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Developments in Mathematics

Dorina Mitrea
Irina Mitrea
Marius Mitrea

Geometric
Harmonic
Analysis III
Integral Representations, Calderón-
Zygmund Theory, Fatou Theorems,
and Applications to Scattering
Developments in Mathematics

Volume 74

Series Editors
Krishnaswami Alladi, Department of Mathematics, University of Florida,
Gainesville, FL, USA
Pham Huu Tiep, Department of Mathematics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ,
USA
Loring W. Tu, Department of Mathematics, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA

Aims and Scope

The Developments in Mathematics (DEVM) book series is devoted to publishing
well-written monographs within the broad spectrum of pure and applied mathe-
matics. Ideally, each book should be self-contained and fairly comprehensive in
treating a particular subject. Topics in the forefront of mathematical research that
present new results and/or a unique and engaging approach with a potential rela-
tionship to other fields are most welcome. High-quality edited volumes conveying
current state-of-the-art research will occasionally also be considered for publication.
The DEVM series appeals to a variety of audiences including researchers, postdocs,
and advanced graduate students.
Dorina Mitrea · Irina Mitrea · Marius Mitrea

Geometric Harmonic
Analysis III
Integral Representations, Calderón-Zygmund
Theory, Fatou Theorems, and Applications to
Scattering
Dorina Mitrea Irina Mitrea
Department of Mathematics Department of Mathematics
Baylor University Temple University
Waco, TX, USA Philadelphia, PA, USA

Marius Mitrea
Department of Mathematics
Baylor University
Waco, TX, USA

ISSN 1389-2177 ISSN 2197-795X (electronic)

Developments in Mathematics
ISBN 978-3-031-22734-9 ISBN 978-3-031-22735-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22735-6

Mathematics Subject Classification: 32A, 26B20, 31B, 35J, 42B

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2023
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse
of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
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The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
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Dedicated with love to our parents
Prefacing the Full Series

The current work is part of a series, comprised of five volumes, [112], [113], [114],
[115], [116]. In broad terms, the principal aim is to develop tools in Real and
Harmonic Analysis, of geometric measure theoretic flavor, capable of treating a
broad spectrum of boundary value problems formulated in rather general geometric
and analytic settings.
In Volume I ([112]), we establish a sharp version of Divergence Theorem (aka
Fundamental Theorem of Calculus) which allows for an inclusive class of vector
fields whose boundary trace is only assumed to exist in a nontangential pointwise
sense.
Volume II ([113]) is concerned with function spaces measuring size and/or
smoothness, such as Hardy spaces, Besov spaces, Triebel-Lizorkin spaces, Sobolev
spaces, Morrey spaces, Morrey-Campanato spaces, spaces of functions of Bounded
Mean Oscillations, etc., in general, geometric settings. Work here also highlights
the close interplay between the differentiability properties of functions and singular
integral operators.
The topic of singular integral operators is properly considered in Volume III
([114]), where we develop a versatile Calderón-Zygmund theory for singular integral
operators of convolution type (and with variable coefficient kernels) on uniformly
rectifiable sets in the Euclidean ambient, and the setting of Riemannian manifolds.
Applications to scattering by rough obstacles are also discussed in this volume.
In Volume IV ([115]), we focus on singular integral operators of boundary layer
type which enjoy more specialized properties (compared with generic, garden variety
singular integral operators treated earlier in Volume III). Applications to Complex
Analysis in several variables are subsequently presented, starting from the real-
izations that many natural integral operators in this setting, such as the Bochner-
Martinelli operator, are actual particular cases of double layer potential operators
associated with the complex Laplacian.
In Volume V ([116]), where everything comes together, finer estimates for a
certain class of singular integral operators (of chord-dot-normal type) are produced
in a manner which indicates how their size is affected by the (infinitesimal and global)
flatness of the “surfaces” on which they are defined. Among the library of double

vii
viii Prefacing the Full Series

layer potential operators associated with a given second-order system, we then iden-
tify those double layers which fall under this category of singular integral operators.
It is precisely for this subclass of double layer potentials that Fredholm theory may
then be implemented assuming the underlying domain has a compact boundary,
which is sufficiently flat at infinitesimal scales. For domains with unbounded bound-
aries, this very category of double layer potentials may be outright inverted, using
a Neumann series argument, assuming the “surface” in question is sufficiently flat
globally. In turn, this opens the door for solving a large variety of boundary value
problems for second-order systems (involving boundary data from Muckenhoupt
weighted Lebesgue spaces, Lorentz spaces, Hardy spaces, Sobolev spaces, BMO,
VMO, Morrey spaces, Hölder spaces, etc.) in a large class of domains which, for
example, are allowed to have spiral singularities (hence more general than domains
locally described as upper-graphs of functions). In the opposite direction, we show
that the boundary value problems formulated for systems lacking such special layer
potentials may fail to be Fredholm solvable even for really tame domains, like the
upper half-space, or the unit disk. Save for the announcement [111], all principal
results appear here in print for the first time.
We close with a short epilogue, attempting to place the work undertaken in this
series into a broader picture. The main goal is to develop machinery of geometric
harmonic analysis flavor capable of ultimately dealing with boundary value problems
of a very general nature. One of the principal tools (indeed, the piecè de résistance)
in this regard is a new and powerful version of the Divergence Theorem, devised in
Volume I, whose very formulation has been motivated and shaped from the outset
by its eventual applications to Harmonic Analysis, Partial Differential Equations,
Potential Theory, and Complex Analysis. The fact that its footprints may be clearly
recognized in the makeup of such a diverse body of results, as presented in Volumes
II-V, serves as a testament to the versatility and potency of our brand of Divergence
Theorem. Alas, our enterprise is multifaceted, so its success is crucially dependent
on many other factors. For one thing, it is necessary to develop a robust Calderón-
Zygmund theory for singular integrals of boundary layer type (as we do in Volumes
III-IV), associated with generic weakly elliptic systems, capable of accommodating
a large variety of function spaces of interest considered in rather inclusive geometric
settings (of the sort discussed in Volume II). This renders these (boundary-to-domain)
layer potentials useful mechanisms for generating lots of null-solutions for the given
system of partial differential operators, whose format is compatible with the demands
in the very formulation of the boundary value problem we seek to solve. Next, in
order to be able to solve the boundary integral equation to which matters are reduced
in this fashion, the success of employing Fredholm theory hinges on the ability to
suitably estimate the essential norms of the (boundary-to-boundary) layer potentials.
In this vein, we succeed in relating the distance from such layer potentials to the
space of compact operators to the flatness of the boundary of the domain in question
(measured in terms of infinitesimal mean oscillations of the unit normal) in a desirable
manner which shows that, in a precise quantitative fashion, the flatter the domain the
smaller the proximity to compact operators. This subtle and powerful result, bridging
Prefacing the Full Series ix

between analysis and geometry, may be regarded as a far-reaching extension of the

pioneering work of Radon and Carleman in the early 1900’s.
Ultimately, our work aligns itself with the program stemming from A.P. Calderón’s
1978 ICM plenary address in which he advocates the use of layer potentials “for much
more general elliptic systems [than the Laplacian]” – see [15, p. 90], and may be
regarded as an optimal extension of the pioneering work of E.B. Fabes, M. Jodeit,
and N.M. Rivière in [41] (where layer potential methods have been first used to
solve boundary value problems for the Laplacian in bounded C 1 domains). In this
endeavor, we have been also motivated by the problem1 posed by A.P. Calderón on
[15, p. 95], asking to identify the function spaces on which singular integral operators
(of boundary layer type) are well defined and continuous. This is relevant since, as
Calderón mentions, “A clarification of this question would be very important in the
study of boundary value problems for elliptic equations [in rough domains]. The
methods employed so far seem to be insufficient for the treatment of these problems.”
We also wish to mention that our work is also in line with the issue raised as an
open problem by C. Kenig in [79, Problem 3.2.2, pp. 116–117], where he asked
whether operators of layer potential type may be inverted on appropriate Lebesgue
and Sobolev spaces in suitable subclasses on NTA domains with compact Ahlfors
regular boundaries.
The task of making geometry and analysis work in unison is fraught with diffi-
culties, and only seldom can a two-way street be built on which to move between
these two worlds without loss of information. Given this, it is actually surprising
that, in many instances, we come very close to having optimal hypotheses, almost
an accurate embodiment of the slogan if it makes sense to write it, then it’s true.
Acknowledgments: The authors gratefully acknowledge partial support from the
Simons Foundation (through grants # 426669, # 958374, # 318658, # 616050, and
# 637481), as well as NSF (grant # 1900938). Portions of this work have been
completed at Baylor University in Waco, Temple University in Philadelphia, the
Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, MSRI in Berkeley, and the American
Institute of Mathematics in San Jose. We wish to thank these institutions for their
generous hospitality. Last, but not least, we are grateful to Michael E. Taylor for
gently yet persistently encouraging us over the years to complete this project.

