Chap. LXVI. A'hMED BA'BA' THE HISTORIAN. 407 
the highest interest in an historical and geographical 
point of view. 
These annals, according to the universal statement 
of the learned people of Negroland, were written by 
a distinguished person of the name of A'hmed Baba, 
although in the work itself that individual is only 
spoken of in the third person ; and it would seem that 
additions had been made to the book by another hand ; 
but on this point I cannot speak with certainty, as 
I had not sufficient time to read over the latter por- 
tion of the work with the necessary attention and care. 
As for A'hmed Baba, we know from other interesting 
documents which have lately come to light*, that he 
was a man of great learning, considering the country 
in which he was born, having composed a good many 
books or essays, and instructed a considerable number 
of pupils. Moreover, we learn that he was a man of 
the highest respectability, so that even after he had 
been carried away prisoner by the victorious army of 
Miilay A'hmed el Dhehebi, his very enemies treated 
him with the greatest respect, and the inhabitants of 
Morocco, in general, regarded him with the highest 
veneration, f 
* Revue Africaine, vol. i. p. 287, " Conquete du Soudan 
par les Marocains," par le Baron Macguckin de Slane. Journal 
Asiatique, 1855, "Literature du Soudan," par M. le Professor 
Cherbonneau. 
f This character is most strikingly indicated in those very re- 
marks which M. le Baron de Slane has published in the notice 
(see preceding note) which was intended to depreciate the merit 
of A'hmed Baba as a historian. 
D D 4 
