HISTORY OF RABEH ACCORDING TO MOHAMMED BESHIR
usili rabeh. ubansa mutum jalaba shi da basha alzubair mutane jalaba. uban rabeh shina yi gini kasa, talaka ne. babu shina da komi. rabeh ya tafi wurin basha alzubair ya zama galadimansa. suna tafiya darfur suna yi yaki dasu shekaru biyar. su ji labarin mutane masr su da ingliz suka tafi achikin darfur. su yi masa hila wayo suka che ka tafo. ya zo basha alzubair, su kama shi. galadimansa rabeh ya gudu ya tafi agarin janke (dinka) ya tafi shi da dakaransa shina yi yaki achikin janke shekaransa oku. ya tashi ya tafi agarin wadai shina yi yaki kwanansa goma sha bokkoi achikin kauye. ya tafi agarin bagirmi shina yi yaki da sarikin bagirmi shekaransa biyu. achikin bagirmi shina aikewa achikin barnuh[535] da samo shina yi magani dakeau domi bakinsu shi banban suna yi fada. ya rubutu ga malam hayatu laya ya che masa ina sonka da abuta. mallam hayatu ya che kua, nima ina sonka amma ka zo mu yi shawara zamu chi barnuh. rabeh ya che to mu gamu achikin hanya. ya tashi su gamu suka che mu je achikin barnuh mu chi barnuh. sarikin barnuh ya ji labari suna taruwa dayawa ya che ku yi shiri dakeau. rabeh ya zo barnuh achikin kofan gari, sarikin barnuh ya fita suna yi fada, sarikin barnuh ya kore rabeh. ya tafi akauye ya zamna, shina yi yungwa watansa tara achikin ankalaiwa suna zamne wuri daya. da su samau chimaka su komo achikin barnuh sun yi yaki. sarikin barnuh dakaransa su gudu suna barshi shina yi fada su kasheshi; aba hashim dafari aba kiari da aba sanda dan uwan aba kiari, su mutu. ya shiga barnuh ya zamna shekaransa oku da shashi. ya tafi agarin sarikin mandara ya kai yaki achikin mandara. ya kama sarikin mandara zofo ne ya kawoshi achikin barnuh. yaro sarikin mandara ya kama yaron rabeh. rabeh ya che da mutaninsa kada ku kasheshi wanan zofo ne. ya che masa yaron sarikin mandara aiko mani da ubana. ya che masa zan kasheshi zofo ya che, kadan na mutu da. safi kai kua ka mutu da azafari.[536] ya sakeshi ya tafi agarinsa mandara.
saura maganan rabeh. basha malla karim na chikin barnuh ya aike[537] wurin rabeh ya che, ka zo ka shiga achikin garin barnuh. ya che ina da yungwa babu abinchi. sun tafo su shiga achikin gari ya zama sarikinsu. ya zauna watansa fudu ya tashi ya tafi achikin garin bade shina yi yaki da su, allah ya bashi nasara. ya kama mutane bade ya damresu achikin sasari ya kawosu achikin barnuh. ya koma ya tafi agarin mika suna yi yaki da sarikin mika. allah ya bashi nasara ya kashesu. ya tafi agarin katagum suna yi fada dakeau. sarikin katagum ya koreshi ya gudu ya komo achikin garinsa barnuh. ya zamna watansa biyar ya tashi ya tafi agarin miso. sarikin miso ya fita suna yi yaki shi da rabeh. sarikin miso ya aike wurin sarikin shira da wurin sarikin gombe su taru achikin garin miso. su tashi su tareshi achikkin hanya. suna yi yaki dakeau ya kashe masu mutane dayawa rabeh ya yi nasara dakeau. sarikin gombe ya mutu achikin yaki. rabeh ya komo achikin barnuh, ya zamna watansa tara. ya che ga mutaninsa ku yi shiri ku tafi achikin adamawa da yaki. su tafi su yi yaki achikin adamawa su kama mutane dayawa su damresu achikin sasari su kawosu daga barnuh. malam hayatu sarikin jamare ya ji labari ya che masa domi ka tafi achikin kasan kakanina? rabeh ya amsa masa na tafi. malam hayatu ya che, dakeau. ya aike masa da magani wurin matatasa yariniya malam hayatu shika aureta. ama rabeh shekaransa tokwos da hamsin ya mutu.
