Chap. LXXV. APPROACH TO BAM'bA. 
159 
hundred huts, built of mattings, and oval-shaped ; for, 
besides a small mosque, there are only two or three 
clay buildings, or rather magazines, one of which 
belongs to Babd A'hmed, a younger brother of the 
Sheikh El Bakay, who generally resides here ; at 
present, however, he was absent. 
Such is the condition of this place at present ; 
but there cannot be any doubt that it was of much 
more importance three centuries ago, as it is re- 
peatedly mentioned in the history of Songhay ; and 
its situation — at a point where the river, from hav- 
ing been spread at least during a great part of the 
year over a surface of several miles, is shut in by 
steep banks and compressed at the narrowest point 
to from 600 to 700 yards — must have been of the 
highest importance, at a time when the whole of 
the region along this large navigable river was com- 
prised under the rule of a mighty kingdom of great 
extent, and even afterwards, when it had become a 
province of Morocco. 
This was evidently the reason why the place was 
fortified at that time, and probably it had formerly a 
strong fortress, constantly occupied by a garrison, 
which accounts for the Tawarek, even at the present 
day, calling the whole place by the name of Kasba. 
It also serves to explain the fact, that the whole po- 
pulation of the village, even at the present time, 
consists of Ruma, the progeny of the musketeers 
who conquered this province for the Emperor of 
