Chap. XXIX. 
THE SOY. 
277 
of Imam Ahmed as forming "part of the Bornu army, 
and with whom at present they are completely inter- 
mixed.* It is very remarkable, that neither by the 
chronicle, nor by the historian of Edris Alaw6ma, 
the large tribe of the Manga, which evidently formed 
a very considerable element in the formation of the 
Bornu nation, is ever once mentioned. 
While the tribes above enumerated were more or 
less absorbed by the empire of Kanem, and, in the 
course of time, adopted the Mohammedan religion 
professed by its rulers, there was, on the other hand, 
a very numerous indigenous tribe which did not 
become amalgamated with the conquering element, 
but, on the contrary, continued to repel it in a hos- 
tile manner, and for a long time threatened its very 
existence. These were the " Soy " or " So," a tribe 
settled originally in the vast territory inclosed to- 
wards the north and north-west by the komadugu 
* However, even in the time of Lucas (Proceedings of the Afric. 
Assoc., vol. i. p. 119.), great part at least of the Koyam were still 
living in Kanem. The I'keli, or rather " people of l'keli/'^li \ ( Jjb\ i 
mentioned by Makrizi, seem not to have constituted a separate tribe, 
although they had a chief or t^Lo of their own, there being not the 
least doubt that they were the inhabitants of the celebrated place 
Ikeli, usually called Furtvva by the Bornu people, about 
which I shall speak in the course of my journey to Kanem. — A 
peculiar tribe is mentioned frequently by the imam Ahmed as 
el Kenaniyin ; but I am not yet able to offer a well-established 
opinion with regard to them. — With regard to the Arabs who 
are mentioned several times in Imam Ahmed's history, as a power- 
ful element in the population of Kanem, I shall have occasion to 
speak hereafter. 
T 3 
