Chapter IV: Part 4

“The people of Ghánah had for neighbours, on the east, a nation, which, according to historians, was called Ṣúṣú; after which came another named Málí; and after that another known by the name of Kaúkaú; although some people prefer a different orthography, and write this name Kághó. The last-named nation was followed by a people called Tekrúr.[110] The people of Ghánah declined in course of time, being overwhelmed or absorbed by the Molaththemún (or muffled people—that is, the Morabites), who, adjoining them on the north towards the Berber country, attacked them, and, taking possession of their territory, compelled them to embrace the Mohammedan religion.[111] The people of Ghánah, being invaded at a later period by the Ṣúṣú, a nation of Blacks in their neighbourhood, were exterminated, or mixed with other Black nations.

“As to the people of Málí, they surpassed the other Blacks in those countries in wealth and numbers. They extended their dominions, and conquered the Ṣúṣú, as well as the kingdom of Ghánah in the vicinity of the Ocean towards the west. The Mohammedans say, that the first King of Málí was Baramindánah. He performed the pilgrimage to Mekkah, and enjoined his successors to do the same.[112]

“But the great King of Málí who conquered the Ṣúṣú, and took their country, was named Mári Jáṭah, which means, in the language of that country, Amír Lion, for _Mári_ signifies an Amír, or prince of the blood royal, and _jáṭah_ means a lion. These people also style the relatives and connexions of the royal family _Tikin_.[113] We were not able to learn anything further respecting this king, and cannot therefore give his genealogy. Nevertheless I was informed that he reigned five and twenty years.

“He was succeeded by his son Mansá Walí—that is, Sultan ʿAlí—who was one of the greatest kings that ever reigned over the people of Málí. He performed the pilgrimage to Mekkah in the reign of the Sultan Ez̤-Z̤áhir Bíbárs.[114] To him succeeded his brother Walí; after whom came another brother, named Khalífah, who was insane, and amused himself with shooting arrows at his subjects. They rushed on him one day and killed him.

“After him came Abú Bekr, who was descended from Mári Jáṭah in the female line. The people of Málí, following in this respect the custom of the ʿAjem (strangers), among whom the sisters and sisters’ sons succeed to the inheritance, chose him for their king. We have not been able to learn his lineage, nor the origin of his father.

“Abú Bekr was followed by a freedman named Sákúrah, who usurped the throne.[115] This king made the pilgrimage to Mekkah, during the reign of Almalik Annáṣir; but on his return was killed at Tájúrá. The empire was increased, under him, by the subjugation of other Black nations. It was in his time that the people of Málí made the conquest of Kaúkaú, and added it to their dominions, which already extended from the Ocean and Ghánah in the west, to the country of Tekrúr in the east. Some, however, maintain that the conquest of Kaúkaú was made later. Hájí Túnis, interpreter of Tekrúr, says that the conquest of Kaúkaú was achieved by a general of Mansá Músa, whose name was Saghminḥuh.

“After Sákúrah the kingdom reverted to the posterity of Mári Jáṭah, and Mansá Músa, son of Abú Bekr, ascended the throne. He was an excellent prince, and performed the pilgrimage in 724. The number of people employed to carry his baggage and provisions amounted to 12,000, all dressed in tunics of figured cotton, or the silk called El-Yemení. The Hájí Túnis, interpreter of this nation in Káhirah (Cairo), said that Mansá Músa brought with him to Egypt no less than 80 loads of Tibar (gold dust), each weighing 300 pounds. He brought the whole on camels, though in his own kingdom camels are not used, baggage being there carried on the backs of slaves.[116] Mansá Músa, on his return, conceived the idea of building himself a fine palace. Abú Iṣḥaḳ showed him a model, and erected the edifice, with plaster and all kinds of ornaments, for which he received 12,000 mithḳáls of gold. Mansá Músa maintained an intimate and friendly correspondence with Sultan Abú-l- Ḥasan, of Al-Maghreb, and reigned twenty-five years.

“On his death the empire devolved on Mansá Maghá—that is, Sultan Mohammed, for in their language Maghá signifies Mohammed. He died after a reign of four years, and was succeeded by Mansá Suleïmán, son of Abú Bekr, and brother of Musá, who reigned twenty-four years. After him came his son, Mansá Ibn Suleïmán, who died nine months after ascending the throne. Then followed Mári Jáṭah, and Mansá Maghá, son of Mansá Músa, and reigned fourteen years. He (Mári Jáṭah) was a wicked and dissolute prince. He sent an embassy to Abú Selím, son of Abú-l-Ḥasan, Sultan of Al-Maghreb (the West), which embassy arrived in Fez in the year 762; and among other presents which came with it, were some very tall animals called Zeráfah (camelopards), as high as obelisks, and strange in the land of Al-Maghreb.

“Abú Abdullah Mohammed Ibn Wásúl, a native of Sijilmésah, and who inhabited for a long time the city of Kaúkaú, in their country (_i.e._ in the empire of Málí), where he performed the duties of Cadhi, told me, when I met him in 776, much more respecting the kings of that country than I can relate. He said that this Sultan Jáṭah was the worst king that ever existed; that he wasted the treasures, was on the point of destroying the palace erected by his ancestors; and that he even sold to certain Egyptian merchants, for a trifling sum of money, a huge mass of native gold, weighing 20 cwt., and preserved among other curiosities in the royal treasure. Providence, however, punished him; for he was afflicted with a disease very common in those countries, and the ravages of which are particularly frequent among the higher classes. It begins with a kind of lethargy or stupor, which renders the sufferer insensible during the greater part of the day. After lingering two years under this incurable malady, Jáṭah died in 775.[117]

