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THE MIDDLE AGES* 
which could be dissolved only by genius and la- 
bour ; but already pure, and separated, by a sim- 
ple mechanical process, from the sand with which 
it was mingled. A splendour, partly real, and 
partly imaginary, was thus thrown around this 
region, whicli, in the unsettled state of northern 
Africa, attracted numerous colonists towards it. 
Compulsory exile has always been a powerful in- 
strument in peopling the globe. Those who fled 
before the arms of the Saracens, and those who 
were worsted in the intestine divisions which 
shook the Caliphate, alike sought refuge and 
settlements in the depth of the interior. The 
precise period of these emigrations cannot be dis- 
tinctly traced ; but it is unquestionable, that, by 
the tenth or eleventh century, the banks of the 
Niger were covered with kingdoms, in which Ma- 
hometans 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 centi'al river 
called by them the Nile of the Negroes. The 
sovereign was absolute within his own territories, 
and owed homage only to the head of the Abbas- 
sides. The pomp of his court was the admiration 
of the age ; and appears certainly to have been 
accompanied with a degree of art and civilization, 
which scarcely any other kingdom of central 