Translation
Rabeh’s origin. His father was a Jellaba man as also was Zobehr Pasha. Rabeh’s father was a poor man and a clay digger (for making bricks); he had no property. Rabeh went to Zobehr Pasha and became his lieutenant. They went to Darfur and made war there for five years. They heard news that the Egyptians and the English had come to Darfur. They (the English) laid a cunning trap for him (Zobehr) and said, ‘Come to us.’ They caught Zobehr Pasha. His lieutenant Rabeh fled and came to the Dinka country. He and his soldiers went and made war in the Dinka country for three years. He got up and went to Wadai and made war in the surrounding country for seventeen days. He went to Bagirmi and made war with the King of Bagirmi for two years. Whilst he was in Bagirmi he sent poison to Bornu and made powerful medicine because they were at strife. They made war. He wrote a letter to Mallam Hayatu and said to him: ‘I want to be your friend.’ Mallam Hayatu likewise said: ‘I like you, but come and let us consult how we shall conquer Bornu.’ Rabeh said: ‘Very well, let us meet on the road.’ He got up. They met and said: ‘Let us enter Bornu and conquer it.’ The King of Bornu heard news that they were assembling in large numbers and said (to his people): ‘Make careful preparations.’ Rabeh came to Bornu and reached the gate of the town [i.e. Kuka]. The King of Bornu came out and they fought. The King of Bornu repulsed Rabeh, who went into the surrounding villages where he sat down. He suffered from hunger for nine months in Ngellewa where they remained concentrated. When they got provisions they re-entered Bornu and made war. The King of Bornu’s soldiers fled and left him on the battlefield and he was killed, first of all Abba Ashimi died, then Abba Kiari and Abba Sanda, brother of Abba Kiari. He (Rabeh) entered Bornu and sat down there for three years and a half. He went to the King of Mandara and brought an army to Mandara. He caught the King of Mandara, who was an old man, and brought him to Bornu. The son of the King of Mandara caught a son of Rabeh’s. Rabeh said to his people, ‘Do not kill him, he is an old man.’ The son of the King of Mandara said to him, ‘Send me my father.’ He said to him, ‘I am going to kill him.’ The old man said: ‘If I die in the morning, you will die in the afternoon.’ He let him go and he went to his country of Mandara.
The story of Rabeh continued. Pasha Malla Karim of Bornu sent to Rabeh and said, ‘Come, enter the town of Bornu.’ He said: ‘I am hungry, I have no food.’ They met, they entered the town, he became their king. He sat down for four months. He got up and went to Bedde country. He made war with them. God gave him the victory. He caught the Bedde people and bound them in chains and brought them to Bornu. He came back, he went to Mika[538] country. They made war with the King of Mika. God gave him the victory. He killed them. He went to Katagum. There was a stiff fight. The King of Katagum repulsed him. He fled and came back to his own country of Bornu, where he sat down for five months. He got up and went to Misau. The King of Misau came out and he and Rabeh fought. The King of Misau sent to the King of Shira and to the King of Gombe (telling them) to assemble inside the town of Misau. They got up and met on the road. There was a stiff fight, but Rabeh killed many of their men and gained a brilliant victory. The King of Gombe died in the battle. Rabeh returned to Bornu, where he sat down nine months. He said to his people: ‘Prepare yourselves and go with an army to Adamawa.’ They went and made war in Adamawa. They caught many men and bound them in chains and brought them to Bornu. Mallam Hayatu, the King of Jamare, heard the news and said to him: ‘Why have you entered the country of my fathers?’ Rabeh answered him: ‘I have entered it. (What about it?)’ Mallam Hayatu said: ‘Good!’ He sent him poison through his wife. Rabeh had married Mallam Hayatu’s daughter. Now Rabeh was fifty-eight years old when he died.
