428 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. LI. 
tries on the east side of the Tsad in this light, 
we get rid of every difficulty which may seem to 
be implied in the statements relating to Gaoga ; 
for, when Leo says that the language of that coun- 
try was identical with the idiom of B6rnu, he evi- 
dently only speaks of the language then used by the 
dynasty and the ruling tribe of the country, with 
whom on his visit to that kingdom he came into 
contact, and who were of the same origin as the Bornu 
people, while at present, having intermingled and 
intermarried with the indigenous population, the 
Bulala, who are still the ruling family in Fittri, 
appear to have forgotten their own language, and 
have adopted that of the Kuka. At the time when 
Leo wrote his description of Africa, or rather at the 
period when he visited Negroland (for of the events 
which happened after he left the country he pos- 
sessed only an imperfect knowledge), the Bulala were 
just in the zenith of their power, being masters of all 
Kanem, and (according to the information of Makrlzi 
and A'bii '1 Feda) having in the latter half of the 
fourteenth century even subjected to their dominion 
the large tribe of the Zoghawa, may well have entered 
into the most intimate political relations with the 
rulers of Egypt, as already, a century previous to 
the time of Leo, Makrlzi found ample opportunity 
in Egypt to collect all the latest news with regard 
to the dynasty of Kanem. 
On the other hand, we can easily imagine how 
