Note 133 — IBN BAṬÚṬAH’S JOURNEY.

It is obvious that the poets here described are the Jelli-kés, or singing men, of the Mandingoes (see Laing’s Travels, p. 232). But it must not be supposed that by Jál حال, in the (Arabicized) plural Jolá حُلا, Ibn Baṭúṭah meant to represent the word Jelli-ké. He must be understood to say that the Jelli-kés, in Málí, were of the nation called Jolá. Park says (Second Journey, 8vo. p. 57) that “those who trade on credit are called Juli.” But this appears to be a rash and incorrect explanation of the name. The word julo signifies debt or bondage, but not a debtor. The same author, in describing further on (p. 228) the route southward to Bé-dú, mentions several Juli towns, and observes, that “the Julis are people who understand the language of Bœdoo and Miniana, and are employed as brokers,” &c. But our difficulties respecting the application of this name are removed by Caillié, who informs us (Voy. à Temboctou, II. pp. 82, 160), that in Bambara the Mandingoes are called Jaulas, Diaulas, or Jolas. It is probable, however, that the name properly belongs to the inhabitants of the country south of Bambara, where Park pointed out the Juli towns. But in the Bambara language Dhioli (according to Dard’s orthography) means red; may not the Jolá, Julis, or Jaulas, therefore, be the people referred to in the document procured from the Governor of Senegal, and published in the Appendix to Adams’s Narrative (p. 197), wherein Bé-dú is described to be “un pays habité par un peuple rougeatre”?