Note 149 — IBN BAṬÚṬAH’S JOURNEY.
Reading edition
The superiority of the people of Guber is plainly asserted by Sultan Bello, who says (Appendix to Denham and Clapperton’s Travels, 8vo. II. p. 450) that they alone, of all the Houssa tribes, are free born, being descended from the Copts, while the rest are the progeny of Bawwa, or Baúwa, that is, a slave (not Ba-oo, as in Mr. Salamé’s Translation). The country of the Baúwa is Baúchi, or Baúji, commonly written Bowshee. Sultan Bello’s History, brought to Europe by Clapperton, would well deserve a critical study: but where is the original? Did it belong to the public? and if it did, why is it not in the library of the British Museum?