Fisher, The Horse in The Central Sudan II Its Use

'He Swalloweth the Ground with Fierceness and Rage': The Horse in the Central Sudan II.
Its Use
Author(s): Humphrey J. Fisher
Source: The Journal of African History, Vol. 14, No. 3 (1973), pp. 355-379
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/180536
Accessed: 04-04-2015 18:01 UTC
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of African
History.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 129.79.68.41 on Sat, 04 Apr 2015 18:01:31 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
355
Journal of African History, XIV, 3 (1973), pp. 355-379

Printed in Great Britain
'HE SWALLOWETH THE GROUND WITH FIERCENESS

AND RAGE': THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL SUDAN
II. ITS USE
BY HUMPHREY
J. FISHER *
The view of the horse in the central Sudan which these two articles
re-examine is twofold: first, that white conquerors introduced the horse
late in the first millennium1; and second, more important, that the horse
established the newcomers' military and political ascendancy over wide
areas.
... Pastoraltribesfrom the Sahara,whose culturewas essentiallyLibyan-Berber,
were drifting into the western and central Sudan.
. .
. On more than one occasion
their warrior nobility, whose possession of cavalry gave them the means to
dominate large areas of the savanna, were able to seize political power and to
found importantdynasties.2
... Particularlyin Kanem ... the newcomers'cavalrymade possible the fusion
of the original small kingdoms into larger and more militant states....
The
military strength of the Sudanese emperors consisted to a very large extent in

their possession of cavalry.3
Here again [in Hausaland]the migrantscommenced,as they had done in Bornu,
by intermarryingwith the inhabitants;their cavalry,hitherto unknown in this
territory,was then used to found states....4
It was the horse that gave the Islamic powersof the Sudan a militarysuperiority
over the pagans.5
In Part 1,6 I suggested that horses first entered the Sudan very early,
before the camel came to dominate the Sahara. These early immigrants
may have been the same horses as appear in Saharan rock art; their
descendants may perhaps be the small local breeds today scattered across
the Sudan almost from the Atlantic to the Nile. These horses, which I
* I am grateful to Dr Murray Last of University College, London, to Dr Robin Law of
Stirling University, and to Dr Joseph Smaldone of the United States Naval Academy,
who have read, and commented upon, an earlier draft, saving me much embarrassment.
Surviving errors and eccentricities are, of course, my own.
1 Y. Urvoy, Histoire de l'Empire du Bornou (Paris, 1949, reprinted Amsterdam, I968), 30.
2 R. Oliver and J. D. Fage, A short history of Africa (Penguin, 1970), 63-4.
3 J. D. Fage, An introduction to the history of West Africa (Cambridge, i962), 35-8. He
adds, '. . . the upkeep of a regular force of trained cavalry was expensive, and could only
be afforded by the rulers of great and rich empires'. The argument seems slightly circular,
since cavalry allows the creation of great states, which alone can afford cavalry.
4 W. K. R. Hallam, 'The Bayajida legend in Hausa folklore', J. Afr. Hist. vii, I (I966),
53; see also 59.
6 K. M. Panikkar, The Serpent and the Crescent: a History of the Negro Empires of
Western Africa (Asia Publishing House, London, i964), 309.
6J. Afr. Hist. XIII, 3 (1972),
367-88.
24
AH XIV
356
HUMPHREY
J. FISHER
nicknamed 'southern Sudanic', in themselves apparently contributed

little or nothing to state formation. Nomads entering the Sudan, far from
themselves introducing the horse, may have been mainly camel people,
who on arrival adopted, or enlarged their use of, the horse, finding it
already established and better suited to climate and terrain than was the
camel: the cattle Fulani, who in the nineteenth century turned to horses
after seizing political power, are perhaps an analogy.7 Even the Bayajidda
legends, frequently quoted8 to illustrate the introduction of the horse by
immigrants, and its stimulus to more elaborate state formation, are
ambiguous: it is not clear which animal-horse, donkey, or mule9-if any,
it was that Bayajidda introduced; nor whence he introduced it, perhaps
from no further afield than Bornu.10 Larger varieties developed in the
Sudan, probably through imports of stock. The Mandara horse was outstanding-'really beautiful, larger and more powerful than any thing
found in Bornu'll-though the Bornu horse was celebrated too, as was the
Tuareg.12 Serious health hazards restricted the contribution of imports.13
If this hypothesis concerning the introduction of the horse, and its role
in state formation, is correct, some reconsideration of the horse's part in
helping maintain states is in order. Here, while the traditional picture
seems broadly correct, some qualifications are necessary, to avoid lionizing
the horse, and to remind us of other factors, particularly equipment. This
is my purpose in this second article.
The modified picture, here suggested, of the horse's contribution somewhat supports the now popular reaction against the nomad intruder as
he'ros civilisateur; I do not, however, wish to venture here upon these
broader questions, from which the risk of political preference has not yet
been entirely eliminated.14
7See p. 36I below; also J. A. Burdon, Northern Nigeria (London, I909), 70, and M. Last,
'An aspect of the Caliph Muhammad Bello's social policy', Kano Studies, 11 (1966), 59.
8 Urvoy (I968), 30; The Historian in Tropical Africa, eds. J. Vansina et al. (London,
I964), 342.
9S. J. Hogben and A. H. M. Kirk-Greene, The Emirates of Northern Nigeria (London,
1966), 147, opt definitely for the donkey.
10 Yet another version is Makada Ibira de Kantche, Traditions historiques du Dawra
par ... (Niamey, 1970). Here Bayajidda flees to Hausa from Egypt; but as the royal groom
there is named Muriima, a Bornu title for master of the horse, it seems likely that Bornu
is meant (for the title, see Part I, 383, n. go, and G. Nachtigal, Sahara und Sudan (reprinted Graz, I967), I, 6i6, 72I). Nothing in this detailed account suggests, except very
obliquely, that Bayajidda's horse caused surprise in Hausa.
11D. Denham and H. Clapperton, Narrative of travels and discoveries (London, 1826),
(D)i i i; see also I 7, 130, and F. W. H. Migeod, Through Nigeria to Lake Chad (London,
1924), 88.
12 Barth mentions a Tuareg horse bought for 700,000 cowries, a very high price; Travels
and discoveries (London, I857-8), IV, 53. Further north in the Sahara, the Tuat horse was
much prized. The sultan of Agades rode one at the Greater Festival; ibid. I, 423 and n.
13 See also F. L. Lambrecht, 'Aspects of evolution and ecology of tsetse flies..
Y. Afr. Hist. v, I (I964), 1-24.
14 Abdullahi Smith criticizes the he'roscivilisateur as congenial to European colonialist
historians, and argues for the revisionist hypothesis, of spontaneously generated political
forms; 'Some considerations relating to the formation of states in Hausaland', J. Hist.
Soc. Nigeria, v, 3 (1970), 329-46.
THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL
SUDAN
357
The most obvious contribution of the horse was military. It seems selfevident that in pitched battle on suitable ground,'5 other things being equal,
an army with cavalry has an advantage over forces entirely on foot. Of
direct, full-scale military confrontation between horse and foot, or between bodies of horse, in the central Sudan, I have found little detailed
description before the late nineteenth century, by which time effective
firearms were gravely distorting traditional patterns. Guns similarly
obscure the picture at Tondibi, one fairly well recorded battle, in 159I,
when a small Moroccan force, mainly on foot, defeated the much larger
army, including cavalry, of Songhay. Such confrontation, sometimes in
grand style, did take place. One of Fresnel's informants, for example, had
accompanied the Wadai army, including up to ten or twelve thousand
cavalry, mostly iron clad, against Bornu only two years before.'6 It would be
absurd to underrate the strength of such forces; but it would be simplistic
to suggest that horses in themselves necessarily made a decisive contribution. We have seen in Part I several examples where horses, though
present, did nothing of the sort. Other factors must also be evaluated.
One is the size of the horses. It has been suggested that the chariots of
Saharan rock art-and of various Middle Eastern powers-were employed
because horses were then too small for riding. This is not entirely convincing: I know of no horses quite as small or as weak as this in the central
Sudan. But the southern Sudanic horse is certainly small, and in Part I the
victory, perhaps about I6oo, of the Bulala on large horses over Ali Dinar's
men on small ones is mentioned.'7
Small horses, though carrying riders, could not manage heavy equipment and armour also. Well trained horses required only a minimum of
trappings for most peaceful purposes. The curious saddlery, described in
Part I, by which riders cemented themselves to their ponies' backs by blood,
was particularly widespread in the Bauchi area.18 Further north, in the
Sahara, saddles were also uncommon. Ibn Battuta mentions the sultan of
Takedda riding his horse without a saddle, as was the custom of people
there, having instead a gorgeous saddle-cloth.-'
In pitched battle, more was needed. Without firm saddles, and substantial stirrups, heavy weapons were difficult to wield, whether traditional
-such as the balamtami, the battle-axe of Bornu, carried at the saddlebow2-or firearms. Bedouin warriors in Arabia rode camels to battle: but
when the enemy came in sight, camels were left to backriders and
I The people of Siwah used
donkeys, better suited to rugged mountain passes, on
military expeditions; Hornemann's Journal, in Proceedings of the Association for ... Africa
(London, i8io, reprinted London, I967), II, 84.
16 M. Fresnel, 'Memoire ... sur le Waday', Bull. de la Soc. de G6ographie
(1849),
46.
17
Part 1, 381-2;
Sudanese Memoirs, ed. H. R. Palmer (Lagos, I928, reprinted London,
I967), II, 29-30. But the hint of treachery among Ali Dinar's people should not be forgotten.
"I Part I, 376-7; see also Migeod (1924), 88.
"I Voyages d'Ibn Battuta, ed. and tr. C. Defr6mery and B. R. Sanguinetti (Paris, 1854,
reprinted Paris, I968), IV, 442-3.
20 S. W. Koelle, African Native Literature. . . (London, I854), 266.
358
HUMPHREY
J. FISHER
gun-bearers-ridaf-who
thus formed a kind of heavy cavalry, while the
shaykhs mounted their led horses and charged with long lances. Firearms
heavier than pistols were not feasible on the loose pads without stirrups
which the horses bore.21
Fourteenth-century references to saddles also indirectly support the
hypothesis that the horse was not introduced into the Sudan countries by
Saharan nomads. The veiled Saharans, according to Ibn Khaldun, had
very few horses, but specialized in raising camels, one variety, the nujfib,
being particularly suitable for riding; wars were fought on camelback.22
Al- 'Umari adds that, while the people of Mali had camels, they did not
know how to ride them with saddles, and used them only as beasts of
burden.23 This does not suggest close links between Sahara and Sudan in
riding techniques. Al-'Umari also states that the people of Mali used a
saddle similar to that of the Arabs, but mounted differently.24This seems
to point to technical improvement introduced from North Africa, very
probably during the Muslim era.25
Arab stirrups were used in the central Sudan. Miss Tully describes
those of the princes in Tripoli, weighing ten to thirteen pounds, and more
than half a yard from toe to heel. 'They are a flat plate under the foot with
high edges at the sides, widening considerably at the toe and heel in the
shape of a fireshovel.' Both edges cut like razors, and the horses' sides had
often to be dressed after riding.26 Barth used Arab stirrups, and reports
that both in the forest and in a press of people,
I had a full opportunityof testing the valuable propertiesof the Arab stirrups,
which protectthe whole leg, and, if skilfully managed,keep every obtruderat a
respectfuldistance;indeed I am almostsure that if, on these my Africanwanderings, I had made use of English stirrups I should have lost both my legs.27
You could rest the stock of your gun on such a stirrup, even use it as a
battering ram against village fortifications.28
21
C. M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta (London, 1923), I, 334.

