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+} +.tdl-top { + text-align: left; + vertical-align: top; + } +.tdr-bot { + text-align: right; + vertical-align: bottom; + } +.tdr {text-align: right;} +.tdc {text-align: center;} +.tdc-bot { + text-align: center; + vertical-align: bottom; + } +.width10 { + width: 10em; +} +.width3 { + width: 3em; +} +.width1 { + width: 1em; +} +div.figcenterplate { + margin: auto; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + text-align: center; + max-width: 100%; + page-break-before: always; +} +div.figcenter { + margin: auto; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + text-align: center; + max-width: 100%; +} +figure { + display: inline-block; + margin: 0 auto; + text-align: center; + max-width: 100%; +} +figure p { + text-indent: 0; + margin-top: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + } +figure p.cpm { + text-align: center; + font-size: 90%; +} +figure p.cp1 { + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + text-align: center; +} +figure p.ipubc { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 0.3em; + font-size: 75%; +} +figure p.small { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 0.5em; + font-size: 70%; +} +img { + width: inherit; + max-width: 100%; +} +.iw1 { width: 600px; } +.iw2 { width: 500px; } +@media screen and (max-width: 1500px) { +.iw2 { + width: 350px; +} +} +.x-ebookmaker .iw2 { + max-width: 70%; +} +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78434 ***</div> +<div class="margins"> +<div class="transnote x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<p class="center">Large-size versions of illustrations are +available by clicking on them.</p> +</div> + +<p class="x-ebookmaker-drop space-above2"> +</p> + +<div class="page"> +<p class="center spaced2"><span class="large letter-spaced01">THE +NEGROLAND</span><br> +OF THE ARABS.</p> +</div> + +<div class="titlepage"> +<h1><span class="xlarge letter-spaced02">THE NEGROLAND</span><br> +<span class="large">OF THE ARABS</span><br> +<span class="less letter-spaced">EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED;</span><br> +<span class="small">OR,</span><br> +AN INQUIRY INTO THE<br> +<span class="large letter-spaced">EARLY HISTORY AND +GEOGRAPHY</span><br> +<span class="small">OF</span><br> +<span class="large">CENTRAL AFRICA.</span></h1> + +<p class="center spaced17 space-above15"><span class= +"small">BY</span><br> +WILLIAM DESBOROUGH COOLEY.</p> + +<p class="publisher"><span class= +"less letter-spaced01">LONDON:</span><br> +<span class="small">PRINTED BY JAMES HOLMES, TOOK’S +COURT.</span><br> +PUBLISHED BY J. ARROWSMITH, 10, SOHO SQUARE.</p> + +<hr class="decor width1"> + +<p class="center med">1841.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="page"> +<div class="dedic"> +<p class="nind pad3 less">TO SEÑOR</p> + +<p class="center large">DON PASCUAL DE GAYANGOS.</p> + +<p class="nind pad1 space-above15"><span class="sc">My dear +Gayangos</span>,</p> + +<p class="ind6 spaced15"><span class="sc">The</span> following +Essay owes its origin wholly to the extracts from the writings of +Ibn Khaldún and Ibn Baṭúṭah, which you had the kindness to +communicate to me. Not only did you occasion the present +developement of my speculations, but you have also at all times +cheerfully aided me in the researches to which they gave birth; you +have placed at my disposal, as it were, your perfect knowledge of +the Arabic language, and, from the abundance of your learning, have +in some measure made good my deficiency. To whom, then, can this +little work be dedicated so justly, as to you? Nor, while +acknowledging my obligations, can I forego the pleasure afforded by +such an opportunity of expressing towards you the friendship and +esteem of</p> + +<p class="right pad-right12">Yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="right pad-right2"><span class="sc">William Desborough +Cooley</span>.</p> + +<p class="nind pad2 less space-above15"><em>London, March</em> 3, +1841.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2 class="large"><span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_vii">[vii]</span><a id="pref"></a><span class= +"letter-spaced01">PREFAC</span>E.</h2> + +<hr class="decor width3"> + +<p class="space-above15"><span class="sc">The</span> following +Essay has for its object to establish the early geography of +Central Africa on a solid basis. It aims at offering a clear and +well-grounded explanation of the geographical descriptions of +Negroland, transmitted to us by Arab writers; and, by thus +connecting the past with the present, at giving an increased value +to the historical information derived from the same sources. The +attainment of that end will throw a steady light on the past +condition of a country now awakening a general interest. It will +enable us to trace some important political revolutions; to discern +the nations which have stood forth politically eminent, and to +estimate correctly, by means of a lengthened and authentic +retrospect, the progress of civilization in Africa.</p> + +<p>The task here undertaken has more of novelty in it than may be +at first suspected. Hitherto no attempt whatever has been made to +explain the Arab geography of Negroland by treating it as a whole, +and as the immediate subject of investigation. Yet no department of +the wide field of literature stands more in need of critical +labour, or appears more justly entitled to it. The Arabs in the +Middle Ages were copious and circumstantial<span class="pagenum" +id="Page_viii">[viii]</span> writers, though neither profound nor +exact. Geography was one of their favourite studies. The interests +of trade and religious zeal led them across the deserts of Northern +Africa to Negroland, of which they have left us accounts bearing in +every lineament the expression of unaffected sincerity. Yet such +has been the difficulty found in recognizing the places described +in those accounts, that, up to this day, scarcely any addition to +our positive knowledge of Negroland has been derived from the +writings of the Arabs.</p> + +<p>Ibn S’aíd, a writer of the thirteenth century, has enumerated +thirteen nations of Blacks, extending across Africa, from Ghánah in +the west, to the Bojá on the shores of the Red Sea in the east. Yet +it is not till we arrive at the tenth of these, or Kánem, that we +are able to identify satisfactorily the nomenclature of Ibn S’aíd +with that of modern geography. The first nine nations towards the +west, or nearly three-fourths of the whole, remain +undetermined.</p> + +<p>The Arab geography of Africa lies, at present, a large but +confused heap of materials, into which modern writers occasionally +dip their hands, each selecting what appears to serve his purpose, +and adapting it to his views by an interpretation as narrow and +partial as his mode of inquiry. Modern geographers—D’Anville and +Rennell not excepted—have allowed fancied resemblances of sound to +lead them far away from fact and the straight path of +investigation. They have, for example, unanimously assumed the Kanó +of the present day to be the Ghánah of past ages. The disorder +introduced into the early geography of Central Africa<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_ix">[ix]</span> by this false method of +proceeding, has deprived it of all its value. It seems incapable of +combining with the results of modern discovery; and instead of the +harmony which ought to subsist between our present information and +the ample accounts of Negroland written five or six centuries ago, +we find in almost every application of the latter, the jarring +consequences of false assumptions.</p> + +<p>To give a new value to such confused materials, we must have +recourse to a new and improved method of treating them.</p> + +<p>The course here followed is, to examine the Arab authors of +greatest value, and to develope, as completely as possible, the +information found in them, their meaning being collected altogether +from internal evidence, and without any regard to extrinsic +systems. Where their statements are clear, natural, and consistent, +no attempt has been made to interfere with or strain them by +arbitrary conjectures. Where, on the other hand, they are obscure, +absurd, or contradictory, care has been taken to inquire,—1st, What +were the sources or channels of the author’s information? 2ndly, +How far it must be taken in strictness, or may claim the latitude +allowed to the language of ordinary discourse? 3rdly, The state of +knowledge, and prevalent geographical systems in the writer’s time? +4thly, What portions may be looked upon as original or authentic, +and what as founded on inference or surmise?—The point of greatest +difficulty, and which demands the utmost care and perspicacity, is +to distinguish between the language of experience and that of +system; to separate the original information from the supplementary +additions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[x]</span> made to it, +for the purpose of filling up or rounding the description, or of +reconciling it with theoretical conceptions.</p> + +<p>In all parts of the world, and in every age, the human mind +moves in a constant cycle. In like stages of its progress it +occupies similar positions, and goes through the same round of +error. This truth is exemplified in the history of Geography, as +well as in that of every other branch of human knowledge. The +corrections made in our maps of Africa during the last three +centuries; those made by Ptolemy in the geography of the same +quarter of the globe, written by Marinus Tyrius; and those of which +the great Alexandrian himself stands in need, are nearly all +reducible to one common rule. The errors to which systematical +geography tends, while it is not as yet founded on science, are so +fully shown by experience, that we can safely derive from our +knowledge of them a principle of rectification, applicable to all +the materials of unscientific geography, presented to our notice, +and obviously needing correction. The endeavour to trace errors +according to fixed analogies, will at least lead us from mere +conjecture towards a rule of reason.</p> + +<p>The most vexatious and frequently recurring hindrance in +researches of the kind here undertaken, arises from the defects of +the Arabic written character, and the uncritical servility of Arab +copyists and compilers. In Arabic writing, some of the characters +closely resemble one another, and are distinguished only by +diacritic points: the vowels likewise are chiefly indicated by +points, which, like those of the former<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_xi">[xi]</span> kind, are often wholly omitted. Hence it +follows, that proper names, the correct reading of which cannot be +inferred from the context, easily sink, when written in such +ambiguous characters, from corruption to corruption, till at last +they altogether cease to be recognizable. Misnomers arising in this +way were perhaps often adopted in discourse, till, in process of +time, they became authorized by usage. Uncertainty with respect to +the true reading of proper names, besides being in itself a source +of great perplexity, has the ill effect of encumbering the truth +with much preliminary discussion of an apparently trivial kind. Nor +are our difficulties with respect to proper names confined to the +writings of the Arabs. In some parts of Africa, different races are +so commingled, that five or six languages may be heard spoken +within a narrow extent of territory. Travellers arriving in such a +country from different quarters, and associating with different +portions of the population, will naturally report in different ways +the names of places. If Europeans, they variously represent, each +according to the genius of his own language, articulations which, +being strange to their organs, they did not invariably seize +correctly. Names have been also transferred from one language to +another, without due regard to the sound originally sought to be +represented. Here, then, are abundant sources of confusion, which, +so far, at least, as it involves the genius and construction of +African languages, we are not always in a condition to clear up. +Yet it is necessary, as we proceed, to endeavour to distinguish +between the more and the less doubtful; and if any one should feel +surprised<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[xii]</span> at the +attention occasionally bestowed in the following pages on proper +names, let him only reflect, that the errors arising from the +neglect of so many inevitable causes of variance, would at least +equal what may ensue from even the least skilful discussion of +them.</p> + +<p>It would have been easy to lengthen the list of Arab authors +here made use of; but little would have been gained for Geography +by reference to works equally deficient in judgment and +originality. The authors chiefly relied on are, El Bekrí, Ibn +Khaldún, and Ibn Baṭúṭah. El Idrísí is analysed in some passages, +chiefly for the sake of explaining certain discrepancies between +him and the first-named writer, and to estimate the weight due to +his authority. The conjectures scattered through the following +pages are much fewer than the nature of the subject and the course +of investigation would have permitted; but it was thought advisable +to keep conjectures within bounds, even where they could not have +interfered with the reasoning. Reserve and circumspection are +especially necessary for an author whose conclusions differ widely +from those of his precursors in the same field of inquiry, and who +aims at deciding definitively questions which have long divided the +judgments of the learned. Reference to the systems of recent +authors has been, in general, avoided, lest the frequent recurrence +of the language of refutation might give the whole an air of +controversy. Pains have been also taken to abridge whatever was not +strictly geographical, the object here aimed at being properly the +consideration of geographical questions,<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_xiii">[xiii]</span> the careful and satisfactory discussion +of which demands a special treatise.</p> + +<p>The mode here adopted of writing the Arabic names, is fully +explained in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. +<span class="sc2">VII</span>. p. 245; but in its application will +probably be found much unsteadiness and imperfection, arising +partly from the want of familiarity with it, and partly from the +difficulty of setting exact bounds to the employment of a foreign +orthography, which jars disagreeably with the necessary reference +to the orthography of our modern travellers. The attempt at a +systematic reform of the mode of writing African names, has been +avoided, and therewith the alternative also, of either multiplying +without end the subordinate topics of discussion, or else of +allowing much hypothesis to steal in under the mask of +precision.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, it may be remarked, that the attempt here made, +however successful it may be deemed—and it cannot be denied that it +broaches some truths, and discloses a new and logical method of +treating an interesting subject—is yet but a sketch, which remains +to be filled up, after a careful examination of the numerous Arabic +MSS. preserved in the public libraries here and abroad, by some one +better qualified for that labour, and enjoying fairer opportunities +than the writer of these pages.</p> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2 class="large"><span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_xv">[xv]</span><span class= +"letter-spaced01">CONTENT</span>S.</h2> + +<hr class="decor width3"> + +<table class="toc"> +<tr> +<td class="sc">Introduction</td> +<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#intro">1</a> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect large">GHÁNAH, AÚDAGHOST, +AÚLÍL.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Támedelt — Route to Aúdaghost — Line of +Drifting Sands — Position of Aúdaghost — Route to Ghánah — The +Desert — Tíser — Azawad — The Zenágah — Genéwah — Lumtúnah — +Goddálah — Aúlil — Trade of Aúdaghost — Aúkar — Sínghánah — Tekrúr +— Tádmekkah — River of Ghánah — Samaḳanda — Ghaïárú — Bokmo — +Manners of Ghánah — Ghánah near the site of Tomboktú</td> +<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#c1">5</a> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect large">EL IDRÍSÍ <span class= +"med">COMPARED WITH</span> EL BEKRÍ.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Measures of El Idrísí — His delineation +of the Great River — History of the Maghráwah</td> +<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#c2">48</a> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect large">MÁLÍ.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Ghánah subjected by the Molaththemún — +The Ṣúṣú — The People of Málí — The Kings of Málí — Table of their +succession</td> +<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#c3">61</a> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect large">IBN BAṬÚṬAH’S JOURNEY.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Tegháza — The Desert — Aïwalátin — +Kársekhó — The Ṣanṣarah — Málí — Manners of the Court — Departure +from Málí — Position of that capital — Mímah — Tomboktú — Kaúkaú — +The Berdámah — Tekaddá — Káhir — Limits of Málí — Múlí and Malla — +Kombori — Yúfí — Remarks on Ibn Baṭúṭah’s Journey — Kanó not +Ghánah</td> +<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#c4">70</a> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect large">TEKRÚR.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Zághah — The Zagháï — Sanghee — Sungai — +Sokai — Zachah — Eastward Movement of the Tekrúr — Abuse of the +name Tekrúr</td> +<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#c5">97</a> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect large"><span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_xvi">[xvi]</span>KÚGHAH, KÁGHÓ, KAÚKAÚ, KARKAR.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">El Bekrí’s account of Kúghah and Kaúkaú — +El Idrísí’s hesitation — More than one Kaúkaú — Karkar — Gargari — +Surmise as to the present existence of Kághó</td> +<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#c6">103</a> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect large">LEMLEM, REMREM, DEMDEM, +EL-LÍMIYÍN,</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Various names of one people — Originally +one name — Its probable origin — Refers to Houssa — The modern +Yemyem — El-Límiyín</td> +<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#c7">111</a> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect large">NEGROLAND DIVIDED INTO +NATIONS.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Ibn Sʿaíd’s list — Makrízí’s additions — +Ibn Sʿaíd compared with Leo — Results of the comparison — Kingdom +of Kúra — Lake Kúra — Compared with the Kowára — Interference of +theory — Recapitulation</td> +<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#c8">116</a> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect xlarge">POSTSCRIPT.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc sect05bot large">REMARKS ON HOUSSA.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Routes from Ashantí to the Kowára — The +letter r often changed into a ḍ — The Kambaroa — The Kadunía — The +River Kowára probably so called from the country in which the +Quorrama rises</td> +<td class="tdr-bot"><a href="#c9">140</a> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="center space-above med"><a id="corr"></a>CORRECTIONS.</p> + +<ul class="simple1"> +<li><a href="#Page_14">Page 14,</a> <a href="#Footnote_31">note +31</a>—for Moallakah read Maḳámah.</li> + +<li><a href="#Page_60">Page 60,</a> <a href="#Footnote_107">note +107</a>—for A’walílí read Awalílí.</li> +</ul> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="figcenterplate iw2"> +<figure id="map"> +<p class="cpm">Sketch<br class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<em>of a</em> Map <em>to illustrate</em><br class= +"x-ebookmaker-drop"> +the ARAB GEOGRAPHY of<br class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<span class="large sc">Negroland</span><br class= +"x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<em>By</em><br class="x-ebookmaker-drop"> +W. D. Cooley, Esq<sup>r</sup>.</p> +<a href="images/map_medium.jpg"><img src='images/map.jpg' alt= +''></a> +<p class="ipubc"><em>London, John Arrowsmith, 10 Soho Square +1841.</em> +</p> + +<p class="small">(Largest size: <a href= +"images/map_large_ul.jpg">upper-left</a>, <a href= +"images/map_large_ur.jpg">upper-right</a>, <a href= +"images/map_large_ll.jpg">lower-left</a>, <a href= +"images/map_large_lr.jpg">lower-right</a>)</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<p class="center space-above spaced2 space-below1 pb"><span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span><span class="small">THE</span><br> +<span class="xlarge letter-spaced03">NEGROLAND</span><br> +<span class="large letter-spaced">OF THE ARABS.</span> +</p> + +<hr class="decor width3"> + +<h2 class="nopb"><a id="intro"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h2> + +<p class="space-above15"><span class="sc">Nature</span> has marked +out, in a plain and peremptory manner, the chief lines of +communication between the maritime regions of North Africa and the +fertile Interior beyond the great desert. The Oasis, or habitable +tract of Fezzán, south of Tripoli, projects far into the barren +waste, and a journey of not more than forty days conducts thence to +Kánem or Bornú. In the west, a route of equal length connects the +last traces of cultivation at the back of Atlas, with the Great +River of Negroland, where, winding in a long circuit towards the +north, it seems to drive back desolation, and narrows the limits of +the desert. The two routes here described, are those chiefly +frequented at the present day by caravans proceeding to Central +Africa; and the preference given to them is due to their combining +such advantages of convenience and security, as must have +constituted them the chief routes in all ages.</p> + +<p>The first of these, or the road between Fezzán and the interior, +may be presumed to have been frequented by the ancients. If we +assume that commerce spread westward from Egypt, or if we fix our +eyes on Augila or the Greek colony<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_2">[2]</span> of Cyrene, the eastern route will certainly +seem entitled to be the channel of the earliest intercourse with +the Blacks. But the discussion of such questions does not lie +within the scope of our present inquiry; and it will be here +sufficient to observe, that so far as the Arabs were concerned, the +western route, though last reached, was the most frequently trodden +and most diligently explored. The stream of Arab invasion in +Northern Africa flowed rapidly to the west, till accumulating +between the shores of the Ocean and Atlas, it pressed on the Berber +clans inhabiting all the fertile recesses of this range of +mountains. Continual wars thence ensued, in the course of which the +discomfited party always fled to the desert, wherein they wandered +to the borders of Negroland.</p> + +<p>It is by the western route that we have derived, through Arab +writers, the amplest and earliest accounts of Central Africa. For +the Arabs in Spain who cultivated letters maintained a constant +intercourse with their rude but active brethren of Western Barbary, +whom trade and warfare alike occasionally impelled to visit the +countries beyond the desert. In the beginning of the eleventh +century of our era, the hills on the south side of Wád Nún and +Darʿah, or the northern portion of the western desert, were +occupied by the Lumtúnah, a tribe of the Zenágah.<a id= +"FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +Separated from them by an uninhabited tract, were the Benú Goddálah +of the same nation, whose territory, comprising the southern zone +of the Ṣaḥrá, extended eastward from the sea shore to the country +of the Blacks.<a id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class= +"fnanchor">[2]</a> The more sterile tracts of the desert in the +interior, within the limits possessed by the Zenágah, were +abandoned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span> to the +wandering tribe of the Benú Masúfah, by their more powerful +brethren near the coast.<a id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> These three tribes, inflamed +with religious zeal, to which their intestine feuds had given a +martial character, shaped their course northward, and being united +under the name of Al Morábiṭún, or Champions of the Faith, they +subjugated the fertile countries on both sides of the southern +Atlas, and founded, in 1073, the empire and city of Morocco. The Al +Morábiṭún, or Morabites, subsequently extended their sway into +Spain, in the history of which country they figure under the name +of Almoravides. But long before they carried their arms into +Europe, they corresponded intimately with the polished courts of +Mohammedan Spain; and while they had not yet quite relinquished the +desert, nor forgotten their acquaintance with the frontiers of +Negroland, they communicated their information to the inquisitive, +and, for that age, well instructed Spanish Arabs. The age +immediately preceding the foundation of Morocco is that in which we +should accordingly expect to find the most valuable accounts of the +Western Desert, and of the Negro kingdoms contiguous to it. The +events of that period were calculated to bring within the reach of +literary activity, full, fresh, and authentic information +respecting the interior of Western Africa. It is fortunate for us, +therefore, that we possess an account of that country written in +the very age referred to, by one who resided at the most +accomplished court in Spain; whose station in society and official +rank afforded him the amplest means of satisfying his curiosity; +and whose perspicuity and good sense entitle him to a distinguished +place among Arab writers. The author here alluded to, Abú +ʿObeïdi-llah Abdullah el Ḳorṭoby, was son of the independent ruler +of Huelva. He resided chiefly in Cordova, at that time the centre +of Arab refinement, and filled the highest offices in that kingdom. +His account of Negroland, entitled ‘Kitábu-l-mesálek wa-l-memálek,’ +or the Book of Roads and Realms, was written in the year of the +Hijra 460, or <span class="sc2">A.D.</span> 1067, just fourteen +years after the first rise of the Morabites, and six<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span> before the foundation of Morocco. +We shall therefore take El Bekrí as our guide while endeavouring to +determine the true position of Ghánah, in his age the principal +kingdom of Negroland.<a id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" +class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes" id="ftintro"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class= +"label">[1]</span></a>Wád Nún is also called by early writers Núl, +or Núl el aḳṣa. Darʿah <span class="arabic">دَرعَه</span> is also +written Dirʿah <span class="arabic">دِرعَه</span> (MS. B.M. fol. +101)—Lumtúnah <span class="arabic">لمتونه</span>—The Berber name +Zenághah <span class="arabic">زناغه</span> was corrupted by the +Arabs, as Ibn Khaldún informs us, into Ṣinhájah <span class= +"arabic">صنهاجه</span>, pronounced in the west Ṣinhágah.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class= +"label">[2]</span></a>Goddála, so pronounced, though written by El +Bekrí Joddála <span class="arabic">جدَّاله</span> (MS. B.M. fol. +106); by Ibn Khaldún and others, Godálah <span class= +"arabic">ڭداله</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class= +"label">[3]</span></a>Benú Masúfah <span class="arabic">بنو +مسوفه</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class= +"label">[4]</span></a>For an account of this valuable author, see +the recently published History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in +Spain, by Don Pascual de Gayangos, p. 324. The excellent MS. in the +library of the British Museum (No. 9577) there described, shall be +here briefly cited as MS. B.M. A translation of El Bekrí’s Book of +Roads and Realms, by M. Quatremère, has appeared in the 12th volume +of the Collection entitled ‘Notices et Extraits des MSS. de la +Bibliothèque du Roi.’ But the Parisian MS. is so deficient in +points, that the translator, notwithstanding his learning and +acuteness, has not always been able to divine the true reading. A +fragment of the same work, containing what relates to Ghánah, has +been translated by M. Jaubert, to whom it was sent from Barbary, +and inserted in the 2nd volume of the ‘Recueil des Voyages et +Mémoires,’ &c. published by the Société de Géographie in Paris. +Wherever this extract, which is taken from a MS. of inferior +authority, is quoted alone in the following pages, the reader may +understand that the readings so adopted agree in characters with +the readings found in the MS. B.M., and have in addition the vowel +points.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span><a id= +"c1"></a>GHÁNAH — Aúdaghost — Aúlíl.</h2> + +<p class="space-above15"><span class="sc">Previous</span> to the +foundation of Morocco, all the trade of Negroland with Western +Barbary was directed towards Sijilmésah, a town on the eastern side +of Atlas, eight or ten days from Fás or Fez, and in the district +which is now called Táfílélt.<a id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> From Sijilmésah, a two +months’ journey southward conducted to the nearest kingdom of the +Blacks, which was that called Ghánah.<a id= +"FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> But +in propriety of speech Ghánah<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_6">[6]</span> was the title of the king, whose dominion, +anterior to the rise of the Al Morábiṭún or Morabites, extended to +Aúdaghost, a town on the southern border of the great desert, and +containing a Berber population.<a id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Driven from Aúdaghost, the +negro king fixed his residence at Aúkár, fifteen days’ journey +south-westward from the former place, and not far from the great +river of the interior, called by Arab writers the Nile of the +Blacks.<a id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class= +"fnanchor">[8]</a> But the new capital, as well as the kingdom, was +still generally known by the name of Ghánah.</p> + +<p>A desert of forty days’ journey in extent lay between Aúdaghost +and Támedelt,<a id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class= +"fnanchor">[9]</a> a town of Sús el Aḳṣa, on the verge of the +desert, and eleven days from Sijilmésah. The two months’ journey +between Ghánah and Sijilmésah, would, if literally interpreted, +place the capital of the Blacks forty-nine days distant from +Támedelt. But where could a route of forty-nine days southward from +the borders of Sús el Aḳṣa<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_7">[7]</span> meet the Great River, unless in the vicinity of +Tomboktú?<a id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class= +"fnanchor">[10]</a> This city is distant about two months from +Táfílélt, and not more than fifty days from Sús el Aḳṣa.<a id= +"FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +It owes all its importance to its advanced position, near the very +point where the river turns eastward, after repressing the desert +in its northerly course, and making its nearest approach to Western +Barbary. The advantages of such a position could never have been +overlooked while caravans traversed the desolate plains of the +interior. The site of Ghánah then, and Tomboktú, being equidistant +from Sús el Aḳṣa, both in a southerly direction from it, and both +in the vicinity of the Great River, which, within the distance of +fifty days from Sús el Aḳṣa, washes the desert during only a short +part of its course, cannot have been far asunder. This brief +argument is in reality unanswerable. Within the assigned time, a +caravan travelling at the ordinary pace, could reach the Great +River nowhere but in the vicinity of Tomboktú. The site of Aúkár +then being near Tomboktú, Aúdaghost fifteen days distant from it +towards the north-east, must have been situate in the same tract as +the modern town or encampment of Mabrúk.<a id= +"FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> +Thus the first view of the routes to the chief towns of the ancient +Ghánah suggests the approximate positions of those towns. Let their +positions be assumed accordingly, so as to give distinctness to our +conceptions, while we follow, step by step, the routes to them +across the desert; and the examination of these routes in all their +particulars will, in turn, illustrate and confirm our assumptions, +if they be correct.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span>The position of +Támedelt, the starting point of the caravans to Negroland, must be +in the first place determined. That town is stated to have been +five days westward (or, we must rather suppose, south of westward) +from Darʿah, and six days south-eastward from Iklí, the capital of +Sús, which town, situate on a river flowing northward, was two days +from Mésah and five from Wád Nún. Now the capital of Darʿah was +five days distant from Sijilmésah, which was nine ordinary journeys +from Fez.<a id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class= +"fnanchor">[13]</a> Támedelt was therefore twenty days from Fez, by +the road on the eastern side of the mountains, and it was also six +days south-eastward from Iklí, which town must accordingly be so +placed within five days of Wád Nún, and two days northward from the +river of Mésah, as to allow Támedelt a somewhat westerly bearing +from Darʿah. These conditions being fulfilled, the position of +Támadelt will be nearly in lat. 28° 45′ N., long. 7° 10′ W., and +not far from the modern Tatta.<a id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> The position thus assumed, +though not quite free from uncertainty, will yet involve no +inaccuracy capable of endangering the argument depending on it.</p> + +<p>The starting point being ascertained, there remains no +difficulty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> in tracing +the route to Aúdaghost. The first day’s journey from Támedelt +conducted to a deep well called Bír el Jemmálín:<a id= +"FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> +the second led through a narrow defile. Then for three days the +road went over the mountains of Azawwar,<a id= +"FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> +strewed with masses of iron-stone. These mountains extend, +according to El Bekrí, ten days’ journey from the ocean to the road +(from Támedelt probably) to Sijilmésah. They are evidently the same +chain of mountains which caravans now pass at the distance of six +days from Wád Nún. It is apparent also that the road to Aúdaghost +must have crossed them at a distance not exceeding ten days’ +journey from the sea; and therefore could have scarcely inclined +towards the east. Three days beyond the mountains was the watering +place of Tendefas, and three days further a great well called +Weínhílún.<a id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class= +"fnanchor">[17]</a> Then another three days led to a scanty spring +named Tázḳa, or the House.<a id="FNanchor_18"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> Four days further were the +brackish wells of Weítúnán, and after another four days the +watering place of Aúkázenta.<a id="FNanchor_19"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> There ended the hard +desert, and the region of loose sand-hills commenced, the passage +of which presented the greatest difficulty to the traveller, and +was fraught with danger.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span>The northern limit +and general direction of the sandy region of the great desert are +marked out with tolerable distinctness in the narratives of some +modern travellers. It was on the twenty-fifth day of his journey +from Wád Nún to Tomboktú that Sidi Hamed entered the region of +drifting sand.<a id="FNanchor_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20" class= +"fnanchor">[20]</a> This must have been somewhere between the +twenty-third and twenty-fourth parallels of latitude. In the same +line, or twenty-two days from El Harib, between Tatta and Darʿah, +Caillié left the sand-hills on his journey from Tomboktú +northwards.<a id="FNanchor_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21" class= +"fnanchor">[21]</a> Laing, on his way from Twát to Tomboktú, +entered the sands in lat. 23° 56′ N.; and Scott crossed a similar +tract, eleven days’ journey in extent, apparently from the +twenty-first to the twenty-third parallel inclusive, and not far +from the ocean.<a id="FNanchor_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22" +class="fnanchor">[22]</a><span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_11">[11]</span> The vast expanse of light sand thrown up into +wave-like hillocks, which change with every wind, is a remarkable +feature of the great desert, depending not more on the +mineralogical constitution of the country than on the excessive +dryness of the climate. The permanence of its general position, +therefore, in spite of local fluctuations, is as certain as its +extension from west to east, between the zones fertilized by rains. +Now the site of Támedelt was four or five days westward from El +Harib; and since on the road to Tomboktú from the former of these +places the loose sand is entered on the twenty-fifth day, from the +latter on the twenty-third; while from Támedelt to Aúdaghost the +sands were entered also on the twenty-third day, there is reason to +infer, that so far, the direction of the road from Sús el Aḳṣa to +Aúdaghost differed little, if at all, from the modern road to +Tomboktú. The ancient and modern roads to Negroland ran nearly +parallel between the hills south of Sús el Aḳṣa and the zone of +drifting sands.</p> + +<p>The most difficult part of the journey, according to El Bekrí, +lay over the ridges of loose sand, on entering which there was no +water to be found till, after four days’ toil, the traveller +reached the wells of Wanzamín, where all the roads to Negroland met +together.<a id="FNanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23" class= +"fnanchor">[23]</a> The roads thus said to meet that from +Sijilmésah must have been those from Wergelán, Twát, and Télemsén +or Tremecen. Now the roads from these places to Tomboktú all unite +at Telig, about thirty days from El Harib, and our hypothesis +respecting the position of Aúdaghost derives no slight confirmation +from the circumstance that it gives to the meeting of the roads to +that place, twenty-seven days from Támedelt, a position which +harmonizes perfectly with their present junction on the road to +Tomboktú. Near the meeting of the roads was a mountain, the +recesses of which concealed bands of various tribes of the Zenágah, +as the Lamṭah, Gezúlah, Geráwah, &c., all from the +south-western extremity of Atlas, who lay in wait to attack +caravans.</p> + +<p>From the wells of Wanzamín the road continued through sand-hills +in the province of Wárán for five days to a large well belonging to +the Benú Wáreth, thence in two days to<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_12">[12]</span> Agharef, and in three more to Akríri, that is +to say, the reservoir of water.<a id="FNanchor_24"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Near this place was a +mountain named Azgúnán, where caravans were in danger of being +attacked by the Blacks.<a id="FNanchor_25"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> One day further, over hot +sands, lay the brackish wells of Wárán, then, for three days, fresh +water was found in wells belonging to the Zenágah, and another day +led over the high mountain, at the foot of which stood Aúdaghost. +This town was situate in a hilly country, within the limits of the +rains, and does not appear to have had any water but that of wells. +It can hardly be supposed that the limit of the rains in the +interior of the African continent, at a distance from the sea +coast, ascends beyond the twentieth parallel of latitude.<a id= +"FNanchor_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> +Now if a distance of forty days’ journey be measured from Támedelt, +so as to intersect the twentieth parallel towards the interior, it +will be found that fifteen days’ journey south-westward (according +to the distance and bearing of Aúkar from Aúdaghost) measured from +that intersection, will reach to the neighbourhood of Tomboktú.</p> + +<p>The foregoing account is evidently that of a route frequented by +caravans, and therefore the distances mentioned in it +may<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> be received with +confidence. Its general direction, as Abulfedá tells us, was to the +south. El Bekrí describes also the journey from Darʿah to Ghánah, +in a brief and uncircumstantial manner; but his description, though +wanting in the minuteness and precision derivable from the +experience of caravans, is yet not wholly uninstructive. From Wádi +Darʿah to Wádi Tárḳa, on the margin of the desert, was a journey of +five days. Then the traveller entered the wilderness in which water +occurred only every two or three days. Of the wells first met with, +one was called Tezámt. Eastward of it were Bír el Ḥammálín, or the +porters’ well, and another named Nálellí or Málekí.<a id= +"FNanchor_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> +“From these wells,” says our author, “to the country of Islám, is a +distance of four days; and at an equal distance are the Adarérén +Wazzél, or mountains of iron.<a id="FNanchor_28"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> There a desert begins in +which there is no water for eight days; it is, indeed, that which +is emphatically styled The Desert. The water in it belongs to the +Benú Yentesír, a tribe of Zenágah. The village of Moddúken, which +is next arrived at, belongs to the same race. Thence to Ghánah is a +journey of four days.”<a id="FNanchor_29"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span>Wádi Darʿah was +three days from Támedelt, probably east by north. Wádi Tárḳa may be +conjectured to have been on the southern side of the mountains of +Azawwar mentioned in the account of the route to Aúdaghost. But the +particular here chiefly deserving of attention, is The Desert, in +which no water was met with for eight days. The name of this +desert, omitted by El Bekrí, is supplied by subsequent writers. We +are informed that the merchants going to Ghánah passed through the +desert of Tíser, a dry and desolate wilderness of sand, with only a +few pools of bad water, the chief of which was that called the well +of Tíser.<a id="FNanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30" class= +"fnanchor">[30]</a> The extent of this desert is variously stated +to be eight, ten, twelve, and even fourteen days’ journey.<a id= +"FNanchor_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> +At its eastern extremity stood Aúdaghost, and hence it is not +surprising that the journey to that city should present diminished +difficulty; though the loose, hot sands, and intervals of four or +five days without water, in the latter half of the route thither, +between the 23rd and 32nd days, clearly mark the continuation of +the inhospitable tract.<a id="FNanchor_32"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a><span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_15">[15]</span> On the west, the desert of Tíser adjoined the +division of the Ṣaḥrá called Kamnúdíyah, which bordered on the +ocean in the vicinity of Cape Bojador, as shall be shown hereafter. +Unless we assign, therefore, to the territorial divisions of the +Ṣaḥrá a disproportionate extension from west to east, the +contiguity of the maritime district of Kamnúdíyah to the desert of +Tíser, strengthens the presumption that the latter could hardly +have reached beyond the twelfth meridian from the shores of the +Atlantic; or, in other words, that it did not extend far east of +the meridian of Tomboktú, and, consequently, that the road to this +city from the north passes over the tract of desert anciently named +Tíser.</p> + +<p>But it will naturally be asked, is there such a tract of +peculiarly arid desert on the road to Tomboktú? Certainly there is; +a desert of like extent, presenting the same physical character, +and occupying a similar position in the route. Ibn Baṭúṭah, on his +way from Sijilmésah to Tomboktú, arrived at Tegháza, near the edge +of the desert, in twenty-five days. In ten days more, he came to +the wells, or rather muddy pools of Táserahlá, where the caravan +halted to prepare for the march over the formidable waste of sand, +which it required ten days to traverse in order to reach Aïwalátin, +a town on the southern border of the Ṣaḥrá.<a id= +"FNanchor_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> +Had that traveller crossed<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_16">[16]</span> obliquely from Táserahlá to Tomboktú, he +might perhaps have found the waterless desert to exceed a ten days’ +journey in extent. But towards the east its width seems to +diminish; whether it be that the northward course of the Great +River, or the chain of mountains determining that circuit of the +stream, and stretching across into the desert, modifies the +atmosphere so as to give a greater range to the periodic rains in +that meridian, we have no means of deciding. But the whole of the +western Ṣaḥrá and the peculiar tract under consideration, are +described by Leo Africanus in the following manner:—</p> + +<p>“To begin with the desert of Zenaga; this is a dry and barren +tract beginning from the ocean on the west, and extending eastward +to the salt pits of Tegaza. On the north it is bounded by Numidia; +that is to say, by Sus, Acca, and Darah; and it extends towards the +south as far as the land of the Blacks; that is to say, to the +kingdom of Gualata and Tombutto. There is no water found in it, +except at intervals of a hundred miles, and this, after all, is +salt and bitter, in wells of great depth, particularly on the road +from Segelmesse to Tombutto. There are many wild animals and +serpents in it, as shall be related in the proper place. In this +waste is found a desert very difficult and dismal, called Azaoad, +where neither water nor dwelling-place is met with for two hundred +miles, from the well of Azaoad to the well of Araoan, which is a +hundred and fifty miles from Tombutto, and in which great numbers +of men and animals perish of heat and thirst.”<a id= +"FNanchor_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34" class= +"fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>The same writer +elsewhere informs us, that the desert of Azawad was so called from +its barrenness and dryness. It is not unreasonable to suppose that +when the local designation of Tíser fell into disuse, the epithet +expressing the general aspect of the region took its place. The +name Azawad still remains to the tract of desert northward of +Tomboktú.<a id="FNanchor_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35" class= +"fnanchor">[35]</a> And it cannot escape attention that the deserts +of Tíser and Azawad resemble each other not only in extent and +physical character, but that they are also equidistant from +Sijilmésah; that they are both on the road southward from it, and +both reaching to the southern limit of the Ṣaḥrá. There is still +another point of resemblance between them, which, of itself, is +almost sufficient to prove their common identity. El Bekrí remarks, +that in travelling from Sijilmésah to Ghánah, a desert of two +months’ journey was traversed, in which there were no fixed +habitations, and the only people met with were wanderers, such as +the Benú Masúfah, a branch of the Zenágah. The Benú Masúfah then, +were in the middle of the eleventh century the tenants of the +inhospitable plains over which lay the road to Ghánah; and it is +remarkable that, three centuries later, the same miserable tribe +hovered over the road to Tomboktú. Ibn Baṭúṭah found them to be the +regular, and, as it were, hereditary guides across that desert, +with the intricacies of<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_18">[18]</span> which, tradition as well as personal +experience had made them perfectly acquainted. In a region where +the natural landmarks are so broad and unchangeable, and where man +is comparatively so weak; where there is so little to tempt +ambition or to nourish caprice, and where the whole tribe laying +claim to a long extent of territory, could never exceed a handful +of individuals,—the fact that the roads to Ghánah and Tomboktú, +traced over peculiarly arid and forbidding tracts, both passed +through the encampments of the same tribe, is a strong proof of the +proximity of those roads: for the occupiers of the most +inhospitable region in which life can with difficulty be supported, +are not likely to be disturbed in their possessions.</p> + +<p>It has been seen that Leo Africanus represents the country of +the Zenágah, or Ṣinhájah, to have extended from the sea shore as +far eastward as Tegháza and Tomboktú. He obviously meant to +intimate that the road to Tomboktú formed the eastern boundary of +that nation or division of the Berbers. But his expressions are not +such as require to be strictly interpreted; on the contrary, they +have a claim to that latitude of explanation which reconciles them +with the state of things at present, when the Zenágah occupy the +country round Tomboktú and to a short distance eastward of it. His +expressions, however, militate most strongly against any hypothesis +which would place Aúdaghost remote from Tomboktú, since the road to +the former of those cities lay wholly within the limits of the +Zenágah. If these people held as large a share of the Ṣaḥrá in the +beginning of the sixteenth century as in the middle of the +eleventh,—and, since they figured as conquerors in the only +revolution generally affecting them in the meantime, this can +hardly be disputed,—it must follow that the road to Aúdaghost, +being within their limits, could not have passed far eastward of +Tomboktú.</p> + +<p>The Zenágah extended southward, according to Leo, “to the +country of the Blacks, where are the kingdoms of Gualata and +Tombutto.” To the words, “the country of the Blacks,” Marmol, while +borrowing largely from the Arab writer, adds the gloss, “which is +called Geneúa.”<a id="FNanchor_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36" +class="fnanchor">[36]</a> And herein he accords<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> with all other authorities +respecting the position of Genéwah, which region, however vaguely +defined, is yet always placed on the frontiers of Negroland, +westward from Tomboktú. In early ages however, before the Berbers +had derived strength from Arab instruction, the Blacks probably +possessed a larger share of the desert, or at least the name +Genéwah reached further northward. An Arab writer informs us, that +Genéwah extended from the ocean in the west, to the country of +Wergelán in the east, and from Amímah in the south to Arkí and Núl +el Aḳṣa in the north.<a id="FNanchor_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37" +class="fnanchor">[37]</a> The longitudinal dimensions of this +country are here expressed in terms of obvious inaccuracy. +Wergelán, though far to the north-east of the country called +Genéwah, is yet made conterminous with it, owing to the great share +which that Berber state took in the commerce of Negroland, at that +time concentred in Ghánah. But the line on which the breadth of +Genéwah is measured, drawn from north to south, from Arkí to +Amímah, may be presumed to mark its central or principal section. +Now Arkí was on the hills of the Lumtúnah, seven days distant from +Wád Nún, and Amímah stood at a short distance westward or +south-westward from the future site of Tomboktú.<a id= +"FNanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> +The mean position of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> +Genéwah being thus indicated, the author adds, “and of its cities, +is Ghánah.”<a id="FNanchor_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39" class= +"fnanchor">[39]</a> Here, then, is another proof that Ghánah was +contiguous to the western desert and to western Negroland, and that +the tract of country in which it stood and flourished, was the same +in which Tomboktú subsequently rose into importance.</p> + +<p>The country assigned to Genéwah, in the above-cited passage, +really belonged for the most part to the Zenágah, who, anterior to +their conversion to Mohammedanism, lived much +intermingled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> with the +Blacks. The latter may have had the upper hand; or, though in a +servile state, they may have been the more numerous class of the +inhabitants; or finally, the slave trade being carried on +universally in the desert, the Arabs of Barbary may have easily +confounded the country exporting slaves with that which produced +them; and thus applied the name Genéwah to the deserts of which +Berber tribes were, if not the sole occupants, at least the +masters. But the movements of the Morabites revealed more +completely the partition and social condition of the Ṣaḥrá. The +northern portion of it, towards the ocean, was possessed by the +Lumtúnah, whose dwellings covered a range of hills (probably those +called by El Bekrí Azawwar) said to be six days’ journey in length, +and to be shaded by 20,000 palm trees.<a id= +"FNanchor_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> +On these hills, and about seven days from Wád Nún, stood the fort +or town of Arkí, the chief place of the Lumtúnah, whose flocks +wandered from the shores of the ocean as far eastward as the road +to Ghánah.</p> + +<p>South of the Lumtúnah, but separated from them by an uninhabited +tract ten days’ journey in width, were the Benú Goddálah, the most +powerful of the Berber tribes. In the uninhabited tract ten days +wide, it is easy to recognize the sandy region south of Cape +Bojador, and forming the continuation of the desert of Tíser or +Azawad. The country of the Benú Goddálah is said to have extended a +two months’ journey in length and breadth, a description which is +applied also to the whole western Ṣaḥrá, and to the dominions of +Ghánah; and considering that in each case the Atlantic Ocean is +taken as a boundary, it is evident enough that no exact limits were +set to territorial possessions in the desert, and that claims of +sovereignty often extended from opposite quarters over the same +ground.