vigour, the richest and most important kingdom which the Arabs ruled in
interior Africa. It lay to the west of Kanem, and was situated upon the
Nile. It was perhaps what is now known under the name of Cano. Vancara,
Cassina, and many other surrounding kingdoms, obeyed the authority of
Ghana, whose sovereign was exceedingly rich and powerful. The
inhabitants had long boats on the Nile, with which they fished and
carried on communication with other cities. In its largest sense, the
land of Ghana must have been of great extent. Ghana, according to
Edrisi, was bounded on the north by the _broadest_ desert, lying out
between the countries of the blacks and Barbary. According to Ibn-al-
Vardi, it was bounded on the south by Meghrara, or Meczara. It was
through the negroes country of Meczara that the Nile of the negroes,
according to Edrisi, ran in its progress to the sea near the Isle of
Ulil. Meczara El-Sudan, in all probability, was a general term applied
by the Arabs to all the countries lying to the south of their first
established kingdoms in Africa. They seem, in their progress of
colonization, to have proceeded first westward down the Gir, and then to
have been met by fresh colonies; which colonies descending from Barbary,
urged their progress eastward and along the Niger, till they met their
countrymen on the Gir.
The Pagan country of Lamlem lay to the southward and westward of the
kingdom of Ghana. “The countries and dominions of Lamlem,” says Edrisi,
“lay near a certain river flowing into the Nile. It is not known whether
there is any inhabited place to the southward, (rather S.W.) of Lamlem,
it being bounded on that side by a “Desert.” Thus indicating that it is
bounded on the southward and westward by a mountainous and woody
country. According to Ibn-al-Vardi, Lamlem is an inland city, “where
gold is found.” This would lead us to look for it between the Niger and
the Kong Mountains. Edrisi, however, has left us a more particular mark
by which we can ascertain the true position of this country, which was
invaded by all its Mahommedan neighbours, and its population carried off
to be made slaves. “When any of all the inhabitants of Lamlem,” says
Edrisi, “come to have the use of their reason, he is burnt in the face
and temples; this they do to distinguish each other.” Now, according to
Bowditch, this is the practice of the people of Dagwumba, (famous for
the abundance of gold,) Yahndi and Moosee, countries S.W. of the Niger,
and in the immediate vicinity of the Kong Mountains, “where gold is
found.” “The people of Dagwumba,” says he, “have three slight cuts on
each cheek bone, and three below, with one horizontal under the eye.
Those of Yahndi, three deep indented cuts. The people of Moosee, three
very deep and long, and one under the eye.” (Bowditch, p. 183.) These
are unchangeable features, and cannot mislead us. In all other parts of
Africa, the people are marked on their bodies. Lamlem, therefore, lay S.
and S.W. of the Niger, towards Kong, and was near a river which flowed
into the Niger, or the Nile of these Arabian geographers.
Belad-el-Tibri, or the country of pure gold, seems a general name
applied to all that part of Africa, south of the Upper Niger, towards
the mountainous country of Kong, where gold is so abundant. “Belad-el-
Tibri, _or the country of pure gold_,” says Bakui, “is part of the
Sudans or the Blacks in the south of Africa. From Segelmessa (south of
Mount Atlas,) to this country, they reckon three months journey. Here
you see gold come out of the sand, as elsewhere plants out of the
earth.” This is sufficient to enable us to ascertain what is meant by
“Belad-el-Tibri,” and also where that country is. The Empire of Ghana,
Bakui also informs us, was situate near this rich and evidently
extensive district.
The land of Maly, which, according to Macrisi, is at “_a very great
distance_” from the land of Kanem, next demands our attention. The
celebrated Arabian traveller, Batouta, enables us to fix the position of
this important country. This man was perhaps the greatest land traveller
that ever lived. He had visited every country from China to Spain, and
traversed nearly all northern Africa. An abridgment of his important
travels was found by Burckhardt in Egypt. The work is become very
scarce. Batouta was a native of Tangier. From Segelmessa, he set out
with the slave caravan for Sudan, in the year of the Hegira 753, (A.D.
