All this looks as if Borgho were the original country of the Fellata stock, the starting-point from which they spread themselves abroad, If so, their movement must have been from south to north.

But we have yet to hear the whole of their history. Under the names of Fula, Fulahs, Foule or Peule, they appear elsewhere. Where?—As far north as the Wolof (or Jolof) country—as far north as the parts between the Senegal and the desert—as far north as 17 N. L. Here between Galam and Kayor is a vast Fula district—the district of the Fulas of the Siratik. There on the south bank of the river lie the Fulas of Foutatorro, an elevated tract of land forming the watershed to the Senegal and the Gambia.

Thirdly, far in the interior, on the high ground over which Park passed from the drainage of the Senegal to that of the Niger, is a Fula-du, or country of the Fulas, between Bambuk and Bambarra.

Fourthly, there are the Fulas to the south of Bammakoo, in the parts called Wasselah, on the Niger itself.

Fifthly, in 11 N. L., on the head-water of the Rio Grande, is the large kingdom of the Fouta-jallo Fulahs, of which Timbu is the metropolis, surrounded by dry and rocky deserts, and exposed mountain pastures, prolific with sheep, oxen, goats, and horses. Here, although the use of the plough is unknown, the occupants cultivate the soil, and exercise more than one of the mechanical arts. They forge iron and silver, weave, and tan, and support schools and mosques. To the south lies the Sulimana tribe, more or less akin to the Mandingoes. From these, Laing learnt, that the acquisition of the country about Tembu by the Fulas of Futa-jallo was an event of no great antiquity, having taken place about A.D. 1700.

There are other Fula, Fellata, and Filani localities, but an enumeration of the foregoing has been sufficient. It shows the vast space of ground covered by the population so-called. It shows, too, the difficulty of ascertaining the original mother country. Indeed, upon the whole, this is a point upon which good writers are satisfied to suspend their judgment—no one having committed himself very decidedly to a preference for one district over another.

The main facts lie in the superiority of their organisation over the ordinary negro, and their higher civilisation—this being chiefly due to their Mahometanism. There is no doubt as to either. Although, the particular shade of the particular colour which best suits the Fula is not a matter upon which authors write with unanimity; the testimony of all observers goes to the fact that, whether Filani or Fellata, Fellata or Fula, whether pagan or Mahometan, whether Sudanian or Senegambian, whether mountaineer or desert-born, the Fula is something different from the typical Negro. Sometimes his complexion is intermediate to that of the African and the Moor; sometimes he is described as being tawny, with soft hair, and lips by no means prominent: sometimes the skin is of a reddish-black, the countenances being regular. “The tribe of Fulas,” writes Golberry, “which under the name of Foules or Peuls, have peopled the borders of the Senegal between Podhon and Galam, are black with a tinge of red or copper colour; they are in general handsome and well-made; the women are handsome, but proud and indolent.”

To the Fula-jallo Fulas the very definite and suggestive term “Red Peuls” has been applied; to which the name “Black Peuls” stands in opposition, this meaning the Fulas of the north bank of the lower Senegal.

What is our inference from these discrepancies of description—what our inference from the points of agreement? Even this[42]—that the Fula complexion varies with the physical conditions of the Fula locality. In the high and exposed tracts of Fula-jallo it is the least, in the lower levels of the parts about lake Kayor, it is most like that of the negro.

[42] For further details, see Prichard, Researches, &c., vol. ii. pp. 66-73, and 121-125.