<a id="FNanchor_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41" class= +"fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span>In the country of +the Benú Goddálah was a mine or natural deposit of salt near a town +or place of fixed habitation on the sea shore, called Aúlíl. At +this place was a point of land, or peninsula, insulated by the +tide, but accessible on foot at low<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_23">[23]</span> water. Close to it was the port. Ambergris +was collected on it at the sea side, and turtle, which constituted +the chief food of the inhabitants, were there so large, that +fishermen, as our author assevers, went to sea in their shells. +From Aúlíl salt was carried inland to Ghánah and other cities of +the Blacks. The road from the same place to Wád Nún was a two +months’ journey in length, going along the sea shore, where fresh +water was found by digging in the sand when the tide was out.<a id= +"FNanchor_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42" class= +"fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + +<p>There is little room for doubt or hesitation in determining the +position of Aúlíl. One point only on the whole coast of the Ṣaḥrá +can be selected for it with any show of reason: and that point is +in the bay of Arguin, where the natural deposits of salt, the +little island or peninsula, and the abundance of large tortoises, +are all found together; and exactly at a distance of two months’ +journey from Wád Nún, along the shore.<a id= +"FNanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> +At Arguin also existed, in the fifteenth century, a trade derived +from the natural productions of the place, exactly similar to that +ascribed to Aúlíl in the eleventh century. Since the shores of the +Great Desert offer one locality, and but one, answering to the +description given by El Bekrí of Aúlíl, we must necessarily +conclude that this town was situate in that locality,—namely, near +Cape St. Anne in the bay of Arguin.<a id="FNanchor_44"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>Thus it appears +that the Benú Goddálah were the possessors of the maritime region +of the Ṣaḥrá, from Cape Blanco southwards. They also extended far +inland (a two months’ journey, as has been already stated), and +were separated by a distance of only six days from the Blacks on +the Great River, and in the vicinity of Ghánah. They were the +possessors, therefore, of the vast country which is now divided +among the Ludayas, Brebísh, Trarzas, Erghebat, and others. Though +esteemed the most powerful of the Berber tribes, they were yet +compelled to yield the pre-eminence to the Lumtúnah, in the wars +which immediately preceded the coalition of both under the name of +Morabites. It may be fairly assumed, therefore, that these great +tribes which divided between them the entire breadth of the Ṣaḥrá +where it was least inhospitable, constituted the main body of the +Berber nation to which they belonged; and therefore that the road +to Aúdaghost, which left them on the west, lay near to the limit of +the country occupied by the Zenágah, and consequently passed +through the same tract as the road subsequently traced to +Tomboktú.</p> + +<p>Having thus examined the routes from Sijilmésah to Ghánah, and +briefly surveyed the state of the western deserts, with a view to +illustrate the geographical position of the latter country, we may +now proceed to consider also its internal condition and character; +to inquire who were its neighbours in Negroland; how these were +placed in relation to each other; and how far the accounts given of +them, taken collectively and in the plainest acceptation, accord +with the knowledge which we at present possess of the interior of +Africa.</p> + +<p>Aúdaghost, once the residence, as we are told, of the king +styled Ghánah, was situate in a hilly country, on the margin of the +desert, but within the limit of the summer rains. Its water was +chiefly drawn from wells; its irrigated gardens had small extent, +yet to eyes accustomed only to the monotony of the sandy waste, the +groups of palm trees around it formed a luxuriant scene. Its +population, gathered from various tribes in the Belédu-l-Jeríd, +belonged chiefly to the<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_25">[25]</span> Berber nation of the Zenátah.<a id= +"FNanchor_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> +Nor is it difficult to explain why an isolated Zenátah population +should fix and maintain itself in immediate contact with the roving +and predatory Zenágah; for during the period referred to in these +accounts, Sijilmésah, with which Aúdaghost was connected by ties of +commerce, belonged to the Zenátah. The latter town was, in reality, +but a trading colony on the frontiers of Negroland; and its +mercantile inhabitants, content with the town and trade, seem to +have never affected political independence.</p> + +<p>In the year of the Hijra 350 (<span class="sc2">A.D.</span> +961), the king of Aúdaghost was Tín Yerátán, son of Wasenbú, of the +Zenágah nation. His empire is said to have had an extent of two +months’ journey in length and breadth, and more than twenty negro +kings paid tribute to him. But, at a later period, Aúdaghost became +tributary to Ghánah. This submission of a Berber people to a nation +of Blacks and unbelievers, served as a pretext to the Morabites, +who, in 446, (<span class="sc2">A.D.</span> 1054, the same year in +which they made themselves masters of Sijilmésah,) destroyed +Aúdaghost, carrying off the women and children into slavery.<a id= +"FNanchor_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> +Arab writers, of a later date than the fifth century of the Hijra, +still speak of Aúdaghost and its Zenágah rulers. It is not unlikely +that, regardless of events, they only re-echo the words of ancient +historians; otherwise, we must suppose that place to have revived +for a short time under the descendants of its Morabite conquerors. +But the same revolution which yielded up the old and circuitous +channel of commerce to the owners of the Western Desert, must have +tended to let it fall into disuse. Under the new state of things, +the Lumtúnah and Masúfah would naturally take the nearest road to +Ghánah, through their own country and over the desert of Tíser; and +thus Aúdaghost would be forgotten.<a id="FNanchor_47"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span>The trade +centering in Aúdaghost embraced not only the gold and slaves of +Negroland, but also the productions of the Western Desert, and of +the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. The skins of the antelope called +Dant, or Lant, were wrought into bucklers by its artisans; who also +manufactured ambergris, their supplies of which, we are told, they +owed to their vicinity to the sea shore.<a id= +"FNanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> +From this it may be concluded, not that Aúdaghost was near the sea, +but that, in those early times, the possessors of the Western Ṣaḥrá +were generally in too wild a state to allow trade to be carried on +through their country; and that consequently the maritime +productions of Aúlíl passed eastwards through the hands of the Benú +Goddálah (who, occupying a favoured tract, had acquired more +settled habits) to Aúdaghost, and thus reached Sijilmésah, after +making the circuit of the domains of the rude Zenágah. El Bekrí +says also, that on the hills round Aúdaghost grew trees yielding +the gum which was used in Spain to dress silks.<a id= +"FNanchor_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> +Though this statement is not improbable, yet it is more likely that +the Benú Goddálah, while conveying their salt and amber to the +interior, likewise carried thither the produce of their rich gum +forests. Wealth in Aúdaghost consisted chiefly in slaves, of which +single individuals sometimes possessed a thousand each. That +mercantile spirit had there fixed its abode in the midst of natural +sterility, is forcibly expressed in the acknowledgment that slaves +were the only luxury of the place. Aúdaghost<span class="pagenum" +id="Page_27">[27]</span> exhibited the extreme licentiousness of +manners characteristic, as will appear from other examples +occurring in these pages, of all the towns in the southern border +of the great desert, where the traveller, just escaped from the +perils of the wilderness, indulges in the pleasures offered by a +degraded population; and where the recklessness usual in a seaport +is increased by the opportunities of the slave-mart.</p> + +<p>After the destruction of Aúdaghost by the Morabites, Aúkár, +fifteen days distant from it towards the south-west, became the +capital of Ghánah; or rather that capital was composed of two +towns, viz.—Aúkár, inhabited by Mohammedans, and containing no less +than twelve mosques; and Ghábah, where the king resided, in the +midst of a black population.<a id="FNanchor_50"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> Dark woods environed the +latter town, and spread a gloom well suited to the pagan rites for +the performance of which they were reserved, and which often +involved the sacrifice of human victims. An interval of six miles, +covered with habitations, separated the two towns. The inhabitants +drew their water from wells. The climate was deadly to all but the +natives.</p> + +<p>El Bekrí’s description of Ghánah evidently brings us within the +limits of Negroland. It exhibits to us, on the one hand, the Blacks +summoned before their king by beat of drum, sprinkling dust on +their heads, and prostrating themselves in his presence; or +performing the rites of their cruel superstitions in the darkness +of their woods: and, on the other, the Arabs or Berbers dwelling +apart in a more elevated and open situation, and yet suffering from +the noxious humidity of the air. But, it is to be remarked, that he +makes no mention of running waters, the importance of which no Arab +author ever overlooks; and indeed, it must be inferred from that +author’s words, that there was no river—certainly no great river—in +the immediate vicinity of the capital of Ghánah.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span>The Benú Goddálah, +who possessed the southern portion of the Ṣaḥrá from the shores of +the ocean eastwards, carried their salt and other merchandise to +the Ṣínghánah, the nearest black nation, from whom they were +separated by a distance of only six days’ journey, and whose chief +city stood on both banks of the Great River, called the Nile of the +Blacks. When it is considered that the Lumtúnah reached within ten +days of Ghánah; that they were separated from the Goddálah by a +broad tract of uninhabitable sand; and that all accounts agree in +representing Ghánah as the most western of the kingdoms of the +Blacks,—or, in other words, that the desert alone intervened +between it and the ocean; it will be apparent that the Ṣínghánah, +who were nearest to the Goddálah, lay towards the south or +south-west from Ghánah.<a id="FNanchor_51"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> South-westward from the +Ṣínghánah, at no great distance, was Tekrúr, and a little further +on stood Silla, both likewise on the Great River or Nile of the +Blacks. The last-named place was twenty days’ journey from Ghánah; +and, from what has been already said, it will be manifest that its +bearing from that capital was between south and south-west.<a id= +"FNanchor_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52" class= +"fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>Going eastward +from Ghánah, through Aúghám, a fertile and well-cultivated +district, the traveller arrived in five days at Rás el má, or the +Water-head, “where the Nile issued from the land of the Blacks.” On +the northern bank of the river dwelt the Merásah, a Zenágah tribe. +Pagan blacks inhabited the opposite side. Six days further down the +river stood Tírḳa, a market frequented by the people of Ghánah as +well as of Tádmekkah. From Tírḳa the Nile turned southwards, and in +three days entered the territory of the Seghmárah, a tribe +depending on Tádmekkah. “On the side of the river opposite to +them,” observes our author, “is Kaúkaú, which belongs to the +Blacks.”<a id="FNanchor_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53" class= +"fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>Tádmekkah was a town situate, like Aúdaghost, on the southern +frontier of the Great Desert. According to El Bekrí, it was fifty +days eastward from Ghánah, fifty from Wérgelán, and forty from +Ghodémis.<a id="FNanchor_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54" class= +"fnanchor">[54]</a> Another author, whose measures of distance are +not so easily appreciated, places Tádmekkah forty days westwards +from Tajúah (in the northern part of Darfur), through the country +of the Molaththemún—that is, the people who muffle up or conceal +their faces (the Tawárik), and thirty days eastwards from Ghánah, +beyond which is the ocean.<a id="FNanchor_55"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> These intimations combined +will place<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> Tádmekkah +in the hilly country north of Aghades. It owed its name, signifying +the Likeness of Mekkah, to its situation between two hills, in the +manner of the Holy City.<a id="FNanchor_56"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> In the miscellaneous +composition of its mercantile population, and in dissolute manners, +it was the counterpart of Aúdaghost. Our author adds, that it was +nine days from Kaúkaú; but as he appears to be involved in the +general mystification enveloping that name, it will be more +convenient for the present to waive the consideration of so +embarrassing a particular, and to avoid touching on the +difficulties attending Kaúkaú till we can make them the immediate +subject of discussion.</p> + +<p>The route from Ghánah to Tádmekkah leads us again expressly +eastward, in the following manner: three days to Safnaḳú, a town on +the Nile, and the limit of Ghánah in that direction. Thence along +the river to Búgrát, a town of the Merásah. From Búgrát to Tírḳa, +and thence over the desert to Tádmekkah.<a id= +"FNanchor_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57" class= +"fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>From all this it appears that the capital of Ghánah was three +days distant from the river (at Safnaḳú); and five days +from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> Rás el má, or +the Head of the Water, where the river issued from the land of the +Blacks—that is to say, where it emerged, in its course northwards, +from the marshes and dark forests, and laved the open plains of the +desert. It thence flowed eastwards, for six days, to Tírḳa, where +it turned southwards towards Kaúkaú.</p> + +<p>Thus we find the river called by El Bekrí the Nile of the +Blacks, described by him throughout its course for above thirty +days with a distinctness and completeness of detail quite +sufficient to enable us to recognize it with certainty at the +present day. If we assume, as we may reasonably do, that Safnaḳú +and Ghánah were equidistant from Silla, then from this town to the +first-named place was a distance of twenty days. Rás el má stood at +least two days further down the stream towards the east or +north-east; Tírḳa was therefore twenty-eight days, and the +commencement of the country of the Seghmárah thirty-one from +Silla.</p> + +<p>This winding of a great river, in such a compass, from Negroland +northwards to the desert and down again, is a remarkable feature, +which cannot be overlooked or mistaken; and it is one which we find +in the river of Tomboktú at the present day, exactly as it was +described in the river of Ghánah eight centuries ago. And that +which renders it more easy to identify the Nile of Ghánah with the +Nile of Tomboktú, is the circumstance, that the towns situate at +the extremities of the great circuit of the stream comprised within +the descriptions of Arab writers, and near the apex of which the +emporium of Negroland has always stood, still bear the same names +as in ancient times. From the modern Silla, which is evidently +identical with the ancient town of that name, a journey of +twenty-two days will conduct to the place where the Great River +gets clear of the greenland or inundated country and touches the +desert, which point is near Tomboktú; thence it flows eastward for +six days, and then turns southward or south-eastward to +Kaúkaú.<a id="FNanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58" class= +"fnanchor">[58]</a> Ibn Baṭúṭah, who descended<span class="pagenum" +id="Page_32">[32]</span> the river from Tomboktú to Kaúkaú, omits +indeed to describe the course of his voyage; but Leo Africanus, who +likewise visited those countries, says that Gago, as he writes the +name, is four hundred (Italian) miles south by east from +Tomboktú.<a id="FNanchor_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59" class= +"fnanchor">[59]</a> Nor can we doubt that the Gago of Leo is +identical with the Kaúkaú of Ibn Baṭúṭah, for Ibn Khaldún expressly +informs us that the Kaúkaú here spoken of was also called +Kághó.<a id="FNanchor_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60" class= +"fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>The exact parallelism of the rivers of Ghánah and Tomboktú, +throughout such a length of course, the compared portions being in +each case terminated by a Silla on the west, and a Kaúkaú on the +east, is of itself quite sufficient to establish their identity +with one another. There is, in fact, but one great river on the +south side of the Ṣaḥrá to which such descriptions will at all +apply. But their resemblance may be traced much further, through a +long series of particulars. The Nile of Ghánah was navigated in +large boats or barques, just as the river between Jenni and +Tomboktú is navigated at the present day.<a id= +"FNanchor_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> +The Berbers inhabiting the shores of the Ṣaḥrá carried their salt +and other merchandise in the eleventh century to the Sínghánah, who +dwelt on the Great River between Silla and Ghánah: and now they +resort in like manner to the banks of the Great River between Silla +and Tomboktú.<a id="FNanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62" class= +"fnanchor">[62]</a> A part of the river between Silla and Ghánah +was remarkable as the haunt of hippopotami or river-horses, which +animals were killed by the natives, with javelins attached to +cords, for the sake of their skins;<a id="FNanchor_63"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> and Ibn Baṭúṭah, while +travelling north-eastward to Tomboktú, probably not far from Jenni, +had his attention called to the multitude of those<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> animals frequenting the river in +the vicinity, and gives a similar account of the means used to +destroy them.</p> + +<p>Tekrúr, the town or community of Negroland first converted to +the Mohammedan faith, was in the neighbourhood of Silla, as already +stated, and probably eighteen or twenty days south-west, or +south-south-west from Ghánah. It would be, therefore, a decisive +proof that this capital stood not far from the position of +Tomboktú, if it could be shown that the original site of Tekrúr was +near the modern Silla. But to touch this argument here, would be to +enter prematurely on the discussion of a question of some +magnitude. The application of the name Tekrúr may be more +conveniently examined further on, when the historical connexion +between Ghánah and Western Negroland shall have been disclosed. For +the present it will be sufficient to observe, that the early +history of Tekrúr seems to be in a great measure appropriated by +the Mandingoes;<a id="FNanchor_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64" +class="fnanchor">[64]</a> that the date usually assigned to the +conversion of Ghánah, exactly coincides with the epoch of +conversion adopted by the Mohammedan nations of western Guinea; and +that the glory of the first acceptance of the faith is conceded by +undisputed tradition to the country on the Joliba immediately below +Silla.<a id="FNanchor_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65" class= +"fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>The Nile of Ghánah turned eastward at Rás el má, the most +northern part of the river, and not more than five days from +Ghánah. Towards that point, therefore, may be said to have been +directed the great caravan route from Sijilmésah to Negroland; and +now the frequented route from the same quarter conducts to the most +northern point of the Great River flowing by Tomboktú, and which, +in like manner there turns eastward. It might be added that since +the Kaúkaú and Gago, visited from Tomboktú by Ibn Baṭúṭah and Leo, +are shown to have been the same place, the distance of 400 Italian +miles between that place and Tomboktú, according to the latter +writer, agrees perfectly with the distance of fifteen journeys +between Ghánah and Kúghah, according to El Bekrí,<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> assuming that Kúghah is here +written for Kaúkaú or Kághó; but until the peculiarly equivocal +character of these names be discussed, no reliance can be placed on +any argument involving either of them separately. But they may be +dealt with safely when taken together, and where it is not +necessary to discriminate between them. Now both El Bekrí and El +Edrísí mention Kaúkaú and Kúghah; and if it be conceded that either +of these places was identical with the Kaúkaú or Kághó, which, from +the 14th to the 18th century, ranked as the most important city in +Negroland (a supposition which seems highly probable), then it +follows that Ghánah was at least fifteen days higher up the stream, +or, according to the construction of the Arab geographers, westward +from the same place, which was 400 miles lower down than Tomboktú; +and, consequently, was either near the site of the latter city, or, +if remote from it, must have been still further westward.</p> + +<p>Again, the rivers of Ghánah and Tomboktú closely resemble each +other in this respect, that on turning eastward, after attaining +their most northern point, they both approach the limits of the +Zenágah, whose eastern boundary sloped south-eastward from the road +to Ghánah, till, near the river, it reached a distance of ten or +twelve days from that capital; and now its relation to Tomboktú may +be described in nearly the same terms.<a id= +"FNanchor_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66" class= +"fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>The Nile of the Blacks has been thus traced from Silla, a +distance of twenty days north-eastward towards Ghánah; then to a +distance of eleven days eastward from the latter place, and then +three days southward, where our author’s continuous account of its +course unfortunately terminates. But we are again led to it by a +route through Negroland, so obscure and uncertain indeed as to be +in itself of little value; but the discussion of which, as a means +of comparing authors, may be indirectly turned to advantage. We are +informed by El Bekrí that much of the gold collected in Ghánah was +brought from Ghaïárú, eighteen days distant from the former +capital, and near the Great River. It is manifest that Ghaïárú did +not lie<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> +south-westward from Ghánah, for, in that direction, a journey of +eighteen days near the river brings us into the vicinity of Tekrúr +and Silla, of which our author has already spoken. It must +therefore have been situate down the river, below Kaúkaú, or +south-eastward from Ghánah; and the described route, not following +the stream, must also have gone directly through the interior, till +it met the river after its circuit eastward. It seems necessary to +suppose that the route does not begin from the capital of Ghánah, +but from its frontiers and the opposite side of the river; and also +that the day’s journey in Negroland was a conventional measure, +founded perhaps on the speed of couriers or messengers on +horseback, and exceeding that of the loaded caravan in the desert. +The construction here given to this route, as described by El +Bekrí, agrees in the main with that adopted by subsequent Arab +writers, though their misconceptions have in some instances wholly +perverted his meaning.<a id="FNanchor_67"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> The route was as +follows:</p> + +<p>From Ghánah four days to Sámaḳanda, the inhabitants of which +place were the most expert archers among the Blacks. Thence two +days to Ṭáḳah; one day more to the branch of the Nile called Zúghú, +fordable by camels, but which men were obliged to cross in +boats.<a id="FNanchor_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68" class= +"fnanchor">[68]</a> Thence to Gharnatil or<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_36">[36]</span> Ghúntil, an extensive and powerful country +wherein Mohammedans experienced good treatment, but had no +establishment.<a id="FNanchor_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69" class= +"fnanchor">[69]</a> Elephants and giraffes were there numerous. +From Ghúntil the route went directly to Ghaïárú, a town twelve +miles from the Nile. In the latter place, as well as in Bersana, a +town on the Nile westward of Ghaïárú, were many Mohammedans, +chiefly engaged, it would appear, in the slave trade.<a id= +"FNanchor_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> +“Beyond Bersana, and at the other side of the river,” says El +Bekrí, “is a great country, eight days in extent, the king of which +is called Daúr, and beyond it is<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_37">[37]</span> Melil or Malelo, the king of which is a true +believer, while his people are still Pagans.” We may suppose the +countries here mentioned to be the Daúri and Mallawa of modern +geography, the former northward of Kanó, extending towards the +desert, the latter a large region, comprising apparently in the +acceptation of the indigenous population, the north-western portion +of the country called Houssa.<a id="FNanchor_71"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> But it must be +acknowledged that little confidence is due to conjectures guided +only by such obscure and equivocal indications.</p> + +<p>Among the countries depending on Ghánah, according to El Bekrí, +was Sámah, four days distant from Ghánah. Its inhabitants, who were +called the Bokmo, used poisoned arrows, and were reckoned the best +archers among the blacks. In this circumstance, as well as in their +distance from Ghánah, they resemble the people of Sámaḳanda; so +that we are led at once to suspect that the latter place was the +metropolis of Samah.<a id="FNanchor_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72" +class="fnanchor">[72]</a> But it is a curious coincidence that a +people named Bokmo should be at a short distance from Ghánah, +towards the south, and that a district called Bagamo should have a +similar position with respect to Tomboktú. For Marmol, copying the +words of De Barros with a few slight additions, thus expresses +himself respecting the various names of the rivers of Tomboktú, in +conformity with the erroneous opinion prevalent in his time, that +it flowed into the sea by the Senegal. “The Portuguese +(he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> says) call it +Zenega; the Zenagas, Zenedec; the Gelofes, Dengueh: the Tucorones, +further in, call it Mayo; the Saragoles, higher up, name it Colle; +and when it goes through a district called <em>Bagamo</em>, more to +the east, they call it Zimbala; in the kingdom of Tombut it is +called Yça.”<a id="FNanchor_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73" class= +"fnanchor">[73]</a> The name Zimbala or Jimbala has always hovered +in the neighbourhood of Tomboktú and vicinity of the river. Its +exact position has been matter of controversy. Yet there seems +little reason for dissenting from the statement of Caillié, who +says that a large tract of country south of Tomboktú bears that +name.<a id="FNanchor_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74" class= +"fnanchor">[74]</a> The tract in question therefore must be on the +eastern bank of the river between lake Debú and Tomboktú, and there +also we must look for Bagamo.<a id="FNanchor_75"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>The King styled +Ghánah, while residing in Aúdaghost, aided, we are told, the King +of Másín in a war of the latter with the King of Aúghám. But it +appears that the last-named place was close to Aúkár, subsequently +the capital of Ghánah, and was passed through in going from that +city to Rás el má. One of the belligerent parties being thus found +near Ghánah and the river, it is natural that we should look for +the other in the same neighbourhood; and the conjecture seems as +unobjectionable as it is obvious, that the Másín of El Bekrí is the +Másín or Maséna of the present time, situate on the western side of +the Great River, not far north from Silla.<a id= +"FNanchor_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> +The same writer tells us that to the west of Ghánah was the hostile +country of Anbárah, nine days from Kúghah, which was fifteen from +Ghánah. This statement presents insuperable difficulties; inasmuch +as it contradicts the general testimony which places Ghánah at the +extreme west of the Black nations on the frontiers of Negroland, +and because by referring to Kúghah it introduces the confusion +accompanying that name. If, however, we boldly solve the problem by +supposing Kúghah to be written for Kaúkaú or Kághó, and by placing +Anbárah accordingly south by east from Ghánah, we shall then +recognize it in the warlike state of Oonbori, situate in the Hajri +or mountainous country south of Tomboktú.<a id= +"FNanchor_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77" class= +"fnanchor">[77]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span>But an anonymous +Arab writer expresses himself more intelligibly respecting the +political relations of Ghánah; he says that twenty parasangs or +leagues east of that city was Ráyún, or perhaps rather Ráyawen, the +nearest city (on the southern border) of the desert, to Sijilmésah +and Wergelán. Between Ráyawen and Ghánah were the encampments of +the Morabites, with whom the people of the latter place waged war, +as well as with the inhabitants of Amímah, a town, as has been +already observed, not far from Tomboktú towards the west or +south-west.<a id="FNanchor_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78" class= +"fnanchor">[78]</a></p> + +<p>Of the laws and usages of Ghánah, such as were capable of +enduring after subjection to a foreign power and conversion to the +Mohammedan faith, but scanty notices have been transmitted to us. +It deserves to be remarked, nevertheless, that the law of +inheritance in Ghánah gave the preference to the sister’s son, and +that the same law remained in force in the fourteenth century in +Waláta, as well as in the Mandingo kingdom of Málí, where, however, +its existence need not create<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_41">[41]</span> surprise.<a id="FNanchor_79"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> But in Waláta, on the +border of the desert, with a population chiefly of Berber origin, +the existence of a law so singular, so characteristic of Guinea, +and so exactly coinciding with the law of Ghánah, strongly argues +the influence of Negro rule, and favours the presumption arising +out of what precedes, that Waláta was comprised within the limits +of Ghánah.</p> + +<p>One of the customs of Ghánah, transiently mentioned by El Bekrí, +calls for some remark. In the presence of the king, the people +prostrated themselves, and sprinkled their naked bodies with dust. +This agrees exactly with what Ibn Baṭúṭah witnessed and justly +reprobated at the court of Málí.<a id="FNanchor_80"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> Such slavish manners could +never have originated on the border of the desert, nor where local +circumstances give the least encouragement to the love of +independence. They are the manners of Western Guinea, and cannot be +supposed to have ever existed in Houssa, a hilly country, divided +into petty states, each cherishing a rude spirit of liberty. +Succession to power in Houssa, is said to be elective among the +sons; the hereditary principle being thus blended with the exercise +of a popular right.<a id="FNanchor_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81" +class="fnanchor">[81]</a> In Bornú it has been always customary to +consult the dignity of the sovereign by concealing him from the +vulgar gaze, and not by debasing the subject. Those admitted to the +presence of the king sit with their backs to the curtain which +screens the royal person.<a id="FNanchor_82"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span>In El Bekrí’s time +the dominion of Ghánah extended toward the east but three days’ +journey from the capital. Toward the south it could not have +reached very far. The independent kingdom of Tekrúr was, at the +utmost, eighteen or twenty days distant in that direction. Still +nearer was Ṣínghánah, apparently an independent state, which +carried on trade with the Benú Goddálah. This trade was guided in +its channel, as must always be the case in the early stages of +society, by natural circumstances. A branch of the desert +penetrates south-eastward to the very banks of the Great River, in +a tract of which we know not the exact width, but which embraces +the western shores of Lake Debú.<a id="FNanchor_83"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> Such a road, laid open by +nature, could not fail to exert a great influence on the history of +Negroland. And indeed, the fact that Tekrúr, situate near that part +of the river, was the first converted of the Negro states; that the +trade of the Berbers occupying the sea shore at Aúlíl, and +subsequently their sway also, extended to the same quarter, might +alone create a suspicion, that the tribes of the desert found in +that tract of country a nature congenial to their habits. This +suspicion is converted into certainty by the narrative of Alexander +Scott, who crossed the tract in question.<a id= +"FNanchor_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> +The Berbers were actual possessors of territory south of Ghánah, +where the desert approached the Great River between that country +and Tekrúr. North of Ghánah, the dry desert of Tíser or Azawad was +but eight or ten days distant. In that direction, however, as well +as towards the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> west, +the wilderness opposed no precise limits to the claims of empire, +but allowed pretensions of sovereignty to expatiate freely over +territories of two months’ journey in extent.</p> + +<p>Thus we have seen that Ghánah was the frontier kingdom of the +Blacks contiguous to the advanced portion of the Great River at its +north-west angle; and extending in front of that portion of the +desert, over which lay the commerce with Sijilmésah,—a commerce +guided by a principle, which if not strictly unchangeable, at least +fluctuates only within narrow limits,—namely, that of choosing the +shortest and safest route across the desert. It comprised the +country between Waláta and the Great River, near the future site of +Tomboktú, and enjoyed the identical advantages of position which +subsequently made the latter city so prosperous.</p> + +<p>But what were the revolutions, it may be asked, which caused +Ghánah to disappear? This question shall be fully answered +hereafter; our inquiry at present regards the place where Ghánah +existed, and not the events which led to its extinction. Yet it +will not be alien from our purpose to observe, that although the +name, or rather title, of Ghánah became politically extinct, and +was erased from the list of sovereignties, yet it still adhered +obscurely, in the sixteenth century, to at least one spot of the +territory originally designated by it. For Marmol informs us, that +in his time Walata was also called Ganata; and that he did not in +this instance hazard an erudite conjecture, but spoke the plain +language of habit and experience, is evident as well from the +unostentatiousness of the remark, as from the frequency with which +he indifferently employs these two names one for the other.<a id= +"FNanchor_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85" class= +"fnanchor">[85]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span>Let the reader now +recal the account of Negroland, and of Ghánah in particular, given +in the preceding pages; let him fix his attention on those features +of the description pointed out for the purpose of showing that +Ghánah was near the site of Tomboktú; let him consider well that +those features have a magnitude incompatible with the supposition +of their being repeated, and a permanence derived from their +dependence on the physical constitution of the African continent. +Let him, in fact, figure to himself a great and navigable river, +flowing from a town called Silla north-eastwards for three weeks, +through the country of the Blacks who first embraced the Mohammedan +faith, skirting the desert eastwards for six days, and then turning +southwards to a place called Kaúkaú, or Kághó; let him place the +emporium of Negroland near the north-western angle of that river, +at a distance of two months’ ordinary travelling from the shores of +the Atlantic, two months from Sijilmésah, and fifty days from +Tádmekkah, not far from the modern Aghades. He may then trace the +road from Sijilmésah to that emporium, dividing the whole distance +into its distinct portions, viz.—eleven days south-westward to the +border of the desert, then six days over the hills, about seventeen +more to the zone of drifting sand, passing near the salt mines of +Tagháza, and eight or ten over an utterly inhospitable tract near +the southern limit of the Ṣaḥrá. Along this road he may distribute +the tents of the wandering Masúfah; and, a little to the east of +it, he may mark the boundary line of the great Berber nation, the +Zenágah. Let him<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> then +write above Silla, on the left hand, this remark:—“Trade carried on +with the Berbers on the sea shore;” and below Kaúkaú, on the +right,—“Obscure and little known:”<a id="FNanchor_86"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> and when, having finished +this delineation, he finds that, though drawn in conformity with +the descriptions of Ghánah, it is yet perfectly applicable to +Tomboktú; and that it is equally true and faithful, whichever of +these names be given to the emporium of the Blacks: then, even if +he throw aside all other considerations, such as the relations of +Ghánah with the Morabites and with Mímah, the town whence Tomboktú +derived its Berber population, he certainly cannot refuse to admit +that the Ghánah of Arab writers was contiguous to that part of the +Great River where Tomboktú now stands.</p> + +<p>In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when numerous +accounts of Barbary were published in Europe, and when the trade of +Morocco and Táfílélt (the ancient Sijilmésah) with Negroland was +highly rated, we find that, besides Tomboktú, whither the routes +from Táfílélt and Wád Nún conducted, no places of any importance in +Negroland were mentioned, except Jenni near Silla, and Gago, which +is the same as Kaúkaú. The caravans across the desert directed +their march to the nearest point of Negroland, and the merchants, +arriving there, never looked beyond the marts with which they could +thence maintain a direct intercourse. In the same manner, and +exactly within the same limits, was El Bekrí’s information +circumscribed. He says nothing of the Mandingoes, Serakholies, +Wolofs, Fellatah, or other black nations of the west. He is equally +silent respecting Houssa, toward the south-east. Of Kánem, which +was reckoned to be only forty days distant<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_46">[46]</span> from Zawílah, he speaks in terms indicative +of the faintness of his knowledge:—“The people,” he says, “are +blacks and idolators; and the country is hardly ever visited by +travellers.”—Thus the analogous modes in which Ghánah and Tomboktú +present themselves respectively to the ancient and modern +historians of Negroland, corroborate the opinion that the site of +the former of those places was in the vicinity of the latter.<a id= +"FNanchor_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87" class= +"fnanchor">[87]</a></p> + +<p>In the attempt here made to demonstrate that Ghánah was near the +site of Tomboktú, it will be perceived that no aid has been sought +from etymologies or fancied resemblance of names; much less have +such delusive lights been allowed to guide our investigations. The +arguments urged in the foregoing pages rest wholly on necessary +deductions from the obvious sense of our Arab authorities, without +any attempt to wrest their meaning. The topics touched on in those +arguments may be thus briefly recapitulated:</p> + +<p>The description of Ghánah in respect to its bearing and distance +from Sijilmésah—the details of the road to it, and characteristics +of the desert—the relations of Ghánah with the Zenágah, and +particularly with the Morabites—its intercourse with the tribes on +the sea shore—the position of Genéwah—the course of the River—the +relations of Ghánah with Mimah, Másín or Masena, Anbárah, +&c.—the name Ganata remaining to Walata—the laws and usages of +Ghánah.</p> + +<p>There still remains an argument of no common weight, the +substance of which, though belonging to another part of this +inquiry, yet may, without impropriety, be briefly stated here. The +Blacks of the country named Málí, who, it will be seen, were +Mandingoes, issuing from the south-west, conquered<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> Ghánah. Their empire (to use the +words of their historian) extended from Ghánah in the east, to the +ocean in the west. Nearly a century after that conquest, they +advanced eastward (or rather south-eastward) to Kaúkaú, whence they +marched into the desert and made themselves masters of Tekaddá. +They subsequently relinquished, however, the possession of that +place, and retired to Kaúkaú; so that the Great River formed the +boundary of their sway towards the east, with the exception, +perhaps, of a short space below Kaúkaú. Now there can be no +uncertainty respecting the ground over which these conquerors +marched. The celebrated traveller, Ibn Baṭúṭah, visited, in the +fourteenth century, the capital of Málí, on the Joliba above Sego; +he thence travelled to Tomboktú; thence descended the river to +Kaúkaú, and from that place he went to Tekaddá, which was on the +road from Kaúkaú to Ghát and Ghodémis. He thus appears to have +followed exactly the course which had been taken by the Mandingo +conquerors; the only difference in his described route being, that +he found Tomboktú where they had found Ghánah.</p> + +<hr class="decor width10"> + +<div class="footnotes" id="ftc1"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class= +"label">[5]</span></a>Chénier (Recherches sur les Maures, tom. +<span class="sc2">III</span>. pp. 16 and 79) was the first to +pronounce, Walckenaer (Recherches sur l’Afrique Septentrionale, +1822, p. 285) the first to prove, the identity of Sijilmésah +<span class="arabic">سجلماسه</span> with Táfílélt <span class= +"arabic">تافيلالت</span>. The arguments of the latter amount to +demonstration, and need no reinforcement. Yet we may be permitted +to add, that all the Arab writers, without exception, make +Sijilmésah contiguous to Darʿah <span class="arabic">درعه</span>; +and that the uncritical Marmol, although he subjoins to his +description of Sijilmésah (vol. <span class="sc2">III</span>. fol. +8) an account also of Táfílélt, denuded of every circumstance which +could help to determine its geographical position, yet in copying +Leo’s list of the provinces of Numidia, omits Sijilmésah, and +substitutes for it Táfílélt (Leo Africanus, pt. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. c. 5. in Ramusio, 1554, vol. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. fol. 1 <span class="sc2">V</span>, Marmol, +<span class="sc2">I</span>. fol. 12). The name Táfílélt seems to +have come into use with the rise of the dynasty of the Fílélí +sherífs. The tribe, ennobled by events, gave its name to the +country in which it was established. M. Gråberg af Hemsö, therefore +(Specchio di Marocco, 1834, p. 65), who refuses his assent to M. +Walckenaer’s conclusions, and separates Táfílélt from Sijilmésah +for reasons of comparatively little weight, cannot certainly +vindicate his mode of using the former of these names, by showing +that it occurs in the pages of any historian, native or foreign, +anterior to the sixteenth century. The Fílélí tribe or family are +however of ancient standing, for Ibn Baṭúṭah informs us that at +Kaúkaú, in Negroland, in <span class="sc2">A.D.</span> 1353, he +became acquainted with the faḳíh or doctor, Mohammed the Fílélí +<span class="arabic">الفيلالي</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class= +"label">[6]</span></a>Ghánah <span class="arabic">غَانَة</span> and +<span class="arabic">غَانَةَ</span> (MS. B.M.). The final +<em>hé</em> <span class="arabic">ﻪ</span> of the Arabs, when +pointed <span class="arabic">ﺔ</span>, is pronounced as <em>t</em> +before a vowel; <span class="arabic">غَانَة</span> and <span class= +"arabic">غَانَةَ</span> therefore, when not immediately followed by +consonants, are read Ghánat̤ and Ghánat̤a. But the suppression of +the <em>t</em> in this instance seems to be due altogether to the +analogies of the Arabic language, and probably was not always +imitated by the Berbers, in which language <em>t</em> is a frequent +termination. Hence it is not surprising that in an extract from El +Bekrí, sent from Tripoli by M. Gråberg af Hemsö, to M. Jaubert +(Recueil, &c. par la Soc. de Géogr. tom. <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. 1825), we should find Ghánat <span class= +"arabic">غَانَتْ</span> constantly written instead of Ghánah +<span class="arabic">غانه</span>. The importance of this remark +will appear hereafter.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class= +"label">[7]</span></a>The Arabic <em>wa</em> <span class= +"arabic">و</span> when it begins a word, is a consonant, like our +<em>w</em>. Hence, when the Arabs would write a name beginning with +a long <em>o</em> or <em>u</em>, they are obliged to prefix an +aleph <span class="arabic">ا</span> to the wa <span class= +"arabic">و</span> to preserve to the latter its vocal function; +thus <span class="arabic">اودغست</span>, <span class= +"arabic">اوليل</span>, <span class="arabic">اوكار</span>, would be +written to express Odaghost or Udagost, Olíl or Ulíl, Okár or Ukár. +The áú <span class="arabic">او</span> may be also intended for a +diphthong. But it must be observed that the prefixed aleph in the +Berber language is a sign of case, and may have other offices; +there is some temerity therefore in excluding the form Awadagost, +and in reading Berber names according to the analogies of a foreign +language.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class= +"label">[8]</span></a>Not. et Extr. p. 642. The reasons for +concluding that Aúkár lay to the south-west of Aúdaghost, will be +shown hereafter. El Bekrí states more than once that Ghánah was the +king’s title. Not. et Extr. pp. 630 and 642.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class= +"label">[9]</span></a><a href="images/ar_tamedelt.jpg" class= +"link2">Támedelt <span class="arabic">تَامدَلتْ</span></a> (MS. +B.M.) is read by M. Quatremère, Tamdoult. Sús el Aḳṣa, i.e. the +remote Sús, is the most southern province of Morocco, on the +confines of the desert.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class= +"label">[10]</span></a>The routes to Ghánah and Aúdaghost went +southward, according to Abulfedá, but this expression need not be +strictly understood. (Abulfedá’s Geography, translated by Reiske in +Büsching’s Magazin, vol. <span class="sc2">IV</span>. 212, +<span class="sc2">V</span>. 354). Tomboktú is here spelt as +dictated by Ibn Baṭúṭah. The river of Negroland, which, in the +successive parts of its course is named Joliba, Issa, Quorra, +&c., and which theory and false learning have styled the Niger, +will be generally denominated, throughout the following pages, +<em>the Great River</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class= +"label">[11]</span></a>Caillié reckoned fifty-seven days of actual +travelling between Tomboktú and Táfílélt.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class= +"label">[12]</span></a>Mabrúk is said by some (Itinerary of Ḥáj +Ḳásim, in Walckenaer, Rech. p. 426) to be eleven days, by others +(Mohammed of Tripoli, in the Quarterly Review, No. 45, p. 231) +fifteen from Tomboktú.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class= +"label">[13]</span></a>Since the intercourse between Fez and +Támedelt need not be considered as merely commercial, it would be +injudicious to measure the routes between them by the journeys of a +loaded caravan. El Bekrí (Not. et Extr. p. 598) reckons eight days’ +journey between Fez and Sijilmésah, but one of them was a long +journey (across the desert of Angad) of sixty miles. Abulfedá makes +the distance between these cities to be ten days’ journey. We +reckon nine days, so as make the whole distance of Fez from +Támedelt twenty days’ journey, and allow twenty-two geographical +miles to each. The bearing of Támedelt from Iklí is said to have +been in the direction of the Ḳibla <span class= +"arabic">بقبلي</span> (MS. B.M. fol. 105), or temple of Mekkah, +towards which the followers of Mohammed turn their faces when they +pray. The direction of the Ḳibla is understood in Morocco, +according to Windus (Journey to Morocco, p. 49) to mean east by +south.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class= +"label">[14]</span></a>The caravans from Sijilmésah to Ghánah, like +those to Tomboktú, assembled on the confines of Sús, Darʿah, and +the desert. Tatta, the gathering place of the merchants going to +Tomboktú, as placed by Major Rennell, on information derived from +the British consul at Mogadore (Proceedings of the African Assoc. +1810, vol. <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 254), is not more than +two days distant from the site of Támedelt; and El Harib, the point +at which Caillié, travelling northward, quitted the desert, was but +four or five days distant from these places.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15"><span class= +"label">[15]</span></a>Bír el Jemmálín <span class="arabic">بير +الجمالين</span> (MS. B.M. fol. 101), the Camel-keepers’ well. M. +Quatremère (Not. et Extr. p. 612) reads Bír el Ḥammálín, that is, +the Porters’ well. But as this name occurs in the route from Wádi +Darʿah, it is fortunate that a pointed MS. enables us to +distinguish clearly between those two places, the proximity of +which would conduce to the embarrassment likely to result from +their being confounded together.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16"><span class= +"label">[16]</span></a>Azawwar <span class="arabic">أزَوَّرْ</span> +MS. B.M. fol. 102; Azour in Not. et Extr. p. 613. This name may, +with much probability, be read Azawwad <span class= +"arabic">ازود</span>, that is, the dry or sterile country.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17"><span class= +"label">[17]</span></a>Tendefas <span class="arabic">تندفس</span> +MS. B.M. fol. 102; Tendefak, Not. et Extr. p. 613. Weínhílún +<span class="arabic">وَيْنهيْلُون</span> MS. B.M.; Wirhaloun, Not. +et Extr.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18"><span class= +"label">[18]</span></a>Tázḳa <span class="arabic">تازقَي</span> MS. +B.M.; Tarka, Not. et Extr. This word, written <em>Taskha</em> by +Capt. Lyon (Travels in North Africa, p. 315), is still retained in +the dialect of the Tawárik.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19"><span class= +"label">[19]</span></a>Weíṭúnán <span class= +"arabic">ويْطُونان</span> MS. B.M.—Aúkázenta <span class= +"arabic">اوكازنْتَ</span> MS. B.M.; Oukarit, Not. et Extr.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20"><span class= +"label">[20]</span></a>Sidi Hamed, leaving Wád Nún, went six days +round the mountains towards the south, that is, he cleared the +hills on the sixth day. He then travelled fifteen days over hard +ground, on which the camels left no trace; then three days on hard +sand, and then entered the hills of drifting sand. Riley’s +Narrative of the Shipwreck of the brig Commerce, p. 322.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21"><span class= +"label">[21]</span></a>The Harib of Caillié, who was not fortunate +in seizing the sounds of the Arabic and Berber languages, ought +probably to be Gharíb <span class="arabic">غريب</span> M. D’Avezac +(Bulletin de la Soc. de Géog. 1834, tom. <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. p. 169) proposes reading ʿArib; but since the +tribe of the Gharíb is mentioned in M. Gråberg af Hemsö’s list of +Berber names (Journal Roy. Geog. Soc. vol. <span class= +"sc2">VII</span>. p. 255) and Marmol (tom. <span class= +"sc2">III</span>. fol. 9,) places a tribe named Garib in the +neighbourhood of Tatta, we cannot avoid concluding that the French +traveller means to speak of the same tribe as the last-named +author, and that its true name is El Gharíb. But in the map drawn +by M. Jomard to illustrate Caillié’s journey, the position of El +Harib is even more faulty than its orthography. It detracts little +from Caillié’s merit to say, that under all the circumstances of +his journey his observations of the compass were worth but little, +and his estimates of distance are not to be implicitly relied on. +Nineteen miles a day for the average of forty-three days between +Tomboktú and El Harib, and twenty-nine miles daily during the worst +part of the journey, over deep and burning sands, are rates of +travelling much too high for a loaded caravan. By the undue +lengthening of the early part of the route, El Harib has been +carried about fifty miles too far north, so that Tatta, instead of +being north-west of it, according to the traveller’s text, is made +to lie to the south-west. All the other bearings described are in +like manner displaced. M. D’Avezac has corrected this error of +latitude, but has, at the same time, unfortunately introduced a new +error of longitude, and carried all his positions too far +eastward.