Waco, USA Dorina Mitrea

Philadelphia, USA Irina Mitrea
Waco, USA Marius Mitrea

1 In the last section of [15], simply titled “Problems,” Calderón singles two directions for further
study. The first one is the famous question whether the smallness condition on a   L ∞ (the Lipschitz
constant of the curve {(x, a(x)) : x ∈ R} on which he proved the L 2 -boundedness of the Cauchy
operator) may be removed (as is well known, this has been solved in the affirmative by Coifman,
McIntosh, and Meyer in [20]). We are referring here to the second (and final) problem formulated
by Calderón on [15, p. 95].
Description of Volume III

From the outset, the very formulation of our versions of the Divergence Theorem
from Volume I (cf. [112, §1.2–§1.12]) has been motivated and shaped by potential
applications to Harmonic Analysis, Partial Differential Equations, Function Space
Theory, and Complex Analysis. We have envisioned these versions of the Divergence
Theorem not as end-products, in and of themselves, but as effective tools to further
progress in these areas of mathematics. This has already become apparent in Volume
II ([113]), when dealing with function spaces measuring smoothness of Sobolev type
on the geometric measure theoretic boundaries of sets of locally finite perimeter.
In the opening chapter of the present volume (Chapter 1, titled “Integral Repre-
sentations and Integral Identities”), we further elaborate on this vision. We begin
in §1.1 by revisiting the classical Cauchy-Pompeiu integral representation formula
in open sets  ⊆ C with a lower Ahlfors regular boundary and whose arc-length
σ := H1 ∂ is a doubling measure. Our Divergence Theorem specialized to this
setting then permits us to identify a very general class of functions for which the
Cauchy-Pompeiu integral representation formula is valid. By means of counterexam-
ples, we show that the analytic conditions imposed are in the nature of best possible.
A very general version of the Cauchy integral representation formula, allowing one
to recover a holomorphic function from its (nontangential) boundary trace via the
(boundary-to-domain) Cauchy integral operator, is then obtained as a corollary. In the
same spirit, generalizations of the classical Morera Theorem and Residue Theorem
are established. Variants with no explicit lower Ahlfors regularity assumptions made
on the topological boundary are also discussed.
This line of work continues in §1.2 where higher-dimensional versions of some
of the main results from §1.1 are extended to open subsets of Rn with n ∈ N, n ≥ 2
arbitrary, now involving the Clifford algebra Cn (cf. the discussion in [112, §6.4]) in
place of the field of complex numbers C, and the Dirac operator D (from (A.0.37))
in lieu of the Cauchy-Riemann operator ∂. Once again, all integral representation
formulas in Clifford Analysis derived here make essential use of our brand of the
Divergence Theorem from Volume I ([112]). A more general point of view is adopted
in §1.6 where integral representation formulas are derived, under rather inclusive
geometric and analytic assumptions, for injectively elliptic first-order systems.

xi
xii Description of Volume III

Granted the availability of a fundamental solution for second-order, homogeneous,

constant (complex) coefficient, weakly elliptic systems, which exhibits a number of
desirable properties (as discussed in [109, Theorem 11.1, pp. 393–395]), in §1.5 and
§1.7, we derive boundary layer potential representations and Green-type formulas for
such systems, under minimal geometric and analytic assumptions. Chapter 1 ends
with a section (§1.8) on Rellich-type identities in open sets with Ahlfors regular
boundaries.
Chapter 2 contains a powerful and nuanced Calderón-Zygmund theory for singular
integral operators on uniformly rectifiable sets. The results here, which build on the
work of many predecessors, including Calderón, Zygmund, Mikhlin, Coifman, McIn-
tosh, Meyer, David, Jerison, Kenig, Semmes, and Stein, among many others, enhance,
refine, and sharpen those in [63] by placing more economical demands on the ambient
geometry. As a preamble, in §2.1, we consider integral operators on Hölder spaces on
upper Ahlfors regular sets, and in §2.2, we deal with singular integrals on Lebesgue
spaces on Ahlfors regular quasi-metric spaces. The latter section contains a number
of results in the spirit of Calderón-Zygmund theory, and a rather versatile version of
Cotlar’s Lemma. Principal-value singular integral operators on uniformly rectifiable
sets are treated in earnest in §2.3, while, in §2.4, we consider boundary-to-domain
integral operators on open sets with uniformly rectifiable boundaries.
The results established so far are combined in §2.5to produce a very versatile
jump-formula, identifying the nontangential trace of a boundary-to-domain inte-
gral operator in an open set with a uniformly rectifiable boundary as a jump-term
(involving the Fourier transform of the integral kernel function) and a principal-value
singular integral operator on the boundary (of the sort alluded to earlier). In §2.9,
we present some applications to integral operators whose kernels are fashioned by
applying a suitable number of derivatives to the fundamental solutions of certain
elliptic differential operators. In §2.8, the last section in Chapter 2, we extend the
scope of the Calderón-Zygmund theory developed so far by considering singular
integral operators on uniformly rectifiable sets, with variable coefficient kernels that
are actually the Schwartz kernels of classical pseudodifferential operators of order
−1 with odd principal symbol, acting between vector bundles over a Riemannian
manifold.
The main goal in Chapter 3 is to derive quantitative Fatou-type theorems in
uniformly rectifiable domains. The distinctive format of a Fatou-type theorem is
that size/integrability properties of the nontangential maximal operator for a null-
solution of an elliptic equation in a certain domain implies the a.e. existence of
the pointwise nontangential boundary trace of the function in question. The quan-
titative aspect is reflected in the fact that not only the boundary trace exists but
also contains considerable information concerning the size and regularity of the
original function. In §3.1, one of the central results is a quantitative Fatou-type
theorem for null-solutions of injectively elliptic first-order (homogeneous, constant
complex coefficient) systems of differential operators in arbitrary uniformly rectifi-
able domains. In turn, this theorem has a large spectrum of applications, including
the theory of Hardy spaces associated with injectively elliptic first-order systems
in UR domains discussed in §3.2. Fatou-type theorem for second-order systems is
Description of Volume III xiii

subsequently established in §3.3 where, among other things, we prove a quantitative

Fatou-type theorem for the gradient of null-solutions of second-order systems in UR
domains, along with a version in which both the trace of the function and its gradient
are shown to exist. Lastly, in §3.4, we show that for a null-solution of a weakly
elliptic system, having sufficient regularity on the Sobolev/Besov/Triebel-Lizorkin
scales in a given bounded two-sided NTA domain with an Ahlfors regular boundary
guarantees the existence of its nontangential pointwise trace on the boundary of the
domain in question.
Chapter 4 is primarily reserved for examining the role of Green functions in
establishing uniqueness for the Dirichlet Problem for weakly elliptic homogeneous,
constant (complex) coefficient, second-order systems, formulated in broad geometric
settings. In this vein, see Theorem 4.1.1 and Theorem 4.1.6, which may be regarded
as sharp embodiments of the heuristic principle asserting that uniqueness holds in the
Dirichlet/Regularity Problem for a given system L and domain  granted the exis-
tence of Green functions which “pair well” with the null-solutions of the boundary
value problem in question. A sensible feature of these results is the absence of
concrete function spaces in their formulation, which makes them directly applicable
to a wide range of specific cases of interest. Basically, all results in this chapter make
essential use of the brand of Divergence Theorem developed earlier, in Volume I
([112]).
Chapter 5 continues the discussion initiated in Chapter 4 by further specializing
matters to the case of the Laplace operator. Here, we are concerned with issues of
a potential theoretic nature such as: When is the Poisson kernel associated with a
domain  ⊆ Rn (as the Radon-Nikodym derivative of the harmonic measure with
respect to the surface measure) expressible as the normal derivative of the Green
function? When is said Poisson kernel bounded from below away from zero? When
can one represent the solution of the Dirichlet Problem with L p data as an integral
involving the Poisson kernel? Throughout, we are interested in minimal regularity
conditions, a perspective through which such questions have been raised, for example,
by J. Garnett and D.E. Marshall in [49].
In Chapter 6, the last chapter in this volume, we treat certain fundamental aspects
of scattering theory. Concretely, in §6.1, we produce integral representations in exte-
rior domains of a very general geometric nature for null-solutions of the Helmholtz
operator which satisfy Sommerfeld’s radiation condition at infinity. In §6.2–§6.7, we
develop a unified approach to scattering theory, which identifies the broadest possible
family of radiation conditions for null-solutions of the vector Helmholtz oper-
ator. This family contains, as particular cases, the Sommerfeld, Silver-Müller, and
McIntosh-Mitrea radiation conditions corresponding to scattering by acoustic waves,
electromagnetic waves, and null-solutions of perturbed Dirac operators, respectively.
The new idea is that one can associate a radiation condition with each factorization
of the (vector) Helmholtz operator (as a product of two first-order systems).
To close, we wish to remark that all these applications make essential use of our
earlier versions of the Divergence Theorem.
Contents

Prefacing the Full Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

Description of Volume III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
1 Integral Representations and Integral Identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 One Variable Complex Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Integral Representation Formulas in Clifford Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . 37
1.3 First and Second-Order Elliptic Systems of Partial Differential
Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
1.4 Fundamental Solutions for Weakly Elliptic Second-Order
Systems of Partial Differential Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
1.5 Boundary Layer Potential Representations for Weakly
Elliptic Second-Order Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
1.6 Integral Representation Formulas for Injectively Elliptic
First-Order Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
1.7 Green-Type Formulas for Second-Order Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
1.8 Rellich Identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
2 Calderón-Zygmund Theory on Uniformly Rectifiable Sets . . . . . . . . . . 267
2.1 Integral Operators Acting on Hölder Spaces on Upper Ahlfors
Regular Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
2.2 Singular Integrals on Ahlfors Regular Quasi-Metric Spaces . . . . . . . 272
2.3 Principal Value Singular Integral Operators on Uniformly
Rectifiable Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
2.4 Boundary-to-Domain Integral Operators on Open sets
with Uniformly Rectifiable Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
2.5 The Jump-Formula for Boundary-to-Domain Integral
Operators in Open Sets with Uniformly Rectifiable Boundaries . . . 407
2.6 Singular Integrals on Morrey Spaces and Their Pre-Duals . . . . . . . . 514
2.7 Commutator Estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