II
From a Letter of Abd-el-Kadir ibn Al-haji Isa Muzi of Ghadames to Mohammed Beshir, dated 17 Rejeb, 1315 (i.e. 12 December, 1897).[539]
. . . And if you inquire as to the state of affairs in the Sudan, know that everything is in order. Only a letter has reached Ghadames from the Sudan, in which they have informed us that Rabeh has of a truth been killed by poison. The Sultan of Jamare said: ‘Assemble yourselves, ye Sultans of the Sudan.’ They said: ‘Let us prepare ourselves and fight against Rabeh.’ And the Sultan of Mandara and the Sultan of Bagirmi and the Sultan of Kano and the Sultan of Katsena and the Sultan of Daura and the Sultan of Kazaure and the Sultan of Zaria and the Sultan of Bauchi and the Sultan of Bedde and the Sultan of Damerghu and the Sultan of Tanamari and the Sultan of Gagiduna and the Sultan of Asben they all assembled themselves (and said): ‘Let us march against Rabeh and kill him.’ His father-in-law, Mallam Hayatu, was he who killed him by poison. He sent the poison to his daughter with the message: ‘Give it thy husband.’ After that[540] he said to his son-in-law: ‘Why have you taken the land of my fathers?’ Rabeh answered and said unto him: ‘I have taken it.’ Then he went away, prepared the poison and said to her: ‘Give it to thy husband.’ And now Rabeh is dead. It is six months ago since I read it in the letter from the Sudan.
[p. 263] From a Letter of Herr Hans Resener, Editor of the Aegyptischer Kurier, to the Editor of the Mittheilungen.
. . . Herr Julius Lippert in his article on Rabeh, the notorious ruler of the Kingdoms of the Central Sudan, which is shortly to appear in your valuable periodical, states: ‘his father was a poor brickmaker, who gained an honest livelihood by the work of his hands. That Rabeh has sometimes been falsely described as a slave of Zobehr’s is to be attributed to the fact that he attached himself in early youth to that extraordinary man, who prior to his appearance as a public official carried on the business of slave-raiding. Rabeh early became a loyal friend and useful assistant in Zobehr’s undertakings.’
I may be permitted to observe on the contrary that Zobehr Pasha has more than once represented to me that his relationship to Rabeh was as follows—Rabeh’s father was a slave of Zobehr’s father. The lot of a slave in Africa who happens to be in good hands is by no means hard, he eats out of the same dish as his master, &c., &c. Rabeh was brought up in familiar intercourse with Zobehr without any distinction or preference being made; the fact that Rabeh was a slave of Zobehr’s father did not prevent this. At the same time Rabeh was Zobehr’s foster-brother; Zobehr always had a great affection for him and when his (Zobehr’s) father died, he gave Rabeh his freedom.
[503][Translation published by kind permission of Dr. Sachau, Director of the Seminary. The name is spelt Rabah by the French and Germans, Rabeh by the English. The latter form gives the Bornu pronunciation, but perhaps the former is the correct Arabic form. The town of Calatrava in Spain, the head-quarters of a famous order of religious knights, is properly Kalat Rabah = Rabah’s citadel, vid. article on Calatrava in Encyclopaedia of Islam.]
[504]This certainly holds good in general for Mohammedan nations, in so much as with them the conception of the state is identified with that of the ruler. Any one who requires proof of this, let him read any twenty pages whatever of Aug. Müller’s Islam, vol. ii; he will then be convinced.
[505]‘dan’ in Hausa is the Arabic ‘ibn’ (son).
[506]Cf. G. A. Krause’s ‘Samori’, in No. 483 of the Vossische Zeitung for October 15, 1898.
[507]Vid. Le Mouvement géographique, 1898, No. 47 (Nov. 20).
[508]Cf. Nachtigal, Sahara und Sudan, ii. 234.