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22"><span class= +"label">[22]</span></a>Quart. Rev. No. 75, 1828, p. 102; Edinburgh +Phil. Journal, vol. <span class="sc2">IV</span>. p. 42.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23"><span class= +"label">[23]</span></a>Wanzamín <span class="arabic">ونزمين</span> +MS. B.M.; Wabermin, Not. et Extr. p. 614.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24"><span class= +"label">[24]</span></a>Wárán <span class="arabic">وارَان</span>. +The name of the inhabitants of this part of the desert has been +read by M. Quatremère, Benú Hareth, instead of Benú Wareth +<span class="arabic">وارث</span>; but the restoration of this name +is important; since we learn from another passage in El Bekrí that +the Benú Wareth were to the east of the Lumtúnah; and are thus +enabled to perceive that the road to Aúdaghost lay eastwards from +the road to Ghánah.—<a href="images/ar_agharef.jpg" class= +"link2">Agharef <span class="arabic">أَغَرَفْ</span></a> MS. B.M. +102 v.—Akríri <span class="arabic">اقرىري</span> Not. et Extr. p. +615. <span class="arabic">اقرىىدى</span> MS. B.M.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25"><span class= +"label">[25]</span></a>Azjúnán (pronounced Azgúnán) <span class= +"arabic">ازجونان</span> MS. B.M.; Arkounat, Not. et Extr.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26"><span class= +"label">[26]</span></a>In Nubia showers of rain are of rare +occurrence north of the 18th parallel (Rüppell, Reisen in Nubien, +&c. p. 75). Denham (Travels, &c. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. p. 164) fixed the first appearance of fresh +vegetation and the limit of the tropical rains on his route to +Bornú, near the 16th parallel, which is probably too low for the +limit of rain. Tomboktú, we are told, has annually six weeks or +more of rain (Proc. Afr. Assoc. <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 285; +Narrative of R. Adams, p. 42)—and this blessing seems to extend +some distance north-eastward of it (Riley’s Narrative, p. 346). +Towards the coast the gum forests which extend as far north as the +18th degree of latitude probably do not fall far short of the limit +of regular rains.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27"><span class= +"label">[27]</span></a>Tarḳá <span class="arabic">ترقا</span> Not. +et Extr. p. 623; Tárga <span class="arabic">تارجي</span> MS. B.M. +105 r.—Tezámt <span class="arabic">تزامت</span> MS. B.M. 105 v; +Baramet, Not. et Extr. p. 624.—Bir el Ḥammálín <span class= +"arabic">بير الحمالين</span>—Máleki <span class= +"arabic">مالكي</span> Not. et Extr. p. 264; Nálelli <span class= +"arabic">ناللِّي</span> MS. B.M. 105 v.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28"><span class= +"label">[28]</span></a>In the Parisian MS. the expression is “the +mountains, the name of which, in Berber, signifies <em>the +mountains of iron</em>.” Not. et Extr. 624. But the MS. B.M. gives +the Berber name <a href="images/ar_adareren.jpg" class= +"link2">Adarérén wazzél <span class="arabic">ءَاَدَرَارَانْ +وَزّالْ</span></a> in which Adarérén is the plural of Adrar, a +mountain, and wazzél, iron, corresponds with the <em>ouzail</em> of +Shaw’s vocabulary (Travels in Barbary, <span class="sc2">II</span>. +p. 382).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29"><span class= +"label">[29]</span></a>Yentesír <span class= +"arabic">ينْتسِير</span>, MS. B.M.; Belis, Not. et Extr.—Moddúken +<span class="arabic">مُدُّوكَن</span> MS. B.M.; Merouken, Not. et +Extr. From the village of Moddúken, which belonged to the Zenágah, +to the city of Ghánah <span class="arabic">مَدَينة غَانة</span> was +a journey of only four days. But for Ghánah in this place M. +Quatremère proposes reading Akka, <span class="arabic">عاقه</span>, +being perplexed by the faultiness of his MS. which seems to conduct +beyond Ghánah to the country of the Lumtúnah. The MS. B.M. p. 105 +v, clears up the difficulty by these words; “and from the wells +before mentioned, (viz. the wells of El Ḥammálín and Nálelli,) the +water is carried a four days’ journey to Mount Aízal or Izal +<span class="arabic">ايزَلْ</span> in the desert,” &c. Thus the +road to the desert (the Lumtúnah not being named in this passage) +does not begin from Ghánah, but from “the before-mentioned wells.” +Jebel Aízal may be suspected of being another form of Adarérén +Wazzél.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30"><span class= +"label">[30]</span></a>The name Tíser <span class= +"arabic">تيسر</span> (Jaubert’s Idrísí. Recueil de Mém. &c. +tom. <span class="sc2">V</span>. p. 106) is extremely doubtful. +Some of the MS. copies of Idrísí have Níser <span class= +"arabic">نيسر</span>, others Nesír <span class= +"arabic">نسير</span>. The epitome offers Bansar <span class= +"arabic">بنسر</span>; Abulfedá writes Yasr <span class= +"arabic">يسر</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31"><span class= +"label">[31]</span></a>El Bekrí (Not. et Extr. 624) gives to the +absolutely waterless desert between Sijilmésah and Ghánah, an +extent of eight days’ journey. Sheríshí, in his commentary on +Harírí (Maḳámah 9) gives it a width of ten days. Ibn el Wardi +increases it to twelve days, and El Idrísí (Jaubert’s Transl. p. +106) to fourteen. It was natural enough that the first of these +writers, who may be supposed to have derived much of his +information from the early Morabites themselves, should receive a +less exaggerated account of the inhospitable nature of the western +desert than those who followed him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32"><span class= +"label">[32]</span></a>The road to Aúdaghost passed through the +territory of the Benú Wáreth. But this tribe were to the east of +the Lumtúnah, through whose country was traced the road to Ghánah +(see <a href="#Footnote_24">note 24</a>). And Ghánah was at least +four days south of the desert of Tíser, while Aúdaghost was east of +that desert, according to Abulfedá (Büsching’s Magazin, vol. +<span class="sc2">IV</span>. p. 212). El Idrísí also places +Aúdaghost in the northern part of the kingdom of Ghánah; and by +stating its distance from Wergelán and Jermah, he plainly intimates +that it was likewise in the eastern part. All these particulars +combine to prove that Aúdaghost was to the north-east of +Ghánah.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33"><span class= +"label">[33]</span></a>Ibn Baṭúṭah travelled at the slow rate of a +heavily laden caravan. Halts included, he was two months in +reaching Aïwalátin, or Walata, on the southern border of the +desert. His accounts of the pools of Táserahlá which shall be given +hereafter, exactly correspond with El Idrísí’s description of the +wells of Tíser. In Jaubert’s ‘Idrísí’ (p. 11), is the following +passage: “Il y existe cependant des mares d’eau de pluie qu’on +rencontre après deux, quatre, cinq ou douze journées de marche, +semblables à celle du désert situé sur la route de Sedjelmasa à +Ghana, et où l’on ne trouve de l’eau qu’au bout de quatorze jours +de marche.” Instead of the word <em>desert</em> in this place, the +Epitome of El Idrísí has the name Bansar <span class= +"arabic">بنسر</span>, evidently for Tíser <span class= +"arabic">تيسر</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34"><span class= +"label">[34]</span></a>Leo Afr. pt. <span class="sc2">VI</span>. c. +54. Marmol writes Azaoat. Beyond, or eastward of the desert of the +Zenágah, Leo places that of the Zuenziga, “which extends from +Segelmesse, Tebelbelt, and Benigorai, to the desert of Ghir, in the +south, which faces the kingdom of Gubar. On the west it has Tegaza, +and on the east the desert of Air, inhabited by the Targa tribe +(the Tawárik).” It is manifest that the several divisions of the +desert described by Leo (pt. <span class="sc2">VI</span>. c. 54-8), +all extend from north-west to south-east, conformably to the +boundary line which we have ascribed to the country of the Zenágah +on the east. It is plain also, that these people were not in the +vicinity of the Houssa country. The desert of Ghir brings to mind +the Káhir <span class="arabic">كاهر</span> of Ibn Baṭúṭah; but we +can have no doubt that the Air of Leo is the country of Ahír (Ḥáj +Ḳásim in Walckenaer, Rech. p. 448) or Aáheer (ʿAhír?), which we +learn from Sultan Bello (Denham’s Travels, <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. 447, where Aáheer is erroneously said to be south +of Bornú) to be the portion of the desert lying north of Houssa and +Bornú. But it appears that the name in question has extended +further southwards since Leo’s time, a proof that the Tawárik have +been gaining ground.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35"><span class= +"label">[35]</span></a>The account of Major Laing’s journey to +Tomboktú (Quarterly Review, July 1828, p. 103-5), after stating +that he was attacked by the Tawárik, makes frequent mention of +<em>Azoad</em>, whence, on recovering from his wounds, he wrote his +last letter. Caillié mentions “the tribe of Zaouât, who wander in +the desert of <em>the same name</em>” (Voyage à Temboctou, tom. +<span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 349). It was the Sheikh of this +tribe, Hamet aúlád Habíb, who put Major Laing to death, meeting him +five days north of Tomboktú, on the road to Arawan. The name of +this murderer brings to mind the fact that the chief wells on the +roads to Aúdaghost and Ghánah were dug by a Sheikh of the Aúlád +Habíb. It is plain that the tribe called Zaouât by Caillié, were so +named from their country; and it is probable that he, or the editor +of his volumes, deprived the name Azawad of its initial letter, in +the belief that it was thereby freed from the Arabic article. The +desert of Azawad is described by Lyon (Trav. in N. Afr. p. 148) +under the name of ʿAsheríyah, or <em>the ten days’</em> desert.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36"><span class= +"label">[36]</span></a>Marmol, Descripcion de Africa, vol. +<span class="sc2">I</span>. fol. 34 r. In another place, however, +(vol. <span class="sc2">III</span>. fol. 16,) he uses the name +Genéwah in a restricted sense, and says that the Zenágah have on +the south, “the Benais, Gelofes, the kingdoms of Gualata, Geneúa, +Meli, and Tumbuto”—Genéwah being here evidently identified, by +hypothesis, with Jenni.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37"><span class= +"label">[37]</span></a>Kitábu-l-Jʿaráfíyah (Book of Geography), +&c. MS. in the collection of D. P. de Gayangos. This anonymous +work, though ill written, contains much which is not to be found in +El Idrísí and his numerous copiers.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38"><span class= +"label">[38]</span></a>Arkí <span class="arabic">أَركِي</span> MS. +B.M. fol. 107; Azdji <span class="arabic">أَرجي</span> Not. et +Extr. p. 629.—The copies of El Idrísí present this name in a +variety of forms. In M. Jaubert’s translation of this author (p. +206), there is the following passage: “La ville s’appelle Azoucaï +<span class="arabic">ازقي</span> en langue Berbère, et Cocadam +<span class="arabic">قوقدم</span> en génois.” By <em>génois</em> we +are here to understand the language of the Genéwah. But the name +here read Cocadam, or, as we should write it, Ḳúḳdem, deserves a +moment’s notice. Leo Africanus informs us (pt. <span class= +"sc2">VI</span>. c. 55) that the caravans from Telemsén to +Tomboktú, pass over a difficult tract of desert, where no water is +found for nine days, and which is named Gogdem. It is probable that +this desert, as well as the town further west, owed its name to +wanderers from Goghidem, a mountain of central Atlas, in the +province of Hascora, of whose emigration Leo himself furnishes the +explanation (pt. <span class="sc2">II</span>. c. 71). Arkí, the +chief town of the Lumtúnah, is placed by El Idrísí, seven days from +Wád Nún. As little reliance, however, can be placed on that +author’s measures, we may allow Arkí to be even fourteen days from +Wád Nún, and yet its site will not be eastward of the road to +Tomboktú. But, according to El Idrísí (<em>ut supra</em>), those +who went to Silla, Tekrúr, and Ghánah, passed near it of necessity. +Our knowledge of the position of Mímah, or Amímah, we owe to Ibn +Baṭúṭah, whose narrative shall be examined further on.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39"><span class= +"label">[39]</span></a>Ghánah, in the country of Genéwah, +<span class="arabic">من بلاد جناوه</span> is an expression +frequently used by the same author. Where others would have written +Beléd es-Súdán, or land of the Blacks, he always writes Genéwah. +This name, indeed, became in Morocco the general designation of +blacks and slaves. Thus we are told that Muley Hamed grew rich “by +husbanding his Maseraws (oil-mills) and Ingenewas (slave farms) +where his sugar canes did grow. (A True Historical Discovery of +Muley Hamet’s Rising, &c. 1609, c. 3.) The initial letter of +the name Genéwah <span class="arabic">جناوه</span> being pronounced +hard by the Moors, the southern Europeans, in imitation of them, +wrote Chinoia, Gheneoa, and Ghinéa; from which we, by throwing back +the accent, made Guinea. “The kingdom, says Leo (pt. <span class= +"sc2">VI</span>. c. 3), called by our merchants (the Moors) +Gheneoa, is by the natives called Genni, and by the Europeans who +have any knowledge of it, Ghinea.” It is certain that Ghinéa and +Guinea are derived from Genéwah; but we see no sufficient reason to +admit that the name of the city of Genni or Jenni has the same +origin. But since general names, not merely appellations, are rare +among a rude people, it is natural for us to inquire what was meant +by Genéwah, or, to conform to the sound, Ghinéwah. Did it mean +<em>the Blacks</em>? On the coast, the negroes contiguous to the +Whites are, for contra-distinction, named in their own language +Wolof, that is, <em>Blacks</em>. The name Jelofe (Wolof) is used in +this general sense by Marmol (<span class="sc2">III</span>. fol. 27 +v). And why should not the people of the interior designate +themselves according to the same universal and simple principle? +Now, in the language of Tomboktú, <em>gnewa</em>, or, as Major +Rennell, who had the original information, writes it, +<em>genewa</em>, signifies Black (Proc. Afr. Ass. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. p. 124 and 428), so that we are justified in +suspecting at least that we have here found the origin of the name +Genéwah.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40"><span class= +"label">[40]</span></a>Not. et Extr. p. 629.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41"><span class= +"label">[41]</span></a>The extent of desert here assigned to the +Benú Goddálah, may enable us, if carefully considered, to ascertain +their interior limits towards Ghánah. Numerous authorities, which +need not be here cited, agree in estimating the distance of +Tomboktú from Táfílélt or Morocco to be, in general terms, a two +months’ journey. The more circumstantial accounts reckon, between +Tomboktú and Akka, Tatta, or El Harib, near the frontiers of Sús +and the desert, thirty-six (Jackson’s Morocco, p. 241)—forty-three +(Shabeeny’s Narrative, by Jackson, p. 7)—or thirty-nine days +(Caillié, Journal, &c.), exclusive of halts. We find the +distance of Tatta from Tomboktú estimated also at fifty days +(Proceedings of the African Association, vol. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. p. 225). Davidson (Notes on a Journey in Africa, +1839, p. 101) learned that the courier’s track from Wád Nún to +Tomboktú is travelled in forty days, and that from the same place +to Jenni is usually reckoned a distance of sixty days, though +frequently traversed in less time (Notes, &c. p. 113). But it +must be observed, that, with respect to caravans, the time allowed +for halting at the chief wells often exceeds that spent in +travelling. Now to estimate the longitudinal dimensions of the +western desert, we have the distance of forty days’ journey from +Arguin to the French factory at Fort St. Joseph, on the Senegal, +and from the latter point forty-eight days to Tomboktú, the latter +distance being established by a concurrence of testimony which +places it beyond dispute (D’Anville, Mem. de l’Acad. tom. +<span class="sc2">XXVI</span>. p. 73; Rennell in Proc. of Afr. +Assoc. vol. <span class="sc2">II</span>. pp. 225, 464). Circuits +being allowed for, these distances combined will place Tomboktú +about two months and a half from Arguin. In confirmation of this +conclusion, we find that Sidi Hamet (Riley’s Narrative, p. 319), +taking the road by the sea shore, travelled from Wád Nún southwards +for four months to the borders of Negroland, and then went eastward +two months to Tomboktú. On his return he travelled westward one +month, and encamped at a little Negro town called Jathrow—probably +the Dgazzara of M. Roger’s informant (Rec. de Voy. <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. p. 62), whose estimate of distances, however, +uniformly fall far short of the reality. Sidi Hamet then turned +northward, and reached Wád Nún in three months and a half. Though +the people dwelling on the margin of the desert are apt to talk of +speedy journeys, as was experienced by Park and Davidson, yet the +inhabitants of the wilderness itself, having little provision and +weak cattle, which they pasture as they go, rarely travel at a rate +exceeding twelve or thirteen miles a day. Alexander Scott +(Edinburgh Phil. Jour. vol. <span class="sc2">IV</span>.), a +shipwrecked sailor, and captive in the desert, travelled from the +vicinity of Cape Bojador two months and a half, to the line of gum +forests, which lie chiefly between the 17th and 18th parallels, and +then continued his march for another month before he reached Lake +Dibbie, which is formed by the waters of the Great River. It is +needless to collect more authorities to show that a desert of two +months in extent and bounded by the Atlantic, must be supposed to +lie wholly westward of Tomboktú.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42"><span class= +"label">[42]</span></a>Aúlíl <span class="arabic">اوليل</span>. It +is also written Aúlílí <span class="arabic">اوليلي</span> by Ibn el +Wardi and others. It is probably a variation of the name Walílí +<span class="arabic">وليلي</span>, formerly belonging to a village +near Fez, and also to Tangier.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43"><span class= +"label">[43]</span></a>If the well-ascertained route of forty-eight +days from Fort St. Joseph to Tomboktú, measured on Mr. J. +Arrowsmith’s map, be taken as the scale, and sixty days be then +measured along the shore from Wád Nún, it will exactly reach +Arguin. But the Benú Goddálah, possessing a desert of two months in +extent, were separated by a six days’ journey from the Ṣínghánah, +who dwelt on the river between Silla and Ghánah. Now from Arguin to +the nearest point of the Great River, towards the east, is a +distance of about sixty-eight days’ journey, measured as above. It +is necessary, therefore, if we would treat El Bekrí as a sensible +and sober writer, to infer that Aúlíl was at Arguin, and that the +Ṣínghánah dwelt near Lake Debú, between Silla and Tomboktú.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44"><span class= +"label">[44]</span></a>At Cape St. Anne, in the bay of Arguin, +where the beds of salt are found, is a small island which appears +to answer El Bekrí’s description. Labat (L’Afrique Occidentale, +tom. <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 58) says of it, “On trouve à la +pointe de la Saline une petite isle qui ne se distingue presque pas +du continent.” De Barros (Decad. <span class="sc2">I</span>. liv. +<span class="sc2">I</span>. c. 10) explains why Arguin is the only +inhabited spot on the shores of the Desert.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45"><span class= +"label">[45]</span></a>El Bekrí in Not. et Extr. p. 630. It is +Abulfedá, who, quoting Ibnu Sʿaïd, informs us (Büsching’s Mag. +<span class="sc2">IV</span>. 205,) that Aúdaghost was within the +limit of the rains.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46"><span class= +"label">[46]</span></a>Not. et Extr. p. 631. The fact that the +campaign of the Morabites in one year embraced both Aúdaghost and +Sijilmésah, is enough to show that the former place was contiguous +to the Western Ṣaḥrá.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47"><span class= +"label">[47]</span></a>The language of El Idrísí (Rec. de Voy. +<span class="sc2">V</span>. p. 109), paints the decay of Aúdaghost: +he describes it to be “a little town, deficient in water; with a +scanty population and miserable trade, which consists in camels.” +This is the town which modern geographers, induced by a supposed +resemblance of names—though Rennell (Geogr. Illust. of Park’s +Journey, in Proc. of Afr. Assoc. <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. +501,) took the precaution to convert Aúdaghost into Agadost—have +chosen to identify with Aghades, or Aghdes, which Leo Africanus +(pt. <span class="sc2">VII</span>. c. 9), writing in 1541, calls “a +city built by the moderns;” while Marmol (<span class= +"sc2">III</span>. fol. 24), more precise, says that it was founded +160 years before the time of his writing, or in 1438.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48"><span class= +"label">[48]</span></a>Not. et Extr. p. 630. Bucklers made of the +skins of the Dant or Lant (probably el-ant), which is supposed to +be the <i>Antilope Leucorix</i>, were chiefly manufactured in Wád +Nún. By the amber carried to Aúdaghost from the sea shore, we must +understand ambergris, to which El Idrísí alludes when describing +the western shores of Africa (Rec. de Voy. pp. 64 and 135).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49"><span class= +"label">[49]</span></a>Not. et Extr. p. 615.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50"><span class= +"label">[50]</span></a>Ghábah <span class="arabic">غابه</span> MS. +B.M. fol. 112 r; Alghábat <span class="arabic">الغابت</span> Rec. +de Voy. <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 2; Ghaïah <span class= +"arabic">غايه</span> Not. et Extr. 643. The predominant idea in the +meaning of the name Ghábah or Ghábat̤, which is undoubtedly the +true reading, is <em>obscurity</em>: lowness of situation and +overhanging gloom are both implied by it.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51"><span class= +"label">[51]</span></a>Ṣínghánah <span class= +"arabic">صينغانه</span>. Caillié (tom. <span class="sc2">II</span>. +p. 237) mentions a place called Sangouno, on the left bank of the +Great River, three or four days from Jenni.—Tekrúr <span class= +"arabic">تكرور</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52"><span class= +"label">[52]</span></a>Silla <span class="arabic">سلي</span>, +<span class="arabic">سيلي</span>, and <span class= +"arabic">سلا</span>. El Bekrí mentions cotton as one of the chief +productions of this country; no house, he says, was without its +cotton tree. Leo, in like manner, says (pt. <span class= +"sc2">VII</span>. c. 3), that cotton was the staple merchandise of +Jenni, which is but two days from Silla; and Caillié observed the +general cultivation of that article in the country south-westward +of Jenni (tom. <span class="sc2">II</span>. pp. 156-167.) The +people of Silla, being slave-dealers, made constant war on their +pagan neighbours, of whom the nearest were the Kalembú <span class= +"arabic">قلنبو</span>, a day’s journey distant. Now the district of +Negroland at present characterized by the termination <em>bú</em>, +is that contiguous to the modern Silla towards the west, and on the +northern side of the river. There we find Modiboo, Doolinkeaboo, +Fanimboo, &c., within a small compass. “From Tarankat̤i +<span class="arabic">ترنْقَةِ</span> (MS. B.M. fol. 111 r), near +Silla, the inhabited country (says our author) extends to Záfḳú +<span class="arabic">زافقو</span>” which name M. Quatremère reads +Afnou (Not. et Extr. p. 641). But if we suppose that a Nún +<span class="arabic">ﻨ</span> is here mistaken for the Maghrebí Kaf +<span class="arabic">ڧ</span>, the two readings will be reconciled +in Zafnú, the Jafnoo of our maps, which is a very likely limit to +our author’s exact information. To point out unequivocally the +direction in which his narrative led him, he adds, that “the +country continues populous to the ocean.”</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53"><span class= +"label">[53]</span></a>Aúghám <span class="arabic">اوغام</span> MS. +B.M. 1140; Audagam <span class="arabic">اودعام</span> Not. et Extr. +p. 651—Merásah <span class="arabic">مراسه</span>—Tírḳa <span class= +"arabic">تيرْقَي</span> MS. B.M.—Tádmekkah <span class= +"arabic">تادمكه</span>—Seghmárah <span class= +"arabic">سغمارة</span>—Kaúkaú <span class="arabic">كوكو</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54"><span class= +"label">[54]</span></a>Not. et Extr. pp. 652, 653. The ten journeys +allowed between Wérgelán <span class="arabic">وارجلان</span> MS. +B.M., <span class="arabic">وارقلان</span> Not. et Extr., and +Ghodémis <span class="arabic">غُدامِس</span>, show the scale by +which we are to measure this route, and allow us to stretch the +forty journeys between the latter place and Tádmekkah farther than +could be done without such an intimation.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55"><span class= +"label">[55]</span></a>Macrízí, in Hamaker’s Specimen Catalogi Cod. +Or. MSS. Academiæ Lugd. Bat. pp. 207, 9. In the passage in question +M. Hamaker reads Taoumcah <span class="arabic">تاومكه</span>, +instead of which it is an obvious correction to restore Tádmekkah +<span class="arabic">تادمكه</span>. If we increase forty in the +ratio of thirty to fifty, the numbers by which our authors +respectively measure the distance between Ghánah and Tádmekkah, we +shall have sixty-six days for the distance of the latter place from +the Tajúah, according to El Bekrí’s scale. The Tajúah or Tajuwín of +the Arabs, are the people whom Browne calls Dageou (Travels in +Africa, p. 325), and who once ruled Darfur.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56"><span class= +"label">[56]</span></a>The name Tádmekkah signified The Likeness of +Mekkah, (Not. et Extr. p. 653.) But Ned Roma, as Leo informs us +(pt. <span class="sc2">IV</span>. c. 6), signified The Likeness of +Rome. A single point in Arabic writing discriminates between these +two prefixes. But since El Bekrí, who writes Tádmekkah, also writes +Nádrúmah, we must be satisfied to ascribe the apparent discrepancy, +in this case, to difference of dialect. But it may be here +remarked, that the pages of Leo Africanus are not quite free from +the inaccuracies which originate in an unpointed Arabic text. They +offer, for instance, Perzegreg for Ber Zegzeg, Nefreoa for Nefzeoa, +Amarig for Amazig, and frequently Ibn Racu for Ibn Rachic. In the +early French translation of Leo (by Jean Temporal, 1556), we find +also Cairaran frequently written for Cairaoan, Azarad for Azaoad, +and Araran for Araoan. Whether these errors have been all copied +from the version of Leo in the first edition of Ramusio’s first +volume, we have not had the means of determining; but the second +edition of Ramusio (1554) is free from the more glaring of +them.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57"><span class= +"label">[57]</span></a>Safnaḳú <span class= +"arabic">سفنقوا</span>—Búghrát <span class="arabic">بوغرات</span> +MS. B.M. 115 v; Not. et Extr. 652.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58"><span class= +"label">[58]</span></a>Silla is fourteen days from Tomboktú by +land, and a month by water. From these extremes it is easy to +derive the distance assigned above. Sidi Hamed (in Riley’s +Narrative, p. 334) going from Tomboktú to Houssa, first travelled +six days along the river, a little south of east till he came to +hills, where the stream turned southwards.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59"><span class= +"label">[59]</span></a>“Verso mezzogiorno, e quasi inchina alla +parte di scilocco.” Pt. <span class="sc2">VII</span>. c. 3.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60"><span class= +"label">[60]</span></a>The statements of this valuable writer, as +well as the journey of Ibn Baṭúṭah, will be given at length further +on.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61"><span class= +"label">[61]</span></a>Jaubert’s Idrísí, in the Rec. de Voy. +<span class="sc2">V</span>. p. 17; Ibn el Wardí.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62"><span class= +"label">[62]</span></a>Alexander Scott, in his pilgrimage beyond +the Great River, found that the desert continues to the very shores +of Lake Debú, where there was a town or encampment of the Orghebets +(Raghabát?)—Edinb. Phil. Journ. vol. <span class="sc2">IV</span>. +p. 43.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63"><span class= +"label">[63]</span></a>Not. et Extr. p. 640.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64"><span class= +"label">[64]</span></a>The people of Melli (Málí), according to Leo +(pt. <span class="sc2">VII</span>. c. 4), were the first to embrace +the Mohammedan faith.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65"><span class= +"label">[65]</span></a>This point will be more fully considered +when we come to speak of Tekrúr.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66"><span class= +"label">[66]</span></a>The Brebísh often encamp eastward of +Tomboktú, in which quarter nevertheless the Tawárik seem to have +gained ground on the Zenágah.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67"><span class= +"label">[67]</span></a>It is a strong argument in favour of the +construction here given to the route to Ghaïárú <span class= +"arabic">غيارُوا</span> (MS. B.M. 1120), that it establishes a +uniform and consistent method in El Bekrí’s narrative. That author +begins his account of Negroland with the Ṣínghánah, who traded with +the Benú Goddálah in the west. He then goes to the south-west to +Silla and Tekrúr; then having mentioned Ghánah, he passes to the +route to Ghaïárú, and finally turns due east, and describes the +route to Tádmekkah. It is requisite for clearness and exact order, +that the route to Ghaïárú should lie between the south-west and the +east.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68"><span class= +"label">[68]</span></a>Sámaḳanda <span class= +"arabic">سامَقَنْدَي</span> MS. B.M. 113 r; Sámaghondi <span class= +"arabic">سَامَغُنْدِي</span> Rec. de Voy. <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. p. 4. The corruptions of this name, which is +probably significant, are enumerated in the notes to Hartmann’s +Idrísí, p. 42.—Ṭáḳah <span class="arabic">طاقة</span> MS. B.M.; +Ṭáḳat <span class="arabic">طاقت</span> Rec. de Voy. p. 5; Tanah, +Not. et Extr. p. 646.—Zúgú <span class="arabic">زوغُوا</span> MS. +B.M.; Zoghárá <span class="arabic">زُغَارَا</span> Rec. de Voy.; +Rougou, Not. et Extr.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69"><span class= +"label">[69]</span></a>Gharnatil <span class="arabic">غرنتل</span> +MS. B.M.; Garbil, Not. et Extr. <span class= +"arabic">عُونْتِل</span> Oʿuntil, Rec. de Voy. This latter reading +brings to mind the place called by Mohammed Maséní (Clapperton’s +Second Journey, p. 330), Oodel or Goodel (with the same doubtful +initial letter), where the Great River is crossed between Sokkatú +and Maséna. In the absence of better guidance, Ghúntil <span class= +"arabic">غونتل</span> shall be here assumed to be the true reading, +and the name of the identical place called Goodel by Bello’s +servant.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70"><span class= +"label">[70]</span></a>The MS. B.M. fol. 113, has Yersana +<span class="arabic">يرسني</span>, which seems too violently +opposed to the other MSS. In the Rec. de Voy. and Not. et Extr. it +is Bersa <span class="arabic">برسي</span>.—This is the Berísa +<span class="arabic">بريسي</span> of Idrísí, the Berísá +<span class="arabic">بريسا</span> of Abulfedá. Bersana was the +resort of certain negroes who brought gold from the interior, and +were called <a href="images/ar_benunamrat.jpg" class="link2">Benú +Nʿamrát <span class="arabic">بَنو نَعمْرَات</span></a> (Rec. de +Voy. p. 7), or Wangamranah <span class="arabic">ونعمراىه</span> +(Not. et Extr. p. 647), or Benú Zammakhrátah <span class= +"arabic">بنو زمخْراتة</span> (MS. B.M. 113 v). It is plain that the +text translated in the Not. et Extr. has been curtailed of the +first two letters of the name, but if these be supplied, together +with the diacritic points, it agrees with the text of the Rec. de +Voy. The name, therefore, will be Benú Nʿamrátah, or Namrát. But +who can be the negroes bearing such a name? Sultan Bello informs +us, (Appendix to Denham and Clapperton’s Travels, vol. <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. p. 454) that the people of Yarba or Yariba +“originated from the remnants of the children of Canaan, who were +of the tribe of Nimrod.” The people of Yariba therefore seem to be +the Benú Nʿamrát. But to this it may be objected that Nʿamrát is +not the correct Arabic mode of writing Nimrod. Truly not; neither +can the blacks of Yariba, we verily believe, prove their descent +from the great hunter. But the name and the historical tradition in +this case are both equally spurious; they were both probably +suggested by a sound—we think indeed, by the same sound, or, in +other words, we believe that the name which was shaped into Benú +Nʿamrát, and afterwards into Benú Nemrúd or descendants of Nimrod, +belonged to the people of Yariba.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71"><span class= +"label">[71]</span></a>Daur <span class="arabic">دور</span> Not. et +Extr. p. 647; Daú <span class="arabic">دوْ</span> MS. B.M. fol. 113 +v.; Dawa <span class="arabic">دَوَ</span> Rec. de Voy. <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. p. 7.—Malelo <span class="arabic">مَللُ</span> MS. +B.M.; Malik <span class="arabic">مَلكْ</span> Rec. de Voy. For the +various readings of the names Ghaïárú (Ganarah of D’Herbelot) and +Ghuntil, see Hartmann’s Edrísí.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72"><span class= +"label">[72]</span></a>In the Kissour language, spoken, according +to Caillié, in Tomboctú, Jenni, and in the intervening country, the +word Ganda (Caillié <span class="sc2">III</span>. p. 313), or Gunda +(Clapperton’s First Journey, p. 182), signifies Land or Country, so +that Samaḳanda or Samaghondi, explained by it, would mean +Samah-land. Nor is this explanation less probable from the +circumstance that the name Sami, and the termination Kanda or +Konda, signifying town, is common among the Mandingoes, who +overwhelmed Ghánah from the south, as shall be shown hereafter, and +who now people the country south of Tomboktú (Caillié, tom. +<span class="sc2">II</span>. 252).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73"><span class= +"label">[73]</span></a>Marmol (vol. <span class="sc2">III</span>. +fol. 17). Yça, that is, Issa, (Hissa in Caillié’s vocabulary) +signifies <em>river</em> in the language of Tomboktú. The +Serakholies inhabit Galam. The Tucorones therefore interposed +between them and the Wolofs, must be the Fúlah or Fellatah, who +occupy both banks of the Senegal, in the neighbourhood of the Isle +de Morfil. We find in a MS. vocabulary of their language, brought +home by Clapperton, the word <em>mio</em> signifying a lake, +probably any large sheet of water. With respect to the name here +applied to them, a respectable authority (Dard, Grammaire Wolofe, +p. 148) informs us, that a division of the Fúlah nation bears the +appellation of Teukirères. The name Tucorones seems related to the +plural Tekayrne, used by Burckhardt (Trav. in Nubia, p. 365); while +Teukirères rather resembles the Tekrírí of Ibn Baṭúṭah. It is +manifest that the route pointed out by this series of names is that +of the slave-dealers between Galam and Tomboktú. They cross the +desert at a distance from the Great River where it is called +Joliba, and first reach the stream where it turns eastward, north +of Lake Debú. There, according to Bowdich’s informant (Mission to +Ashantee, p. 193), Jinbala is on the left bank of the river. It is +placed on the right by all other authorities except Marmol and his +copiers, who give the name to the river.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74"><span class= +"label">[74]</span></a>Caillié’s account of Jimbala, or, as he +writes it, Ginbala, was confirmed by Abú Bekr, the intelligent +native of Tomboktú who accompanied Mr. Davidson in his ill fated +attempt to cross the desert from Wád Nún; and of whom an +interesting account may be read in the Journal of the Royal +Geographical Society, vol. <span class="sc2">VI</span>. p. 100. The +initial sound in Jimbala is one hard to be seized by a foreign ear. +It is the same which Caillié (<span class="sc2">II</span>. pp. 82, +160) sought to express by a triple form in Jaulas, Diaulas, and +Iolas. Park wrote the same name Jules (First Journey), while Mr. +Watt preferred Nyalas (Proc. Afr. Ass. <span class="sc2">I</span>. +436). The natives themselves often express the sound in question by +yʿe <span class="arabic">يع</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75"><span class= +"label">[75]</span></a>Marmol elsewhere (<span class= +"sc2">III</span>. fol. 27 r) distinctly places the <em>Baganos</em> +on the river at the point where the road from Galam to Tomboktú +first reaches its banks. Livio Sanuto also (Geografia, 1588, fol. +83) says, “that Zimbala or <em>Bagano</em> adjoins Tomboktú on the +south, beyond the Sanaga,” that is, the Great River. Mohammed +Maséní (Clapperton, p. 331) mentions a lake Búkma as being in the +same tract as Lake Jeboo, that is, Dhiebú or Debú.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76"><span class= +"label">[76]</span></a>Not. et Extr. p. 617. Másín <span class= +"arabic">ماسين</span> MS. B.M. fol. 103. For Aúghám, see <a href= +"#Page_29">page 29.</a> The Massina of our maps, and Maséna of the +Translations appended to Clapperton’s Second Journey, is generally +written Másín or Máshín by the natives (see the documents appended +to Bowdich’s Mission, and to Dupuis’ Residence in Ashantee).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77"><span class= +"label">[77]</span></a>Anbarah <span class= +"arabic">اَنْبارَة</span> Rec. de Voy. p. 8. The king of this +country was styled Tárim <span class="arabic">تَارِمْ</span>. If +for this we could read Farim <span class="arabic">فارم</span>, we +should have a true Mandingo title. The difference between Anbárah +<span class="arabic">اَنْبارَهْ</span> and Oonbori, probably +<span class="arabic">اُنْبُرِي</span> supposing the vowels not to +have been supplied conjecturally, (for otherwise the latter might +be read Anbara,) is no greater than may be expected where +orthography is unsettled. The title of the king of Oonbori is Farma +(Clapperton’s Second Journey, p. 331), which, as well as Farim, +imports a governor or local chief. That by Kúghah <span class= +"arabic">كُوغَه</span> (Rec. de Voy.) El Bekrí meant the Cochia of +Cadamosto (Ramusio, <span class="sc2">I</span>. fol. 108 v) and +Gago of Leo, can hardly be doubted; but this point shall be +examined hereafter. His statement, that Anbárah, nine days from +Kúghah, west of Ghánah, does not admit of any plausible defence; +but if Sámah <span class="arabic">سامه</span> be read in this place +for Ghánah <span class="arabic">غانه</span> then not only does all +difficulty vanish, but the author’s discourse acquires coherence +and natural order.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78"><span class= +"label">[78]</span></a>Kitábu-l-Jʿaráfíah (Book of Geography), +&c. MS. in the collection of D. Pascual de Gayangos. Ráyawen +<span class="arabic">رايون</span> has a suspicious resemblance to +Arawan. It is quite gratuitous to suppose that the Morabites, who +were all of the Zenágah nation, and who rushed at once, as soon as +they felt their strength, from their own deserts to the conquest of +Barbary and Spain, ever went eastward as far as Houssa, or even to +Kághó.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79"><span class= +"label">[79]</span></a>“No one (in Aïwalátin, that is, Walata) is +named after his father, but after his maternal uncle; and the +sister’s son always succeeds to property in preference to the son: +a custom I witnessed nowhere else except among the infidel Hindoos +of Malabar.” (Lee’s Ibn Baṭúṭah, p. 234.)</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80"><span class= +"label">[80]</span></a>“Of all people the Blacks debase themselves +most in presence of their king.... When the Sultan addresses one of +them, he (who is addressed) will take the garment off his back and +throw dust upon his head” (Lee’s Ibn Baṭúṭah, p. 240). The +ceremonial of Tomboktú (Leo, pt. <span class="sc2">VII</span>. c. +5), and that of Ghánah (Not. et Extr. p. 644), are described in +nearly the same terms.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81"><span class= +"label">[81]</span></a>Proc. of Afr. Assoc. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. p. 149. Though Clapperton says little of the laws +or government of Houssa, yet his narrative discloses the +subdivision of power in that country. The people there have never +been trained up under a paramount tyranny.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82"><span class= +"label">[82]</span></a>Makrízí (Quatremère, Mémoires sur la Nubie, +tom. <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 28; Burckhardt’s Travels in +Nubia, p. 456) relates of the court of Kánem, and Ibn Baṭúṭah of +that of Bornú, the ceremony of audience, as it was witnessed in the +latter place by Denham (<span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 231).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83"><span class= +"label">[83]</span></a>Caillié saw (Voy. <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. p. 253) a line of hills of red sandstone without +any vegetation, on the left bank of the river, about forty miles +south of the lake; and, at an equal distance north of it, sand +hillocks bordered the stream (p. 266). It is explicitly stated by +Marmol (<span class="sc2">III</span>. fol. 15 v), that Jenni had +all the trade of the Zenágah, the Brebísh, the Ludayas, and the +Arabs of Arguin. But he erred in supposing that the conflux of +Arabs and Berbers from the shores of the Ṣaḥrá to that city was +owing to its western position. It was rather due to the character +of the intervening country, which may be called a fine desert.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84"><span class= +"label">[84]</span></a>It is plain, from Scott’s narrative (Edinb. +Phil. Jour. vol. <span class="sc2">IV</span>. p. 45), that the +level desert continues, without any change, save in the frequency +of brackish rills, to the very shore of the lake; southwards from +which the country seemed uninhabited; but a little to the north was +the town of the Orghebets, in which the dwellings were constructed +of canes and bamboos.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85"><span class= +"label">[85]</span></a>“<em>Gualata</em>, que otros llaman +<em>Ganata</em>.” Marmol, <span class="sc2">III</span>. fol. 21 v. +It is hardly necessary to observe, that, in the orthography of +Southern Europe, Gualata represents our Walata: “<em>Gualata</em> o +<em>Ganata</em>,” (<span class="sc2">I</span>. fol. 17.) “Vled +Vodey andan en los desiertos que estan entre Iguaden y +<em>Ganata</em>; son señores de Iguaden, y el Rey Negro de +<em>Ganata</em> les paga cierto tributo,” &c. (<span class= +"sc2">I</span>. fol. 39.) “Alarabes llamados Udaya, y por otro +nombre Vled Vodey, que moran el desierto de Lybia que está entre +esta poblacion (Guaden) y <em>Gualata</em> reyno de negros.” +(<span class="sc2">III</span>. fol. 3.) “En Gelofe, Geneúa, +Tombuto, Meli, Gago y <em>Ganata</em>, hablan una lengua llamada +Zungay.” (<span class="sc2">I</span>. fol. 44.) This last sentence +is taken from Leo (pt. <span class="sc2">I</span>. c. 11), who, +however, writes Gualata. Marmol, in his first volume, seems to +prefer Ganata, but, in the third, he generally follows Leo with +little deviation. When Ali Bey (Badia) speaks of caravans going +“from Sús and Táfílélt to Ghánah and Tomboktú,” (Travels in +Barbary, &c. <span class="sc2">I</span>. 45,) does he +inadvertently mix ancient with modern times—his reading with his +recent intelligence?—or does he mean by Ghánah, Ghanata, that is, +Walata? What was surmised in <a href="#Footnote_6">Note 6</a> +respecting the predominance gained by the analogies of the Berber +language over those of the Arabic, and the change of the contingent +t̤ into the absolute t, seems confirmed by the MS. extract of El +Bekrí published in the Rec. de Voy. <span class="sc2">II</span>. +That MS., however inferior in other respects, is yet good authority +on the subject of the relation subsisting between ancient Arabic +and Moorish orthography; and we find that it writes Ghánat, Sámat, +and Ṭáḳat, for Ghánat̤ or Ghánah, Sámat̤, Ṭákat̤, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86"><span class= +"label">[86]</span></a>“It appears singular that the country +immediately to the eastward of Timbuctoo as far as Kashna should be +more imperfectly known to the Moorish traders than the rest of +central Africa” (Quart. Rev. No. 45, May 1820, p. 234.) The +reviewer, however, errs in ascribing the obscurity which involves +that tract to the wars of the Fellatah. But the fact is, that +between Tomboktú and Houssa passes the line of demarcation +separating what may be called the two commercial provinces of +Negroland, which depend on the two great roads (from Fezzán and +Táfílélt), and have little communication with each other on their +northern frontiers. Besides, the interposed desert supports a +formidable population of Tawárik.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87"><span class= +"label">[87]</span></a>The Arab geographers, unable to form an +exact conception of the country westward of Ghánah, diminished the +distance between that place and the ocean. El Idrísí makes the +distance between Silla and Aúlíl to be sixteen days’ journey (Rec. +de Voy. <span class="sc2">V</span>. p. 11); but Abulfedá sets +Ghánah only four degrees eastward of the ocean (Reiske’s Trans. in +Büsching’s Mag. <span class="sc2">V</span>. p. 354). In like manner +Leo (pt. <span class="sc2">VII</span>. c. 3) says that the kingdom +of Jenni, extending 250 miles along the river, reaches the ocean; +and he supposes Walata to be only a hundred miles from the sea +shore. As he was copied in all his errors, our maps of the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries uniformly placed Tomboktú too +far westward.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2><a id="c2"></a>EL IDRISI <span class="small">COMPARED +WITH</span> EL BEKRI.</h2> + +<p class="sch1">MAGHRAWAH.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">The</span> account of Negroland contained in +the foregoing pages is drawn altogether from El Bekrí. So much does +his description of Ghánah and the adjoining countries excel in +copiousness of detail as well as in clearness, that in all the Arab +writers succeeding him, there is hardly a single new particular +worth adding to it. Some of these writers, nevertheless, are much +better known than El Bekrí; and one of them, El Idrísí, whose work, +entitled ‘The Amusement of one desirous of knowing all the +Countries of the World,’ was composed about the year 1153, has been +long regarded as the first authority on questions relating to the +geography of Central Africa. It will be worth while, therefore, to +set these two authors side by<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_48">[48]</span> side, and to compare them carefully, so that +we may be able to choose between them when they disagree, and to +determine whether the later of the two improved on his +precursor.</p> + +<p>The first peculiarity of El Idrísí that strikes the attentive +reader, is his general reduction of distances in the desert. He +begins to contract even in the vicinity of Atlas, and makes +Sijilmésah to be only thirteen days distant from Wád Nún; whereas +these places must be at least twenty good journeys asunder.<a id= +"FNanchor_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> +But to confine ourselves to the consideration of the principal +dimensions of the Ṣaḥrá, we may recal the statement of El Bekrí +that Aúlíl was a two months’ journey distant from Wád Nún, going +along the shore. Now from Sijilmésah to Aúlíl, which was a greater +distance, is reckoned by El Idrísí to be a journey of only forty +days. This supposes (since Arguín is exactly 900 miles from +Sijilmésah) a rate of 22½ geographical miles a day in a straight +line—a rate far exceeding what is practicable on a journey of such +a nature and extent.<a id="FNanchor_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89" +class="fnanchor">[89]</a> Nor can El Idrísí have here the benefit +of any objection to the hypothesis which places Aúlíl at Arguín, +since he informs us that Aúlíl was one day’s sail from the mouth of +the river called the Nile of the Blacks, by which he must be +understood to mean the Senegal. But the mouth of this river is at +least two days’ sail from Arguín; so that to make that author +consistent with himself, it must be allowed not only that Aúlíl was +in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> the Bay of Arguin, +but also that his numerical expressions of distance are, in this +instance, too low.<a id="FNanchor_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90" +class="fnanchor">[90]</a> In like manner he reduces the distance +between Sijilmésah and Silla to forty days; and that from Wád Nún +to the latter place to thirty-two days,—viz. seven from Nún to +Arkí, and thence twenty-five to Silla; his estimate in each case +being less than two-thirds of the reality.<a id= +"FNanchor_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91" class= +"fnanchor">[91]</a></p> + +<p>But the same author’s reduction of the longitudinal dimensions +of the Great Desert is still more remarkable. Instead of a journey +of two months between Aúlíl and Silla, as may be inferred from El +Bekrí, whose measures of distance accord strictly with the results +of modern inquiry, El Idrísí separates those places by a distance +of only sixteen days. Again, he makes Aúdaghost to be but a month +from Aúlíl, and twenty-five days from Jermah in Fezzán; so that +from the latter place to the shores of the Atlantic, the desert +should be crossed in fifty-five days, or less than half of the time +actually required for that journey.<a id="FNanchor_92"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> Again, he states Kúghah to +be a month from Dongolah, and six weeks from Ghánah (though the +genuineness of the text is here liable to suspicion); and +consequently he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> +reduces the whole distance between Dongolah, or the Nile in the +east, and the Atlantic Ocean in the west, to a journey of three +months and a half, which is not more than a moiety of the true +distance.<a id="FNanchor_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93" class= +"fnanchor">[93]</a></p> + +<p>The incorrectness of El Idrísí exemplified above, cannot be +explained away by supposing that he made use of a large scale of +measures, or a conventional day’s journey of great length. His +contraction of space is not sufficiently uniform to sustain that +plea: it operates chiefly on the uninhabited country. Like modern +geographers, he seems to have had an invincible dislike to large +blanks in a map; and among the expedients to which he had recourse +for the purpose of filling them up, was the common one of dilating +as much as possible the contiguous inhabited countries. A perfect +illustration of this remark is afforded by his description of the +course of the Great River in the vicinity of Ghánah.</p> + +<p>It has been seen that El Bekrí places the capital of Ghánah not +immediately on the Great River, but at a distance of perhaps three +days’ journey from it. But Ṣínghánah, with which place he begins +his description of Negroland, is described by him as standing on +both banks of the river, and having Tekrúr on the south-west. Now +in El Idrísí’s geography there is no mention made of Ṣínghánah, but +its description is transferred<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_51">[51]</span> to Ghánah, which is made to stand on both +banks of the river, and to have Tekrúr on the south-west. The +distance of twenty days, according to El Bekrí, between Silla and +Ghánah, is increased by El Idrísí to twenty-four days. The former +of these writers thus describes the route eastward and along the +river from Ghánah. First, five days to Rás el má, then six days +through the country of the Merásah to Tírḳa, where the river turned +southwards, and three days further along its banks, to the country +of the Seghmárah, which commenced, therefore, at the distance of +fourteen days from Ghánah. The same course is thus described by El +Idrísí:—From Ghánah, six or eight days to Tírḳa; six more to +Merásah; and another six to Seghmárah: so that the fourteen days of +his author are here increased to eighteen.<a id= +"FNanchor_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94" class= +"fnanchor">[94]</a></p> + +<p>In accordance with the construction given above to El Bekrí’s +route from Ghánah to Ghaïárú, El Idrísí makes the portion of the +river therein mentioned to form a part of its course below +Seghmárah. But the manner in which the latter writer puts together +his materials in this place demands attentive consideration. The +following are his details of distance and bearing:—</p> + +<table id="t051"> +<tr> +<td>From Samghadah (Sámaḳanda)</td> +<td>to Seghmárah,</td> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdr">8</td> +<td>days.