“The people of Málí chose his son Músa to succeed him. He was a just prince, but was overpowered by his wazír Mári Jáṭah, who threw him into confinement, and usurped all the powers of sovereignty. This Wazír has made some conquests towards the east. Passing the limits of Kaúkaú, he arrived at the stations or fixed habitations in the land of Tekaddá, which is behind the country of the Morabites; but he has since restored that territory to its own Sultan. Tekaddá is seventy days from Wergelán towards the south-west; the road of the pilgrims (from Kaúkaú to Egypt) passes through it. Sultan Músa is on friendly terms with the rulers of Záb and Wergelán.”[118]

Ibn Khaldún further relates, that, after having written the preceding historical sketch, he learned that Mansá Músa died in 789, and was succeeded by his brother Mansá Maghá. He being killed a year after, the vacant throne was seized by Ṣanadaki, who had married Músa’s mother, and whose name means Wazír.[119] But this usurper was deposed in a few months by a descendant of Mári Jáṭah. A prince named Maḥmúd, who came from the country of the Infidels in the interior, and who was descended from Mansá Kú, son of Mansá Walí, son of Mári Jáṭah the First, was king of Málí in A.H. 792.

It is stated in the foregoing extract that Ghánah merged in the empire of the Morabites, an event which may be assigned, with much probability, to the year of the Hijra 469, when the Mohammedan faith was forcibly imposed on the pagan nations of Negroland contiguous to the Western Desert.[120] But the Morabites, bred up in a wild life, and under a loose patriarchal authority, cannot be supposed to have thought much of social or political organization. It is likely that they extended their dominions without propagating a form of government, and that the kingdom of Ghánah remained little changed by the loss of its independence. In the time of El Idrísí, or a little before the year of the Hijra 548, it was ruled by a descendant of Abú Táleb—that is, by a Zenágah—and this state of things continued probably half a century longer.[121]

But towards the interior, or south from Ghánah, were the following nations, viz.:—the Ṣúṣú, Málí, Kaúkaú or Kághó, and Tekrúr. In arranging these nations all eastward from Ghánah, Ibn Khaldún showed a very imperfect conception of the geography of Negroland, and particularly of its comparative geography. Though the name Tekrúr may have belonged in his time to a country beyond Kághó, or south-eastwards from Ghánah, yet it certainly designated a kingdom south-westwards from that capital in the period anterior to the rise of Málí. The Ṣúṣú at present occupy a maritime district comprising the basin of the river Scarcies, wherein they have been established at least three centuries. Their language would favour the supposition that they are remotely connected with the Mandingoes. The people of Málí were certainly of the latter race; and it is probable that they and the Ṣúṣú were kindred tribes, who, like the Manes and Mosí of later times, issued from the interior; or—if for the sake of preciseness we may in this instance hazard a conjecture—from the country lying between Kong, Bergú, Ghúrma, and Dahómy.[122] The precise dates of the invasion of Ghánah by the Ṣúṣú and the people of Málí are not given by Ibn Khaldún. We are informed, however, that Mansá Suleïmán, a prince bearing a Mandingo title, founded Tomboktú in A.H. 610; and since he is not included in the list of the kings of Málí, we are warranted in considering him a king of the Ṣúṣú, whose conquest of Ghánah must therefore have taken place between the years 548 and 610 of the Hijra, probably not long anterior to the latter date.

From the dynasty of the Ṣúṣú, then, dates the importance of Tomboktú:[123] but their empire did not continue long. The reign of Mári Jáṭah, the conqueror of the Ṣúṣu, probably commenced about the year 630; and with the kings of Málí begins a connected historical record.

It is worthy of observation, that the conquests here related proceeded in the direction of wealth and commerce, and stopped where these allurements terminated. Ghánah and Tomboktú appear to have remained for a long time the furthest bounds of the empire of Málí. Eighty years elapsed before Kághó was annexed to that empire; and as many more before the passion for conquest led Ṣanadaki to invade Tekaddá, a worthless possession, which was soon abandoned. Thus the Great River formed for many hundred miles the boundary of the empire of Málí, that is, of the Mandingoes, who are still extensively spread over the same ample region, and who chiefly uphold its trade, industry, and civilization. It is evident that Ghánah, conquered by the Ṣúṣú, the founders of Tomboktú, and annexed to Málí eighty years before this empire extended to Kághó, was the frontier of Negroland facing Sijilmésah, and consequently the tract wherein Tomboktú now stands. Nor is it difficult to explain why the kingdom of Ghánah disappeared from the political horizon in the course of these events; for the conquerors had, with a new language, a form of government capable of absorbing all foreign and inferior titles, and of establishing its own in their stead. The title GHANAH, therefore, was superseded by that of MANSA.—The principal events recorded in the history of Ghánah, and the succession of the Kings of Málí, shall be here repeated in a tabular form, and arranged chronologically; the date subjoined to each reign being, as far as can be ascertained, that of its commencement.

A.H. A.D.

GHANAH deprived of Aúdaghost in 446 1054
(properly
the
King’s
title)

Still independent in 460 1067

Compelled by the Morabites to relinquish
Idolatry and embrace the Mohammedan faith 469 1076

Ruled by a descendant of Abú Táleb (i.e. one
of the Zenágah nation) 548 1153

ṢUṢU. Ghánah conquered by the Ṣúṣú.

Tomboktú founded by Mansá Suleïmán 610 1213

N.B.—The title Ghánah superseded by that of Mansá.

MALI. Mári Jáṭah conquered the Ṣúṣú, and reigned
25 years.

Mansá Walí (son of the preceding) performed
the pilgrimage to Mekkah in the reign of
Bibárs 658-75 1259-76

Mansá Walí (brother of the preceding).

Mansá Khalífah (another brother).

Mansá Abú Bekr (descended from Mári Jáṭah in
the female line).

Sákúrah, a usurper, went to Mekkah in
the time of Almalik An-Nasír, and
therefore subsequent to 710 1310

(The conquest of Kaúkaú is ascribed by
some to the reign of Sákúrah, by others
to that which follows.)

