Note 90 — Chapter XI · THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN AFRICA.

They seem to have lived in considerable dread of the original pagan inhabitants of the country, but succeeded gradually in extending their settlements along the coast, until the arrival of another band of fugitives who came from the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf, not far from the island of Baḥrayn. These came in three ships under the leadership of seven brothers, in order to escape from the persecution of the king of Lasah,90 a city hard by the dwelling-place of their tribe. The first town they built was Magadaxo,91 which afterwards rose to such power as to assume lordship over all the Arabs of the coast. But the original settlers, the Emozaydij, belonging as they did to a different Muhammadan sect, being Shīʻahs, while the new-comers were Sunnīs, were unwilling to submit to the authority of the rulers of Magadaxo, and retired into the interior, where they became merged into the native population, intermarrying with them and adopting their manners and customs.92