Chap. LXVI 
SONNI ALl'. 
413 
as a very cruel and sanguinary prince, was no doubt 
a great conqueror; for although it was he who, in 
taking possession of this town, inflicted upon the 
inhabitants a most severe punishment, surpassing 
even the horrors which had accompanied the taking 
of the town by the king of Mosi, nevertheless it was 
he also who gave the first impulse to the great im- 
portance which Timbuktu henceforth obtained, by 
conquering the central seat of the old empire of 
Ghanata, and thus inducing the rich merchants from 
the north, who had formerly been trading with Bfru 
or Walata, and who had even occasionally resided 
there, to transfer their trade to Timbuktu and Gagho. 
It is the same king, no doubt, that attracted the at- 
tention of the Portuguese, who, in the reigns of 
Joao and Emmanuel, sent several embassies into the 
interior, not only to Melle*, which at that time had 
already greatly declined in power and importance, 
but also to Timbuktu, where Sonni e Ali seems to have 
principally resided ; and it was perhaps partly on 
account of the relations which he entertained with 
the Christian king (to whom he even opened a trading 
station as far inland as Wadan or Hoden), besides his 
cruelty against the chiefs of religion, that the Mo- 
hammedans were less satisfied with his government ; 
for there is no doubt that he was not a strict Mo- 
hammedan. 
* It is remarkable that, in a map published at Strasburg in 
the year 1513, the kingdom of Melle appears under the name of 
liegnum Musa Melle de Ginoria. Atlas of Santarem, pi. No. 13. 
