88 
DISCOVERIES DURING 
be dissolved only by genius and labour ; but al- 
ready pure, and separated, by a simple mechanical 
process, from the sand with which it was mingled. 
A splendour, partly real, and partly imaginary, was 
thus thrown around this region, which, in the un- 
settled state of northern Africa, attracted nume- 
rous colonists towards it. Compulsory exile has 
always been a powerful instrument in peopling the 
globe. Those who fled before the arms of the Sa- 
racens, and those who were worsted in the intestine 
divisions which shook the Caliphate, alike sought re- 
fuge and settlements in the depth of the interior. 
The precise period of these emigrations cannot be 
distinctly traced ; but it is unquestionable, that, by 
the tenth or eleventh century, the banks of the Ni- 
ger were covered with kingdoms, in which Maho- 
medans formed a numerous, and the ruling part of 
the population. Of these kingdoms, according to 
the unanimous testimony of the Arabian writers, 
the most powerful and splendid was Ghana, situ- 
ated on the eastern part of the great central river 
called by them the Nile of the Negroes. The so- 
vereign was absolute within his own territories, and 
owed homage only to the head of the Abbassides. 
The pomp of his court was the admiration of the 
age ; and appears certainly to have been accompa- 
nied with a degree of art and civilization, which 
scarcely any other negro kingdom has yet attained. 
The palace, built on the banks of the river, besides 
