with Leo Africanus, and rests on no better foundation than the supposed
resemblance of those names, which to an impartial critic must appear
widely dissimilar.[157] Neither can it be admitted that Aghades was ever
called Aúdaghost, or that it is only twenty-five days from Jermah in
Fezzán. Kanó is two months from Jermah, four or five months from the
Western Ocean, and an equal distance from Sijilmésah, with which country
it certainly never maintained any intercourse. It is not close to the
desert, nor is there any desert of extreme aridity within much less than
a month’s journey from it.[158] It has no navigable river near it, nor
even any stream which is not quite dry in summer; much less can the
series of names placed on the river of Ghánah be found in its vicinity.
Neither do the descriptions of Ghánah, with all their details, contain
the names of any of the countries near Kanó. The tribes of the desert on
the frontiers of Houssa have all come from the neighbourhood of Fezzán,
and not from Sijilmésah.[159] Kanó is removed far from the deserts of
the Zenágah and of the Morabites, who always hung over Ghánah, and at
length became its masters: nor was Kanó included in the empire of Málí
when this power had attained its greatest extension, and had advanced
far beyond Ghánah. To one who examines with patience and attention the
accounts of Ghánah, it cannot but appear surprising that its identity
with Kanó should be maintained and acquiesced in even at the present
day.
[Footnote 124: For an account of Ibn Baṭúṭah, whose Travels at least
equal in interest those of Marco Polo, see the ‘History of the
Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain,’ by D. Pascual de Gayangos, p. 348. This
gentleman possesses a copy of the complete narrative of Ibn Baṭúṭah, and
from his translation of it (which we hope will be presented to the
public ere long) have been collected the passages given above, which are
not in general to be found in Professor Lee’s translation of the
abridgment of the same work.]
[Footnote 125: Tegháza تَغَازَي is described, though not named, by El
Bekrí (Not. et Extr. p. 436). The salt mines, he says, are two days from
the Great Desert, over which passes the road to Ghánah, and twenty from
Sijilmésah. Ibn Baṭúṭah, travelling slowly, found the latter distance to
be a journey of twenty-five days. The Morabite general, Abú Bekr ben
Omar, purchased Negro slaves at a place in the desert called Gasza, whom
he sent to Spain, and exchanged for European slaves, to recruit his army
(Conde, Hist. de la Dom. II. p. 86). The Gasza here mentioned is
probably Tegháza mutilated in the original text, and further disfigured
by the Spanish writer. El Idrísí (Rec. de Voy. p. 107) mentions a place
in the desert called Taghíza. According to Cadamosto (c. XII. fol. 137
v), Tegháza signifies _Cargadore_, or a loader (an old word, ill changed
into _Caricatojo_ in the recent edition of Ramusio); importing that the
place so called was the residence of those who loaded the camels, or
furnished the freight for the trade with Negroland. Peritsol (Itinera
Mundi, ed. by Hyde, p. 124), explains it otherwise, and translates
Tegháza, _earth_ loaded _with gold_. Ibn Baṭúṭah says, that at Aïwalátin
the salt fetched from ten to eighteen mithḳáls the load, and at Málí
twenty or thirty, or sometimes forty mithḳáls; and Leo states that when
he was at Tomboktú, the price of a load of salt rose there to eighty
ducats. Cadamosto quotes much higher prices. The ducat or mithḳál is
valued by Jackson at 3_s._ 8_d._ Another writer informs us, that the
load of salt (600 lb.), worth 4_s._ at Tegháza, paid 5_l._ duty at Gago
(True Historical Discourse of Muley Hamet’s Rising, c. II.). It has been
asserted by Jackson (Account of Morocco, p. 241), and too readily
believed, that there is a second Tegháza near the coast. But that
author’s meaning is explained by his map, in which we find written _East
Tarassa_ (Tegháza) and _West Tarassa Arabs_ (the Trarzas, or, as Labat
writes their name, Eteraza). According to Jackson’s orthographical
system, the same Arabic name may be written Tegháza, Tegrassa, or
Terassa. Caillié (Voy. &c. tom. II. p. 417,) came to some wells called
Trarzas, or Trasas, within the region of loose sand, and which have been
nevertheless mistaken for the site of Tegháza, whereas they obviously
owed their name to the tribe that dug them.]
