GOO 
APPENDIX IX. 
Songhay. 
med A'skia then came in person, 
vanquished the kaid, destroyed the 
town, together with the palace of 
the king of Melle, and sold the 
inhabitants into slavery. 
According to Leo*, A'skia made the 
whole of Melle tributary, laying 
such a heavy tribute upon that 
ruler that he entirely tied his 
hands. Nevertheless the capital of 
Melle still at that time was a 
nourishing place, and the largest 
town in Negroland, containing 
about 6000 dwellings. Perhaps 
this is the town called Zillen, or 
Zalna, by A'hmed Baba. 
In the same year llaj Mohammed 
A'skia sent an expedition against 
Bargu, or, as it is more justly 
called, Barbuf, the country en- 
closed between Gurma, Yoruba 
and the great river. The in- 
habitants of this country being 
a very warlike set of people, 
the struggle appears to have been 
very violent ; and although A'hmed 
Baba does not seem to intimate 
the whole of the result, yet it is 
clear, from the fact that the Son- 
ghay king was occupied with 
Bargu for the next four or five 
years, that he met with great re- 
sistance; this is also clearly in- 
dicated by traditions still extant 
in that country, the name Bargu 
being generally derived from the 
Songhay words five (go), horses 
(beri);"five horses" being the only 
remnant of an army led into the 
country by the Songhay king. Such 
a state of things is also clearly in- 
dicated by another document.^ 
The Songhay king made an expe- 
A.D. 
A.H. 
1506 
912 
Neighbouring Kingdoms. 
'All Ghajideni, the powerful 
king of Bornu (see Vol. II. 
p. 644), about this time pro- 
bably undertook his expedition 
to the south-western frontier 
of his large empire, beyond 
the Kwara, in order to pro- 
tect it against the encroach- 
ments of his powerful con- 
temporary the Songhay king. 
* This is probably the meaning of the words of Leo, 1. vii. c. 4. 
+ This true native form of the name of that country A'hmed Baba gives himself. At the time when I made the 
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