[509]They had to repent of not having followed Rabeh’s advice; for in spite of the assurances made to them they were massacred in an altogether assassin-like fashion on July 15, 1879, owing to calumny and intrigue (cf. Slatin Pasha, Fire and Sword in the Sudan, p. 28, German edition). [‘I caused Suleiman and nine of the principal rebel chiefs to be shot, for Suleiman, after a futile attempt to make my troop revolt, had tried to escape,’ vid. Romolo Gessi, Seven Years in the Sudan, p. 329.]
[510]Cf. Slatin Pasha, idem, pp. 7-28.
[511][The Bornu troops had included gun-men since the sixteenth century (vid. p. 17). The Kanuri word for gun is ‘be̥nde̥ge̥’, which has usually been derived from Venediga = Venice, the original source of supply. Huart, however, in the Encyclopaedia of Islam under ‘bundukiya’ derives it from Latin ‘(nux) pontica’ = a hazel-nut, hence a bullet. He gives ‘bunduki’ = a Venetian sequin, as coming from ‘Bundukiya, the Arabic name of Venice’.]
[512]Ferryman, Imperial Africa, London, 1898, p. 354.
[513]Sahara und Sudan, ii. 141.
[514]Fire and Sword in the Sudan, p. 25.
[515]Imperial Africa, p. 355.
[516]Cf. Nachtigal, Sahara und Sudan, iii. 51 ff.
[517]Imperial Africa, p. 356.
[518]The Hausa word Mallam (or Mallami) is, of course, the Arabic ‘mumalim’ = teacher. It is employed like the Arabic ‘Imam’ (in Moroccan Arabic ‘Faki’) for the ‘scribes’.
[519]Sultan is here used in the broader sense; the rulers of the latest (or Kanem) dynasty in Bornu made use of the official title of Sheikh. Their names in succession are: Mohammed Amin Al-Kanemi, Umar, Abba Bubakr, Abba Ibrahim, Abba Ashimi, Abba Kiari, and Abba Sanda. Their relationships are shown in the following table:
| Mohammed Amin Al-Kanemi | |||||||
| Umar | |||||||
| Abba Bubakr | Abba Ibrahim | Abba Ashimi | |||||
| Abba Kiari | Abba Sanda | ||||||
‘Abba’ corresponds in this connexion to the Arabic ‘Saïd’. Cf. Nachtigal, Sahara und Sudan, i. 582. [Abba is a Bornu title meaning ‘Prince’.]
[520]According to Ferryman, Imperial Africa, p. 356, Abba Ashimi was not killed, but after the loss of the battle fled to Zinder. [As a matter of fact he was murdered by his nephew, Abba Kiari.—P. A. B.]
[521]‘Sanda’ is the Arabic ‘Umar’.
[522]According to my calculation the conquest of Bornu took place in the year 1894.
[523]Cf. Grothe, Tripoli and the Caravan-trade with the Sudan, Leipzig, 1898, p. 22.
[524]Ferryman, Imperial Africa, p. 356. [A Niger Company mission under McIntosh (‘Sarikin Charlie’) visited Shehu Ashimi in 1890, starting from Yola, but were unable to conclude the commercial arrangements which formed their object.—P. A. B.]
[525]Cf. Nachtigal, Sahara und Sudan, i. 732 ff.
[526]Dikoa, which in earlier days was once a place of residence of the Bornu kings, lies in the German sphere of influence. With regard to the favourable situation of the town cf. Barth, Travels and Discoveries, iii. 122 ff. German edition. The natives in their superstitious fashion give as a ground for the change of residence that the ghosts of the Sultans murdered there appeared to Rabeh by night in the royal palace at Kukawa. This motive is not new; thus Mohammed Sherif, Sultan of Wadai, removed his residence from Wara to Abesher, because, as popular report had it, ‘bad ghosts had made the old royal town uninhabitable’ (Nachtigal, Sahara und Sudan, iii. 77). Of course this is not to be taken seriously. New ruling families are frequently accustomed to select new places of residence in order to wipe out as far as possible remembrances of the old dynasty, just as Kukawa itself was first founded by the Kanem dynasty at the beginning of the nineteenth century (Nachtigal, i. 586).
[527][Fika?]