[Footnote 126: Táserahlá تَاسَرَهْلا. Respecting the Masúfah, who were
generally called el Takshíf, that is, the scouts or couriers, and who
appear to have occupied the whole road from Tegháza to Tomboktú, there
is a passage in Ibn Khaldún (fol. 89) which, with a little abridgment,
is worth transcribing.—“After the fall of the Morabite dynasty, the
tribes of the Molaththemún returned to the desert, and now occupy the
countries which they originally possessed in the vicinity of Negroland.
But as we have already observed, the emigration of the Zenágah tribes
was but partial: a few only of the Masúfah and Lumtúnah obeyed the
impulse, while the majority of the tribes remained behind, and _keep in
our days their old settlements in the Sahrá_, paying tribute to the
Kings of Negroland, on whom they depend, and in whose armies they serve.
The Goddálah are directly opposite to the Dhawi-Hassán, a branch of the
Moʿakel Arabs, settled in Sús el Aḳṣa; the Lumtúnah are opposite to the
Dhawi-Mansúr and Dhawi ʿObeidu-llah, branches of the same great tribe
living in Maghrebu-l-Aḳṣa. The Masúfah face the Zaghabah, an Arab tribe
in Maghrebu-l-Aúsat; and the Lamṭah adjoin the Benú Riyyah, who occupy
Ez-Záb.”—Thus it appears that the Masúfah inhabiting the tract of desert
between Sijilmésah and Tomboktú were in _their old settlements_, and,
therefore, in the tract between Sijilmésah and Ghánah. (See page 17.)
Leo (pt. I. c. 17-19) points out the situation of the various families
of the Machil (Moʿakel) tribe of Arabs.]
[Footnote 127: The solitude and dangers of the desert naturally incline
the mind to the terrors of superstition. Marco Polo (Marsden’s edit. p.
159) relates that the Desert of Lop, in Tatary, is haunted by spirits
who call travellers by their names in the voice of friends, and lead
them astray.]
[Footnote 128: A hundred mithḳáls was a large hire, if we estimate it by
the price of salt at Tegháza, which was probably but one mithḳál the
load. In the descriptions of the Desert of Tíser, the serpents infesting
it are always mentioned. They were dressed with salt and wormwood,
according to El Idrísí (Rec. de Voy. p. 108), and eaten by the Blacks.
If the loose hot sands abruptly approach the limits of vegetation on the
southern border of the Ṣaḥrá, between the 4th and 9th westerly
meridians, this phenomenon must be ascribed to the prevalence of
northerly winds, which drive the sand within the limit of the rains. On
the coast the drift of the sand seems to lean towards the north.]
[Footnote 129: Aïwalátin ايْولَاتِنْ is a regular plural, formed from
the singular Walet or Waláta. Thus _afíus_, a hand, makes in the plural
_aïfásen_ (Höst’s Marokos, p. 137); _tar_, a foot, makes _itaren_. The
Berber names of towns are often in the plural number, comprehending the
several villages within the limits of a _Tenzert_, or district. Waláta
(Gualata) is described by Leo (pt. VI. c. 60), not as a town, but a
territory containing three hamlets (casali) and some scattered
habitations. Hence he might with propriety have written _Igualaten_, as
he wrote _Iguaden_ for Wádán, the Hoden of Cadamosto. The commercial
importance once enjoyed by Aïwalátin is agreeably illustrated by an
anecdote related in the History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain, p.
302. While Ibn Baṭúṭah was at the court of Málí, he witnessed one day a
Masúfí rushing into the presence of the King, and prostrating himself in
the manner of a suppliant. When asked who had wronged him, he replied,
Manshajú biwalátin منشاجوا بولاتن, which means the Governor or Viceroy
of Aïwalátin. Manshajú or Manshagú is obviously derived from Mansá, with
the Berber pronunciation; the _b_ prefixed to the following word is the
sign of the possessive case (Venture on the Berber Language, in the
Appendix to Langlés’ Translation of Hornemann’s Travels, p. 420).]
