Footnote 284:[ (return) ] If therefore the trade with Timbuctoo declined in Leo's time, i.e. A.D. 1570, it unquestionably revived in Ismael's reign, and also continued with but little diminution during the reign of his son Abd Allah, and his grandson Muhamed.
Da Woolo is a reverential term, and is synonymous with Woolo, signifying King Woolo.
Park says, Mansong was king of Timbuctoo in 1796, and in 1805, implying that he reigned from 1796 to 1805. The Moor before mentioned, who came from Timbuctoo to Comassie in 1807, told Mr. Bowdich, that Woolo was then reigning at Timbuctoo. Isaaco says, Woolo was predecessor to Mansong; consequently, according to this Jew, Woolo was king before the year 1796; therefore, if Mr. Park's testimony be correct, Woolo must have been predecessor and successor to Mansong; otherwise, Mr. Park was incorrect in saying that Mansong was king of Timbuctoo in 1796, and in 1805. Adams says, Woolo was king of Timbuctoo in 1810, and was old and grey-headed. Riley's narrative also confirms his age and grey hairs. With regard to my testimony, viz. that Woolo was king [285] of Timbuctoo in 1800, I had it from two merchants of veracity, who returned from Timbuctoo in 1800, after residing there 14 years: they are both alive now, and reside at Fas; their names I would mention, were I not apprehensive that it might lead to a reprimand from the emperor, and create jealousy for having communicated intelligence respecting the interior of the country. I should not have entered into this detail in confirmation of my assertion that Woolo was king of Timbuctoo in 1800, if the editor of the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica (article Africa), had not asserted, that I have committed an anachronism in asserting, that he was king in that year; thereby insinuating that Park was right, and that I was wrong.
Footnote 285:[ (return) ] See my Letter on the Interior of Africa, in the Anti-Jacobin Review for January, 1818, p. 453.
Page 195. The Editor of Adams's Narrative is, I apprehend, incorrect in asserting, that the name Fatima affords no proof that the queen, or the wife of Woolo, was a Muhamedan. Fatima
is incontestably an Arabian proper name; and it would be considered presumption in a Negress unconverted to Muselmism, to assume the name of Fatima. She must, therefore, have been necessarily a Mooress, or a converted Negress; the name has nothing to do with a numeral, as Mr. Bowdich suggests, and above all not with the numeral five, for that is a number ominous of evil in Africa, and as such, would never have been bestowed as a name on a beloved wife.
Page 196. Note of W. Hutchison, "The four greatest monarchs known on the banks of the Quolla, are Baharnoo, Santambool, Malisimiel, and Malla, or Mallowa."
Baharnoo should be written Ber Noh; i.e. the country of Noah the patriarch; it is called in the maps Bernoo, and the whole passage is calculated greatly to confuse African geography. The information is unquestionably derived from Negro authority, and that not of the most authentic kind. Santambool is the Negro corruption of Strambool, which is the Arabic name for Constantinople: Malisimiel is the Negro corruption of Muley Ismael. [286] The first signifies the empire of Constantinople; the second signifies the empire of Muley Ismael, who was emperor of Marocco in the early part of the 18th century, and whose authority was acknowledged at Timbuctoo, where he maintained a strong garrison, and held the adjacent country in subjection, where his name is held in reverence to this day. This being premised, it follows of course, that one of these four great monarchies here alluded to, viz. that of Santambool is certainly not on the Quolla, unless the Quolla be considered the same river with the Egyptian Nile, and that Egypt be considered a part of the empire of Santambool; then, and then only, can it be said, that the empire of Santambool is situated on the Quolla.
Footnote 286:[ (return) ] See Jackson's Marocco, chap. xiii. p. 295, and note, p. 296.