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>From ditto</td> +<td>to Kúghah,</td> +<td><em>eastwards</em>,</td> +<td class="tdr">10</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>From ditto</td> +<td>to Gharbíl (Ghúntil),</td> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdr">9</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>From Seghmárah</td> +<td>to Gharbíl,</td> +<td><em>southwards</em>,</td> +<td class="tdr">6</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>From Gharbíl (Ghúntil)</td> +<td>to Ghanárah (Ghaïárú),</td> +<td><em>westwards</em>,</td> +<td class="tdr">11</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>From Ghánah</td> +<td>to Ghanárah,</td> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdr">11</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>Thus it appears that El Idrísí makes the river flow first +north-eastward from Silla to Ghánah; then eastwards to Seghmárah; +then southwards to Ghúntil, and finally westwards again to +Ghaïárú.</p> + +<p>The Sámaḳanda of El Bekrí, which was four days from<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> Ghánah, and his Kúghah, fifteen +days from the same capital, and nine from Anbárah, (which appears +to have been near Sámaḳanda,) are evidently the Samghadah and +Kúghah of El Idrísí. This writer agrees with his predecessor in +making the river flow, first north-eastwards from Silla to Ghánah, +then eastwards, and then southwards. So far he seized with some +felicity the idea of the general winding of the river. But his +turning it westward from Ghúntil can be explained only by supposing +that he misunderstood his authority. El Bekrí says, that opposite +to the Seghmárah, whose territory extended from the Great River to +Tádmekkah, was Kaúkaú. And again, he remarks, that the road to the +country of the Remrem went westwards along the river from Kaúkaú. +Now this last passage furnishes the explanation of the westward +course which El Idrísí has given to the river, if we suppose that +he confounded for a moment Kúghah with Kaúkaú.</p> + +<div class="figcenter iw1"> +<figure id="i1"> +<p class="cp1"><em>The River according to El Bekrí.</em> +</p> +<a href="images/i1.jpg"><img src='images/i1.jpg' alt=''></a> +</figure> +</div> + +<p>El Bekrí mentions Bersana after Ghaïárú; and accordingly El +Idrísí sets this place, under the altered name of Berísa, due west +of Ghaïárú, and on the Great River, half way between Silla and +Ghánah. The series of names which the latter found in his author he +thus arranged in a circle, under the influence of misconception, so +as to make it terminate in itself. But the artificial division of +climates, by severing Berísa from the group of names to which it +originally belonged, fortunately obviated the ready exposure of so +absurd a concatenation.<a id="FNanchor_95"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> The<span class="pagenum" +id="Page_53">[53]</span> Malilo and Daúr or Daú of El Bekrí are +evidently the Malel and Daú of El Idrísí; and in consequence of the +same mistake which placed Berísa on the river between Ghánah and +Silla, they are brought into the neighbourhood of the latter place. +Their character, too, is as much misrepresented as their position. +Instead of being countries of some extent and importance, they +become, in the pages of El Idrísí, only towns of Lemlem, the +wretched inhabitants of which, possessing but few camels, wander +over deserts destitute of water;—a picture of Negro poverty, more +likely it must be confessed, to originate in the imagination of an +Arab, than in the physical character of the country south of the +Great River.</p> + +<div class="figcenter iw1"> +<figure id="i2"> +<p class="cp1"><em>The River according to El Idrísí.</em> +</p> +<a href="images/i2.jpg"><img src='images/i2.jpg' alt=''></a> +</figure> +</div> + +<p>From El Idrísí’s delineation of the Great River we may return +with advantage to consider the position assigned by him to +Aúdaghost. That town was, according to him, thirty days from Aúlíl, +thirty-one from Wergelán, and twenty-five from Jermah. The short +distance of fifty-five days herein allowed between Aúlíl and +Jermah, will not admit of being applied to a circuitous route. The +distance from Wergelán, therefore, which is relatively long, and by +reaching far southwards has the effect of elongating the preceding +line, must<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> be +supposed to be circuitous. And this is a well-founded supposition, +inasmuch as the road from Wergelán to Aúdaghost must have passed +through Twát, and probably also by Wanzamín. Now the point which +satisfies the conditions of distance specified above, and at the +same time best eludes surrounding difficulties, will be found to be +not far from the 20th parallel of north latitude, and the 1st +meridian of east longitude, or about 120 miles east of the position +assigned to Aúdaghost in our map. Thus it appears that El Idrísí’s +statements respecting the position of Aúdaghost, do not, when taken +together, lend the slightest countenance to the hypothesis which +makes that place identical with Aghades. For that position, deduced +in the strictest possible manner from the assigned conditions, +still leads to the conclusion that Ghánah was situate on the +northern bend of the river of Tomboktú. But since we likewise learn +from the same writer, that it was situate on the western, and not +the eastern portion of that northern bend, we have no alternative +but to correct his distances with respect to the angle of the +river, and to remove Aúdaghost further west, so as to place it +exactly half way between Aúlíl and Jermah; the correction, in this +case, amounting to only a twenty-second part of the whole distance +between those places.</p> + +<p>It would be running into needless digression to point out all +the contradictions in which El Idrísí involves himself by reducing +distances so as to fit them to the frame in which he combines his +information, or by expanding details so as to distribute them more +equally. It will be here sufficient to have shown that he learned +the course of the Great River from El Bekrí, yet that he did not +copy his author faithfully, but took liberties with him, which are +rendered more conspicuous by the incongruities into which they lead +him. He contracts the Desert, spreads out the River; makes Silla on +one side only sixteen days distant from the Ocean, and Kúghah, near +Seghmárah, on the other, only a month from Dongolah. He wholly +misunderstands the account of the lower portion of the river, and +by turning the stream westward, he falls into glaring +inconsistencies. In conclusion, whatever is reasonable in El +Idrísí’s account of Ghánah and its vicinity,<span class="pagenum" +id="Page_55">[55]</span> is taken from El Bekrí, and nearly all of +it which is not taken from El Bekrí is absurd. Nevertheless, his +statements, when carefully analysed and freed from misconceptions, +plainly indicate that Ghánah was situate near that part of the +Great River where Tomboktú now stands.<a id= +"FNanchor_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96" class= +"fnanchor">[96]</a></p> + +<p>The only novelty worth notice in El Idrísí’s account of Western +Negroland, is his statement respecting the river of Ghánah, which +he informs us was navigable in large boats, and flowed into the +ocean. Its mouth was one day’s sail from Aúlíl. The river flowing +into the ocean near the Bay of Arguin, where it has been shown that +the isle and salt mine of Aúlíl were situate, is obviously the +Senegal. The short distance of one day’s sail, allowed by the Arab +geographer in this case, is in just proportion with all his other +measures affecting the area of his map.<a id= +"FNanchor_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> +He supposed the Nile of Ghánah, or Great River of the Interior, to +unite with the Senegal, and to run westwards into the ocean. Nor is +there any rashness in ascribing to him so great a misconception. +Leo Africanus makes a precisely similar statement respecting the +river of Tomboktú. Having navigated that river from Tomboktú to +Jenni, the latter author affirms most positively that it flows +westward to the ocean. The only excuse that can be offered for +Leo’s mistake is, that the part of the river<span class="pagenum" +id="Page_56">[56]</span> with which he was practically acquainted, +has little current, and shows no diminution of magnitude as it is +ascended; to a careless observer, therefore, it presents nothing +capable of controlling speculation, or guiding to a correct +inference respecting the course of the stream. Higher up, the +hypothesis was less tenable, and so Melli was placed on a branch of +the river. Being biassed by the early Arab writers, particularly El +Idrísí, Leo zealously adopted their erroneous opinion, which being +repeated by De Barros and other writers on African geography, +continued in vogue till the middle of the last century, or nearly +six centuries after it was first promulgated.<a id= +"FNanchor_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> +El Idrísí states that salt was carried from Aúlíl to the mouth of +the Nile, one day distant, and then up that stream to Silla, Ghánah +and Kúghah. Modern authorities, on the other hand, have reported +the Senegal to be navigable up to Jenni (two days from Silla), +Tomboktú and Gago, at which point their information always +terminated. And herein is another point of resemblance between +Ghánah and Tomboktú; inasmuch as they hold similar positions in the +hypothetical system, connecting the Senegal with the Great River of +the Interior.<a id="FNanchor_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99" class= +"fnanchor">[99]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>The Western Desert +is represented by El Idrísí with the changed aspect consequent on +the movement of the Morabites. The Lumtúnah had gone northwards to +Morocco, and the Benú Goddálah, to whatever quarter they had +migrated, were no longer predominant in the south-western portion +of the Ṣaḥrá. The inhospitable tract extending between the desert +of Tíser and the Ocean, is named by El Idrísí Kamnúdíyah, the chief +town of which was half way between Silla and Arkí. South of +Kamnúdíyah, he places a country, the name of which, vitiated by +copyists, occurs under a great variety of forms, as, for example, +Maghráwah, Meghrárah, Meghzárah, &c. Of these readings, the +first alone admits of a satisfactory explanation, and shall +therefore be here adopted.<a id="FNanchor_100"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> Maghráwah lay to the +west of Ghánah, and as it extended from Aúlíl, on the sea shore, to +Silla and Tekrúr inclusively, it also embraced a territory lying to +the south of that State.<a id="FNanchor_101"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> The country named by El +Idrísí Maghráwah is therefore obviously the same which a century +earlier had been occupied by the Benú Goddálah, and the change of +its name may be naturally ascribed to the revolution which carried +away the latter people with the hordes of the Morabites. The Arab +historians are silent with respect to those who took the place of +the Benú Goddálah; but the want of information may be in this +instance supplied by a very probable conjecture.</p> + +<p>When the Morabites, having subjugated Sús, Darʿah, Sijilmésah, +and the province wherein they afterwards founded<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> Morocco, still continued to +press northwards, they met with a vigorous resistance from the +Maghráwah, who had long ruled over Fez and its dependencies, and +who now united with the Miknésah and other Zenátah tribes to oppose +the invaders.<a id="FNanchor_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102" +class="fnanchor">[102]</a> The victory fell to the Morabites, who +entered Fez in triumph in <span class="sc2">A.D.</span> 1067. But, +grown negligent through continual success, they were soon after +taken by surprise, overpowered, and expelled. Their enthusiasm, +however, was not to be subdued by slight reverses; they returned to +the struggle, and again entered Fez in 1069, slaughtering, it is +said, 20,000 of the Maghráwah, whose sway in the west thus +terminated, after a continuance of just a century.<a id= +"FNanchor_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103" class= +"fnanchor">[103]</a></p> + +<p>Of the fortunes of the defeated tribes, there is nothing +recorded; but the general tenor of the history of Barbary justifies +the supposition that they betook themselves to the desert.<a id= +"FNanchor_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104" class= +"fnanchor">[104]</a> In 1084, Yúsef ben Táshifín, the Amír or chief +of the Morabites, sent messengers into the Ṣaḥrá, to the Lumtúnah, +Goddálah, and Masúfah, announcing to them that he possessed +extensive territories, well watered, which he was<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> ready to bestow on the first +comers; “and in a few days,” says the historian, “the whole land of +Maghreb [Western Barbary and Morocco] was filled with colonists +from the Lumtúnah and the other tribes of the desert.”<a id= +"FNanchor_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105" class= +"fnanchor">[105]</a> It is manifest that the Maghráwah, and their +adherents, must have deserted the fine country around Fez, before +the half-wild tribes of the Ṣaḥrá were called in to occupy it; and +it is probable that, in the course of revolution, they stepped into +the place of the Benú Goddálah soon after the latter had accepted +the invitation sent to them to fill the vacancy left by the +expelled tribes. Thus we are led to conclude, that the territory of +the Benú Goddálah passed into the possession of the Maghráwah at a +period subsequent to, and probably not far removed from, the year +1084.</p> + +<p>The natural and probable supposition, that the tribes expelled +from Mauritania by the Morabites changed places with the latter, +and fixed themselves in the desert at the same time that their +conquerors rushed into the occupation of the cultivated country, +explains at once the great difference between the accounts given of +the Western Desert by two authors, one of whom wrote seventeen +years before the migration referred to, and the other sixty-nine +years after that event. Nevertheless, the desire inherent in the +human mind to give importance to whatever is obscure, favoured by +the corruption of the name Maghráwah, and the garbled accounts of +the country so designated, may revolt against a conjecture which +confines that name to the Desert, instead of extending it over a +large tract of Negroland. Yet El Idrísí plainly states that +Maghráwah was a desert; that it was bounded on the north by the +middle tract of the Ṣaḥrá, named Kamnúdíyah; and that it extended +from Aúlíl, which was its capital, to Silla and Tekrúr; so that it +must have been on the northern side of the Great River, of which +the Senegal, according to his system, was a part.<a id= +"FNanchor_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106" class= +"fnanchor">[106]</a> The same writer indeed includes Silla +and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> Tekrúr in +Maghráwah, whence it may be inferred that the exiles from Fez soon +obtained the ascendancy due to superior civilization, and became +the rulers of their black neighbours. But since the Arabs nowhere +mention the Mandingoes, Serakholies, Fúlahs, Wolofs, or other black +nations between Silla and the ocean, it must be presumed that they +had no direct intercourse with that part of Negroland, and knew +nothing of it; and, besides, it is unreasonable to suppose that +they described the country south of the Senegal under the general +name of Maghráwah, of which general name, in any shape, not the +least trace now remains in the region to which it is supposed to +have been applied. North of the river, on the other hand, the +disappearance of a particular tribe, or of its name; or a loss on +the part of any tribe of that predominance which determines the +name of a territory, is much more explicable. And if it be admitted +that the name Aúlíl or Aúlílí was derived from that of Walílí, the +chief place of the Maghráwah and the capital of Western Barbary +under their dominion, then the presumption will arise, that some of +that nation were always mingled with the Goddálah, and carried the +local name to which they were attached, from the shores of the +Mediterranean to those of the Ṣaḥrá.<a id= +"FNanchor_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107" class= +"fnanchor">[107]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes" id="ftc2"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88"><span class= +"label">[88]</span></a>El Idrísí places Nún, or as he writes it, +Núl, at a distance of three days from the sea, and thirteen +(erroneously reduced to three by Hartmann) from Sijilmésah (Rec. de +Voy. <span class="sc2">V</span>. p. 205). But the town of Wád Nún +is one or two days (22 miles) from the sea (Davidson’s Notes), +twelve from Tatta, and sixteen from the chief town of Darʿah (Proc. +of Afr. Assoc. <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 224), which is six +days from Sijilmésah (Jackson’s Shabeeny, p. 3). The last-named +place must, therefore, be twenty-two days from Wád Nún, and +twenty-three, at least, from the sea. In like manner El Idrísí +reduces to three and eight days respectively the distances of +Sijilmésah from Darʿah and Aghmát, which El Bekri, confirmed by +modern itineraries, estimates at six and fourteen days.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89"><span class= +"label">[89]</span></a>Major Rennell, in his ‘Memoir on the rate of +Travelling as performed by Caravans’ (Phil. Trans. Vol. +<span class="sc2">LXXXI</span>. p. 144), concludes that in Africa +fourteen geographical miles and five-sixths of horizontal distance, +is the mean daily rate of loaded caravans. M. Walckenaer +(Recherches, &c. p. 266,) adopts fifteen geographical miles as +the ordinary rate.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90"><span class= +"label">[90]</span></a>From Cape St. Anne in the Bay of Arguin, to +the mouth of the Senegal, is a distance of 260 nautical miles, or +about forty hours of moderate sailing.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91"><span class= +"label">[91]</span></a>Rec. de Voy. pp. 12, 206. Arkí (see <a href= +"#Footnote_38">Note 38</a>) appears under various forms in the +copies of El Idrísí; as Arḳi <span class="arabic">ارقى</span> Rec. +de Voy. pp. 12, 107; Azḳi <span class="arabic">ازقى</span>; Azki +<span class="arabic">ازكى</span> Ibid. p. 206, and in the +Abridgment. Ibn el Wardi also writes Azki, which, he says, is the +place where travellers (ascending the Desert from Wád Nún) begin to +climb the rocks (Not. et Extr. <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 23). +Ibn Baṭúṭah travelled forty-five days from Sijilmésah to Aïwalátin, +or Walata, whence Silla cannot be less than twenty days’ distant. +From the latter place to Wád Nún is now reckoned a journey of +fifty-five days (Davidson’s Notes, &c.).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92"><span class= +"label">[92]</span></a>From the capital of Fezzán to Tomboktú is +reckoned a journey of three months (Lyon, Travels in N. Afr. p. +144); or to calculate more accurately, from Morzúk to Twát is a +distance of thirty-nine or forty days, and thence to Tomboktú, is a +journey of forty-five or forty-seven days (Walckenaer, Rech. p. +423; Quart. Rev. No. 45, p. 230). If to the sum of eighty-four days +thus found, be added the journey of two months, or rather two +months and a half, between Tomboktú and the sea (see <a href= +"#Footnote_41">Note 41</a>), we shall have for the distance between +Fezzán and the ocean nearly three times the space assigned by El +Idrísí; and, reducing the route to a straight line, with all +possible allowance, more than double.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93"><span class= +"label">[93]</span></a>The text stating the distance of Kúghah from +Ghánah to be a month and a half, occurs in the Abridgment of El +Idrísí (Hartmann’s Idrísí, p. 42), but is wanting in the larger +work. There is good reason for believing it to be an interpolation. +From Ghánah to Seghmárah, according to El Idrísí, was eighteen +days; thence to Sámaḳanda eight days; and thence to Kúghah ten +days. So that if these places be all arranged in a straight line +from west to east, Kúghah will be still only thirty-six days from +Ghánah, instead of forty-five. But while El Idrísí expressly traces +eastwards the route from Ghánah to Seghmárah, and sets Kúghah +eastward of Sámaḳanda, he says nothing of the bearing of Sámaḳanda +from Seghmárah; so that we are at liberty to set the former place +west by south from the latter, under the guidance of El Bekrí, +whose Sámaḳanda was only four days from Ghánah. The two authors +will then be found to coincide in general design, and El Idrísí’s +Kúghah will be not above twenty days from Ghánah. It would be easy, +were it worth while, to explain why the epitomator, trying to +supply an apparent deficiency in his author’s ill-connected +details, should have separated Kúghah from Ghánah by a month and a +half’s journey.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94"><span class= +"label">[94]</span></a>From Silla to Berísa, according to El +Idrísí, was twelve days; thence to Ghánah twelve days; or to +Aúdaghost twelve days; and between the two last-named places twelve +days. This is a handsome arrangement. Again, from Ghánah to Tírḳa +six days; thence to Merásah six days; thence to Seghmárah six days; +thence to Ghúntil six days. Then come distances of eight, nine, +ten, and eleven days. These numbers alone are enough to excite +suspicion.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95"><span class= +"label">[95]</span></a>The Berísa of El Idrísí is the same place of +which the name is written in the copies of El Bekrí, Bersa +<span class="arabic">برسى</span> Not. et Extr. p. 647; Yerma +<span class="arabic">يرمى</span> (rather Yersa <span class= +"arabic">يرسى</span>), Rec. de Voy. <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. +6; and Yersana <span class="arabic">يرسنى</span> MS. B.M. El Bekrí +represents Ghúntil as a great country; he does not state the +distance of Ghaïárú from it, but places the latter twelve miles +from the river, and Bersana, or Yersana, west of it on the river. +But, in El Idrísí, the corresponding names all designate towns +which stand eleven or twelve days’ journey asunder.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96"><span class= +"label">[96]</span></a>The map of El Idrísí does not represent the +conceptions explained above. It makes the Great River divide at +Tírḳa into two branches, so as to form a great island, which he +names Wangárah. On the southern branch he places Ghúntil and +Ghaïárú, the latter place being 75 days, or 2½ months from Aúlíl, +measuring along the river, while only 3½ months at the utmost are +allowed for the whole breadth of the continent. El Idrísí writes +sometimes in conformity with one of these systems, sometimes with +the other. He appears, on examination, to be an unsound author, +who, with good materials before him, often wrote without +understanding them.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97"><span class= +"label">[97]</span></a>The distance of Aúlíl (in the Bay of Arguin) +from Sijilmésah, as stated by El Idrísí, supposes, as we have seen, +a mean daily journey of 22½ geographical miles, instead of 15, +which is the ordinary rate. Now, if the forty hours’ sail from +Arguin to the mouth of the Senegal, be reduced in the ratio of 22½ +to 15, or 3 to 2, we shall have 26⅔ for the number of hours, +according to El Idrísí’s scale. But there is no need of such +exactness. It is highly improbable that the navigation spoken of by +the Arab author, and which formed an ornament of his theory, had +any existence even so far as it was within the limits of +possibility.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98"><span class= +"label">[98]</span></a>Labat (Ethiop. Occid. 1728, tom. +<span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 125) describes the course of the +Niger or Senegal from the lake of Bornú to the sea. Moore (Travels +in the Inland Parts of Africa, 1738) also maintained that the +Senegal (of which the Gambia was supposed to be a branch) is the +Niger, although he at the same time published the Journal of Capt. +Stibbs, who was adverse to that opinion. An earlier writer tells us +that “the English were frustrated in their attempts to ascend the +Niger to the gold countries of Gago, by the osiers among other +things.” (Charant, Réponses à diverses questions, &c. appended +to Frejus, Voyage dans la Mauritanie, 1666.)</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99"><span class= +"label">[99]</span></a>El Idrísí says (Rec. de Voy. p. 11) that the +salt of Aúlíl was carried up the river to Silla, Tekrúr, Berísa, +Ghánah, Kúghah, and the other countries of the blacks. Let it be +observed, that while propounding the hypothesis of a navigable +river extending across Africa from the Western Ocean to Bornú, the +Arab author knew nothing of its navigated course except between +Silla and Kúghah or Kághó; that is to say, the generally navigated +part of the river of Ghánah, which was evidently identical with +that of the river of Tomboktú. The information of our early +travellers respecting the Great River of the interior always +terminated at Gago. This form of the name was taken from Leo; but +Cadamosto had written Cochia (Kúghah), which was probably borrowed +from the Mandingoes.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100"><span class= +"label">[100]</span></a>To the usual various readings, Meghzárah, +Meghrárah, Meghwárah, Meḳzárah, &c., M. De Humboldt (Histoire +de Géographie, <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 291) has added +Mufráda. D’Herbelot (under the title Maczarat) seems to consider +this to be the name of a fortress, and not of an extensive region. +In the Rec. de Voy. <span class="sc2">V</span>. this name, where it +first occurs (p. 10), is written Maghráwah <span class= +"arabic">مغراوة</span> (afterwards changed into Maghzárah +<span class="arabic">مغزارة</span>); and the copy of Ibn el Wardi, +in the possession of D. P. de Gayangos, has Maghráwah +throughout.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101"><span class= +"label">[101]</span></a>Rec. de Voy. <span class="sc2">V</span>. +pp. 10, 13, 18. In the first of the passages here cited, Maghráwah +is represented as extending from Aúlíl to the Great River, and +including also those countries which the author, by misconstruction +of El Bekrí’s statements, brought into the vicinity of that part of +the river. It is to be lamented that the Translation of El Idrísí’s +Geography, published in the Rec. de Voy. swarms with false +readings, against which little care has been taken to guard the +reader.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102"><span class= +"label">[102]</span></a>The Maghráwah <span class= +"arabic">مغراوة</span> rose into importance about <span class= +"sc2">A.D.</span> 945 (Marmol, <span class="sc2">I</span>. fol. +127). Their name is written, by Leo Africanus, Magraoa; by Marmol, +Magaraoa, or Magaraúa; by Moura (Historia dos Soberanos +Mohametanos, &c. Lisbon, 1828) Magraua; and by Conde (Historia +de la Dominacion de los Arabes, &c. Madrid, 1820) Magaraba and +Magarava. Their original seat, according to Ibn Khaldún, was on the +western side of the province of Afrikíah. They are evidently the +Machurebii (Μαχυρήβιοι) of Ptolemy, who places them on the right +bank of the Chinalaph or Shelíf, near Julia Cæsarea or Shershel, +where Dr. Shaw (Travels, <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 56) still +found an encampment of them; and also on the northern side of the +Daradus, the modern Wádi Darʿah. El Idrísí, in giving their name to +a country, only took the same liberty with it as with those of the +Merásah, Seghmárah, &c. which he has converted into the names +of towns. The appellation Maghráwat̤ es-Súdán, or of the Blacks, +clearly intimates that there was another Maghráwah not on the +borders of Negroland. To the scanty account of Maghráwat̤ es-Súdán +given by El Idrísí, nothing has been added by later Arab writers +save their mistakes.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103"><span class= +"label">[103]</span></a>Moura, Hist. dos Soberanos Moham. p. +121.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104"><span class= +"label">[104]</span></a>The Miknésah, with whom the Maghráwah were +associated in their misfortunes, had formerly inhabited the Ṣaḥrá, +whither they returned in their adversity (Marmol, <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. 95; Conde, Dom. de los Arab. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. 411).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105"><span class= +"label">[105]</span></a>Conde, <span class="sc2">II</span>. pp. 99, +100.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106"><span class= +"label">[106]</span></a>After naming the towns of Maghráwah, he +adds (Rec. de Voy. p. 11) that the rest of the country bordering on +the river is a sandy desert; and again, he says (p. 107) that the +country between Kamnúdíyah and the river, that is, Maghráwah, is +all desert. Hence Ibn el Wardi (Not. et Extr. <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. 35) describes Maghráwah as an unfrequented and +uninhabitable region. The same writer also observes, in a passage +not translated by M. De Guisnes, that Maghráwah is the same country +as Maghrebu-l-aḳṣa, or the Extreme West, a name certainly not +applied to Negroland.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107"><span class= +"label">[107]</span></a>Tanjah or Tangiers was anciently called +Walílí. Another place of the same name, and of much celebrity, was +situate near Fez. Let it be observed, that the name read in the +text Aúlílí, may be also read Awalílí; and that there is some +reason to suspect that nouns of race or nation are formed by +prefixing aleph.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span><a id= +"c3"></a>MALI.—The Extinction of Ghánah.</h2> + +<p class="space-above15"><span class="sc">The</span> catastrophe +which caused the disappearance of Ghánah from the political horizon +of Negroland, is not distinctly described by any of the Arab +historians. Nevertheless, so much light is thrown on the +circumstances attending the extinction of that kingdom, in Ibn +Khaldún’s sketch of the history of Málí, as may enable us to trace +the course of those early events with tolerable precision. The +statements of that valuable author shall be here given in his own +words<a id="FNanchor_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108" class= +"fnanchor">[108]</a>:—</p> + +<p>“When the conquest of the West (by the Arabs) was completed, and +merchants began to penetrate into the interior, they saw no nation +of the Blacks so mighty as Ghánah, the dominions of which extended +westward as far as the Ocean. The King’s court was kept in the city +of Ghánah, which, according to the author of the Book of Roger (El +Idrísí), and the author of the Book of Roads and Realms (El Bekrí), +is divided into two parts, standing on both banks of the Nile, and +ranks among the largest and most populous cities of the +world.<a id="FNanchor_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109" class= +"fnanchor">[109]</a></p> + +<p>“The people of Ghánah had for neighbours, on the east, a nation, +which, according to historians, was called Ṣúṣú; after which came +another named Málí; and after that another known by the name of +Kaúkaú; although some people prefer a different orthography, and +write this name Kághó. The last-named nation was followed by a +people called Tekrúr.<a id="FNanchor_110"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a><span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_62">[62]</span> The people of Ghánah declined in course of +time, being overwhelmed or absorbed by the Molaththemún (or muffled +people—that is, the Morabites), who, adjoining them on the north +towards the Berber country, attacked them, and, taking possession +of their territory, compelled them to embrace the Mohammedan +religion.<a id="FNanchor_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111" class= +"fnanchor">[111]</a> The people of Ghánah, being invaded at a later +period by the Ṣúṣú, a nation of Blacks in their neighbourhood, were +exterminated, or mixed with other Black nations.</p> + +<p>“As to the people of Málí, they surpassed the other Blacks in +those countries in wealth and numbers. They extended their +dominions, and conquered the Ṣúṣú, as well as the kingdom of Ghánah +in the vicinity of the Ocean towards the west. The Mohammedans say, +that the first King of Málí was Baramindánah. He performed the +pilgrimage to Mekkah, and enjoined his successors to do the +same.<a id="FNanchor_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112" class= +"fnanchor">[112]</a></p> + +<p>“But the great King of Málí who conquered the Ṣúṣú, and took +their country, was named Mári Jáṭah, which means, in the language +of that country, Amír Lion, for <em>Mári</em> signifies an Amír, or +prince of the blood royal, and <em>jáṭah</em> means a lion. These +people also style the relatives and connexions of the royal family +<em>Tikin</em>.<a id="FNanchor_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113" +class="fnanchor">[113]</a> We were not able to learn +anything<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span> further +respecting this king, and cannot therefore give his genealogy. +Nevertheless I was informed that he reigned five and twenty +years.</p> + +<p>“He was succeeded by his son Mansá Walí—that is, Sultan ʿAlí—who +was one of the greatest kings that ever reigned over the people of +Málí. He performed the pilgrimage to Mekkah in the reign of the +Sultan Ez̤-Z̤áhir Bíbárs.<a id="FNanchor_114"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> To him succeeded his +brother Walí; after whom came another brother, named Khalífah, who +was insane, and amused himself with shooting arrows at his +subjects. They rushed on him one day and killed him.</p> + +<p>“After him came Abú Bekr, who was descended from Mári Jáṭah in +the female line. The people of Málí, following in this respect the +custom of the ʿAjem (strangers), among whom the sisters and +sisters’ sons succeed to the inheritance, chose him for their king. +We have not been able to learn his lineage, nor the origin of his +father.</p> + +<p>“Abú Bekr was followed by a freedman named Sákúrah, who usurped +the throne.<a id="FNanchor_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115" class= +"fnanchor">[115]</a> This king made the pilgrimage to Mekkah, +during the reign of Almalik Annáṣir; but on his return was killed +at Tájúrá. The empire was increased, under him, by the subjugation +of other Black nations. It was in his time that the people of Málí +made the conquest of Kaúkaú, and added it to their dominions, which +already extended from the Ocean and Ghánah in the west, to the +country of Tekrúr in the east. Some, however, maintain that the +conquest of Kaúkaú was made later. Hájí Túnis, interpreter of +Tekrúr, says that the conquest of Kaúkaú was achieved by a general +of Mansá Músa, whose name was Saghminḥuh.</p> + +<p>“After Sákúrah the kingdom reverted to the posterity of Mári +Jáṭah, and Mansá Músa, son of Abú Bekr, ascended the throne. He was +an excellent prince, and performed the pilgrimage<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span> in 724. The number of people +employed to carry his baggage and provisions amounted to 12,000, +all dressed in tunics of figured cotton, or the silk called +El-Yemení. The Hájí Túnis, interpreter of this nation in Káhirah +(Cairo), said that Mansá Músa brought with him to Egypt no less +than 80 loads of Tibar (gold dust), each weighing 300 pounds. He +brought the whole on camels, though in his own kingdom camels are +not used, baggage being there carried on the backs of slaves.<a id= +"FNanchor_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116" class= +"fnanchor">[116]</a> Mansá Músa, on his return, conceived the idea +of building himself a fine palace. Abú Iṣḥaḳ showed him a model, +and erected the edifice, with plaster and all kinds of ornaments, +for which he received 12,000 mithḳáls of gold. Mansá Músa +maintained an intimate and friendly correspondence with Sultan +Abú-l-Ḥasan, of Al-Maghreb, and reigned twenty-five years.</p> + +<p>“On his death the empire devolved on Mansá Maghá—that is, Sultan +Mohammed, for in their language Maghá signifies Mohammed. He died +after a reign of four years, and was succeeded by Mansá Suleïmán, +son of Abú Bekr, and brother of Musá, who reigned twenty-four +years. After him came his son, Mansá Ibn Suleïmán, who died nine +months after ascending the throne. Then followed Mári Jáṭah, and +Mansá Maghá, son of Mansá Músa, and reigned fourteen years. He +(Mári Jáṭah) was a wicked and dissolute prince. He sent an embassy +to Abú Selím, son of Abú-l-Ḥasan, Sultan of Al-Maghreb (the West), +which embassy arrived in Fez in the year 762; and among other +presents which came with it, were some very tall animals called +Zeráfah (camelopards), as high as obelisks, and strange in the land +of Al-Maghreb.</p> + +<p>“Abú Abdullah Mohammed Ibn Wásúl, a native of Sijilmésah, and +who inhabited for a long time the city of Kaúkaú, in their country +(<em>i.e.</em> in the empire of Málí), where he performed the +duties of Cadhi, told me, when I met him in 776, much more +respecting the kings of that country than I can<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> relate. He said that this Sultan +Jáṭah was the worst king that ever existed; that he wasted the +treasures, was on the point of destroying the palace erected by his +ancestors; and that he even sold to certain Egyptian merchants, for +a trifling sum of money, a huge mass of native gold, weighing 20 +cwt., and preserved among other curiosities in the royal treasure. +Providence, however, punished him; for he was afflicted with a +disease very common in those countries, and the ravages of which +are particularly frequent among the higher classes. It begins with +a kind of lethargy or stupor, which renders the sufferer insensible +during the greater part of the day. After lingering two years under +this incurable malady, Jáṭah died in 775.<a id= +"FNanchor_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117" class= +"fnanchor">[117]</a></p> + +<p>“The people of Málí chose his son Músa to succeed him. He was a +just prince, but was overpowered by his wazír Mári Jáṭah, who threw +him into confinement, and usurped all the powers of sovereignty. +This Wazír has made some conquests towards the east. Passing the +limits of Kaúkaú, he arrived at the stations or fixed habitations +in the land of Tekaddá, which is behind the country of the +Morabites; but he has since restored that territory to its own +Sultan. Tekaddá is seventy days from Wergelán towards the +south-west; the road of the pilgrims (from Kaúkaú to Egypt) passes +through it. Sultan Músa is on friendly terms with the rulers of Záb +and Wergelán.”<a id="FNanchor_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118" +class="fnanchor">[118]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span>Ibn Khaldún +further relates, that, after having written the preceding +historical sketch, he learned that Mansá Músa died in 789, and was +succeeded by his brother Mansá Maghá. He being killed a year after, +the vacant throne was seized by Ṣanadaki, who had married Músa’s +mother, and whose name means Wazír.<a id= +"FNanchor_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119" class= +"fnanchor">[119]</a> But this usurper was deposed in a few months +by a descendant of Mári Jáṭah. A prince named Maḥmúd, who came from +the country of the Infidels in the interior, and who was descended +from Mansá Kú, son of Mansá Walí, son of Mári Jáṭah the First, was +king of Málí in <span class="sc2">A.H.</span> 792.</p> + +<p>It is stated in the foregoing extract that Ghánah merged in the +empire of the Morabites, an event which may be assigned, with much +probability, to the year of the Hijra 469, when the Mohammedan +faith was forcibly imposed on the pagan nations of Negroland +contiguous to the Western Desert.<a id="FNanchor_120"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> But the Morabites, bred +up in a wild life, and under a loose patriarchal authority, cannot +be supposed to have thought much of social or political +organization. It is likely that they extended their dominions +without propagating a form of government, and that the kingdom of +Ghánah remained little changed by the loss of its independence. In +the time of El Idrísí, or a little before the year of the Hijra +548, it was ruled by a descendant of Abú Táleb—that is, by a +Zenágah—and this state of things continued probably half a century +longer.<a id="FNanchor_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121" class= +"fnanchor">[121]</a></p> + +<p>But towards the interior, or south from Ghánah, were the +following nations, viz.:—the Ṣúṣú, Málí, Kaúkaú or Kághó, and +Tekrúr. In arranging these nations all eastward from<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> Ghánah, Ibn Khaldún showed a +very imperfect conception of the geography of Negroland, and +particularly of its comparative geography. Though the name Tekrúr +may have belonged in his time to a country beyond Kághó, or +south-eastwards from Ghánah, yet it certainly designated a kingdom +south-westwards from that capital in the period anterior to the +rise of Málí. The Ṣúṣú at present occupy a maritime district +comprising the basin of the river Scarcies, wherein they have been +established at least three centuries. Their language would favour +the supposition that they are remotely connected with the +Mandingoes. The people of Málí were certainly of the latter race; +and it is probable that they and the Ṣúṣú were kindred tribes, who, +like the Manes and Mosí of later times, issued from the interior; +or—if for the sake of preciseness we may in this instance hazard a +conjecture—from the country lying between Kong, Bergú, Ghúrma, and +Dahómy.<a id="FNanchor_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122" class= +"fnanchor">[122]</a> The precise dates of the invasion of Ghánah by +the Ṣúṣú and the people of Málí are not given by Ibn Khaldún. We +are informed, however, that Mansá Suleïmán, a prince bearing a +Mandingo title, founded Tomboktú in <span class="sc2">A.H.</span> +610; and since he is not included in the list of the kings of Málí, +we are warranted in considering him a king of the Ṣúṣú, whose +conquest of Ghánah must therefore have taken place between the +years 548 and 610 of the Hijra, probably not long anterior to the +latter date.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span>From the dynasty +of the Ṣúṣú, then, dates the importance of Tomboktú:<a id= +"FNanchor_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123" class= +"fnanchor">[123]</a> but their empire did not continue long. The +reign of Mári Jáṭah, the conqueror of the Ṣúṣu, probably commenced +about the year 630; and with the kings of Málí begins a connected +historical record.</p> + +<p>It is worthy of observation, that the conquests here related +proceeded in the direction of wealth and commerce, and stopped +where these allurements terminated. Ghánah and Tomboktú appear to +have remained for a long time the furthest bounds of the empire of +Málí. Eighty years elapsed before Kághó was annexed to that empire; +and as many more before the passion for conquest led Ṣanadaki to +invade Tekaddá, a worthless possession, which was soon abandoned. +Thus the Great River formed for many hundred miles the boundary of +the empire of Málí, that is, of the Mandingoes, who are still +extensively spread over the same ample region, and who chiefly +uphold its trade, industry, and civilization. It is evident that +Ghánah, conquered by the Ṣúṣú, the founders of Tomboktú, and +annexed to Málí eighty years before this empire extended to Kághó, +was the frontier of Negroland facing Sijilmésah, and consequently +the tract wherein Tomboktú now stands. Nor is it difficult to +explain why the kingdom of Ghánah disappeared from the political +horizon in the course of these events; for the conquerors had, with +a new language, a form of government capable of absorbing all +foreign and inferior titles, and of establishing its own in their +stead. The title <span class="gs">Ghanah</span>, therefore, was +superseded by that of <span class="gs">Mansa</span>.—The principal +events recorded in the history of Ghánah, and the succession of the +Kings of Málí, shall be here repeated in a tabular form, and +arranged chronologically; the date subjoined to each reign being, +as far as can be ascertained, that of its commencement.</p> + +<table id="t069"> +<tr> +<th> +</th> +<th> +</th> +<th class="sc2"><span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_69">[69]</span>A.H.</th> +<th class="sc2">A.D.</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="tdl-top hang1"><span class= +"sc">Ghanah</span> (properly the King’s title) deprived of +Aúdaghost in</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">446</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1054</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Still independent in</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">460</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1067</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Compelled by the Morabites to relinquish +Idolatry and embrace the Mohammedan faith</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">469</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1076</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Ruled by a descendant of Abú Táleb (i.e. +one of the Zenágah nation)</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">548</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1153</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="sect1top tdl-top"><span class="sc">Ṣuṣu</span>.</td> +<td class="sect1top tdl-top hang1">Ghánah conquered by the +Ṣúṣú.</td> +<td class="sect1top"> +</td> +<td class="sect1top"> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Tomboktú founded by Mansá Suleïmán</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">610</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1213</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td colspan="3" class="pad2">N.B.—The title Ghánah superseded by +that of Mansá.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="sect1top tdl-top"><span class="sc">Mali</span>.</td> +<td class="sect1top tdl-top hang1">Mári Jáṭah conquered the Ṣúṣú, +and reigned 25 years.</td> +<td class="sect1top"> +</td> +<td class="sect1top"> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Mansá Walí (son of the preceding) +performed the pilgrimage to Mekkah in the reign of Bibárs</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">658-75</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1259-76</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Mansá Walí (brother of the +preceding).</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Mansá Khalífah (another brother).</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Mansá Abú Bekr (descended from Mári Jáṭah +in the female line).</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang4">Sákúrah, a usurper, went to Mekkah in the +time of Almalik An-Nasír, and therefore subsequent to</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">710</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1310</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang4">(The conquest of Kaúkaú is ascribed by +some to the reign of Sákúrah, by others to that which +follows.)</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Mansá Músa (son of Abú Bekr) performed +the pilgrimage in</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">724</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1324</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Mansá Maghá (son of the preceding) +reigned 4 years</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">732</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1331-2</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Mansá Suleïmán (son of Abú Bekr) reigned +24 years</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">736</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1335-6</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang4">He was visited by Ibn Baṭúṭah in</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">753</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1352</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Mansá Ibn Suleïmán (son of the preceding) +reigned 9 months</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">760</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1359</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Mansá Jáṭah (son of Mansá Maghá) ascended +the throne in</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">761</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1360</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang4">and reigned 14 years.</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Mansá Músa (son of the preceding) reigned +14 years</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">775</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1373</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang4">His Wazír, Mári Jáṭah, usurped the +sovereign power, and conquered Tekaddá, which was soon after +relinquished.</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Mansá Maghá (brother of the +preceding)</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">789</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1387</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Ṣanadaki, (i.e. the Wazír) and another +usurper.</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td class="tdl-top hang1">Maḥmúd, a descendant of Mári Jáṭah the +first, was king of Málí in</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">792</td> +<td class="tdc-bot">1390</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span>The position of +all the places mentioned in the preceding historical sketch, may be +satisfactorily ascertained from the narrative of Ibn Baṭúṭah, who +visited Negroland about half a century earlier than the date of Ibn +Khaldún’s history, and whose remarks throw a valuable light on the +geography and social condition of the countries then known under +that denomination. A succinct account, therefore, of his journey +into Negroland shall be here given, for the sake of the +elucidations derivable from it.</p> + +<hr class="decor width10"> + +<div class="footnotes" id="ftc3"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108"><span class= +"label">[108]</span></a>This extract is taken from Ibn Khaldún’s +Prolegomena, contained in the first volume of his ‘General History +of the Arabs and Berbers,’ of which volume the library of the +British Museum possesses a copy. (MS. B.M. No. 9,574, fol. 90 v.) A +few passages here omitted, will be discussed elsewhere.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109"><span class= +"label">[109]</span></a>This is manifestly a mistake. El Bekrí did +not, though El Idrísí did, give such a description of Ghánah. But +the positive statement preponderated. The Arabs were not critical +enough to weigh negative against affirmative evidence.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110"><span class= +"label">[110]</span></a>Ṣúṣú <span class="arabic">صُوصُو</span>, or +Súsú <span class="arabic">سُوسُو</span>—Málí <span class= +"arabic">مالي</span>—Kaúkaú <span class="arabic">كَوْكَوْ</span>; +Kághó <span class="arabic">كاغو</span>. The expression +<em>east</em> must be here understood to mean towards the interior, +or <em>south</em>. The Arab geographers in general had no idea of +Negroland west of Ghánah, and very inadequate conceptions of its +extent southwards.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111"><span class= +"label">[111]</span></a>The tribes of the Desert in general, +Tawárik, Zenágah, &c. cover the lower part of the face with a +muffle or wrapper called <em>lithám</em>. They consider it an +impropriety to let the mouth be seen. From wearing the lithám they +are named Molaththemún, or Muffled. The invasion of Ghánah by the +Berbers, alluded to in the text, took place in the year of the +Hijra 469.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112"><span class= +"label">[112]</span></a>Baramindánah <span class= +"arabic">بَرَمِندَانة</span>. “Thus the name was spelt (says Ibn +Khaldún) by the Sheikh ʿOthmán, a doctor and theologian of the +people of Ghánah (Ahli Ghánah), and one of the chief men of that +country, whom I met in Egypt in 796,” &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113"><span class= +"label">[113]</span></a>Mári Jáṭah <span class="arabic">ماري +جاطه</span>—Tikin <span class="arabic">تكن</span>. These words +belong to the Mandingo language. <em>Mari</em>, master, is found in +the Rev. R. M. M‘Brair’s Grammar of the Mandingo, p. 40; +<em>jatto</em>, a lion, p. 42. In Moore’s vocabulary, (in Astley’s +Collection, <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 294,) this word is +written <em>jatta</em>. The obscure and frequently nasal sound of +the final vowels, seems common to both the Súsú and Mandingo +languages. The title <em>Tiguing</em> occurs in Isaaco’s Journal +(Park’s Second Journey); and in Tomboktú according to Caillié’s +vocabulary (<span class="sc2">III</span>. p. 313), the word +<em>Tigini</em> signifies <em>King</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114"><span class= +"label">[114]</span></a>Mansá Wali <span class="arabic">منسا +ولي</span>. Mansá, king, is found in all the Mandingo vocabularies. +Changed into Manso, and taking a nasal termination, it becomes +Mansong. The name here read Wali is evidently the Woolli so +frequently occurring in the modern accounts of Tomboktú and the +country of the Mandingoes.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115"><span class= +"label">[115]</span></a>Sákúrah <span class= +"arabic">سَاكُورة</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116"><span class= +"label">[116]</span></a>Mansá Músa <span class="arabic">منسا +موسي</span> is styled the King of Tekrúr by Makrízí, who relates +his visit to Egypt on his way to Mekkah, and describes the wealth +and pompous retinue of the Negro king, in language to which even +that author’s great reputation will hardly secure implicit credit. +See Not. et Extr. tom. <span class="sc2">XII</span>. p. 637.