Marriage and Child-birth among the Kanuri

Extract

It would be an impertinence for any one writing about the Kanuri not to acknowledge his great debt to the immense work of investigation undertaken by Sir H. Richmond Palmer. In his Sudanese Memoirs particularly, he has written much about their origin and history which no one interested in the Kanuri should fail to read. Much also was written about the condition of Bornu in the nineteenth century by the travellers Denham, Barth, and Nachtigal. All these men visited Kukawa, the new capital of the Shehus; Denham, with Oudney and Clapperton, in 1823, Barth in 1851, and Nachtigal in 1870, and all wrote detailed accounts of their travels and experiences which are of absorbing interest to-day. No attempt is made here to give even a brief summary of the history of the Kanuri, but before dealing with certain present-day customs it will be advantageous to refer to two events of primary importance, one at the beginning, the other at the end of the nineteenth century, in order to appreciate the present political and social condition of Bornu.