[Footnote 130: The title Farbá فربا, borne by the chief officers in the
empire of Málí, is originally the same as that of Farma or Farim, usual
among the Ṣúṣú and Mandingoes near the coast. Jobson (The Golden Trade,
p. 58) distinguishes between the Ferrans (Farims) and Ferambra (the
Farinba of Park). Golberry (Fragm. d’un Voy. I. p. 425) observes, that
in Bambúk, the power has passed from the Seratik, or nominal king, to
the Farims. The same is true of the neighbouring states, which at
present hardly acknowledge a paramount authority. For the Masúfí law of
succession, see p. 40.]
[Footnote 131: Zághari زَاغَرِي. Its inhabitants were called Zangarátah
زَنْجَراتة. While the followers of the Ibadhia doctrine were named
Ṣaghanghú صَغَنْغُوا, orthodox sunnites were called Túri تُورِي. Ibn
Baṭúṭah mentions no river on his route from Aïwalátin to Karsekhó
كَارْسَخَوُ, nor does he state the distance, which probably was not
great, from this place to the Ṣanṣarah صَنْصَرَة.]
[Footnote 132: The terms Faráriah فَرارية and Farári فراري, applied by
Ibn Baṭúṭah to the chief officers of Málí, and which he translated
Amírs, are respectively the collective and plural of Arabic form, from
the word _Fary_, which in the Bambara language (a dialect of the
Mandingo) signifies _valour_ or _courage_. From this word comes
_Fariba_, a valiant man (Dard, Dict. Wolofe et Bambara). The Mandingoes
form personal nouns with the suffix _ma_: thus from _fanko_, power,
comes _fankama_, a powerful man (M‘Brair’s Gram. of Mandingo, p. 6).
Thus it is probable that from the word _Fary_ is derived the titles
Farba, Farma, or Farim, which the conquests of the Mandingo race have
spread so widely through Guinea. But the Farims, or Lieutenants, are now
superior to the Seratiks, or Kings, and the title of the latter was at
one time secondary (see Note 119); so that sovereign titles in Guinea
standing on the ruins of preceding titles, are so many monuments of
revolution.]
[Footnote 133: It is obvious that the poets here described are the
_Jelli-kés_, or _singing men_, of the Mandingoes (see Laing’s Travels,
p. 232). But it must not be supposed that by Jál حال, in the
(Arabicized) plural Jolá حُلا, Ibn Baṭúṭah meant to represent the word
Jelli-ké. He must be understood to say that the Jelli-kés, in Málí, were
of the nation called _Jolá_. Park says (Second Journey, 8vo. p. 57) that
“those who trade on credit are called _Juli_.” But this appears to be a
rash and incorrect explanation of the name. The word _julo_ signifies
_debt_ or bondage, but not a _debtor_. The same author, in describing
further on (p. 228) the route southward to Bé-dú, mentions several Juli
towns, and observes, that “the Julis are people who understand the
language of Bœdoo and Miniana, and are employed as brokers,” &c. But our
difficulties respecting the application of this name are removed by
Caillié, who informs us (Voy. à Temboctou, II. pp. 82, 160), that in
Bambara the Mandingoes are called _Jaulas_, _Diaulas_, or _Jolas_. It is
probable, however, that the name properly belongs to the inhabitants of
the country south of Bambara, where Park pointed out the Juli towns. But
in the Bambara language _Dhioli_ (according to Dard’s orthography) means
_red_; may not the Jolá, Julis, or Jaulas, therefore, be the people
referred to in the document procured from the Governor of Senegal, and
published in the Appendix to Adams’s Narrative (p. 197), wherein Bé-dú
is described to be “un pays habité par un peuple _rougeatre_”?]
