what he saw' in the eourse of his journeys, and gives the sum
of such information as he was. enabled to collect respecting
the state of Africa, for some time previous to his own age.
I shall begin the account which I have to lay before my
readers, of the races inhabiting the interior of Africa, with a
brief abstract from the history of Sudan, as delivered by Leo.
I have already mentioned that this writer describes the
Sahara and thelregion of Mount Atlas as inhabited by Five
Nations of tawny complexion!—gentes subfusci. coloris—who
are the different tribes of Berbers. In the countries lying immediately
to the southward of these tribes, he places the
nations of Negroland, which he subdivides in the first place
by their languages. Of these he mentions four: u One of
these languages is termed Sungai: it is spoken in many
countries, as in the five following kingdoms : Gualata,
Tombutum, Ginea, Melli, and Gago. A second language
is termed Guber: this is spoken by the. natives of Gu-beac,
Kano, Chesena, doubtless the modem Kashna, Zegzeg,. add
Guangra or Wangara. The kingdom of Bornn has also a
peculiar language, similar to that which is spoken in Gaogai.
There is likewise another language in the kingdom of Nuba,
which has an affinity with the Arabic, Chaldean, and Egyptian.”*
In his seventh book, Leo Africanus has given a more particular
account of the Negro kingdoms in the interior. He say&
that u the most ancient writers of African history, of whom
were Bicri and Meshudi, were acquainted with; nothing in the
kingdom of the Negroes, except Guegetand Kano ; for at that
time all the other places were unknown. But in the year of
the Hegira 380, the remainder of the country was discovered by
a Mohammedan traveller. It was then inhabited by a people
who led a brutish life, without chieftains or social order,
scarcely acquainted with agriculture, and dressed in the skins
of beasts. They were afterwards conquered, according to Leo,
by the founder of Maroco, and by the,Five -Nations, by whom
they were taught Islhm, and partially civilized: cities and
kingdoms were founded among them by Lybian or Berber
Leon. Afric. lib. i. p. 7-
qhiefs. “ The king of Tombutum who now reigns,” says Leo,
‘f named Abubakir Ischia, is by nation a Negro. This Abu-
bakir, after the decease of the former king, who was a Lybian,
s,lew all his sons and usurped the kingdom, which he extended
by many conquests over the neighbouring -countries ;
he then went on a pilgrimage to. Mecca. The fifteen kingdoms
of the land of Negroes known to .us are all situated
upon the river Niger, or upon other rivers which fall into
it. To the southward of these are infinite regions unknown
by the distance of space and by the diversity of language and
religion. The natives carry on no commerce with us, but we
have often understood that they trade with people who border
on the ocean sea.” It would seem as- if Leo alluded to
the traffic then commencing on the African coast with Europeans.
This writer then proceeds to describe the different Negro
states, beginning with those among whom the language
called Sungai is spoken.
1. He first mentions Gualata, situated in an oasis in the
desert. He says £4 it contains only three great hamlets, with
farms, and fields of dates. It is distant from Nun on the
Atlantic to the southward, about three hundred miles, and
from Tombutum to the northward, about five hundred; This,
^ccording to Leo, was in earlier times the great emporium of
trade, while the Lybian or Berber ? people were lords of the
Land of Negroes. Many merchants from Barbary frequented
Gualata ; but afterwards, in the reign of the great and powerful
king Heli, the merchants leaving Gualata, began to resort
to Tombutum and Gago, which rendered the region of Gualata
very poor. The language of this region is called Sungai, the
inhabitants are black, and very friendly to strangers. Both
the men and women cover their heads, so as nearly to hide
their countenances: ifo§j| havêj|^^H form of ^verfiment*”
This description of the dress of the people ..agrees with that
of tire modern Tuaryk, to whose country Gualata rather belongs
than to Negroland,
2. Ginea is called, according to Leo, by its inhabitants,
Oeni. “ It stands in |he m i^|4^ with Gualata toward the
north, and Tombutum ^toward the «ist, and borders on the