Ibn Khaldoun, Histoire des Berbe'res,tr. Mac Guckin de Slane (Paris, 1927), 11, 105.
23 Ibn Fasll Allah al-'Omari, L'Afrique, moins l'Egypte, tr. Gaudefroy-Demombynes
24 Ibid. 68-9.
(Paris, 1927), 66-7.
25
J. H. Greenberg, 'Arabic Loan-Words in Hausa', Word, III (I947), 89, suggested that
the Hausa term sirdi, or saddle, from the Arabic sirj, had come from early contacts with
Arabic speakers. M. Hiskett, 'The historical background to the naturalization of Arabic
loan-words in Hausa', Afr. Lang. Stud., VI (I965), 21, thought it might have come into
Hausa through Mandingo contacts. Greenberg later, 'Linguistic evidence for the influence of the Kanuri on the Hausa', J. Afr. Hist., I, 2 (i 960), 2I I, favoured a derivation
via Kanuri. These varying opinions illustrate the deft touch needed in handling linguistic
evidence. Remember also that there is no guarantee that the object accompanied, and did
not precede, the introduction of the tern applied (later?) to it.
26 Narrative of a ten years' residence at Tripoli...,
from the papers of R. Tully (London,
I8I6), 48.
27 Barth (I857-8), III, 129; see also Denham and Clapperton (x826), (C)47, and Nachtigal
in the English translation (London, 1971), IV, 344. Barth found stirrups almost European
in shape, but of copper, used by horsemen of Agades; (I857-8), I, 395.
28 Olive Macleod, Chiefs and Cities of Central Africa (London and Edinburgh, 1912),
247, a Bomu example; A. H. Ba and J. Daget, L'Empire Peul du Macina (Paris and The
Hague, I1962), I, 7I.
22
SUDAN
359
The importance of shoeing is clear in Marco Polo's report that merchants

exporting horses to Malabar prevented farriers going thither, lest improved
care reduce wastage and thus cut import demand.29 On the other hand,
where stony ground was rare, as in Bornu and Kanem, special protection
for horses' hooves was less urgent, and Nachtigal reports only small
numbers of horseshoes imported from Tripoli. In the rocky country of
Borku, more care was needed; the Awlad Sulayman used neck hide of the
sable antelope, as did Nachtigal himself.30Even in rough territory, however,
such precautions were sometimes neglected: the horses of Hea, or Haha,
province in Morocco, so nimble and full of metal that they would climb
like cats over steep and craggy mountains, were always unshod.31 Damp,
more than rough country, was injurious.32
Putting all these items of equipment together, with others (spurs,33 for
example, rendered partly superfluous by the sharp stirrups), the full use of
horses required a wide range of ancillary services, as in Leo's Fez:
Next unto the laundressesare those that make trees for saddles; who dwell likewise in great numbers eastwarde.... Upon these adjoin about forty shops of
such as work stirrups,spurs, and bridles, so artificially,as I think the like are not
to be seen in Europe. Next standeth their street, that first rudely make the said
stirrups, bridles, and spurs. From thence you may go into the street of sadlers,
which cover the saddles before mentionedthreefoldwith most excellent leather:
the best leatherthey lay uppermost,and the worst beneath,and that with notable
workmanship;as may be seen in most placesof Italy. And of them there aremore
than an hundred shops.... Unto these adjoinsuch as make certaine langols or
withs, which the Africans put upon their horses' feet.... Next them are a
company of farriers,that shooe mules and horses.... Then follow smiths that
make horseshooes ..34
Without such services, the military exploitation of horses was severely
handicapped. Imported equipment offered a partial solution: Lander,
early in the nineteenth century, mentions bits, stirrups, and brass
ornaments entering the Central Sudan through Nupe.35 Better still was to
attract artisans. The Tripolitanian, Muhammad, more often cited for the
two concubines, one white and one Ethiopian, whom he presented to
Sabun of Wadai, also early in the nineteenth century, was a saddler.36The
artisan's role seems hinted at in the early penetration of Islam among the
Bariba of northern Dahomey, themselves extensive horse-owners. In the
The Book of Ser Marco Polo..., ed. Sir Henry Yule (London, I926), II, 340.
Nachtigal (I967), II, 74.
31 Leo
Africanus, The History and Description of Africa (London, I896), II, 228-9.
32 L. Palmer,
'Feet and shoeing', In My Opinion, ed. W. E. Lyon (London, I928), 283.
33 Cf. Nachtigal (I967),
ii, 607.
34 Leo (I896),
II, 436-4I;
the sections omitted include other artisans not directly
concerned with horses. Some workmen polished and enamelled stirrups and spurs.
35 R. Lander, Records of Captain Clapperton's Last Expedition (London, 1830),
II, 153.
36 Cheykh Mohammed ...
el-Tounsy, Voyage au Ouaddy, tr. Perron (Paris, I85I), 248.
The title of the king's stirrup holder in Darfur, melik et-tunis, may indicate a North
African connection; Nachtigal (I97I), IV, 336, 412.
29
30
360
HUMPHREY
J. FISHER
good old days of pagan supremacy there, Muslim visitors were kept well
secluded; but then the king of Nikki, commanding Bariba warriors and
cavalry, consented to receive some 'marabouts' from Sokoto, who furnished
him with caparisons and bridles, and repaired arms and equipment, and
through these newcomers some local people converted.37 The same
importance may lie behind the somewhat puzzling references in Adamawa
traditions to the Mahdist adherent Hayatu, who settled for a long time at
Yola, buying only bridles, and who, when he left, spent all the lamido's
farewell gifts on yet more bridles. He went on to Marwa, famous horsebreeding country, and built up a large following, finally waging war.38In a
Hausa folktale, a wealthy man who had no son appealed to the clerics. They
sent him to the forest, there to plait hobbles for horses until he earned
enough to buy a slave wife, by whom, after building a house, he would have
a son.39 This may have been simply an exercise in humility,40 or perhaps
working on equine equipment had some special significance.
The importance of equipment in the central Sudan, though great, did
not have such far-reaching consequences as in western Europe where, it
has been argued, feudalism rested upon the stirrup, a technological
innovation from the East; weaponry, tactics, landholding and society all
changing in response to the new device.41 Heavy cavalry of the feudal type
did influence Muslim fashions: Spanish Muslims copied heavy armour
from the Christians, and western-style tournaments were adopted by
Syrian and Egyptian chivalry.42 But in hot, dry climates, lighter cavalry
was more effective, as Saladin's defeat of the Crusaders at the Horns of
Hattin near Tiberias, in i I87, showed.43 Similarly, heavy cavalry in the
Sudan, with quilted armour cumbering mounts and men alike, was
relatively rare and ineffectual. Barth, who distinguishes between light and
heavy cavalry, describes the latter in Bornu in i851 . In i826, for an attack
by Sokoto against Gobir, each governor, and the sultan, supplied six
quilted horsemen, who had to be lifted on to their steeds like medieval
knights.45I have found only one reference to exercises resembling European
jousts, in Bagirmi, and that in this century!46
Supporting services for the cavalry might include other livestock. We
have already seen, in Doughty's description, warriors riding camels to the
scene of battle, and then transferring to horses. Led horses mounted only
for actual conflict were mentioned in Part I47; in Ethiopia, a led horse
P. Marty, Ptudes sur l'Islam au Dahomey (Paris, 1926), i8I; see also 252.
'IR. M. East, Stories of Old Adamawa (Lagos and London, 1934),
I f.
9 A. J. N. Tremearne, Hausa Superstitions and Customs. . . (London, 1913), 283.
40 Cf. M. Last, The Sokoto Caliphate (London, I967),
I22.
41 L. T. White, Medieval Technology and Social Change (Oxford, I962),
the first chapter;
J. Goody, Technology, Tradition and the State in Africa (London, 197I), 34.
42 White (I962),
35-6.
43 E. Bradford, The Shield and the Sword: the Knights of St. John (London, I972),
37-8.
44 Barth (I857-8), iII, i6-I7.
45 H. Clapperton, Journal of a Second Expedition ... (London, I829),
I86-7.
3
46
4
Macleod (I
9 7 2),
I 70.
P. 373 and n. Cf. B. Alexander, 'Lake Chad', J. Afr. Soc.
VII (7908),
231-2.
SUDAN
36I
accompanied the rider's mule.48 Goody suggests the contrary, that horses
were often 'just a means of transport to war rather than in war'49;but,
apart from resolute leaders dismounting (see p. 363 below) I have found
little evidence of this in the central Sudan. The switch to horses as battle
began increased speed and manoeuverability; but armies often included a
camelry element, which might be thrown even against cavalry, for horses
unaccustomed to camels have a strong natural fear of them.50
Food and water supplies for horses on the march were another vital
support element. In Part I (p. 384) we mentioned the obligation of various
chiefs, including the figidoma, to provide corn for horsetraders travelling
north from Bornu. There are several references in the Bornu records to
peoples, particularly living southwards towards Mandara, having a duty to
supply fodder for the Bornu cavalry.51The overall economics of horsekeeping is yet another aspect of the general subject needing careful
analysis.
It was not only the size, equipment, and support of horses that determined their military impact, but also the spirit of the troops. Islamic
fervour might offset cavalry strength. The Almoravids, redoubtable
warriors, fought mostly on foot.52 Usuman dan Fodio triumphed, in the
main, with relatively ill-equipped zealots against the cavalry of the Hausa
kings. The Hausa mocked the equestrian ineptitude of the Fulani, only a
few, mostly favourites of Hausa princes, having had horses before the jihad.53
After the Fulani, with twenty horses, defeated the numerous Gobir
cavalry at Tabkin Kwotto in i804, Usuman's daughter exulted:
Yunfa fled from bare-leggedherdsmen,
Who had neither mail nor horseman;
We that had been chased like hares
Can now live in houses.54
Military factors did enter in: skilled Fulani bowmen wrought havoc even
among Hausa heavy cavalry, despite their armour.55But religion was more
important-although it is exactly this that should give us a word of warning, lest disparity in resources between reformers and princes be exaggerated in order to enhance the significance of religion. Staudinger, for
48 W. C. Harris, The Highlands
19 Goody (I971),
47.
50 Last (I967), 3I and n. This
of _Ethiopia (London, i844),
III,
245.
was one factor in the eleventh-century defeat of the

