APPENDIX. 
531 
see there a piece of native gold as large as a rock. This prince 
is said to be a Musulman. 
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 Tibri, — 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 Af- 
rica. The heat is so extraordinary, that, during the day, the 
inhabitants 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' jour- 
ney ; 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 mer- 
chants 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 inhabitants. 
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 
