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APPENDIX VIII. 
TRANSLATION OF THE TWO POEMS OF A'HMED EL 
BAKA'Y. 
By Dr. John Nicholson, Penrith. 
" In the name of God," &c. 
" And our Sheikh and Lord, A'hmed el Bakay, the son of 
our Sheikh and Lord Mohammed, the son of our Sheikh 
and Lord El Mukhtar, said, addressing the assembly of 
the Fulan of Masina, when they attacked his guest, 
'Abd el Kerim Barth, the Englishman, the Christian. 
(The metre is khafif.) 
"Tell the host of the Fulan, — I say, shameful! I am 
attacked in a great and weighty matter. Ye have sought 
my guest : you will find him, when yon do find him, mighty, 
protected, the free guest of a free man, who is the son of a free 
woman who was daughter of a freeman, and whose father 
was a freeman, who lavished benefits. No slave bore me, 
nor did such foster me in their bosoms as a suckling ; and 
my father is he whom you know, and his father. We have 
not descended from Sem, except as noble, as munificent, as 
white of face, as lords or chieftains. Among their mothers 
there is no daughter of a slave who bears coals, like herself, 
that she may sell them ; whose son is her master, whereas 
his father is his master; who effected his manumission, as 
being obedient. No daughter nor son of Ham was my parent, 
nor will I obey the sons of the lazy Ham. Among the sons 
of the lazy Ham none but fat women and corpulent men see 
guests [?]. My guest is my honour, and my honour never 
was in jeopardy ; therefore its guest shall never be imperilled. 
' Abd Menaf ben Kosay ben Kilab ben Morra, my ancestor, 
and Luway ben Grhaleb, and Nizar ben Madd, admonish me 