Spanish Christians at Zallaqa; H. Terrasse, Histoire du Maroc (Casablanca, I949), I, 234.
51Sudanese Memoirs, II, io6, and III, 29-30; see also R. Cohen, The Kanuri of Bornu
(New York, I967), 50, 6is, 67, 89, 93.
52 El-Bekri, Description de l'Afrique Septentrionale, ed. de Slane (Algiers and Paris, I9I3,
reprinted Paris, I965), 3I4, Arabic i66; P. F. Farias, 'The Almoravids .. .', Bull. I.F.A.N.
xxix (B, 3-4) (I967), 794-878. Contrast Goody (I97I),
69, who sees Almoravid cavalry
dominating trans-Saharan routes.
53 E. R. Flegel, Lose Bldtter aus dem Tagebuche ...
(Hamburg, I885), 34.
54 M. Crowder, The Story of Nigeria (London, I966), 98, 350.
5" Hogben and Kirk-Greene (I966), I97.
362
HUMPHREY
J. FISHER
example, opposes Flegel (see n. 53), and claims that many more horses
were available to the Fulani.56
Again, discipline and tactics might outweigh cavalry advantages. At
Tabkin Kwotto, the Fulani had been impelled willy-nilly to adopt the
square,57 the same formation which the British used to good effect in
West Africa and elsewhere.58 A horse's speed was qualified by his noise:
hooves might be heard by putting an ear to the ground-whence, as I
suppose, the English proverb-well before the sound carried through the
air. In areas of recurrent danger from cavalry attack, thorn hedges, stockades, walls, ditches and other devices were developed. It is perhaps significant that the two themes, of cavalry power and walled towns, march hand
in hand through early Hausa history: the balance of the two may explain
why Hausaland, despite the early employment of horses and the favourable
terrain, evolved no unitary empire as Mali, Songhay, or Bornu.
The military effectiveness of horses lay not in cavalry alone, but in the
intelligent combination of infantry and cavalry. Denham observed of
Bornu:
the infantryhere . . . most commonlydecide the fortuneof war; and the sheikh's
former successes may be greatly, if not entirely, attributedto the courageous
effortsof the Kanem spearmen,in leadingthe Bornouhorse into the battle, who,
without such a covering attack, would never be brought to face the arrows of
their enemies.59
In other areas also, for example in Nupe, and among the Mossi, it was the
custom for the infantry to open the engagement, and for the cavalry to be
used as a follow-up. 60Should the tide of battle already have begun to turn,
the follow-up might alter accordingly: were the infantry successful, the
cavalry might pursue to make captives and slaves; were the infantry thrown
back, the cavalry might lead the retreat.
The Psalmist notwithstanding, a horse was certainly not counted a vain
thing to save a man. That even the mai of Bornu might so decamp seems
not to have been sufficiently embarrassing to exclude mention of it in his
praise songs:
Sultan, even if you aremountedon your bay horse called 'Kite Kiteram',
Birni Njimi is a long way off if you want to run away.61
After a victory of Alooma of Bornu over the Bulala, ' . . . of those who were
on foot or mounted on camels, many were killed. Only those mounted on
horses escaped.'62 Kutumbi, a seventeenth-century ruler of Kano, escaped
56
P.
Staudinger, Im Herzen der Haussa-Ldnder (Berlin, I889), 538; see also U.
BraukSimper, Der Einfluss des Islam auf die Geschichte ... Adamaues ... (Wiesbaden,
I970),
22.
57 H. A. S. Johnston, The Fulani Empire of Sokoto (London, I967), 45-6.

290.
M. Crowder, ed., West African Resistance (London, I97I),
Denham and Clapperton (I826), (D)I74.
60 M. J. Echenberg, 'Late nineteenth-century military technology in Upper Volta',
J. Afr. Hist. XII, 2 (197I), 243; S. F. Nadel, A Black Byzantium (London, I951), III.
61 J. R. Patterson, Kanuri Songs (Lagos, I926), 3.
62 Sudanese Memoirs, I, 32.
58
59
SUDAN
363
on horseback with a few companions after a dawn raid surprised his camp;
it had been his prudent habit, when going to war or prayer, to have a
hundred spare horses in his train63-a practice dating back to Rumfa's time,
about I500.64 Abdullahi dan Fodio describes Sarkin Gobir's flight from
Tabkin Kwotto:
And Yunfa fled headlong,
Running before his horsemen, who fled in disorder.
His clinging to the mane of his charger
Saved him from the death decreed....
His horsemenwere (like) brides in garments of silk,
Sticking to their horses like tick(s).65
In Darfur, the Anglo-Egyptian governor Slatin once surprised the camp of
the Mahdist general Madibbo, capturing even his copper drums; but
Madibbo, riding bareback, escaped. When Slatin later surrendered, he
received Madibbo's favourite horse, and gave back the drums in exchange. 66
Examples might be multiplied.67
The spare horses often remarked among a warrior's equipage were
designed in part to ensure his safe and speedy departure in case of need.
When Abderrahman, brother of Shaykh "Umar of Bornu, was overthrown after temporarily usurping supreme authority in i853-4, he had
one horse killed under him. He was at once brought the horse of one of his
slaves, but refused such a dishonourable mount. Then another brother gave
his own horse to enable Abderrahman to flee-unsuccessfully, as it turned
out.68 Denham observed the sultan of Mandara setting out on a raid, with
thirty of his sons; all were mounted, each son having five or six spare
horses, and the sultan at least twelve.69
To go into battle with one horse only, or even on foot, was an indication
of the leader's resolve to fight to the finish. Slatin makes this point
explicitly:
On the first shots being fired, I had at once jumped off my horse, which is
always understood in the Sudan to mean that, abandoninghis chance of flight
in case of a reverse, the commanderhas determinedto conquer or die with his
troops....70
In i824, at the battle of Angala, in which Bornu overcame Bagirmi, the
Shaykh of Bornu, al-Kanemi, employed the same symbolic action:
83
Kano Chronicle, in ibid. iII, II9.

Hogben and Kirk-Greene (1966), 192.
6 'Abdullah ibn Muhammad, Tazyin al-waraqdt, ed. and tr. M. Hiskett (Ibadan, I963),
"I 3.
68 R. C. Slatin, Fire and Sword in the Sudan (London, I896), 247, 267.
67 See Gueladio's dramatic escape from the Masina theocrats, though on a field of
prayer, not of battle; Ba and Daget (I962), I, 123-4.
68 A. Schultze, The Sultanate of Bornu, tr. P. A. Benton (I9I3, reprinted London,
I968), 270-I.
89 Denham and Clapperton
(i826), (D)130.
70
Slatin (1896), I97.
84
364
HUMPHREY
J. FISHER
It is said that, on the morning of the battle, the sheikh appearedat the door of
his tent, with the English double-barrelledgun in his hand, and his English
sword slung over his shoulders, clothed in the dress of a simple trooper,saying
it was his intention to fight on foot, at the head of his Kanemboos;-that he
expected all the Arabsto follow his example,and encouragethe slaves, who were
but young in the use of the firelock:that if it pleased God to grant their enemies
the victory,flight was out of the question; they had nothing left but to die before
their wives and childrenwere torn from them, and escape so appallinga sight.7'
Something of the same gesture may lie behind the single horse of the king
of Kaniaga, despite the numerous horses available in his army.72
It would be cynical to regard spare horses as necessarily a sign of timidity. Many Sudanese champions echoed the cry of Richard III, 'Give me
another horse!' Ahmad Shata, vizier of Darfur, hoping for honourable
death in battle against Zubayr, had one horse shot under him, mounted
another, and was killed.73 In a succession dispute in the Kano emirate, one
redoubtable claimant had four horses killed under him before he was
taken.74 On the raid in which the Mandara sultan and his thirty sons
participated, one Bornu commander mounted three horses in succession,
two dying by poisoned arrows. Horses, being larger, were more vulnerable
than men: in several clashes during the occupation of Hausaland the
British had horses killed but no men.76 The habit of keeping spares may
help explain the considerable booty sometimes taken in horses. Spoil
seized from al-Kanemi's army in i827 included over two hundred horses,
and al-Hajj 'Umar captured a like number from Segu.77 Mixed booty of
horses and slaves confirms again the presence of horses outside the main
states: after a successful raid, a Bornu kashella received ioo slaves, 50 cows,
so donkeys and 8o horses. 78
Slaving was a main purpose of much violence, from war to kidnapping,
and horses were of special value in overtaking fugitives. Mandingo warriors
in the Liberian hinterland offered a standard choice:
These unrelentingcavaliersare said to put a very simple alternativeto a poor
foot soldier who can neither furtherfight nor fly: they hail him with 'Stand and
you are a slave; run and you are a corpse.'79
71
72
Denham and Clapperton (i826), (D)25o.