[528]Belonging for the greater part to the German sphere of influence.
[529]Hayatu was the son of Saïdu, grandson of Sultan Mohammed Bello, and consequently great-grandson of Othman dan Fodio, the founder of the empire. (Wurno, formerly the residence of the Sultan of Sokoto, is a town a few miles north of Sokoto.)
[530]Cf. Nachtigal, Sahara und Sudan, i. 730.
[531][This is incorrect.—P. A. B.]
[532]Vid. Introduction to this article.
[533]Cf. Nachtigal, Sahara und Sudan, ii. 712 ff., iii. 281.
[534]Idem, ii. 726.
[535]This spelling is common and refers to the etymology of Bornu = the land of Noah.
[536]Corruption of ‘azuhur’.
[537]Misprint in the original of t for i.
[538][Fika?]
[539]This letter, written in the Tripolitan dialect, is printed with all its errors. My conception of the meaning is set out in the accompanying translation. [As I know no Arabic, I can only give a translation of the German translation.—P. A. B.]
[540]The sequence is confused here.
APPENDIX VI
THE BAUCHI ACCOUNT OF SHEHU LAMINO’S KANO CAMPAIGN[541]
Extract from a History of the Bauchi Emirs, translated from the manuscript of Mallam Mustapha, tutor and adviser to the sons of Yakubu, first Emir of Bauchi, by A. Holdsworth Groom, Assistant Resident, Central (Bauchi) Province, Northern Nigeria.
After this he (Yakubu) made a war and went to Dass. He remained there five years, and fought with them and conquered half of them. He was fighting with the other half when the news of Kanumbu (Shehu Lamino of Bornu) reached him, and he started and went to Fake. They met Kanumbu, whose horsemen numbered 44,444. He had driven away the village chiefs of Kano, the chiefs of Kano city, and the Emir of Kano, Dabo. All had fled. Yakubu came and found him encamped. When Kanumbu saw him he said: ‘This slave of the Fulani is a liar, what does he think he will take from off me?’ Yakubu said to his mallams: ‘What is your advice? Ye behold the multitude of his horses. Ye behold also the number of my horses, 2,500. What say ye?’ They replied, ‘The king’s word is ours.’ Yakubu said, ‘I know not how to defeat him, neither do I know how he may be killed, but one thing I do know, I know that he has no power to raise the dead, that he has no power, if rain be lacking, to cause it to fall, that he has no power, if the grass does not spring up, to cause it to do so.’ The followers of Yakubu said, ‘As for these things Allah alone is able to do them.’ Yakubu replied, ‘Since ye know this, that no one is able to do anything save Allah, let us take courage and fight with him, for we shall defeat him and kill him, because no one is powerful save Allah.’ Then they joined battle and slaughtered them, and scattered them.[542] Kanumbu fled, leaving behind him his flag, his tents and drums, and went away to Bornu. Yakubu started and went to Sokoto’and brought to the Sarikin Mussulmin, Bello, son of Shefu dan Fodio, Kanumbu’s flag, his tents, and his drums. Bello rejoiced greatly and made a prayer for Ibraihim, son of Yakubu, that Allah would give him the kingdom of his father, that Allah would give the children of Ibraihim the kingdom of Ibraihim;[543] that Allah would establish the seed of Ibraihim in the house of Yakubu. Yakubu returned and came home.
[541]Cf. Documents scientifiques de la Mission Tilho, vol. ii, p. 363.
[542]The Habe Archers that followed Yakubu, famous for their shooting and their poisoned arrows, are said to have contributed largely to the victory.
[543]The present Emir of Bauchi is the grandson of Ibraihim.
