ACCURACY OF THE CHRONICLE.

25

to the throne of the three Bórnu kings, 'Abd-Allah ben Dúnama, Háj ‘Omar, and Háj 'Ali; and these vary but little from the dates computed from the chronicle, and serve, therefore, to confirm its accuracy.

However, it is not my design to vindicate this chronicle from all possibility of error; but my object is to show that its general character, dry and meagre as it is, has the strongest claim to authenticity. Indeed, I am sure that it can be fully relied upon, all uncertainty being reduced to a space of one or two years; I may therefore be allowed to assert that the chronological table, which I shall give in the Appendix, is something more than a mere fairy tale. But in this place, I think it well to offer a few general remarks on the characteristic features of the history of Bórnu.

I have first to speak of the origin of the Séfuwa or Dúguwa. We have already seen that the chronology of the Bórnu people, if palpable absurdities be left out of consideration, does not carry their history further down than the latter half of the ninth century of our era. Accordingly, there can be no further question as to whether Séf was really the son of the celebrated Dhu Yazan, and identical with Séf Dhu Yazan, the last native ruler of the Himyaritic kingdom, who celebrated his accession to the throne in the famous castle of Gumdán, and with the assistance of Khosru Parvis liberated Yeman from the dominion of the Abyssinians. I frankly confess that, while Ibrahim the son of Séf, as "father of the king" (as he appears to have been entitled occasionally), seems to me to have a really historical character, I entertain sincere doubts whether Séf be not a mere imaginary personage, introduced into the pedigree expressly in order to connect it with Yeman. Indeed, in one short list of Bórnu kings which I possess, several princes are mentioned before Séf, whose names, such as Futírmi, Hálar Sukayámi, Halármi, Bunúmi, Rizálmi, Mairími, have quite a Kanúri character. As the reader will see, I do not at all doubt of some connection existing between the ruling family of Bórnu and the Himyaritic or Kushitic stock, but I doubt its immediate descent from the royal Himyaritic family.

But, be this as it may, I think that Leo Africanus, who is a very good authority for general relations, is right in stating that the kings of Bórnu originated from the Libyan tribe of the Bardoa, a tribe also mentioned by Makrízi as Berd'oa. That there is an ethnological connection between the names Bérnu or Bórnu, Bónga, Berdoa, Berdáma, Berauni, Berber, can scarcely be doubted; but to many the Berd'oa might seem to have nearer relation with the Tedá or Tébu than with the real Berber or Mazígh. Sultan Béllo certainly, in the introduction to his history of the conquests of the Fúlbe, expressly says that the Bórnu dynasty was of Berber origin; and it is on this account that the Háusa people call every Bórnu man "ba-Bérberche," and the Bórnu nation "Bérbere." This view of the subject is confirmed by the distinct statement of Makrízi,† who says that that was the common tradition of the people at his time-"it is said that they are descended from the Berbers"-and, moreover, in another passage‡ informs us that the King of Kánem was a nomade or wanderer, although it seems that this statement refers properly to the Bulála dynasty.

Before the time of Sélma, or Sélmama, the son of Bíkoru, whose reign began about A.H. 581, the kings are stated by the chronicle to have been of a red complexion,§ like the Arabs; and to such an origin from the red race, the Syrian-Berber stock, is certainly to be referred their custom of covering the face and never showing the mouth, to which custom E'bn Batúta adverts in speaking of King Edrís, who ruled in his time. To this origin is also to be referred the custom, till recently practiced, of putting the new king upon a shield and raising him up over the heads of the people, as well as the polity of the empire, which originally was entirely aristocratical, based * This "ba" is evidently the indefinite article a, corresponding to the Berber "va." Compare what I have said in vol. i. about "ba-Túre."

† See the second passage referred to in the note, p. 23.

‡ Makrízi, Hamaker, p. 206, Jogo

§ Even the governor of Zinder is still complimented in the songs to his praise as "já" (red).

|| Compare with this custom E'bn Batuta's description of a similar custom in Timbuktu, Journal Asiat., série iv., t. i., p. 226.

METHOD OF CHOOSING A KING.

27

upon a council of twelve chiefs, without whose assent nothing of importance could be undertaken by the king.

*

We have a very curious statement concerning the Bórnu empire, emanating from Lucas, the traveler employed by the African Association, and based on the authority of his Arab informants, principally Ben 'Alí, who, no doubt, was a very clever and intelligent man. He describes the Bórnu kingdom as an elective monarchy, the privilege of choosing a successor among the sons of a deceased king, without regard to priority of birth, being conferred by the nation on three of the most distinguished men of the country. He does not say whether these belonged to the courtiers, or whether every private individual might be called upon promiscuously to fulfill this important duty; but the strict etiquette of the court of Bórnu makes it probable that the former was the case.