[Footnote 134: Clapperton’s Second Journey, pp. 47, 52, 72. The persons
prostrating themselves before the King of Yariba were contemptuously
called “Sandeaters,” by Clapperton’s Houssa servant; so little are the
usages of Ghánah now known in the neighbourhood of Kanó! Lander
(Expedition to the Niger, I. p. 172), describing these ceremonies, names
the king Mansolah, of which the Mandingo title Mansá may possibly be a
part.]
[Footnote 135: It is manifest that the kingdom called Maha by Clapperton
(Second Journey, p. 56) is the Magho of Dupuis (Residence in Ashantee,
p. xcviii), and is also identical with the Mohammedan kingdom of Zogho,
said by the latter writer (p. civ.) to adjoin the Yagah tribes (Bergú)
and the Ayah (Yariba). The road from Ashantee to Niki, the capital of
Bergú, after passing through the town of Zogho, conducts to Salamo,
Jambodú, and Súsú, or Súso. The last two names are apparently Mandingo.
The name of the Sultan of Magho, residing in the city of Ghoroma
(Ghúrma) is said (Dupuis, p. cxxix.) to be Mariba Sheky, an obvious
misreading for Farba Shego. It seems very likely that the title of Maha
or Magho, vaguely given by the people on the coast to a Mohammedan
prince in the interior, is the Mandingo name Maghá, that is, Mohammed.]
[Footnote 136: Leo Africanus, pt. VII. c. 3 & 4.]
[Footnote 137: Park’s First Journey, p. 195. In the Rec. des Voy. tom.
II. p. 53, it is maintained that all the villages composing Sego are on
the right or southern bank of the river. But the general character of
the information there given will not bear to be weighed against the
clear testimony of Park. It seems not improbable that Kársekhó was a
part of Sego, but there is no necessity for insisting on that point.
Perhaps if Caillié, who applied the Wolof term _Marigot_, which he had
learned in Senegal, to all the creeks of the Great River, had inquired
how they were called in Bambara, or lower down, he might have learned
the name Ṣanṣarah. Perhaps, too, the Gozen-zaire of Sidi Hamed’s
narrative (Riley, Loss of the Brig Commerce, p. 362), might have been
more correctly written Go-sansarah. It seems to owe its present form to
Riley’s partiality to the hypothesis uniting the Niger with the Zaire.]
[Footnote 138: In the original thus: وحاضرَة الملك الاهل مالي هُوَ بلد
ٮٮى]
[Footnote 139: The wide arm of the river (Khalíj) reached by our
traveller on the third night after his leaving Málí must have been the
branch observed by Caillié to join the river from the west at Isaca. He
supposed it to come from Sego (Voy. à Temboctou, p. 239), but its
separation from the main stream must be lower down. There is, as yet, no
sufficient reason to deny that the river of Sego is also the river of
Jenni, and that the latter place stands between its branches, and not
between two distinct rivers.]
[Footnote 140: This anecdote, like most stories of cannibalism, has the
defect of not proceeding from an eye witness; but it proves one fact,
namely, that the people of Málí were not cannibals.]
[Footnote 141: Korí Mansá كُرِى منسا. Perhaps this place was the
residence of the chief (Mansá) who levied the tax on cotton (Korí). The
name written in the original Rʿarí رعري has been here changed into
Zagharí (See above, p. 75), as the existence of two places not far
asunder, and with names written so much alike, is much less probable
than a lapse in the MSS. Mímah ميمه is the Amímah of older writers.]
[Footnote 142: The Daḳnó of Ibn Baṭúṭah is the Dokhnou of Caillié:—“Un
mélange de farine de mil et de miel que l’on délaie pour ensuite le
boire.” (Voy. à Temb. II. p. 236.) This word belongs apparently to the
Kissour language.]
[Footnote 143: The word here rendered merchants of Godémis, is Ḳodémiyín
قداميين.]
[Footnote 144: The Berdámah بردامه were probably a family of the
Beghámah, a nomade tribe mentioned by El Idrísí, whose country lay
behind that of the Merásah, to the east of Ghánah.]
[Footnote 145: Ibn Baṭúṭah himself bought a female slave at Tekaddá for
twenty-five mithḳáls, no exorbitant price apparently. Kúber كوبر. Rághá
راغا. Káhir كاهر. Of Karkar some notice will be taken hereafter.]