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117"><span class= +"label">[117]</span></a>It is surprising that a historian of so +much sense as Ibn Khaldún should join in censuring King Jáṭah for +the imaginary offence of selling a mass of gold of a ton weight. +The fable of a large mass of gold in the royal treasure first +referred to Ghánah (Not. et Extr. p. 645), then to Málí, and lastly +to Tomboktú; where, however, the precious lump was reduced to the +weight of 1,300 lb. (Leo, pt. <span class="sc2">VII</span>. c. 5.) +Winterbottom (Account of the Native Africans at Sierra Leone, +<span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 29), a competent medical authority, +describes the disease above alluded to, which, he says, proves +fatal in every instance. “The disposition to sleep is so strong as +scarcely to leave a sufficient respite for the taking of food. Even +the repeated application of the whip, a remedy which has been +frequently used, is hardly sufficient to keep the poor wretch +awake.”</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118"><span class= +"label">[118]</span></a>Tekaddá <span class= +"arabic">تكدا</span>—Az-záb <span class="arabic">الزاب</span>. This +is the country of the Mezzábí, north-west of Wergelán.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119"><span class= +"label">[119]</span></a>Sanadaki probably means High or Supreme +Counsellor, from <em>san</em> or <em>sanon</em>, high, and +<em>adégué</em>, a counsellor. (Dard’s Dict.) Jarric (Hist. des +Choses Mémorables, <span class="sc2">III</span>. p. 372) pleasantly +describes the mode of dubbing a <em>Solatequi</em> among the Zapes +(now called <em>Bullom</em>, or lowlanders), near Sierra Leone. In +Isaaco’s Journal (Park’s Second Journey, 8vo. p. 238), mention is +made of a king styled <em>Sallatigua</em>-Koura. From this word is +evidently derived the title <em>Seratik</em>, borne by the King in +Bambúk and some of the Fellátah states.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120"><span class= +"label">[120]</span></a>Not. et Extr. p. 642, note. Marmol, +<span class="sc2">III</span>. fol. 21. Abú Bekr ben Omar was the +Morabite conqueror of Negroland, whither he retired after the rise +of Yúsef ben Táshifín. Moura, Hist. dos Soberanos, &c., p. +146.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121"><span class= +"label">[121]</span></a>“The Zenágah,” says Ibn Khaldún (fol. 68 +v), “claim to stand in the same relationship to Abú Táleb, as do +the Maghráwah to ʿOthmán ben ʿAfan.”</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122"><span class= +"label">[122]</span></a>The Mandingo and Ṣúṣú languages at present +differ widely from each other, but many circumstances, +nevertheless, combine to prove the ancient affinity of the two +nations. They are so frequently confounded together, that it is not +easy to discover the limits of the Ṣúṣú country. Rennell, writing +from Major Houghton’s information (Elucidations, &c. in Proc. +Afr. Assoc. <span class="sc2">I</span>. 275), calls “Mandinga, the +country of the Susos.” Adanson (Voy. au Senegal, 1757, p. 89), +after stating that the people dwelling on the banks of the Gambia +are Mandingoes, adds, “ou Sosés, pour m’exprimer comme eux.” The +Ṣúṣú language, which is widely understood, is most correctly spoken +by the Mandingoes (Gram. and Vocab. of the Susoo Language, 1802, p. +48). The Jesuit missionaries unite the two nations; “Zozoes, casta +de Mandingos,” says Sandoval (Hist. de Ethiop. p. 43; see also +Jarric, Hist. des Choses Mémor. <span class="sc2">III</span>. p. +411). Winterbottom (Account of Nations at Sierra Leone, +<span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 5,) extends the Ṣúṣú country from +the River Kissee to the Rio Nuñez.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123"><span class= +"label">[123]</span></a>Leo says (pt. <span class="sc2">VII</span>. +c. 5) that Tomboktú was built by Mansá Suleïmán, but yet there is +reason to suspect that he only improved and raised into importance +a place previously existing. Conde (Hist. de la Dominacion, +&c., <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 402,) speaks of a chieftain +named Mansur el Tombuzi; but this title is probably a misreading +for Tombúṭí; Tomboktú being commonly called in Barbary Tombúṭ, or +Tombúṭo. The passage here referred to occurs in the annals of the +year 297 <span class="sc2">H.</span> (<span class="sc2">A.D.</span> +909.)</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2><a id="c4"></a>IBN BAṬÚṬAH’S JOURNEY.</h2> + +<p class="sch1">POSITION OF MALI.</p> + +<p>Ibn Baṭúṭah returned to his native city in 1350, after an +absence of five and twenty years, during which time he had visited +nearly all the countries of the east, from Constantinople to China, +from Bulghar and Kipchak Tatary to Zingebar and the Indian islands. +He employed the next year in visiting Spain and Barbary; and then, +to complete his acquaintance with the habitable earth, he undertook +the perilous journey over the desert to the country of the +Blacks.<a id="FNanchor_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124" class= +"fnanchor">[124]</a> In Sijilmésah he was hospitably entertained by +the brother of a merchant whom he had met at Kan-chan-fu in China, +and, purchasing camels and provisions for four months, he joined a +Káfilah which set forward on its march to Negroland on the 1st of +February 1352, under the guidance of Abú Moḥammed Bandakán, of the +tribe of Masúfah.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>In twenty-five +days the Káfilah arrived at Tegháza, a town in the desert, where +the houses were built of rock salt, and roofed with camel skins. +The inhabitants of the place were slaves of the Masúfah, employed +in excavating and cutting the salt required for the trade with +Negroland. After a delay of ten days on the hill near Tegháza, and +renewing its stock of water at the salt and muddy wells in the +hollow (the supply for the next ten days in the desert being +precarious), the Káfilah resumed its march.<a id= +"FNanchor_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125" class= +"fnanchor">[125]</a> It fortunately escaped the much dreaded +difficulties: fresh rain-water lay in all the hollows and crevices +of the rocks; and at one place was found<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_72">[72]</span> so copious a spring of delicious water, that +the travellers, after satisfying their thirst, washed themselves +and their clothes in the limpid stream. The fine truffles growing +in this tract, compensated in some degree for the troublesome +insects infesting it. One of the merchants belonging to the Káfilah +strayed too far from it, and was lost. This misfortune served as a +warning to Ibn Baṭúṭah, who had previously made it a practice to +march in advance and wander over the plains. The dead body of the +strayed merchant was afterwards found by another Káfilah about a +mile from water.</p> + +<p>Táserahlá, the station at which the Káfilah next arrived, was a +stagnant pool, where it was customary to halt three days, for the +purpose of repairing and replenishing the waterskins. It was also +usual to send forward from this place the couriers (el takshíf), a +name commonly given to all of the tribe of Masúfah.<a id= +"FNanchor_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126" class= +"fnanchor">[126]</a> For merchants arriving at Táserahlá always +despatched letters to Aïwalátin, apprising their friends of their +approach, and engaging them to meet the Káfilah with water four +days from the latter place. If the courier died on the way, as +often happened, then no assistance came from<span class="pagenum" +id="Page_73">[73]</span> Aïwalátin, and the Káfilah perished in +consequence. “For,” says the Arab author, “that desert is filled +with demons; and if the courier goes alone, they forthwith appear, +bewilder and startle him, till he strays from the way, when his +destruction is inevitable; for there is no path or track to guide +him, nor anything but an immense wilderness of sand driven about by +the winds, so that where there is now a level plain, there arises +in a few minutes a hillock, which again quickly disappears. The +guides in this desert, therefore, have nothing to rely on but +constant practice, and require no ordinary share of intrepidity and +self-possession. The appearance of our guide, who was one of those +best acquainted with the country, caused me much surprise, inasmuch +as he had but one eye, and that one diseased.”<a id= +"FNanchor_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127" class= +"fnanchor">[127]</a></p> + +<p>The merchants of the Káfilah engaged a Masúfí courier for 100 +mithḳáls of gold, and on the sixth day after leaving Táserahlá, +they descried with delight the signal fires of those who had +advanced to meet them from Aïwalátin. The tract passed over +abounded in herds of the baḳr el wuḥash (the Antelope Bubalis), +which were chased by the Masúfah, and killed with arrows. Their +flesh, causing thirst, was little eaten: but their stomachs +contained water; and Ibn Baṭúṭah saw with astonishment their +contents drained by the people of the desert. Serpents were also +numerous in the same region. A merchant of Telemsán, who +accompanied the Káfilah, amused himself with catching these +reptiles; but he was on one occasion bitten in the hand, and the +inflammation that ensued continuing to increase, he killed a camel, +thrust his wounded hand into the stomach of the slaughtered animal, +and kept it there for some hours, till the pain was assuaged. The +desert travelled over in the last four days to Aïwalátin differed +much from the preceding tract. It was dry and hot in the highest +degree. The Káfilah occasionally met with parties of the Masúfah +and Berdámah, who carried water about for<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_74">[74]</span> sale. In the foregoing account of the desert +between Táserahlá and Aïwalátin, it is easy to recognize “The +Desert,” properly so called, of El Bekrí, the Desert of Tíser of El +Idrísí, and the Azawad of Leo. The breadth of the dreaded tract, +peopled by the fears of travellers with demons; its distance from +Sijilmésah, and from the southern limit of the Ṣaḥrá; its +possessors the Masúfah; and the numerous serpents infesting it, are +all so many marks whereby it may be discovered under its various +denominations.<a id="FNanchor_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128" +class="fnanchor">[128]</a></p> + +<p>Two lunar months were spent in the journey from Sijilmésah to +Aïwalátin.<a id="FNanchor_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129" class= +"fnanchor">[129]</a> This was the frontier territory of Málí, and +had for ruler a black officer named Ḥuseïn Farbá, the word +<em>farbá</em> signifying <em>governor</em> in the language of +Málí.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> Ibn Baṭúṭah was +but little pleased with the manners of the Blacks, among whom he +had expected to see more homage paid to men of his complexion. He +even thought of returning immediately to Sijilmésah, but his +original plans preponderated, and he resolved, at any rate, to +explore Negroland. His attention was engaged by the singular +character and customs of the Masúfah, who formed the higher class +of the inhabitants of Aïwalátin. Though Mohammedans, they had a law +of succession resembling that of the pagans of Malabar. Their +women, handsome and finely-formed, went unveiled, and conversed +with the men on terms of freedom and equality which fully spoke the +dissolute manners of the place.<a id="FNanchor_130"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a></p> + +<p>After staying fifty days in Aïwalátin, Ibn Baṭúṭah engaged a +Masúfí guide, and, in company with three merchants, set forward for +Málí, which was a good twenty-four days’ journey distant. In ten +days he came to Zágharí, a large town inhabited by black traders, +and some whites of the Ibádhíyah sect, called Ṣaghanghú. Leaving +Zágharí, he arrived at Kársekhó, “a city on the bank of the Great +River which is the Nile.” After describing the downward course of +the river in terms which shall be examined further on, the +traveller’s narrative thus proceeds:—“We marched from Kársekhó and +came to the river Ṣanṣarah, which is ten miles from Málí, and it +being the custom of the country that no one enters there without +asking leave, I wrote to the company of Whites, and to its chief, +Moḥammed ben Alfaḳíh Algezúlí, and also to Shemso-d-dín, to engage +me a lodging; and so, when I came to the river (Ṣanṣarah), I +embarked in a canoe, and without further trouble, arrived at the +city of Málí, the residence of the Sultan of Negroland; and, +landing near the burial ground, I walked directly to the quarter of +the Whites, and found Moḥammed<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_76">[76]</span> ben Alfaḳíh, who had procured me a lodging +opposite to his own house.”<a id="FNanchor_131"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a></p> + +<p>Ibn Baṭúṭah fell sick soon after his arrival in the capital of +Málí, and two months elapsed before he was able to visit Mansá +Suleïmán. Returning on that occasion from the palace, he was +followed by those who brought the King’s present. They called to +him to rise and receive it, while they bore it towards him with an +air of much importance. But what was the surprise of the Arab +traveller, who expected to receive a handsome garment, or a sum of +money, to find the royal gift to consist of only three scraps of +bread, some hashed mutton, and a calabash of milk. He subsequently +took occasion to reprove Mansá Suleïmán for his want of +munificence, and thereupon received from him, as a conciliatory +gift, a robe, lodging, an allowance while he remained, with a sum +of money at his departure.</p> + +<p>But the arrangements of Mansá Suleïmán’s court did not betray +the sordid disposition imputed to him. They appear to have been +conceived in a style of rude pomp and majesty no longer witnessed +in the same country. Within the royal palace was an alcove or +vaulted chamber communicating with the interior, and having towards +the hall of audience three windows covered with silver gratings, +and as many more with gratings of gold or silver gilt. Over these +gratings hung silk curtains, the drawing of which served to show +that the king was seated within. The officers and people then +assembled. The Farárí or chief captains, with their archers, +spearmen, and musicians, ranged themselves on both sides of the +alcove, and on the signal being given, by thrusting a handkerchief +of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> Egyptian muslin +through the grating of one of the windows, the musicians fell to +work with drums, ivory flutes, pipes of cane and calabashes, and +made an extraordinary din. Outside the alcove stood Dúghá, the +interpreter, and near him a man who carried his words to the king, +and brought back the royal answer.<a id="FNanchor_132"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> + +<p>At times the king gave audience in the open air, seated on a +platform covered with silk, and called Bámbi. A large silk +umbrella, like a canopy, was held over his head, having on the top +a golden bird as large as a falcon. He walked slowly on these +occasions, surrounded by 300 armed slaves. Two horses and two rams +were led forth, among other emblems of royal state. The King’s +words gave rise to laudatory harangues in the assembly, in the +course of which the soldiers signified their approbation by +twanging their bows. Whoever spoke to the King, or was addressed by +him, stripped himself to the waist, and, throwing himself +prostrate, sprinkled dust or clay over his head, and beat the +ground with his elbows. The frequent exhibition of this abject +humility offended Ibn Baṭúṭah, who also reprobates the custom of +allowing the female slaves and young girls, not excepting the +King’s daughters, to go completely naked, and to appear in that +state before the King himself. He censures also the grotesque +exhibitions of the poets or mimes, who were called <em>jolá</em> +(the plural of <em>jál</em>).<a id="FNanchor_133"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> He witnessed the +performance of one who<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_78">[78]</span> wore a masquerade dress of feathers, with a +wooden head, like that of some bird, and, thus disguised, delivered +an extemporaneous harangue before the King. He says nothing of the +industry or trade of Málí; yet the length at which he describes the +dresses of the courtiers, and his frequent mention of silks and of +gold and silver ornaments, show that the Negro city did not impress +his mind with the idea of poverty. The King wore a gown of European +manufacture.</p> + +<p>Among the Mandingoes or other nations in Western Africa, no +trace at present exists of the manners of Málí, or of the pompous +forms of a great monarchy. But in Yariba and Bergú, on the banks of +the Quorra, we find absolute sovereigns, who are approached with +the same humiliating ceremonies above described. While the King +sits richly clothed, and the musicians strain their efforts, the +courtiers strip themselves to the waist, and bow their heads to the +dust. In Bergú the King is followed by a troop of naked +girls.<a id="FNanchor_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134" class= +"fnanchor">[134]</a> The idea of<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_79">[79]</span> royalty as regards both its internal +principle and external form, is now in Yariba precisely what it was +five centuries ago in Málí; and this remarkable fact may perhaps +justify the suspicion that the people of Málí originally issued +from the country adjoining Bergú, Yariba, and Dahómy, and wherein +there now exists a Mohammedan, and probably a Mandingo state called +Magho.<a id="FNanchor_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135" class= +"fnanchor">[135]</a></p> + +<p>Ibn Baṭúṭah relates his departure from Málí in these words: “I +arrived in Málí on the 14th of the month Jumáda-l-awwal, of the +year 753 (29th June, 1352), and I left it on the 22nd of Moharrem +in the following year (27th February, 1353). I departed in company +with a merchant named Abú Bekr Ibn Yakúb, and we took the road to +Mímah. I rode on a camel, because horses are so dear in that +country that one often costs 100 mithḳáls.” From these expressions, +combined with those in which he describes his arrival in Málí, it +appears evident that he never crossed the Great River, and +therefore that the city of Málí must have stood on the northern +side of that stream. He came to Kársekhó, situate on the northern +bank of the Great River, “which is the Nile.” He did not cross this +stream, but proceeding to the river Ṣanṣarah, and embarking on it, +he reached Málí. When quitting this place, he mounted his camel at +once, and took the road to Mímah. It is therefore certain that Málí +was on the same bank of the Great River as Kársekhó and Mímah.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span>To this conclusion +it may be objected, that Leo Africanus places Melli (Málí) on a +southern branch of the Great River, or Niger, as he styles it. But +that writer’s statements, if viewed comprehensively, and thoroughly +understood, will be found to afford, in this instance, no firm +ground whereon to build an argument. He says that the country +called by the Moors Gheneoa (Genéwah), and by the natives Genni +(Jenni), extends 250 miles along the Niger, to the place where that +river enters the ocean. And again, he says that Melli lies to the +south of Gheneoa, and extends 300 miles along a branch of the +Niger. Now it is obvious that the river on which Melli stood, is +converted into a branch of the Niger by the same hypothesis which +led the river of Genni directly westward to the ocean; and we are +not bound, while rejecting the erroneous theory, to respect the +modifications forced by it on collateral information; nor to admit +Leo’s descriptions, clothed in the language of system, in +opposition to Ibn Baṭúṭah’s clear statement of facts.<a id= +"FNanchor_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136" class= +"fnanchor">[136]</a></p> + +<p>But if we cannot admit that the capital of Málí was situate on +any stream entering the Joliba from the south, so neither can it be +supposed to have stood on any tributary stream joining that river +on its left or northern bank. For why should a traveller make such +a circuit as to continue his route southwards to Kársekhó, and then +ascend a stream in order to reach a point to which he might have +gone directly by land? And besides, the left bank of the Joliba, +within the limits wherein we may reasonably look for the site of +Málí, has been travelled over by Mungo Park, who found there no +tributary stream. The mention of the river Ṣanṣarah, therefore, +presents difficulties which admit of only one explanation. A great +river like the Joliba, periodically overflowing the adjacent +country, will probably form many channels, and insulate, perhaps by +permanent canals, long tracts of low land, as is exemplified on a +small scale in the course of the Medway below Chatham. Now, if we +suppose that Málí stood in a low tract, intersected by a canal of +the Joliba, called Ṣanṣarah,<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_81">[81]</span> then Ibn Baṭúṭah’s movements may be easily +explained. That the banks of the Joliba are almost impassable in +the rainy season we know from the narrative of Park, who, being a +stranger in the country, struggled through difficulties which a +native perhaps would never have thought of encountering. But Ibn +Baṭúṭah had an experienced guide; going to Málí, therefore, at the +commencement of the rains (the end of June), he directed his course +to an easily accessible point of the Joliba, and thence proceeded +to the capital by the canal: leaving Málí in the middle of the dry +season (the last day of February) he mounted his camel and crossed +the country. Moreover, we are fortunately able to show that our +hypothesis respecting the Ṣanṣarah, is not only not unnatural nor +improbable, but that it truly represents the physical character of +that part of the Joliba now under consideration, and that there is, +in fact, a canal or arm of the river in the very place where we +should expect to find the Ṣanṣarah. Mungo Park, describing his +voyage down the Joliba from Samee to Sego, says, “We passed down a +small stream to the north of Sego-korro, and halted opposite to +Sego-sikorro, near the sandhills, where I formerly waited for a +passage.” In explanation of these words, it must be observed that +Sego-korro is on the northern bank of the river; Sego-sikorro, +where the King of Bambara resided, on the southern bank. The small +stream north of Sego-korro, therefore, down which the traveller +passed, (in the middle of August, when the floods were at their +height,) must have been a canal or arm of the river insulating the +ground on which Sego-korro stood.<a id="FNanchor_137"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> Park<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> does not state the length of the +<em>small stream</em>, nor say whether he entered it near Samee; +but these particulars are here of little consequence, since our +object is not to identify the small stream of Park with the +Ṣanṣarah of Ibn Baṭúṭah, but only to show how perfectly our +hypothesis respecting the latter harmonizes with nature and with +fact. Yet it must not be concealed that there is reason for +believing that the site of the capital of Málí was near Samee. Ibn +Khaldún writes the proper name of that capital in characters +wanting, unfortunately, the diacritic points; but these being +supplied by probable conjecture, the passage in question will run +thus: “And the residence of the king of the people of Málí is the +city of <em>Benní</em>,” (or Benna).<a id= +"FNanchor_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138" class= +"fnanchor">[138]</a> A place called Binni, of little importance, +stands on the north bank of the Joliba, about seven miles above +Samee.</p> + +<p>The sequel of Ibn Baṭúṭah’s journey shall be related in his own +words, though with some curtailment. He thus proceeds:—“We came to +a wide creek or arm of the Nile, which can be crossed only in +boats, on the third night after we left Málí. On arriving at its +banks, I beheld, with astonishment, about sixteen immense animals, +which I took to be elephants. However, when I saw them plunge into +the water, I called out to Abú Bekr Ibn Yakúb, and asked him what +are these? And he replied, ‘They are river horses (Hippopotami), +which come ashore to feed.’ They are much larger than common +horses, yet resemble them in their heads and the fulness of their +manes, but their feet are like those of elephants. On another +occasion, when navigating the river from Tomboktú to Kaúkaú, I had +a view of these animals. They were swimming about with their heads +above the water, and snorting. The natives attack them with +javelins, to which are attached a number of cords. If the animal be +struck in the neck or the leg, he is soon overcome, dragged to the +bank, and killed. The natives eat the flesh, and the banks of the +river are strewed over with the bones of these animals.<a id= +"FNanchor_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139" class= +"fnanchor">[139]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>“At this arm of +the Nile we rested in a village governed by a negro named Farbá +Maghá, one of those who had accompanied Mansá Músa on his +pilgrimage. He related to us, that when Mansá Músa came to this +place, he gave to Abú-l-Abbas Aldukálí, a white man and Kadhi who +attended him, 4,000 mithḳáls for the expenses of his journey. +Abú-l-Abbas, however, on arriving at Mímah, complained that his +money was stolen. The King thereupon sent for the governor, and +threatened him with death, if the money and the thief were not +immediately discovered. The search seemed at first fruitless; but +on the slaves of Abú-l-Abbas being menaced and strictly questioned, +one of them, a young girl, pointed out the spot where her master +had buried the money. Mansá Músa, on hearing this, banished the +Kadhi to the country of the Unbelievers, who eat men. There he +stayed four years, before he was permitted to return; and the +Blacks did not eat him, because they say that white man’s flesh is +bad meat, being flabby and immature. And here I must relate a +curious anecdote. Some of these cannibals, led by a chief, came on +a certain occasion to the court of Mansá Suleïmán; they were +clothed in silk wrappers, and had enormous pendants in their ears, +the holes in which were an inch in diameter. The King received them +with much distinction, regaled them sumptuously, and, as a token of +regard, gave them a slave girl. They immediately killed the girl, +and ate her; then, besmearing their hands and faces with her blood, +they visited the Sultan, and thanked him for his present. In the +country of these cannibals there are mines of gold.<a id= +"FNanchor_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140" class= +"fnanchor">[140]</a></p> + +<p>“Leaving the village on the water side, we came to Korí Mansá, +where the camel that I was riding died. When my<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> servant told me of this +accident, I went out to witness it with my own eyes, and there I +beheld the Blacks already devouring the carcass, their custom being +to eat every kind of dead animal. I then sent two of my followers +to a town called Zagharí, about two days’ journey from Korí Mansá, +to buy me another camel. In six days they returned, and we then +took the road to Mímah. We did not enter that town, however, but +encamped outside near the wells. Thence we arrived at Tomboktú, a +city four miles distant from the Nile. Most of its inhabitants are +people of Mímah, or of the tribes called Almolaththemún. One day I +went to visit the governor, Farbá Músa, and met at his house a +Masúfí, who had just arrived in Tomboktú, to take the command of +the people of his tribe established there. The governor gave him a +robe, a turban, and pair of trowsers, all of figured cotton; and +made him sit on a shield, while the chief people of his tribe +lifted him above their heads.<a id="FNanchor_141"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a></p> + +<p>“At Tomboktú I embarked in a small canoe made of a single trunk +of a tree, and went down the river. We landed every night, and went +to some inhabited place to procure what we wanted,—such as oil, and +other necessaries—giving in exchange for them salt, drugs, and +trinkets. We came to a place, the name of which I have forgotten, +but where Farbá Suleïmán, a Hájí of sterling worth, was governor. +He was a man of great size and strength, and had a bow which none +of the Blacks but himself could bend. I went into his house to ask +for a little durrah, and my request being interpreted for him by a +faḳíh who was present, he took me by the hand, and led me into his +principal chamber, which was filled with arms of various kinds, +shields, bows, and javelins. There was then brought to me a drink +called Aldaḳnó, prepared from bruised<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_85">[85]</span> durrah, with milk and honey. We then ate of a +water melon; and in conclusion, a young slave coming into the room, +Farbá Suleïmán presented him to me, and I have him at the present +day.<a id="FNanchor_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142" class= +"fnanchor">[142]</a></p> + +<p>“From this place we went on to Kaúkaú, one of the largest, +handsomest, and strongest cities in all Negroland. It stands on the +banks of the Nile, and abounds in rice, milk, poultry, fish, and +fruit of matchless excellence. The people there, as well as in +Málí, use shells for money. I stayed in Kaúkaú about two months, +and then went by land in the direction of Tekaddá, with a large +Káfilah of people of Ghodémis.<a id="FNanchor_143"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> We came into the country +of the Berdámah, a Berber tribe, whose protection and friendship +are indispensable for the safety of travellers in this region. The +Berdámah are wanderers, and never remain long in one place. Their +tents are of a peculiar construction; they fix poles in the ground, +and place on them a matting of reeds; over this they form a +trellis-work of boughs of trees, and cover the frame thus +constructed with skins and cotton cloths. Their women are the +prettiest and best shaped that I have ever seen; they are as white +as snow, and the fattest in the world. Whoever wishes to have a +woman of this tribe, needs only to go to the wells near their +encampments in the evening, and she will be sure to follow him; but +he must not take her further than Kaúkaú or Aïwalátin.<a id= +"FNanchor_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144" class= +"fnanchor">[144]</a></p> + +<p>“We continued our march to Tekaddá, where the houses are built +of red stone; the water is coloured by running over copper ores, +which impart to it a disagreeable flavour. The people of Tekaddá +sow no grain; they are wholly devoted to trade, and live in +affluence; their luxury consisting, as in Málí and Aïwalátin, in +slaves of both sexes, of whom some classes<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_86">[86]</span> fetch exorbitant prices. The king of Tekaddá +is a Berber. The copper taken from the mines near the town is made +into small bars about an inch and a half thick, which are exchanged +for grain, meat, fuel, and other necessaries. These bars are +carried to Kúber, in the country of the Infidels, to Rághá, and to +Bornú, which is forty days’ journey from Tekaddá. The king of that +country (who is named Idris) never speaks to his subjects, unless +from behind a screen or curtain.<a id="FNanchor_145"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p> + +<p>“From Tekaddá we set forward on our march to Twát, which is +seventy days distant, and came to Káhir, which belongs to the +Sultan of Karkar, and yields sufficient pasturage. Then going three +days over a waterless desert, and fifteen through a tract +uninhabited but not waterless, we came to the place where the road +to Egypt separates from that to Twat. The water of the wells in +that place being impregnated with iron, stains linen. In ten days +more we came to Dekhár, and in another month reached Búdá, one of +the largest towns of Twát.”</p> + +<p>To the foregoing narrative a few remarks may be here +advantageously subjoined. If it be granted that Ibn Baṭúṭah, in +sending to Zagharí for a camel to replace that which died at Korí +Mansá, had recourse to the nearest town, then it follows that +Mímah, one stage at least from Tomboktú, must have been more than +two stages from Korí Mansá. But this place, in a mean position, +will be nearly as far as Zagharí, or fourteen days, from the +capital of Málí. This capital must therefore have been, at the +lowest calculation, eighteen days from Tomboktú.<a id= +"FNanchor_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146" class= +"fnanchor">[146]</a></p> + +<p>It is worthy of attention, that, in the fourteenth century, +Tomboktú was peopled chiefly by natives of Mímah, and by the +Molaththemún, the very parties with whom Ghánah, three<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> centuries before, had to +maintain a constant warfare. The Masúfah, the early occupants of +the desert between Sijilmésah and Ghánah, extended from Tegháza to +Tomboktú, and mercenary bands of them were at the court of Málí. +But the caravan road seems to have been their only territory; +eastward they were bounded by the Berdámah, who carried water for +sale into the desert of Azawad, and whose encampments were probably +not ten days distant from Tomboktú.</p> + +<p>There does not appear to have been any place of note between +Tomboktú and Kaúkaú; nor does Ibn Baṭúṭah say a word favourable to +the supposition that the former of these cities was in his time +intrinsically important. Kaúkaú, on the other hand, then enjoyed +that eminence among the cities of Negroland which it continued to +retain for at least four centuries.<a id= +"FNanchor_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147" class= +"fnanchor">[147]</a> The morals of the Berdámah, of Aïwalátin, and +Tekaddá, as described by Ibn Baṭúṭah, bear a close resemblance to +those characterizing Aúdaghost and Tádmekkah in earlier times, and +indicate the same fundamental conditions of society. The women of +the Berdámah, he says, were willing to follow strangers, on the +implied condition that they were not to be taken beyond Kaúkaú or +Aïwalátin. This is as much as to say, that they willingly +accompanied merchants arriving with the Káfilahs from the +north-east, to a certain distance on either of the two frequented +roads; but it is remarkable that no mention is here made of a road +to any part of Houssa.</p> + +<p>Tekaddá was seventy days from Twát, and as fifty-eight of these +are accounted for, we may conclude that Tekaddá was twelve days +from Káhir, and thirty from the place where the roads to Twát and +Egypt divided (probably near Ghát); it was also forty days from +Bornú, so that its position may be ascertained with sufficient +accuracy. Leo Africanus states, that beyond or eastward of the +Desert of the Zenágah lay that of the Zuenziga, “which extends from +the neighbourhood of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> +Tegaza eastwards, to the borders of the Desert of Air, inhabited by +the Targa (Tawárik); and from the confines of Segelmessa, +Tebelbelt, and Benigomi southwards (south-eastwards), to the Desert +of Ghir, which is opposite to the kingdom of Guber.” It has been +already shown that by Air Leo meant the Desert of ʿAhír east of +Aghades; and it seems equally certain that his Ghir is the Káhir of +Ibn Baṭúṭah.<a id="FNanchor_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148" class= +"fnanchor">[148]</a> The copper of Tekaddá was taken to Bornú, +Kúber (Guber), and Rághá (Raka in Yariba?); and here it is worthy +of remark, that Guber, the frontier province of Houssa towards the +desert, and the province to which native historians concede the +superiority derivable from an early intercourse with white men, was +still pagan in the fourteenth century. This fact alone would be +sufficient to prove that Houssa formed no part of the Negroland +which fell within the range of the Morabites, even if the general +tenor of their history did not contradict such an extension of +their conquests; or if the question were not decided by the +authority of Ibn Khaldún, who says expressly that “Tekaddá was +behind the country of the Morabites.”<a id= +"FNanchor_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149" class= +"fnanchor">[149]</a></p> + +<p>Ibn Baṭúṭah makes no allusion to the extent of the empire of +Málí towards the west or south; but he clearly indicates its limits +towards the north and east. When first mentioning the river, he +describes its course in the following terms:—“We came to the Great +River, which is the Nile, and on the banks of which stands the city +of Kársekhó. Thence the Nile descends to Kábrah and to Zághah, and +the Sultans of these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> +two cities are tributary to the Sultan of Málí. The inhabitants of +Zághah were the first [in these countries] who embraced +Mohammedism. They are religious, and fond of learning. From Zághah +the river descends to Tomboktú; thence to Kaúkaú; thence to the +district of Múlí, in the country of the Límiyín, which terminates +[in that direction] the dominion of Málí. It goes thence to Yúfí +(Núfí), one of the greatest states in Negroland, and the Sultan of +which is among the most powerful princes of that quarter of the +earth. No white man can reach that country, for sure death awaits +him from the natives before he penetrates so far. From Yúfí the +Nile descends to Nubia, the inhabitants of which are Christians, +and to Dongolah,” &c.<a id="FNanchor_150"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span>Notwithstanding +the confusion into which the writer of Ibn Baṭúṭah’s narrative here +falls, placing Zághah below Kábrah, evidently in ignorance of the +proximity of the latter place to Tomboktú, yet as we know that +Zághah was not on the part of the river which Ibn Baṭúṭah actually +navigated, viz. between Tomboktú and Kaúkaú, we may rest satisfied +that it was above Kábrah. The empire of Málí extended along both +banks of the Great River as far as Tomboktú. On the left it +stretched northward to the border of the desert and the route of +the caravans, thus comprising the territory of the ancient Ghánah. +Eastward of Tomboktú it appears to have been bounded by the river; +the Berdámah and other tribes of the desert on the left bank +retaining their independence. Kaúkaú had been annexed to the +empire, but no advance made eastwards from that place, nor had +Tekaddá been as yet invaded. Below Kaúkaú the river flowed by the +district of Múlí in the country of the Límiyín (who were on its +left bank, as shall be shown hereafter), and at that point +terminated, towards the east, the empire of Málí.</p> + +<p>The Múlí of Ibn Baṭúṭah is apparently the district called by +Mohammed Masíní Mouri (Múrí), four long days’ journey west of +Sokkatú. It is said to be mountainous and well watered; it +immediately adjoins the Desert of the Tawárik, and its inhabitants +are still pagans. It is therefore the northern limit of the negro +population on the left bank of the Kowára, or on the side of +Houssa.<a id="FNanchor_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151" class= +"fnanchor">[151]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>By the possession +of Múlí the people of Málí had ready ingress into the countries +whence slaves were taken, but there is no authority whatever for +the supposition that they ever extended their dominion farther +eastward; and care must be taken, therefore, not to confound the +Mandingo empire of Málí with the country called Marra or Malla, +situate on the confines of the former in the north-western part of +Houssa. It seems clearly ascertained that the north-west part of +Houssa, or the territory between Zanfara and the Kowára, is called +by the natives Marra, or by those who affect the Arab sounds, +Malla. The ancient greatness assigned to Marra in the historical +traditions of the natives, favours the opinion that it was the +Melil or Malilo of the early Arab writers. At present the name +Marra is used only by the indigenous population, and it is curious +to observe that its former importance never brought it to the ears +of Clapperton or Lander. But its partial obscurity only renders it +more likely to lead to confusion; and therefore, in order to +distinguish clearly between Málí and Malla, let it be observed, +that the former of these lay on the west of the Kowára, the latter +on the east. Málí was the empire of the Mandingoes; Malla a kingdom +of Houssa. These two states approached, and may have met each other +near Múlí; but there is no positive ground for believing that they +were in any degree connected, or that the conquests of Málí ever +extended into Malla.<a id="FNanchor_152"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a></p> + +<p>Opposite to Múlí, or on the right bank of the Kowára, the +dominion of Málí probably extended a little southward to +the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> borders of Bergú. +Ibn Baṭúṭah relates that Bálbá Ḳásá, the queen of Mansá Suleïmán, +sent, in a fit of displeasure, a confidential messenger to Mári +Jáṭah, the King’s nephew, instigating him to revolt, and promising +to gain over the army to his interest. Mári Jáṭah was at that time +governor of Kombori.<a id="FNanchor_153"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> Now this name occurs in +the fragments of native geographers collected by Capt. Clapperton. +It is therein stated that Kanbari (Kombori) lies north of the River +Kadúna; and again, we are told, that the river of that country is +called Kantagoora (Kotú-n-kúra). Yet the Kombori, of which Jáṭah +was governor, could not have been the country on the river of +Kotú-n-kúra, for this is beyond Múlí, where the dominion of Málí +terminated. This objection may be removed, however, by a little +attention to the comprehensiveness of the name under consideration. +Clapperton informs us that the aboriginal inhabitants of the +country of Boussa (Busá) are the negroes called Cambrie or Cumbrie +(Kombori), who still preserve their own language, and dwell in the +woods on both sides of the river, their villages extending also a +long way up the Kotú-n-kúra. From them, therefore, it is evident +that the country on this river takes the name of Kombori. But they +also occupy all the islands in the river above Busá, and are +the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> indigenous +inhabitants of the territory of Busá, which extends eleven days’ +journey northwards up the right bank of the Kowára. They occupy, +therefore, the country opposite to Múlí, where we may accordingly +place with much probability the province of Kombori belonging to +Málí.<a id="FNanchor_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154" class= +"fnanchor">[154]</a></p> + +<p>“From Múlí (says Ibn Baṭúṭah) the river descends to Yúfí (Núfí), +one of the greatest kingdoms of Negroland, but to which white men +cannot penetrate; and thence it flows to Nubia.” It would appear, +from this, that the superiority now enjoyed by the people of Núfí +in arts and industry, was already acknowledged in the fourteenth +century. It is manifest also that the system of the native +geographers which converts the Chadda into a continuation of the +Kowára, by which the waters of this great river are carried across +Bornú to the Nile of Egypt, is of some antiquity. Ibn Baṭúṭah +believed that the great river below Múlí flowed some distance to +the south or south-east before it turned eastwards to Nubia. In +speaking of Kulwá (Kilwá, or Quiloa), on the eastern coast of +Africa, he uses these words:—“A merchant there told me, that the +town of Sofálah is half a month’s journey from Kulwá, and one month +from Yúfí in the country of the Límiyín, and that gold is brought +from Yúfí to Sofálah.”<a id="FNanchor_155"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> The boldness here +evinced in bringing together and joining in commerce countries far +asunder, is constantly exhibited in the geographical speculations +of an early or ill-informed age. Distances are then enlarged as +expediency requires; hypothesis leaps over the vacant spaces, and +forcibly stretches the known portions in the opposite sides of a +continent till they meet in the centre. Illustrations of this truth +may be found in all ages. During the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries, Abyssinia, Congo, and<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_94">[94]</span> Monomotapa were all supposed to meet +together. One of the Jesuits resident in Abyssinia asserts, that +salt was carried from that country to Tomboktú.<a id= +"FNanchor_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156" class= +"fnanchor">[156]</a> The reasoning which led to this statement was, +in its nature, exactly the same as that from which the Arabs +inferred an intercourse between Sofálah and Yúfí. It is not +surprising, therefore, that Ibn Baṭúṭah, who had far less accurate +means of ascertaining the true positions of the places visited by +him than the Catholic missionaries, should believe that the remote +interior, whence gold was brought to Sofálah, was occupied by the +same nation who filled the interior viewed in the opposite +direction from Málí. Erroneous as this kind of inference may be, it +yet rests on ideas of direction so manifest and unambiguous as to +be of material service in explaining an author’s meaning. It is +plain, then, that Ibn Baṭúṭah thought Yúfí to lie between Málí and +Sofálah, and that the Great River from Múlí to Yúfí flowed towards +Sofálah, but beyond Yúfí turned eastwards to Nubia.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to quit the narrative of Ibn Baṭúṭah’s travels +without making an important reflection on the extent and direction +of his journey to Negroland. We see in him an enterprising, +experienced, well-informed traveller, whose ambition it was, +apparently, to explore all the known parts of the earth; he goes +from Sijilmésah across the desert to Málí, thence to Tomboktú, and +then descends the river as far as Kaúkaú, and from Kaúkaú he turns +off north-eastwards to the Desert on his way back. Now can it be +reasonably doubted that, in this tour, he visited <em>the +Negroland</em> with which Sijilmésah had maintained an intercourse +from the earliest times, and which had been so minutely described +by El Bekrí and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> +others? Can it be doubted that he accomplished his proposed task in +the sense in which it was understood by his countrymen, and that +the Negroland of western writers consequently lay between the +capital of Málí and Kaúkaú or Kághó? When he alludes to Gúber as a +pagan country, but says nothing of Kanó, can it be seriously +maintained that he slightingly passes over in silence the only part +of Negroland described with copious and connected details by the +best Arab writers?</p> + +<p>The hypothesis identifying Kanó with Ghánah appears to have +originated with Leo Africanus, and rests on no better foundation +than the supposed resemblance of those names, which to an impartial +critic must appear widely dissimilar.<a id= +"FNanchor_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157" class= +"fnanchor">[157]</a> Neither can it be admitted that Aghades was +ever called<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> +Aúdaghost, or that it is only twenty-five days from Jermah in +Fezzán. Kanó is two months from Jermah, four or five months from +the Western Ocean, and an equal distance from Sijilmésah, with +which country it certainly never maintained any intercourse. It is +not close to the desert, nor is there any desert of extreme aridity +within much less than a month’s journey from it.<a id= +"FNanchor_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158" class= +"fnanchor">[158]</a> It has no navigable river near it, nor even +any stream which is not quite dry in summer; much less can the +series of names placed on the river of Ghánah be found in its +vicinity. Neither do the descriptions of Ghánah, with all their +details, contain the names of any of the countries near Kanó. The +tribes of the desert on the frontiers of Houssa have all come from +the neighbourhood of Fezzán, and not from Sijilmésah.<a id= +"FNanchor_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159" class= +"fnanchor">[159]</a> Kanó is removed far from the deserts of the +Zenágah and of the Morabites, who always hung over Ghánah, and at +length became its masters: nor was Kanó included in the empire of +Málí when this power had attained its greatest extension, and had +advanced far beyond Ghánah. To one who examines with patience and +attention the accounts of Ghánah, it cannot but appear surprising +that its identity with Kanó should be maintained and acquiesced in +even at the present day.</p> + +<div class="footnotes" id="ftc4"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124"><span class= +"label">[124]</span></a>For an account of Ibn Baṭúṭah, whose +Travels at least equal in interest those of Marco Polo, see the +‘History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain,’ by D. Pascual de +Gayangos, p. 348. This gentleman possesses a copy of the complete +narrative of Ibn Baṭúṭah, and from his translation of it (which we +hope will be presented to the public ere long) have been collected +the passages given above, which are not in general to be found in +Professor Lee’s translation of the abridgment of the same work.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125"><span class= +"label">[125]</span></a>Tegháza <span class= +"arabic">تَغَازَي</span> is described, though not named, by El +Bekrí (Not. et Extr. p. 436). The salt mines, he says, are two days +from the Great Desert, over which passes the road to Ghánah, and +twenty from Sijilmésah. Ibn Baṭúṭah, travelling slowly, found the +latter distance to be a journey of twenty-five days. The Morabite +general, Abú Bekr ben Omar, purchased Negro slaves at a place in +the desert called Gasza, whom he sent to Spain, and exchanged for +European slaves, to recruit his army (Conde, Hist. de la Dom. +<span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 86). The Gasza here mentioned is +probably Tegháza mutilated in the original text, and further +disfigured by the Spanish writer. El Idrísí (Rec. de Voy. p. 107) +mentions a place in the desert called Taghíza. According to +Cadamosto (c. <span class="sc2">XII</span>. fol. 137 v), Tegháza +signifies <em>Cargadore</em>, or a loader (an old word, ill changed +into <em>Caricatojo</em> in the recent edition of Ramusio); +importing that the place so called was the residence of those who +loaded the camels, or furnished the freight for the trade with +Negroland. Peritsol (Itinera Mundi, ed. by Hyde, p. 124), explains +it otherwise, and translates Tegháza, <em>earth</em> loaded +<em>with gold</em>. Ibn Baṭúṭah says, that at Aïwalátin the salt +fetched from ten to eighteen mithḳáls the load, and at Málí twenty +or thirty, or sometimes forty mithḳáls; and Leo states that when he +was at Tomboktú, the price of a load of salt rose there to eighty +ducats. Cadamosto quotes much higher prices. The ducat or mithḳál +is valued by Jackson at 3<em>s.</em> 8<em>d.</em> Another writer +informs us, that the load of salt (600 lb.), worth 4<em>s.</em> at +Tegháza, paid 5<em>l.</em> duty at Gago (True Historical Discourse +of Muley Hamet’s Rising, c. <span class="sc2">II</span>.). It has +been asserted by Jackson (Account of Morocco, p. 241), and too +readily believed, that there is a second Tegháza near the coast. +But that author’s meaning is explained by his map, in which we find +written <em>East Tarassa</em> (Tegháza) and <em>West Tarassa +Arabs</em> (the Trarzas, or, as Labat writes their name, Eteraza). +According to Jackson’s orthographical system, the same Arabic name +may be written Tegháza, Tegrassa, or Terassa. Caillié (Voy. &c. +tom. <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 417,) came to some wells +called Trarzas, or Trasas, within the region of loose sand, and +which have been nevertheless mistaken for the site of Tegháza, +whereas they obviously owed their name to the tribe that dug +them.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126"><span class= +"label">[126]</span></a>Táserahlá <span class= +"arabic">تَاسَرَهْلا</span>. Respecting the Masúfah, who were +generally called el Takshíf, that is, the scouts or couriers, and +who appear to have occupied the whole road from Tegháza to +Tomboktú, there is a passage in Ibn Khaldún (fol. 89) which, with a +little abridgment, is worth transcribing.—“After the fall of the +Morabite dynasty, the tribes of the Molaththemún returned to the +desert, and now occupy the countries which they originally +possessed in the vicinity of Negroland. But as we have already +observed, the emigration of the Zenágah tribes was but partial: a +few only of the Masúfah and Lumtúnah obeyed the impulse, while the +majority of the tribes remained behind, and <em>keep in our days +their old settlements in the Sahrá</em>, paying tribute to the +Kings of Negroland, on whom they depend, and in whose armies they +serve. The Goddálah are directly opposite to the Dhawi-Hassán, a +branch of the Moʿakel Arabs, settled in Sús el Aḳṣa; the Lumtúnah +are opposite to the Dhawi-Mansúr and Dhawi ʿObeidu-llah, branches +of the same great tribe living in Maghrebu-l-Aḳṣa. The Masúfah face +the Zaghabah, an Arab tribe in Maghrebu-l-Aúsat; and the Lamṭah +adjoin the Benú Riyyah, who occupy Ez-Záb.”—Thus it appears that +the Masúfah inhabiting the tract of desert between Sijilmésah and +Tomboktú were in <em>their old settlements</em>, and, therefore, in +the tract between Sijilmésah and Ghánah. (See <a href= +"#Page_17">page 17.</a>) Leo (pt. <span class="sc2">I</span>. c. +17-19) points out the situation of the various families of the +Machil (Moʿakel) tribe of Arabs.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127"><span class= +"label">[127]</span></a>The solitude and dangers of the desert +naturally incline the mind to the terrors of superstition. Marco +Polo (Marsden’s edit. p. 159) relates that the Desert of Lop, in +Tatary, is haunted by spirits who call travellers by their names in +the voice of friends, and lead them astray.