(Quarterly Review, July 1828, p. 103-5), after stating that he was
attacked by the Tawárik, makes frequent mention of _Azoad_, whence, on
recovering from his wounds, he wrote his last letter. Caillié mentions
“the tribe of Zaouât, who wander in the desert of _the same name_”
(Voyage à Temboctou, tom. II. 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 _the ten
days’_ desert.]
[Footnote 36: Marmol, Descripcion de Africa, vol. I. fol. 34 r. In
another place, however, (vol. III. 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.]
[Footnote 37: 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.]
[Footnote 38: Arkí أَركِي MS. B.M. fol. 107; Azdji أَرجي 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 ازقي en langue Berbère,
et Cocadam قوقدم en génois.” By _génois_ 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. VI. 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. II. 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 (_ut supra_), 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.]
[Footnote 39: Ghánah, in the country of Genéwah, من بلاد جناوه 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 جناوه 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. VI. 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
_the Blacks_? On the coast, the negroes contiguous to the Whites are,
for contra-distinction, named in their own language Wolof, that is,
_Blacks_. The name Jelofe (Wolof) is used in this general sense by
Marmol (III. 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, _gnewa_, or, as Major
Rennell, who had the original information, writes it, _genewa_,
signifies Black (Proc. Afr. Ass. I. p. 124 and 428), so that we are
justified in suspecting at least that we have here found the origin of
the name Genéwah.]
[Footnote 40: Not. et Extr. p. 629.]
[Footnote 41: 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. I. 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. XXVI. p. 73; Rennell in Proc. of Afr. Assoc. vol. II. 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. II. 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. IV.), 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.]
[Footnote 42: Aúlíl اوليل. It is also written Aúlílí اوليلي by Ibn el
Wardi and others. It is probably a variation of the name Walílí وليلي,
formerly belonging to a village near Fez, and also to Tangier.]
[Footnote 43: 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.]
[Footnote 44: 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. I. 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. I. liv. I. c. 10) explains
why Arguin is the only inhabited spot on the shores of the Desert.]
[Footnote 45: El Bekrí in Not. et Extr. p. 630. It is Abulfedá, who,
quoting Ibnu Sʿaïd, informs us (Büsching’s Mag. IV. 205,) that Aúdaghost
was within the limit of the rains.]
[Footnote 46: 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.]
[Footnote 47: The language of El Idrísí (Rec. de Voy. V. 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. I. p. 501,) took the precaution to
convert Aúdaghost into Agadost—have chosen to identify with Aghades, or
Aghdes, which Leo Africanus (pt. VII. c. 9), writing in 1541, calls “a
city built by the moderns;” while Marmol (III. fol. 24), more precise,
says that it was founded 160 years before the time of his writing, or in
1438.]
[Footnote 48: Not. et Extr. p. 630. Bucklers made of the skins of the
Dant or Lant (probably el-ant), which is supposed to be the _Antilope
Leucorix_, 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).]
[Footnote 49: Not. et Extr. p. 615.]
[Footnote 50: Ghábah غابه MS. B.M. fol. 112 r; Alghábat الغابت Rec. de
Voy. II. p. 2; Ghaïah غايه Not. et Extr. 643. The predominant idea in
the meaning of the name Ghábah or Ghábat̤, which is undoubtedly the true
reading, is _obscurity_: lowness of situation and overhanging gloom are
both implied by it.]
[Footnote 51: Ṣínghánah صينغانه. Caillié (tom. II. p. 237) mentions a
place called Sangouno, on the left bank of the Great River, three or
four days from Jenni.—Tekrúr تكرور.]
[Footnote 52: Silla سلي, سيلي, and سلا. 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. VII. 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. II. pp. 156-167.) The people of
Silla, being slave-dealers, made constant war on their pagan neighbours,
of whom the nearest were the Kalembú قلنبو, a day’s journey distant. Now
the district of Negroland at present characterized by the termination
_bú_, 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 ترنْقَةِ (MS.
B.M. fol. 111 r), near Silla, the inhabited country (says our author)
extends to Záfḳú زافقو” which name M. Quatremère reads Afnou (Not. et
Extr. p. 641). But if we suppose that a Nún ﻨ is here mistaken for the
Maghrebí Kaf ڧ, 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.”]
[Footnote 53: Aúghám اوغام MS. B.M. 1140; Audagam اودعام Not. et Extr.
p. 651—Merásah مراسه—Tírḳa تيرْقَي MS. B.M.—Tádmekkah تادمكه—Seghmárah
سغمارة—Kaúkaú كوكو.]
[Footnote 54: Not. et Extr. pp. 652, 653. The ten journeys allowed
between Wérgelán وارجلان MS. B.M., وارقلان Not. et Extr., and Ghodémis
غُدامِس, 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.]
[Footnote 55: Macrízí, in Hamaker’s Specimen Catalogi Cod. Or. MSS.
Academiæ Lugd. Bat. pp. 207, 9. In the passage in question M. Hamaker
reads Taoumcah تاومكه, instead of which it is an obvious correction to
restore Tádmekkah تادمكه. 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.]
