272 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTRAL AFRICA 



the Mallam would come and talk to him of the wander- 

 ings of the tribe and the customs of the people. 



This is their history, which he read from the archives 

 kept since 1538, and written in Marghaby : At the end 

 of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century 

 the Bagirimi, Bornuese, and Fikans left Yemen, south 

 of Mecca, and travelled together across Africa until 

 they came near the mouth of the Shari river. There 

 the Bagirimi split off and settled in the country they 

 still occupy. 



It will be remembered that all their own legends 

 agree as to their Eastern origin. The three tribes 

 originally spoke the same language, and it is probable 

 that the Bagfirimi have retained it. 



The Bornuese and Fikans settled near Fort Lamy, 

 where they lived nomad existences. They could not 

 agree as to hunting and other rights, and at the end 

 of a year matters came to a climax when the Bornuese 

 caught and ate a wounded kob shot by a Fikan. The 

 Fikans, full of anger, quitted their dishonest neigh- 

 bours and trekked farther west. Later the Bornuese, 

 too, gradually journeyed westwards, spreading their 

 kingdom wherever they passed. South of Lake Chad, 

 in the Dikoa district, they took the language of the 

 people. Some remained there, while others went 

 north and west and settled in that vast province of 

 Bornu, of which Fika occupies a corner. 



The Fikans trace their wanderings till 1540, in 

 which year they settled at Daniski, a town in the 

 hills only a few miles from Fika, where they remained 

 till the beginning of the nineteenth century. They 

 left Daniski then, because three chiefs died within a 

 year, and they have been at Fika ever since. 



