Chap. XXIX. e'bN BATISTA AND MAKRl'ZI. 
265 
We now come to E'bn Batiita ; and we again find 
the same surprising harmony between the fact regard- 
ing Bornu, as mentioned by him, and the dates of the 
chronicle. The famous and enterprising traveller of 
Tangiers, on his return -journey from his visit to 
Western Sudan, left the capital of Melle or Mali 
(that is, Mungo Park's Jar a) the 22nd of Moharrem, 
754, and, proceeding by way of Timbuktu or Tumbutu, 
and thence down the I'sa or Niger to Gagho or Gogo, 
certain facts which the diligent historian, placed at such a distance 
from the object of his inquiry, has not rightly understood. The 
first of these passages (Hamaker, p. 206.) states that Mohammed the 
son of Jil (so — U L:>- — the name is to be read, instead of the absurd 
Jebl or Jabal). that is, most probably, Jil Shikomemi, the founder 
of the dynasty of the Bulala, was the first of them who accepted 
the Mohammedan creed ; this statement evidently regards the 
dynasty of the Bulala, who, at the time when Makrizi wrote, had 
driven the Bornu dynasty out of Kiinem, and it does not at all 
affect the statement of the chronicle, which calls Hume the first 
Moslim king of Bornu. The second passage of the celebrated his- 
torian of Egypt (Quatremere, Memoires sur l'Egypte, t. ii. p. 28. ; 
Burckhardt, Travels in Nubia, 2nd ed, app. iii. p. 456. f.) is very re- 
markable ; and although we are not yet able to understand perfectly 
its real purport, nevertheless it seems to refer to some circumstance 
of great interest : for, according to this statement, the Islam was 
introduced into Kanem by Hady el 'Othmani, a pretended descend- 
ant of the khalif 'Othman, even before the period of the Sefuwa, 
or the Yazamyin (descendants of Dhu Yazan). Here the excellent 
inquirer has most probably confounded the successors of Hume 
with the Duguwa, forgetting that even the dynasty of the pagan 
Duguwa belonged to the Sefuwa. In other respects this state- 
ment is in perfect harmony with the common tradition of the 
Bornu people — that the Islam was brought to the Sefuwa, when 
they were still settled in Burgu, by a special messenger of the 
Prophet. 
