42 
THE MIDDLE AGES. 
As the Arabs extended themselves westward 
through Barbary, they opened always new routes 
across the desert ; and when Morocco became the 
seat of their principal power, Segelmessa was in 
consequence the emporium of the commerce of 
Nigritia. Another territory called Vareclan, 
situated apparently to the south of Morocco, car- 
ried on a very extensive trade ; and its merchants 
went as far as Wangara in search of gold. The 
only parts of the interior on which the Arabs 
made no impression were Nubia and Abyssinia. 
These countries in the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries continued still Christian, and were, 
therefore, in a state of habitual enmity with the 
Saracen powers. The necessities of trade pro- 
duced, indeed, a species of truce on the frontiers 
of Egypt and Nubia. The merchants of the res- 
pective nations met near the cataracts of Syene, 
and made an exchange of their respective commo- 
dities, without entering each other's territories.* 
Between the narrative of the Arabian geogra- 
phers, and the discoveries of modern travellers 
and navigators, the link is formed by a celebrated 
description of Africa, written by a person bearing 
the appellation of Leo African us. He was born 
* Geographia Nubiensis. — Hartmann's Edrisi. Ibn-al- 
Vardi, et Bakui in Notices des Manuscrits du Roi de France. 