xv
xvi Contents

2.8 Calderón-Zygmund Theory for Singular Integrals

on Riemannian Manifolds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
2.9 Some Applications to Singular Integrals Associated
with Elliptic Differential Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
3 Quantitative Fatou-Type Theorems in Arbitrary UR Domains . . . . . . 633
3.1 Quantitative Fatou-Type Theorems in UR Domains
for First-Order Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
3.2 Brief Look at Hardy Spaces Associated with Injectively
Elliptic First-Order Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
3.3 Quantitative Fatou-Type Theorems in UR Domains
for Second-Order Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
3.4 Fatou-Type Theorems in Two-Sided NTA Domains
for Second-Order Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726
3.5 Fatou-Type Theorems on Riemannian Manifolds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
4 Green Functions and Uniqueness for Boundary Problems
for Second-Order Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
4.1 The Role of Green Functions in Uniqueness Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
4.2 The Reciprocity Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
4.3 How to Construct Green Functions and Use Them
in Uniqueness Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792
4.4 A Sharp Poisson Integral Representation Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799
4.5 The Poisson Kernel Associated with a System: A First Look . . . . . . 813
4.6 The Poisson Kernel Associated with a System in the Upper
Half-Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 818
4.7 More on Uniqueness and Poisson Integral Representations . . . . . . . 824
5 Green Functions and Poisson Kernels for the Laplacian . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
5.1 Upper/Lower Semicontinuous Functions and Super/Sub
Harmonic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
5.2 The Harmonic Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836
5.3 The Green Function for the Laplacian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842
5.4 The Poisson Kernel in NTA Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853
5.5 Hardy Spaces of Harmonic Functions in NTA Domains . . . . . . . . . . 855
5.6 Boundary Behavior of the Green Function in NTA Domains . . . . . . 857
5.7 The L p Dirichlet Problem for the Laplacian and Integral
Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861
5.8 The Nature of the Critical Index p and Further Results
on the Green Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870
6 Scattering by Rough Obstacles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881
6.1 Integral Representations for Null-Solutions of the Helmholtz
Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881
6.2 Radiation Conditions: Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
6.3 The Family of Radiation Conditions (RC A ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 889
Contents xvii

6.4 Single and Double Acoustic Layer Potentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897

6.5 L 2 -Finiteness Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901
6.6 The Principal Result . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904
6.7 Coordinate-Free Formalism and Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908

Appendix A: Terms and notation used in Volume III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 953
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961
Symbol Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965
Chapter 1
Integral Representations and Integral Identities

Working in the complex plane, in §1.1 we prove versions of the classical Cauchy-
Pompeiu integral representation formula, Morera’s Theorem, the Residue Theorem,
and the Schwarz-Pompeiu formula under minimal smoothness assumptions. This
line of work continues in §1.2 where higher-dimensional Euclidean spaces are con-
sidered, now working in the context of Clifford algebras. Integral representation
formulas are then derived in domains of a very general geometric nature, first involv-
ing boundary layer potentials associated with weakly elliptic second-order systems
in §1.5, then in relation to injectively elliptic first-order systems in §1.6. Next, Green-
type formulas for second-order systems under optimal assumptions are presented in
§1.7, while the last section in this chapter (§1.8) concerns Rellich-type identities in
a rather inclusive setting.
Throughout, we seek to work in geometric and analytic settings which are fairly
optimal, in light of the conclusions we have in mind. Indeed, the background hy-
potheses we typically adopt are not too far off from the kind of assumptions one
would have to impose to simply have a meaningfully formulated conclusion. In this
sense, our results are an almost accurate embodiment of the slogan if it makes sense
to write it, then it’s true.

1.1 One Variable Complex Analysis

We begin with a brief historical survey of the Cauchy integral operator and relat-
ed topics, designed to highlight a number of major landmarks and breakthroughs.
Cauchy’s integral reproducing formula for holomorphic functions apparently first ap-
peared in 1831 (cf. [17]). Subsequently, in his 1873 dissertation [163], Y.V. Sokhotski
studied the boundary behavior of the Cauchy integral operator and derived jump-
formulas under Hölder regularity assumptions on the density function. Another
significant achievement of Sokhotski’s work was pursuing the study of the Cauchy
integral operator as a topic of independent interest. In 1885, A. Harnack re-derived
Sokhotski’s jump-formulas in [57] by decomposing the Cauchy integral operator

