No. X.

A Document made at the Court of Justice of Bornou.

“Praise be to God alone. May God bless our Lord Mohammed, and all his relations and friends.

“Whereas, at the court of (here the titles of the sheikh and his pedigree follow,) the Lord Sheikh Mohammed El-Kanemy, Hadgi Alij, son of Hadgi Moosa ben Khalloom, and the English physician, with his two friends, Rayes Abdallah, and Rayes Khaleel, appeared; the physician demanded of the said Hadgi Alij the restitution of two thousand hard silver dollars, which he and his said friends had lent to his late brother Abu Bakr ben Khalloom, through the English consul at Tripoli, on condition of repaying them after their arrival at Barnooh, according to his own acknowledgment and a bond in the said physician’s possession; and that they demanded this debt from Hadgi Alij, because he took possession of all his deceased brother’s property. Hadgi Alij replied, that he knew nothing of their claim upon his late brother: but, if they possessed a bond, they might produce it to prove their claim. They produced a paper, not written in Arabic, bearing the seal of the said deceased Abu Bakr; and, as no one could read what that paper contained, the judge told them that, notwithstanding it bore the seal of the said deceased, it could not be valid, nor of any use to them. They then produced one of the friends of the deceased Abu Bakr, as witness, who attested that, while at Tripoli, he was sent by him to the consul’s house, where he received the two thousand dollars and delivered them to him (the deceased), knowing that they were to be repaid at Barnooh, according to the present claim. His testimony, however, was not approved of by the judge.

“They appeared a second time at the said court of justice, and alleged that Hadgi Alij, after their first appearance, acknowledged, and pledged himself to pay them the two thousand dollars which they claimed from his late brother; that he paid them a part of the said sum in cotton clothes to the value of six hundred dollars in Barnooh money, and that the remaining fourteen hundred were to be repaid to them by him at the city of Kanoo in Soodan; and they, therefore, wished to legalize this before the judge.

“Hadgi Alij, however, said, that he gave them the six hundred dollars, merely as an act of kindness on his part, and as a loan from him to them, which they were to return to him at Kanoo; and that he never acknowledged, nor promised to pay his brother’s debt; but that, he told them, if they should be in want of more money at Kanoo, he would advance them as much as he could afford. They then requested the judge to restrict him from selling, or sending his brother’s property to Kanoo (lest it should be lost on the road), until they had proved their claim by better evidence. Hadgi Alij, at last, agreed, either himself or through his agent, to pay them five hundred dollars more, in addition to the six hundred, two months after their arrival at Kanoo; and fixed a period of one year, from the date of this document between them and him, for the proof of the justice of their claim; and that, if they fail to prove their demand upon his deceased brother before the lapse of the said period, they were to repay him the eleven hundred dollars, and forego all their claims. But if, on the contrary, they should be able to substantiate their demand within the stipulated period, he would then repay to them the nine hundred dollars, balance of the two thousand.

“Upon these conditions, both parties agreed and declared themselves content and satisfied, while they were in a perfect state of health and mind as to deserve reliance and dependence upon.

“Issued from the Court of Justice of the honoured and learned sheikh Mohammed El-ameen ben Mohammed El-kanemy, at Barnooh, on the 27th day of Rabee-ul-a-wal, one thousand two hundred and thirty-nine of the Prophetical Hejra, (corresponding to December, 1823); in presence of Mohammed Zain-ul-Abedeen ben Akhmed ben Mohammed; of Mohammed ben Akhmed ben Aba Bakr; and of Mohammed ben Hadgi Meelad ben Taleb. And may the high God be witness upon all.”