APPENDIX* 
517 
Konem, a large country situated along the Nile; its inha- 
bitants are almost all Musulmen, of the sect of the Imam 
Malik. 
No. III. 
DESCRIPTION OF CENTRAL AFRICA BY BAKUI, (about 1400.) 
Belad al TibrL — Country of Tibr, 
The country of Tibr, that is to say, of pure gold, is a part 
of that of the Soudans, or of the blacks, in the south of Africa? 
The heat is so extraordinary, that, during the day, the inha- 
bitants remain in caves under the earth. You there see the 
gold come out of the sand, as elsewhere the plants from the 
ground. These blacks live on dorra and on beans, and clothe 
themselves in the skins of animals, particularly of tygers. 
From Segelmessa to this country they reckon three months' 
journey ; the merchants who go there suffer much from the 
heat; they carry salt, senoubar-wood, bracelets, rings, and 
necklaces of copper ; they pass along barren deserts, where 
there are some holes in which bad water is found. When 
these merchants have come to a certain place, they beat with 
a drum to announce their arrival, and when they are assured 
that they have been heard, they place their goods on the 
ground, in little separate heaps, and retire ; then the blacks 
come, place beside each heap the gold which they have, and 
return; the merchants come, take the gold, and beat the drum 
to announce their departure. No one has seen any of these in- 
habitants. 
Belad al Soudan, or Country of the Blacks, 
This country extends on the north to that of the Berbers, 
on the south to deserts, on the east to Ethiopia, and on the 
