Note 143 — Chapter V
Reading edition
A long account of Allada, and description of the state and dignity of the King, are given by Barbot (Book 4, chap. ii). But he derived his description from hearsay. We can hardly accept the spacious and well-built houses, the fine gardens, the cavalry, and other such details. The kings, however, appear to have been comparatively civilized. Alkeny, or Tezy, was educated at S. Thomè, with a tincture of Christianity, and at the age of seventy he sent one D. Matteo Lopez as his ambassador-extraordinary to the Court of France. From Barbot we also learn that about 1700 the Moslems were so powerful at Allada, that their great “Marabou” had the privilege of seeing the king night and day. This enables us to explain Essaam or Assem by the Arab, i.e., Aazem or the Greater (town).