[Footnote 146: Cadamosto learned that Málí was thirty days from
Tomboktú. The last-named city is generally said to be ten days from
Jenni by land, and twenty-five by water; but the land journeys here
meant cannot be those of a loaded caravan, but nearly half as long
again. Sego is five or six days above Jenni.]
[Footnote 147: It is fortunate that Ibn Khaldún removes all doubts as to
the identity of Ibn Baṭúṭah’s Kaúkaú with Leo’s Gago. The latter writer
calls it (pt. VII. c. 7) “una grandissima citta.” He also says that,
compared with the rest of Negroland, it was “molto civile.” His list of
prices is curious, as well as his Macchiavellian remark on the ignorance
and oppressed condition of the lower orders.]
[Footnote 148: When Ibn Khaldún says that Tekaddá is seventy days south-
west of Wergelán (see p. 65), it is evident that he measures the
circuitous route by Ghát; and that the bearing of Tekaddá from Ghát is
incautiously taken by him for the direction of the whole journey.]
[Footnote 149: The superiority of the people of Guber is plainly
asserted by Sultan Bello, who says (Appendix to Denham and Clapperton’s
Travels, 8vo. II. p. 450) that they alone, of all the Houssa tribes, are
free born, being descended from the Copts, while the rest are the
progeny of Bawwa, or Baúwa, that is, a slave (not Ba-oo, as in Mr.
Salamé’s Translation). The country of the Baúwa is Baúchi, or Baúji,
commonly written Bowshee. Sultan Bello’s History, brought to Europe by
Clapperton, would well deserve a critical study: but where is the
original? Did it belong to the public? and if it did, why is it not in
the library of the British Museum?]
[Footnote 150: The Arabic MS. here varies a little in its readings. It
says—“from Kársekhó the Nile descends to Kabúrah كَبُورة and to Zághah
زاغه; and these two cities, namely, al-Kábrah الكابرة and Zághíah زاغيه,
pay tribute to Málí.” Tomboktú تُنْبُكْتُوا is carefully spelt by Ibn
Baṭúṭah, the letters with which it is written being named by him, with
their vowel points. Ibn Baṭúṭah never alludes to the native names of the
Great River, but always calls it the Nile. The local names of the
theoretical Niger (the Senegal and Great River together) collected by De
Barros (Dec. I. liv. 3, c. 8), do not contain the Mandingo name Joliba.
This name was first announced to the geographical world when speculation
was unusually active, and it was immediately explained to mean _the
Great Waters_. Park, though he seems to have adopted this interpretation
(Travels, p. 194), can hardly be supposed to have been its author. Laing
joins the statement of his precursors to his own information, and says
(Travels, p. 327), that the Niger “is known by the synonymous
appellations of Ba Ba and Joli Ba—“_Large River_.” Ba Bá certainly
signifies Great River, the substantive _Ba_, a river, preceding the
adjective _Bá_, great, according to the general rule of the Mandingo
language. Thus in Ba-fing, black river, Ba-koé, white river, Ba-
woollima, red river, the word _Ba_, a river, has precedence; but when
joined with a substantive, as in Kuara-ba, the river of Kuara, it
follows. With these examples before our eyes, it is impossible to admit
the explanation of the name of Joliba given above, which receives
moreover no support from the vocabularies. It is likely that the name
Joliba, or, as written by Caillié, Dhioliba, by Mollien, Dialiba, means
the river of the Jál or Jolá, Juli, Jaules, Diaules, or Dhioli (red
men), from whose country it descends, whether its sources be, as stated
by Park (Travels, App. p. xliv.), in Jallonké-dú, _i.e._ Jallo-man’s
land, or in Bé-dú, where are the Juli towns and men of a red
complexion.]
