Chap. XXIX. HISTORY OF BO'RNU. 
253 
CHAP. XXIX. 
AUTHENTICITY AND GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE HISTORY OF 
BORNU. 
Any writer who attempts to recall from obscurity and 
oblivion the past ages of an illiterate nation, and to 
lay before the public even the most elementary sketch 
of its history, will probably have to contend against 
the strong prejudices of numerous critics, who are 
accustomed to refuse belief to whatever is incapable 
of bearing the strictest inquiry. 
The documents upon which the history of Bornu 
is based, besides the scanty information contained in 
the narratives of recent explorers, are — 
1. A chronicle ("divan"), or rather the dry and 
sterile abridgment of a chronicle, comprising the 
whole history of Bornu, from the earliest time down 
to Ibrahim, the last unfortunate offspring of the royal 
family, who had just ascended the crumbling throne 
of the Bornu empire when the last English expedi- 
tion arrived in that country. 6 pp. 4to.* 
* Of this document I have sent a copy from Kukawa to the 
Leipsic Oriental Society ; and a translation of it has been published 
in the Journal (Zeitschrift) of that society in the year 1852, p. 
305. ff., with notes by M. Blau. 