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 1

D. Mitrea et al., Geometric Harmonic Analysis III, Developments in Mathematics 74,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22735-6_1
Other documents randomly have
different content
that if I waited for them we should find no quarters prepared for us,
I spurred on my nag, and soon reached the western suburb of
Kúkawa.
Proceeding with some hesitation towards the white clay wall which
encircles the town, and which from a little distance could scarcely be
distinguished from the adjoining ground, I entered the gate, being
gazed at by a number of people collected here, and who were still
more surprised when I inquired for the residence of the sheikh. Then
passing the little daily market (the dyrríya), which was crowded with
people, I rode along the déndal, or promenade, straight up to the
palace, which borders the promenade towards the east. It is flanked
by a very indifferent mosque, built likewise of clay, with a tower at
its north-west corner, while houses of grandees enclose the place on
the north and south sides. The only ornament of this place is a fine
chédia or caoutchouc-tree in front of the house of ʿAli Ladán, on the
south side: but occasionally it becomes enlivened by interesting
groups of Arabs and native courtiers in all the finery of their dress,
and of their richly caparisoned horses.
The sheikh, though he usually resides in his palace in the eastern
town, was at present here; and the slaves stared at me, without
understanding or caring to understand, what I wanted, until
Díggama, the storekeeper, was called, who, knowing something of
me as ʿAbd el Kerím, ordered a slave to conduct me to the vizier.
Though I had heard some account of the sheikh living out of the
western town, I was rather taken by surprise at seeing the large
extent of the double town; and I was equally astonished at the
number of gorgeously dressed horsemen whom I met on my way.
Considering my circumstances, I could not have chosen a more
favourable moment for arriving. About two hundred horsemen were
assembled before the house of the vizier, who was just about to
mount his horse in order to pay his daily visit to the sheikh. When he
came out, he saluted me in a very cheerful way, and was highly
delighted when he heard and saw that I had come quite alone. He
told me he had known me already, from the letter which I had sent
to his agent in Zínder stating that I would come after I had finished
my business, but not before. While he himself rode in great state to
the sheikh, he ordered one of his people to show me my quarters.
These were closely adjoining the vizier’s house, consisting of two
immense courtyards, the more secluded of which enclosed, besides
a half-finished clay dwelling, a very spacious and neatly built hut.
This, as I was told, had been expressly prepared for the mission
before it was known that we were without means.
I had scarcely taken possession of my quarters when I received
several visits from various parties attached to the mission, who all at
once made me quite au fait of all the circumstances of my not very
enviable situation as one of its surviving members. The first person
who called upon me was Ibrahím, the carpenter, who, at Mr.
Richardson’s request, had been sent up from Tripoli, at the monthly
salary of twenty mahbúbs besides a sum of four dollars for his
maintenance. He was certainly a handsome young man, about
twenty-two years of age, a native of “the holy house” (Bét el
mogaddus) or Jerusalem, with big sounding phrases in his mouth,
and quite satisfied to return with me directly to Fezzán without
having done anything. Then came his more experienced and
cheerful companion, ʿAbd eʾ Rahmán, a real sailor, who was not so
loud in his clamours, but urged more distinctly the payment of his
salary, which was equal to that of Ibrahím.
After I had consoled these dear friends, and assured them that I
had no idea at present of returning northward, and that I should do
my best to find the means of satisfying the most urgent of their
claims, there arrived another of the bloodsuckers of the mission, and
the most thirsty of them all. It was my colleague, the bibulous Yusuf,
son of Mukni the former governor of Fezzán, accompanied by
Mohammed ben Bu-Sʿad, whom Mr. Richardson, when he
discharged Yusuf in Zínder, had taken into his service in his stead,
and by Mohammed ben Habíb, the least serviceable of Mr.
Richardson’s former servants. Yusuf was mounted upon a fine horse,
and most splendidly dressed; but he was extremely gracious and
condescending, as he entertained the hope that my boxes and bags,
which had just arrived with my faithful Gatróni, were full of shells,
and that I should be able to pay his salary at once. He was greatly
puzzled when I informed him of my extreme poverty. Mr.
Richardson’s other servants, to my great regret, had gone off the
day before, unpaid as they were, in order to regain their various
homes.
I now ascertained that the pay due to Mr. Richardson’s servants
amounted to more than three hundred dollars; besides which there
was the indefinite debt to the Sfáksi, amounting in reality to twelve
hundred and seventy dollars, but which, by the form in which the bill
had been given, might easily be doubled. I did not possess a single
dollar, a single bernús, nor anything of value, and moreover was
informed by my friends that I should be expected to make both to
the sheikh and to the vizier a handsome present of my own. I now
saw also that what the Sheríf el Habíb had told me on the road (viz.
that all Mr. Richardson’s things had been divided and squandered)
was not altogether untrue. At least, they had been deposited with
the vizier on very uncertain conditions, or rather had been delivered
up to him by the two interpreters of our late companion, intimating
to him that I and Mr. Overweg were quite subordinate people
attached to the mission, and that we had no right to interfere in the
matter.
Seeing how matters stood, I thought it best, in order to put a stop
to the intrigues which had been set a going, to take Mohammed ben
Sʿad into my service on the same salary which he had received from
Mr. Richardson. Besides, I pledged my word to all that they should
each receive what was due to him, only regretting that the rest of
Mr. Richardson’s people had already gone away. After all these
communications, fraught with oppressive anxiety, I received a most
splendid supper as well from the sheikh as from the vizier, and, after
the various exertions of the day, enjoyed a quiet night’s rest in my
clean cottage.
Thus strengthened, I went the next morning to pay my respects to
the vizier, taking with me a small present of my own, the principal
attractions of which lay in a thick twisted lace of silk of very
handsome workmanship, which I had had made in Tripoli, and a
leathern letter-case of red colour, which I had brought with me from
Europe. Destitute as I was of any means, and not quite sure as yet
whether Her Britannic Majesty’s Government would authorize me to
carry out the objects of the mission, I did not deem it expedient to
assume too much importance, but simply told the vizier that, though
the director of the mission had not been fortunate enough to convey
to him and the sheikh with his own mouth the sentiments of the
British Government, yet I hoped that, even in this respect, these
endeavours would not be quite in vain, although at the present
moment our means were so exhausted that, even for executing our
scientific plans, we were entirely dependent on their kindness.
The same reserve I maintained in my interview with the sheikh on
the morning of Friday, when I laid little stress upon the object of our
mission (to obtain security of commerce for English merchants),
thinking it better to leave this to time, but otherwise dwelling upon
the friendship established between the sheikh’s father and the
English, and representing to them that, relying upon this
manifestation of their friendly disposition, we had come without
reserve to live awhile among them, and under their protection and
with their assistance to obtain an insight into this part of the world,
which appeared so strange in our eyes. Our conversion was quite
free from constraint or reserve, as nobody was present besides the
sheikh and the vizier.
I found the sheikh (ʿOmár, the eldest son of Mohammed el Amín
el Kánemy) a very simple, benevolent, and even cheerful man. He
has regular and agreeable features, rather a little too round to be
expressive; but he is remarkably black—a real glossy black, such as
is rarely seen in Bórnu, and which he has inherited undoubtedly from
his mother, a Bagírmaye princess. He was very simply dressed in a
light tobe, having a bernús negligently wrapped round his shoulder;
round his head a dark-red shawl was twisted with great care; and
his face was quite uncovered, which surprised me not a little, as his
father used to cover it in the Tuarek fashion. He was reclining upon
a divan covered with a carpet, at the back of a fine airy hall neatly
polished.
My presents were very small, the only valuable article among
them being a nice little copy of the Kurán, which on a former
occasion I had bought in Egypt for five pounds sterling, and was
now carrying with me for my own use. That I made a present of this
book to the prince may perhaps be regarded with an unfavourable
eye by some persons in this country; but let them consider it as a
sign of an unprejudiced mind, and of the very high esteem in which
he held me, that, although knowing me to be a Christian, he did not
refuse to accept from my hands that which was most holy in his
eyes. On the whole I could not have expected a more friendly
reception, either from the sheikh or from his vizier. But there was a
very delicate point which I was obliged to touch upon: what was to
become of Mr. Richardson’s property?
In the afternoon I went again to the vizier, and requested to see
the inventory of all that my late companion had left; and he showed
it to me and read it himself. He then ordered the box to be opened,
which contained clothes and papers; and I was glad to see that not
only the journals, upon the keeping of which Mr. Richardson had
bestowed great care, but also all his other collectanea, were safe.
Having taken the inventory with me, I sent Mohammed the following
day to him with the request that Mr. Richardson’s property should be
delivered to me. Having been desired to call myself at noon, I went,
but was surprised to find only Lamíno (properly el Amín), the vizier’s
confidential officer, of whom I shall have occasion to speak hereafter.
I was still more surprised when only some of Mr. Richardson’s boxes
were brought in, and I was desired to select what I wanted, and
leave the rest behind. This I refused to do, and asked where the
other things were, when Lamíno did not hesitate to declare that the
ornamented gun and the handsome pair of pistols had been sold.
Upon hearing this, though I had been treated very kindly and
hospitably on my arrival, and had received immense quantities of
provision of every kind, I could not refrain from declaring that if in
truth they had behaved so unscrupulously with other people’s
property I had nothing more to do here, and returned to my
quarters immediately.
My firmness had its desired effect; and late in the evening I
received a message from the vizier, that if I wanted to have a private
interview with him I might come now, as during the daytime he was
always troubled by the presence of a great many people. The person
who brought me this message was Háj Edrís, a man of whom in the
course of my proceedings I shall have to speak repeatedly. Satisfied
with having an opportunity of conversing with the vizier without
reserve, I followed the messenger immediately, and found Háj Beshír
quite alone, sitting in an inner court of his house, with two small wax
candles by his side. We then had a long interview, which lasted till
midnight, and the result of which was that I protested formally
against the sale of those things left by Mr. Richardson, and insisted
that all should be delivered to me and to Mr. Overweg as soon as he
should arrive, when we would present to the sheikh and to the vizier,
in a formal manner all those articles which we knew our companion
had intended to give to them. Besides, I urged once more the
necessity of forwarding the news of Mr. Richardson’s death, and of
my safe arrival as soon as possible, as, after our late misfortunes in
Aír, Her Britannic Majesty’s Government, as well as our friends,
would be most anxious about our safety. I likewise tried to persuade
my benevolent and intelligent host that he might do a great service
to the mission, if he would enable us to carry out part of our
scientific purposes without delay, as Government would certainly not
fail to honour us with their confidence, if they saw that we were
going on. Having carried all my points, and being promised
protection and assistance to the widest extent, I indulged in a more
friendly chat, and, delighted by the social character of my host, and
full of the most confident hopes for my future proceedings, withdrew
a little after midnight.
Having in this way vindicated the honourable character of the
mission, and my own, I applied myself with more cheerfulness to my
studies and inquiries, for which I found ample opportunity; for many
distinguished personages from distant countries were staying here at
this time, partly on their journey to or from Mekka, partly only
attracted by the fame of the vizier’s hospitable and bounteous
character. But before I give any account of my stay in Kúkawa
previous to my setting out for Ádamáwa, I think it well to try to
impart to the reader a more lively interest in the country to which he
has thus been transferred, by laying before him a short account of
its history, as I have been able to make it out from original
documents and from oral information.
 CHAPTER XXIX.
AUTHENTICITY AND GENERAL CHARACTER OF
THE HISTORY OF BÓRNU.