Be this as it may, the choice being made, the three electors proceeded to the apartment of the sovereign elect, and conducted him in silence to the gloomy place in which the unburied corpse of his deceased father was deposited; for, till this whole ceremony was gone through, the deceased could not be interred. There, over the corpse of his deceased father, the newly-elected king seems to have entered into some sort of compromise sanctioned by oath, binding himself that he would respect the ancient institutions, and employ himself for the glory of the country.

I shall have to mention a similar custom still prevailing at the present day in the province of Múniyó, which belonged to that part of the empire called Yerí, while the dynasty of the Múniyóma probably descended from the Berber race. Every newly elected Múniyóma still at the present day is in duty bound to remain for seven days in a cave hollowed out by nature or by the hand of man in the rock behind the place of sepulchre of the former Múniyóma, in the ancient town of Gámmasak, although it is quite deserted at present, and does not contain a living soul.

* Proceedings of the African Association, vol. i., p. 148, f.

But that not only the royal family, but even a great part of the whole nation, or rather one of the nations which were incorporated into the Bórnu empire, was of Berber origin, is still clear so late as the time of Edrís Alawóma, that is to say, only two centuries and a half ago; for, in the report of his expeditions, constant mention is made of the Berber tribes ("kabáíl el Beráber") as a large component part of his army, and constantly two parts of this army are distinguished as the Reds, "el A'hhmar," and the Blacks, "e' Súd."*

This part of the population of Bórnu has separated from the rest, I suspect, in consequence of the policy of 'Alí, the son and successor of Háj 'Omár, a very warlike prince, who, in the second half of the 17th century, waged a long war with A'gades.

Viewed in the light thus shed by past history, the continual and uninterrupted warlike expeditions made by the Tawárek at the present time against the northern regions of Bórnu and against Kánem assume quite a new and far more interesting character.

Now if it be objected that the Kanúri or Bórnu language does not appear to contain any Berber elements† (which, indeed, it does not), I have only to adduce the exactly parallel example of the Bulála, a brother dynasty of the Bórnu royal family, descended from the same stock, who, having settled and founded a dynasty among the tribe of the Kúka, in the territory Fíttri, still continued to speak their native language, that is, the Kanúri, in the time of Leo, but have now entirely forgotten it,

* Makrízi says of the inhabitants of Kánem in general that they were moláthemún, that is to say, they covered their faces with a litham. The names of towns like Bérberwá and others may be also mentioned here. Compare Leo's expression, "Negri e Bianchi."

↑ In the vocabulary of the Kanúri language a few words may easily be discovered which have some relation to the Berber language, the most remarkable among which seems to me the term for ten, "meghú," which is evidently connected with the Temáshight word "meraú,” or rather "meghaú;" but the grammar is entirely distinct, and approaches the Central Asiatic or Turanian stock.

Leo, when he says that the language of Gaoga is identical with the Bornu language, does not speak of the language of the whole nation, but only of that of the ruling tribe, the Bulála. But of this interesting fact I shall say more on another occasion.

adopting the language of the people over whom they ruled; and similar examples are numerous.

A second point which deserves notice is that the Kanúri, even at the present day, call people in general, but principally their kings, always after the name of their mother, and that the name of the mother's tribe is almost continually added in the chronicle as a circumstance of the greatest importance. Thus the famous king Dúnama ben Selm'aa is known in Bórnu generally only under the name of Díbalámi, from the name of his mother Díbala; and the full form of his royal title is Díbalámi Dúnama Selmámi, his mother's name, as the most noble and important, preceding his individual name, which is followed by the name derived from his father. It is also evident, even from the dry and jejune report of the chronicle, what powerful influence the Walíde or "Mágira"-this is her native title-exercised in the af fairs of the kingdom; I need only mention the examples of Gúmsu (“gúmsu" means the chief wife) Fasámi, who imprisoned her son Bíri, when already king, for a whole year, and of A'aishad or 'Aisa, the mother of Edrís, who for a number of years exercised such paramount authority that in some lists, and even by many 'ulama at the present time, her name is inserted in the list of the sovereigns of the country.

These circumstances may be best explained by supposing that a kind of compromise took place between the strangersBerbers, or, rather, Imóshagh (Mazígh) from the tribe of the Berd'or-and the tribe or tribes among whom they settled, just in the same manner as we have seen that a stipulation of the same kind was probably made between the conquering Kél-owí and the ancient inhabitants of Aïr of the Góber race; and the same circumstances, with similar results, are observable in ancient times, in the relations subsisting between the Grecian colonists and the original inhabitants of Lycia.

The most important among the indigenous tribes of Kánem are the Kiye or Beni Kíya, also mentioned in the time of Edrís Alawóma,* the Meghármah, who may possibly be identical with

The diacritic points over بنی.. كيه من اهل درف or قبیله کی کیه