[205]Macrizi, in the above cited work, el Selouk (which is one of the best histories of Egypt, from the time of Salah eddyn) speaks likewise shortly of this invasion of Melek el Aadel, and says that Kenz el Doula joined the army sent against the Nubians in 568, which reached and plundered Dóngola, where the house of the king was the only one built of stone, the rest being mere huts.
[206]Their province is at the same time one of the most populous and well cultivated; from the hill of the small town of Tahta I counted 35 villages within reach of the eye.
[207]In every part of the province of the Howara the land was assessed not by the Fedhan or acre, as it is now; but every district had to pay an annual round sum, and the Shikhs of villages were at liberty to partition it out according to their own pleasure, by which they accumulated great wealth. The Howara Shikhs were renowned for their hospitality. I alighted one night in the house of one of them in a village near the site of Abydus, where I found upwards of sixty people sitting down to supper in the court-yard of the house.
[208]I slept in a village called Adoane (عدوانه), on the east side of the river, about one hour north of Edfou. It is inhabited at present by the Aboudye, a branch of the great Ababde tribe; from thence a road of seven days leads to Kosseir.
[209]This is the tomb mentioned in my second journal through Nubia, [page 463.]
[210]Who, it seems, then took that road, as the Negroe pilgrims pass now by Souakin.
[211]There are two abridgments of these travels, one by Ibn Djezy el Kelby (ابن جزي الكلبي), the other by Ibn Fathallah el Beylouny(البيلوني ابن فتح الله); the latter I possess.
[212]Mr. Seetzen, in a treatise on the Berber nation, inserted in the Mines de l’Orient, says that Batouta states the inhabitants of Makdosho to be Berbers. He calls them, it is true, of the nation of Barbara, but it remains to be proved whether the northern Berbers have any thing in common with these Barbaras, or with the Berábera above the cataract of Syene, whom Mr. Seetzen likewise affiliates with the Berbers of Libya. I am ignorant whether Mr. Seetzen was in possession of the great work of Batouta, or merely of the abridgment.
[213]It is not said at what distance.
[214]I have mentioned this temple and road from hearsay, in my second journal.