270 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. XXIX. 
Bikoru, whose reign began about a. h. 581, the kings 
are stated by the chronicle to have been of a red com- 
plexion * like the Arabs ; and to such an origin from 
the red race, the Syrian-Berber stock, is certainly to 
be referred their custom of covering the face and 
never showing the mouth, to which custom E'bn 
Batiita adverts in speaking of King Edris, who ruled 
in his time. To this origin is also to be referred 
the custom, till recently practised, of putting the new 
king upon a shield, and raising him up over the heads 
of the people f , as well as the polity of the empire, 
which originally was entirely aristocratical, based 
upon a council of twelve chiefs, without whose assent 
nothing of importance could be undertaken by the 
king. 
We have a very curious statement concerning the 
Bornu empire, emanating from Lucas, the traveller 
employed by the African Association J, and based on 
the authority of his Arab informants, principally Ben 
'All, who no doubt was a very clever and intelligent 
man. He describes the Bornu kingdom as an elective 
monarchy, the privilege of choosing a successor among 
the sons of a deceased king, without regard to pri- 
ority «of birth, being conferred by the nation on 
three of the most distinguished men of the country. 
* Even the governor of Zinder is still complimented in the 
songs to his praise as " ja" (red). 
■f Compare with this custom E'bn Batuta's description of a 
similar custom in Timbuktu, Journal Asiat., serie iv. t. i. p. 226. 
J Proceedings of the African Association, vol. i. p. 148. f. 