Part I, 374-5.
73 Slatin (I896),
51-2.
74 Histoire du Sokoto, in Tedzkiret en-nisidn, ed. and tr. 0. Houdas (1913-4,
reprinted
Paris, i966), 353-5.
7r Denham and Clapperton (I826), (D)133.
273, 279.
76 R. A. Adeleye, Power and Diplomacy in Northern Nigeria (London,
i97i),
77 Clapperton (I829),
252; M. A. Tyam, La Vie d'El Hadj Omar, ed. and tr. H. Gaden
(Paris, 1935),
144.
207. A tenthR. Prietze, 'Bornulieder', M.S.O.S. zu Berlin, Afr. Stud. (1914),

century author reports Kanem tree-dwellings, presumably a defensive measure and very
likely against slavers, the trees at the same time shading the residents' horses; Sharaf alZamdn Tahir Marvazi on China, the Turks and India, ed. and tr. V. Minorsky (London,
78
1I942),
79
54.
B. Anderson, 3ourneys to Musadu (London,
197I),
2nd narrative, 30.
365
SUDAN
We have an account of a Kano slave raid taking horses nine days into
dense forest, even though a road had frequently to be cut for the animals
through the bush.80 Such activity was not the exclusive privilege of Muslim
states; in the following curious passage, the freed slave Doguru speaks of
his experience among the Bedde, whom we noticed in Part I (p. 376) as
one of many local Sudanese groups possessing horses:
They give their horses charm-water.When they go anywhere, and some one
sees them, and hides himself, their horses, on seeing that spot, stand still, and if
their mastersspur them, they do not go on; so the master knows that his horse
sees something: the horse sees the spot where some one has hid himself, but the
horse's master does not see it. Then the owner of the horse calls into the open
air, 'Thou who hast hid thyself here, arise and come forth! if thou do not come
forth, I will kill thee.' The man who has hid himself, on hearingdeaththreatened,
comes forth and says, 'Father Bode, do not kill me!' Then the Bode seizes and
ties him, and puts him in front, and all the Bodes start again. Their horses show
them the place where a man has hid himself; I have seen it: no one has told it
me, but I myself have witnessed it. We and they were together....81
In a circular relationship, newly captured slaves, and others, were
frequently exchanged for more horses. The first askiya of Songhay, in the
early sixteenth century, bartered the children of three servile tribes for
horses.82 Examples abound: various prominent personalities had, earlier in
their careers, formed part of such exchanges. Ngolo, to become king of the
Bambara of Segu later in the nineteenth century, had once been one of
240 slaves sent by the Bambara to Jenne, in exchange for horses.83 Bishop
Crowther, as a boy, had been bartered by a chief, who had taken him as
spoil, for a horse, but the chief took back his slave when the horse proved
unsuitable.84
Leo reports that the ruler of Bornu used to give fifteen or twenty
slaves for an imported horse.85 By the nineteenth century, the price of
horses in terms of slaves had fallen considerably in the central Sudan.
Barth observed, in Sokoto in I853, that a slave and a horse were of roughly
equal value86; this seems unusual, although Crowther was apparently
assessed in this way. Whether sufficient detail survives in the sources to
allow us ever to calculate overall price patterns is uncertain. Clearly many
variables enter in. Quality horses were vastly more expensive than southern
8O W. W. Reade, Savage Africa (London, I864), 480, citing F. de Castelnau, Renseignements sur l'Afrique centrale; the information was originally gleaned from Hausa slaves in
Latin America.
I" Koelle
82
(i854),
2I2.
MahmoudKati, Tarikhel-fettach(Paris, 1913-4, reprintedParis, I964),
I09,
Arabic
56.
C. Monteil, Les Bambara du Segou et du Kaarta (Paris, 1924), 47.
Remembered, ed. Philip D. Curtin (Madison, Wisconsin, I968), 304-5.
86 Leo (I896),
iII, 833-4; see also B. Lembezat, Les populations paiennes du NordCameroun et de l'Adamaoua (Paris, I96I), 156-7.
86 Barth (I857-8),
IV, i8o; for a fuller discussion of slaves in the arms trade, chiefly for
horses, see A. G. B. and H. J. Fisher, Slavery and Muslim Society in Africa (London,
83
"4 Africa
1970), 68-71.
366
HUMPHREY
J. FISHER
Sudanic ponies, and within such general categories the virtues of the individual horse (or slave) weighed heavily. Legends no doubt overstate this.
When, in Shuwa sagas, Abu Zayd the Hilali offers Mallam al-Tiftif (whom
he later killed) wealth past reckoning, 99 slaves of six spans, 99 of five, and
99 old women with heads white as cotton, all for one white mare, we may
suspect exaggeration.87 But figures given by Doughty in Arabia in the
nineteenth century, where among the beduin a best broodmare of pure
blood was worth twelve or more stout Negro lads bought of the returning
pilgrimage caravan, reflect the importance of good mares more realistically. 88
Beyond these generally commercial considerations, slaves and horses
were linked in various other contexts. In the discussion of exchange which
closes this article, horses and slaves are often parallel items. Islamic law
classed them together for certain purposes: it was, for example, illegal to
sell a runaway slave or a runaway animal.89 Perhaps following from this,
the Kanuri term gawui may mean, of animals, 'stray', 'solitary', and of
slaves, 'runaway'.90Proverbs and poems join, or contrast, the two. The
Hausa say, a horseman wants his property to run, not so the slave owner.91
The pipedream of a Tunisian bedouin poet is for a fine horse, a handy young
slave boy, and a greyhound.92 And, in a somewhat macabre folktale, the
chief and headmen of a Hausa village command their sons to slaughter
warhorses and beautiful slave maidens.93
Both flight and slaving, as headings of the military use of horses, reflect
the importance of people, rather than of territory. To get away alive was
more important than to defend a particular piece of ground; and it was of
far more use to capture people than land. Booty was a main source of state
revenue, and human booty was particularly valuable.94 But captives had
more than a commercial value: many were prospective farming and labouring citizens, taxable and draftable. The measure of a state's power in the
central Sudan was the number of its controlled population: a vast area
without people to till and defend it was of little profit. Underpopulation, as
for Australia today, was a critical problem.
So much for the military use of horses. Another employment of clear
significance for good government is in communications. I-fere, to my
surprise, I can recall little mention of urgent messages sent by horse, no
87
J. R. Patterson, Stories of Abu Zeid the Hilali (London, 1930),
24,
Arabic 3; see also
66-7.
88
89
Doughty (1923), I, 208, 553.