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128"><span class= +"label">[128]</span></a>A hundred mithḳáls was a large hire, if we +estimate it by the price of salt at Tegháza, which was probably but +one mithḳál the load. In the descriptions of the Desert of Tíser, +the serpents infesting it are always mentioned. They were dressed +with salt and wormwood, according to El Idrísí (Rec. de Voy. p. +108), and eaten by the Blacks. If the loose hot sands abruptly +approach the limits of vegetation on the southern border of the +Ṣaḥrá, between the 4th and 9th westerly meridians, this phenomenon +must be ascribed to the prevalence of northerly winds, which drive +the sand within the limit of the rains. On the coast the drift of +the sand seems to lean towards the north.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129"><span class= +"label">[129]</span></a>Aïwalátin <span class= +"arabic">ايْولَاتِنْ</span> is a regular plural, formed from the +singular Walet or Waláta. Thus <em>afíus</em>, a hand, makes in the +plural <em>aïfásen</em> (Höst’s Marokos, p. 137); <em>tar</em>, a +foot, makes <em>itaren</em>. The Berber names of towns are often in +the plural number, comprehending the several villages within the +limits of a <em>Tenzert</em>, or district. Waláta (Gualata) is +described by Leo (pt. <span class="sc2">VI</span>. c. 60), not as a +town, but a territory containing three hamlets (casali) and some +scattered habitations. Hence he might with propriety have written +<em>Igualaten</em>, as he wrote <em>Iguaden</em> for Wádán, the +Hoden of Cadamosto. The commercial importance once enjoyed by +Aïwalátin is agreeably illustrated by an anecdote related in the +History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain, p. 302. While Ibn +Baṭúṭah was at the court of Málí, he witnessed one day a Masúfí +rushing into the presence of the King, and prostrating himself in +the manner of a suppliant. When asked who had wronged him, he +replied, Manshajú biwalátin <span class="arabic">منشاجوا +بولاتن</span>, which means the Governor or Viceroy of Aïwalátin. +Manshajú or Manshagú is obviously derived from Mansá, with the +Berber pronunciation; the <em>b</em> prefixed to the following word +is the sign of the possessive case (Venture on the Berber Language, +in the Appendix to Langlés’ Translation of Hornemann’s Travels, p. +420).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130"><span class= +"label">[130]</span></a>The title Farbá <span class= +"arabic">فربا</span>, borne by the chief officers in the empire of +Málí, is originally the same as that of Farma or Farim, usual among +the Ṣúṣú and Mandingoes near the coast. Jobson (The Golden Trade, +p. 58) distinguishes between the Ferrans (Farims) and Ferambra (the +Farinba of Park). Golberry (Fragm. d’un Voy. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. p. 425) observes, that in Bambúk, the power has +passed from the Seratik, or nominal king, to the Farims. The same +is true of the neighbouring states, which at present hardly +acknowledge a paramount authority. For the Masúfí law of +succession, see <a href="#Page_40">p. 40.</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131"><span class= +"label">[131]</span></a>Zághari <span class= +"arabic">زَاغَرِي</span>. Its inhabitants were called Zangarátah +<span class="arabic">زَنْجَراتة</span>. While the followers of the +Ibadhia doctrine were named Ṣaghanghú <span class= +"arabic">صَغَنْغُوا</span>, orthodox sunnites were called Túri +<span class="arabic">تُورِي</span>. Ibn Baṭúṭah mentions no river +on his route from Aïwalátin to Karsekhó <span class= +"arabic">كَارْسَخَوُ</span>, nor does he state the distance, which +probably was not great, from this place to the Ṣanṣarah +<span class="arabic">صَنْصَرَة</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132"><span class= +"label">[132]</span></a>The terms Faráriah <span class= +"arabic">فَرارية</span> and Farári <span class= +"arabic">فراري</span>, applied by Ibn Baṭúṭah to the chief officers +of Málí, and which he translated Amírs, are respectively the +collective and plural of Arabic form, from the word <em>Fary</em>, +which in the Bambara language (a dialect of the Mandingo) signifies +<em>valour</em> or <em>courage</em>. From this word comes +<em>Fariba</em>, a valiant man (Dard, Dict. Wolofe et Bambara). The +Mandingoes form personal nouns with the suffix <em>ma</em>: thus +from <em>fanko</em>, power, comes <em>fankama</em>, a powerful man +(M‘Brair’s Gram. of Mandingo, p. 6). Thus it is probable that from +the word <em>Fary</em> is derived the titles Farba, Farma, or +Farim, which the conquests of the Mandingo race have spread so +widely through Guinea. But the Farims, or Lieutenants, are now +superior to the Seratiks, or Kings, and the title of the latter was +at one time secondary (see <a href="#Footnote_119">Note 119</a>); +so that sovereign titles in Guinea standing on the ruins of +preceding titles, are so many monuments of revolution.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133"><span class= +"label">[133]</span></a>It is obvious that the poets here described +are the <em>Jelli-kés</em>, or <em>singing men</em>, of the +Mandingoes (see Laing’s Travels, p. 232). But it must not be +supposed that by Jál <span class="arabic">حال</span>, in the +(Arabicized) plural Jolá <span class="arabic">حُلا</span>, Ibn +Baṭúṭah meant to represent the word Jelli-ké. He must be understood +to say that the Jelli-kés, in Málí, were of the nation called +<em>Jolá</em>. Park says (Second Journey, 8vo. p. 57) that “those +who trade on credit are called <em>Juli</em>.” But this appears to +be a rash and incorrect explanation of the name. The word +<em>julo</em> signifies <em>debt</em> or bondage, but not a +<em>debtor</em>. The same author, in describing further on (p. 228) +the route southward to Bé-dú, mentions several Juli towns, and +observes, that “the Julis are people who understand the language of +Bœdoo and Miniana, and are employed as brokers,” &c. But our +difficulties respecting the application of this name are removed by +Caillié, who informs us (Voy. à Temboctou, <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. pp. 82, 160), that in Bambara the Mandingoes are +called <em>Jaulas</em>, <em>Diaulas</em>, or <em>Jolas</em>. It is +probable, however, that the name properly belongs to the +inhabitants of the country south of Bambara, where Park pointed out +the Juli towns. But in the Bambara language <em>Dhioli</em> +(according to Dard’s orthography) means <em>red</em>; may not the +Jolá, Julis, or Jaulas, therefore, be the people referred to in the +document procured from the Governor of Senegal, and published in +the Appendix to Adams’s Narrative (p. 197), wherein Bé-dú is +described to be “un pays habité par un peuple +<em>rougeatre</em>”?</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134"><span class= +"label">[134]</span></a>Clapperton’s Second Journey, pp. 47, 52, +72. The persons prostrating themselves before the King of Yariba +were contemptuously called “Sandeaters,” by Clapperton’s Houssa +servant; so little are the usages of Ghánah now known in the +neighbourhood of Kanó! Lander (Expedition to the Niger, +<span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 172), describing these ceremonies, +names the king Mansolah, of which the Mandingo title Mansá may +possibly be a part.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135"><span class= +"label">[135]</span></a>It is manifest that the kingdom called Maha +by Clapperton (Second Journey, p. 56) is the Magho of Dupuis +(Residence in Ashantee, p. xcviii), and is also identical with the +Mohammedan kingdom of Zogho, said by the latter writer (p. civ.) to +adjoin the Yagah tribes (Bergú) and the Ayah (Yariba). The road +from Ashantee to Niki, the capital of Bergú, after passing through +the town of Zogho, conducts to Salamo, Jambodú, and Súsú, or Súso. +The last two names are apparently Mandingo. The name of the Sultan +of Magho, residing in the city of Ghoroma (Ghúrma) is said (Dupuis, +p. cxxix.) to be Mariba Sheky, an obvious misreading for Farba +Shego. It seems very likely that the title of Maha or Magho, +vaguely given by the people on the coast to a Mohammedan prince in +the interior, is the Mandingo name Maghá, that is, Mohammed.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136"><span class= +"label">[136]</span></a>Leo Africanus, pt. <span class= +"sc2">VII</span>. c. 3 & 4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137"><span class= +"label">[137]</span></a>Park’s First Journey, p. 195. In the Rec. +des Voy. tom. <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 53, it is maintained +that all the villages composing Sego are on the right or southern +bank of the river. But the general character of the information +there given will not bear to be weighed against the clear testimony +of Park. It seems not improbable that Kársekhó was a part of Sego, +but there is no necessity for insisting on that point. Perhaps if +Caillié, who applied the Wolof term <em>Marigot</em>, which he had +learned in Senegal, to all the creeks of the Great River, had +inquired how they were called in Bambara, or lower down, he might +have learned the name Ṣanṣarah. Perhaps, too, the Gozen-zaire of +Sidi Hamed’s narrative (Riley, Loss of the Brig Commerce, p. 362), +might have been more correctly written Go-sansarah. It seems to owe +its present form to Riley’s partiality to the hypothesis uniting +the Niger with the Zaire.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138"><span class= +"label">[138]</span></a>In the original thus: <span class= +"arabic">وحاضرَة الملك الاهل مالي هُوَ بلد ىىى</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139"><span class= +"label">[139]</span></a>The wide arm of the river (Khalíj) reached +by our traveller on the third night after his leaving Málí must +have been the branch observed by Caillié to join the river from the +west at Isaca. He supposed it to come from Sego (Voy. à Temboctou, +p. 239), but its separation from the main stream must be lower +down. There is, as yet, no sufficient reason to deny that the river +of Sego is also the river of Jenni, and that the latter place +stands between its branches, and not between two distinct +rivers.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140"><span class= +"label">[140]</span></a>This anecdote, like most stories of +cannibalism, has the defect of not proceeding from an eye witness; +but it proves one fact, namely, that the people of Málí were not +cannibals.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141"><span class= +"label">[141]</span></a>Korí Mansá <span class="arabic">كُرِى +منسا</span>. Perhaps this place was the residence of the chief +(Mansá) who levied the tax on cotton (Korí). The name written in +the original Rʿarí <span class="arabic">رعري</span> has been here +changed into Zagharí (See above, <a href="#Page_75">p. 75</a>), as +the existence of two places not far asunder, and with names written +so much alike, is much less probable than a lapse in the MSS. Mímah +<span class="arabic">ميمه</span> is the Amímah of older +writers.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142"><span class= +"label">[142]</span></a>The Daḳnó of Ibn Baṭúṭah is the Dokhnou of +Caillié:—“Un mélange de farine de mil et de miel que l’on délaie +pour ensuite le boire.” (Voy. à Temb. <span class="sc2">II</span>. +p. 236.) This word belongs apparently to the Kissour language.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143"><span class= +"label">[143]</span></a>The word here rendered merchants of +Godémis, is Ḳodémiyín <span class="arabic">قداميين</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144"><span class= +"label">[144]</span></a>The Berdámah <span class= +"arabic">بردامه</span> were probably a family of the Beghámah, a +nomade tribe mentioned by El Idrísí, whose country lay behind that +of the Merásah, to the east of Ghánah.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145"><span class= +"label">[145]</span></a>Ibn Baṭúṭah himself bought a female slave +at Tekaddá for twenty-five mithḳáls, no exorbitant price +apparently. Kúber <span class="arabic">كوبر</span>. Rághá +<span class="arabic">راغا</span>. Káhir <span class= +"arabic">كاهر</span>. Of Karkar some notice will be taken +hereafter.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146"><span class= +"label">[146]</span></a>Cadamosto learned that Málí was thirty days +from Tomboktú. The last-named city is generally said to be ten days +from Jenni by land, and twenty-five by water; but the land journeys +here meant cannot be those of a loaded caravan, but nearly half as +long again. Sego is five or six days above Jenni.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147"><span class= +"label">[147]</span></a>It is fortunate that Ibn Khaldún removes +all doubts as to the identity of Ibn Baṭúṭah’s Kaúkaú with Leo’s +Gago. The latter writer calls it (pt. <span class="sc2">VII</span>. +c. 7) “una grandissima citta.” He also says that, compared with the +rest of Negroland, it was “molto civile.” His list of prices is +curious, as well as his Macchiavellian remark on the ignorance and +oppressed condition of the lower orders.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148"><span class= +"label">[148]</span></a>When Ibn Khaldún says that Tekaddá is +seventy days south-west of Wergelán (see <a href="#Page_65">p. +65</a>), it is evident that he measures the circuitous route by +Ghát; and that the bearing of Tekaddá from Ghát is incautiously +taken by him for the direction of the whole journey.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149"><span class= +"label">[149]</span></a>The superiority of the people of Guber is +plainly asserted by Sultan Bello, who says (Appendix to Denham and +Clapperton’s Travels, 8vo. <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 450) +that they alone, of all the Houssa tribes, are free born, being +descended from the Copts, while the rest are the progeny of Bawwa, +or Baúwa, that is, a slave (not Ba-oo, as in Mr. Salamé’s +Translation). The country of the Baúwa is Baúchi, or Baúji, +commonly written Bowshee. Sultan Bello’s History, brought to Europe +by Clapperton, would well deserve a critical study: but where is +the original? Did it belong to the public? and if it did, why is it +not in the library of the British Museum?</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150"><span class= +"label">[150]</span></a>The Arabic MS. here varies a little in its +readings. It says—“from Kársekhó the Nile descends to Kabúrah +<span class="arabic">كَبُورة</span> and to Zághah <span class= +"arabic">زاغه</span>; and these two cities, namely, al-Kábrah +<span class="arabic">الكابرة</span> and Zághíah <span class= +"arabic">زاغيه</span>, pay tribute to Málí.” Tomboktú <span class= +"arabic">تُنْبُكْتُوا</span> is carefully spelt by Ibn Baṭúṭah, the +letters with which it is written being named by him, with their +vowel points. Ibn Baṭúṭah never alludes to the native names of the +Great River, but always calls it the Nile. The local names of the +theoretical Niger (the Senegal and Great River together) collected +by De Barros (Dec. <span class="sc2">I</span>. liv. 3, c. 8), do +not contain the Mandingo name Joliba. This name was first announced +to the geographical world when speculation was unusually active, +and it was immediately explained to mean <em>the Great Waters</em>. +Park, though he seems to have adopted this interpretation (Travels, +p. 194), can hardly be supposed to have been its author. Laing +joins the statement of his precursors to his own information, and +says (Travels, p. 327), that the Niger “is known by the synonymous +appellations of Ba Ba and Joli Ba—“<em>Large River</em>.” Ba Bá +certainly signifies Great River, the substantive <em>Ba</em>, a +river, preceding the adjective <em>Bá</em>, great, according to the +general rule of the Mandingo language. Thus in Ba-fing, black +river, Ba-koé, white river, Ba-woollima, red river, the word +<em>Ba</em>, a river, has precedence; but when joined with a +substantive, as in Kuara-ba, the river of Kuara, it follows. With +these examples before our eyes, it is impossible to admit the +explanation of the name of Joliba given above, which receives +moreover no support from the vocabularies. It is likely that the +name Joliba, or, as written by Caillié, Dhioliba, by Mollien, +Dialiba, means the river of the Jál or Jolá, Juli, Jaules, Diaules, +or Dhioli (red men), from whose country it descends, whether its +sources be, as stated by Park (Travels, App. p. xliv.), in +Jallonké-dú, <em>i.e.</em> Jallo-man’s land, or in Bé-dú, where are +the Juli towns and men of a red complexion.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151"><span class= +"label">[151]</span></a>Beldeh Múlí <span class="arabic">بلدة +مُولي</span>. The Fellátah geographer wrote sometimes Mouri +(Appendix to Clapperton’s Second Journey, p. 332), sometimes (p. +340) Mouli (Múlí). He says, that the people of Núfí conquered, +among other countries, “the west of Malee, or Moulee, and Abyou.” +And again, that they subdued “the country of Abbi (in which we now +are) and Kanbari” (Kombori). Abbi is probably the same as Abyou (or +rather Abbíwa), and appears to have been near Sokkatú. In Hannah +Kilham’s Specimens of Languages spoken in Sierra Leone, we find the +Appah and Tapua, both related to the Aku or Yariba. The Tapua is +evidently the Tappawa, or language of Núfí (called Tappa by its +inhabitants), and the Appah is perhaps the language of Abbi. One of +the native itineraries appended to Dupuis’ Residence in Ashantee +(p. cxxix.), places Maury (Múri) next to Kábi on the west.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152"><span class= +"label">[152]</span></a>From Marra is formed the gentile noun +Marrawa; just as Asbenawa is derived from Asben, Kachenawa from +Kachena, Killiwawa from Killiwah. But the carelessness of authors +has given to the country the name Marrawa, Mallawa, or Marroa, +which properly belongs to the people. According to Dupuis (Resid. +in Ashantee, App. lxxxviii.), Marroa was conquered by the Arabs at +the close of the eighth century of our era. For Melil see <a href= +"#Page_37">p. 37.</a> Bowdich (Essay on the Geogr. of N.W. Afr. p. +24) has laboured to show that Mallawa (or Malla) is the Melli of +Leo, or Málí; and Dalzel (History of Dahomy, p. 34) speaks of a +people of the interior called Malays or Mulays; but though the +resemblance of the names Malla, Melli or Málí, and Múlí, favours +confusion, all that we know of their application is on the side of +discrimination.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153"><span class= +"label">[153]</span></a>Ibn Baṭúṭah relates the transaction above +alluded to with many details illustrative of the manners of Málí. +The King, it appears, grew tired of his chief wife, Bálbá Ḳásá, +who, by the custom of the country, shared his authority: (Ḳásá, the +Caza of old vocabularies, means Queen;) he therefore placed her in +confinement in the house of one of his Farárí or captains, and took +for queen in her stead his other wife Banjú, who was not of the +blood royal. The people manifested dissatisfaction at this change. +The female relatives of the King, in visiting Banjú, put dust on +their elbows, but not on their heads. When Bálbá Ḳásá, however, was +soon after released from confinement, the same parties presented +themselves before her with their heads covered with dust and ashes. +Thereupon Banjú complained that the deposed queen was treated with +more honour than herself. Mansá Suleïmán was incensed; and his +relatives, fearing his vengeance, fled to the sanctuary. He soon +pardoned them, however, and then the ladies, according to custom, +presented themselves before him naked. But the public discontent +with the King continued to increase, till one day the Royal +Interpreter Dúghá led forth before the assembly a young female +slave in chains, who disclosed the conspiracy above related. It was +then agreed that Bálbá Ḳásá deserved death.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154"><span class= +"label">[154]</span></a>The situation of Kanbari (Kombori) is +described in the Appendix to Clapperton’s Second Expedition, pp. +339 & 340. For some account of the people who give their name to +this country, see Clapperton’s Narrative, pp. 97, 102, 147, +&c.; and also Lander’s Expedition to the Niger, <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. pp. 87, 299.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155"><span class= +"label">[155]</span></a>For Yúfí <span class="arabic">يُوفِي</span> +Professor Lee (Travels of Ibn Baṭúṭah, p. 238) reads Yúwí, and +Burckhardt (Travels in Nubia, p. 491) Bowy. It is obviously Núfí +mispointed.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156"><span class= +"label">[156]</span></a>In like manner the supposed Christian King +named Ogané, of whom the early Portuguese navigators received +intelligence at Benin, was at once assumed to be the King of +Abyssinia. The fable of an intercourse between Abyssinia and +Western Africa has been gravely repeated by a recent writer +(M‘Queen’s Survey of Africa, p. 5). Fernandez de Enciso (Suma de +Geografia, 1518) says, that in the Bight of Benin are the Blacks +who trade with Libya and Meroe. Lalande (Mémoires de Paris, 1795, +p. 15) has collected with equal industry and credulity the stories +of an overland commerce between the eastern and western coasts of +Africa.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157"><span class= +"label">[157]</span></a>Leo says (pt. <span class="sc2">VII</span>. +c. 1), “Our ancient writers on Africa, as El Bekrí and El Mesúdí, +have written nothing respecting any part of Negroland, except el +Waḥat (the Oases) and Cano.” This sentence, which has been of +course copied with little change by Marmol (tom. <span class= +"sc2">III</span>. fol. 21), can be explained only by supposing that +Cano (Kanó) here means Ghánah. However ill-considered or obscurely +intimated may be Leo’s opinion, it yet probably influenced not a +little the decision of D’Anville in favour of the identity of Kanó +with Ghánah. Major Rennell most unaccountably assumes that by Cano +Leo meant the town of Ganat (or rather Janat), between Fezzan and +Ghát. Perhaps the latter writer’s statement that “Cano is a great +province, about 500 miles distant from the Niger towards the east,” +contained something incompatible with the Major’s system, and made +it absolutely necessary for him to expel Leo’s Cano from Negroland. +Major Rennell disserted always shrewdly, and sometimes with a very +imperfect knowledge of his authors. Thus he asserts that, under the +name Genni (Jenni), Leo meant to describe Ghánah; and that he was +wrong in placing Genni or Ghánah, and Melli, west of Tomboktú, “for +Leo certainly never saw the Niger.” Now Leo, when he speaks of +Genni, says that it is the name used by the natives, and derives it +(with little reason) from Gheneoa (Genéwa), a name as ancient as +Ghánah, and quite distinct from it. Moreover Leo not only saw the +Niger, but actually navigated it to Jenni and Málí (pt. +<span class="sc2">I</span>. c. 3). It is not easy to discover from +Major Rennell’s dissertations the position assigned by him to +Ghánah, but his map shows that he confounded it with Kanó. These +two names, as pronounced in Africa, have much less resemblance in +sound than is commonly imagined. Written in Arabic, they have but +one letter in common. Ghánah begins with a peculiar sonorous +guttural, which is followed by a long vowel; Kanó is like our word +canoe. Einsiedel (Cuhn’s Merkwürdige Reisen, vol. <span class= +"sc2">III</span>. p. 435) writes it <em>Gnou</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158"><span class= +"label">[158]</span></a>In order to prove that Kanó was the Ghánah +of early writers, it was necessary to assume not only the close +resemblance of those names, but also that the name Aghades was a +corruption of Aúdaghost. Then the distance between this place and +Jermah, according to El Idrísí, is called in as a confirmation. A +single particular is taken from that writer, all the others with +which it stands connected being disregarded, though the rejected +details are founded on experience, and the retained one on +inference alone. Yet this arbitrary reasoning cannot after all +attain its desired ends. Aghades is not twenty-five but forty-five +days from Jermah, and Kanó is not twelve but twenty-eight days from +Aghades (Walckenaer Rech. p. 448; Lyon’s Trav. p. 131). The deserts +of ʿAhír and Káhir, beyond Aghades, are far from being utterly +inhospitable tracts.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159"><span class= +"label">[159]</span></a>According to Sultan Bello (Denham and +Clapperton’s Disc. 8vo. <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 447), the +people of Guber at one time held possession of the Desert of ʿAhír, +but were dispossessed by five tribes of the Tawárik, who came out +of Aowjal (Augila).</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span><a id= +"c5"></a>TEKRÚR.</h2> + +<p class="space-above15">Ibn Baṭúṭah, in describing the course of +the Great River below Kársekhó, makes no mention of Tekrúr, the +first converted of the Negro communities in that quarter. That +designation, though widely and vaguely extended in process of time, +was certainly at first applied to a spot between Silla and +Ṣínghánah, and not far from the former of these places. Wárjání, +the chief of Tekrúr who first adopted the Mohammedan faith, and +induced his subjects to follow his example, died in 432 +<span class="sc2">H.</span> (<span class="sc2">A.D.</span> 1040-1); +so that the conversion of his principality preceded, by thirty-five +years at least, that of Ghánah and Western Negroland in general. +Such a priority explains at once the religious eminence implied in +the title Tekrúr (whatever may have been its original +signification), and which caused it to be usurped till its proper +application was at length forgotten.<a id= +"FNanchor_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160" class= +"fnanchor">[160]</a></p> + +<p>But though Ibn Baṭúṭah does not expressly mention Tekrúr, yet he +says of Zághah, situate between Kársekhó and Tomboktú, that it was +the first city of Negroland which received the Mohammedan faith. +Hence it may be inferred that Zághah was the proper territorial +name of the place styled Tekrúr. And this conjecture receives from +Ibn Khaldún strong confirmation, falling short of completeness only +through the unsteady orthography which so often hinders the exact +coincidence of Arab authorities. His words are as follows:—“I was +told by the Sheíkh ʿOthmán, a learned man and theologian of the +people of Ghánah, and one of the chief men of that country in +respect to rank, intelligence, and piety, when he came to Egypt on +his way to Mekkah in 796 (<span class="sc2">A.D.</span> +1393),<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> that the +people of Ghánah employ the name Tekrúr to designate the Zagháï, +and give the name Málí to Atakárthah.”—It can hardly be doubted +that the people here called Zagháï derived their name from the +place called by Ibn Baṭúṭah Zághah. The name Atakárthah does not +admit of quite so easy an explanation; yet it may with much +probability be assumed to be the original and complete Berber form +of the name, now written in our maps, Kaarta. The statement of the +Sheíkh ʿOthmán then amounts to this: the people of Ghánah +discriminated, in terms naturally arising out of their local +position, between Tekrúr and Málí, giving the former name to a +certain tribe dwelling to the south, and the latter to a particular +region higher up the river, and the frontier of which, facing +Ghánah, was Atakárthah or Kaarta.<a id="FNanchor_161"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a></p> + +<p>The country of Tekrúr or of the Zagháï thus discriminated from +Málí, which lay further west, may be clearly recognized in modern +accounts, notwithstanding the disguise of a variable orthography. +Sultan Bello, after describing the country of<span class="pagenum" +id="Page_99">[99]</span> Mósí, thus proceeds:—“Adjoining to it on +the north side, the province of Sanghee (Zághí) lies. Its +inhabitants are remnants of the Sonhaja (Zenágah), wandering Arabs +and the Felateen. They profess the Mohammedan faith, and their +princes ruled them always with equity and justice. A great number +of learned and pious persons have distinguished themselves from +among them. Next to Sanghee on the west side, the country of Málí +is situated. It embraces the province of Bambara,” &c.<a id= +"FNanchor_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162" class= +"fnanchor">[162]</a>—The situation here assigned to Sanghee, and +the reputed piety of its inhabitants, clearly show that it is the +country of Tekrúr or of the Zagháï mentioned by Ibn Khaldún, and +the Zághah or Zághiyah of Ibn Baṭúṭah. The commercial activity of +the people, or perhaps their social ascendency due to their +religious reputation, appears in the wide diffusion of their +language; for, according to Leo, the <em>Sungai</em> (Zagháï) +language was used in Walet, Tomboktú, Jenni, Málí, and Kághó.<a id= +"FNanchor_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163" class= +"fnanchor">[163]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>The geographical +sketch of Negroland drawn by Sultan Bello, differs materially from +that made by his follower Mohammed Másíní, inasmuch as the former +exhibits the territorial divisions of the indigenous population, +whereas the latter offers only Fellátah names, and totally +overlooks the aboriginal inhabitants. Nevertheless, the Zagháï, or +people of Sanghee, are to be found in Mohammed’s descriptions with +little change of denomination. In describing the road from Sokkatú +to Másín, he places, seven days east of the latter country, “the +territory of Hajrí,”—that is, the rocky or mountainous tract. The +Fellátah, he says, possess the valleys, “but the mountains are +inhabited by a people called Benoo-Hami, of the tribe of Sokai +(Zagháï), who are great warriors. In the middle of this country is +a great and lofty mountain, on which is a town called Oonbori, +whose king is named Noohoo-Ghaloo-farma, of the tribe of Sokai, and +is renowned for his generosity and munificence.” Further on we are +told that Oonbori is comprised in the dominion of the Sultan of +Másín, so that the people here called the tribe of Sokai probably +extend from the mountains to the river. Alexander Scott received +from his ignorant companions a distorted account of the Zachah +(Zagháï) dwelling on the eastern shores of Lake Debú; and the town +of Sankhaguibila, placed by Caillié on the right bank of the river +farther south, appears to owe its name to the same tribe +(Ḳabílah).<a id="FNanchor_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164" class= +"fnanchor">[164]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span>The Benú Hami, +who are also Zagháï, or of the tribe of Sokai, are said by Mohammed +Másíní, to dwell not only in the mountains near the western course +of the Great River above Tomboktú, but also in the desert, mingled +with the Tawárik, on the left bank of the same river below Kághó, +and between that river and Sokkatú. And this information accords +with the statement of Sultan Bello, who, speaking of the province +of Kábi, west of Sokkatú, says, “its inhabitants, it is supposed, +had their first father from Sanghee and their mother from Kashnah;” +clearly implying by this genealogy, that the Zagháï, Sanghee, +Sokai, or Benú Hami, have dwelt from time immemorial in Kábi, +intermingled with and ruling the indigenous population.<a id= +"FNanchor_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165" class= +"fnanchor">[165]</a> The advance of the tribe or nation originally +styled Tekrúr, from the vicinity of Jenni eastwards to Marra or +Western Houssa, completely explains why Ibn Khaldún, placing the +Ṣúṣú and then Málí next to Ghánah (an arrangement expressing +historical perhaps rather than geographical relations), and beyond +these Kághó, sets Tekrúr beyond, or, as he supposed, eastward from, +the latter place; and also why Makrízí makes Tekrúr the western +boundary of the great empire of Kánem or Bornú. In the last century +Niebuhr the traveller learned that Tekrúr was the residence of a +sultan, the vassal of Afnú (Houssa), who possessed Mara (Marra) and +Adana (perhaps Ader).<a id="FNanchor_166"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>Though the +people of Ghánah always kept in view the original application of +the name Tekrúr, even after the territory where it grew into +importance became part of the empire of Málí, yet beyond the circle +of exact local knowledge, such propriety of language was never +thought of, and at a distance the name Tekrúr was employed in a +very comprehensive and indefinite manner. Makrízí, in describing +the pilgrimage of Mansá Músa, King of Málí, in <span class= +"sc2">A.D.</span> 1324, styles him King of Tekrúr; but again, in +the annals of <span class="sc2">A.D.</span> 1351, he mentions +another king of Tekrúr, who likewise passed through Egypt, and who +certainly was not Mansá Suleïmán, at that time King of Málí. It is +manifest therefore that Makrízí used the name Tekrúr in no properly +restricted and perhaps in no fixed acceptation.<a id= +"FNanchor_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167" class= +"fnanchor">[167]</a> The Western Fellátah apply the epithet Tekrúrí +to the religious classes of their own nation. In Egypt it is given +generally to Mohammedan devotees, natives of Negroland; and when +Sultan Bello makes Tekrúr comprise all Negroland from Dárfúr +inclusively westward, he offers an example not of the correct use +of that name, but of its widest abuse.<a id= +"FNanchor_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168" class= +"fnanchor">[168]</a></p> + +<p>The history of Tekrúr may be thus briefly recapitulated:—The +Zenágah early established themselves on the Great River, above Lake +Debú, where the continued tract of desert conducted them to its +banks, and there founded the city of Zághah, from which they +afterwards took their name. They embraced Mohammedism, nearly half +a century before the Blacks in their neighbourhood, and thereby +obtained a reputation of sanctity which was nowise diminished by +their activity as slave hunters. The general conversion of Western +Negroland compelling<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_103">[103]</span> them to go to a distance for their prey, +they proceeded eastwards to Marra or Western Houssa, where the +hilly region has been always, in an eminent degree, the country of +slaves.<a id="FNanchor_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169" class= +"fnanchor">[169]</a> They thus broke the path in which they were +afterwards followed by the people of Málí, and more recently still +by the Fellátah. The kingdom of Tekrúr being extinguished in the +west by the empire of Málí, rose more conspicuously in the east: +though the people retained their old habitations, the political +denomination completely shifted its place, and Tekrúr stood between +Málí and Bornú. In the meantime the religious title Tekrúrí being +widely usurped, the original and proper application of the name +fell into neglect and oblivion.</p> + +<hr class="decor width10"> + +<div class="footnotes" id="ftc5"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160"><span class= +"label">[160]</span></a>Tekrúr, according to El Bekrí (Not. et +Extr. tom. <span class="sc2">XII</span>. p. 637), was at no great +distance from Ṣínghánah towards the south-west. El Idrísí always +unites Silla and Tekrúr. The date of Wárjání’s death is given by El +Bekrí (MS. B.M. fol. 110), who also states that the people of Silla +embraced Mohammedism at that chief’s persuasion. Wárjání was +probably a Zenágah, a great number of proper names in the Berber +language beginning with the syllable <em>wer</em> or <em>wár</em> +(the negative particle?). A prince of Tekrúr accompanied the +Lumtúnah in their first religious wars.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161"><span class= +"label">[161]</span></a>The name Zagháí <span class= +"arabic">زغاي</span> cannot, it is true, be formed from Zághah +<span class="arabic">زاغة</span>; but considering that they are +taken from different authors, and that the orthography of African +names is extremely unsettled, there is no great boldness in the +hypothesis which connects them. It is easier to believe that one of +these names requires a little correction, than that the Tekrúrí did +not bear the name of the town which first received the Mohammedan +faith. Makrízí, or Ibn Sʿaíd, from whom he copies, says (Hamaker, +Specimen Catalogi, &c., p. 209,) “that all the nations +comprised between Abyssinia on the south, Nubia on the east, Barkah +on the north, and Tekrúr on the west, are called Zagháï.” Here the +name Zagháï is derived from Zagháwah, and the Tekrúr spoken of is +that of Houssa. An anecdote related in the ‘History of the +Mohammedan Dynasties,’ by Gayangos (p. 303), shows that in the +thirteenth century, there was a state called Tekrúr in the +neighbourhood of Aïwalátin. An Arab writer of little merit +apparently (in the Library of the British Museum, MS. No. 7,483), +says that “the Blacks are now in general styled Tekrúr; but +anciently the name Tekrúr was applied only to the inhabitants of +the country called Atasama <span class="arabic">اتسمي</span>.” It +may be conjectured that Atasama is an ill-written derivative from +Sámah, the country of the Bokmo or Bagamo. The <em>t</em> is a +Berber article; the initial <em>a</em> the sign of the possessive +case, and perhaps also of adjectives derived therefrom. Thus the +Berbers say, Mohammed a-Mohammed a-Mast, to express Mohammed, son +of Mohammed, of or belonging to Messah. Hence also from Mazig, the +reputed ancestor of the Berbers, and personification of the μαζίκες +of the Greeks, was formed the name Amazig (see De Sacy’s Analysis +of Shehabeddin in Not. et Extr. tom. <span class="sc2">II</span>. +p. 153, and the extract from Ibn Khaldún’s History of the Berbers +in the Nouv. Jour. Asiatique, No. <span class="sc2">VIII</span>., +1828, p. 132). The reader may consider how far these remarks are +applicable to such names as Atakárthah, Atasama, Amímah, and +perhaps Awalílí or Aúlílí (see <a href="#Footnote_107">Note +107</a>).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162"><span class= +"label">[162]</span></a>For Mósí, the translator of Bello’s History +has written Moosher (Denham’s Discoveries, &c. 8vo. +<span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 455), just as he has written +Bowsher for Baúshí (p. 450). The Arabic letter <em>ghain</em>, here +represented by <em>gh</em>, easily becomes nasal; and on the east +coast of Africa, where the nasal sound occurs frequently in the +native names, as in Songa, Tongata, Mongallo, it is always +expressed by <em>ghain</em> alone. Hence Zághah in the mouth of a +Mandingo, becomes Zanghah and Ṣanghah.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163"><span class= +"label">[163]</span></a>Leo, pt. <span class="sc2">I</span>. c. 11. +Marmol (tom. <span class="sc2">I</span>. c. 23, fol. 44) includes +Gelofe (the country of the Wolofs), also within the range of the +Zungay or Sungai language; but the origin of this mistake is +perhaps not undiscoverable. He says (tom. <span class= +"sc2">III</span>. fol. 22) that the people of Gualata or Ganata are +commonly called Benais, and that they speak the Zungay language. +Whence did the people of Gualata (Walata) obtain that name? Were +they colonists from the capital of Málí? In the ‘True Historical +Discovery of Muley Hamet’s Rising,’ it is said that “the +grasshoppers (locusts) come into Barbary every seven years from the +parts of Benie, or Genie, as the country people imagine.” Although +the names Beni (Benin) and Guinea were often coupled together by +old writers, yet it seems more natural to suppose that, in the +passage here cited, the parts of Negroland nearest to Barbary were +intended, and that by Benie, or Genie, we are to understand the +country of Marmol’s Benais, or Jenni. But Marmol (tom. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. fol. 2 & 15) also places a people named Benais on +the coast near the Senegal. In this, perhaps, he was guided by the +Jesuit missionaries, who visited, from Cape Verde, a king of Bena +(Ragguagli d’alcuni Missioni, 1615, p. 75); probably the Benay of +Mollien. But the king of Bena was a Mandingo or Suso, and boasted +of being superior to all other Farims (Jarric, tom. <span class= +"sc2">III</span>. p. 411). Marmol appears to have confounded the +Bena near the coast, with the Benai people of the interior, and +thus to have made one language extend from the mouth of the Senegal +to Houssa. Hence Moore, in his Travels in Africa, (1737), calls the +Wolofe language the Zanguay.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164"><span class= +"label">[164]</span></a>Oonbori, possessed by the Benú Hami of the +tribe of Sokai (App. to Clapperton’s Journal of a Second +Expedition, p. 331), is probably the Anbárah of El Bekrí (see +above, <a href="#Page_39">p. 39</a>). It is to be observed, that +the chief of Oonbori has the Mandingo title <em>Farma</em>, a +remnant of the supremacy of Málí, following his name, contrary to +the usage of the Mandingo language. If the <em>Sungai</em> then be +the language of the Sokai, it is probably the same which Caillié +calls the <em>Kissour</em>. May not the pilgrimage on which Scott +was led into the country of the Zachah (Edinb. Phil. Jour. +<span class="sc2">IV</span>. p. 49), have been directed to the tomb +of one of the early apostles of Negroland, and to a consecrated +spot of Tekrúr? Notwithstanding the intrinsic weakness of an +argument founded on the resemblance of ill-written names, there is +more of coincidence here than can be ascribed to accident. Near the +site of Tekrúr, the first converted Negro state, is the town of +Zághah, having a like reputation. The title Tekrúr is given to the +Zagháï; the devotees of the desert direct their steps to the +country of the Zachah at that part of the river; there also we find +a country called Sanghee, a tribe named Sokai, and the Sungai +language. It can hardly be denied that these names are related.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165"><span class= +"label">[165]</span></a>Sultan Bello, in Denham, <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. p. 452. From the Benú Hami of the tribe of Sokai, +who live in the desert on the left bank of the river, the country +of Sóghy, where Mungo Park was attacked (Clapperton, p. 334), +obviously derived its name.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166"><span class= +"label">[166]</span></a>Deutches Museum, 1790, cited by Walck. +Rech. p. 73. Yakút, in his Geographical Dictionary, says, that the +King of Kaúkaú made war upon the Moslim of Ghánah on the west, and +those of Tekrúr on the east. According to Ibn Sʿaíd (Hamaker, +Specimen Cat. p. 209), Tekrúr, which thus appears to have been east +(rather south-east) of Kaúkaú (Kághó), was also the western +boundary of the Zagháï (of Zagháwah), or the empire of Kánem.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167"><span class= +"label">[167]</span></a>Not. et Extr. tom. <span class= +"sc2">XII</span>. p. 637-8, note.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168"><span class= +"label">[168]</span></a>See <em>ante</em>, <a href= +"#Footnote_73">Note 73.</a> Mollien (Voyage dans l’Intérieur de +l’Afrique, <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 176) says, that in the +Fellátah language, the word Toucolor signifies a Mohammedan priest. +But he elsewhere (pp. 207, 215) seems to use that name as the +designation not of a class but of a community. Toucolor, whence the +Tucorones of De Barros, is an obvious corruption of Tokrúr.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169"><span class= +"label">[169]</span></a>The name Boushy (Baú-shi), now given to the +hilly country south of Zegzeg, means the country of the Baúwa, that +is, of the Slaves.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2><a id="c6"></a>KÚGHAH — KÁGHÓ — KAÚKAÚ — KARKAR.</h2> + +<p class="space-above15">Kúghah is said by El Bekrí to have been +fifteen days from Ghánah; and if to this scanty information be +added the statements of El Idrísí, that it stood on the Nile or +Great River, and was nine days east of Samaḳanda, which was four +days distant from Ghánah towards the south or south-east, it will +be apparent that Kúghah was the place otherwise named Kághó. It +was, of all the cities of the Blacks, that which furnished the +largest quantity of gold,—the very remark made of Gago (Kághó) by +Leo Africanus.<a id="FNanchor_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170" +class="fnanchor">[170]</a> When Cadamosto relates<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span> that, of the gold collected in +Melli (Málí), part was sent to Oden (Waddán), part to Tombutto +(Tomboktú), and the remainder to “a place called Cochia, which is +the road to Syria and Cairo,” it is manifest that he meant to speak +of Kághó under the name of Kúghah.<a id="FNanchor_171"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> But it has been shown +that Kághó was also called Kaúkaú. It is therefore clearly +ascertained that one place—the most important in Negroland—bore +three different names,—viz. Kúgháh, Kaúkaú, and Kághó, of which the +last alone was proper to it; the first two also designating, or +appearing to designate, other places. But it is worth while to +inquire more closely into the confusion arising from this frequent +use of equivalent and equivocal names.</p> + +<p>El Bekrí does not speak quite so concisely of Kaúkaú as of +Kúghah: he enters a little into detail respecting the former place; +he says that it was nine days from Tádmekkah, which was situate +fifty days eastward from Ghánah, and forty from Ghodémis. Tádmekkah +was evidently a Berber town, in the desert, while Kaúkaú was +considered as belonging to Negroland; yet if we suppose Kaúkaú to +have been south of Tádmekkah, or forty-nine days from Ghodémis, and +little more than fifty from Ghánah, still it could not, within nine +days of Tádmekkah, have been in Negroland properly so called, but +only on its frontiers towards the desert. Indeed, it may be +inferred from El Bekrí’s words, that its inhabitants were of Berber +rather than of Negro origin. They were called by the Arabs, he +says, Baẓarkáyín; they dressed <em>like the Blacks</em>, they +worshipped idols <em>like the Blacks</em>, but their king was a +Mohammedan. They always threw the remains of the King’s dinner into +the Nile,—an expression on which but little stress can be laid. El +Bekrí, in tracing the course of the Great River eastwards from +Ghánah, states that fourteen days below the latter place, it +entered the territory of the Seghmárah; and “opposite to the +Seghmárah,” he adds, “on the other side of the river, is Kaúkaú.” +Now the Seghmárah also occupied the country north of Tádmekkah; +they possessed therefore, or roved over, a desert exceeding a +month’s journey in extent. In so wide a<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_105">[105]</span> compass, it conduces little to accuracy to +learn that Kaúkaú stood opposite to them; and as to the river, it +may have been the theoretical stream uniting the Nile of Ghánah +with that of Egypt. It is plain enough that Kaúkaú, nine days from +Tádmekkah, was a very different place from Kúghah on the Great +River, fifteen days below Ghánah; but since Kúghah was also called +Kaúkaú, it is not quite clear that El Bekrí has not confounded in +some degree those two places, and ascribed to the one the +characteristics of the other.<a id="FNanchor_172"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a></p> + +<p>In El Idrísí’s accounts of Kúghah and Kaúkaú, there is nothing +so remarkable as his tone of uncertainty and the doubts uttered by +him. Thus he says of Kúghah, that “it stands on the northern bank +of the Nile, the waters of which are drunk by its inhabitants. It +belongs to Wanghárah, <em>but some of the Blacks place it in +Kánem</em>.” Again, he tells us that “Kaúkaú is the most celebrated +city of Negroland: it is large, and stands on the banks of a river +flowing through it from the north. <em>But</em> many of the Blacks +affirm that this city is built on the sides of a canal; <em>others +say</em>, on a river running into the Nile; but the more probable +opinion is, that the river of Kaúkaú has a course of many days +before it reaches that city, and is afterwards lost in the +sands.”<a id="FNanchor_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173" class= +"fnanchor">[173]</a> Doubts of this kind respecting the most +important and celebrated cities of Negroland may be more naturally +ascribed to ambiguity of information, than to actual want of it. +Kúghah on the Great River below Ghánah, may have been confounded +with Kaúghah adjoining Bornú, and thus transferred eastwards into +the vicinity of Kánem. The celebrity of Kúghah (called also Kaúkaú) +may have lent a semblance of importance to some place in the desert +bearing apparently the latter name, and the physical geography of +which was but little known.</p> + +<p>Respecting the position of this Kaúkaú of the desert, our +information is far from being satisfactory; yet it all points +towards the desert fronting Houssa, or between that country and +Aghades. East of Ghánah, and behind the Merásah, El Idrísí places +the nomade tribe of the Beghámah. Between the<span class="pagenum" +id="Page_106">[106]</span> Beghámah and the Azḳár who passed the +summer on Ṭanṭanah, the range of hills bounding Fezzán on the +south, was a distance of twenty days. Now from Kúghah to Kaúkaú, he +tells us, was a journey of twenty days going <em>northwards</em> +through the country of the Beghámah. It was the natural consequence +of a system which arranged the frontier of Negroland in an +undeviating straight line from west to east, to suppose that a +route from Negroland to the desert went northwards: but, stripped +of such inference, El Idrisí’s statement amounts to this,—that +Kaúkaú was twenty days distant from Kúghah, not in Negroland, but +in the desert. Again, when speaking of Ṭanṭanah and the Azḳár, he +says, “further south are Kaúkaú and the Demdem;” and then repeating +the various opinions current respecting the river of Kaúkaú, he +adds, “the country contiguous to this territory (Kaúkaú) on the +east, is chiefly that of Kawwár, well known and much frequented.” +The well-known country of Kawwár lies half-way between Fezzán and +Bornú, westward of which situation, and consequently in the desert, +we must look for Kaúkaú. Obscure as these indications are in many +respects, they are conclusive in showing that Kaúkaú, according to +the Arab author’s conception, was in the desert, between Kúghah and +Kawwár, Ṭanṭanah and the country of the Demdem.<a id= +"FNanchor_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174" class= +"fnanchor">[174]</a></p> + +<p>Ibn Sʿaíd, who wrote in the latter half of the thirteenth +century, or above a century later than El Idrísí, after stating +that Kánem is the greatest kingdom of Negroland, that it has Fezzán +on the north, and that it is the head of Bornú, adds, that it has +on the west Kaúkaú, Baghárah or Taghárah, Tekrúr, &c. He says +also, that “from Tádmekkah to Kaúkaú are ten stages, from Kaúkaú to +Ghánah twenty; then follows the Ocean.” The reduced distance here +allowed between Tádmekkah and Ghánah, may have arisen from +confounding the Kaúkaú of the desert with the city of the same name +(called also Kúghah and Kághó) on the Great River. But on one point +Ibn Sʿaíd speaks clearly, namely, that Kaúkaú was not comprised in +the kingdom of Kánem, which then included<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_107">[107]</span> Bornú and part of the desert, but lay +further west, between Tádmekkah and Ghánah.</p> + +<p>Numerous as are the Arab writers of Geographical Treatises and +Dictionaries, it is vain to seek in their pages for any information +on so obscure a point as the position of Kaúkaú. They all copy +preceding writers literally, particularly El Idrísí; and on opening +their volumes, we are almost sure of reading, that “Kaúkaú stands +on a river of the same name, coming from the north, and afterwards +sinking in the sands of the desert, though some say,” &c. Yet +they present one striking variance; many, if not even a large +majority of them write, not Kaúkaú, but Karkar. It may be said, +indeed, that in Arabic writing, Kaúkaú is easily changed into +Karkar, and that the latter name is probably only a clerical +corruption of the former.<a id="FNanchor_175"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> But can it be shown +<em>à priori</em> that there could not have been a city or country +named Karkar? and is not the readiness to suppose the corruption of +Kaúkaú into Karkar, itself the result of a prejudice founded on the +celebrity of the former of these names, and which was likely at all +times to prompt copiers and compilers to a corruption of an +opposite kind, namely, that of Karkar into Kaúkaú? Of two names +resembling each other, the more famous and better known may be well +presumed to have had the benefit of all doubts in the process of +transcription; while on the other hand, if there were actually two +important places named Kaúkaú in Negroland, it is inconceivable +that Arab travellers visiting that region should have never called +attention to so remarkable an instance of homonymy; nay, that Arab +Geographers should never have even suspected the existence of two +places of that name, but should have uniformly endeavoured to draw +to a single point the double image before their eyes. The manifest +double use of the name Kaúkaú; the remarkable absence of all direct +testimony as to the existence of two places of that name; and the +various<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span> readings of +geographers compiling from the same authorities, being maturely +considered, it is impossible to avoid concluding, that there +actually were not two places named Kaúkaú, but that there was in +the desert a tract called Karkar, which Arab authors easily +transformed into Kaúkaú. They separated this well-known name from +the names Kúghah and Kághó, with which it had no apparent +relationship, and set it on Karkar, wherewith it almost naturally +coincided.<a id="FNanchor_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176" class= +"fnanchor">[176]</a></p> + +<p>But is there any direct and positive evidence, it will be asked, +of the existence of a place or territory named Karkar? Yes, we +reply, there is direct evidence to that effect, sufficient to +confirm the authority of the numerous Arab geographers who write +Karkar instead of Kaúkaú. Ibn Baṭúṭah informs us that the Desert of +Káhir, eastward of Tekaddá, belonged to the Karkarí Sultan.<a id= +"FNanchor_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177" class= +"fnanchor">[177]</a> There is here no possibility of confusion; +Kaúkaú, which that traveller had visited, was included in the +empire of Málí; and Tekaddá, an independent state, stood between +that place and Káhir, depending on the Karkarí. But Káhir had +ʿAhír, the desert of the Tawárik, on the north and east; Tekaddá on +the west; and southwards it extended—as we learn from Leo, who +calls it Ghír—to the frontiers of Guber: in this latter direction, +then, we may naturally look for the head quarters of the +Karkarí.</p> + +<p>A modern writer, who has collected much, but not always distinct +information relating to the interior of Africa, after mentioning +the Kadarko (probably the Kotú-n-kúra) and the Shaderbah (the river +of Kábi), adds,—“some of these rivers open a communication with a +tribe of heathens named Gargari, who live in tents, and are not +black, but a red-skinned people, yet they are not of the Arabian +stock. The best breeds of horses and mules come from these +parts.”<a id="FNanchor_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178" class= +"fnanchor">[178]</a> This is evidently<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_109">[109]</span> a description of a Berber tribe, whose +loose observance of the Mohammedan rites has caused them to be +mistaken for pagans. They reared their horses and mules in the +desert, and visited the high countries of Kachenah, Zamfarah, and +Gúber, whence the rivers alluded to descend. Clapperton found the +Tawárik near Kachenah to be in possession of a remarkably fine +breed of horses. The same traveller learned that, five days south +of Katagum there is an independent people named Kurrikurry, +probably a colony of the Karkari who have fixed themselves on the +eastern slopes of the hills of Baúshi.<a id= +"FNanchor_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179" class= +"fnanchor">[179]</a> In a route from Kanó to Tomboktú, described by +an intelligent native of the former place, the following names +occur in succession:—Berni-Kachenah (Berni means city), +Berni-Gurgar, Zamfarah, Ulumdar, Mallay, Galefaty and Asben. +Ulumdar is the name of one of the Arab tribes frequenting Houssa; +Mallay means a town belonging to the indigenous population, or the +Mallawa; Galefaty (Kiliwatí, in the Houssa language Kiliwawa) is +the town of the Kiliwah, a Berber tribe; and Berni-Gurgar, on the +frontier between Kachenah and Zamfarah, is probably the chief place +of the Karkarí.<a id="FNanchor_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180" +class="fnanchor">[180]</a></p> + +<p>The obscurity and indistinctness which hung over the most +important place in Negroland being thus removed, there still +remains the inquiry, whether Kúghah, Kaúkaú, or Kághó, still exists +and flourishes; has it mouldered to decay, or does it still retain +the pre-eminence which we know it to have held during at least six +centuries? These questions, in the present state of our +information, cannot be answered with perfect confidence. The brief +journal of Amadi Fatouma, the only survivor of Park’s second +expedition, seems to contain no<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_110">[110]</span> mention of Kághó. But without the original +of that journal, how can a critic decide peremptorily as to its +contents? Is there nothing to awaken suspicion in the published +translation of that journal; or is it not possible, nay even +probable, that the name there read Kaffo was really Kághó?<a id= +"FNanchor_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181" class= +"fnanchor">[181]</a> Bowdich says, that the places passed on the +river below Tomboktú are Uzzalin, Googara, Koolmanna, Gauw, &c. +The last-named place is in Marra; Koolmanna is probably the Gourmon +of Amadi Fatouma, in the kingdom of Ghurma; and Googara is Kúghah, +the burr of the letter ghain being represented by an +<em>r</em>.<a id="FNanchor_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182" class= +"fnanchor">[182]</a> Mohammed Másíní, in his description of the +Kowára, places on its banks, ten days below Tomboktú, a city named +Ghagró, which name, as we have neither the original document, nor +an explanation of the translator’s mode of representing the Arabic +letters, we feel justified in supposing to be intended for +Kághó.<a id="FNanchor_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183" class= +"fnanchor">[183]</a> Finally, in an account of the travels of an +Egyptian-Arab, procured by Major Laing, are the following +words:—“To the westward, between Houssa (Kachenah) and Yawoori +[this is an indication of direction by the traveller in Núfí] is +situated on the Niger, a town of immense magnitude and importance, +called Kuku (Kaúkaú), of the power of which surrounding tribes +stand in much awe.” These allusions, taken together, seem to +warrant the conclusion that Kúghah, Kághó, or Kaúkaú still exists +and flourishes.<a id="FNanchor_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184" +class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p> + +<p>The argument urged above to show that Kaúkaú is often written +for Karkar may be thus briefly stated: Kaúkaú is described by Arab +geographers with impossible conditions, the analysis of which shows +that either there were two places named Kaúkaú, or two places not +so named indeed, but of which the written names were so much alike, +that, in nine cases out of ten, they would be both read Kaúkaú; and +this is the preferable opinion. Having thus decided that the +eastern Kaúkaú, or rather Karkar—as it shall be called hereafter +for the sake of avoiding<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_111">[111]</span> ambiguity—was the territory extending from +the vicinity of the modern Aghades, to the frontiers of Gúber and +Kachenah, we must now give a little attention to its river. Enough +is known of Negroland in that quarter, to render it certain that a +river described in such doubtful language, must belong to the +desert. Streams flow southward from the mountains of Muḳsim near +Aghades, and one of these was probably the river of Karkar.<a id= +"FNanchor_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185" class= +"fnanchor">[185]</a> Passing through this place, it turns westward +(or rather south-westward), and then, according to some accounts, +it winds towards the desert (or northward), and is lost in the +sands. But some say that it joins the Nile (the Great River, or +Kowára); and as the country north-west of the Quorrama is described +as being well watered, and having rivers flowing through it to the +Kowára, the river of Karkar may be assumed with probability to be +one of them.<a id="FNanchor_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186" class= +"fnanchor">[186]</a></p> + +<hr class="decor width10"> + +<div class="footnotes" id="ftc6"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170"><span class= +"label">[170]</span></a>Not. et Extr. p. 649. Leo (pt. <span class= +"sc2">VII</span>. c. 7) says, that not above half or a third of the +gold brought to Gago could find purchasers. Cowries were imported +into Kúghah, and they were also the money of Gago. A Spanish writer +(D. Jorge de Mendoza Dafranca) says of Muley Hamed,—“He increased +his empire by the conquest of Gago and Tumbocotum, whence they +bring an immense quantity of gold. And here I must state as a +curious fact, that in the taking of Gago there was found, in that +place, a piece of artillery, bearing the arms of Portugal; a small +image of Our Lady, and a metal crucifix.” (Papeles Curiosas, in the +Egerton Collection, Brit. Mus. Additional MSS. No. 10,262, p. +235).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171"><span class= +"label">[171]</span></a>Ramusio, 1554, tom. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. Navig. di Aluise Ca da Mosto, c. <span class= +"sc2">XIII</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172"><span class= +"label">[172]</span></a>Not. et Extr. p. 656.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173"><span class= +"label">[173]</span></a>Jaubert’s Idrísí, pp. 21, 22, 116.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174"><span class= +"label">[174]</span></a>Jaubert’s Idrísí, pp. 116, 117.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175"><span class= +"label">[175]</span></a>Hartmann (Commentatio de Geogr. Afr. +Edrísianâ, p. 43) says, that Ibnu-l Wardi alone has Karkar. But +this is a hasty assertion. The Kitábu-l-jʿarafíah, above cited, has +also Karkar; and of four Geographical Dictionaries among the Arabic +MSS. in the Library of the British Museum, viz., Nos. 7497, 7503, +7504, and 7505, the first three read Karkar. Ibnu-l Wardi sometimes +writes Karkarah.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176"><span class= +"label">[176]</span></a>Kaúkaú <span class="arabic">كوكو</span> in +ordinary Arabic writing can hardly be distinguished from +<span class="arabic">كركر</span>, and the latter name is thus +assumed to be the former.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177"><span class= +"label">[177]</span></a>Ibn Baṭúṭah writes “es-Sultan el-Karkarí,” +the latter word expressing not Sultan’s dominion, but his native +country or tribe.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178"><span class= +"label">[178]</span></a>Dupuis, in the passage referred to (Resid. +in Ashantee, App. 55), says, that the Moslem merchants of Benin +trade with the Gargari by means of those rivers. It is evident that +he has here mistaken Bini, a name given by the people of Houssa to +the countries adjoining Núfí, and even to Bornú (Clapperton’s +Second Expedition p. 103), for Benin.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179"><span class= +"label">[179]</span></a>Clapperton points out the situation of the +Kurrikurry in the journal of his first expedition, <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. p. 246. He speaks of the Tawárik horses in p. +317.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180"><span class= +"label">[180]</span></a>About twenty years ago, M. Andrada, the +Portuguese Minister in Brazil, collected much information from the +natives of Houssa whom he found there in slavery. The most +interesting portion of it was transmitted by M. Menézes de +Drummond, to the Journal des Voyages, and afterwards appeared in +the German periodical the Hertha, July 1827, whence it is here +quoted.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181"><span class= +"label">[181]</span></a>Park’s Second Journey, 8vo. p. 288. In +coarse Arabic manuscript, Kaffo would be hardly distinguishable +from Kagho.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182"><span class= +"label">[182]</span></a>Bowdich’s Account of a Mission to Ashantee, +p. 199.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183"><span class= +"label">[183]</span></a>Clapperton’s Second Journey, p. 330.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184"><span class= +"label">[184]</span></a>Journal of Science, edited at the British +Institution, vol. <span class="sc2">XIV</span>. 1823, p. 8.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185"><span class= +"label">[185]</span></a>The rivers in ʿAhír on the northern side of +Muḳsim (Walckenaer, Rech. p. 448) can hardly be supposed to flow +southwards. But the Tatar merchant Wargee (Asiatic Journal, 1823, +p. 16) also speaks of a great river one day’s journey south of +Aghades; though perhaps it was one of those rivers which have but a +short existence after the rains (Walckenaer, Rech. p. 450).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186"><span class= +"label">[186]</span></a>Clapperton’s Second Expedition, App. 332, +333.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2><a id="c7"></a>LEMLEM.</h2> + +<p class="sch1">Remrem — Demdem — Yemyem — Al-Límiyín.</p> + +<p>“Going along the river,” says El Bekrí, “westwards from Kaúkaú +(Karkar), you come to the country of the Remrem (or Demdem), who +eat all who fall into their hands.” This sentence is copied +verbatim by the greater number of the Arab geographers. El Idrísí +however satisfies himself with merely stating that south of +Ṭanṭanah are Kaúkaú (Karkar) and the Demdem; leaving it to be +inferred that the last-named people are furthest south. From what +has been said of the position of Karkar and the course of its +river, it will be apparent that<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_112">[112]</span> the Demdem, being negroes and savages, must +have been situate, not due west, but rather south-west of that +place, and consequently must be sought in the hills of Kábi, facing +the desert, and still inhabited at the present day by a wild and +intractable race.<a id="FNanchor_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187" +class="fnanchor">[187]</a></p> + +<p>In all accounts of Central Africa, from the time of El Bekrí to +the present day, mention is made of cannibals variously called +Remrem, Lemlem, Demdem, Yemyem, or N’yumn’yum. These names differ +only in the consonants employed, one liquid being changed for +another, except in the case of Demdem, which might be naturally an +oral corruption of Remrem; if it be not merely a variety +originating in error of transcription.<a id= +"FNanchor_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188" class= +"fnanchor">[188]</a> Are we then to believe that there are so many +different nations of cannibals in Negroland, bearing names so +singularly related to one another? Or is it not more likely that +these various names are but modifications of one, which being the +nickname of a particular class of savages, would be naturally +carried about to the slave markets, and fashioned to suit the +genius of every language which adopted it?<a id= +"FNanchor_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189" class= +"fnanchor">[189]</a> It is true that El Idrísí speaks of Lemlem and +Demdem as of two distinct countries; but the position of his Lemlem +depends on the westward course of the Great River to Ghaïárú, the +absurdity of which has been already pointed out; and this error +being corrected, his Lemlem and Demdem will be found to +coincide.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>In modern +accounts of Negroland, frequent mention is made of a race of +cannibals, styled Yemyem or N’yemn’yem; and every precise +indication of them, from whatever quarter it may come, points to +the same spot, namely the hilly country extending southward from +Kanó.<a id="FNanchor_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190" class= +"fnanchor">[190]</a> The Yemyem of the present day, therefore, +dwell at no great distance from the site of the Demdem of earlier +ages. They occupy the remote continuation of the chain of mountains +once inhabited by the latter: and if the changes necessarily +effected in the northern part of that region, or Houssa, by the +introduction of Mohammedism, the influx of Berbers, Zagháï, and +Fellátah, be duly considered, together with the fact that a wild +people still keep possession of the hills on the frontier of the +desert, it will appear a natural inference that the reproach of +cannibalism, or the barbarity itself, has receded, owing to the +progress of civilization, and that the Yemyem are the Demdem, +changed in site and appellation only by the variations of the +medium through which we view them.</p> + +<p>If the Yemyem or N’yemn’yem of the present day be +not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> the same people +as the Lemlem, Remrem, or Demdem of early writers, it must then be +inquired, What has become of these latter?<a id= +"FNanchor_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191" class= +"fnanchor">[191]</a> To deny such identity is to plunge back into +obscurity: to suppose nations of negroes become extinct, or—a still +bolder hypothesis—to have wholly changed their character. On the +other hand, the supposition that the Baúwa (or Slaves) in the hills +south of Kanó, to the remoter portion of whom the epithet Yemyem is +now applied, once occupied the hills of Zamfara and Kábi, and were +stigmatised as Demdem or cannibals, reconciles ancient with modern +authorities; it attributes a just permanence to a great moral +feature of Negroland, depending on peculiarity of race, modelled by +physical circumstances; and it adjusts with remarkable precision +the geographical elements involved in the question, assigning to +the Demdem a position, which exactly coincides with that deduced +from the statements connecting them with Karkar and the Great +River. It may be assumed as certain, therefore, that the Demdem +peopled the hills of the country now called Houssa.<a id= +"FNanchor_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192" class= +"fnanchor">[192]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>There is another +name, much less known than Lemlem or Demdem, and apparently more +comprehensive, applied to the inhabitants of the same region. Ibn +Baṭúṭah says that Múlí, on the Great River, where the empire of +Málí terminated, was in the country of the Límí (Al-Límiyín); and +again, he says that Yúfí (Núfí) was in the country of the Límí; +whence it is evident that the people so named were on the left bank +of the river. The Blacks at Sofálah, he adds, were tattooed like +the Límí of Genéwah, the latter name being in this instance used in +the wide sense in which it was generally understood in the +systematic geography of the Arabs. The practice of tattooing the +body all over in fine patterns, is confined, in Central Africa, to +the people of Marra. The Límí were said to wear clothing made of a +plant called <em>worzi</em>, capable of resisting fire. The +productions of their land seem to have been in general of a +marvellous description.<a id="FNanchor_193"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a></p> + +<p>We are told that in the country of the Remrem or Demdem was a +castle, whereon was a statue of a woman, adored<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> by the people; and it is +remarkable that in the traditions of Houssa the history of Zegzeg +begins with the conquests of a female. It matters not that her name +is Arabicised or her antiquity underrated by the native +Chroniclers; they leave untouched the essence of the tradition, +which is, that Zegzeg was founded by a heroine.<a id= +"FNanchor_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194" class= +"fnanchor">[194]</a></p> + +<hr class="decor width10"> + +<div class="footnotes" id="ftc7"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187"><span class= +"label">[187]</span></a>Not. et Extr. tom. <span class= +"sc2">XII</span>. p. 655. Jaubert’s Idrísí, p. 116.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188"><span class= +"label">[188]</span></a>The <em>l</em> of the Arabs and <em>r</em> +of the Africans so often displace each other, that the change of +Lemlem into Remrem is quite regular. In Arabic writing Remrem is +hardly distinguishable from Demdem, which might therefore have +originated in the ambiguous characters of the former name. But it +will be shown further on, that in Marra (adjoining the original +Demdem) the <em>r</em> is often changed into <em>d</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189"><span class= +"label">[189]</span></a>It may be naturally presumed that the slave +market, whence the designation first proceeded, was that of Ghánah, +and therefore that its meaning should be found in the language of +Tomboktú or territory of Ghánah. Now in that language +<em>lemlem</em> signifies <em>to eat</em> (Caillié, tom. +<span class="sc2">III</span>. p. 311); and if the Kissúr be as +simple in its construction as the Mandingo, it also signifies an +<em>eater</em> or cannibal. Thus from <em>domo</em>, to eat, in +Mandingo, comes the verbal noun <em>domo</em>, in the plural +<em>domolu</em>, eaters—not man-eaters, as it is translated by Park +(First Journey, p. 217), who writes <em>dummulo</em>—the name with +which the Bambarans stigmatize their neighbours the Maniana.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190"><span class= +"label">[190]</span></a>Burckhardt (Trav. in Nubia, p. 441) +mentions the Yemyem without assigning their position. Einsiedel +(Cuhn’s Merkw. Reis. <span class="sc2">III</span>. p. 436) vaguely +connects them with Kanó. Hornemann (Trav. p. 119) sets them ten +days south of the same place. Clapperton (Denh. and Clapp. Disc. +<span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 248) learned that the Baúwa in the +country of Jacoba, between Kanó and Adamawa, are styled Yemyem; +though Sultan Bello (Clapp. Sec. Exped. p. 250) removed the +reproach of cannibalism to the country of Umburm, adjoining Jacoba. +Hutchison also was informed in Ashantí (Bowdich’s Mission, &c. +p. 203), that the Yemyem are in Quollaliffa, and couples their name +with that of Dall, a mountainous district, a few days south of +Kanó. According to Abdu-r-Raḥmán Aga, the informant of Niebuhr +(Deutches Museum, 1790), the Yemyem are in Adamawa. Again, Lander +(Exped. to the Niger, <span class="sc2">III</span>. p. 83) was told +that the journey from Funda to Bornú might be accomplished in +fifteen days, and that the only dangerous place on the road was the +country of the Yemyem. Browne (Trav. in Afr. p. 356) and others who +have gathered their information on the eastern side of the desert, +speak of cannibals under the name of Gnumgnum (N’yemn’yem), in +vague terms, not indicating their situation. But a Tatar merchant +named Wargee, who visited Cape Coast in 1822, stated that the +Namnam (as he called them) were fifteen days south of Kanó, a +distance reaching to the country of Jacoba. The ocular testimony of +this intelligent man (Asiatic Journal, vol. <span class= +"sc2">XVI</span>. p. 19), and of Sultan Bello, seems fully to +establish the fact that cannibals exist in the quarter +indicated.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191"><span class= +"label">[191]</span></a>It must not be supposed that Yemyem is the +native name of any country or people south of Kanó: it is a foreign +term applied with more or less vagueness to the inhabitants of that +region. The misery and degradation of a people marked out +especially as the prey of the slave hunter, exposes them to the +imputation of cannibalism, which draws on them fresh injuries. +Lander (Clapp. Second Exped. p. 292), on his way southwards from +Kanó to Funda, saw at Fali-n-dúshi (the White rocks) for the first +time, a people completely naked and ready to sell their offspring. +But the natives of Zamfara also go nearly naked (Clapp. p. 178): +the Kombori in Kotú-n-kúra, are still treated as Demdem (id. p. +146), and the pagan negroes near the desert (id. p. 334) are +certainly not placed in circumstances more secure or favourable to +civilization than the Baúwa further south. The change effected in +Houssa by Mohammedism, and the influx of strangers, may be learned +by comparing together the descriptions of that country by +Clapperton and Leo Africanus. The latter writer (pt. <span class= +"sc2">VII</span>. c. 11) knew of no city named Kachenah; the +villages of the country so called were small and of the meanest +construction; the people were of the deepest black, with noses and +lips disproportionately large. He speaks of the people of Zamfara +(c. 13) in still less flattering terms, concluding that “they are +rather brutes than men.”</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192"><span class= +"label">[192]</span></a>On the eastern side of the desert, the +Shillúks are pointed out as a remarkably barbarous people, but yet +they are not styled Yemyem. In the west, the people of Bambara +accuse their neighbours, the people of Maniana (the Manegnan of +Caillié), of cannibalism, yet without applying to them the epithet +Lemlem, Demdem, or Yemyem. From east to west there is but the one +spot to which this name is constantly and distinctly given. With +respect to the Manegnan (or rather Manegna, the nasal final being +superfluous) it may be suspected that the imputation cast on them +by their enemies has its origin in tradition, and that they are +descendants of the Manes, reputed cannibals who overran the coast +in the latter half of the fifteenth century.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193"><span class= +"label">[193]</span></a>Al-Límiyín <span class= +"arabic">الليميين</span>. This name occurs three or four times in +Ibn Baṭúṭah’s Narrative. M. Quatremère (Not. et Extr. 650) has read +it Lâmes, in the unpointed Parisian MS. of El Bekrí. May not the +Worzi be the Bordi (Walck. Rech. p. 448) of the Moors? Marmol (vol. +<span class="sc2">I</span>. fol. 31) quoting Ibn Gezzar, places the +people called Lime (Límí) in Genéwah on the eastern side of the +desert (that is, in the eastern part of the western division of the +desert), between the cities of Rafin and Cuco. Rafin might be +easily read for Rágha in Arabic text. Cuco is probably Kaúkaú or +Kághó: it elsewhere occurs in the same author (vol. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. fol. 34, and <span class="sc2">II</span>. fol. +221), but evidently referring to the place so named in the province +of Algiers (Peyssonel et Desfontaines, Voy. dans la Régence +d’Alger, &c., 1838, tom. <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 380). +Marmol again places the Limin (Límiyín) (fol. 45) between the Zinj +and Western Ocean, and calls them savages. All his hints combined +show that they possessed the interior of Houssa.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194"><span class= +"label">[194]</span></a>Not. et Extr. p. 655. The founder of the +state of Zegzeg, which includes Baúshí, was ʿAmenáh, according to +Bello (Denham’s Disc. <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 450). Lander +(Clapp. p. 290), who learned a different version of her history, +says that she built a town called Almena. May not the remarkable +rocks described by him, on the hill above that town, have given +rise to the story of the statue?</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2><a id="c8"></a>NEGROLAND <span class="sc">divided into +Nations</span>.</h2> + +<p class="space-above15">Ibn Khaldún, after making some prefatory +remarks on the origin and genealogy of the Blacks, borrows from an +earlier writer the following account of the nations into which they +were supposed to be divided:—</p> + +<p>“Ibn Sʿaíd, a most diligent writer, enumerates nineteen nations +of Blacks, beginning with the Zinj on the shores of the Indian +Ocean, who have a city called Mombásah. They profess idolatry, and +are the same people who in the reign of Al-Muʿatamid, seized on the +city of Baṣrah; where great numbers of them were in slavery. They +took up arms against their masters, and, assisted by the Zinj, got +possession of the city.<a id="FNanchor_195"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p> + +<p>“Near the Zinj are the Berber, among whom Islamism<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> made great progress. They have +a city named Maḳdishó, which is partly inhabited by Mohammedan +merchants. In their country are the people called Demádem, who go +naked. It is recorded in history that these made an irruption into +Abyssinia and Nubia, exactly at the time when the Tatars invaded +Irak. After laying waste the country, however, they retreated +homewards.<a id="FNanchor_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196" class= +"fnanchor">[196]</a></p> + +<p>“Adjoining the Berber are the Abyssinians, the most numerous and +powerful of the Blacks. From their country Yemen once had its +kings. The king of the Abyssinians was entitled Al-Negáshí, and the +capital of his kingdom was the city of Kʿaber. The Abyssinians are +Christians, but it is said that one of their kings embraced the +true faith when Mohammed visited their country in the Hijra. They +believe that they are destined to become masters of Yemen and all +Arabia.<a id="FNanchor_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197" class= +"fnanchor">[197]</a></p> + +<p>“Next to the Abyssinians are the Bojá, a mixed nation of +Christians and Mohammedans, who possess Suwákin, an +island<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> in the sea +of As-Suweís (the Red Sea).<a id="FNanchor_198"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> They have for neighbours +the Nubians, who are brethren of the Zinj and Abyssinians, and +have, on the west of the Nile, a city called Donḳalah. They are +chiefly Christians, and border on Egypt, where many of them are +sold as slaves. Adjoining them are the Zagháwah, who are +Mohammedans, and from whom are sprung the Tájúah.<a id= +"FNanchor_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199" class= +"fnanchor">[199]</a></p> + +<p>“Next comes Al-Kánem, a populous kingdom, wherein the true faith +is largely disseminated. Its capital city is Jíma. At one time the +people of Kánem held the whole Ṣaḥrá in subjection; their +ascendency being due to their intimacy with the Sultans of the +house of Ḥafṣ, when this dynasty flourished in its prime.<a id= +"FNanchor_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200" class= +"fnanchor">[200]</a></p> + +<p>“Next to the people of Kánem, on the west, are the people of +Kaúkaú, and after them Beghárah, and At-Tekrúr, and Kimi, and +Yemyem, and Jábi, and Kúra, and Inkizár; by the side of the ocean +towards the west they reach the people of Ghánah in the west. What +precedes has been copied from Ibn Sʿaíd’s work.”<a id= +"FNanchor_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201" class= +"fnanchor">[201]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>It is observable +that the names in this list of places or countries lying west of +Kánem (nine in number) are not recognized at all, or not +confidently, by modern geographers. But before we proceed to +determine the position of each of them, it will be advantageous to +examine the information which Makrízí, in quoting Ibn Sʿaíd, adds +to that of his author.<a id="FNanchor_202"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> His words are as +follows:—“Al-Kánem is an extensive region watered by the blessed +Nile, and distant a ten days’ journey from the borders of At-Tájú. +In that country (Kánem) are naked Blacks, among whom are the Iklí, +ruled by a just and mighty king; and Afnú, whose King, called +Mastúr, guards his wives with extreme jealousy. Near this is +another kingdom named Mambó, next to which lie Kátakúmá, Kátakú, +and Ibkarem (Bekarmi), and another kingdom greater than the +preceding, named Rábúmá (Umburm), the great kingdom of Haúdama +(Adamawa), and the tribe of Ankarú, rich in herds, flocks, and +elephants.<a id="FNanchor_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203" class= +"fnanchor">[203]</a> Next to these are the tribes Shádí, +Mábiná,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span> Abham, +Atʿaná, Yáfalam, and Makabá, who are all naked Blacks, and hold +clothed men in derision. The tribe of Mábiná is the most numerous, +and the chief part of it is called Kálkín.<a id= +"FNanchor_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204" class= +"fnanchor">[204]</a> This region is covered with great trees and +with pools from the overflowing of the Nile. It was invaded in the +year 650 (<span class="sc2">A.D.</span> 1252-3) by the King of +Kánem, who killed many of the natives, or led them into slavery. +Beyond this, westward to Kaúkaú, are many populous tribes, of which +those next to Mábiná are the Adermá and Dafúmú, among whom are +Mohammedan temples. Also the Abkalá (Ankalá), who have camels, wear +skins for clothing, and are accounted unbelievers; and the Túkámá, +who dwell on the borders of At-Tájú, possess palm-trees, and drink +of the Nile. Al-Kánem is the greatest kingdom of Negroland, and has +on the west Kaúkaú, then Baḳárah, Tekrúr, Nama, Temím, Já, and +Inkizár, which extend in the west from the ocean to Ghánah.”<a id= +"FNanchor_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205" class= +"fnanchor">[205]</a></p> + +<p>In this list of countries or tribes lying within the circle, as +it were, of Kánem, the name Afnú, given by the people of Bornú to +the adjacent part of Houssa, stands conspicuous, and cannot fail to +be recognized. The Arab writer appears to have commenced his survey +from a prominent point, the Iklí being probably on the frontier of +Negroland, between Afnú and the desert.<a id= +"FNanchor_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206" class= +"fnanchor">[206]</a> Kátakúmá may also be fairly assumed to be +the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> Katagum of +Clapperton; the writer therefore proceeds eastwards or +south-eastwards, and consequently Mambó or Manbú will be near the +country called Anbur by the English traveller. Continuing in the +same course, he necessarily arrives at Kátakú and Bekarmi, having +thus traced the frontiers of the independent tribes of Bornú facing +Kánem.<a id="FNanchor_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207" class= +"fnanchor">[207]</a> He then seems to make the tour of the hilly +country forming the remote boundary of the same region; but, it +must be confessed, that this portion of his path is less easily +investigated, and leaves a larger scope to conjecture. However it +is a natural supposition that he enumerates the chief nations or +tribes behind the line already traced, and so, eastward from +Bekarmi, are Rábúmá (Umburm, a kingdom near Jacoba), Haúdama +(ʿAdám, or, in the language of Houssa, Adamawa), and Ankarú +(Angarú), the western part of Bornú.<a id= +"FNanchor_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208" class= +"fnanchor">[208]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span>Adjoining these, +we should expect to find Baúshí, with its decried inhabitants; and +accordingly our author here names several tribes of savages “who +hold clothed men in derision.” Shádí is certainly the name of a +place in Baúshí; but we must not yield to the temptation of +detecting resemblances of names which may easily prove +deceitful.<a id="FNanchor_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209" class= +"fnanchor">[209]</a> It is more important to consider the force of +the words “from Mábiná westwards to Kaúkaú,” from which it may be +concluded that Mábiná lay towards Kaúkaú, or was the +north-westernmost point of the region described, and consequently +that the Arab author proceeds in a circle, agreeably to our +hypothesis, and terminates at a point in Afnú whence he first +started. His picture, too, of a region covered with great trees and +pools from the overflowing of the Nile, corresponds exactly with +the physical character of Zegzeg and Zamfara.<a id= +"FNanchor_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210" class= +"fnanchor">[210]</a> The invasion by the King of Kánem for the +purpose of carrying off slaves, further confirms the supposition +that the country described was Houssa and Baúshí. What other region +had equal attractions for the slave hunter,—or where else could be +found a long line of savage tribes extending to the frontiers of +the desert and of Kaúkaú? Next to the Mábiná, towards the desert, +followed the Adermá<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> +and Dafúmú, who were not strangers to the Mohammedan rites; and +then came the Túkámá (Togáma) and Angála, of whom the former have +given their name to a place in the desert not far from Kachenah, +while similar traces of the latter remain on the shores of Lake +Chad.<a id="FNanchor_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211" class= +"fnanchor">[211]</a> The Túkáma of Makrízí, it is true, were on the +east of Kánem, near Tajúah; but so easily do the tribes of the +desert change their dwellings, that there is no improbability in +the supposition that the same tribe subsequently spread westwards +and settled near Houssa.</p> + +<p>In considering the interpretation here offered of Makrízí’s +statement, less weight is to be allowed to the resemblance of names +than to the order, coherence, and accordance with probability which +the whole passage acquires from the mode of viewing it. Some points +in it may be obscure; but others, as Afnú and Katagum, hardly admit +of doubt; and we feel justified, therefore, in concluding that the +nations or countries, as Kaúkaú, Baḳárah, Tekrúr, &c., which +Makrízí (copying Ibn Sʿaíd) arranges west of Kánem, are all +excluded from the region above described—that is to say, from Bornú +and the hills of Baúshí and Houssa immediately encompassing it on +the west.</p> + +<p>In endeavouring to ascertain the positions of the various +nations mentioned by early Arab writers as extending across +Negroland, it will be advantageous to compare the whole series of +those nations with the list of kingdoms arranged by Leo Africanus +in the same line. For this purpose Ibn Sʿaíd’s list shall be +inverted, or taken from west to east; and then the names which are +clearly related being placed opposite to each other, we shall have +the geography of Negroland in the latter half of the thirteenth +century, contrasted with that of the beginning of the sixteenth, as +in the following table:—</p> + +<table id="t124"> +<tr> +<th class="sc"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span>Ibn +Sʿaíd.</th> +<th> +</th> +<th> +</th> +<th class="sc">Leo.</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Ghánah</td> +<td class="width10 bb-dotted"> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td>Gualata.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td class="pad2">Ghinea.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td class="pad2">Melli.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan="2">Inkizár</td> +<td class="bb-dotted"> +</td> +<td rowspan="2" class="brace-large">{</td> +<td>Tombuto.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td>Gago.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td>Guber.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Kúra.</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td>Agadez.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Jábí.</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td>Cano.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Yemyem.</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td>Casena.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Kimí.</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td class="pad2">Zegzeg.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Tekrúr.</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td class="pad2">Zanfara.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Baghárah.</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td class="pad2">Guangara.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Kaúkaú.</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Kánem</td> +<td class="bb-dotted"> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td>Borno.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td>Gaoga.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Zagháwah.</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Núbah</td> +<td class="bb-dotted"> +</td> +<td> +</td> +<td>Nubia.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>Here then, in the first place, it is manifest that Ghánah +coincides with Gualata (Walata). The salient point of Negroland +towards the north-west ranks as the extreme west, and the countries +which lie to the south, though extending further westward, are +placed after it. Hence the Ghinea and Melli of Leo, both supposed +by him to reach the ocean, nevertheless follow Gualata.</p> + +<p>From the southern countries, Ghinea and Melli, Leo turns +eastwards down the river to Tombuto and Gago; and thence proceeds +across the desert to Guber, on the northern frontiers of Houssa. +Ibn Sʿaíd, on the other hand, goes in two steps from Ghánah to +Kúra, the western frontier (as will be seen further on) of the same +region. He seems to take the straight road through Negroland to the +eastern settlements of the Tekrúrí, while Leo keeps to the desert +and the roads frequented by Moorish merchants. Inkizár then appears +to be the region encompassed by the great circuit of the river +between Jenni and Kághó. Its collective name, little known to +geographers, probably never enjoyed political importance, but it +seems still to survive in the name of the language called by +Caillié the Kissour. This language extends from Jenni down the +river to Tomboktú, where it is spoken, as the same<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> traveller informs us, by the +negro or indigenous population. But there is no authority for +supposing that it extends no further eastward than Tomboktú; and it +seems more reasonable to enlarge the limits of a language occupying +so important a position, so that it may fill the area encircled by +the river, and comprise Kághó (the Gago of Leo) in its domain. +Inkizár then was a kingdom situate on the right bank of the Great +River, between Jenni, Tomboktú, and Kághó, of which the political +fabric has long since fallen to ruin, while a vestige of the +original bond of unity still remains in the Kissour language.<a id= +"FNanchor_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212" class= +"fnanchor">[212]</a></p> + +<p>From Gago Leo passes to Guber, on the northern frontier of +Houssa; then to Agadez, which is more easterly; then to Cano and +Casena, lying further south; then to Zegzeg and Zanfara, still more +in the rear, till at length he arrives at Guangara (Wanghárah), +which fills the remote interior. But he shows his imperfect +acquaintance with Houssa, by setting Casena (Kachenah) on the east +of Cano (Kanó), and Zanfara in like manner on the east of Zegzeg. +It is not surprising, therefore, that he should place Guangara on +the east of Zanfara. He may possibly have confounded (like some +modern writers) Angarú, the western province of Bornú, with +Wanghárah<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span> or +Guangara; but it is more likely that his information was +substantially good, and that he knew Wanghárah to be a region +extending widely at some distance from Houssa; but his systematical +ideas left no room for such expansion south-westward from Houssa, +and consequently he was obliged to shift Wanghárah to the +south-east. Since Nufí and the other comparatively industrious +countries on the Great River, are not expressly named by him, it +may be fairly presumed that they were included in his +Wanghárah.<a id="FNanchor_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213" class= +"fnanchor">[213]</a></p> + +<p>Ibn Sʿaíd, in like manner, passes from Inkizár to Houssa; not +however to the northern part of this country next to the desert, +but to its western side near the river. He goes not in the track of +the merchant or slave dealer, but in that of the slave hunter. It +may appear indeed difficult at first sight to recognize any part of +Houssa in the names Kúra, Jábí, &c., but a little patient +examination will dissipate the obscurity which involves them, and +concentrate on them so many rays of probability as to guide us +safely through the difficulties encompassing the first steps of our +inquiry.</p> + +<p>In the Geographical Dictionary of Yakút, an earlier writer than +Ibn Sʿaíd, and who is copied with little change by Abú-l-fedá, the +names Kúra and Jábí occur together, with such explanatory details +as to prove that the former is applied to the river Kowára, while +the latter (probably pronounced<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_127">[127]</span> Gábí) seems meant for Kábí. It is there +stated that the King of Kaúkaú (Kághó) wages war with the moslim of +Ghánah on the west, and with those of Tekrúr on the east; and that +a little to the east of Kaúkaú is the Lake Kúra, which must +consequently be near Tekrúr: and, indeed, the author adds, that it +is navigated by the Tekrúri and their neighbours dwelling on its +northern bank. On the shores of this lake is Jábí, near the capital +of which flows the Nile of Ghánah, so that the continuity of the +Nile of Ghánah with Lake Kúra seems to be here offered as a fact; +and this statement must not be set in the same category with the +theory afterwards enunciated by the Arab geographer, that Lake Kúra +is the common source from which issue the Niles of Ghánah, of +Egypt, and of Maḳdishó.<a id="FNanchor_214"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a></p> + +<p>The same authors inform us that the tribes inhabiting the +countries near Lake Kúra were cannibals: among the people of Jábí, +whoever died was eaten by his neighbours. No one had ever seen the +south side of the lake, but it was known that, at its remote end, +it branched into two; and that by some means it extended westward +into Kánem, whence flowed the Nile of Egypt. Now at the present +day, the Kowára is generally called by the natives a lake; its +name, written by them, is Lake Kúra; it<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_128">[128]</span> is thought by them to join the sea, or +rather to become a sea, a little below Núfí; they are quite +ignorant of its southern termination, but know that it separates +into what they consider as two branches, by one of which (the +Chadda) it is supposed to communicate with Lake Chad, in Kánem and +Bornú, and thence to mingle its waters with those of the Egyptian +Nile.<a id="FNanchor_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215" class= +"fnanchor">[215]</a> In the country adjoining the Kowára and the +Chadda are still found the Yemyem or cannibals. Thus it appears +that the rudiments of the geographical system of the thirteenth +century, so far as regards the waters of Central Africa, were +precisely the same which now compose the native accounts of the +Kowára, and its supposed continuation, the Chadda.<a id= +"FNanchor_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216" class= +"fnanchor">[216]</a></p> + +<p>Next to Jábí, in the east, Ibn Sʿaíd places Yemyem, then Kimi, +of which we are unable to give any account. Next to that, and +towards the north perhaps, he sets Tekrúr; then Baghárah, probably +a tribe of the desert, and then Kaúkaú,<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_129">[129]</span> after which comes Kánem.<a id= +"FNanchor_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217" class= +"fnanchor">[217]</a> Leo, on the other hand, passes from Guangara +(Wanghárah) eastwards to Bornú, which coincides sufficiently well +with the Kánem of Ibn Sʿaíd to serve with it as an established +point of adjustment. He then goes to Gaoga, a kingdom extending, +according to him, from Bornú to Nubia, and which appears to be the +Kaúghah placed by some modern inquirers in the Baḥr el-Gazel. At +all events care must be taken not to confound the Kaúkaú of Ibn +Sʿaíd, which lay beyond the north-western bounds of Kánem and +Bornú, with the Kaughah of Leo, on the east of the latter +kingdom.<a id="FNanchor_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218" class= +"fnanchor">[218]</a> East of Kánem stands Zagháwah in Ibn +Sʿaíd’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span> list, and +beyond that Núbah, which coincides with Leo’s Nubia.</p> + +<p>The results obtained by comparing Ibn Sʿaíd’s list of Negro +nations with that furnished by Leo, are not, in a general view, of +a doubtful character. At the extreme west, the coincidence of +Ghánah with Walata is manifest. It is hardly less certain that +Inkizár is the country embraced by the Great River, between Jenni +and Kághó, and in which the Kissour (perhaps rather N’Kiṣár) +language prevails. Though the Kánem of Ibn Sʿaíd and the Bornú of +Leo do not exactly coincide, yet they approach so nearly to +coincidence as to serve for terms of adjustment in the compared +schemes. The tracts extending therefore between Inkizár and Kánem, +in the one author, and from Gago to Bornú, in the other, may be +said to lie between the same meridians, and to contain either the +same countries under different names, or contiguous and +intermingled countries. Now within those limits Leo describes the +greater part of Houssa, proceeding, or meaning to proceed, from +west to east, and from north to south. Ibn Sʿaíd, commencing with +Kúra, goes on to Tekrúr and Kaúkaú, evidently from west to east, +and from south to north. Tekrúr extended westwards from Zamfara +(which may indeed have been included in it) to the desert, and +therefore Kúra, Jábí or Gábí, Yemyem and Kimí, were all +south-westward of the countries of Houssa named by Leo.<a id= +"FNanchor_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219" class= +"fnanchor">[219]</a> There can be little doubt that Kúra +was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span> a district +situate on the Great River, the name of which is variously written +or pronounced Kúra, Kuḍa, Quorra or Quolla. Jábí was Kábí, to the +east (or south-east) of which lay Yowí or Yúfí (the modern Núfí), +on the northern shore of Lake Kúra, and under which, as we are also +informed, flowed the Nile of Ghánah.<a id= +"FNanchor_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220" class= +"fnanchor">[220]</a></p> + +<p>The difference between Ibn Sʿaíd and Leo in their modes of +viewing the same region, may be naturally ascribed to changes in +the channels and manner of intercourse with it. The people of Gúber +once possessed the desert of ʿAhír, but were displaced by the +Tawárik. The invasion of Tekaddá by the people of Málí, had +probably for its object to relieve the trade of Kághó from the +exactions levied on caravans in the desert. It can hardly have +failed to improve the road through that country, and increase the +influx of strangers. A few years later,<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_132">[132]</span> Aghades was founded, probably by the +Kiliwah (the Kolluvi of Hornemann), who are now the predominant +Berber tribe on the frontiers of Houssa. When these various changes +are all taken into consideration, it will no longer appear +surprising, that while Ibn Sʿaíd viewed Houssa from the road opened +to it by the people of Tekrúr, Leo should look at it only from the +opposite quarter, or from Aghades.<a id="FNanchor_221"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a></p> + +<p>It is needless to follow the parallel between the systems of Ibn +Sʿaíd and Leo beyond the western frontiers of Kánem and Bornú. +Further east, the few points touched on by Arab geographers are not +liable to misinterpretation. The inquiry into the early geography +of Negroland, so far as concerns representations founded on fact, +might here terminate. But it is worth while to observe how the +framers of theories, the compilers of Dictionaries and Complete +Treatises of Geography, dealt with the obscurer portion of it: how +they endeavoured to fill up every void, and by arbitrary +suppositions to give unity and coherence to their fragmentary +information. The popular belief that the Great River of Negroland +unites with the Nile of Egypt, is of ancient date, and may perhaps +be traced back even to the time of Herodotus. It is stated with +more or less distinctness by all the Arab geographers. Leo, +however, discarded it, and adopted an original opinion of his own. +The Shary, according to him, is the source of the Niger; for this +river, he says, rises in the Desert of Seu (or country of the +Shaúá), south-east of Bornú, and enters the<span class="pagenum" +id="Page_133">[133]</span> Lake of Gaoga (the Chad). Respecting the +hypothetical course of the river westwards from the lake, he is +quite silent; and when he says that Cano is 500 miles east of the +Niger, he seems to acknowledge his ignorance of its course south of +that country. However, he believed it to flow westwards by Tomboktú +and Jenni to the Western Ocean.</p> + +<p>At the present day all African geographers believe in the +junction of the Kowára with Lake Chad. Some suppose the line of +connexion to be formed by the Quorrama and the Yeou; others look +upon the Chadda as the continuation of the Kowára, and think that +they can trace its course into Lake Chad by the river of Katagum +and the Yeou; while others again carry it through Adamawa into the +Shary.<a id="FNanchor_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222" class= +"fnanchor">[222]</a> All this hypothesis arises naturally from the +constitution of the human mind, which is averse from doubt and +systematic suspension of opinion. It hurries on to the solution of +every problem presented to it. Furnished with a knowledge of +portions of seas, continents, or rivers, it feels no pleasure in +devising their limits and separations, but prefers joining the +fragments together, as if it thus advanced a step in discovery, or +mounted to a higher and simpler truth. Illustrations of this remark +might be drawn from the history of geography in every age and +country. It is not extraordinary therefore that Yaḳút, copied by +Abú-l-fedá and others, should delineate decisively and with the air +of a master, that assemblage of waters in Central Africa, the +existence of which seemed proved by popular belief. Lake Kúra, says +Abú-l-fedá, is 1000 miles long. On its western side, near Jábi, +flows the Nile of Ghánah; and at its north-eastern angle, near the +capital of Kánem, the Nile of<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_134">[134]</span> Egypt issues from it. Here it is apparent +that the lake Kúra described by Ibn Fáṭimah, the lake Kúra, or +river Kowára or Quorra of the present day, is supposed to be united +with Lake Chad, and that it gives its name to the great inland sea, +thus formed by theory. The lake Kúra of Yáḳút and Abú-l-fedá +derives its origin from facts arbitrarily combined and expanded; it +owes its magnitude to the distance between the waters thus +connected together, and its name to the western portion of them, +the river Kowára or Quorra.</p> + +<p>Some of the systematic Arab geographers divided Africa into +three great regions, viz. Genéwah, Kaúkaú or Karkar, and Habesh or +Abyssinia; others into four, Genéwah, Nubia, Habesh, and +Zinj.<a id="FNanchor_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223" class= +"fnanchor">[223]</a> Genéwah, or the western division, was +disproportionately enlarged, owing to the protraction of the Great +River, the incurvations of which were overlooked, and because, in +speculative geography, the known has a constant tendency to +encroach upon and narrow the limits of the unknown. Zinj, on the +other hand, must have been diminished, since Ibn Baṭúṭah believed +Sofálah to be but a month’s journey distant from Yúfi (Núfí), on +the left bank of the Great River, before it turned towards Nubia. +The centre of the continent, where those divisions met, was +occupied by Lake Kúra, whence issued the Niles of Ghánah, Egypt, +and Maḳdishó. The shores of the lake were inhabited by the Demdem +or (in the Arabicised plural) Demádem, who therefore stood, as +occupants of the remote interior, in a defined relation with the +coasts to which those rivers descended. When Arab writers, +therefore, in speaking of the eastern coast of Africa, state that +the interior is possessed by the Demádem, who invaded Abyssinia and +Nubia in the early part of the thirteenth century, it is obvious +that they speak the language of system (the name Demdem or Demádem +being in reality unknown on the eastern coast), and hypothetically +trace the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> course of +the invaders from the shores of Lake Kúra and the sources of the +great rivers.<a id="FNanchor_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224" +class="fnanchor">[224]</a></p> + +<p>There is no injustice done to the Arabs in thus ascribing +altogether to theory a positive statement made by many of their +best authors. It is in the highest degree improbable, that with +little or no knowledge of the various Black nations inhabiting the +eastern coast of Africa, they should have had any accurate +acquaintance with the remote interior: and besides, the +acquiescence in system here imputed to them, is no greater than +must have inevitably arisen from the imperfect state of their +knowledge. Little more than a century ago, European geographers +represented Abyssinia as occupying nearly a fourth of the African +continent; on its eastern borders they placed a great lake, from +which issued the Egyptian Nile, and all the great rivers of +Southern Africa.<a id="FNanchor_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225" +class="fnanchor">[225]</a> The maps of Africa of that date exhibit +less vacant space than they do at the present day. The improvement +of geography, with respect to that quarter of the globe, has +consisted chiefly in reducing what is known within its proper +limits. Distant nations were of course as easily brought together +and united as distant countries. The different African tribes +which, in the course of the sixteenth century, devastated the +widely-separate coasts of Sierra Leone, of Angola, and of Melinda, +were, by a sweeping generalization, all supposed to be one and the +same people, and were furthermore identified with the<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> Agows and Gallas of +Abyssinia.<a id="FNanchor_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226" class= +"fnanchor">[226]</a> Vestiges of these ideas still remain in our +treatises of geography, and in some of the latest maps, nor is the +system of thinking from which they emanated yet quite +obsolete.<a id="FNanchor_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227" class= +"fnanchor">[227]</a> But the close resemblance of European theories +respecting the mysterious interior of Africa to those of the Arabs, +is strikingly manifest in the following words of the Portuguese +historian, Da Couto:—“About the year 1570, a horde of barbarians, +like locusts, issued from the heart of Ethiopia, from the great +lake whence flows the Cuama, the Zaire, the Rhapta, and the +Nile.”<a id="FNanchor_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228" class= +"fnanchor">[228]</a>—Here then we<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_137">[137]</span> have the exact counterpart of Lake Kúra and +the Demdem or Demádem. The subsequent history of the horde referred +to by Da Couto is taken up by other learned writers, who affect to +describe its march southwards from Mombása to the Cape of Good +Hope; thence to Angola, whence it spread to Sierra Leone and +elsewhere: so that not even the Demádem were ever carried by +conjecture so far from their native homes.<a id= +"FNanchor_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229" class= +"fnanchor">[229]</a> Thus it appears that the theories ascribed +above to the Arabs, much excelled in sobriety, while they were +exactly parallel in design with the geographical speculations of a +later age.</p> + +<p>The position of the kingdoms of Negroland enumerated by Arab +writers having been now discussed and determined, and the efforts +of Arab theorists to mould into unity and form the isolated facts +before them, having been traced out, our task is at an end. The +demonstration of the fact that Ghánah lay between the desert and +the Great River near Tomboktú, at once reconciles with nature and +probability, the history of the constant intercourse of that state +with Sijilmésah. The nation whose language is spoken in the most +important part of Negroland, is now brought into light. The Tekrúr +have been traced from the vicinity of Silla to the eastern bank of +the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> Kowára. The +History of Málí has been made known, and the limits of that empire +partially determined. It has been clearly shown that Kághó was also +called Kaúkaú, but that the application of the latter name to one +or more other places, further east, has caused incurable confusion. +The ignorance and erroneous hypothesis of the Africans respecting +the course of the Kowára, have been detected in the ancient +accounts of Lake Kúra; and the limits of the positive knowledge of +the Arabs have been ascertained in the fact that their theoretical +geography embraced that lake, and the Demdem who inhabited its +shores.</p> + +<p>It will not be necessary to dwell here on the general harmony +and widely-extended coincidence attending the conclusions arrived +at in the preceding pages. A long series of inferences, each +stamped with the character of likelihood, and all agreeing +perfectly among themselves, yet obtained independently of one +another, not by straining arbitrarily selected texts, but by +eliciting and examining each author’s fullest meaning, and which +form together a complete whole, reconcileable not only with +geographical facts, but also with that speculative mind, which in +the history of human knowledge is itself an incontestible though +not easily seized fact;—such a series of inferences, we say, +carries with it an internal evidence of truth not easily impugned. +It remains therefore only to recal attention to the chief +historical revolutions brought to light in the course of our +inquiries. The wars and conquests of the Morabites eventually +opened the Western Desert to commercial enterprise. The impulse +given by the religious enthusiasm of the same people to Tekrúr, +spread rapidly through western Negroland, till at length the wave +recoiling on the desert, the Ṣúṣú first, and then the people of +Málí, became masters of Ghánah, and reckoned some of the Zenágah +tribes among their tributaries.<a id="FNanchor_230"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> The outlines of the +history<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> of Málí +deserve particular attention. The establishment of extensive +empires in the early stages of society, almost always give rise to +a better order of things, by breaking down the obstructions to +general intercourse, and allowing free scope to aspiring industry. +The progress of Tekrúr eastwards, the foundation of Aghades, and +the change effected by both these events in the condition of +Houssa, have been already pointed out, and need not be further +insisted on.<a id="FNanchor_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231" class= +"fnanchor">[231]</a></p> + +<p>It is impossible to deny the advancement of civilization in that +zone of the African continent which has formed the field of our +inquiry. Yet barbarism is there supported by natural circumstances +with which it is vain to think of coping. It may be doubted +whether, if mankind had inhabited the earth only in populous and +adjoining communities, slavery would have ever existed. The Desert, +if it be not absolutely the root of the evil, has, at least, been +from the earliest times the great nursery of slave hunters.<a id= +"FNanchor_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232" class= +"fnanchor">[232]</a> The demoralization of the towns on the +southern borders of the desert has been pointed out; and if the +vast extent be considered of the region in which man has no riches +but slaves, no enjoyment but slaves, no article of trade but +slaves, and where the hearts of wandering thousands are closed +against pity by the galling misery of life, it will be difficult to +resist the conviction that the solid buttress on which slavery +rests in Africa, is—The Desert.</p> + +<div class="footnotes" id="ftc8"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195"><span class= +"label">[195]</span></a>At the present day the servile and perhaps +most numerous class of the population of the southern shores of the +Persian Gulf, are Zinj, or Blacks, originally from Zinjibar +(corrupted into Zanguebar), or the eastern coast of Africa. In +Zinjibar, that is, the country of the Zinj, on the other hand, the +rulers and upper classes are chiefly Arabs from ʿOmán and the +Persian Gulf. The tribe of the Lámí, who have given their name to +Lámú, near Patta, are originally from the neighbourhood of Baṣrah. +The event related in the text ceases to appear improbable when the +nature and antiquity of the intercourse between Zinjibar and the +Persian Gulf are considered.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196"><span class= +"label">[196]</span></a>The Berbers here spoken of are the +inhabitants of the country called by the Greeks in general +Βαρβαρία, and by the Arabs Al-ʿajemí—that is, foreign; which latter +name has been converted by ancient geographers into Azania +(Ptolemy; and Arrian, Perip. Mar. Eryth.), and by moderns into +Ajan. The name Berber, in this as in most other instances, +originated in the commercial and diplomatic language of the Roman +Empire. The east-African Berbers are now called Somáli; but their +ancient designation still remains to Berberah, a town or rather +encampment opposite to ʿAden. The tribe who possess Maḳdishó (the +Magadoxa or Magadocia of our maps) are the Bajúna or Bagúna, called +by the Sawáḥilí, or natives of the coast of Zinjibar, Wagúña. They +are the Baẓúnah of El Idrísí (Jaubert’s Idrísí, <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. p. 55, where <span class="arabic">مدونه</span> is +read for <span class="arabic">بذونه</span>). It will be shown +further on, that the Demádem have been transferred to the eastern +side of Africa by an ordinary effort of speculative geography.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197"><span class= +"label">[197]</span></a>The title of the Emperor of Abyssinia was +Negusa Negast, or King of Kings. (Ludolf. Comment. p. 11.) The city +called by the Arab writer Kʿaber was Ankó-ber (or the Pass of the +Ankó, a tribe formerly occupying that tract, but now removed +further north), at present the capital of Shoa. The Arabs and +Abyssinians in ancient times were intimately connected. The +language of Tigré, or Northern Abyssinia, is of Arabic origin, and +even the Amharic is thought by Gesenius (Ersch and Gruber’s +Encyklopedie, art. Amharische sprache) to be an older offset of the +same stock.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198"><span class= +"label">[198]</span></a>The Bojá or Bogá are the Βουγαείται of the +Greek inscription of Axum, copied by Salt (Trav. p. 410). Under +that general name was included all the tribes of the desert between +Abyssinia and Egypt; the Blemyes of ancient geographers, and the +Bisharee or Bishareen of modern travellers.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199"><span class= +"label">[199]</span></a>By the expression that the Nubians are +brethren of the Zinj, it must be understood that they are of negro +origin; and indeed there is little reason to doubt that the Nubians +on the Nile were originally a servile population, the progeny of +the Nubah of Kordofán, who, in the course of events, became sole +possessors of their master’s domains. Their emancipation was +forwarded by powerful external causes (see Edinb. Rev. No. 125. p. +297), and does not appear to have been accomplished by means of +revolt or invasion, as was the case with the Zinj in Baṣrah, and +the Funj in Sennár (Bruce’s Trav. vol. <span class="sc2">VI</span>. +p. 370). When the Arabs conquered Nubia, they exacted an annual +tribute of slaves, which was called <em>Bakt</em> (Quatremère, +Mémoires sur la Nubie, <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 42), a word +evidently derived from the ancient Egyptian language, in which +<em>Bok</em> signified a slave.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200"><span class= +"label">[200]</span></a>The family of Abú Ḥafṣ, of Berber origin, +rose to the sovereign power in Tunis, in the early part of the +thirteenth century. (Makrízí in Hamaker, Spec. Cat. p. 105.)</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201"><span class= +"label">[201]</span></a>The names of nations from Kaúkaú westwards, +enumerated by Ibn Sʿaíd, are written as follows by Ibn Khaldún (MS. +B.M. fol. 90) and Makrízí (Hamaker, Spec. Cat. &c. p. 107, +whose orthography is here retained) respectively: ?aghárah +<span class="arabic">ىغارة</span> I.K.; Baḳárah <span class= +"arabic">بقارة</span> M.—At-Tekrúr <span class= +"arabic">التكرور</span> I.K. & M.—Kimí <span class= +"arabic">كمي</span> I.K.; Nama <span class="arabic">نمي</span> +M.—?emyem <span class="arabic">ىميم</span> I.K.; Temím <span class= +"arabic">تميم</span> M.—Ḥáyí (?) <span class="arabic">حايى</span> +I.K.; Já <span class="arabic">جا</span> M.—Kúra <span class= +"arabic">كورى</span> I.K.; omitted by Makrízí.—Inkizár <span class= +"arabic">انكزار</span> I.K. & M.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202"><span class= +"label">[202]</span></a>The comparison of texts made in the +preceding note proves that Makrízí borrowed from Ibn Sʿaíd, but it +is not easy to define the extent of his obligations to that writer. +The Tunisian dynasty of Abú Hafṣ, the wars of the Zagháwah with the +Wathekú (the opponents of that dynasty), and the invasion of Mábiná +by the King of Kánem in 1252, referred to by Makrízí, all belong to +the age of Ibn Sʿaíd, from whom he probably obtained his knowledge +of them. But, on the other hand, Makrízí names the King of Kánem +reigning in <span class="sc2">A.D.</span> 1398, a century later +than Ibn Sʿaíd. It appears more probable that his list of the Black +nations near Kánem was the fruit of his own inquiry, than a +transcript from an earlier writer.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203"><span class= +"label">[203]</span></a>As names changed from Arabic to European +writing are apt to acquire thereby a more determinate form than +properly belongs to them, those mentioned in the text shall be here +represented in their original character, that the reader may be +enabled to appreciate our conjectures respecting them. Iklí +<span class="arabic">اكلي</span>; Afnú <span class= +"arabic">افنوا</span>; Mambó <span class="arabic">منبو</span>. +Caancouma (in Hamaker) <span class="arabic">كانكوما</span> is +evidently Kátakúmá <span class="arabic">كاتكوما</span> wanting a +point. In like manner Hamaker’s Caancou must be changed into +Kátakú. It may be thought that there is not sufficient authority to +prove that Kátakúmá and Kátakú are distinct countries. But +Burckhardt (Trav. in Nubia, p. 433) has stated the position of the +latter, and the districts comprised in it (nearly all pointed out +by Denham) with so much precision, that his testimony, corroborated +by that of Mohammed Miṣrí (Journ. of the Roy. Inst.), decisively +separates Kátakú from the Katagum (Kátakúmá), which was visited by +Clapperton.—Ibkarem <span class="arabic">ابقرم</span>—Rábúmá +<span class="arabic">رابوما</span>—Haúdama <span class= +"arabic">هودمي</span>—Ankarar <span class="arabic">انكرر</span> is +probably written by an error of the pen for Ankarú <span class= +"arabic">انكرو</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204"><span class= +"label">[204]</span></a>Shádí <span class="arabic">شادي</span>; +Mábiná <span class="arabic">مابنا</span>; Abham <span class= +"arabic">ابهم</span>; Atʿaná <span class="arabic">اتعنا</span>; +Yáfalam <span class="arabic">يافلم</span>; Mekba <span class= +"arabic">مكبا</span>; Kálkín <span class= +"arabic">كالكين</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205"><span class= +"label">[205]</span></a>Aderma <span class="arabic">ادرما</span>; +Dafúmú <span class="arabic">دفومو</span>; Abkalá <span class= +"arabic">ابكلا</span> we have ventured to change into Ankalá +<span class="arabic">انكلا</span>; Túkámá <span class= +"arabic">توكاما</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206"><span class= +"label">[206]</span></a>Afnú is the name given by the people of +Bornú to Houssa (Lucas in Proc. Afr. Assoc. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. p. 165), or the eastern part of it. Einsiedel +(Cuhn’s Merkw. Reisen. <span class="sc2">III</span>. p. 439) +understood that Hafnou (Afnú) lies between Bornú and Zegzeg. +Abdu-r-Raḥmán Aga, Niebuhr’s informant (Walck. Rech. p. 72) also +uses the name Afnú as equivalent to Houssa. The Sultan of Tekrúr, +he says, who possessed Mara (Marra), was tributary to the Sultan of +Afnú, residing in Zamfara. Seetzen also (Von Zach’s Monatliche +Correspondenz, vol. <span class="sc2">XXI</span>. 1810, p. 152), +places Affano immediately to the west of Bornú. See also the +Bulletin de la Soc. de Geogr. de Paris, tom. <span class= +"sc2">VI</span>. p. 169, where Kachenah is stated to be the capital +of Afnú. It is remarkable that in Bornú, and the adjoining deserts, +the Arabic expression Súdán (country of the Blacks) is always given +to Afnú or Houssa (Lucas, as above; Denham’s Discoveries, &c. +<span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 85), a strong proof that it was the +country of the Remrem or Demdem, and the point to which the slave +merchants directed their march.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207"><span class= +"label">[207]</span></a>Kátakú comprises Mandara, Musgow, and the +other provinces on the west of the River Shary, which are therefore +not named. It is not to be ascribed to mere chance, that two names +are changed, by the addition of a single point to each, into +Kátakúmá (the Katagum of Clapperton) and Kátakú, the Katákó of +Burckhardt, the Kotoko of the native of Bornú cited in the +preceding note (Bullet. Soc. Geogr.), and the Kotko of Seetzen (p. +153).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208"><span class= +"label">[208]</span></a>Umburm is in the country of the Yemyem near +Jacoba (Clapp. Sec. Exped. p. 250). In Sultan Bello’s account of +Baúshí (Denham and Clapp. Disc. <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. +451), he mentions a province of that country called Aádám. We +cannot venture to say whether this is the root from which Adamawa +is derived, but it might be easily changed in discourse into +Haúdama. Angarú (Ankarú) is three long days’ journey west of the +capital of Bornú (Mohammed Míṣrí, in Jour. Roy. Inst.), and within +the dominions of Bello (Clapp. in Denh. Disc. <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. p. 313). It is the Ungura of Hornemann, which was +supposed to be identical with Wanghárah (Proc. of Afr. Assoc. +<span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 200).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209"><span class= +"label">[209]</span></a>One of the natives of Houssa, interrogated +by M. Menézes de Drummond (Hertha, July, 1827, p. 12), mentioned +the Schadŭh (Shádí) among the tribes depending on Zegzeg. Can the +name Mábiná be the same word as Foobina, said by Mohammed Másíni +(Clapp. Sec. Exped. p. 335) to be sometimes affixed to Adamawa? The +name Bobyra, given in the Quarterly Review (No. 77, p. 178), on the +authority of Clapperton, in whose published Journal it nowhere +occurs, might easily have its origin in Fobina, or even Mabina +ill-written in Arabic. According to Abdu-r-Raḥmán Aga, the King of +Tekrúr possessed Marra and Adana. One of the Itineraries collected +by Dupuis (Resid. in Ashantee, App. p. 129,) places an Etana on the +river west of Marra.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210"><span class= +"label">[210]</span></a>Clapperton found the plains of Zamfara +covered with a chain of lakes which are connected in the rainy +season; and Lyon (Trav. in N. Afr. p. 151) was told that the +country between Kanó and Zegzeg is annually covered with water.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211"><span class= +"label">[211]</span></a>The name Angalawha, occurring on the +northern shores of Lake Chad, is easily traced by an analogy of the +Bornowí language indicated by Denham (the tree Kuka being called +also Kukawha,) to Angala, which name also occurs on the southern +shores of the lake. The town or station of Togáma is seven days +distant from Kachenah, on the road to Aghades (Lyon’s Trav. p. +131). Hornemann (Proc. Afr. Assoc. <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. +300) gives some account of the tribe so called.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212"><span class= +"label">[212]</span></a>If we suppose the word Kissour pronounced +N’Kissúr with the nasal sound, which among the Africans so often +precedes the letter <em>k</em>, then its affinity with Inkizár +becomes more apparent. The Portuguese, like the Arabs, employ an +initial vowel in prefixing the nasal; thus for N’Yáka, N’Yambána, +N’Góla, they write Inhaqua, Inhambana, Angola. Of the guttural +pronunciation which seems to foreign ears to confound the +<em>a</em> and <em>u</em>, many examples might be given. Leo +Africanus says that one language (which he calls Sungai) extended +from Málí to Kághó; and as we know that the Kissour, commencing at +Jenni, now extends at least to Tomboktú, we are justified in +concluding that it is the Sungai, or the language to which the +Zagháï, the chief inhabitants of Inkizár, lent their name. We have +seen that the word Daḳno, the name of the ordinary beverage of the +people from Jenni downwards, was in use below Tomboktú in the +fourteenth century. (See above, <a href="#Page_84">p. 84.</a>) It +avails little against this, that the Sungai language was also +spoken in Málí: for what is more natural than that the language of +the most populous and industrious part of an empire should be +generally spoken in its capital; and that a Moorish merchant should +give little attention to the language of the lower classes?</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213"><span class= +"label">[213]</span></a>Two intelligent natives of Kanó, who were +in London a few years ago, when interrogated respecting Wanghárah, +agreed in stating that it is “behind Ako,” or Yariba. In the same +vague manner probably, Leo Africanus, little acquainted with the +interior, conceived it to be behind Zamfara. But his description of +Wanghárah (pt. <span class="sc2">VII</span>. c. 14), the nature of +the journey to it, its trade, and its fear of Tomboktú, leave no +doubt as to the country intended by him. The meditated invasion of +Wanghárah by the King of Bornú, may indeed provoke scepticism; but +let it be considered that the historical traditions related to +Clapperton (Second Exped. p. 102, 103) by the King of Boussa +(Busá), testify the former conquests of Bornú on the western side +of the Kowára. Leo had a very inadequate idea of the extent of +Negroland south of the Great River. He even speaks of the ocean +encircling the desert from Cape Nún to Gaoga (pt. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. c. 2). He could not, consistently with such views, +place the distant and populous country of Wanghárah south-westwards +from Zamfara.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214"><span class= +"label">[214]</span></a>Ibn Sʿaíd died <span class= +"sc2">A.D.</span> 1286, at an advanced age. Yaḳút, of whose +Geographical Dictionary the Bodleian Library possesses a copy, +flourished somewhat earlier. Both these writers are quoted by +Abú-l-fedá, who died <span class="sc2">A.D.</span> 1331. Yaḳút and +Abú-l-fedá cite Ibn Fáṭimah with no other variance than is usual in +different MS. copies of the same work. The Jábí of Abú-l-fedá is +clearly preferable to Yáḳút’s Ḥání (see <a href= +"#Footnote_201">Note 201</a>); but the Bedí of the former and the +Yuthí of the latter are probably equally erroneous. It may seem a +bold emendation to alter them into Yúfí or Núfí; but let it be +considered that the country now called Núfí or Níffí may have +changed its name with its population; that Ibn Baṭúṭah clearly +means Núfí when he speaks of Yúfí; and that the name written Yúfí +in the Gayangos MS., is in other MSS. written Yuwí (Lee and +Kosegarten, Lee’s Ibn Baṭúṭah, p. 238), and in others Buwí +(Burckhardt, Trav. in Nubia, p. 491; and Lee). Now Bedí +<span class="arabic">بدي</span> and Yuthí <span class= +"arabic">يُذي</span> lie, with respect to Buwí <span class= +"arabic">بُوي</span>, Yúwí <span class="arabic">يُوي</span> and +Yúfí <span class="arabic">يُوفي</span>, within what may be called +reasonable limits of corruption, and the proposed change brings all +into order.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215"><span class= +"label">[215]</span></a>Abú-l-fedá and Yakut wrote Kúra +<span class="arabic">كُورَى</span>; in one of the Routes (No. 4) +published by Dupuis the river is called Koara <span class= +"arabic">كُوَرَا</span>, though had the points been correctly +written, we should probably have had Kúrá. Bello writes in his map +Kowára <span class="arabic">كوارَ</span>, or, as our travellers +have called it, Quorra. In Brahima’s Itinerary (Bowdich, Mission, +&c. p. 491), and in another translated by De Sacy, (Walck. +Rech. p. 453), the Great River is named Lake Koad or Caudh +<span class="arabic">كوض</span>, which ought rather to be read +Kúḍa. Further on we shall show that in these Itineraries the Arabic +letter Dád <span class="arabic">ض</span> is substituted for +<em>r</em>; so that Lake Kúra is here intended. The Kowára, Kúra, +or Quorra is frequently styled by the natives a sea or lake, +according to some accounts, of forty-eight days’ sail in extent +(Ali Bey Badia’s Travels, <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 338). +Clapperton (Denham, Disc. <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 269) was +told that the river Kowára falls into the sea (of Nyffi or Núfí) at +Raka, where it is as wide as from Kano to Katagum, or about 150 +miles. But not to multiply authorities, it will be sufficient to +observe that Sultan Bello believed Raka (Rághá),—which has been +recently reached by Mr. Jamieson’s steamer Ethiope,—to be a +sea-port, and represented it as such in his letter to the King of +England.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216"><span class= +"label">[216]</span></a>According to Ibn Fáṭimah, “when any one +among these people dies, they cast the dead body to their +neighbours, and their neighbours do the like for them.” So Sultan +Bello related (Clapp. Sec. Exped. p. 251) that in Umburm, where +those who ail are killed at once, for economy, “the person falling +sick is requested by some other family, and repaid when they have a +sick relation.”</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217"><span class= +"label">[217]</span></a>Kimí might without much violence be changed +into Límí, and thus explain the name Al-Límiyín. At-Tekrúr we may +assign, on the authority of Abdu-r-Raḥmán Aga, to Marra, which +probably extended from Zamfara westwards between Guber and Kábí. +The Baghárah or Baḳárah were probably a tribe of the desert. The +Kaúkaú of Ibn Sʿaíd is too far east to be the city of that name on +the Great River; we must suppose him therefore to extend this name +to Karkar.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218"><span class= +"label">[218]</span></a>Leo’s Gago seems to be identical with the +Caugha of Hornemann, or Kaúka of Burckhardt (Trav. in Nubia, p. +436). Its empire extended, he says, from Bornú to Nubia. The use of +the name Bornú, in former times, however, and the modern geography +of the countries round Lake Chad, are involved in an obscurity +which it does not lie within the scope of this essay to dispel. +Leo’s text offers not only the names Gago and Gaoga, but also, in +two instances, Gaogao. He says (pt. <span class="sc2">VII</span>. +c. 14), that while he was in Negroland, the King of Bornú marched +against Wanghárah; but learning, on his way, that Omar, King of +Gaogao, meditated an attack on his dominions, he turned back, and +Wanghárah was saved. But, in this passage, Gaogao is a misprint for +Gaoga, as Leo himself discloses by naming the King of Gaoga “Omar +chi oggidí regna.” In the other instance (pt. <span class= +"sc2">VII</span>. c. 1), his Gaogao is justly changed by Marmol +(vol. <span class="sc2">III</span>. fol. 21) into Gaoga. Leo (pt. +<span class="sc2">I</span>. c. 7) having enumerated the fifteen +kingdoms of Negroland visited by him, adds, that there are three +times as many, sufficiently well known, lying to the south of the +preceding; and names five of them, viz. Bito, Temiam, Dauma, Medra, +Goran. Marmol (vol. <span class="sc2">I</span>. fol. 15), in +copying this passage, omits Dauma, and substitutes for it Mandinga. +But Leo had no idea of increasing the kingdoms of Western +Negroland. His Bito is the Bede of Denham and Clapperton, adjoining +or comprised in the modern Bornú. Einsiedel names together, +Schikou—the Schaïkou of Lyon (Trav. in N. Afr. p. 126), two days +from the capital of Bornú—Bitou (Leo’s Bito), and Engar (Angarú). +Temiam may be an error for Yemyem: Dauma is probably the Doma of +our maps, or the country on the right bank of the River Chadda. +Medra seems to be Mandara, one letter being obliterated in the +Arabic MS. Goran (in Marmol Gorhan), which is often referred to by +Leo, is evidently the Desert of Kordofán. This name <span class= +"arabic">كردفان</span> might easily become, in negligent writing, +Korhán <span class="arabic">كرهان</span>; or as Leo, uniformly +writing <em>kef</em> with a <em>g</em>, and omitting the aspirates, +would represent it, Goran. Another region often named by Leo, may +be fitly considered here. In the Desert of Seu, south of Bornú (pt. +<span class="sc2">VII</span>. c. 15), and environing an immense +lake (pt. <span class="sc2">I</span>. c. 27), called the Lake of +the Desert of Gaoga (pt. <span class="sc2">I</span>. c. 2), he +places the sources of the Niger (pt. <span class="sc2">I</span>. c. +3). It is obvious that the lake alluded to is Lake Chad, and that +the name Seu is the root of the appellative Showy, and the name +Shouaa, respectively given by Denham to a town on the Shary, and +the Arab tribes inhabiting the adjacent country.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219"><span class= +"label">[219]</span></a>Yaḳút and Abú-l-fedá both mention the towns +of Maghzá and Jájah in the vicinity of Lake Kúra. Al-Maghzá, +according to the former writer, was the port in which were fitted +out the fleets of the King of Tekrúr, “who wages perpetual war with +the infidels to the south of his states.” Al-Maghzá signifies the +place whence invaders sally forth. Abú-l-fedá however differs from +Yaḳút in assigning both Maghzá and Jájah, not to Tekrúr, but to +Kánem. Jájah (perhaps the Gagai of Clapperton, Sec. Exped. p. 174) +was the capital of a petty state situate probably between those two +kingdoms. It was remarkable for its fertility and variety of its +productions; among other things for its spotted sheep (described by +Lander in Clapp. Sec. Exped. p. 259-60). But it must be observed +that the Arab geographers, in describing the bearings of those +places, particularly in reference to the lake, speak in general the +language of misconception.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220"><span class= +"label">[220]</span></a>Bowdich remarks (Mission to Ashantee, p. +478 note), that the name of the river written Kúra, Kúda, &c. +was always pronounced Quolla by the natives in their conversations +with Mr. Hutchinson. Ignaz Pallme (in the Athenæum, 1840, p. 54), a +traveller in Kordofán, relates that the natives of that country +think that the Bahr el-Abiad may be followed westward through +Baghermi, Kúḳo (Kouka), and Niero (Naroo, the hilly country +north-east of Zegzeg); and “further on (he says), in Kúla (Kúra) +flows a river not identified” (that is, different from the Nile). +Browne also (Travels in Africa, p. 254) heard in Darfúr of Darkulla +(the Land of Kúla or Kúra), where pepper was in abundance, and the +rivers were navigated in large canoes. He indeed supposed Darkulla +to lie towards the south. But his map exposes his mistake; for the +rivers Bahr Wullad Ráshid, B. el Salamat, and B. Heimad, crossed on +the route to Darkulla, and which he places to the south and west of +Baghermi, bear the names of Arab tribes dwelling in Wadaí and on +the shores of Lake Chad (Burckhardt, Trav. in Nubia, pp. 433, 436). +The route therefore went westwards.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221"><span class= +"label">[221]</span></a>The Kiliwah (the Kalawa of Capt. Lyon, +Kolluvi of Hornemann), a Tawárik tribe, are masters of Asben, or +the territory between Houssa and Aghades. Their town in Guber is +called by Clapperton Killiwawa or Calawawa, by the Tatar merchant +Wargee, Galibaba. Clapperton frequently mentions also the Kilghí +(whom he calls Killgris), another powerful tribe of the same +nation. Their territory is the kingdom called by Bowdich (p. 208), +Kallaghee, fourteen days’ journey from Gamhadi (Kambari), or from +the Quolla, crossing the Gambarou (Kamba-róa, or Kamba water) on +the tenth. Kamba is apparently the name given by the indigenous +population to Kábi, or a part of Yaúrí (Dupuis, Append. 85). The +Gambarou of Bowdich is the Gulbi Kambáji, or river of Kambáji or +Konbash of Dupuis’ Itineraries (App. 126 and 192). The name Kilghí +is changed by the Blacks into Kilinghi (see <a href= +"#Footnote_162">Note 162</a>), whence comes the title Kilinghiwa +given to the King of Kachenah (Walck. Rech. p. 451).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222"><span class= +"label">[222]</span></a>Hají Hamed (Quart. Rev. 1820, No. 45, p. +232), among others, bears witness to the course of the Great River +from the Sea of Nyffé to Egypt by Kachenah and Kano. Capt. Lyon’s +informant, however (Lyon’s Trav. p. 142), traces the stream from +Funda to Katagum, while Ben Yusuf, Hornemann’s son (Denham, +<span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 334), and Mohammed Miṣri (Jour. Roy. +Inst. 1823, p. 5) are equally positive in making it flow through +Adamawa. Much has been said of the unanimity of the natives in +connecting the waters of Lake Chad with the River Chadda, but they +agree only in the vague outlines of a theory, not in facts; they +are unanimous in making the Kowára flow into the Chad, and not the +Chad into the Kowára.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223"><span class= +"label">[223]</span></a>The author of the Kitábu-l-Jʿarafiah +divides Africa into three parts, one of which is Karkar: +Shehabeddin (Not. et Extr. tom. <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. +156), adopting the same division, writes Kaúkaú. The division into +four parts is frequently referred to by Marmol (tom. <span class= +"sc2">I</span>. pp. 18, 21, 31), who follows probably Ibn +Gezzar.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224"><span class= +"label">[224]</span></a>El Bekrí probably wrote Remrem; though El +Idrísí, copying him, writes Demdem; the latter author names also +the Lemlem. Ibn Sʿaíd may be conjectured to have written Yemyem, +but the doubtful text of the MSS. leaves the point undecided. +Abú-l-fedá mentions not only the Demdem, but also the Nemnem, which +latter people he places south of Saharte (the most eastern district +of Tígré in Abyssinia) and of Samhar (the Dankali coast), and +consequently in what is now called the Taltal country. All those +names, Nemnem excepted, refer to the same people.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225"><span class= +"label">[225]</span></a>In the maps of Forlani and others of the +sixteenth century, the Nile, Zaire, Cuama, and Spirito Santo, were +all made to flow from Lake Zambere. Sanson however (1650) allowed +that lake no outlet towards the east, but Hollar (London, 1667) +still joined the river of Kílwah with Lake Zaflan, which, as well +as Lake Zambere, was connected with the Nile. In all these maps +Abyssinia extended to lat. 18° S. Delisle was the first who +reformed these absurdities.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226"><span class= +"label">[226]</span></a>Labat (Rel. Hist. de l’Ethiopie +Occidentale, <span class="sc2">II</span>. p. 90), copying, but not +faithfully, Cavazzi de Montecucoli, states, with surprising +coolness, as matter of history, the supposed origin of the Jagas in +the country of the Monoemugi (Monomoézi). The country of the Jagas, +that is to say, of the chieftains so entitled, lies immediately +behind Angola, perhaps not above 250 miles from the sea coast, and +there is nothing in the history of their followers calculated to +show that they come from the remote interior. Andrew Battel, who +was seized on the coast and carried off by the Jagas, with whom he +spent above a year, says (Purchas’ Pilgrims, <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. p. 973), that they told him they come from Sierra +Leone. This absurd statement shows that Battel had got into his +head some of the geographical speculations of his day. The Jesuit +Sandoval (Hist. de Ethiop. p. 48) thus abridges the information of +the missionaries: “About ninety years back, a nation called in +their own country Gangedes, in Congo, Jagas, in Angola, Guindes, in +India (Eastern Africa), Zimbas, in Ethiopia (Abyssinia), Gallas, +and in Sierra Leone, Zumbas (Cumbas, in Jarric, probably for +Çumbas), which name they changed for Manes, and who lived on human +flesh, issued forth,” &c. Finally, Anguiano (Epitome Historial +&c. del Imp. Abyss. 1706, p. 8), speaking of the Agows, assures +us that the names Agáo, Agag, and Giagos, or Giacos, are all the +same.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227"><span class= +"label">[227]</span></a>A writer in a popular journal, says of the +Zoolus (properly Amazúla,) near Natal,—“They extend much further +northward, where they are found under the names Sualies and +Gallas.” (Quart. Rev. Febr. 1837, p. 178.) The Arabic word Sowáḥilí +means “inhabiting the coasts.”</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228"><span class= +"label">[228]</span></a>The portion of Da Couto’s History here +quoted (Decade <span class="sc2">X</span>. lib. 6, c. 15) has never +been printed, but the Library of the British Museum possesses two +MS. copies of it. The lake here referred to is called by De Barros +Zambere, a name copied servilely by all succeeding writers, though +it was doubtless a misprint for Zambeze. Cuama is the name given to +the lower portion of the Zambeze, which river is so named according +to Dos Santos (Ethiop. Orient. p. 44), because, on quitting the +Great Lake, from which proceed the chief rivers of Southern Africa, +it flows through a territory inhabited by a people of that name.” +The people alluded to are the Ambios of Da Couto, the Movíza of the +Portuguese of the present day, but who call themselves M’Bíza. The +true name of the river, therefore (and that intended also to be +given to the lake), is Zambíza. N’yassi, or <em>the sea</em>, as +this lake is called by the natives (whence D’Anville’s Massi, by +mistake for Niassi), is commonly but erroneously designated in our +maps Lake Marávi. The Marávi country, that is to say, the country +in which the chieftains bear the title of Marávi, extends from the +Zambíza to the Livúma behind Cape Delgado, and touches but does not +encompass the lake. Da Couto, following De Barros, borrows the name +Rhapta from Ptolemy. It serves to indicate eruditely rather than +clearly what the Arabs call the River of Maḳdishó, that is, the +Juba.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229"><span class= +"label">[229]</span></a>Cavazzi de Montecucoli, a laborious and +sincere writer, relates (Istorica Descrittione de tre Regni, +&c. 1690, book <span class="sc2">II</span>. c. 3) that a chief +named Zimbo raised an army in Congo, with which he invaded Melinda +on the opposite coast. Being there defeated, he retired towards the +Cape of Good Hope, and afterwards attacked Angola, &c. Zimbo’s +marches equalled those of Tamerlane. The enormous exaggerations and +mistakes of the Catholic Missionaries respecting the interior of +Southern Africa, still retain their places in works of +geography.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230"><span class= +"label">[230]</span></a>A Mandingo warrior named Abba Manca +(Mança?), conquered Bambúk in the beginning of the twelfth century, +and compelled its inhabitants to adopt the Mohammedan rites +(Golberry, Fragmens d’un Voy. <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 419). +Silla was one of the first converted of the negro towns; and as, in +the Mandingo language, the word Silla means a way, road, pass, or +ferry, and might therefore have been naturally employed to +designate a town situate on the line of traffic, it may be +conjectured that Silla belonged to the Mandingoes from the +beginning. It may be here observed that the termination +<em>boo</em> (see <a href="#Footnote_52">Note 52</a>), +characterizing the names of villages in Bambara, signifies a hut. +(Dard. Dict. Wolofe, pp. 19, 22; Caillié, <span class= +"sc2">III</span>. p. 301).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231"><span class= +"label">[231]</span></a>The Sultan of the Fellátah dynasty in +Houssa styles himself Sultan of Tekrúr. The Fellátah conquerors of +Houssa issued, in the beginning of the present century, from the +province of Ader, adjoining Kábí on the north, and where they may +have been long established. It is possible then that the kingdom of +Tekrúr, mentioned to Niebuhr by Abdu-r-Raḥmán Aga, and also heard +of by Hutchinson (Bowdich, p. 483), may have belonged to the +Fellátah dynasty now dominant in Houssa.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232"><span class= +"label">[232]</span></a>The Garamantes, a Libyan nation, chased, in +chariots drawn by four horses, the Ethiopian Troglodytes +(Herodotus, book <span class="sc2">IV</span>. c. 152). El Idrísí +(in Jaubert’s Trans. <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 110,) remarks +that stealing children to sell them to strangers for a trifle, is a +general practice in the desert, and “no one there sees harm in +it.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span><a id= +"c9"></a>POSTSCRIPT.</h2> + +<hr class="decor width3"> + +<p class="sch2">REMARKS ON HOUSSA.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">The</span> route from the capital of Ashantí, +through Gonja, to the Kowára or Quorra opposite to Yaúry, is +determined as satisfactorily as can be expected from native +information. Three different itineraries of that route agree in the +chief points, conducting from Lake Buro, or from Salagha (which is +the same as Dagwumba), through Tonuma, Jabzogho, Ghofil, Zogho, +Jambodú, Suso and Kúka to Nikki, the capital of Borghú. Beyond this +place is the town of Rugha, the River Wori, and the mountains over +which lies the road to Sholo on the banks of lake Kúra (the +Quorra). But in two of the itineraries the names Rugha, Wori, and +Kúra are written Ḍugha, Woḍi, and Kúḍa.<a id= +"FNanchor_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233" class= +"fnanchor">[233]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span>From Sholo the +route conducts by Kambashi, Ghúnti, and Yendukka to Kachenah in +twenty-five days. Other native routes, passing northwards of this +through the mountainous country of Fagh, cross the river at Gongo +(<em>i.e.</em> the ferry,) to Múrí (Múli), and then proceed through +Kábí, over the Gulbi Kambaji to Raka, and thence through +Kotú-n-kúra to Marki, and crossing the hills near Surami to +Kachenah. The Gulbi Kambaji (river of Kambaji) of Dupuis, it has +been already observed, is the same as the Gambarou (Kamba-roa, or +Kamba water) of Bowdich. The latter writer places to the north of +it, Mallowa, Kallaghee (Kilghí), Barrabadi (Beráberi), and +Kachenah. On the south side of his Gambarou, or between it and the +Quorra, he sets Gauw, Gamhadi (Kombori), Fillani, Goubirri, +Zamfarra, Yaoura, and Noufí. If a partial error in the position of +Mallowa be allowed for, and a more decided one in the case of Gauw, +it will be evident that the river dividing the countries here +enumerated is the Quorrama, or river of Kábí.<a id= +"FNanchor_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234" class= +"fnanchor">[234]</a></p> + +<p>Mohammed Masíní, describing the Kowára, says, “this great river +issues from the Mountain of the Moon; and<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_142">[142]</span> what we know of it is, that it comes from +Sookan (Sókaí) to Kiya (Kiyaú, the Gauw of Bowdich), to Kabi, to +Yaouri, to Boossa, to Wawa, and to Noofee; but in that place there +is another river that springs from Zirmá, to Ghoober, to Zeffra, to +Kory or Koora, and then enters Noofee; its name is Kaduna. On the +north of it Kanbari lies; on the east is Kory; on the south are +Cankan and Kafath; and on the west is Bassoa or Bashwa (Busawa, the +territory of Busá). About the centre of it is the kingdom of +Noofee, with that of Abyou (Abbiwa).”<a id= +"FNanchor_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235" class= +"fnanchor">[235]</a></p> + +<p>The river here described under the name of Kaduna, as running +first northwards from Zirmá to Guber, and then southwards to Núfí, +is apparently the same described by Clapperton in these words: +“This stream rises only a day’s journey in the mountains or hills +south of Guari, runs through part of Zamfrá, and divides in one +part the states of Katongkora and Guari, and enters into the +Kodonia in Nyffé.” The Kaduna or Kadunia enters the Kowára in the +vicinity of Raka and Rabba, perhaps a little above the latter +place. According to the native accounts, it is during part of the +year a great river, navigated in canoes made of a single trunk of a +tree, yet large enough to carry nine horses, but in the summer it +is quite dry.<a id="FNanchor_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236" +class="fnanchor">[236]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span>The country +called by Mohammed Masíní, Kory or Koora (Kúra), is either the +Guari of the maps, or else Kotú-n-kúra. The resemblance of this +name to that of the great river (Lake Kúra) deserves attention. It +appears probable that the natives of Houssa name the Great River +from what they conceive to be its sources in their own country, +tracing it from Kowára (the Guari of Clapperton), through Zamfara +and Kábí, down to the sea of Kúra or of Núfí.<a id= +"FNanchor_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237" class= +"fnanchor">[237]</a> Hence it is not surprising, that, while Ibn +Sʿaíd mentions Kúra among the kingdoms of Negroland, Yaḳút and +Abú-l-fedá should apply that name to the great water which there +received the Nile of Ghánah.</p> + +<p class="center space-above2"><span class="med">LONDON:</span><br> +<span class="small">J. HOLMES, TOOK’S COURT, CHANCERY LANE.</span> +</p> + +<p class="space-above2 x-ebookmaker-drop"> +</p> + +<div class="footnotes" id="ftc9"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233"><span class= +"label">[233]</span></a>One of these routes is given by Dupuis +(App. 124), another by Bowdich (p. 491), and a third, translated +from the original Arabic by De Sacy, is inserted in Walckenaer’s +Recherches (p. 453). The comparison of this last route with the +fragment (No. 11) in Dupuis’ Appendix (p. 135), shows that its +author was Mohammed al Marrawi, the servant of Ibrahim, from whom +Bowdich derived his information. The Sholo of the Itineraries is +the Sooloo of Lander (Exped. to the Niger, <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. p. 28), who means by the expression “the left bank +of the river,” the bank on his left hand, and contra-distinguishes +it from the east bank, on which his horses were. The systematic +substitution of <em>d</em> for <em>r</em> by the natives of a part +of Houssa, is manifest from these itineraries. The words Barrabadi +and Gamhadi, for Beráberi and Kombori, are other instances of the +same change; and probably the savage and naked people called +Maradi, said to inhabit the country between Kachenah and Guber +(Lyon, p. 140), are no other than the Marrí, or people of Marra. +The deposed King of Houssa lives in Maradi (Lander, Sec. Exped. p. +63, 153). Dupuis describes a route from Salagha, a little eastward +of north, to what he calls the great city of Andari, respecting +which there is room for some curious conjectures. But it will be +sufficient for the present to remark that his Andari <span class= +"arabic">عنظر</span> (Itin. No. 6) and Fadaly <span class= +"arabic">فضلى</span> (No. 10), on the importance of both of which +places he dwells with complacency, are in reality one and the +same.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234"><span class= +"label">[234]</span></a>For the Gharanti and Yendoto of Dupuis, +Ghúnti (the Gonde of Clapperton) and Yendukka (the Yendukwa of that +traveller, and Yendakka of Lyon,) are here read, the change in +Arabic writing being extremely easy. The name Kandashy, which Mr. +Dupuis gives to a part of Houssa, originated in a mistake. He +joined the word Dúshi, signifying the hills or mountains, to a part +of some preceding word. Marina, Kandashy, ought to be Markí, and +Dúshi, or the hills. Mr. Dupuis continues, “Great Souy is the name +of the adjoining country; there is also another Souy, where the +water is very broad, and bears the name of Boromi Mághami.” For +Souy <span class="arabic">سُوْوِ</span> in this place we must read +Surmi <span class="arabic">سُرْمِ</span>, a name variously altered +into Solan, Zulami, Zurmie and Zirmie. The situation of Surmi, or +rather Surami the less, is pointed out by Clapperton (Sec. Exped. +p. 164). Lander crossed the river of Makamie (Mághami). The word +Boromi apparently signifies river, in some dialect the use of which +extends into Bornú and Kánem.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235"><span class= +"label">[235]</span></a>The Cankan of Mohammed Masíní is probably +the Ghana-ghanah of Wargee. (Asiat. Journ. 1823, vol. <span class= +"sc2">XVI</span>. p. 23.)</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236"><span class= +"label">[236]</span></a>There is, no doubt, some difficulty in +believing that the mouth of the Kadunia is above Rabba, when Lander +states so clearly that it is below Fofo; yet a MS. sketch of the +route from Kano to the Kowára in Núfí, drawn by Clapperton from +native information, places it between Rabba and Leechee, and +directly opposite to Raka. Bakani, the capital, is one day from the +mouth of the river; it seems to lie directly in the road from Kanó +and Zegzeg to Raka and Katunga (Hertha, July 1827, Geogr. Zeit. pp. +11, 14). From one of Clapperton’s MS. vocabularies, communicated to +me by my invaluable friend, the Rev. G. C. Renouard, it would +appear that the word Kaduna, in the Houssa language, signifies +<em>little</em>. If this be correct, which appears very +questionable, there are probably several rivers of that name. Here +it may be remarked, that when Dupuis (pt. <span class= +"sc2">II</span>. p. 100) speaks of Saghona, the capital of Yekoo +(Ako or Yariba), he means Raka, which is also called Saguda (Clapp. +p. 60).</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237"><span class= +"label">[237]</span></a>Clapperton (Sec. Exped. p. 232) says that +the capital of Zegzeg is called Quorra. He probably means to speak +of the town which he elsewhere calls Guari, but the name of which, +in the native maps brought home by him, is written Ḳowárah. When he +speaks of Kóra (p. 133), he appears to have in view the capital of +Kotú-n-Kúra. This name is, through obvious mistake, written +Kotunfauda in Bello’s map. Kotú is a name of frequent occurrence, +as in Kotú-n-karafi (in the maps Cuttum Curraffee), “where there is +a copper mine” (Bello in Denh. Disc. <span class="sc2">II</span>. +p. 451). Karafi means metal in general. The country named Kúra is +mentioned, together with Niffi and Raka, by the Kaíd ben Yusuf +(Denh. Disc. <span class="sc2">I</span>. p. 334). The slaves +Boniface and Francisco agreed in representing to M. Menézes de +Drummond (Hertha, pp. 13, 14), that the Kowára rises in the centre +of Houssa, and that it takes its name from the country named Kuara +(Kowára), through which it flows.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="space-above2 x-ebookmaker-drop"> +</p> + +<div class="transnote"> +<h2>Transcriber's note:</h2> + +<ul> +<li class="simple">Vowel diacritics in Arabic names have sometimes +been adjusted to match their transliteration.</li> + +<li class="simple">Unpointed Beh-shape letters in medial or initial +form have been represented with the Alef Maksura (<span class= +"arabic">ى</span>) character. Other unpointed consonants are shown +as printed.</li> + +<li class="simple space-above15">Changes in the <a href= +"#corr">CORRECTIONS</a> have been done, as well as:</li> + +<li>pg <a href="#Page_xv">xv</a>, Changed: "GHÁNAH, AUDÁGHOST, +AÚLÍL" to: "AÚDAGHOST"</li> + +<li>pg <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, footnote <a href= +"#Footnote_9">9,</a> Changed: "Támedelt <span class= +"arabic">تَلمدَلْت</span> (MS. B.M.)" to: "<span class= +"arabic">تَامدَلْت</span>"</li> + +<li>pg <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, footnote <a href= +"#Footnote_24">24,</a> Changed: "Agharef <span class= +"arabic">أَغَوَفْ</span> MS. B.M." to: "<span class= +"arabic">أَغَرَفْ</span>"</li> + +<li>pg <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, footnote <a href= +"#Footnote_185">185,</a> Changed: "(Walcknenaer, Rech. p. 450)." +to: "Walckenaer"</li> + +<li>pg <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, Changed: "it it manifest that +Ghánah coincides" to: "it is"</li> + +<li>pg <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, Changed: "thirteenth century, +it it obvious" to: "it is"</li> + +<li class="simple">Other spelling inconsistencies have been left +unchanged.</li> +</ul> +</div> +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78434 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |