118 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANATOMICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL 



ful. The teachers, called Mallams, are generally famous for their 

 devotion to Islam, and their application of Koranic precepts, their 

 knowledge of the holy writ, their learning and the dignity of their 

 personal life. This vocation is often hereditary, and the necessary 

 consecration to religion and learning was sustained by pilgrimages to 

 Mecca, and sojourns in the great Arabian universities. M. Dubois 

 says : " A cerebral refinement was thus produced among a certain pro- 

 portion of the Negraic population, which had surprising results, and 

 which gives the categorical lie to the theorists who insist on the in- 

 feriority of the black races ". His reference in the expression " sur- 

 prising results " is to the fact that these negroes were as good as, 

 and, in many cases, superior to, the Arab scholars, as is proved by 

 their being appointed to professorships in Morocco, Egypt, and the 

 universities of Arabia, whilst the Arabs were not always found equal 

 to the requirements of the Sudanese universities. Teaching is abso- 

 lutely free. Except in very rare instances the Mallams are unpaid, 

 and the students have no class fees to pay. The Taliba or student of 

 course learns his rudiments before coming to the university. Some 

 small teacher has taught them to him. The schools are held out of 

 doors for the most part, or in sheds during bad weather. The pupils 

 sit on the ground with crossed legs, tailor-fashion, forming a circle 

 round the schoolmaster. They repeat verses of the Koran in chorus 

 after him, following the inflections, marking the pauses and imitating 

 the tone he indicates. They are taught to form Arabic characters by 

 copying verses of the Koran on wooden tablets. These are washed 

 from time to time, and the washings kept for use as medicine, the 

 ink being made of freshly expressed vegetable juices. The master then 

 discusses the verse from every point of view. When the entire Koran 

 has been learnt thus, verse by verse, the Taliba is ready for the 

 university. No preliminary examination damps his enthusiasm. He 

 studies under what masters he likes, and may shift from class to class at 

 will. The teaching is rather of the nature of the elucidation of books 

 than of lectures ex />n>/'i'>n*o. Classes are generally held within the pre- 

 cincts of some mosque, and sometimes also on the premises of the pro- 