APPENDIX VII
REBELLION OF ABBA MASTA
Extract from ‘Travels of Haji Mahomet, a Fulani of Kano’, translated from Hausa Stories and Riddles, by H. G. Harris, p. 33.[544]
We reached the King of Bornu. There was a civil war going on. One of the Bornu princes was fighting with the King of Bornu, and trying to take the kingdom from him. This prince, whose name was Abba Masta, had 100,000 men and 40,000 horses. The King of Bornu’s name was Shehu Ibrahim, he had 100,000 soldiers and 100,000 slaves called ‘Kachellas’. Abba Masta refused to obey him. The Shehu said: ‘Why do you refuse, you are my younger brother? Is it a question of politics? If you want a title, I will give it you.’ But his courtiers said: ‘No, don’t give it him, consider your own interests. Is Abba Masta your elder brother, will you obey him?’ But the Shehu would not listen to them, he was angry, he rose up, shook out his clothes, went to his house, and beat his drum, proclaiming, ‘He that is my friend, let him follow me’. . . . 40,000 horsemen left the town and the Shehu was preparing to follow them, when his official sister, the Magira, came and caught hold of his gown, saying: ‘Do not go out now, wait a while, let them go. Do you wish to injure your own interests? When they have gone, we will follow on behind.’ So the army went on, and the Shehu stayed two days at home. Then he beat his drum, and said: ‘Let all my friends rally round me’. They assembled, and followed him. He met Abba Masta, and sent four ‘mallams’ with a message to him saying, ‘Let us not quarrel over politics, which are but transitory things, let us not fall out over them.’ Abba Masta replied that he intended to fight, so the ‘mallams’ returned to the Shehu and said: ‘Abba Masta is evilly disposed; he intends fighting.’ The Shehu sent back the ‘mallams’ with another message, saying, ‘Let us not fight, let not Mussulman blood be shed.’ But Abba Masta continued to advance, and was close on their heels. The alarm was given in the Shehu’s camp, and they opened fire. Thereupon, a certain young man came to the Shehu and said: ‘I will kill him.’ The young man took his spear and pierced Abba Masta through the ribs. Abba Masta fell from his horse; he said to his followers, ‘Fly, the battle is lost.’ Thirty thousand of his followers were slain, some fled to Mandara, some were captured and brought to the Shehu, and the rest scattered. People said, ‘Abba Masta has failed to seize the kingdom.’ The Shehu said, ‘Kill the prisoners.’ They were killed. There was a pursuit. The defeated army fled screaming. The Shehu had the victory. He returned home, assembled his people, and said, ‘Give judgement between me and Abba Masta, which of us was in the wrong.’ They said, ‘He was in the wrong. He refused to obey you, you tried to make peace, but he refused. He behaved like a heathen.’ Then the Shehu beat his drum, and ordered Abba Masta’s men to be brought before him. A court of justice was held, and some were killed and some spared, in accordance with the Shehu’s orders. Five thousand were executed, and the people said, ‘They have met with their deserts.’
The following genealogical table explains the relationships of Abba Masta:
| Shehu Lamino | |||||
| Shehu Umar | Abba Masta | Abba Senussi | |||
| Shehu Ibrahim | Abba Bukar | Abba Othman (late Ajia of Karaguaro) |
|||
| Abba Wada (now Ajia of Karaguaro) |
|||||
[544]Translation published by kind permission of Hermann G. Harris, Esq.
APPENDIX VIII
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN BRITISH BORNU
Thermometrical and barometrical observations have been taken in Bornu for some years past by the Government Medical Officers; at Maiduguri in Southern Bornu from 1905, and at Geidam in Northern Bornu from 1907. The observations in all cases are taken at 9 a.m. in the shade of an open grass-roofed shed, with maximum and minimum thermometers.
Average monthly temperature, ascertained by taking the monthly averages for the years recorded.
| Month. | Geidam. | Maiduguri. |
|---|---|---|
| ° | ° | |
| January | 70·65 | 74·28 |
| February | 75·6 | 76·9 |
| March | 84·13 | 84·78 |
| April | 89·41 | 91·77 |
| May | 90·58 | 90·62 |
| June | 89·81 | 86·42 |
| July | 84·6 | 82·31 |
| August | 80·29 | 78·76 |
| September | 83·77 | 81·46 |
| October | 84·48 | 83·51 |
| November | 77·66 | 79·17 |
| December | 71·16 | 73·88 |
Average yearly temperature.
| Year. | Maiduguri. | Geidam. |
|---|---|---|
| ° | ° | |
| 1905 | 80·9 | — |
| 1906 | 82·14 | — |
| 1907 | 82·68 | 81·01 |
| 1908 | 83·02 | 81·35 |
| 1909 | 82·83 | 81·57 |
| 1910 | 78·56 | 82·23 |
The record maximum temperature of 120° was obtained at Maiduguri on April 6, 1907; the record minimum temperature of 41° at Maiduguri on March 30, 1910; the record fluctuation of 61° at Maiduguri on March 10, 1910.