The documents upon which the history of Bórnu is based, besides

the scanty information contained in the narratives of recent
explorers, are—
1. A chronicle (“diván”), or rather the dry and sterile abridgment
of a chronicle, comprising the whole history of Bórnu, from the
earliest time down to Ibrahím, the last unfortunate offspring of the
royal family, who had just ascended the crumbling throne of the
Bórnu empire when the last English expedition arrived in that
country. 6 pp. 4to.[41]
2. Two other still shorter lists of the Bórnu kings.
3. A detailed history of the first twelve years of the reign of the
king Edrís Alawóma, consisting of two parts, in my copy one of 77
and the other of 145 pages, and written by a contemporary of the
above-mentioned king, the Imám Ahmed, son of Sofíya. Of this very
interesting and important history a copy was forwarded by the late
vizier of Bórnu, Háj Beshír ben Tiráb, at my urgent request,[42] to
Her Britannic Majesty’s Government, and is now in the Foreign
Office; another copy I myself have brought back.
4. A few facts regarding the history of this country, mentioned by
Arabic writers, such as Ebn Sáid (a.d. 1282), Ebn Batúta (a.d. 1353),
Ebn Khaldún (a.d. 1381-2), Makrízí (about a.d. 1400), and Leo
Africanus (a.d. 1528).
5. A short document containing information about embassies sent
to Tripoli by some Bórnu kings, and published in the “Bulletin de la
Société Géographique de Paris,” 1849, 252 ff.
I now proceed to inquire into the character of the first of these
documents, which is the only one among them comprising the whole
history of Bórnu, and which therefore forms the basis of our tables.
The most momentous question is,—upon what authority this
document rests, and when it was compiled. As for the first point, I
have been assured by Shitíma Makarémma (a man intimately
connected with the old dynasty, who made the two copies for me,
and of whom some notice will be found in my journal) that it is a
mere extract from a more voluminous work, which he represented
as still existing, but which I was unable to procure, as it is carefully
concealed. The whole business of collecting documents and
information relative to the history of the old dynasty was most
difficult, and demanded much discretion, as the new dynasty of the
Kánemíyín endeavours to obliterate as much as possible the memory
of the old Kanúri dynasty, and has assiduously destroyed all its
records wherever they could be laid hold of.
As regards the time when the chronicle, of which the manuscript
in question is a very meagre and incorrect abridgment, was written,
it is stated that the various parts of it were composed at different
times, at the beginning of every new reign; and the question is,
when the Kanúri people, or rather their ʿulama, began to commit to
writing the most important facts of their history. This question we
are fortunately enabled, from Imám Ahmed’s work, to answer
satisfactorily; namely, that there existed no written record whatever
of the history of his country previous to the king Edrís Katakarmábi,
whose reign falls in the first half of the sixteenth century of our era.
For when that writer refers to facts of the older history, he is only
able to recite as his authority oral information received from old men
versed in historical tradition; and he evidently mentions as the oldest
author of a written history, the fákih Masfárma ʿOmár ben ʿOthmán,
who wrote the history of the king in question.
The annals, therefore, of the time preceding the period of this
king and of his predecessor ʿAli Gajidéni, appear to be based
entirely upon oral information, and cannot but be liable to a certain
degree of inaccuracy as to the actions attributed to each king, the
length of their respective reigns, and even the order of succession
where it was not dependent on genealogy or descent. For it would
be the extreme of hypercriticism to deny that the royal family of
Bórnu, in the middle of the sixteenth century, could not or may not
justly be supposed to have preserved with great precision their line
of descent for fifteen or twenty generations; and in this respect the
chronicle No. 1 is entirely confirmed and borne out by Imám Ahmed,
who, in the introduction to his History, gives the pedigree of his
master Edrís Alawóma up to his first royal ancestor, while the
difference in the form of the names, and one slight variance in the
order of succession, as given by these two documents, is a plain
proof that they have not been borrowed from each other, but have
been based on independent authorities.
The disagreement in question is certainly a remarkable one; but it
is easily explained. For Makrízí, in harmony with the extract from the
chronicle, names the father of the kings Edrís and Dáúd (whose
reign he places about the year 700 of the Hejra), Ibrahím, while
Imám Ahmed calls them sons of Nikále son of Ibrahím; and this is
the general statement of the natives of the country even at the
present time, every educated man knowing “Dáúd tata Nikálebe,” or
Dáúd Nikálemi. The fact is, that the name Bíri, which the chronicle
attributes to the father of Ibrahím the grandfather of Edrís and
Dáúd, being a variation of the form Bíram, is identical with Ibrahím;
whence it appears that Nikále was another name of Ibrahím the son
of Bíri. The same is the case with regard to the names Ahmed and
Dúnama, which are identical, if not with regard to their meanings, at
least with regard to their applications, as well as the names Sélma or
Sélmama and ʿAbd el Jelíl.
This general harmony between the pedigree of the Bórnu kings as
given by the chronicle No. 1 and the Imám Ahmed, a learned and
clever man in a high position, and in constant connection with the
court, is, I think, very satisfactory, and the more so if we take into
consideration that, from a reason which I shall soon mention, and
which at the same time is a strong argument in favour of the
authenticity of these two documents, the pedigree as given by them
is not the only one current in Bórnu, but the line of descent and
succession varies greatly in one of the two other short chronicles
which are mentioned in No. 2, while the third one, which does not
appear to make any pretensions to completeness, cannot be taken
into account here. Hence, as far as regards the line of descent or
succession, I have not thought these two lists worthy of attention,
except only with regard to the reign following that of the fifty-eighth
king, if we count the reign of the usurper Sʿaíd ʿAlí, the son of Háj
ʿOmár. For here the chronicle No. 1 has omitted, by mistake or
negligence, the well-established reign of Edrís ben ʿAli, who
succeeding to his father ʿAlí, preceded his younger brother Dúnama
ben ʿAlí, and reigned twenty years.[43]
What I have here said with regard to the authenticity of the
chronicle refers only to the line of descent and succession of the
kings mentioned; but, of course, it is quite another question, if we
take into view the length of time attributed to the reign of each
succeeding king. But even here the dates of the chronicle are
confirmed in a most surprising and satisfactory manner by the
history of Imám Ahmed, who, in relating the successful expedition of
Edrís Aʿaishámi to Kánem, states that from the time when Dáúd
Nikálemi was obliged to leave his capital Njímiye, down to the period
when Edrís made his entrance into it, 122 years had elapsed. Now,
according to the dates of the chronicle, between the end of the reign
of Dáúd and the beginning of the reign of Edrís, who is expressly
stated by the historian to have undertaken that expedition in the
first year of his reign, there intervened exactly 121 years. And
indeed we see from the Imám’s account, that most people thought
this was the real length of the period, and not 122 years; so well
were the educated inhabitants of Bórnu at that time acquainted with
the history of their country. Perhaps also Imám Ahmed wishes here
to refute Masfárma, the historian of Edrís Áʿaishámi, who adhered
to the general opinion.
 Unfortunately, the length of the several reigns is our only guide
with regard to the chronology of this history, as neither the chronicle
nor even Imám Ahmed specifies particular years with reference to
any of the events which they mention. This is indeed a very great
defect, not so apparent in the dry chronicle as in the account of the
learned priest; and it seems almost inconceivable, as he is very
particular, not only with regard to seasons, but even to months and
days, mentioning with great exactness on what day of the month his
master did so and so, and even disputing, in this respect, slight
variations of opinion. If he had only given us the date of a single
year, we should be much better off as to the chronology of the
history of Bórnu. As it is, if we put out of account other chronological
data which we are fortunately in possession of, in order to reduce to
chronology the events mentioned by the chronicle, we can only
reckon backwards the number of years attributed by it to the reign
of each successive king, commencing from the death of Sultan
Dúnama, who in the year a.h. 1233 was killed in the battle at Ngála
(written “Ghála” in Arabic, but called “Angala” by the members of
the former expedition).
If we now count together the years attributed to each reign,
proceeding in a backward order, and beginning with the end of the
year h. 1233, we obtain, in an inverse order, the following
chronological dates for the more important periods of the history of
Bórnu.

A.H. A.D.
Beginning of the reign of Ayúma 391 1000-1
Beginning of the reign of Humé, the first 479 1086
Moslim king
Reign of Dúnama Díbalámi, the warlike and 618- 1221-
daring king who spoiled the talisman of 658 1259-
Bórnu 60
Beginning of the reign of Ibrahím Nikálemi 707 1307
Beginning of the reign of Edrís ben Ibrahím 754 1353
 End of the reign of Dáúd, who succumbed 789 1387
to the Bulála
End of the reign of ʿOthmán ben Edrís 795 1392-3
The reign of ʿOmʿar, who abandoned his 796- 1393-
residence in Kánem altogether, ceding it 799 1396
to the Bulála
Beginning of the reign of ʿAlí Dúnamámi 877 1472
Beginning of the reign of Edrís Katarkamábi 911 1505
Beginning of the reign of Edrís Alawóma 980 1572
Beginning of the reign of Háj ʿOmár 1036 1626-7
Beginning of the reign of ʿAli ben Háj 1055 1645
ʿOmár