[Footnote 56: The name Tádmekkah signified The Likeness of Mekkah, (Not.
et Extr. p. 653.) But Ned Roma, as Leo informs us (pt. IV. 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.]
[Footnote 57: Safnaḳú سفنقوا—Búghrát بوغرات MS. B.M. 115 v; Not. et
Extr. 652.]
[Footnote 58: 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.]
[Footnote 59: “Verso mezzogiorno, e quasi inchina alla parte di
scilocco.” Pt. VII. c. 3.]
[Footnote 60: The statements of this valuable writer, as well as the
journey of Ibn Baṭúṭah, will be given at length further on.]
[Footnote 61: Jaubert’s Idrísí, in the Rec. de Voy. V. p. 17; Ibn el
Wardí.]
[Footnote 62: 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. IV. p. 43.]
[Footnote 63: Not. et Extr. p. 640.]
[Footnote 64: The people of Melli (Málí), according to Leo (pt. VII. c.
4), were the first to embrace the Mohammedan faith.]
[Footnote 65: This point will be more fully considered when we come to
speak of Tekrúr.]
[Footnote 66: The Brebísh often encamp eastward of Tomboktú, in which
quarter nevertheless the Tawárik seem to have gained ground on the
Zenágah.]
[Footnote 67: It is a strong argument in favour of the construction here
given to the route to Ghaïárú غيارُوا (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.]
[Footnote 68: Sámaḳanda سامَقَنْدَي MS. B.M. 113 r; Sámaghondi
سَامَغُنْدِي Rec. de Voy. II. p. 4. The corruptions of this name, which
is probably significant, are enumerated in the notes to Hartmann’s
Idrísí, p. 42.—Ṭáḳah طاقة MS. B.M.; Ṭáḳat طاقت Rec. de Voy. p. 5; Tanah,
Not. et Extr. p. 646.—Zúgú زوغُوا MS. B.M.; Zoghárá زُغَارَا Rec. de
Voy.; Rougou, Not. et Extr.]
[Footnote 69: Gharnatil غرنتل MS. B.M.; Garbil, Not. et Extr. عُونْتِل
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 غونتل shall be here assumed to be the true reading,
and the name of the identical place called Goodel by Bello’s servant.]
[Footnote 70: The MS. B.M. fol. 113, has Yersana يرسني, which seems too
violently opposed to the other MSS. In the Rec. de Voy. and Not. et
Extr. it is Bersa برسي.—This is the Berísa بريسي of Idrísí, the Berísá
بريسا of Abulfedá. Bersana was the resort of certain negroes who brought
gold from the interior, and were called Benú Nʿamrát بَنو نَعمْرَات
(Rec. de Voy. p. 7), or Wangamranah ونعمراٮه (Not. et Extr. p. 647), or
Benú Zammakhrátah بنو زمخْراتة (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. II. 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.]
[Footnote 71: Daur دور Not. et Extr. p. 647; Daú دوْ MS. B.M. fol. 113
v.; Dawa دَوَ Rec. de Voy. II. p. 7.—Malelo مَللُ MS. B.M.; Malik مَلكْ
Rec. de Voy. For the various readings of the names Ghaïárú (Ganarah of
D’Herbelot) and Ghuntil, see Hartmann’s Edrísí.]
[Footnote 72: In the Kissour language, spoken, according to Caillié, in
Tomboctú, Jenni, and in the intervening country, the word Ganda (Caillié
III. 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. II. 252).]
[Footnote 73: Marmol (vol. III. fol. 17). Yça, that is, Issa, (Hissa in
Caillié’s vocabulary) signifies _river_ 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 _mio_ 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.]
[Footnote 74: 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. VI. p. 100. The
initial sound in Jimbala is one hard to be seized by a foreign ear. It
is the same which Caillié (II. 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.
I. 436). The natives themselves often express the sound in question by
yʿe يع.]
[Footnote 75: Marmol elsewhere (III. fol. 27 r) distinctly places the
_Baganos_ 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 _Bagano_ 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.]
[Footnote 76: Not. et Extr. p. 617. Másín ماسين MS. B.M. fol. 103. For
Aúghám, see page 29. 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).]
[Footnote 77: Anbarah اَنْبارَة Rec. de Voy. p. 8. The king of this
country was styled Tárim تَارِمْ. If for this we could read Farim فارم,
we should have a true Mandingo title. The difference between Anbárah
اَنْبارَهْ and Oonbori, probably اُنْبُرِي 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 كُوغَه (Rec. de Voy.) El Bekrí meant the
Cochia of Cadamosto (Ramusio, I. 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 سامه be read in this place for
Ghánah غانه then not only does all difficulty vanish, but the author’s
discourse acquires coherence and natural order.]
[Footnote 78: Kitábu-l-Jʿaráfíah (Book of Geography), &c. MS. in the
collection of D. Pascual de Gayangos. Ráyawen رايون 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.]