atriotic subject and the nobility of the
character of Gerald, who renounces Berthe when he learns his real
origin, procured for the piece a great success. The conflict between
honour and love and the grandiose sentiment of the play inevitably
provoked comparison with Corneille. The piece would indeed be a
masterpiece if, as its critics were not slow to point out, the verse had
been quite equal to the subject. Among the numerous other works of M. de
Bornier should be mentioned: _Dimitri_ (1876), libretto of an opera by
M.V. de Joncieres; and the dramas, _Les Noces d'Allila_ (1880) and
_Mahomet_ (1888). The production of this last piece was forbidden in
deference to the representations of the Turkish ambassador. Henri de
Bornier was critic of the _Nouvelle Revue_ from 1879 to 1887. His
_Poesies completes_ were published in 1894. He died in January 1901.

BORNU, a country in the Central Sudan, lying W. and S. of Lake Chad. It
is bounded W. and S. by the Hausa states and N. by the Sahara. Formerly
an independent Mahommedan sultanate it has been divided between Great
Britain, Germany and France. To France has fallen a portion of northern
Bornu and also Zinder (q.v.), a tributary state to the north-west, while
the south-west part is incorporated in the German colony of Cameroon.
Three-fourths of Bornu proper, some 50,000 sq. m., forms part of the
British protectorate of Nigeria.

Bornu is for the most part an alluvial plain, the country sloping
gradually to Lake Chad, which formerly spread over a much larger area
than it now occupies. The Komadugu (i.e. river) Waube--generally known
as the Yo--and its tributaries rise in the highlands which, beyond the
western border of Bornu, form the watershed between the Niger and Chad
systems, and flow north and east across the plains to Lake Chad, the Yo
in its last few miles marking the frontier between the French and
British possessions. In the south-west a part of Bornu drains to the
Benue. The rivers are intermittent, and water in southern Bornu is
obtained only from wells, which are sunk to a great depth. The vast
plain of Bornu is stoneless, except for rare outcrops of ironstone, and
consists of the porous fissured black earth called "cotton soil" in
India, alternating with, or more probably overlaid by, sand. Throughout
the flat country water is apparently found everywhere at a depth of 54
ft., corresponding to the level of Chad. Towards Damjiri in the
north-west the countr