Having obtained these dates, we have first to observe that to fill

up the period from Ayúma to Dhu Yazan, the presumed ancestor of
the Séfuwa, and even known as such to Abú ’l Fedá as well as to
Makrízí, and whose age (as being that of a man who predicted the
coming of the prophet) is fixed beyond all doubt, only six
generations are left. This is the circumstance which I mentioned
above as speaking greatly in favour of the authenticity of this
chronicle and its genealogies, even with regard to the more remote
times. For if it had not been necessary to preserve scrupulously a
well-established line of succession, how easy it would have been to
introduce a few more individuals in order to fill up this blank, as has
been done in the other list (b), instead of admitting the palpable
nonsense of attributing to the two oldest kings a reign of from two
hundred and fifty to three hundred years. Even Séf and Ibrahím, the
first two princes of the line, are, I think, quite historical persons,
whose existence was so well established that a conscientious
chronicler could not change anything in the number of years
attributed to the length of their reigns.
Following, therefore, the hints given to us by the chronicle itself,
we fix the foundation of the dynasty of the Séfuwa in Kánem about
the middle of the third century after Mohammed, or a little before
the year 900 of our era. We shall afterwards return to this
circumstance.
Now we shall first see how triumphantly the authenticity of the
chronicle is confirmed in every respect by the occasional remarks
made by Makrízí and Ebn Batúta with regard to the history of Bórnu.
Unfortunately, the oldest date which Makrízí (on the authority, as it
would seem, of Ebn Sʿaíd) mentioned with regard to Kánem,
namely, an expedition made by its king into the fertile districts of
Mábiná in the year h. 650, cannot be used as a sufficient test of the
authenticity of the chronicle, as the historian does not mention the
name of the king; but the deed itself harmonizes exceedingly well
with the warlike and enterprising character of Dúnama Díbalámi,
whose reign, according to our chronicle, falls between the years 618
and 658. Just the same is to be said of the fact mentioned by Ebn
Khaldún, who, in his valuable history of the Berbers, which has been
recently made accessible to all, relates the interesting fact that,
among other valuable presents, a giraffe was sent by the King of
Kánem (to whom even at that early date he gives the title of “master
of Bórnu”) to Abú ʿAbdallah el Mostánser the king of Tunis, in the
year of the Hejra 655. The same historian, in another passage of his
work, referring to the year 656, mentions again the king of Kánem
as having caused the death of a son of Kárakosh el Ghozzi el
Modáfferi, the well-known adventurous chieftain who had tried to
establish himself in Wadán.
But fortunately we have other data which afford us a very fair
test. According to Makrízí, not long after the close of the seventh
century of the Hejra (fi hedúd sennet sebʿa mayet), the king of
Kánem was Háj Ibrahím; after him reigned his son, el Háj Edrís—the
historian does not say expressly that he immediately succeeded his
father; then Dáúd, the brother of Edrís, and another son of Ibrahím;
then ʿOmár, the son of Dáúd’s elder brother Háj Edrís; and then
ʿOthmán, the brother of the former, and another son of Edrís.
Makrízí adds that this last-named king reigned shortly before a.h.
800; and then he states that the inhabitants of Kánem revolted
against the successors of Ibrahím, and made themselves
independent, but that Bórnu remained their kingdom.
All these dates given by Makrízí, as may be seen from the few
most important events which I have extracted from the chronicle,
are in most surprising harmony with the information conveyed in a
dry and sterile but uncorrupted way by the latter. Notwithstanding
the slight discrepancy in the order of succession of the later kings,
whose reign was of very short duration, and whose relationship is
rather perplexing, is it possible to find a harmony more complete
than this, if we take into consideration the only way in which Makrízí
could have obtained his information, that is to say, from merchants
or pilgrims visiting Egypt on their way to Mekka?
We now come to Ebn Batúta; and we again find the same
surprising harmony between the fact regarding Bórnu, as mentioned
by him, and the dates of the chronicle. The famous and enterprising
traveller of Tangiers, on his return-journey from his visit to Western
Sudán, left the capital of Mélle or Máli (that is, Mungo Park’s Jára)
the 22nd of Moharrem, 754, and, proceeding by way of Timbúktu or
Túmbutu, and thence down the Ísa or Niger to Gágho or Gógo, and
thence to Tekádda,[44] in speaking about the copper found in the
mines near this town, relates that the bars made of it were exported
to Góber and Rágha (or rather Ragháy), and also to Bórnu, and then
adds the interesting fact that the name of the ruling king of the
latter country was Edrís.
Now if we follow implicitly the dates of the chronicle, Edrís ben
Ibrahím (Nikále) ascended the throne in that very year (753) when,
according to this precious and unimpeachable testimony of the
illustrious and intelligent traveller, he actually occupied the throne.
The very remarkable and really surprising harmony here shown to
exist between the chronicle and the dates which have come to our
knowledge from other sources, will, I hope, give to any unprejudiced
mind some degree of confidence in the authenticity of that
document, and will make him aware of its superiority over the
information of a man like Leo Africanus, or rather Hasen Ebn
Mohammed el Wasas, who, though he undoubtedly has, and will
always have, the merit of having given to Europe a clear general
view of the political and linguistic groups of Central Africa, yet, on
account of the manner in which his report was drawn up (merely
from memory, after the lapse of many years), cannot be a decisive
authority on any special circumstance. Hence, when he states that
the name of the king of Bórnu, at the time when he visited the
country, was Abraham (Ibrahím), we may confidently assume that
he is wrong, and that he speaks of the illustrious conqueror ʿAlí ben
Dúnama, who restored peace and glory to that distracted country,
and, on account of his warlike character and his various expeditions,
obtained the surname el Gházi. I shall return to this subject in the
chronological table, in speaking of the reign of ʿAlí ben Dúnama.
As for the document mentioned above as No. 5, it contains a few
valuable dates with regard to those Bórnu kings who reigned near
the time when the author obtained his information in Tripoli, while
for the older times, about which the people could only inform him
“par tradition des leurs pères,” his information is of little value. The
most important dates which it contains are those which have
reference to the time of the accession to the throne of the three
Bórnu kings, ʿAbdallah ben Dúnama, Háj ʿOmár, and Háj ʿAlí; and
these vary but little from the dates computed from the chronicle,
and serve therefore to confirm its accuracy.
However, it is not my design to vindicate this chronicle from all
possibility of error; but my object is to show that its general
character, dry and meagre as it is, has the strongest claim to
authenticity. Indeed I am sure that it can be fully relied upon, all
uncertainty being reduced to a space of one or two years; I may
therefore be allowed to assert that the chronological table, which I
shall give in the Appendix, is something more than a mere fairy tale.
But in this place, I think it well to offer a few general remarks on the
characteristic features of the history of Bórnu.
I have first to speak of the origin of the Séfuwa or Dúguwa. We
have already seen that the chronology of the Bórnu people, if
palpable absurdities be left out of consideration, does not carry their
history further down than the latter half of the ninth century of our
era. Accordingly there can be no further question as to whether Séf
was really the son of the celebrated Dhu Yazan, and identical with
Séf Dhu Yazan, the last native ruler of the Himyaritic kingdom, who
celebrated his accession to the throne in the famous castle of
Gumdán, and with the assistance of Khosru Parvis liberated Yeman
from the dominion of the Abyssinians. I frankly confess that, while
Ibrahím the son of Séf, as “father of the king” (as he appears to
have been entitled occasionally), seems to me to have a really
historical character, I entertain sincere doubts whether Séf be not a
mere imaginary personage, introduced into the pedigree expressly in
order to connect it with Yeman. Indeed, in one short list of Bórnu
kings which I possess, several princes are mentioned before Séf,
whose names, such as Futírmi, Hálar Sukayámi, Halármi, Bunúmi,
Rizálmi, Mairími, have quite a Kanúri character. As the reader will
see, I do not at all doubt of some connection existing between the
ruling family of Bórnu and the Himyaritic or Kushitic stock; but I
doubt its immediate descent from the royal Himyaritic family.
But be this as it may, I think that Leo Africanus, who is a very
good authority for general relations, is right in stating that the kings
of Bórnu originated from the Libyan tribe of the Bardoa, a tribe also
mentioned by Makrízí as Berdʿoa. That there is an ethnological
connection between the names Bérnu or Bórnu, Bórgu, Berdʿoa,
Berdáma, Berauni, Berber, can scarcely be doubted; but to many the
Berdʿoa might seem to have nearer relation with the Tedá or Tébu
than with the real Berber or Mazígh. Sultan Béllo certainly, in the
introduction to his history of the conquests of the Fúlbe, expressly
says that the Bórnu dynasty was of Berber origin; and it is on this
account that the Háusa people call every Bórnu man “ba-Bérberche,”
and the Bórnu nation “Bérbere.” This view of the subject is
confirmed by the distinct statement of Makrízí, who says that that
was the common tradition of the people at his time—“it is said that
they are descended from the Berbers,”—and moreover in another
passage informs us that the king of Kánem was a nomade, or
wanderer; although it seems that this statement refers properly to
the Bulála dynasty.
Before the time of Sélma, or Sélmama, the son of Bíkoru, whose
reign began about a.h. 581, the kings are stated by the chronicle to
have been of a red complexion, like the Arabs; and to such an origin
from the red race, the Syrian-Berber stock, is certainly to be referred
their custom of covering the face and never showing the mouth, to
which custom Ebn Batúta adverts in speaking of King Edrís, who
ruled in his time. To this origin is also to be referred the custom, till
recently practised, of putting the new king upon a shield, and raising
him up over the heads of the people, as well as the polity of the
empire, which originally was entirely aristocratical, based upon a
council of twelve chiefs, without whose assent nothing of importance
could be undertaken by the king.
We have a very curious statement concerning the Bórnu empire,
emanating from Lucas, the traveller employed by the African
Association, and based on the authority of his Arab informants,
principally Ben ʿAlí, who no doubt was a very clever and intelligent
man. He describes the Bórnu kingdom as an elective monarchy, the
privilege of choosing a successor among the sons of a deceased
king, without regard to priority of birth, being conferred by the
nation on three of the most distinguished men of the country. He
does not say whether these belonged to the courtiers, or whether
every private individual might be called upon promiscuously to fulfil
this important duty; but the strict etiquette of the court of Bórnu
makes it probable that the former was the case. Be this as it may,
the choice being made, the three electors proceeded to the
apartment of the sovereign elect, and conducted him in silence to
the gloomy place in which the unburied corpse of his deceased
father was deposited; for till this whole ceremony was gone through
the deceased could not be interred. There, over the corpse of his
deceased father, the newly elected king seems to have entered into
some sort of compromise sanctioned by oath, binding himself that
he would respect the ancient institutions, and employ himself for the
glory of the country.
 I shall have to mention a similar custom still prevailing at the
present day in the province of Múniyó, which belonged to that part
of the empire called Yerí, while the dynasty of the Múniyóma
probably descended from the Berber race. Every newly elected
Múniyóma, still at the present day, is in duty bound to remain for
seven days in a cave hollowed out by nature, or by the hand of man,
in the rock behind the place of sepulchre of the former Múniyóma, in
the ancient town of Gámmasak, although it is quite deserted at