The record maximum temperature at Geidam was 119° F. on March 28, 1911, and the record minimum 44° F. on January 8, 1912; the record fluctuation at Geidam was 51° F. on May 1, 1911, and January 24, 1912.
Rainfall
| Year. | Rainfall at Maiduguri. | Rainfall at Geidam. |
|---|---|---|
| Inches. | Inches. | |
| 1905 | 26·04 | — |
| 1906 | 31·65 | 20·80 |
| 1907 | 23·63 | 18·15 |
| 1908 | 23·30 | 22·39 |
| 1909 | 31·99 | 21·22 |
| 1910 | 19·53 | 16·78 |
| 1911 | 30·00 | 10·46 |
The record rainfall for 24 hours was 3·87″ at Maiduguri on August 27, 1911.
[I am indebted for these figures to the kindness of Drs. Ellis, McLeay, Moiser, and Cobb of the West African Medical staff.—P. A. B.]
Direction of Prevailing Wind
According to the observations taken at Maiduguri, which is just below 12° North latitude, the prevailing winds are as follows:
- January, ENE.
- February, NE.
- March, E.
- April, SW.
- May, SW.
- June, SW.
- July, SW.
- August, SW.
- September, SW.
- October, NE.
- November, NE.
- December, E.
APPENDIX IX
LAKE CHAD AND THE BAHR EL GHAZAL
The French Mission under Captain Tilho devoted a good deal of attention to the problem of the Bahr el Ghazal. Their conclusions are summed up on p. 61, vol. ii of the Documents scientifiques: ‘The Bahr el Ghazal, as far as we examined it (i.e. to Fantrassou), is neither an affluent nor an effluent but simply a prolongation of Chad. . . . This conclusion does not solve the problem of the mythical river, which, according to old maps, formerly connected Chad with the Nile.’[545] Twelve varieties of shells are common to Chad and the Nile, and indicate that there must at one time have been a connexion by water between the lake and the river (Doc. sc., ii. 170); cf. also note [343] of the present work.
Again, on p. 601 ff., vol. ii: ‘Topography and hypsometry on the one hand, chemistry, geology, and malacology on the other, agree in declaring that Lake Chad is not the remains of an ancient sea, that it is hardly a lake, in spite of its appearance of being an alluvial lake, and that it should be regarded as the expansion of a powerful sheet of fluvial water flowing north-eastwards, rather than a true lake. . . .
It appears legitimate, a priori, to suppose that this sheet of fluvial water, after having expanded to form Chad, may continue its course subterraneously, protected by a mantle of sand against the intense evaporation occasioned by the burning sun of the tropics and the parching winds of the desert. Besides, have we not in the Sahara many other examples of water-courses prolonged subterraneously very far from the place where they seem to lose themselves in the sands? . . .
Moreover, if topography and hypsometry can only show us the possibility of the waters of Chad being prolonged subterraneously, chemistry demonstrates the necessity. The amount of chloride in the waters of Chad is in fact so small, that one is bound to admit that there is an outlet somewhere. . . . Chemical analysis has shown that the water of Chad almost everywhere contains less chloride than the drinking water of Copenhagen for example. Consequently, it is absolutely impossible that it can be a self-contained lake. . . .
It is impossible to definitely trace the course of the connecting link between the Chad and the Nile, assuming that it existed, . . . until French Borku and English Darfur are really brought under control.’
