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, (A.D. 1054, the same year in which they
made themselves masters of Sijilmésah,) destroyed Aúdaghost, carrying
off the women and children into slavery.[46] 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.[47]
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.[48] 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.[49] 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 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.
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.[50] 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.
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.
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.[51] 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.[52]
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.”[53]
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.[54] 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.[55] These intimations
combined will place 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.[56] 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.
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.[57]
From all this it appears that the capital of Ghánah was three days
distant from the river (at Safnaḳú); and five days from 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.
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.
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.[58] Ibn
Baṭúṭah, who descended 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.[59] 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.[60]
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.[61] 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.[62] 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;[63] and
Ibn Baṭúṭah, while travelling north-eastward to Tomboktú, probably not
far from Jenni, had his attention called to the multitude of those
animals frequenting the river in the vicinity, and gives a similar
account of the means used to destroy them.
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;[64] 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.[65]
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, 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.
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.[66]
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 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.[67] The route was as follows:
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.[68] Thence to Gharnatil or
Ghúntil, an extensive and powerful country wherein Mohammedans
experienced good treatment, but had no establishment.[69] 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.[70]
“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 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.[71]
But it must be acknowledged that little confidence is due to conjectures
guided only by such obscure and equivocal indications.
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.[72] 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 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 _Bagamo_, more to
the east, they call it Zimbala; in the kingdom of Tombut it is called
Yça.”[73] 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.[74] 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.[75]
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.[76] 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.[77]
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.[78]
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 surprise.[79] 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.
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.[80] 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.[81] 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.[82]