Mansá Músa (son of Abú Bekr) performed the
pilgrimage in 724 1324

Mansá Maghá (son of the preceding) reigned 4
years 732 1331-2

Mansá Suleïmán (son of Abú Bekr) reigned 24
years 736 1335-6

He was visited by Ibn Baṭúṭah in 753 1352

Mansá Ibn Suleïmán (son of the preceding)
reigned 9 months 760 1359

Mansá Jáṭah (son of Mansá Maghá) ascended
the throne in 761 1360

and reigned 14 years.

Mansá Músa (son of the preceding) reigned 14
years 775 1373

His Wazír, Mári Jáṭah, usurped the
sovereign power, and conquered Tekaddá,
which was soon after relinquished.

Mansá Maghá (brother of the preceding) 789 1387

Ṣanadaki, (i.e. the Wazír) and another
usurper.

Maḥmúd, a descendant of Mári Jáṭah the
first, was king of Málí in 792 1390

The position of all the places mentioned in the preceding historical sketch, may be satisfactorily ascertained from the narrative of Ibn Baṭúṭah, who visited Negroland about half a century earlier than the date of Ibn Khaldún’s history, and whose remarks throw a valuable light on the geography and social condition of the countries then known under that denomination. A succinct account, therefore, of his journey into Negroland shall be here given, for the sake of the elucidations derivable from it.

* * * * *

[Footnote 108: This extract is taken from Ibn Khaldún’s Prolegomena, contained in the first volume of his ‘General History of the Arabs and Berbers,’ of which volume the library of the British Museum possesses a copy. (MS. B.M. No. 9,574, fol. 90 v.) A few passages here omitted, will be discussed elsewhere.]

[Footnote 109: This is manifestly a mistake. El Bekrí did not, though El Idrísí did, give such a description of Ghánah. But the positive statement preponderated. The Arabs were not critical enough to weigh negative against affirmative evidence.]

[Footnote 110: Ṣúṣú صُوصُو, or Súsú سُوسُو—Málí مالي—Kaúkaú كَوْكَوْ; Kághó كاغو. The expression _east_ must be here understood to mean towards the interior, or _south_. The Arab geographers in general had no idea of Negroland west of Ghánah, and very inadequate conceptions of its extent southwards.]

[Footnote 111: The tribes of the Desert in general, Tawárik, Zenágah, &c. cover the lower part of the face with a muffle or wrapper called _lithám_. They consider it an impropriety to let the mouth be seen. From wearing the lithám they are named Molaththemún, or Muffled. The invasion of Ghánah by the Berbers, alluded to in the text, took place in the year of the Hijra 469.]

[Footnote 112: Baramindánah بَرَمِندَانة. “Thus the name was spelt (says Ibn Khaldún) by the Sheikh ʿOthmán, a doctor and theologian of the people of Ghánah (Ahli Ghánah), and one of the chief men of that country, whom I met in Egypt in 796,” &c.]

[Footnote 113: Mári Jáṭah ماري جاطه—Tikin تكن. These words belong to the Mandingo language. _Mari_, master, is found in the Rev. R. M. M‘Brair’s Grammar of the Mandingo, p. 40; _jatto_, a lion, p. 42. In Moore’s vocabulary, (in Astley’s Collection, II. p. 294,) this word is written _jatta_. The obscure and frequently nasal sound of the final vowels, seems common to both the Súsú and Mandingo languages. The title _Tiguing_ occurs in Isaaco’s Journal (Park’s Second Journey); and in Tomboktú according to Caillié’s vocabulary (III. p. 313), the word _Tigini_ signifies _King_.]

[Footnote 114: Mansá Wali منسا ولي. Mansá, king, is found in all the Mandingo vocabularies. Changed into Manso, and taking a nasal termination, it becomes Mansong. The name here read Wali is evidently the Woolli so frequently occurring in the modern accounts of Tomboktú and the country of the Mandingoes.]

[Footnote 115: Sákúrah سَاكُورة.]

[Footnote 116: Mansá Músa منسا موسي is styled the King of Tekrúr by Makrízí, who relates his visit to Egypt on his way to Mekkah, and describes the wealth and pompous retinue of the Negro king, in language to which even that author’s great reputation will hardly secure implicit credit. See Not. et Extr. tom. XII. p. 637.]

[Footnote 117: It is surprising that a historian of so much sense as Ibn Khaldún should join in censuring King Jáṭah for the imaginary offence of selling a mass of gold of a ton weight. The fable of a large mass of gold in the royal treasure first referred to Ghánah (Not. et Extr. p. 645), then to Málí, and lastly to Tomboktú; where, however, the precious lump was reduced to the weight of 1,300 lb. (Leo, pt. VII. c. 5.) Winterbottom (Account of the Native Africans at Sierra Leone, II. p. 29), a competent medical authority, describes the disease above alluded to, which, he says, proves fatal in every instance. “The disposition to sleep is so strong as scarcely to leave a sufficient respite for the taking of food. Even the repeated application of the whip, a remedy which has been frequently used, is hardly sufficient to keep the poor wretch awake.”]

[Footnote 118: Tekaddá تكدا—Az-záb الزاب. This is the country of the Mezzábí, north-west of Wergelán.]

[Footnote 119: Sanadaki probably means High or Supreme Counsellor, from _san_ or _sanon_, high, and _adégué_, a counsellor. (Dard’s Dict.) Jarric (Hist. des Choses Mémorables, III. p. 372) pleasantly describes the mode of dubbing a _Solatequi_ among the Zapes (now called _Bullom_, or lowlanders), near Sierra Leone. In Isaaco’s Journal (Park’s Second Journey, 8vo. p. 238), mention is made of a king styled _Sallatigua_- Koura. From this word is evidently derived the title _Seratik_, borne by the King in Bambúk and some of the Fellátah states.]