present, and does not contain a living soul.
But that not only the royal family, but even a great part of the
whole nation, or rather one of the nations which were incorporated
into the Bórnu empire, was of Berber origin, is still clear so late as
the time of Edrís Alawóma, that is to say, only two centuries and a
half ago; for in the report of his expeditions, constant mention is
made of the Berber tribes (“kabáíl el Beráber”) as a large component
part of his army, and constantly two parts of this army are
distinguished as the Reds, “el Áhhmar,” and the Blacks, “eʾ Súd.”
This part of the population of Bórnu has separated from the rest, I
suspect in consequence of the policy of ʿAlí, the son and successor
of Háj ʿOmár, a very warlike prince, who, in the second half of the
seventeenth century, waged a long war with Ágades.
Viewed in the light thus shed by past history, the continual and
uninterrupted warlike expeditions made by the Tuarek at the present
time against the northern regions of Bórnu and against Kánem
assume quite a new and far more interesting character. Now if it be
objected that the Kanúri or Bórnu language does not appear to
contain any Berber elements (which indeed it does not), I have only
to adduce the exactly parallel example of the Bulála, a brother
dynasty of the Bórnu royal family, descended from the same stock,
who, having settled and founded a dynasty among the tribe of the
Kúka, in the territory of Fíttri, still continue to speak their native
language, that is the Kanúri, in the time of Leo,[45] but have now
entirely forgotten it, adopting the language of the people over whom
they ruled; and similar examples are numerous.
 A second point which deserves notice is, that the Kanúri even at
the present day call people in general, but principally their kings,
always after the name of their mother, and that the name of the
mother’s tribe is almost continually added in the chronicle as a
circumstance of the greatest importance. Thus the famous king
Dúnama ben Selmʿaa is known in Bórnu generally only under the
name of Díbalámi, from the name of his mother Díbala; and the full
form of his royal title is Díbalámi Dúnama Selmámi, his mother’s
name, as the most noble and important, preceding his individual
name, which is followed by the name derived from his father. It is
also evident, even from the dry and jejune report of the chronicle,
what powerful influence the Walíde or “Mágira”—this is her native
title—exercised in the affairs of the kingdom; I need only mention
the examples of Gúmsu (“gúmsu” means the chief wife) Fasámi, who
imprisoned her son Bíri, when already king, for a whole year, and of
Áʿaishad or ʿAisa, the mother of Edrís, who for a number of years
exercised such paramount authority, that in some lists, and even by
many ʿulama at the present time, her name is inserted in the list of
the sovereigns of the country.
These circumstances may be best explained by supposing that a
kind of compromise took place between the strangers—Berbers, or
rather Imóshagh (Mazígh) from the tribe of the Berdʿoa—and the
tribe or tribes among whom they settled, just in the same manner as
we have seen that a stipulation of the same kind was probably made
between the conquering Kél-owí and the ancient inhabitants of Aír of
the Góber race; and the same circumstances, with similar results,
are observable in ancient times, in the relations subsisting between
the Grecian colonists and the original inhabitants of Lycia.
The most important among the indigenous tribes of Kánem are
the Kíye or Beni Kíya, also mentioned in the time of Edrís Alawóma,
the Meghármah, who may possibly be identical with the
Ghemármah, the Temághera (evidently a Berber name), the Débiri,
the Kúnkuna, at present established in Kárgá, and finally the Tébu or
Tubu, or rather Tedá. Of all these the last-named constituted by far
the most important and most numerous tribe. To them belonged the
mother of Dúnama ben Humé, the most powerful of the older kings
of Bórnu, who appears to have thrice performed the pilgrimage to
Mekka. Indeed it would seem that the real talisman which Díbalámi
Dúnama Selmámi spoiled consisted in the friendly relation between
the Berauni or Kanúri and the Tébu, which was so intimate that the
name of Berauni, which originally belonged to the inhabitants of
Bórnu, is still at present the common name given by the Tuarek to
the Tébu; or rather, the latter are a race intimately related to the
original stock of the Kanúri, as must become evident to every
unprejudiced mind that investigates their language.
How powerful a tribe the Tedá were, is sufficiently shown by the
length of the war which they carried on with that very king Dúnama
Selmámi, and which is said to have lasted more than seven years.
Indeed, it would seem as if it had been only by the assistance of this
powerful tribe that the successors of Jíl Shikomémi were able to
found the powerful dynasty of the Bulála, and to lay the foundation
of the great empire called by Leo Gaoga, comprehending all the
eastern and north-eastern parts of the old empire of Kánem, and
extending at times as far as Dóngola, so that in the beginning of the
sixteenth century it was larger than Bórnu. Even in the latter half of
the sixteenth century, the Tedá appears to have constituted a large
proportion of the military force of the Bulála in Kánem; and great
numbers of them are said, by the historian of the powerful king Edrís
Alawóma, to have emigrated from Kánem into Bórnu, in
consequence of the victories obtained by that prince over the Bulála.
At that time they seem to have settled principally in the territories of
the Koyám, a tribe very often mentioned in the book of Imám
Ahmed as forming part of the Bórnu army, and with whom at
present they are completely intermixed. It is very remarkable, that
neither by the chronicle, nor by the historian of Edrís Alawóma, the
large tribe of the Mánga, which evidently formed a very considerable
element in the formation of the Bórnu nation, is ever once
mentioned.
While the tribes above enumerated were more or less absorbed by
the empire of Kánem, and, in the course of time, adopted the
Mohammedan religion professed by its rulers, there was on the other
hand a very numerous indigenous tribe which did not become
amalgamated with the conquering element, but, on the contrary,
continued to repel it in a hostile manner, and for a long time
threatened its very existence. These were the “Soy” or “Só,” a tribe
settled originally in the vast territory enclosed towards the north and
north-west by the komádugu Wáube, erroneously called the Yeou,
and towards the east by the Shári, and divided, as it would seem,
into several small kingdoms.
This powerful tribe was not completely subjugated before the time
of Edrís Alawóma, or the latter part of the sixteenth century; and it
might be matter of surprise that they are not mentioned at all by the
chronicle before the middle of the fourteenth century, if it were not
that even circumstances and facts of the very greatest importance
are passed over in silence by this arid piece of nomenclature. It
would therefore be very inconsistent to conclude from this silence,
that before the period mentioned the princes of Kánem had never
come into contact with the tribe of the Soy; the reason why the
chronicle, sparing as it is of information, could not any longer pass
them over in silence, was that in the space of three years they had
vanquished and killed four successive kings. The places mentioned in
the list, where the first three of these princes were slain, cannot be
identified with absolute certainty; but as for Nánighám, where
Mohammed ben ʿAbdallah was killed, it certainly lay close to, and
probably in, the territory of the Soy. After this period we learn
nothing, with regard to this tribe until the time of Edrís Alawóma,
although it seems probable that Edrís Nikálemi, the successor of
Mohammed ben ʿAbdallah, and the contemporary of Ebn Batúta,
had first to gain a victory over the Soy, before he was able to sit
down quietly upon his throne.
Altogether, in the history of Bórnu we can distinguish the following
epochs. First, the rise of power in Kánem, Njímiye being the capital
of the empire, silent and imperceptible till we see on a sudden, in
the beginning of the twelfth century, the powerful prince Dúnama
ben Humé start forth under the impulse of Islám, wielding the
strength of a young and vigorous empire, and extending his
influence as far as Egypt. The acme, or highest degree of prosperity,
of this period coincides with the reign of Díbalámi Dúnama Selmámi,
in the middle of the thirteenth century, during the prime of the
dynasty of the Beni Háfis in Tunis. But this reign already engendered
the germs of decay; for during it the two cognate elements of which
the empire consisted, namely the Tedá and the Kanúri, were
disunited, and it yielded too much influence to the aristocratical
element, which was represented by the twelve great offices, an
institution which seems to deserve particular attention.
The consequence was, that a series of civil wars and regicides
ensued, interrupted only by the more tranquil reign of Ibrahím
Nikálemi in the first half of the fourteenth century, which was
followed, however, by the most unfortunate period of the empire,
when the great native tribe of the Soy burst forth and killed four
kings in succession. Then followed another respite from turmoil, just
at the time when Ebn Batúta visited Negroland; but the son of the
very king who in the time of that distinguished traveller ruled over
Bórnu fell the first victim in the struggle that ensued with a power
which had arisen from the same root, had gained strength during
the civil wars of Bórnu, and which now threatened to swallow it up
altogether. This was the dynasty of the Bulála, which, originating
with the fugitive Bórnu prince Jíl Shikomémi, had established itself in
the district of Fíttri over the tribe of the Kúka, and from thence
spread its dominion in every direction till, after a sanguinary
struggle, it conquered Kánem, and forced the Kanúri dynasty to seek
refuge in the western provinces of its empire, about the year 1400 of
our era.
The Bórnu empire (if we may give the name of empire to the
shattered host of a belligerent tribe driven from their home and
reduced to a few military encampments) for the next seventy years
seemed likely to go to pieces altogether, till the great king ʿAli
Dúnamámi opened another glorious period; for having at length
mastered the aristocratical element, which had almost overwhelmed
the monarchy, he founded as a central point of government a new
capital or “bírni,” Ghasréggomo, the empire having been without a
fixed centre since the abandonment of Njímiye. It was in his time
that Leo Africanus visited Negroland, where he found the Bulála
empire (Gaoga) still in the ascendant: but this was changed in the
beginning of the sixteenth century, even before the publication of his
account; for in the hundred and twenty-second (lunar) year from the
time when ʿOmár was compelled to abandon his royal seat in
Njímiye, ceding the rich country of Kánem, the very nucleus of the
empire, to his rivals, the energetic king Edrís Katakarmábi entered
that capital again with his victorious army, and from that time down
to the beginning of the present century Kánem has remained a
province of Bórnu, although it was not again made the seat of
government.
Altogether the sixteenth century is one of the most glorious
periods of the Bórnu empire, adorned as it is by such able princes as
the two Edrís and Mohammed, while in Western Negroland the great
Sónghay empire went to pieces, and was finally subjugated by Mulay
Hámed el Mansúr, the Emperor of Morocco. Then followed a quieter
period, and old age seemed gradually to gain on the kingdom, while
pious and peaceful kings occupied the throne, till in the middle of
the last century the energetic and enterprising king ʿAli ʿOmármi
began a violent struggle against that very nation from which the
Bórnu dynasty had sprung, but which had now become its most
fearful enemy—the Imóshagh or Tuarek. He made great exertions in
every direction; but his efforts seem to have resembled the
convulsions of death, and being succeeded by an indolent king, for
such was Ahmed, the fatal hour, which was to accomplish the
extinction of the dynasty of the Séfuwa, rapidly approached. At last,
when the very centre of the empire had already fallen a prey to a
new nation which had started forth on a career of glory, the Fúlbe or
Felláta, there arose a stranger, a nationalized Arab, who, in saving
the last remains of the kingdom, founded a new dynasty, that of the
Kánemíyín, which, after having shone forth very brightly under its
founder, was recently reduced by civil discord, and seems now
destined to a premature old age.
 CHAPTER XXX.
THE CAPITAL OF BÓRNU.