ed. L. Bercher (Algiers, 1945), 209, 215.
Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani, La Risdla .,
90 P. A. Benton, Kanuri Readings (London, 191 I), 93.
91C. E. J. Whitting, Hausa and Fulani proverbs (Lagos, 1940), 24; cf. G. Merrick,
Hausa proverbs (London, 1905), 49.
76; A. Wagnon,
92 H. Stumme, Tripolitanisch-tunisische Beduinenlieder (Leipzig, I894),
Chants des bedouins de Tripoli et de la Tunisie (Paris, I894), I5.
93 R. S. Rattray, Hausa Folk-lore ... (Oxford, 1913), I, 284 ff.; see also Part I, 368, n. 5.
" Goody (1971), 35-6. An interesting study might be made of the influence, in black
Africa, of Islamic regulations concerning booty.
SUDAN
367
Sudanese dash from Ghent to Aix, no black John Gilpin. There are celebrated rides, such as the escape of Ali Kolon, later first sonni of Songhay,
from Mali, but these are closer to flight than to despatches.95 My unfamiliarity with the sources must be partly to blame. Express horsemenone arrived at midnight at Kano, to tell people there, depressed by cloudy
skies, that the moon ending Ramadan had been seen96-were surely not
unusual. Many remarkable stories adorn the camel in this respect. Horses
were also important in tax-collecting, particularly for cattle taxes from
nomads,97 and in quest of alms-hence the significance of horses given to
clerics.
Horses made a modest contribution as pack animals. Camels dominated
the desert routes. Horses might accompany the camel caravans; probably
the riding beasts of wealthy travellers, they nevertheless demonstrate the
continuing suitability of the horse for desert transport. Camels penetrated
into the Sudan countries as far as climate and terrain allowed. Oxen were
often used, particularly in Bornu.98The first residence of the sultans of Air
had to be moved, for pack-oxen carrying grain thither suffered too much
en route.99Donkeys were also much favoured. A donkey-load of salt may
have been a standard unit in eleventh-century Ghana.100Denham remarks
on the particularly fine breed of donkeys in Mandara, perhaps the same
which Schultze describes as characteristic of southwestern Bornu.'0'
Doughty, in Arabia, found the donkey, which sweats little, hardly less a
beast of the wilderness than the camel; Speke reports that the Somali
watered their camels twice a month, and their donkeys four times, compared with ponies needing water every forty-eight hours. Arkell discusses the feasibility of donkey transport on the Forty Days' Road south
from Egypt, comparing Harkhuf's donkey caravans in ancient times.102In
a combination of carriers, Clapperton saw oxen, donkeys, mules, slaves and
free porters in Hausa caravans to Gonja, and horses too, though not I think
carrying loads.'03 Mules were apparently not bred in Bornu.104Further
east, caravans of donkeys and oxen are mentioned carrying goods south
from Wadai into Dar Kuti.'05 A pilgrimage vignette given by Barth
95
Part I, p. 378.
6 Denham and Clapperton (i826), (C)127. Nachtigal records his anxiety lest a message,
unfriendly to him, be sent by horseback from Logon to Bagirmi, two days' easy ride;
(i967), II, 525-6.
97 Cohen (i967),
104.
100,
98 Denham and Clapperton (i826), (D)32I.
99Y. Urvoy, 'Chroniques d'Agad's', J. Soc. Africanistes, iv (I934),
54.
Arabic 176. The Arabic gives himdr al-mili, the donkey of
100 El-Bekri (i965), 330-I,
salt; but the next line refers to zimlan-nuhzds,the load of copper. The Arabic words for
donkey and load are similar, and possibly one has been confused with the other.
101Denham and Clapperton (i826), (D)32I; Schultze (I968), i66.
102
Doughty (1923), I, 28i, 428; J. H. Speke, What Led to the Discovery... (London,
1864), 73; A. J. Arkell, A History of the Sudan (London, 1955), 42-5.
104
Schultze (i968), i66.
68, I09-I0.
105 Grech, 'Ittude sur le Dar Kouti en temps de Snoussi', Bull. de la Soc. des Recherches
congolaises, iv (1924),
38-9.
368
HUMPHREY
J. FISHER
illustrates the various animals. On his way to Adamawa, Barth met a party
of pilgrim traders returning home to Masina, on the upper Niger. The
chief among them had a pack-ox laden with salt which he hoped to sell in
Adamawa, and was riding a camel, which alas, died in Adamawa during the
rains. Two others were mounted on fine donkeys, which they had brought
with them from Darfur.'06
Nevertheless horses were used. Nachtigal mentions packhorses belonging
to traders from Kuka, on expeditions to Adamawa, Bagirmi, Kano,
Zinder and elsewhere; and packhorses accompanied him on his return
journey from Bagirmi.107He gives the price of an inferior Bornu packhorse, in the Kuka market, as between four and ten Maria Theresa dollars,
the same as for a dwarf horse from the southern pagan countries.'08 In
I894, a German officer returning from Kete, in modern Ghana, met a
Hausa caravan of 300 people, from Sokoto, with humped cattle, sixty or
more donkeys, and laden horses.'09 Goody's repeated assertion that horses
never carried goods is, I suspect, another instance of noble horsemanship
witching the world, even its academics."10
Hunting, apart from the prime occupation of slaving already discussed, was also a function of horses, though apparently much more in
North Africa than in the Sudan. Ostriches were a popular prey. Horse
trappings were specially lightened for ostrich hunting.1"
As for straight agricultural work, I know of no references to this in
the central Sudan, although it was common in North Africa: Leo, for
example, speaks of ploughing with horses and camels throughout
Numidia."2 In the absence of plough and wheel, there was not much the
horses in the Sudan could do. Goody, in his Technology,tradition, and the
state in Africa, discusses the effects of this absence most interestingly, but
the question why remains unanswered. Religion crossed the desert, the
Arabic language, literacy, firearms and other weapons, novelties past
counting: why were the wheel and the plough never adopted? In recent
years, the plough has been widely taken up by peasant farmers, for example
in Hausa and Senegambia"13;it is drawn by oxen. Have development
experts ever considered that horses, superior draft animals, might be more
helpful than tractors to the small African farmer? Horse manure was, and
is, valued as fertilizer, and also as an ingredient in Hausa bricks and
cement.114
108
Barth (I857-8),
107
Nachtigal(I967),
II,
366-7, 471.
I, 673,
and II, 736; compareII,
391,
where they are cited afteroxen
and donkeys.
108 Nachtigal
(I967),
I, 693.
109J. Lippert, 'Uber die Bedeutung der Haussanation . . .', Mitt. des Sem. fuir Orien-
talischeSprachenzu Berlin (1907), 202.

1 Goody (I97I), 48, 66.
1 E. Daumas, The Ways of the Desert (Austin and London,
50 ff.
197I),
Leo (I896), III, 777.
11 Polly Hill, Rural Hausa (Cambridge, 1972),
F. W. Taylor and A. G. G. Webb, Labarun al'adun Hausawa (London, 1932),
I 85-7.
112
114
307-9.
173,
SUDAN
369
In the Muslim Sudan at least, horses were rarely eaten. Maliki law
forbids the eating of horses and mules, though wild donkeys are allowed.'15
Inadequate observance of these regulations was a complaint against Pagans
or careless Muslims. Ibn Battuta condemned the Mali habit of eating
carrion, dogs, and asses.116The Musgo delegates who in I823 brought
presents to the Sultan of Mandara ate a horse which died during the night
of their visit. Denham said that this proved they were not Christians, as
his Arab colleague had claimed, but the Arab retorted that Christians ate
pig, which was worse."7 A ban on eating horsemeat was one of the reforms
imposed by al-Hajj 'Umar on the Bambara in the nineteenth century."l8
In Liberia, the Loma eat all but the head of a horse, this being given
human burial."19A strange passage from Koelle, concerning Bornu, tells
of the formal eating of a dead horse by the king of the eagles, and his companions.'20 Contrariwise, vultures refused, out of respect, to eat the horse
upon which a Somali saint had ridden, the horse itself having died of
grief at parting from the man of God.'2' We may contrast the unsavoury
repute of horsemeat with the esteem in which camel was held.
Thus far we have not mentioned what was clearly one of the most important employments of horses, in festivals and celebrations. These might
be family affairs-in Kuka, for example, and among the Arma of Songhay,
a bride was taken to her bridegroom's house on horseback'22-or perhaps a
school celebration. Leo's account is of Fez:
Afterward so soon as any boy hath perfectly learned the whole Alcoran, his
father inviteth all his son's schoolfellows unto a great banquet: and his son in
costly apparel rides through the street upon a gallant horse, which horse and
apparelthe governor of the royal citadel is bound to lend him. The rest of his
school-fellows being mounted likewise on horse-back accompany him to the
banqueting house....123
In Wadai, the successful scholar was also paraded on horseback, banqueted, and might choose his bride from all the lasses of the village.'24
The main occasions for mass deployment of horses in celebration seem
to have been arrivals-particularly when the visitors were important, or
were saluting a great man-and Fridays and other Muslim holy days. The
Ibn Abl Zayd (I945), 299.
Ibn Battfita (I968), IV,423-4; his own camel was eaten, though it is not clear whether
it had been properly slaughtered or not (IV, 429-30).
117
Denham and Clapperton (i826), (D)II8-9; see also Part I, 377, n. 53.
118 M. Delafosse, Haut-S6n6gal-Niger (Paris, 1912),
II, 3I8.
119G. Schwab, Tribes of the Liberian hinterland (Cambridge,
Mass., I947), 95.
120 Koelle (I854), 204-5.
121 B. W.
Andrzejewski, 'Allusive diction in Galla hymns.. .', Af. Lang. Studies, xiii
115
116
(2972),
II,
15.
Nachtigal (I967), I, 739; P. Marty, ARtudes

sur l'Islam et les Tribus du Soudan (Paris,
I920),
II, II8. Cf. Taylor and Webb (I932), 13, for a Hausa variation. Camels were also
used; Denham and Clapperton (I826), xxvii.
123 Leo (I896), II, 456.
122
124
Nachtigal
(I97I),
IV, i89.
370
HUMPHREY
J. FISHER
leading men of Zawila rode out to meet Hornemann's caravan as it approached, and later, near Murzuk, hosts and guests together pranced and
curvetted their horses.125Clapperton says of his arrival at Sansan, in I823,
on the way from Hausa to Bornu:
Our horsemen skirmished a little in front of the caravanbefore entering the
town, and then galloped up in pairs to the governor's door, firing off their
muskets. This is the common compliment paid by kafilas [caravans]in such
cases.126
Denham, at Delow towards Mandara, mentions disadvantages of the custom:

As is usual on approachingor visiting a great man, we galloped up to the skiffa
at full speed, almost entering the gates. This is a perilous sort of salutation,but
nothing must stop you; and it is seldom made except at the expense of one or
more lives. On this occasion, a man and a horse, which stood in our way, were
ridden over in an instant, the horse'sleg broke,and the man killed on the spot.127
Similarly, horsemen often welcomed new arrivals by galloping up to them
and suddenly stopping.128
On Fridays and festivals, equestrian exercises might include races-in
Bariba, pagans as well as Muslims joined in the Friday festivities, and the
small local horses sometimes outran the larger Bornu breed129-mock
battles or skirmishes, sudden charges and halts. Miss Tully gives an
interesting description from Tripoli; Slatin witnessed the like at the
Mahdi's camp, Hornemann at Murzuk, Denham at Kuka, and Barth also,
Zintgraff at Donga in Cameroon, Laing at Falaba.130Colonel Bulder, of
Pickwick, was, mutatis mutandis, a familiar figure in the Sudan,
in full military uniform, on horseback,galloping first to one place and then to
another,and backinghis horse among the people, and prancing,and curvetting,
and shouting in a most alarmingmanner,and makinghimself very hoarsein the
voice, and very red in the face, without any assignablecause or reasonwhatever.
The 1972 BBC television series on the British Empire showed that such
horsemanship retains dramatic appeal even today.131
These displays are of practical historical significance. Pomp and circumstance are often useful trappings of the state. Second, the universal esteem
for horses presumably stimulated trade and exchange in these, with
corresponding benefits to the economic life of the countries concerned.
Third, the displays might serve as military propaganda, as when Bornu
125
127
129
130
126 Denham and Clapperton (I826),