[Footnote 120: Not. et Extr. p. 642, note. Marmol, III. fol. 21. Abú Bekr ben Omar was the Morabite conqueror of Negroland, whither he retired after the rise of Yúsef ben Táshifín. Moura, Hist. dos Soberanos, &c., p. 146.]

[Footnote 121: “The Zenágah,” says Ibn Khaldún (fol. 68 v), “claim to stand in the same relationship to Abú Táleb, as do the Maghráwah to ʿOthmán ben ʿAfan.”]

[Footnote 122: The Mandingo and Ṣúṣú languages at present differ widely from each other, but many circumstances, nevertheless, combine to prove the ancient affinity of the two nations. They are so frequently confounded together, that it is not easy to discover the limits of the Ṣúṣú country. Rennell, writing from Major Houghton’s information (Elucidations, &c. in Proc. Afr. Assoc. I. 275), calls “Mandinga, the country of the Susos.” Adanson (Voy. au Senegal, 1757, p. 89), after stating that the people dwelling on the banks of the Gambia are Mandingoes, adds, “ou Sosés, pour m’exprimer comme eux.” The Ṣúṣú language, which is widely understood, is most correctly spoken by the Mandingoes (Gram. and Vocab. of the Susoo Language, 1802, p. 48). The Jesuit missionaries unite the two nations; “Zozoes, casta de Mandingos,” says Sandoval (Hist. de Ethiop. p. 43; see also Jarric, Hist. des Choses Mémor. III. p. 411). Winterbottom (Account of Nations at Sierra Leone, I. p. 5,) extends the Ṣúṣú country from the River Kissee to the Rio Nuñez.]

[Footnote 123: Leo says (pt. VII. c. 5) that Tomboktú was built by Mansá Suleïmán, but yet there is reason to suspect that he only improved and raised into importance a place previously existing. Conde (Hist. de la Dominacion, &c., I. p. 402,) speaks of a chieftain named Mansur el Tombuzi; but this title is probably a misreading for Tombúṭí; Tomboktú being commonly called in Barbary Tombúṭ, or Tombúṭo. The passage here referred to occurs in the annals of the year 297 H. (A.D. 909.)]

IBN BAṬÚṬAH’S JOURNEY.

POSITION OF MALI.

Ibn Baṭúṭah returned to his native city in 1350, after an absence of five and twenty years, during which time he had visited nearly all the countries of the east, from Constantinople to China, from Bulghar and Kipchak Tatary to Zingebar and the Indian islands. He employed the next year in visiting Spain and Barbary; and then, to complete his acquaintance with the habitable earth, he undertook the perilous journey over the desert to the country of the Blacks.[124] In Sijilmésah he was hospitably entertained by the brother of a merchant whom he had met at Kan-chan-fu in China, and, purchasing camels and provisions for four months, he joined a Káfilah which set forward on its march to Negroland on the 1st of February 1352, under the guidance of Abú Moḥammed Bandakán, of the tribe of Masúfah.

In twenty-five days the Káfilah arrived at Tegháza, a town in the desert, where the houses were built of rock salt, and roofed with camel skins. The inhabitants of the place were slaves of the Masúfah, employed in excavating and cutting the salt required for the trade with Negroland. After a delay of ten days on the hill near Tegháza, and renewing its stock of water at the salt and muddy wells in the hollow (the supply for the next ten days in the desert being precarious), the Káfilah resumed its march.[125] It fortunately escaped the much dreaded difficulties: fresh rain-water lay in all the hollows and crevices of the rocks; and at one place was found so copious a spring of delicious water, that the travellers, after satisfying their thirst, washed themselves and their clothes in the limpid stream. The fine truffles growing in this tract, compensated in some degree for the troublesome insects infesting it. One of the merchants belonging to the Káfilah strayed too far from it, and was lost. This misfortune served as a warning to Ibn Baṭúṭah, who had previously made it a practice to march in advance and wander over the plains. The dead body of the strayed merchant was afterwards found by another Káfilah about a mile from water.

Táserahlá, the station at which the Káfilah next arrived, was a stagnant pool, where it was customary to halt three days, for the purpose of repairing and replenishing the waterskins. It was also usual to send forward from this place the couriers (el takshíf), a name commonly given to all of the tribe of Masúfah.[126] For merchants arriving at Táserahlá always despatched letters to Aïwalátin, apprising their friends of their approach, and engaging them to meet the Káfilah with water four days from the latter place. If the courier died on the way, as often happened, then no assistance came from Aïwalátin, and the Káfilah perished in consequence. “For,” says the Arab author, “that desert is filled with demons; and if the courier goes alone, they forthwith appear, bewilder and startle him, till he strays from the way, when his destruction is inevitable; for there is no path or track to guide him, nor anything but an immense wilderness of sand driven about by the winds, so that where there is now a level plain, there arises in a few minutes a hillock, which again quickly disappears. The guides in this desert, therefore, have nothing to rely on but constant practice, and require no ordinary share of intrepidity and self-possession. The appearance of our guide, who was one of those best acquainted with the country, caused me much surprise, inasmuch as he had but one eye, and that one diseased.”[127]