I shall now give an account of my stay in Kúkawa before setting

out on my journey to Ádamáwa. Regarding Kúkawa only as the basis
of my further proceedings, and as a necessary station already
sufficiently known to the European public by the long stay of the
former expedition, I endeavoured to collect as much information as
possible with regard to the surrounding countries. Two of my friends
were distinguished by a good deal of Mohammedan learning, by the
precision with which they recollected the countries they had
wandered through, and by dignified manners; but they differed
much in character, and were inclined to quarrel with each other as
often as they happened to meet in my house.
These two men, to whom I am indebted for a great deal of
interesting and precise information, were the Arab Ahmed bel Mejúb,
of that division of the tribe of the Welád bu-Sebʿa who generally live
in the Wady Sákiyet el Hamra, to the south of Morocco, and the
Púllo Ibrahím son of the Sheikh el Mukhtár, in Kaháide on the
Senegal, and cousin of the late Mohammed el Amín, the energetic
prince of Fúta-Tóro. Ahmed had travelled over almost the whole of
Western Africa, from Arguín on the ocean as far as Bagírmi, and had
spent several years in Ádamáwa, of which country he first gave me
an exact description, especially with regard to the direction of the
rivers. He was a shrewd and very intelligent man; yet he was one of
those Arabs who go round all the courts of the princes of Negroland,
to whatever creed or tribe they may belong, and endeavour to
obtain from them all they can by begging and by the parade of
learning. I esteemed him on account of his erudition, but not in
other respects.
 Quite a different person was the Púllo Ibrahím—a very proud
young man, fully aware of the ascendency, and strongly marked with
the distinguishing character, of the nation to which he belonged. He
had performed the pilgrimage to Mekka, crossing the whole breadth
of Africa from west to east, from warm religious feeling mixed up
with a little ambition, as he knew that such an exploit would raise
him highly in the esteem of his countrymen, and secure to him a
high position in life. He had been two years a hostage in Ndér (St.
Louis), and knew something about the Europeans. It had struck him
that the French were not so eager in distributing bibles as the
English, while he had truly remarked that the former were very
sensible of the charms of the softer sex, and very frequently married
the pretty daughters of the Dembaséga. He obtained from me, first
the Zabúr, or the Psalms of David, which even the Arabs esteem very
highly, and would esteem much more if they were translated into a
better sort of Arabic, and afterwards the whole Bible, which he
wished to take with him on his long land journey.
The Arabs and the Fúlbe, as is well known, are in almost continual
warfare all along the line from the Senegal as far as Timbúktu; and it
was most interesting for me to see him and Ahmed in violent
altercation about the advantages of their respective nations, while I
was thereby afforded an excellent means of appreciating their
reports with regard to the state of the tribes and countries along the
Senegal. The way in which they began to communicate to me their
information was in itself expressive of their respective characters,
Ahmed protesting that, before he dared to communicate with me, he
was compelled to ask the permission of the vizier, while Ibrahím
laughed at him, declaring that he felt himself fully authorized to give
me any information about Negroland. Ibrahím became an intimate
friend of mine, and took a lively interest in me, particularly
commiserating my lonely situation in a foreign country, far from
home, without the consolations of female companionship.
As an example of the risks which European travellers may incur by
giving medicines to natives to administer to themselves at home, I
will relate the following incident. Ibrahím told me one day that he
wanted some cooling medicine; and I gave him two strong doses of
Epsom salts, to use occasionally. He then complained the following
day that he was suffering from worms; and when I told him that the
Epsom salts would not have the effect of curing this complaint, but
that worm-powder would, he begged me to give him some of the
latter; and I gave him three doses to use on three successive days.
However, my poor friend, though an intelligent man, thought that it
might not be amiss to take all this medicine at once, viz. four ounces
of Epsom salts and six drachms of worm-powder; and the reader
may imagine the effect which this dose produced upon a rather
slender man. Unfortunately, I had just taken a ride out of the town;
and he remained for full two days in a most desperate state, while
his friends, who had sent in vain to my house to obtain my
assistance, were lamenting to all the people that the Christian had
killed their companion, the pious pilgrim.
Besides these two men, there were many interesting strangers at
that time in Kúkawa, from whom I learnt more or less. Some of
them I shall here mention, as their character and story will afford
the reader a glance at one side of life in Negroland. A man who had
performed travels of an immense extent, from Khórasán in the east
as far as Sansándi in the west, and from Tripoli and Morocco in the
north as far as Asiantí and Jenakhéra and Fertít towards the south,
would have been of great service, if he had preserved an exact
recollection of all the routes which he had followed in his devious
wanderings; but as it was, I could only gather from him some
general information, the most interesting part of which had
reference to Mósi or rather Móre, a large and populous country
known by name already, from Sultan Béllo’s curious communications
to Captain Clapperton, but always misplaced in the maps, and its
capital Wóghodoghó.
This enterprising man, who generally travelled as a dervish, had
gone from Sofára on the Máyo balléo or Niger, between Hamdalláhi
and Ségo, across a most unsettled country, to Wóghodoghó; but he
was unable to give me any precise details with regard to it, and I
never met another person who had travelled this dangerous route.
He had also travelled all along the pagan states to the south of
Bagírmi and Wadáy, and advised me strongly, if it were my plan to
penetrate to the Upper Nile (as, indeed, I then intended,
notwithstanding my total want of means), to adopt the character of
a dervish, which he deemed essential for my success. But while such
a character might, indeed, insure general success, it would preclude
the possibility of making any accurate observations, and would
render necessary the most painful, if not insupportable, privations.
And on the whole this poor fellow was less fortunate than I; for in
the year 1854 he was slain on that very route from Yóla to Kúkawa
which I myself had twice passed successfully. He was a native of
Baghdád, and called himself Sheríf Ahmed el Baghdádi.
There was another singular personage, a native of Sennár, who
had been a clerk in the Turkish army, but, as malicious tongues gave
out, had been too fond of the cash entrusted to his care, and
absconded. He afterwards resided some years in Wadáy, where he
had drilled a handful of the sultan’s slaves, had come to this
kingdom to try his fortune, and was now about to be sent to Wadáy
by the sheikh of Bórnu, as a spy, to see if the prince of that country
had still any design of recommencing hostilities. From all persons of
this description the traveller may learn a great deal; and, intriguing
fellows as they generally are, and going from court to court
spreading reports everywhere, prudence requires that he should
keep on tolerably good terms with them.
Most interesting and instructive was a host of pilgrims from
different parts of Másena or Mélle, partly Fúlbe, partly Sónghay, who
having heard of the white man, and of his anxiety to collect
information respecting all parts of the continent, came repeatedly to
me to contribute each his share. I used to regale them with coffee,
while they gave me ample opportunities of comparing and testing
their statements. The most interesting and best informed amongst
them, were Bu-Bakr, a native of Hamdalláhi, the capital of the sheikh
(sekho) Ahmedu ben Ahmedu, who, having made a pilgrimage to
Mekka, had long resided in Yeman, and was now returning
homeward with a good deal of knowledge; and another cheerful and
simple-hearted old man from Sá on the Ísa or Niger, between
Hamdalláhi and Timbúktu. Indeed, as the report of Ahmed bel Mejúb
about Ádamáwa had confirmed me in my determination to sacrifice
everything in order to visit that country as soon as possible, so the
manifold information of these people with respect to the countries
on the middle course of the so-called Niger excited in me a most
ardent desire to execute the design, previously but vaguely
entertained, of accomplishing also a journey westward to Timbúktu.
Among my Bórnu friends at this time, the most instructive were
Shitíma Makarémma and Ámsakay. The former, who had been a
courtier under the old dynasty, and who had saved his life by his
intrigues, was a very intelligent old man, but an acknowledged rascal
to whom unnatural vices, which seem in general entirely unknown in
these regions, were imputed. Nevertheless he was the only man who
was master of all the history of the old dynasty; and he spoke the
Kanúri language with such exquisite beauty as I have never heard
from anybody else. He had two very handsome daughters, whom he
succeeded in marrying, one to the vizier and one to his adversary,
ʿAbd eʾ Rahmán; but in December 1853 he was executed, together
with the vizier, but on totally different grounds, as having long
forfeited his life. Quite a different sort of man was Ámsakay, a simple
Kánemma chief, who has been represented in one of my sketches.
He had formerly distinguished himself by his expeditions against the
Búdduma, till those enterprising islanders succeeded in conciliating
him by the gift of one of their handsome daughters for a wife, when
he became half settled amongst them.
I had also some interesting pagan instructors, among whom I will
only mention Agíd Búrku, a very handsome youth, but who had
undergone the horrible process of castration. The abolition of this
practice in the Mohammedan world ought to be the first object of
Christian governments and missionaries, not merely on account of
the unnatural and desecrated state to which it reduces a human
being, but on account of the dreadful character of the operation
itself, which, in these countries at least, is the reason why scarcely
one in ten survives it: With extreme delight Agíd Búrku dwelt upon
the unconstrained nudity in which his countrymen indulged, and with
great naïveté described a custom of the Pagans, which is identical
with a custom of the civilized Europeans, but is an abomination in
the eyes of every Mohammedan. He had wandered about a good
deal in the southern provinces of Bagírmi and Wadáy, and gave me
the first information about the interesting mountain-group near
Kénga Matáya.
But I must principally dwell upon my relations to the vizier el Háj
Beshír ben Ahmed Tiráb, upon whose benevolent disposition the
whole success of the mission depended, as he ruled entirely the
mind of the sheikh, who was more sparing of words, and less
intelligent. Mohammed el Beshír, being the son of the most
influential man in Bórnu after the sheikh, enjoyed all the advantages
which such a position could offer for the cultivation of his mind,
which was by nature of a superior cast. He had gone on a pilgrimage
to Mekka in the year 1843, by way of Ben-Gházi, when he had an
opportunity both of showing the Arabs near the coast that the
inhabitants of the interior of the continent are superior to the beasts,
and of getting a glimpse of a higher state of civilization than he had
been able to observe in his own country.
Having thus learned to survey the world collectively from a new
point of view, and with an increased eagerness after everything
foreign and marvellous, he returned to his native country, where he
soon had an opportunity of proving his talent, his father being slain
in the unfortunate battle at Kúsuri, and Sheikh ʿOmár, a fugitive in
his native country, having much need of a faithful counsellor in his
embarrassed situation. The sheikh was beset by a powerful and
victorious host, encamping in the largest of the towns of his
kingdom, while the party of the old dynasty was rising again, and
not only withdrawing from him the best forces wherewith to face the
enemy, but threatening his very existence, at the same time that a
brother was standing in fierce rivalry to him at the head of a
numerous army. Sheikh ʿOmár was successful, the host of Wadáy
was obliged to withdraw, and, abandoning the purpose for which
they had come, namely, that of re-establishing the old dynasty,