Hornemann (I967), II, I23, I3I.
128 Ibid. (C)I9, 35-6, 77; examples are legion.
Ibid. (D)iI2.
Clapperton (I829), 72-3.
Tully (i8i6),
47-8;
Slatin (I896),
284, 53I; Hornemann
(I967),
II, I35-6;
(C)I5.
Denham
and Clapperton (I826), (D)2I3; Barth (I857-8), iii, I7; E. Zintgraff, Nord-Kamerun
(Berlin, I895), 272-4; A. G. Laing, Travels in ... Western Africa (London, I825), 246-7.
131 A. J. N. Tremearne, The Ban of the Bori (London, I9I4), 65, mentions that horses in
Bornu were sometimes dressed in trousers for state processions; this may be a distorted
reference to quilted armour.
SUDAN
371
troops receiving a Tripoli caravan pressed so close as to give the compliment of welcome the appearance of contempt for the visitors' weakness.132
Fourth, they trained both animals and riders in agility and control, essential
for light cavalry. In another respect festivals were excellent, though probably unintended, training: they accustomed horses to noise, particularly of
gunfire, a standard festal element. A horse without such training was a
liability, not an asset, in battle. Slatin once paid a considerable price for a
fine horse, formerly an officer's and used to firing.133Several nineteenthcentury battles may have been determined when the sound of firearms
caused horses to panic.134Noisy festivals prevented such reverses from
becoming more frequent than they were, although of course celebrations
were still far removed from fighting conditions, and Abdullahi dan Fodio
complained of 'horses that gallop in the towns, not on the battlefields."135
A further point about festival riding is the importance of harness,
especially bits, stirrups, spurs and saddles-all things, as we have seen, of
the greatest significance for the military effectiveness of horses. Many
observers, particularly in more recent times, have commented bitterly on
the cruel heavy Sudanese bits, from which the horses' mouths bled profusely.'36 A hot bit, runs a Hausa proverb, is the cure for a stubborn
horse.137Without such equipment, some of the manoeuvres would have
been impossible.
Horse trappings provided an attractive opportunity for luxury craftsmanship: royal extravagance in this is well documented in North Africa.'38
Leo's account of the complete gold harness of the ruler of Bornu, more
directly relevant for our area, is difficult to interpret. His recent French
editors played down the significance of the gold, pointing out that very thin
copper plates are used to cover such harness even today in Bornu, and that
therefore not much gold would have been needed.139But Leo says that the
harness was completely of gold, as were the king's dishes and bowls, even
the chains of his dogs. McCall, at the furthest pole from the cautious
132
K. Folayan, 'Tripoli-Bornu political relations,
4 (I97I),
I8I7-I825',
J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, v,
472.
Slatin (i896), 64-5.

134 J. P. Smaldone, 'Firearms in the Central Sudan: a
revaluation', Y. Afr. Hist. XIII, 4
(I972),
594. From one source he cites, however, C. G. B. Gidley, 'Mantanfas: a study in
oral tradition', Afr. Lang. Stud. vi (I965), 32-5I,
it appears that cannon, almost unprecedented, had this effect, and not simply any noisy firearm. Guns and horses might be
complementary: Barth (I857-8), III, 63-4, says of a massacre of the Awlad Sulayman in
i850, that their guns were useful in a skirmish of horsemen, who could withdraw after
firing, but of little use in close combat.
135 Abdullah b. Muhammad (I963), 122.
136 E.g. B. Alexander, From the Niger to the Nile
(London, I908), II, 122-3, who noticed
also the bad effects of hard saddles; and Migeod (I924), 88.
137 Rattray (19I3),
II, 256.
133
138 E.g. al-'Omarl
(I927),
and Clapperton (I826),
2II
f.; Leo (I896),
II, 484; Tully
xiv; W. B. Harris, Tafilet...
(i8i6),
39, 48, 7I; Denham
(Edinburgh and London, I895),
255-7.
139
Jean-Leon I'Africain, Description de l'Afrique, ed. and tr. A. Epaulard et at. (Paris,
1956),
48I.
25
AH XIV
HUMPHREY
372
J. FISHER
French approach, cites Leo for the possible importance of Kanem as an

exporter of gold to North Africa.140This seems too speculative. I prefer to
reserve judgment, suspecting that Leo's memory may have played him
false in thus gilding the court of Bornu.
Beneath the ranks of royalty, those with sufficient means might satisfy,
within limits, their taste for ornament. Clapperton was in danger from a
matrimonially inclined Arab widow in Borgu:
She rode a-straddleon a fine horse, whose trappingswere of the first order for
this country. The head of the horse was ornamentedwith brass plates, the neck
with brass bells, and charms sewed in various coloured leather, such as red,
green, and yellow; a scarlet breast-piece, with a bright plate in the centre;
scarlet saddle-cloth,trimmed with lace.'4'
Boyd Alexander, a little cynically, suggests that these trappings helped
give prominent men a good appearance, hiding the bad points of their
animals.'42 Some Europeans succumbed to a like vanity: Stanley, setting
out in I887 to rescue Emin Pasha, rode astride a fine henna-stained mule,
its silver-plated trappings shining in the sun, and a tall African soldier
carrying a yacht flag before.143
In some, perhaps many, areas, sumptuary laws somewhat restricted the
rights of subjects in this respect. In nineteenth-century Wadai, no official,
even the highest, might wear silk on himself or on his horse; he could not
have a cloth-covered saddle, still less one decorated with gold or silver,
these metals being forbidden also for his stirrups. The most that was
allowed was a saddle covered with red leather.'" In Ngasrgamu, the capital
of old Bornu, twenty Magumi chiefs were specially privileged to cover
their saddles, divided into five groups, each with a different style.'45 A
Hausa proverb states: 'Silver stirrups even at the chief's courtyard, it is
the chief's son who has them'. Rattray interprets this: There are plenty of
rich and powerful people about, but none have the privilege of silver
stirrups.'46 These restrictions may stem in part from religious law: silver,
for example, in the Maliki rite may be used to embellish a ring, sabre, or
Quran, but not a bridle, saddle, or a poignard.'47 But in most cases preservation of the unique perquisites of rulers was more immediately responsible than considerations of law. In the western Sudan, Goody suggests
that horses themselves were reserved, by their expense, to the nobility.'48
140
Aspects of West African Islam, eds. D. F. McCall and N. R. Bennett (Boston, I97I),
28.
II3; see also I25, and Slatin (I896), 47, etc.
From the Niger to the Nile, II, 123.
143 H. Ward, Five Years with the
Congo Cannibals (London, I890), 33; for henna on
horses, see Nachtigal (I967), I, I29.
144 el-Tounsy (i85I),
37I; see also 56, 57, 6i. He gives abundant details on saddles,
142
etc.-see 340, 342-3, 355.

145 SudaneseMemoirs,III,
146Rattray (19I3),
147
148
Ibn Abi Zayd (I945),

Goody (I97I),
30.
II, 268.
305-7.
48.
373
SUDAN
In the central Sudan a horse, if you were not particular about appearance
and quality, seems to have been comparatively cheaper; that sumptuary
regulations fastened more on harness than on the animal may point again
to the central significance (underlined in our military and festival considerations) of equipment.
Social and religious factors considerably influenced the choice of mount.
Donkeys were generally, though not invariably, beneath the dignity of
self-respecting men. Belon, visiting Cairo in 1547, found horses reserved
for great gentlemen and soldiers, other people going on donkeys, as did
most women.149The Somali believed that even the best woman in the land
should ride only a donkey, not a horse.150Among the Zaghawa, chiefs and
notables rode horses, women and smiths rode donkeys.'51Several Zaghawa
clans have taboos against riding donkeys: one explanation is that the
original Zaghawa invaders came, on donkeys only, from a land without
horses and camels, and when they found themselves among these animals
in plenty, they swore to ride donkeys no more.'52This is only a legend, and
even if true may relate to only a fraction of the Zaghawa: yet it is a curious
commentary on the Zaghawan introduction of the horse into the Sudan. In
seventeenth-century Kano, a disgraced official, put on a donkey and driven
by girls round the town, died of chagrin.'53In Wadai almost no one rode a
donkey, and emphatically not in the capital.'54 In a Bornu song, a suitor
who offered his beloved a donkey received a dusty answer, and had to offer
her the horse of her choice to make amends.155
Such prejudice against the unoffending donkey was not universal in the
Muslim world. Indeed the donkey, among puritanical Muslims, might be
positively desirable. It may have been reserved, in the popular Arabian
mind, for judges even before Islam.'56 Early Muslim traditions make the
same point: 'Umar bin al-Khattab, the caliph, rode a donkey, and forbade
horses to his administrators: Sultan Bello of Sokoto quoted these in our
area.'57 In the early centuries of North African Islam, various anecdotes
present the donkey as the judge's proper mount, though complaints about
ostentation followed.'58 The son of Ubayd Allah, the Fatimid mahdi,after his
father's death never, save twice, mounted a horse again.'59More recently,
149 P. Belon, Voyage en Egypte (Cairo, 1970),
io6b. On the other hand, donkeys helped
conceal superfluous wealth from an inquisitive government; E. W. Lane, Manners and
Customs of the Modern Egyptians (Everymans), 142-3.
150 D. Jardine, The Mad Mullah of Somaliland(London, 1923),
304 n.
151 M.-J. Tubiana, Survivances preislamiques en pays zaghawa (Paris, I964),
I2.
152 Ibid. 64-5; see also J.
Chapelle, Nomades noirs du Sahara (Paris, I957), 362-3.
153 SudaneseMemoirs,III, 120.

