi, Katágum, Mármar, and Bobéru, when several hundreds were said to have perished in the komádugu, or the great fiumara of Bórnu. In the spring, while Mr. Overweg was staying in Góber, the Mariadáwa and Goberáwa had made a very successful expedition into Zánfara; and the emperor of Sókoto could take no other revenge upon them, than by sending orders to Kanó that my friends the Asbenáwa, many of whose brethren had taken part in the expedition, should be driven out of the town, which order was obeyed; while only the well-known Kandáke, the same man whom Mr. Richardson, on his former journey into the desert, has so frequently mentioned, was admitted into the town through the intercession of the people of Ghadámes. The immediate consequence of these circumstances was, that the court of Bórnu tried to enter into more friendly relations with the Asbenáwa, or the Tawárek of Asben, with whom at other times they were on unfriendly terms, and the prisoners whom they had made on the last expedition were released. The coalition extended as far as Góber; and the most ardent desire of the vizier was to march straight upon Kanó. To conquer this great central place of commerce was the great object of this man’s ambition; but for which he did not possess sufficient energy and self- command. However, the governor of that place, terrified by the victory of Bokhári, who was now enabled to carry on his predatory expeditions into that rich territory without hindrance, distributed sixty bernúses and three thousand dollars among the Mʿallemín, to induce them to offer up their prayers to Allah for the public welfare. We have seen above, that the Bórnu people had given to their relations with Ádamáwa a hostile character; but from that quarter they had nothing to fear, the governor of that province being too much occupied by the affairs of his own country.