380 APPENDIX C. 



company with the new ruler, or with his protection and 

 authority, he travelled through almost every part of the empire, 

 as well as nearly all the rest of Northern Africa, and evidently 

 made copious notes. He wrote, in Arabic, various works on 

 history and grammar which have not been preserved, and, in 

 the same language, the original version of his description of 

 Africa. It would appear that he carried this with him, in 

 manuscript, when, in 1517, he was made captive by Christian 

 corsairs, who toot him to Rome. Leo X., hearing that a 

 learned Moor had been brought a captive to Rome, sent for 

 him, and treated him with kindness and liberality. A sug- 

 gestion that he should undergo the rite of baptism seems to 

 have encountered no obstinate prejudices, for he soon complied, 

 receiving at the font the Pope's own names, Giovanni Leone, 

 and perhaps becoming as earnest a Christian as the Pontiif him- 

 self. He afterwards lived many years in Rome, acquired the 

 Italian tongue, and translated his work on Africa into that 

 idiom. This remained for some time unpublished, until it fell 

 into the hands of Ramusio, who iacluded it iu his famous work 

 ' Delle Navigationi et Viaggi,' of which the first edition, in 

 three folio volumes, was printed in Venice in 1550. It is not 

 easy to account for the numerous variations between the original 

 text and the versions which appeared in various languages 

 during the century following the original publication ; but in 

 the absence of satisfactory explanation it seems safest to accept 

 the text of Ram.usio as alone aiithentic. 



Like most modern readers, the members of our party, when 

 they resolved to visit Marocco, knew nothing of the work of 

 Leo Africanus beyond the fact that he is occasionally referred to 

 by writers on North Africa. The time for preparation was far 

 too short for extensive reading, and we took with us only the 

 works of Jackson and Gerhard Rohlfs. It has, however, since 

 that time been a matter of frequent regret that we had not the 

 opportunity, while travelling in the country, of referring to the 

 only writer who had actually seen the greater part of it with 

 his own eyes, and as to whose general truthfulness there is no 

 room for suspicion. It is impossible here to enter into the 

 many interesting details that abound throughout the text ; but 

 it is worth while to point out the more important changes that 

 are disclosed between the condition of South Marocco as it was 