154 El-Tounsy (I851), 343.
155 Prietze (1914),
212-I3.
156
53-4.
157
158
E. Tyan, Histoire de l'organisation judiciaire en pays d'Islam (Paris, I938-43),

McCall and Bennett (197I), 83-4.
J. F. P. Hopkins, Medieval Muslim Government in Barbary...
cf. perhaps,the judge's mule in al-'Omari (1927),

159 Ibn Khaldoun (I927),
II,
I, 30
(London, 1958),s
215-I6.
528.
if.,
IT9;
374
HUMPHREY
J. FISHER
the Mahdi in the eastern Sudan exhorted his followers to go on foot or by

donkey, using horses only for war.160Did Richardson know of these pious
overtones as, committed crusader against the slave trade, he left Tripoli on
his last, fatal journey, mounted on a donkey, following his guide who rode a
horse?161A specific objection to horses, when ridden in town, is that the
riders may be able to see over the walls of compounds where dwell secluded
women. The reformers in Hausaland made this point, as do the puritan Yan
Koble of Niger.162
Various factors complicated the choice between mares and stallions.
Some felt the former more fitting for religious men. Shehu Ahmadu, the
frugal theocrat of Masina early in the nineteenth century, had only a mare
to ride.163Abdullahi dan Fodio, coming to his celebrated meeting of reconciliation with his nephew Bello, was-as always-on a mare, as befitting a
mallam, while Bello rode a warhorse.164In some areas stallions were a
government monopoly: in Adamawa, any commoner having one gave it to
the lamido; in Bagirmi, all stallions of the nomads belonged to the government; in Wadai all stallions save those necessary for breeding were the
king's.165On the other hand, some Arabs believed that the female, whether
horse, camel, or mule, had greater endurance.166 Mares, less likely to
neigh, might be favoured for surprise raids; for this reason, and for breeding, they were highly prized in Hausa, and seldom sold.167Their quietness
made them more vulnerable to theft.168
In some special cases camels were preferred. Leo tells of the king of
Timbuktu, i.e. the ruler of Songhay, that
when he travellethany whither he rideth upon a camel, which is led by some of
his noblemen; and so he doth likewise when he goeth to warfare,and all his
soldiers ride upon horses.'69
El-Tounsy, far to the east, heard that Usuman dan Fodio rode a camel,
saddled with a sheepskin, at his first battle, while his troops rode horses.170
This may be a myth, although on his hijra his books were carried by
camel,17'but Abdullahi dan Fodio, raiding across the Niger, rode a camel,
160
B. T. Wilson, 'A forgottenbattle', Royal Engineersj. LXVII
161
(i)
(March 1953),
I1-15.
J. Richardson, Narrative of a Mission ... (London, I853), I, 14.

162 M. Hiskett, The Sword of Truth: the life and times
of the Shehu Usman dan Folio
(New York, I973), I49; J. C. Froelich, Les musulmans d'Afrique noire (Paris, I962), 209.
163 Ba and Daget (I962),
I, 53.
164 Hogben and Kirk-Greene (I966),
392-3.
165 East (I934),
41; Nachtigal (I967), II, 671; Nachtigal (I97I),
IV, I82.
166F. W. Taylor, A Practical Hausa Grammar (Oxford, 1923),
104; see also Doughty
I, 309.
(1923),
167 Denham
and Clapperton (I826), (C)44.
Daumas (1971), 22.

169 Leo (I896), in, 824-5.
168
Cf. the Sultan of Dhafar, who left his palace in a camel litter,
descending outside the town to mount a horse; none might accost or look at him on the
way; Ibn Battcuta(I968), II, 213.
170 El-Tounsy (I851), 292.
171 Last (I967),
I6 n.
SUDAN
375
his men going on foot or by horse.172A camel might carry the state drums:
a trusted servant, accompanying the shaykh of Bornu on expedition in
1823, is ' . . . mounted on a swift maherhy, and fantastically dressed with a
straw hat and ostrich feathers, [and] carries his timbrel or drum, which it is
the greatest misfortune and disgrace to lose in action'.173In Bornu also a
huge sword, part of the royal regalia and said to derive from the first Muslim
war, was carried into battle by camel, its presence ensuring victory.'74 A
favoured wife or concubine might ride a camel, while her master went by
horse.'75
Horses changed hands in many contexts, reminding us of the substructure of local trade and exchange, based largely on local sources of
supply, which has lain relatively unnoticed in the shadow of the more
limited, though more dramatic, long-distance trade, particularly across the
Sahara. Horses appear often as tribute, or as special tokens of loyalty or
friendship.'76 Sokoto records refer often to such gifts of slaves and kola,
but more to horses and cloth.'77 Clapperton, in I824, accompanied a
messenger for Sokoto ' . . . with two loaded camels and a handsome led
horse of Tuarick breed, sent as the weekly present or tribute from Kano to
the sultan'.'78 The lamido of Adamawa received tribute in horses (particularly from the Marwa and Mandara regions), cattle, and slaves.'79
When their emir died, the people of Missau sent his horse, sword, and one
of his concubines to Sokoto.180 The Musgo people in I823, fearing a slave
raid, sent to Mandara some 200 slaves and fifty or more horses.'8' Zaria
gave the British, as relations worsened between them in I902, twelve
excellent palace horses as a peace offering, but in vain.'82 Dignitaries
exchanged horses: the governor of Tripoli sent one to the shaykh of Bornu
in i870.183 Fines or compensation were sometimes payable in horses: one
explanation for Wadai's attack on Bagirmi in I870 cites Bagirmi's refusal
to return a kidnapped woman and to pay twelve horses as damages.'84
Some horses passed back from overlord to liegeman. The Sultan of
Darfur, receiving tribute from Kobe, would give in return horses and
clothing, of less value.'85 The Sultan of Air gave the five privileged tribes
172
cAbdullah b. Muhammad (I963), 125.

173 Denham and Clapperton (I826),(D)i62-3;
see also Tubiana (I964),37,93-4, i82 and

n, and P. M. Holt, The Mahdist State in the Sudan (Oxford, 1958), 49. For drums on
horses in North Africa, see Leo (I896), II, 482, and Tully (I8I6), 38.
174 Koelle (I854), 3I6.
175 Makada Ibira (1970),53
ff.; Denham and Clapperton (I826), 67.
176 E.g. Slatin (I896), 70-I,
274, 276; Tubiana (I964), 34, 82.
177 H. F. Backwell, The Occupation of Hausaland (Lagos, I927, reprinted London, I969),
passim.
178 Denham and Clapperton (I826), (C)67; see also Clapperton (I829),
2I5-i6.
179 Barth (I857-8), II, 503; C. V. Boyle, 'Historical notes on the Yola Fulanis', Y. Afr.
Soc. x (i9io-Ii),
82.
180Adeleye (197), 87 n.; see also 86, 87.
181 Denham and Clapperton (I826), (D)II8-I9; see p. I 5 above.
182 Adeleye
247.
(197I),
183 Nachtigal (I967), I, 58i; see also 486, and II, 483.
184
G. Trenga, Le Bura-Mabanga du Ouadai ... (Paris, I947), I47 ff.
185Tubiana (I964), 34, see also go.
376
HUMPHREY
J. FISHER
there some of the horses paid him in taxes by passing caravans. The balance
of power in Air required this, the tribes having conquered the region and
installed the sultan; but he had consulted Islamic scholars about the
transaction, and was assured that men guarding the routes might properly
be paid in cloth and horses.'86 In the eastern Sudan, the Khalifa Abdullahi's
horse tax, payable in kind, supplied his favoured tribe, the Ta'aisha, with
mounts.187 A variation comes from Sonni Ali's conquest of Jenne late in
the fifteenth century: he sent a horse for the defeated sultan's mother,
whom he wished to marry; when she came, he returned the horse as a gift,
with its harness, which was thereafter preserved in Jenne.188A superior's
greed might arouse legitimate complaint. The ruler of Kantche, in Hausaland, had sent his son to Daura, on the Prophet's birthday, and the Daura
ruler had asked for the son's horse, an outstanding animal. Such a request
could not, of course, be refused. But next year the Kantche delegation
went instead to Katsina, where the son was given three horses, together
with their grooms and harness. Thereafter Kantche continued loyal to
Katsina.189Al-Hajj Bashir, vizier of Bornu in Barth's time, antagonized the
great men of the realm by sometimes obliging them to cede to him a
particularly handsome female slave or fine horse.190
To refuse to pay tribute was an evident sign of disaffection: so was the
refusal to accept such gifts. When in 1903 a letter from Sokoto arrived in
Ilorin, asking the emir there to act against the British, he was in a quandary,
between his proper allegiance to Sokoto and his necessary allegiance to the
British, who already controlled Ilorin. He sent the messenger to the British
resident, and rejected the horse which, as a gift from Sokoto, had accompanied the letter.191
Horses were popular as alms. Leo recalled how the champion poet of Fez
received on the Prophet's birthday an excellent horse, a woman slave, and
the king's own robes: 'but an hundred and thirty years are expired since this
custom, together with the majesty of the Fessan kingdom, decayed."92 He
did once, for reciting his uncle's poetry, receive 50 ducats and a good
horse, and ioo ducats and three slaves for his uncle.193In Songhay about
the same time, the askiya, after hearing a cleric comment on the Quran
(III. 92), gave him a purebred horse and a first rate garment.194When in
1767 the forces of Air were defeated in an attack on Gobir, the disappointed
ruler consulted his clerics. They blamed his own avarice, so he gave their
leader a horse and a million cowries, with presents to the others. They in
186 Urvoy
(I934),
I55.
Slatin (I896), 533. In Ali Dinar's Darfur, a little later, an animal tax was a main
source of revenue, but horses and donkeys were exempt; A. B. Theobald, Ali Dinar: Last
Sultan of Darfur (London, I965), 2I5.
188 Abderrahman ...
es-Sadi, Tarikh es-Soudan (Paris, I900), 27.
189 Makada Ibira (1970),
II, 294.
190 Barth (i857-8),
67 ff.
192 Leo (I896), II, 455.
191 Adeleye
(I97I), 225.
193 Leo (I896),
II, 307.
194 Kati (I964), 2Io-Ii,
Arabic II5.
187
SUDAN
377
return prepared charms, and the next Air expedition overcame and beheaded the Gobir ruler.195A little later the mai of Bornu, alarmed by the
continuing Fulani threat, solicited anew the aid of the cleric al-Kanemi,
giving him one hundred each of horses, slaves, camels and oxen, with
additional gifts.'96 A sharif visiting the Sokoto empire in the mid-nineteenth century was given 250 slaves and five or ten horses. The account is
somewhat comical, though the episode apparently had complicated and
important political repercussions.197El-Tounsy, entering Wadai, received
from the ruler two concubines, two female domestics, a young camel for
slaughter, and a horse led by a slave of seven spans.'98 Surely many cases
of such generosity have lost nothing in the telling: it is scarcely credible
that Wari, wicked ruler of Katsina, should have given to a cleric, in exchange for an elixir of eternal life, one hundred each of slaves, slave girls,
horses, tobes, bulls, cows, together with other gifts past numbering.199
But equally surely horses, in more moderate numbers, were a significant
factor in the pattern of almsgiving, encouraging clerical mobility and
helping finance the religious establishment of Islam. That all the instances
of alms just cited were to clerics, though partly explicable by the fact that
clerics wrote the records and had every reason to cite good examples for
their own patrons, does nevertheless illustrate the role of alms in maintaining and furthering Islam in black Africa.
Such gifts, contributing thus both to state and church, might also be used
as bribes to subvert proper government. When Sabun of Wadai prepared
his devastating raid on Bagirmi early in the nineteenth century, his unwilling dignitaries promised an official ioo choice horses, ioo camels and
ioo slaves if he could persuade Sabun to desist; he failed.200The chief of
Cebowa, in Adamawa, having secured the succession through lavish
'dashes' of slaves, persuaded the lamido to overlook his irregular slaving by
presenting him with ioo well-dressed slaves and ioo horses.201
In conclusion, let me reiterate the qualifications offered in Part I: this
is a narrow survey, confined mainly to the central Sudan; and even there
it is impressionistic-like Lord Ronald, I have flung myself on my horse
and ridden madly off in all directions. The central Sudanese material alone
would suffice for a challenging doctoral thesis. Yet I may offer two general
observations. The first, that the horse per se was more common, and less
remarkable, than is sometimes suggested. In Part I we saw many unlikely
peoples possessing horses; in Part II horses appear in workaday situations,
passing from hand to hand as alms or tribute with no more dignity than
slaves, sometimes like slaves reduced to bearing burdens, even suffering the
195
H. R. Palmer, 'Notes on some Asben records', J. Afr. Soc. Ix (1909-10),
395-6.
Schultze (I968), 252-3.
Tedzkiret en-Nisidn, ed. 0. Houdas (Paris, I966), the History of Sokoto fragment,
35I 3
198 El-Tounsy
(I85I), 65.
196
197
199
201
Rattray (I913),
I, 28.
East (I934),
107 ff.
200
El-Tounsy
(I851),
133-5.
378
HUMPHREY
J. FISHER
indignity of being eaten. Their moments of glory come in ceremony and