The merchants of the Káfilah engaged a Masúfí courier for 100 mithḳáls of gold, and on the sixth day after leaving Táserahlá, they descried with delight the signal fires of those who had advanced to meet them from Aïwalátin. The tract passed over abounded in herds of the baḳr el wuḥash (the Antelope Bubalis), which were chased by the Masúfah, and killed with arrows. Their flesh, causing thirst, was little eaten: but their stomachs contained water; and Ibn Baṭúṭah saw with astonishment their contents drained by the people of the desert. Serpents were also numerous in the same region. A merchant of Telemsán, who accompanied the Káfilah, amused himself with catching these reptiles; but he was on one occasion bitten in the hand, and the inflammation that ensued continuing to increase, he killed a camel, thrust his wounded hand into the stomach of the slaughtered animal, and kept it there for some hours, till the pain was assuaged. The desert travelled over in the last four days to Aïwalátin differed much from the preceding tract. It was dry and hot in the highest degree. The Káfilah occasionally met with parties of the Masúfah and Berdámah, who carried water about for sale. In the foregoing account of the desert between Táserahlá and Aïwalátin, it is easy to recognize “The Desert,” properly so called, of El Bekrí, the Desert of Tíser of El Idrísí, and the Azawad of Leo. The breadth of the dreaded tract, peopled by the fears of travellers with demons; its distance from Sijilmésah, and from the southern limit of the Ṣaḥrá; its possessors the Masúfah; and the numerous serpents infesting it, are all so many marks whereby it may be discovered under its various denominations.[128]

Two lunar months were spent in the journey from Sijilmésah to Aïwalátin.[129] This was the frontier territory of Málí, and had for ruler a black officer named Ḥuseïn Farbá, the word _farbá_ signifying _governor_ in the language of Málí. Ibn Baṭúṭah was but little pleased with the manners of the Blacks, among whom he had expected to see more homage paid to men of his complexion. He even thought of returning immediately to Sijilmésah, but his original plans preponderated, and he resolved, at any rate, to explore Negroland. His attention was engaged by the singular character and customs of the Masúfah, who formed the higher class of the inhabitants of Aïwalátin. Though Mohammedans, they had a law of succession resembling that of the pagans of Malabar. Their women, handsome and finely-formed, went unveiled, and conversed with the men on terms of freedom and equality which fully spoke the dissolute manners of the place.[130]

After staying fifty days in Aïwalátin, Ibn Baṭúṭah engaged a Masúfí guide, and, in company with three merchants, set forward for Málí, which was a good twenty-four days’ journey distant. In ten days he came to Zágharí, a large town inhabited by black traders, and some whites of the Ibádhíyah sect, called Ṣaghanghú. Leaving Zágharí, he arrived at Kársekhó, “a city on the bank of the Great River which is the Nile.” After describing the downward course of the river in terms which shall be examined further on, the traveller’s narrative thus proceeds:—“We marched from Kársekhó and came to the river Ṣanṣarah, which is ten miles from Málí, and it being the custom of the country that no one enters there without asking leave, I wrote to the company of Whites, and to its chief, Moḥammed ben Alfaḳíh Algezúlí, and also to Shemso-d-dín, to engage me a lodging; and so, when I came to the river (Ṣanṣarah), I embarked in a canoe, and without further trouble, arrived at the city of Málí, the residence of the Sultan of Negroland; and, landing near the burial ground, I walked directly to the quarter of the Whites, and found Moḥammed ben Alfaḳíh, who had procured me a lodging opposite to his own house.”[131]

Ibn Baṭúṭah fell sick soon after his arrival in the capital of Málí, and two months elapsed before he was able to visit Mansá Suleïmán. Returning on that occasion from the palace, he was followed by those who brought the King’s present. They called to him to rise and receive it, while they bore it towards him with an air of much importance. But what was the surprise of the Arab traveller, who expected to receive a handsome garment, or a sum of money, to find the royal gift to consist of only three scraps of bread, some hashed mutton, and a calabash of milk. He subsequently took occasion to reprove Mansá Suleïmán for his want of munificence, and thereupon received from him, as a conciliatory gift, a robe, lodging, an allowance while he remained, with a sum of money at his departure.

But the arrangements of Mansá Suleïmán’s court did not betray the sordid disposition imputed to him. They appear to have been conceived in a style of rude pomp and majesty no longer witnessed in the same country. Within the royal palace was an alcove or vaulted chamber communicating with the interior, and having towards the hall of audience three windows covered with silver gratings, and as many more with gratings of gold or silver gilt. Over these gratings hung silk curtains, the drawing of which served to show that the king was seated within. The officers and people then assembled. The Farárí or chief captains, with their archers, spearmen, and musicians, ranged themselves on both sides of the alcove, and on the signal being given, by thrusting a handkerchief of Egyptian muslin through the grating of one of the windows, the musicians fell to work with drums, ivory flutes, pipes of cane and calabashes, and made an extraordinary din. Outside the alcove stood Dúghá, the interpreter, and near him a man who carried his words to the king, and brought back the royal answer.[132]

At times the king gave audience in the open air, seated on a platform covered with silk, and called Bámbi. A large silk umbrella, like a canopy, was held over his head, having on the top a golden bird as large as a falcon. He walked slowly on these occasions, surrounded by 300 armed slaves. Two horses and two rams were led forth, among other emblems of royal state. The King’s words gave rise to laudatory harangues in the assembly, in the course of which the soldiers signified their approbation by twanging their bows. Whoever spoke to the King, or was addressed by him, stripped himself to the waist, and, throwing himself prostrate, sprinkled dust or clay over his head, and beat the ground with his elbows. The frequent exhibition of this abject humility offended Ibn Baṭúṭah, who also reprobates the custom of allowing the female slaves and young girls, not excepting the King’s daughters, to go completely naked, and to appear in that state before the King himself. He censures also the grotesque exhibitions of the poets or mimes, who were called _jolá_ (the plural of _jál_).[133] He witnessed the performance of one who wore a masquerade dress of feathers, with a wooden head, like that of some bird, and, thus disguised, delivered an extemporaneous harangue before the King. He says nothing of the industry or trade of Málí; yet the length at which he describes the dresses of the courtiers, and his frequent mention of silks and of gold and silver ornaments, show that the Negro city did not impress his mind with the idea of poverty. The King wore a gown of European manufacture.

Among the Mandingoes or other nations in Western Africa, no trace at present exists of the manners of Málí, or of the pompous forms of a great monarchy. But in Yariba and Bergú, on the banks of the Quorra, we find absolute sovereigns, who are approached with the same humiliating ceremonies above described. While the King sits richly clothed, and the musicians strain their efforts, the courtiers strip themselves to the waist, and bow their heads to the dust. In Bergú the King is followed by a troop of naked girls.[134] The idea of royalty as regards both its internal principle and external form, is now in Yariba precisely what it was five centuries ago in Málí; and this remarkable fact may perhaps justify the suspicion that the people of Málí originally issued from the country adjoining Bergú, Yariba, and Dahómy, and wherein there now exists a Mohammedan, and probably a Mandingo state called Magho.[135]

Ibn Baṭúṭah relates his departure from Málí in these words: “I arrived in Málí on the 14th of the month Jumáda-l-awwal, of the year 753 (29th June, 1352), and I left it on the 22nd of Moharrem in the following year (27th February, 1353). I departed in company with a merchant named Abú Bekr Ibn Yakúb, and we took the road to Mímah. I rode on a camel, because horses are so dear in that country that one often costs 100 mithḳáls.” From these expressions, combined with those in which he describes his arrival in Málí, it appears evident that he never crossed the Great River, and therefore that the city of Málí must have stood on the northern side of that stream. He came to Kársekhó, situate on the northern bank of the Great River, “which is the Nile.” He did not cross this stream, but proceeding to the river Ṣanṣarah, and embarking on it, he reached Málí. When quitting this place, he mounted his camel at once, and took the road to Mímah. It is therefore certain that Málí was on the same bank of the Great River as Kársekhó and Mímah.

To this conclusion it may be objected, that Leo Africanus places Melli (Málí) on a southern branch of the Great River, or Niger, as he styles it. But that writer’s statements, if viewed comprehensively, and thoroughly understood, will be found to afford, in this instance, no firm ground whereon to build an argument. He says that the country called by the Moors Gheneoa (Genéwah), and by the natives Genni (Jenni), extends 250 miles along the Niger, to the place where that river enters the ocean. And again, he says that Melli lies to the south of Gheneoa, and extends 300 miles along a branch of the Niger. Now it is obvious that the river on which Melli stood, is converted into a branch of the Niger by the same hypothesis which led the river of Genni directly westward to the ocean; and we are not bound, while rejecting the erroneous theory, to respect the modifications forced by it on collateral information; nor to admit Leo’s descriptions, clothed in the language of system, in opposition to Ibn Baṭúṭah’s clear statement of facts.[136]

But if we cannot admit that the capital of Málí was situate on any stream entering the Joliba from the south, so neither can it be supposed to have stood on any tributary stream joining that river on its left or northern bank. For why should a traveller make such a circuit as to continue his route southwards to Kársekhó, and then ascend a stream in order to reach a point to which he might have gone directly by land? And besides, the left bank of the Joliba, within the limits wherein we may reasonably look for the site of Málí, has been travelled over by Mungo Park, who found there no tributary stream. The mention of the river Ṣanṣarah, therefore, presents difficulties which admit of only one explanation. A great river like the Joliba, periodically overflowing the adjacent country, will probably form many channels, and insulate, perhaps by permanent canals, long tracts of low land, as is exemplified on a small scale in the course of the Medway below Chatham. Now, if we suppose that Málí stood in a low tract, intersected by a canal of the Joliba, called Ṣanṣarah, then Ibn Baṭúṭah’s movements may be easily explained. That the banks of the Joliba are almost impassable in the rainy season we know from the narrative of Park, who, being a stranger in the country, struggled through difficulties which a native perhaps would never have thought of encountering. But Ibn Baṭúṭah had an experienced guide; going to Málí, therefore, at the commencement of the rains (the end of June), he directed his course to an easily accessible point of the Joliba, and thence proceeded to the capital by the canal: leaving Málí in the middle of the dry season (the last day of February) he mounted his camel and crossed the country. Moreover, we are fortunately able to show that our hypothesis respecting the Ṣanṣarah, is not only not unnatural nor improbable, but that it truly represents the physical character of that part of the Joliba now under consideration, and that there is, in fact, a canal or arm of the river in the very place where we should expect to find the Ṣanṣarah. Mungo Park, describing his voyage down the Joliba from Samee to Sego, says, “We passed down a small stream to the north of Sego-korro, and halted opposite to Sego-sikorro, near the sandhills, where I formerly waited for a passage.” In explanation of these words, it must be observed that Sego-korro is on the northern bank of the river; Sego-sikorro, where the King of Bambara resided, on the southern bank. The small stream north of Sego-korro, therefore, down which the traveller passed, (in the middle of August, when the floods were at their height,) must have been a canal or arm of the river insulating the ground on which Sego-korro stood.[137] Park does not state the length of the _small stream_, nor say whether he entered it near Samee; but these particulars are here of little consequence, since our object is not to identify the small stream of Park with the Ṣanṣarah of Ibn Baṭúṭah, but only to show how perfectly our hypothesis respecting the latter harmonizes with nature and with fact. Yet it must not be concealed that there is reason for believing that the site of the capital of Málí was near Samee. Ibn Khaldún writes the proper name of that capital in characters wanting, unfortunately, the diacritic points; but these being supplied by probable conjecture, the passage in question will run thus: “And the residence of the king of the people of Málí is the city of _Benní_,” (or Benna).[138] A place called Binni, of little importance, stands on the north bank of the Joliba, about seven miles above Samee.

The sequel of Ibn Baṭúṭah’s journey shall be related in his own words, though with some curtailment. He thus proceeds:—“We came to a wide creek or arm of the Nile, which can be crossed only in boats, on the third night after we left Málí. On arriving at its banks, I beheld, with astonishment, about sixteen immense animals, which I took to be elephants. However, when I saw them plunge into the water, I called out to Abú Bekr Ibn Yakúb, and asked him what are these? And he replied, ‘They are river horses (Hippopotami), which come ashore to feed.’ They are much larger than common horses, yet resemble them in their heads and the fulness of their manes, but their feet are like those of elephants. On another occasion, when navigating the river from Tomboktú to Kaúkaú, I had a view of these animals. They were swimming about with their heads above the water, and snorting. The natives attack them with javelins, to which are attached a number of cords. If the animal be struck in the neck or the leg, he is soon overcome, dragged to the bank, and killed. The natives eat the flesh, and the banks of the river are strewed over with the bones of these animals.[139]

“At this arm of the Nile we rested in a village governed by a negro named Farbá Maghá, one of those who had accompanied Mansá Músa on his pilgrimage. He related to us, that when Mansá Músa came to this place, he gave to Abú-l-Abbas Aldukálí, a white man and Kadhi who attended him, 4,000 mithḳáls for the expenses of his journey. Abú-l-Abbas, however, on arriving at Mímah, complained that his money was stolen. The King thereupon sent for the governor, and threatened him with death, if the money and the thief were not immediately discovered. The search seemed at first fruitless; but on the slaves of Abú-l-Abbas being menaced and strictly questioned, one of them, a young girl, pointed out the spot where her master had buried the money. Mansá Músa, on hearing this, banished the Kadhi to the country of the Unbelievers, who eat men. There he stayed four years, before he was permitted to return; and the Blacks did not eat him, because they say that white man’s flesh is bad meat, being flabby and immature. And here I must relate a curious anecdote. Some of these cannibals, led by a chief, came on a certain occasion to the court of Mansá Suleïmán; they were clothed in silk wrappers, and had enormous pendants in their ears, the holes in which were an inch in diameter. The King received them with much distinction, regaled them sumptuously, and, as a token of regard, gave them a slave girl. They immediately killed the girl, and ate her; then, besmearing their hands and faces with her blood, they visited the Sultan, and thanked him for his present. In the country of these cannibals there are mines of gold.[140]

“Leaving the village on the water side, we came to Korí Mansá, where the camel that I was riding died. When my servant told me of this accident, I went out to witness it with my own eyes, and there I beheld the Blacks already devouring the carcass, their custom being to eat every kind of dead animal. I then sent two of my followers to a town called Zagharí, about two days’ journey from Korí Mansá, to buy me another camel. In six days they returned, and we then took the road to Mímah. We did not enter that town, however, but encamped outside near the wells. Thence we arrived at Tomboktú, a city four miles distant from the Nile. Most of its inhabitants are people of Mímah, or of the tribes called Almolaththemún. One day I went to visit the governor, Farbá Músa, and met at his house a Masúfí, who had just arrived in Tomboktú, to take the command of the people of his tribe established there. The governor gave him a robe, a turban, and pair of trowsers, all of figured cotton; and made him sit on a shield, while the chief people of his tribe lifted him above their heads.[141]

“At Tomboktú I embarked in a small canoe made of a single trunk of a tree, and went down the river. We landed every night, and went to some inhabited place to procure what we wanted,—such as oil, and other necessaries—giving in exchange for them salt, drugs, and trinkets. We came to a place, the name of which I have forgotten, but where Farbá Suleïmán, a Hájí of sterling worth, was governor. He was a man of great size and strength, and had a bow which none of the Blacks but himself could bend. I went into his house to ask for a little durrah, and my request being interpreted for him by a faḳíh who was present, he took me by the hand, and led me into his principal chamber, which was filled with arms of various kinds, shields, bows, and javelins. There was then brought to me a drink called Aldaḳnó, prepared from bruised durrah, with milk and honey. We then ate of a water melon; and in conclusion, a young slave coming into the room, Farbá Suleïmán presented him to me, and I have him at the present day.[142]

“From this place we went on to Kaúkaú, one of the largest, handsomest, and strongest cities in all Negroland. It stands on the banks of the Nile, and abounds in rice, milk, poultry, fish, and fruit of matchless excellence. The people there, as well as in Málí, use shells for money. I stayed in Kaúkaú about two months, and then went by land in the direction of Tekaddá, with a large Káfilah of people of Ghodémis.[143] We came into the country of the Berdámah, a Berber tribe, whose protection and friendship are indispensable for the safety of travellers in this region. The Berdámah are wanderers, and never remain long in one place. Their tents are of a peculiar construction; they fix poles in the ground, and place on them a matting of reeds; over this they form a trellis-work of boughs of trees, and cover the frame thus constructed with skins and cotton cloths. Their women are the prettiest and best shaped that I have ever seen; they are as white as snow, and the fattest in the world. Whoever wishes to have a woman of this tribe, needs only to go to the wells near their encampments in the evening, and she will be sure to follow him; but he must not take her further than Kaúkaú or Aïwalátin.[144]

“We continued our march to Tekaddá, where the houses are built of red stone; the water is coloured by running over copper ores, which impart to it a disagreeable flavour. The people of Tekaddá sow no grain; they are wholly devoted to trade, and live in affluence; their luxury consisting, as in Málí and Aïwalátin, in slaves of both sexes, of whom some classes fetch exorbitant prices. The king of Tekaddá is a Berber. The copper taken from the mines near the town is made into small bars about an inch and a half thick, which are exchanged for grain, meat, fuel, and other necessaries. These bars are carried to Kúber, in the country of the Infidels, to Rághá, and to Bornú, which is forty days’ journey from Tekaddá. The king of that country (who is named Idris) never speaks to his subjects, unless from behind a screen or curtain.[145]

“From Tekaddá we set forward on our march to Twát, which is seventy days distant, and came to Káhir, which belongs to the Sultan of Karkar, and yields sufficient pasturage. Then going three days over a waterless desert, and fifteen through a tract uninhabited but not waterless, we came to the place where the road to Egypt separates from that to Twat. The water of the wells in that place being impregnated with iron, stains linen. In ten days more we came to Dekhár, and in another month reached Búdá, one of the largest towns of Twát.”

To the foregoing narrative a few remarks may be here advantageously subjoined. If it be granted that Ibn Baṭúṭah, in sending to Zagharí for a camel to replace that which died at Korí Mansá, had recourse to the nearest town, then it follows that Mímah, one stage at least from Tomboktú, must have been more than two stages from Korí Mansá. But this place, in a mean position, will be nearly as far as Zagharí, or fourteen days, from the capital of Málí. This capital must therefore have been, at the lowest calculation, eighteen days from Tomboktú.[146]

It is worthy of attention, that, in the fourteenth century, Tomboktú was peopled chiefly by natives of Mímah, and by the Molaththemún, the very parties with whom Ghánah, three centuries before, had to maintain a constant warfare. The Masúfah, the early occupants of the desert between Sijilmésah and Ghánah, extended from Tegháza to Tomboktú, and mercenary bands of them were at the court of Málí. But the caravan road seems to have been their only territory; eastward they were bounded by the Berdámah, who carried water for sale into the desert of Azawad, and whose encampments were probably not ten days distant from Tomboktú.

There does not appear to have been any place of note between Tomboktú and Kaúkaú; nor does Ibn Baṭúṭah say a word favourable to the supposition that the former of these cities was in his time intrinsically important. Kaúkaú, on the other hand, then enjoyed that eminence among the cities of Negroland which it continued to retain for at least four centuries.[147] The morals of the Berdámah, of Aïwalátin, and Tekaddá, as described by Ibn Baṭúṭah, bear a close resemblance to those characterizing Aúdaghost and Tádmekkah in earlier times, and indicate the same fundamental conditions of society. The women of the Berdámah, he says, were willing to follow strangers, on the implied condition that they were not to be taken beyond Kaúkaú or Aïwalátin. This is as much as to say, that they willingly accompanied merchants arriving with the Káfilahs from the north-east, to a certain distance on either of the two frequented roads; but it is remarkable that no mention is here made of a road to any part of Houssa.

Tekaddá was seventy days from Twát, and as fifty-eight of these are accounted for, we may conclude that Tekaddá was twelve days from Káhir, and thirty from the place where the roads to Twát and Egypt divided (probably near Ghát); it was also forty days from Bornú, so that its position may be ascertained with sufficient accuracy. Leo Africanus states, that beyond or eastward of the Desert of the Zenágah lay that of the Zuenziga, “which extends from the neighbourhood of Tegaza eastwards, to the borders of the Desert of Air, inhabited by the Targa (Tawárik); and from the confines of Segelmessa, Tebelbelt, and Benigomi southwards (south-eastwards), to the Desert of Ghir, which is opposite to the kingdom of Guber.” It has been already shown that by Air Leo meant the Desert of ʿAhír east of Aghades; and it seems equally certain that his Ghir is the Káhir of Ibn Baṭúṭah.[148] The copper of Tekaddá was taken to Bornú, Kúber (Guber), and Rághá (Raka in Yariba?); and here it is worthy of remark, that Guber, the frontier province of Houssa towards the desert, and the province to which native historians concede the superiority derivable from an early intercourse with white men, was still pagan in the fourteenth century. This fact alone would be sufficient to prove that Houssa formed no part of the Negroland which fell within the range of the Morabites, even if the general tenor of their history did not contradict such an extension of their conquests; or if the question were not decided by the authority of Ibn Khaldún, who says expressly that “Tekaddá was behind the country of the Morabites.”[149]

Ibn Baṭúṭah makes no allusion to the extent of the empire of Málí towards the west or south; but he clearly indicates its limits towards the north and east. When first mentioning the river, he describes its course in the following terms:—“We came to the Great River, which is the Nile, and on the banks of which stands the city of Kársekhó. Thence the Nile descends to Kábrah and to Zághah, and the Sultans of these two cities are tributary to the Sultan of Málí. The inhabitants of Zághah were the first [in these countries] who embraced Mohammedism. They are religious, and fond of learning. From Zághah the river descends to Tomboktú; thence to Kaúkaú; thence to the district of Múlí, in the country of the Límiyín, which terminates [in that direction] the dominion of Málí. It goes thence to Yúfí (Núfí), one of the greatest states in Negroland, and the Sultan of which is among the most powerful princes of that quarter of the earth. No white man can reach that country, for sure death awaits him from the natives before he penetrates so far. From Yúfí the Nile descends to Nubia, the inhabitants of which are Christians, and to Dongolah,” &c.[150]

Notwithstanding the confusion into which the writer of Ibn Baṭúṭah’s narrative here falls, placing Zághah below Kábrah, evidently in ignorance of the proximity of the latter place to Tomboktú, yet as we know that Zághah was not on the part of the river which Ibn Baṭúṭah actually navigated, viz. between Tomboktú and Kaúkaú, we may rest satisfied that it was above Kábrah. The empire of Málí extended along both banks of the Great River as far as Tomboktú. On the left it stretched northward to the border of the desert and the route of the caravans, thus comprising the territory of the ancient Ghánah. Eastward of Tomboktú it appears to have been bounded by the river; the Berdámah and other tribes of the desert on the left bank retaining their independence. Kaúkaú had been annexed to the empire, but no advance made eastwards from that place, nor had Tekaddá been as yet invaded. Below Kaúkaú the river flowed by the district of Múlí in the country of the Límiyín (who were on its left bank, as shall be shown hereafter), and at that point terminated, towards the east, the empire of Málí.

The Múlí of Ibn Baṭúṭah is apparently the district called by Mohammed Masíní Mouri (Múrí), four long days’ journey west of Sokkatú. It is said to be mountainous and well watered; it immediately adjoins the Desert of the Tawárik, and its inhabitants are still pagans. It is therefore the northern limit of the negro population on the left bank of the Kowára, or on the side of Houssa.[151]