[Footnote 151: Beldeh Múlí بلدة مُولي. The Fellátah geographer wrote
sometimes Mouri (Appendix to Clapperton’s Second Journey, p. 332),
sometimes (p. 340) Mouli (Múlí). He says, that the people of Núfí
conquered, among other countries, “the west of Malee, or Moulee, and
Abyou.” And again, that they subdued “the country of Abbi (in which we
now are) and Kanbari” (Kombori). Abbi is probably the same as Abyou (or
rather Abbíwa), and appears to have been near Sokkatú. In Hannah
Kilham’s Specimens of Languages spoken in Sierra Leone, we find the
Appah and Tapua, both related to the Aku or Yariba. The Tapua is
evidently the Tappawa, or language of Núfí (called Tappa by its
inhabitants), and the Appah is perhaps the language of Abbi. One of the
native itineraries appended to Dupuis’ Residence in Ashantee (p.
cxxix.), places Maury (Múri) next to Kábi on the west.]
[Footnote 152: From Marra is formed the gentile noun Marrawa; just as
Asbenawa is derived from Asben, Kachenawa from Kachena, Killiwawa from
Killiwah. But the carelessness of authors has given to the country the
name Marrawa, Mallawa, or Marroa, which properly belongs to the people.
According to Dupuis (Resid. in Ashantee, App. lxxxviii.), Marroa was
conquered by the Arabs at the close of the eighth century of our era.
For Melil see p. 37. Bowdich (Essay on the Geogr. of N.W. Afr. p. 24)
has laboured to show that Mallawa (or Malla) is the Melli of Leo, or
Málí; and Dalzel (History of Dahomy, p. 34) speaks of a people of the
interior called Malays or Mulays; but though the resemblance of the
names Malla, Melli or Málí, and Múlí, favours confusion, all that we
know of their application is on the side of discrimination.]
[Footnote 153: Ibn Baṭúṭah relates the transaction above alluded to with
many details illustrative of the manners of Málí. The King, it appears,
grew tired of his chief wife, Bálbá Ḳásá, who, by the custom of the
country, shared his authority: (Ḳásá, the Caza of old vocabularies,
means Queen;) he therefore placed her in confinement in the house of one
of his Farárí or captains, and took for queen in her stead his other
wife Banjú, who was not of the blood royal. The people manifested
dissatisfaction at this change. The female relatives of the King, in
visiting Banjú, put dust on their elbows, but not on their heads. When
Bálbá Ḳásá, however, was soon after released from confinement, the same
parties presented themselves before her with their heads covered with
dust and ashes. Thereupon Banjú complained that the deposed queen was
treated with more honour than herself. Mansá Suleïmán was incensed; and
his relatives, fearing his vengeance, fled to the sanctuary. He soon
pardoned them, however, and then the ladies, according to custom,
presented themselves before him naked. But the public discontent with
the King continued to increase, till one day the Royal Interpreter Dúghá
led forth before the assembly a young female slave in chains, who
disclosed the conspiracy above related. It was then agreed that Bálbá
Ḳásá deserved death.]
[Footnote 154: The situation of Kanbari (Kombori) is described in the
Appendix to Clapperton’s Second Expedition, pp. 339 & 340. For some
account of the people who give their name to this country, see
Clapperton’s Narrative, pp. 97, 102, 147, &c.; and also Lander’s
Expedition to the Niger, II. pp. 87, 299.]
[Footnote 155: For Yúfí يُوفِي Professor Lee (Travels of Ibn Baṭúṭah, p.
238) reads Yúwí, and Burckhardt (Travels in Nubia, p. 491) Bowy. It is
obviously Núfí mispointed.]
[Footnote 156: In like manner the supposed Christian King named Ogané,
of whom the early Portuguese navigators received intelligence at Benin,
was at once assumed to be the King of Abyssinia. The fable of an
intercourse between Abyssinia and Western Africa has been gravely
repeated by a recent writer (M‘Queen’s Survey of Africa, p. 5).
Fernandez de Enciso (Suma de Geografia, 1518) says, that in the Bight of
Benin are the Blacks who trade with Libya and Meroe. Lalande (Mémoires
de Paris, 1795, p. 15) has collected with equal industry and credulity
the stories of an overland commerce between the eastern and western
coasts of Africa.]