circuses. Even among Muslims, horse owners par excellence,the very pious
harbour doubts about horses. In warfare, horses flee before strongly
motivated infantry; more often than not their main function is to round up
defenceless captives or to carry their timid riders, like the Duke of Plaza
Toro, well to the fore in departing the field. Heretofore, the merest whinny
has set the typewriters of historians thundering like hooves upon the plain.
A recent authority quotes al-Bakri's estimate that the Ghana army comsoldiers, more than a fifth armed with bows. Al-Bakri
prised 200,000
continues, the horses of Ghana are very small. 'The mention of horses in
this context indicates that Ghana's army was organized around its
cavalry'-thus our commentator. In fact, al-Bakri goes on at once to discuss ebony, and harvest. Does the mention of horses in this context mean
that Ghana's forestry and agriculture were organized around horsepower?202
This overstates the case, of course. A quality warhorse was a valuable
asset; but let us remember the wide variation between a mount fit for Lady
Godiva and another at which Steptoe and Son would look down their
noses. Harness greatly enhanced the effectiveness of a good horse: the importance of equipment-stirrups, firm saddles, bits, bridles-is my second
general conclusion. It emerges from the military evidence, again from the
festivals, and is perhaps reflected in sumptuary regulations. It was not the
horse itself which, in the central Sudan, swallowed the ground, but the men
who, as in the vision of Jeremiah against Egypt, arose and harnessed their
horses.203
SUMMARY
Horses in themselveshave little or no necessarymilitarysignificance:in Part I of

this article we saw how various quite unwarlike peoples possessed them. Of
fundamental significance, in transforming horses into war-horses, was good
harness and equipment, and to carry this larger animalswere preferable.Even
againstwell-equippedcavalry,mainly infantryforces might prevail,if they were,
like the Almoravids and the adherents of Usuman dan Fodio, sufficiently
inspired.An importantadvantageof a horse, or better still severalhorses, was in
providing a means of speedy escape. Horses were also valuable in slaving, a
profitableoccupationnot only in the economic terms of human booty, some of
whom might be sold for more horses, but also in demographicterms, a sort of
compulsory immigration scheme. The use of horses in communications, as
packanimals,in hunting, and for food, is discussed,though none was of outstanding significancein the CentralSudan. The employmentof horses in agriculture
seems to have been entirely lacking.Perhapsthe most widespreaduse of horses
was in festivals and celebrations; these displays of horsemanship, whether
intentionallyor not, helped train horses and riders. Good equipment was again
202
McCall and Bennett (I97I),
203
Job
39:24;
13;
el-Bekri (I965),
332,
Arabic 177.
Jeremiah 46:4.
SUDAN
379
vital, and sumptuary restrictions seem to have been directed more against
overweening ostentation in this, than in the possession of horses. While horses
were very widely esteemed, the most scrupulous among Muslims felt a certain
hesitation about the propriety of riding a horse. Horses were found as a form of
tribute, alms, bribes, and gifts of various kinds. In conclusion, the horse per se
was more common, and less remarkable, in the Central Sudan than is sometimes
suggested; it was the equipment of horses which made them effective weapons
of war and statecraft.

Fisher, The Horse in The Central Sudan II Its Use

Încărcat de

Informații document

Titlu original

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Fisher, The Horse in The Central Sudan II Its Use

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

'He Swalloweth the Ground with Fierceness and Rage': The Horse in the Central Sudan II.

Journal of African History, XIV, 3 (1973), pp. 355-379

'HE SWALLOWETH THE GROUND WITH FIERCENESS

. On more than one occasion

military strength of the Sudanese emperors consisted to a very large extent in

nicknamed 'southern Sudanic', in themselves apparently contributed

THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL

C. M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta (London, 1923), I, 334.

THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL

The importance of shoeing is clear in Marco Polo's report that merchants

P. 373 and n. Cf. B. Alexander, 'Lake Chad', J. Afr. Soc.

THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL

of _Ethiopia (London, i844),

was one factor in the eleventh-century defeat of the

57 H. A. S. Johnston, The Fulani Empire of Sokoto (London, I967), 45-6.

THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL

Kano Chronicle, in ibid. iII, II9.

Denham and Clapperton (i826), (D)25o.

207. A tenthR. Prietze, 'Bornulieder', M.S.O.S. zu Berlin, Afr. Stud. (1914),

B. Anderson, 3ourneys to Musadu (London,

2nd narrative, 30.

THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL

MahmoudKati, Tarikhel-fettach(Paris, 1913-4, reprintedParis, I964),

J. R. Patterson, Stories of Abu Zeid the Hilali (London, 1930),

Arabic 3; see also

Doughty (1923), I, 208, 553.

THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL

and II, 736; compareII,

where they are cited afteroxen

talischeSprachenzu Berlin (1907), 202.

THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL

Nachtigal (I967), I, 739; P. Marty, ARtudes

Denham, at Delow towards Mandara, mentions disadvantages of the custom:

126 Denham and Clapperton (I826),

284, 53I; Hornemann

THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL

K. Folayan, 'Tripoli-Bornu political relations,

J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, v,

Slatin (i896), 64-5.

138 E.g. al-'Omarl

and Clapperton (I826),

f.; Leo (I896),

II, 484; Tully

xiv; W. B. Harris, Tafilet...

39, 48, 7I; Denham

(Edinburgh and London, I895),

French approach, cites Leo for the possible importance of Kanem as an

etc.-see 340, 342-3, 355.

Ibn Abi Zayd (I945),

THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL

153 SudaneseMemoirs,III, 120.

E. Tyan, Histoire de l'organisation judiciaire en pays d'Islam (Paris, I938-43),

cf. perhaps,the judge's mule in al-'Omari (1927),

the Mahdi in the eastern Sudan exhorted his followers to go on foot or by

B. T. Wilson, 'A forgottenbattle', Royal Engineersj. LXVII

J. Richardson, Narrative of a Mission ... (London, I853), I, 14.

and Clapperton (I826), (C)44.

Daumas (1971), 22.

THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL

cAbdullah b. Muhammad (I963), 125.

see also Tubiana (I964),37,93-4, i82 and

THE HORSE IN THE CENTRAL

indignity of being eaten. Their moments of glory come in ceremony and