Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa, Vol. 2 (of 5)

[177]See Edrisi, translated by Jaubert, vol. i. pp. 25. 119. Jaubert reads Semnah; but the name Sámina is of frequent occurrence on the border of Negroland.

[178]The name of Húwa, as the name of a man, appears also in Imám Áhmed’s history.

[179]ولى بالخليفة means only he ascended the throne, the Bórnu people regarding the dignity of the ruler of Kánem as a khalifate.

[180]It is very remarkable, and confirms the dates of the chronicle marvellously, that El Bekri, who wrote towards the end of the dynasty of the Dúguwa, in the reign of Árki, A.D. 1067, says expressly (p. 456.), that the inhabitants of Kánem were at that time idolaters.

[181]Edrísí, translated by Jaubert, vol. i. p. 24., where انجمي is to be read instead of الحمي.

[182]Ébn Khaldún, l.c.

[183]Ábú ’l Fedá, texte Arabe, p. 245., compared with p. 127., where, in speaking of Wadán, he says distinctly, والجميع الان في طاعة ملك الكانم “And the whole of the country is at present under the dominion of the king of Kánem.” In the time of Makrízí the empire of Kánem extended from Zála, the well-known place eight days’ march from Aújila, and the same distance from the syrtis (Edrísí, p. 288.; Ábú ’l Fedá, p. 128.), as far as Kaká (Gógo), on the meridian of Maghreb el aúsat.—Quatremère, Mémoires sur l’Egypte, vol. ii. p. 28.

[184]Ébn Sʿaíd, cited by Makrízí. Hamaker, Spec. Cat. p. 206. It is to be remarked that in both instances where the name is mentioned, a و precedes, which might have taken away the ف.

[185]Mr. Blau (p. 311.), in translating this passage of the chronicle, which he did not understand, has made a most ridiculous mistake.

[186]Makrízí, in Burckhardt’s Travels in Nubia, Appendix III. p. 450.; Quatremère, Mémoires sur l’Egypte, vol. ii. p. 28.

[187]Mr. Blau has also misunderstood this passage. ببلدهم ملي means nothing else but that their native country was Melle.

[188]Mr. Blau, of course, who had no knowledge of the Soy, must be excused for having read in all these passages سوق, although the second و belongs to the following sentence, the dots in his copy being added by negligence.

[189]The place Dámmasak may still be identified from a basin of the komádugu which has been called after it. It is at present generally called Fátoghaná (see above, p. 233.)—Denham (who writes Dúmmasak), vol. i. p. 160.; but in the map the name is accurately spelt from Clapperton’s account.

[190]P. 77. of my MS. copy.

[191]The name is clearly written in my MS.; and there is not the least doubt that Kanó is meant. Blau, l.c., reads Kuttu.

[192]Thus the name is clearly written in my copy; but in another copy it seems to be Bérberá.

[193]What an immense power this officer must at one time have enjoyed is amply and clearly illustrated by the fact that his sons were entitled princes (“mai-na”), and his daughters princesses (“mai-ram”), like the children of the sultan, the difference of rank being only expressed by adding the word “keghámma-ram.”

[194]Denham and Clapperton’s Narrative, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 164.

[195]Bulletin de la Soc. Géogr. Paris, 1849, p. 252.

[196]Ibid.

[197]The words mean evidently nothing else than that under him the empire of Bórnu reached its highest pitch of greatness. The name of the town of Kabara is written كابرة, and was never a town of great importance; indeed it is absurd to suppose that the name of a small harbour should have been mentioned here in preference to that of the capital, Gágho or Gógó, or at least Timbuktu.

[198]Hamaker, p. 206.

[199]After this country, also, the wool-bearing sheep of Bórnu are called “dimí yerirám.”

[200]Imám Áhmed.

[201]The name Kel-eghrármar seems to indicate Berber origin.

[202]The name is written in three different ways: sometimes كُنهُ, at others كون or كنو.

[203]دلا. In Bórnu also there was a large town of this name; or it seems rather that Ghasréggomo was sometimes called by this name, as will appear from the following passage:—

وتوجه تلغا برنوا الى ان بلغ المدينه الكبيره بُرنِي دلــــــا

[204]اتْربِسْه من كُتُسِه

[205]مُنيوه.

[206]مع جمعهم من تلظٍ وغيرها.

[207]جميع من في الارض من قبيله كَليِتِه. They are mentioned also in another passage as قومه من قبيله كِلوَتِه; and this latter form of the word is probably the right one.

[208]صاحب اهير.

[209]اغْرَمْ-والى بلد اقاليم دُرْكُه كلها.

[210]كُبْسِه.

[211]كَراوا.

[212]It is remarkable how closely this picture of the great highroad of Negroland, and its troubled state, resembles that drawn by Leo, l. vii. c. ix.: “E ciascuno de’ mercatanti tiene gran quantità di schiavi per valersi dell’ ajuto loro ne’ passi da Cano a Borno; come da Zingani poverissima e ladra gente.” Whether, under the general name of Zingani, Leo understood the Nghizim I cannot say; but that may be the case.

[213]غُجَمْبِنا. It is remarkable that this name, in its latter part, closely resembles that of Mábiná, the country mentioned by Makrízí as invaded by a Bórnu king (Dúnama Selmámi) in the year 1250. See above, p. 262.

[214]كتاكُم.

[215]The name in my MS. is sometimes written تتاله, at others تلاله.

[216]القبيله كَتكُوا.

[217]The name is sometimes written الخر سَادْ, sometimes البجر ثادْ.

[218]صاحب مَفَتي.

[219]A town of the same name on the Tsád is mentioned, together with Kúri, by Denham, i. p. 192.

[220]مَكَرِ. Mákari and Kótokó are but different names of the same country, just as Áfno and Háusa, Mákari being the name used by the Kanúri.

[221]كُسُرِ.

[222]Denham, vol. i. p. 327.

[223]دكانا.

[224]Lucas, Proceedings of the African Association, vol. i. p. 227.

[225]From the report given to Mr. Koelle by the Bórnu slave ʿAlí Eisámi (African Native Literature, 1854, p. 93.), it would seem that Áhmed died before entering Ghasréggomo; but although these narratives teem with interest, they have no historical authority for the time which succeeded ʿAlí’s capture in the year 1814-15, and even no paramount authority for the preceding period. And the other story, as told in p. 99. et seqq., agrees entirely with our statement. The account of the inroad of Wádáy and the death of Ibrám (both which events happened in the time of Sheikh ʿOmár), as given by that Negro, is quite absurd and full of confusion.

[226]It seems almost incredible that, although the members of the late mission have distinctly stated that Kuka is a new town, yet even at the present day this place is identified by learned men with some ancient places having similar names.

[227]The exact date of his death I cannot find at present.

[228]ʿOmár, however, made several other expeditions; one against Gújeba, which is very famous amongst the inhabitants.

[229]It might be that even before this time the people who spoke more correctly would call the town Kúkawa; that is, properly, “bílla kúkawa,” the “town filled with kuka-trees,” and not Kúka, which is in truth only the name of the tree after which the place was called.