1375.) In 45 days they crossed the Desert, and reached the first town in
Sudan, called Abou Laten, or Eiswalaten, perhaps Walet. From Abou Laten,
he travelled to Maly, through a country abounding with large trees, in
the hollow of one of which he saw a weaver at work on his loom. Ten days
brought them to Zaghary, an extensive place inhabited by negro traders,
and some white people of the heretic creed of Byadha, supposed to be
Christians or Jews. Leaving Zaghary, but without mentioning the
distance, or the bearing travelled, he came to the Nile (Niger,) at a
village named Karsendjour or Kosegarten.
“From Karsendjour,” says Batouta, “the Nile flows down to Kabera, and
from thence to Zagha, the inhabitants of which are Moslems of old, and
strong in the faith.” In this we readily recognize Sego, whose people
are to this day very rigid Mahommedans. “From Zagha,” continues Batouta,
“the Nile flows down to Timbuctoo, _then to Kuku_, to Mouly, the last
place in the country of Maly, to Bowy, (Query, can this be the same as
Boussa?) which is one of the largest cities in Sudan, and the Sultan one
of the most powerful in that country. No white man enters it, for he
would be killed before his arrival.” From Karsendjour, the traveller
“proceeded to the river called Sansera, about ten miles from Maly, and
then entered Maly, where he remained two months, and received presents
from Sultan Mousey Solyman, an avaricious but very just king. The women
in this country never cover their nakedness till after marriage.”
From the mutability of names in Africa, it is impossible for us to fix
precisely the spot where Batouta first reached the Niger. The time he
took to travel from Segelmessa across the Desert, agrees very well with
the distance to Walet, and from 15 to 20 days would bring him to the
Niger about Yamina. His general route to this point was in all
probability south. From the Niger, his course was probably to the
eastward of south, which would soon bring him to the Ba Nimma, which
seems to have been his river Sansera. The Maly here mentioned, there
seems no reason to doubt, is the Melli of Leo, and the early Portuguese
Voyagers. According to Cadamosto, it was 30 days journey S.W. from
Timbuctoo, and from Leo, we learn that it was an extensive country,
“extending 300 Arabian miles along a river which falleth into the Niger.
It is bounded by Jinnéé on the north, Gago on the east, south by certain
deserts and dry mountains, and west by huge _woods and forests_,
stretching to the Ocean (Atlantic) Sea. The capital, Melli, contains
6000 families or more. They excel all negroes in wit, civility, and
industry. They are rich, and have plenty of wares. The country yieldeth
great abundance of corn, flesh, and cotton. Here are many artificers and
merchants in all places. The people of Melli were the first that
embraced Mahommedanism.” The identity therefore of the Maly of Batouta,
and the Melli of Leo, is very apparent. This country must either be
situated along the Ba Nimma, or on the Niger itself, as will be noticed
more fully as we proceed in tracing the latter. According to the
itineraries which Bowditch obtained from several Moors, there is at this
day a place called Mali, to the west of Sego. (Bowditch, pages 484, 487,
489, and 192.)
“In 764, (A.D. 1376,) Batouta left Maly, and came to a canal or branch
of the Nile, where he saw a great number of Hippopotami; _and from
thence, after many days_, he reached Timbuctoo. It is a town of the
kingdom of Maly, and a black governor, named by the Sultan of Maly,
resides there. Most of its inhabitants are traders.” From thence he
passed down the Nile in a canoe, till he came to Kuku, paying daily
visits to the towns on the banks of the river.” Kuku is a large city,
_one of the finest in Sudan_. Here, as well as in Maly, they use shells
for currency. From thence he reached the town of Berdamma, whose
inhabitants _are the guardians of the caravans_. Their women are
beautiful. From this he went to Nekda or Tedka, built of red stones. The
water with which it was supplied, runs over copper mines, and assumes a
red colour, whence it is called _Bahar-el-Ahmar_, or Red River. The
people have no employment except trade, and the copper outside of Nekda,
where slaves work. The copper is melted into long pieces, which are
carried to the Pagan negroes for sale, and to other places. The Sultan
was of the Berber nation. From hence the traveller returned to Barbary
in 1376, passing through Twat, Hekar of the Berbers, and Segelmessa,
from whence he went to Faz, where his travels ended.”
From Kuku, Batouta turned homewards. The road he took from thence
clearly establishes this fact. The people of Berdamma being the
_guardians of the caravans_, and the Sultan of Nekda being of the
_Berber nation_, fixes these places on the south side of the Great
Desert, and N.E. of Timbuctoo. How far Kuku is below Timbuctoo, we are
left to conjecture. From the former place he was 70 days in reaching
Twat. This Oasis in the Desert is 45 days journey from Timbuctoo, nearly
north. Allowing that Batouta rested no part of the 70 days mentioned,
but which it is probable that he did, and taking into consideration the
declination of the Niger southward below Timbuctoo, Batouta could
scarcely have been more than 25 days journey below the latter place.
About that distance from Timbuctoo, according to Sidi Hamed, there are
two very large towns on the south bank of the Niger. Batouta’s account
of the river called “Bahar-el-Ahmar,” is a curious circumstance, and
seems to confirm the account given by Adams of the river which, coming
from the N.E. joins the Niger at Timbuctoo, and called the Red River of
the Desert.
The two great points, however, here established by this narrative of
Batouta, is the account of the great kingdom of Maly, to which in these
days Timbuctoo was tributary, and the information that the great city of
Kuku, “famous amongst the negroes for magnitude,” was in this land of
Maly, the first place of note below Timbuctoo, and upon the banks of the
Niger. Modern geographers have placed Kuku N.E. of Bagharme, near 1200
miles from the Niger. Had such an important city been in these parts, it
would not have escaped the knowledge of Mr. Browne’s informants, nor the
researches and inquiries of the accurate and intelligent Burckhardt, who
gives the routes of travellers from Dar Saley to Mourzook, over the very
spot where Kuku has been erroneously placed, without once hinting that
such a city existed. This grievous error concerning the situation of
Kuku, has tended to confuse all the Arabian geography of Africa. The
authority for placing it in the part referred to is Edrisi. But that
author is very undecided and uncertain on that point. “Kuku,” says he,
“is famous amongst the negroes for magnitude. It is situated on the
banks of a river which, flowing _from the north part_, washes it, and
although many negroes relate that the city of Kuku is situated on the
banks of the Nile, _others place it near a river flowing into the Nile_.
The king of Kuku is absolute, dependent upon no one, he has much
attendance, and the greatest empire. The people are of a martial
disposition. The governors and nobility are dressed in satin,” &c.
The accounts given by Edrisi of the magnitude and importance of Kuku,
are fully confirmed, and correspond exactly with the description given
by Batouta nearly two hundred years later. The position of the city,
however, as mentioned by Batouta, must be relied on in preference,
because he saw what he describes, and Edrisi only wrote from hearsay,
and reports from travellers. Some of these reported that Kuku was not
upon the Nile, that is the Gir, but “near a river flowing into the
Nile,” which is the fact, by Kuku standing upon the banks of the Niger.
Edrisi had evidently very imperfect accounts of the river we call the
Niger, and not sufficient to enable him to distinguish it from the Nile
or Gir, which ran westward till it met the former. Scheabeddin informs
us, that the country between Abyssinia and Syene, through which the Nile
of Egypt passed, was called Coucou; and modern authorities tell us, that
near Lake Fittre is a country called Dar Cooka, but neither of these
were, or could be, the Kuku of Batouta. The city as it is at present
placed, is situated in the land of Kanem, whereas Batouta distinctly
states it to be in the land of Maly, which Macrisi informs us is at “_a
very great distance_” from the former.
There are some particulars regarding the kingdom of Melli, which require
further consideration. According to Leo, it was bounded south by a
_desert and bare mountains_. In this we readily recognize the high and
bleak hills of Kong. But he states that, on the west it is bounded by
_huge woods and forests_, which stretch to the ocean, that is to the
Atlantic. In this he seems evidently to have had in view the vast woody
and hilly country west of the Niger, and its course above Bammakoo.
Perhaps these vast countries were in those days but little known to the
followers of Mahomet, and therefore supposed to be little else but
continued woods and forests. Indeed Abulfeda calls these coasts
“uncultivated, uninhabited, and unfrequented countries.” Melli, however,
seems to have been a name which extended over a great part of the most
western portion of Africa. The name was quite familiar to the early
European navigators. Cada Mosto in 1455 was informed, when in the
Gambia, that the chiefs up that river, ten days journey distant, “were
subservient to the king of Melli, the great emperor of the negroes,”
(_Clarke’s_ Mar. Dis. p. 279.) According to Barbot, some navigators make
the limits of Sierra Leone extend “north to Cape Verga, making it border
on the kingdom of Melli that way.” (_Clarke_, Mar. Dis. p. 314.) The
early Dutch navigators in 1600 state, that the coast from Cape Verde to
Cape Palmas, was called Melligette, where the kingdom of Melli was
situated. This kingdom of Melli hath another under it called Bitonni,
which lyeth not far from the Rio Cestos. (_Purchas_, vol. ii. p. 928.)
This shews how far the fame and authority of Melli extended in those
days, and that, though the centre of its power was on the upper Niger,
it nevertheless overawed or claimed respect from the most distant parts
in the south-most portion of Africa[3].
Cada Mosto particularly mentions, that Melli was the great channel of
the gold trade with Timbuctoo, Barbary, Tunis, and Cairo. Salt was a
great article of barter for gold dust, and was brought from Tegazza in
the Great Desert. The people of Melli were the carriers of these
articles, and Cada Mosto and several other authorities mention a strange
circumstance, that this barter was effected with negroes whom the Melli
merchants never saw. The latter carried their salt to the banks of a
great water, and placing it there in parcels, left it. Other negroes
then came in boats from islands adjacent, and finding the salt, laid a
quantity of gold beside it equal to what they conceived the value of the
salt to be, and then retired. The Melli merchants returned, and if they
were satisfied with the quantity of gold, took it, left the salt, and
departed, without having seen or spoken to the other merchants.
(_Clarke_, Mar. Dis. p. 245.) According to Wadstrom, the negroes who
carry on this singular traffic, inhabit the interior countries to the
north of the Grain and the Gold coast. The _Great Water_ to which Cada
Mosto was informed the salt was carried for this singular trade, was
therefore, in all probability, the Niger in its upper course, and
eastern branch on the lake, which is probably formed at the confluence
of its branches.
Having thus briefly considered Batouta’s important narrative, the land
of Maly and Kuku, the most important city in Sudan, situated in the land
of Maly, we shall now proceed to give the account of the course and
termination of the Nile or Gir, according to the authority of different
Arabian geographers. It is the Gir of Ptolemy with which they were
acquainted, and to which all their descriptions apply. Scheabeddin, who
flourished about the year 1400, follows the ideas of Ptolemy about the
Mountains of the Moon being situated beyond the equator, from which
mountains the Egyptian Nile takes its rise. “It cuts,” says he,
“horizontally the equator in its course north. Many sources come from
this mountain, and unite in a great lake. From this lake comes the Nile,
the greatest and most beautiful of the rivers of all the earth. Many
rivers derived from this great river water Nubia, _and the country of
Djenawa_.” His account of the sources of the Nile south of the equator
are grossly erroneous, but the account related, in the Arabic mode of
expression, that a river or rivers flowing from it “_waters the country
of Djenawa_,” is most important, because Djenawa is the Arabic name for
the country we call Guinea, and by them used in a much more extended
sense and meaning. It in fact comprehends Africa from the Gold Coast to
the borders of the Great Zahaara[4].
Edrisi, however, who was born in Nubia, and wrote in Egypt, gives us a
more accurate account of the sources of what was then known as the Nile
of Sudan. “In part 4th of climate 1st, (climate 1st extends from the
equator to the tropic of Cancer,) viz. in that part of Ethiopia, south
and south-west of Nubia, says he, “is _seen the separating of the two
Niles_. The one flows from south to north into Egypt, and the other part
of the Nile flows from the east to the _utmost bounds of the west, and
upon this branch of the Nile lie all, or at least the most celebrated_
kingdoms of the negroes. The blacks mostly inhabit the banks of the
Nile, _or streams that flow into it. It waters the country from east to
west_.” Here the westerly course is most distinctly marked out by both
authors. By the term “separating,” we are not to understand the
separation of the two rivers, as if the one really flowed from the
other, but their separation as rising and taking different courses in a
region, not at a particular spot. Scheabeddin’s term “derived from,” is
tantamount to the same thing, and both are a mode of expression quite
common and familiar in all eastern countries, and particularly with
Arabian writers. Abulfeda also confirms this account of the westerly
course of the Nile. Leo also states the same thing, though he is
extremely confused between the accounts which he had heard, and that
which he must have seen, namely, that the Niger, a different river, ran
from west to east.
“In climate 1st, part 1st,” says Edrisi, “are the cities of Ulil, Salla,
Tocrur, Dau, Berissa, and Musa, all situated in the Negroes’ country of
Mecrara. In the island of Ulil, which stands not far from the continent,
_are those famous salt-pits, the only ones we know in all the countries
of the negroes_, whence they are every where supplied with salt. Men
coming to this island load their vessels with salt, and direct their
course to the mouth of the Nile, which is at the distance of _one day’s
sail_. Along the Nile they afterwards pass by Salla, Tocrur, Berissa,
and other provinces of Ghana, Vancara, and Caugha. These countries are
subject to intense heat. Therefore the inhabitants of the first, second,
and some parts of the third climate are black.” Meghrara, or Meczara,
says Ibn-al-Vardi, “is in the territory of the Sudans, or the Blacks.
The principal city is named Oulili. _It is situated on the shore of the
sea. There is salt pits, and a great trade in salt_.” Scheabeddin,
already quoted, indeed says, that the branch of the Nile which passes
westward through “the country of Djenawa, does not flow to the sea, but
only to the end of the inhabited part of the land of Ghana.” The end of
the land of Ghana, there is little doubt, is the termination of this
river, because it thereabouts joins the Niger; but that it does not
terminate in this place, Edrisi assures us, when he states that the
river runs through the Negroes country of Meczara, which Ibn-al-Vardi
says is south of the land of Ghana. He also agrees with Edrisi in the
farther course of the river, when he mentions that Tocrur, which is in
Meczara, is situated on the south-west bank. Scheabeddin’s meaning,
therefore, can only be, that, at the point mentioned, it joined another
river, or that its further progress was unknown to him. Had it here
terminated in a lake, he would scarcely have omitted to state it.
The salt pits, and a great trade in salt into the interior clearly fixes
the mouth of the river on the sea-shore. We shall search the west coast
of Africa in vain, for any thing resembling the account given by Edrisi,
except in the Delta of Benin. There the island of Fernando Po is exactly
one day’s sail from the mouth of a great river. Opposite this island,
and on the mainland, are numerous salt pits. To this day, to this hour,
a great trade in salt is carried on from these parts up the rivers far
into the interior. It is the chief employment of the natives, and has
hitherto been the principal trade which they followed, the slave-trade
excepted.
In all these accounts, from different authorities, the Nile of Egypt and
the Nile of Sudan are clearly and most distinctly stated to be different
rivers. But we have yet an earlier authority than any of these authors
mentioned, to shew that they are so. In Macrisi’s History of Egypt, we
have related the travels of Ibn Selym Assouany, a native of Egypt, who
travelled through Nubia, and upwards to the Bahr-el-Abiad, as early as
about the year 200 of the Hegira (A.D. 822.) “When on the banks of the
Bahr-el-Abiad,” says Selym, “I inquired at the Moggrebbin (negro)
travellers whom I met there, and who had travelled in Sudan, about the
Nile of their country, they stated that it rose _in mountains of sand_,
(confines of the Desert perhaps they meant) and that it collects in
Sudan into large seas, (or lakes;) that it is _unknown where it
afterwards flowed to_, and that its colour was not white.” Here is the
most convincing proof that the rivers were different. Standing on the
banks of the Bahr-el-Abiad, they must have known if it was the same
river which passed through their country (Sudan.) When they state that
they were ignorant of the termination of the Nile of Sudan, and that its
colour was not white, like the colour of the Bahr-el-Abiad, they in fact
distinctly state, that the latter was a different river from the former.
The interior of Northern Africa was visited by Leo Africanus, an
intelligent Mahommedan, about 300 years ago. His accounts, as these
relate to the general features of the country, the kingdoms,
productions, and trade, are in several instances of great importance.
There is a confusion, or rather want of accuracy in some particulars,
which is to be regretted. This arises perhaps from errors in translating
his work, and also from the transmutation of proper names from the
Arabic into the Italian, and afterwards into other languages. As several
parts of his narrative will be referred to more properly in another
place, the notice taken of it in this part of our subject shall
necessarily be brief.