150 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. LVII. 
In this respect the mission of two religious chiefs of 
this tribe from Melle (where they resided at the 
time) to Biri the king of Bornu, who ruled about 
the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the 
fourteenth century *, is of the highest interest, as it 
shows at once that this tribe, even at that early 
period, was distinguished by its religious learning, 
and gives a proof of the progress of the tribe from 
west to east. Some other facts which have come to 
our knowledge with regard to the progress of this 
tribe eastward will be mentioned in the chronologi- 
cal tables ; here I will only call the reader's attention 
to the circumstance, that we find, among the most 
intimate friends and most stanch supporters of 
Mohammed el Haj A'skia, a man of the name of 
'All Fulanu, while in general it was the policy of the 
Songhay dynasty, which was begun by that great ruler 
of Negroland, to keep in check this tribe, the con- 
quering tendency of which could not but become 
apparent to intelligent rulers, notwithstanding the 
humble character of " berroroji," under which they 
used to immigrate and settle in foreign countries ; and 
this is the acknowledged reason why the Gabero, 
a tribe whom we shall meet in the course of our 
proceedings on the river below Gagho, have entirely 
forgotten their Fulfulde idiom, not having been al- 
ceeded from South Africa is certainly entirely erroneous. The 
identity of a few numerals in the Fulfulde and Kaffir languages is 
curious, but may be explained on historical grounds. 
* Vol. II. p. 638, under Biri (Ibrahim). 