[545]Cf. the article on the connexion between Lake Chad and the Nile in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xxxviii, p. 463. [Commandant Tilho is now in charge of the Mao district to the north of Lake Chad and is making a special study of the problem of the Bahr el Ghazal. Chudeau, Missions au Sahara, vol. ii, p. 232, discusses the problem of the Bahr el Ghazal.]
APPENDIX X
SOME KANURI DERIVATIONS (MOSTLY PROPER NAMES)
About half of these derivations were given me by the late Major A. McClintock, D.S.O., Acting Resident, Bornu, with a request that I would revise them. I have added a few notes in square brackets [ ] and some derivations of other proper names, also in square brackets. Some of the derivations are obviously ‘aetiological’, but others are, I think, correct. Major McClintock heads his collection—‘Lies and Otherwise’.
P. A. B.
[Afuno (the Kanuri name for the Hausas). King Iderisa Aloma of Bornu went to war with Kano and found all the people there wearing nothing but arse-cloths (‘funo’). He therefore called them ‘am-funo’ = arse-cloth people. Cf. Benton, Kanuri Readings, p. 19. For other derivations vid. Merrick, Hausa Proverbs, p. 92.]
[Allanjurori = the place of Lowan Allanjuro.]
Alo. Mai Iderisa, a Bornu king, was at war in Bagirmi; during a fight he was standing under a tree; up in the tree hidden by the branches was one of the enemy, who threw his knife at the king and wounded him very badly. The Bornu army returned by easy stages with their sick king via Dikoa to the lake now known as Alo. Here the king died from his wounds and was buried. After his death there was much lamentation, until the king’s son said, ‘It is the work of Allah’ [‘Allah kido’ = God did it]. All the people then chanted the word Allah and the lake has since been called Alo.
[Another explanation suggests that the word is derived from the Tubu ‘alo’, meaning a water-melon. When Mai Iderisa died, the melons with which the place was covered burst asunder from grief and formed a lake.]
[Ardimini. A town in Margawa District. This word means in the Koiyam language the same as the Kanuri ‘arditsani’ (3rd pers. plur. negative indefinite from ‘ardingin’) = they do not agree. The Koiyams are a pastoral people who do not care to settle down.]
Argum = millet. Birds were responsible for carrying this seed and dropping it in Kanem, at Birnin N’gebe, where the Bornu kings lived prior to their coming to Gashergomo. The seed these birds brought was taken to the king, who ordered horsemen to follow their flight and find out where it grew. It was found in the Gongola valley, and they brought some back to the king, who had it prepared and ate it. He then said, ‘Hold this safe and plant it.’
The word ‘argum’ or ‘arkum’ is a corruption of the Kanuri ‘arre ke̥mne’ = come, hold it fast. [‘Arre’ is imperative from ‘iseskin’, and ‘ke̥mne’ or ‘kumne’ is imperative from ‘ke̥mgin’ = I close the fist.]
[Arriaskuri. Name of a village opposite the Government station at Maiduguri, said to have been founded by one Arri Yasku-ma, i.e. Arri from Yasku, a town near Lake Alo now abandoned.]
[Bonigaral. This was a slave village exempted from tax: its inhabitants could therefore take their ease. ‘Bone’ is 2nd pers. sing. imperative from ‘bongin’ = I lie down; ‘ngaral’ is an emphatic adverbial suffix, cf. Koelle, Kanuri Grammar, p. 283.]
[Bornu. Or, as the natives write and pronounce it, Barnu. The usual etymology given by the natives is that it is a corruption of the Arabic ‘Bahr Nuh’ = the water of Noah, because the ark was supposed to have rested on the rocks of Hadjer Hamis on the south bank of Chad.[546] Another is that it is derived from Kanuri ‘burum nui’ = the lake is dead, has disappeared, pointing to a shrinkage of Lake Chad; cf. Appendix XIV a.]
[Borsari = the place of Kachella Mbursa, grandfather of Kachella Mahmut, ex-Ajia of this district.]
Bussugua = the fig-trees [parasitic ficus]. There is one in Ngubala rest-camp. [This is where the Major died, June 24, 1912: