compromise took place between the strangers—Berbers, or rather Imóshagh
(Mazígh) from the tribe of the Berdʿoa—and the tribe or tribes among
whom they settled, just in the same manner as we have seen that a
stipulation of the same kind was probably made between the conquering
Kél-owí and the ancient inhabitants of Aïr of the Góber race; and the
same circumstances, with similar results, are observable in ancient
times, in the relations subsisting between the Grecian colonists and the
original inhabitants of Lycia.
The most important among the indigenous tribes of Kánem are the Kíye or
Beni Kíya, also mentioned in the time of Edrís Alawóma[71], the
Meghármah, who may possibly be identical with the Ghemármah, the
Temághera[72] (evidently a Berber name), the Débiri, the Kúnkuna, at
present established in Kárgá, and finally the Tébu or Tubu, or rather
Tedá. Of all these the last-named constituted by far the most important
and most numerous tribe. To them belonged the mother of Dúnama ben Humé,
the most powerful of the older kings of Bórnu, who appears to have
thrice performed the pilgrimage to Mekka. Indeed it would seem that the
real talisman which Díbalámi Dúnama Selmámi spoiled consisted in the
friendly relation between the Berauni or Kanúri and the Tébu, which was
so intimate that the name of Berauni, which originally belonged to the
inhabitants of Bórnu, is still at present the common name given by the
Tawárek to the Tébu; or rather, the latter are a race intimately related
to the original stock of the Kanúri, as must become evident to every
unprejudiced mind that investigates their language.[73]
How powerful a tribe the Tedá were, is sufficiently shown by the length
of the war which they carried on with that very king Dúnama Selmámi, and
which is said to have lasted more than seven years. Indeed, it would
seem as if it had been only by the assistance of this powerful tribe
that the successors of Jíl Shikomémi were able to found the powerful
dynasty of the Bulála, and to lay the foundation of the great empire
called by Leo Gaoga, comprehending all the eastern and north-eastern
parts of the old empire of Kánem, and extending at times as far as
Dóngola, so that in the beginning of the 16th century it was larger than
Bórnu.[74] Even in the latter half of the 16th century, the Tedá appear
to have constituted a large proportion of the military force of the
Bulála in Kánem; and great numbers of them are said, by the historian of
the powerful king Edrís Alawóma, to have emigrated from Kánem into
Bórnu, in consequence of the victories obtained by that prince over the
Bulála. At that time they seem to have settled principally in the
territories of the Koyám, a tribe very often mentioned in the book of
Imám Ahmed as forming part of the Bórnu army, and with whom at present
they are completely intermixed.[75] It is very remarkable, that neither
by the chronicle, nor by the historian of Edrís Alawóma, the large tribe
of the Mánga, which evidently formed a very considerable element in the
formation of the Bórnu nation, is ever once mentioned.
While the tribes above enumerated were more or less absorbed by the
empire of Kánem, and, in the course of time, adopted the Mohammedan
religion professed by its rulers, there was, on the other hand, a very
numerous indigenous tribe which did not become amalgamated with the
conquering element, but, on the contrary, continued to repel it in a
hostile manner, and for a long time threatened its very existence. These
were the “Soy” or “Só,” a tribe settled originally in the vast territory
inclosed towards the north and north-west by the komádugu Wáube,
erroneously called the Yeou, and towards the east by the Shári, and
divided, as it would seem, into several small kingdoms.
This powerful tribe was not completely subjugated before the time of
Edrís Alawóma, or the latter part of the 16th century; and it might be
matter of surprise that they are not mentioned at all by the chronicle
before the middle of the 14th century, if it were not that even
circumstances and facts of the very greatest importance are passed over
in silence by this arid piece of nomenclature. It would therefore be
very inconsistent to conclude from this silence, that before the period
mentioned the princes of Kánem had never come into contact with the
tribe of the Soy; the reason why the chronicle, sparing as it is of
information, could not any longer pass them over in silence, was that in
the space of three years they had vanquished and killed four successive
kings. The places mentioned in the list, where the first three of these
princes were slain, cannot be identified with absolute certainty; but as
for Nánighám, where Mohammed ben ʿAbd Allah was killed, it certainly lay
close to, and probably in, the territory of the Soy. After this period
we learn nothing with regard to this tribe until the time of Edrís
Alawóma, although it seems probable that Edrís Nikálemi, the successor
of Mohammed ben ʿAbd Allah, and the contemporary of Ebn Batúta, had
first to gain a victory over the Soy, before he was able to sit down
quietly upon his throne.
Altogether, in the history of Bórnu we can distinguish the following
epochs. First, the rise of power in Kánem, Njímiye being the capital of
the empire, silent and imperceptible till we see on a sudden, in the
beginning of the 12th century, the powerful prince Dúnama ben Humé start
forth under the impulse of Islám, wielding the strength of a young and
vigorous empire, and extending his influence as far as Egypt. The acme,
or highest degree of prosperity, of this period coincides with the reign
of Díbalámi Dúnama Selmámi, in the middle of the 13th century, during
the prime of the dynasty of the Beni Háfis in Tunis. But this reign
already engendered the germs of decay; for during it the two cognate
elements of which the empire consisted, namely the Tedá and the Kanúri,
were disunited, and it yielded too much influence to the aristocratical
element, which was represented by the twelve great offices, an
institution which seems to deserve particular attention.[76]
The consequence was, that a series of civil wars and regicides ensued,
interrupted only by the more tranquil reign of Ibrahím Nikálemi in the
first half of the 14th century, which was followed, however, by the most
unfortunate period of the empire, when the great native tribe of the Soy
burst forth and killed four kings in succession. Then followed another
respite from turmoil, just at the time when Ebn Batúta visited
Negroland; but the son of the very king who in the time of that
distinguished traveller ruled over Bórnu fell the first victim in the
struggle that ensued with a power which had arisen from the same root,
had gained strength during the civil wars of Bórnu, and which now
threatened to swallow it up altogether. This was the dynasty of the
Bulála, which, originating with the fugitive Bórnu prince Jíl Shikomémi,
had established itself in the district of Fíttri over the tribe of the
Kúka, and from thence spread its dominion in every direction till, after
a sanguinary struggle, it conquered Kánem, and forced the Kanúri dynasty
to seek refuge in the western provinces of its empire, about the year
1400 of our era.
The Bórnu empire (if we may give the name of empire to the shattered
host of a belligerent tribe driven from their home and reduced to a few
military encampments) for the next seventy years seemed likely to go to
pieces altogether, till the great king ʿAli Dúnamámi opened another
glorious period; for having at length mastered the aristocratical
element, which had almost overwhelmed the monarchy, he founded as a
central point of government a new capital or “bírni,” Ghasréggomo, the
empire having been without a fixed centre since the abandonment of
Njímiye. It was in his time that Leo Africanus visited Negroland, where
he found the Bulála empire (Gaoga) still in the ascendant: but this was
changed in the beginning of the 16th century, even before the
publication of his account; for in the hundred and twenty-second (lunar)
year from the time when ʿOmár was compelled to abandon his royal seat in
Njímiye, ceding the rich country of Kánem, the very nucleus of the
empire, to his rivals, the energetic king Edrís Katakarmábi entered that
capital again with his victorious army, and from that time down to the
beginning of the present century Kánem has remained a province of Bórnu,
although it was not again made the seat of government.
Altogether the 16th century is one of the most glorious periods of the
Bórnu empire, adorned as it is by such able princes as the two Edrís’
and Mohammed, while in Western Negroland the great Sónghay empire went
to pieces, and was finally subjugated by Mulay Hámed el Mansúr, the
emperor of Morocco. Then followed a quieter period, and old age seemed
gradually to gain on the kingdom, while pious and peaceful kings
occupied the throne, till in the middle of the last century the
energetic and enterprising king ʿAli ʿOmármi began a violent struggle
against that very nation from which the Bórnu dynasty had sprung, but
which had now become its most fearful enemy—the Imóshagh or Tawárek. He
made great exertions in every direction; but his efforts seem to have
resembled the convulsions of death, and being succeeded by an indolent
king, for such was Ahmed, the fatal hour which was to accomplish the
extinction of the dynasty of the Séfuwa rapidly approached. At last,
when the very centre of the empire had already fallen a prey to a new
nation which had started forth on a career of glory, the Fúlbe or
Felláta, there arose a stranger, a nationalized Arab, who, in saving the
last remains of the kingdom, founded a new dynasty, that of the
Kánemíyín, which, after having shone forth very brightly under its
founder, was recently reduced by civil discord, and seems now destined
to a premature old age.
Having here offered this general view of the empire of Bórnu, I refer
for particulars to the appended chronological tables, which I trust,
although very imperfect, particularly in the beginning, will yet form a
sufficient groundwork wherewith to begin more profitable inquiries into
the history of those regions than have been hitherto made.
[Footnote 52: Of this document I have sent a copy from Kúkawa to the
Leipsic Oriental Society; and a translation of it has been published in
the Journal (Zeitschrift) of that society in the year 1852, p. 305. ff.,
with notes by M. Blau.]
[Footnote 53: See a letter of mine from Kúkawa, Nov. 20. 1852, addressed
to Chevalier Bunsen, and published in Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 1855,
p. 7.]
[Footnote 54: Indeed, in the copy which I sent to Europe, the copyist
has corrected this error; but unfortunately, instead of inserting this
reign in the right place, he has added the twenty years to the thirty-
three years of the reign of the elder Edrís ben ʿAlí.]
[Footnote 55: I have here to correct an error made by Mr. Blau, the
translator of the chronicle, who, owing to a mere slip of the pen in the
document, has been induced to insert between the reign of the 50th, or
according to him (as he does not count the usurper Sʿaíd) the 49th king,
Mohammed son of Edrís, and the 51st, ʿAlí son of Zíneb, another king
also named Mohammed, with a reign likewise of 19 years. But to every one
who reads the chronicle with attention, and is aware of its negligent
character, it must be evident that in the article in question it is only
by mistake that Mohammed, when mentioned the second time, is called the
son of Dúnama instead of Edrís. There is certainly some difficulty in
the passage in question, with regard to the circumstance that this
prince is said to have resided 19 (years?) at Ladé; but it is easily to
be explained when we remember that even at the present day there is such
a place in the neighbourhood of old Bírni. (Denham and Clapperton’s
Travels, vol. i. pp. 150. 152.); another place of the same name was
situated a few days N.E. from Ghámbarú on the road to Kánem. But be this
as it may, the historical introduction of Imám Áhmed to his account of
the reign of Edrís Áʿaishámi Alawóma, where he passes in review the
proceedings of this king’s predecessors with regard to Kánem, leaves not
the least doubt about the line of succession.—As for the length of the
reign of Edrís ben ʿAlí, the 54th king, there was, as I have mentioned
above, a mistake in the copy from which the translation was made, giving
53 years instead of 33; but these 20 years just compensate for the 20
years of the homonymous king Edrís ben ʿAlí, which, just on account of
the homonymy, have been left out by mistake, adding the 20 years due to
him to the reign of the elder king of the same name.]
[Footnote 56: Hamaker, Specimen Catal., p. 107.]
[Footnote 57: Ébn Khaldún, ed. Macguckin de Slane, Algér. 1847, vol. i.
p. 429. With regard to the friendship existing between the Bení Háfis
and the kings of Kánem, see Ébn Khaldún, vol. i. p. 263.]
[Footnote 58: Ébn Khaldún, vol. i. p. 300., transl. vol. ii. p. 96. Ébn
Khaldún, according to his own statement, follows here the authority of
the sheikh Abú-Mohammed, e’ Tijáni. Compare Journal Asiatique, 4me
série, vol. xx. p. 158.]
[Footnote 59: Makrízi, Hamaker, Specimen Catal. p. 206. Makrízi is
mistaken in supposing Kánem to be a town and the capital of Bórnu.]
[Footnote 60: Makrízi has two other interesting statements with regard
to the kings of Kánem, which, although they certainly cannot lay claim
to absolute accuracy, nevertheless have evidently reference to certain
facts which the diligent historian, placed at such a distance from the
object of his inquiry, has not rightly understood. The first of these
passages (Hamaker, p. 206.) states that Mohammed the son of Jíl
(so—جيل—the name is to be read, instead of the absurd Jebl or Jabal),
that is, most probably, Jíl Shikomémi, the founder of the dynasty of the
Bulála, was the first of them who accepted the Mohammedan creed; this
statement evidently regards the dynasty of the Bulála, who, at the time
when Makrízi wrote, had driven the Bórnu dynasty out of Kánem, and it
does not at all affect the statement of the chronicle, which calls Humé
the first Moslim king of Bórnu. The second passage of the celebrated
historian of Egypt (Quatremère, Mémoires sur l’Egypte, t. ii. p. 28.;
Burckhardt, Travels in Nubia, 2nd ed. app. iii. p. 456. f.) is very
remarkable; and although we are not yet able to understand perfectly its
real purport, nevertheless it seems to refer to some circumstance of
great interest: for, according to this statement, the Islám was
introduced into Kánem by Hády el ʿOthmáni, a pretended descendant of the
khalíf ʿOthmán, even before the period of the Séfuwa, or the Yazaníyín
(descendants of Dhu Yazan). Here the excellent inquirer has most
probably confounded the successors of Humé with the Dúguwa, forgetting
that even the dynasty of the pagan Dúguwa belonged to the Séfuwa. In
other respects this statement is in perfect harmony with the common
tradition of the Bórnu people—that the Islám was brought to the Séfuwa,
when they were still settled in Búrgu, by a special messenger of the
Prophet.]
[Footnote 61: See Vol. I. p. 464. I will here only mention that the
forty days’ journey stated by Ébn Batúta to intervene between Tekádda
and Bórnu are to be counted, as it seems, to Njímiye, the old capital of
Kánem; Bírni, or rather Ghasréggomo, at least, not being founded at that
time.]
[Footnote 62: This “ba” is evidently the indefinite article a,
corresponding to the Berber “va.” Compare what I have said in Vol. I.
about “ba-Túre.”]
[Footnote 63: See the second passage referred to in the note, p. 265.]
[Footnote 64: Makrízi, Hamaker, p. 206., وهو بدوي رحال.]
[Footnote 65: Even the governor of Zínder is still complimented in the
songs to his praise as “já” (red).]
[Footnote 66: Compare with this custom Ébn Batúta’s description of a
similar custom in Timbúktu, Journal Asiat., série iv. t. i. p. 226.]
[Footnote 67: Proceedings of the African Association, vol. i. p. 148.
f.]
[Footnote 68: Makrízi says of the inhabitants of Kánem in general, that
they were moláthemún; that is to say, they covered their faces with a
lithám. The names of towns like Bérberwá and others may be also
mentioned here. Compare Leo’s expression—“Negri e Bianchi.”]
[Footnote 69: In the vocabulary of the Kanúri language, a few words may
easily be discovered which have some relation to the Berber language,
the most remarkable amongst which seems to me the term for ten, “meghú,”
which is evidently connected with the Temáshight word “meraú,” or rather
“meghaú;” but the grammar is entirely distinct, and approaches the
Central Asiatic or Turanian stock.]
[Footnote 70: Leo, when he says that the language of Gaoga is identical
with the Bórnu language, does not speak of the language of the whole
nation, but only of that of the ruling tribe, the Bulála. But of this
interesting fact I shall say more on another occasion.]
[Footnote 71: قبيله كي or بني كيه من اهل درق. The diacritic points over
ق in the word درق have been omitted in the copy of the chronicle which I
forwarded to Leipsic, and Mr. Blau therefore reads “Derw;” but where the
name is mentioned by Imám Ahmed the points are never omitted. However,
where the country Derk or Derg is to be looked for I cannot say with any
degree of certainty. I once thought that اهل درق might be “the people of
the shields,” or “armed with shields,” like the Kánembú at present; but
I have satisfied myself that this is not the case.—The Kíye still at the
present day form the chief portion of the Koyám.]
[Footnote 72: تماغره من اهل كرا. Kerá, not Keraw, is the name of the
place which Mr. Blau (p. 322.) tries to identify with Keráwa, the old
capital of Mándará. But this is evidently wrong.—There can be scarcely
any doubt that the Temághera have given their name to the province
Demágherim or Damágherim. The letter beginning the name was a ط.]
[Footnote 73: I shall say more on this subject in the historical
introduction to my vocabularies. At present I can only refer the reader
to a few remarks which I have made on the relation between the módi Tedá
(the Tébu language) and the Kanúri, in a letter addressed to M. Lepsius,
and published in Gumprecht’s Monatsberichte (Journal of the Geographical
Society of Berlin), 1854, vol. ii. p. 373. The Tedá, together with the
Kanúri, formed the stock called by Makrízi زغاي (Zagháí) and السكى by
Masúdi. (Meadows l. xxxiii. p. 138.)]
[Footnote 74: This, I think, is also the meaning of Leo, when he says
(l.c. c. 7.), “Il dominio del re di Borno, il quale ne à la minore”
(parte). But Leo wrote just at the time when Bórnu was about again to
rise to new splendour.]
[Footnote 75: However, even in the time of Lucas (Proceedings of the
Afric. Assoc., vol. i. p. 119.), great part at least of the Koyám were
still living in Kánem. The Íkeli, or rather “people of Íkeli,” اهل اكلي,
mentioned by Makrízi, seem not to have constituted a separate tribe,
although they had a chief or ملك of their own, there being not the least
doubt that they were the inhabitants of the celebrated place Ikeli,
اكله, usually called Fúrtwa by the Bórnu people, about which I shall
speak in the course of my journey to Kánem.—A peculiar tribe is
mentioned frequently by the imám Ahmed as el Kenaníyín; but I am not yet
able to offer a well-established opinion with regard to them.—With
regard to the Arabs who are mentioned several times in Imám Ahmed’s
history, as a powerful element in the population of Kánem, I shall have
occasion to speak hereafter.]
[Footnote 76: I shall say more of it in the chronological table, under
the reign of Mohammed.]
CHAP. XXX.
THE CAPITAL OF BÓRNU.
Having endeavoured to impart to the reader a greater interest in the
country, by relating its former history, as far as I was able to make it
out, I shall now give an account of my stay in Kúkawa before setting out
on my journey to Adamáwa.
Regarding Kúkawa only as the basis of my further proceedings, and as a
necessary station already sufficiently known to the European public by
the long stay of the former expedition, I endeavoured to collect as much
information as possible with regard to the surrounding countries. Two of
my friends were distinguished by a good deal of Mohammedan learning, by
the precision with which they recollected the countries they had
wandered through, and by dignified manners; but they differed much in
character, and were inclined to quarrel with each other as often as they
happened to meet in my house.
These two men, to whom I am indebted for a great deal of interesting and
precise information, were the Arab Ahmed bel Mejúb, of that division of
the tribe of the Welád bu-Sebʿa who generally live in the Wadi Sákiyet
el Hamra, to the south of Morocco, and the Púllo Ibrahím, son of the
Sheikh el Mukhtár, in Kaháide on the Senegal, and cousin of the late
Mohammed el Amín, the energetic prince of Fúta-Tóro. Ahmed had travelled
over almost the whole of Western Africa, from Arguín on the ocean as far
as Bagírmi, and had spent several years in Adamáwa, of which country he
first gave me an exact description, especially with regard to the
direction of the rivers. He was a shrewd and very intelligent man; yet
he was one of those Arabs who go round all the courts of the princes of
Negroland, to whatever creed or tribe they may belong, and endeavour to
obtain from them all they can by begging and by the parade of learning.
I esteemed him on account of his erudition, but not in other respects.
Quite a different person was the Púllo Ibrahím—a very proud young man,
fully aware of the ascendancy, and strongly marked with the
distinguishing character, of the nation to which he belonged. He had
performed the pilgrimage to Mekka, crossing the whole breadth of Africa
from west to east, from warm religious feeling mixed up with a little
ambition, as he knew that such an exploit would raise him highly in the
esteem of his countrymen, and secure to him a high position in life. He
had been two years a hostage in Ndér (St. Louis), and knew something
about the Europeans. It had struck him that the French were not so eager
in distributing bibles as the English, while he had truly remarked that
the former were very sensible of the charms of the softer sex, and very
frequently married the pretty daughters of the Dembaséga. He obtained
from me, first the Zabúr, or the Psalms of David, which even the Arabs
esteem very highly, and would esteem much more if they were translated
into a better sort of Arabic, and afterwards the whole Bible, which he
wished to take with him on his long land-journey.
The Arabs and the Fúlbe, as is well known, are in almost continual
warfare all along the line from the Senegal as far as Timbúktu; and it
was most interesting for me to see him and Ahmed in violent altercation
about the advantages of their respective nations, while I was thereby
afforded an excellent means of appreciating their reports with regard to
the state of the tribes and countries along the Senegal. The way in
which they began to communicate to me their information was in itself
expressive of their respective characters, Ahmed protesting that, before
he dared to communicate with me, he was compelled to ask the permission
of the vizier, while Ibrahím laughed at him, declaring that he felt
himself fully authorized to give me any information about Negroland.
Ibrahím became an intimate friend of mine, and took a lively interest in
me, particularly commiserating my lonely situation in a foreign country,
far from home, without the consolations of female companionship.