262 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXIX. 
greatly in favour of the authenticity of this chronicle 
and its genealogies, even with regard to the more 
remote times. For if it had not been necessary to 
preserve scrupulously a well-established line of suc- 
cession, how easy would it have been to introduce a 
few more individuals in order to fill up this blank, as 
has been done in the other list (6), instead of ad- 
mitting the palpable nonsense of attributing to the 
two oldest kings a reign of from 250 to 300 years. 
Even Sef and Ibrahim, the first two princes of the line, 
are, I think, quite historical persons, whose existence 
was so well established that a conscientious chronicler 
could not change anything in the number of years 
attributed to the length of their reigns. 
Following, therefore, the hints given to us by the 
chronicle itself, we fix the foundation of the dynasty 
of the Sefuwa in Kanem about the middle of the third 
century after Mohammed, or a little before the year 
900 of our era. We shall afterwards return to this 
circumstance. 
Now we shall first see how triumphantly the 
authenticity of the chronicle is confirmed in every 
respect by the occasional remarks made by Makrizi 
and Ebn Batuta with regard to the history of Bornu. 
Unfortunately, the oldest date which Makrizi (on 
the authority, as it would seem, of Eb'n Said) men- 
tions with regard to Kanem*, namely, an expedition 
made by its king into the fertile districts of Mabina 
* Hamaker, Specimen Catal., p. 107. 
