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The bellow is just a lazy cut and paste directly from the book so just click here for the book for free
" When the conquest of the West (by the Arabs) was completed, and merchants began to penetrate into the interior, they
saw no nation of the Blacks so mighty as Ghanah, the dominions of which extended westward as far as the Ocean. The King's
court was kept in the city of Ghanah, which, according to the author of the Book of Roger (El Idrisi), and the author of the
Book of Roads and Realms (El Bekri), is divided into two parts, standing on both banks of the Nile, and ranks among the largest
and most populous cities of the world.
" The people of Ghanah had for neighbours, on the east, a nation, which, according to historians, was called Susu;
after which came another named Mali; and after that another known by the name of Kaukau ; although some people prefer a different
orthography, and write this name Kagho. The last-named nation was followed by a people called Tekrur.6 The people of Ghanah
declined in course of time, being overwhelmed or absorbed by the Molaththemun (or muffled people;that is, the Morabites),
who, adjoining them on the north towards the Berber country, attacked them, and, taking possession of their territory, compelled
them to embrace the Mohammedan religion. The people of Ghanah, being invaded at a later period by the Susu, a nation of Blacks
in their neighbourhood, were exterminated, or mixed with other Black nations.
"As to the people of Mali, they surpassed the other Blacks in those countries in wealth and numbers. They extended
their dominions, and conquered the Susu, as well as the kingdom of Ghanah in the vicinity of the Ocean towards the west. The
Mohammedans say, that the first King of Mali was Bara- mindanah. He performed the pilgrimage to Mekkah, and enjoined his successors
to do the same.
"But the great King of Mali who conquered the Susu, and took their country, was named Mari Jatah, which means, in
the language of that country, Amir Lion, for Mart signifies an Amir, or prince of the blood royal, and jdtah means a lion.
These people also style the relatives and connexions of the royal family Tikin.g We were not able to learn anything further
respecting this king, and cannot therefore give his genealogy. Nevertheless I was informed that he reigned five and twenty
years.
"He was succeeded by his son Mansa Wali;that is, Sultan "Ali; who was one of the greatest kings that ever reigned
over the people of Mali. He performed the pilgrimage to Mekkah in the reign of the Sultan Ez-Zahir Bibars. To him succeeded
his brother Wall; after whom came another brother, named Khalifah, who was insane, and amused himself with shooting arrows
at his subjects. They rushed on him one day and killed him.
"After him came Abu Bekr, who was descended from Mari Jatah in the female line. The people of Mali, following in
this respect the custom of the 'Ajem (strangers), among whom the sisters and sisters' sons succeed to the inheritance, chose
him for their king. We have not been able to learn his lineage, nor the origin of his father.
"Abu Bekr was followed by a freedman named Sakurah, who usurped the throne.This king made the pilgrimage to Mekkah,
during the reign of Almalik Annasir; but on his return was killed at Tajura. The empire was increased, under him, by the subjugation
of other Black nations. It was in his time that the people of Mali made the conquest of Kaukau, and added it to their dominions,
which already extended from the Ocean and Ghanah in the west, to the country of Tekrur in the east. Some, however, maintain
that the conquest of Kaukau was made later. Haji Tunis, interpreter of Tekrur, says that the conquest of Kaukau was achieved
by a general of Mansa. Musa, whose name was Saghminhuh.
"After Sakurah the kingdom reverted to the posterity of Mari Jatah, and Mansa Musa, son of Abu Bekr, ascended the
throne. He was an excellent prince, and performed the pilgrimage in . The number of people employed to carry his baggage and
provisions amounted to 12,000, all dressed in tunics of figured cotton, or the silk called El-Yemeni. The Haji Tunis, interpreter
of this nation in Kahirah (Cairo), said that Mansa Musa brought with him to Egypt no less than 80 loads of Tibar (gold dust),
each weighing 300 pounds. He brought the whole on camels, though in his own kingdom camels are not used, baggage being there
carried on the backs of slaves. Mansa Musa, on his return, conceived the idea of building himself a fine palace. Abu Ishak
showed him a model, and erected the edifice, with plaster and all kinds of ornaments, for which he received 12,000 mithkals
of gold. Mansa Musa maintained an intimate and friendly correspondence with Sultan Abu-l-Hasan, of Al-Maghreb, and reigned
twenty-five years.
"On his death the empire devolved on Mansa. Magha; that is, Sultan Mohammed, for in their language Magha signifies
Mohammed. He died after a reign of four years, and was succeeded by Mansa Suleiman, son of Abu Bekr, and brother of Musa,
who reigned twenty-four years. After him came his son, Mansa Ibn Suleiman, who died nine months after ascending the throne.
Then followed Mari Jatah, and Mansa Magha, son of Mansa Musa, and reigned fourteen years. He (Mari Jatah) was a wicked and
dissolute prince. He sent an embassy to Abu Selim, son of Abu-l-Hasan, Sultan of Al- Maghreb (the West), which embassy arrived
in Fez in the year 762; and among other presents which came with it, were some very tall animals called Zerafah (camelopards),
as high as obelisks, and strange in the land of Al-Maghreb.
"Abu Abdullah Mohammed Ibn Wasiil, a native of Sijil- mesah, and who inhabited for a long time the city of Kaukau,
in their country (i. e. in the empire of Mali), where he performed the duties of Cadhi, told me, when I met him in 776, much
more respecting the kings of that country than I can relate. He said that this Sultan Jatah was the worst king that ever existed;
that he wasted the treasures, was on the point of destroying the palace erected by his ancestors; and that he even sold to
certain Egyptian merchants, for a trifling sum of money, a huge mass of native gold, weighing 20 cwt., and preserved among
other curiosities in the royal treasure. Providence, however, punished him; for he was afflicted with a disease very common
in those countries, and the ravages of which are particularly frequent among the higher classes. It begins with a kind of
lethargy or stupor, which renders the sufferer insensible during the greater part of the day. After lingering two years under
this incurable malady, Jatah died in 775."
" The people of Mali chose his son Musa to succeed him. He was a just prince, but was overpowered by his wazir Mari
Jatah, who threw him into confinement, and usurped all the powers of sovereignty. This Wazir has made some conquests towards
the east. Passing the limits of Kaukau, he arrived at the stations or fixed habitations in the land of Tekadda, which is behind
the country of the Morabites; but he has since restored that territory to its own Sultan. Tekadda is seventy days from Wergelan
towards the south-west; the road of the pilgrims (from Kaukau to Egypt) passes through it. Sultan Musa is on friendly terms
with the rulers of Zab and Wergelan."
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