APPENDIX III

THE TUBBAS (OR SEFS) AND THE SOS

According to the Documents scientifiques de la Mission Tilho, ii. 352, the dynasty of the Sefs are more generally known under the name of Tubbas. ‘A young chief whose name has not been preserved but who was later known as Tubba Lowel (the first who repented) left Hindi (India) at the head of an army and went to the country of Cham (Syria), whose inhabitants paid him tribute in order to avoid war. He then directed his march to Bougdari or Goudeber (Baghdad?) then to Masr (Egypt) and Medina, exacting tribute everywhere. From Medina he went to Yemen, where he established himself without resistance. From there he went to besiege Mecca, which had refused to submit to him. He was accompanied by 4,000 mallams (priests).’ To this legend M. l’officier interprète principal, Hamet Ismael, appends a note that this legend appears to be a somewhat garbled account of the history of the Tobbas or Shepherd Kings of Egypt (Hyksos): cf. L’Arabie, par Noël des Vergers, p. 50 ff. ‘One day the king reproached the mallams that their assistance did not enable him to capture Mecca. The principal mallam replied that he ought to be content with the empire of Persia, Bougdari, Egypt, Medina, and Yemen, and should not attack the sacred city of the Kaaba, which was destined one day to give birth to a prophet. The king then repented, abandoned the siege, and declared that on the appearance of this prophet he would become his first disciple. This repentance caused him to be called Tubba Lowel (the first who repented), from the Arabic verb “itoub” = he repents. Tubba Lowel returned to Yemen, and forty years later, when Mohammed was preaching Islam, he embraced the new religion.

After the reign of Hussein, the sixth Caliph, the Mussulman Empire was divided. One of the descendants of Tubba Lowel had the north and afterwards Stambul (Constantinople); another, named Seibu Aïsami, crossed the Nile and travelled towards the Sudan. This Seibu is perhaps Barth’s Sef. Later the descendants of Seibu came to Kanem, then occupied by the Bulala, and drove back the latter to Lake Fittri. Whether the Tubbas came in from the north via Fezzan or from the east via Kordofan is not known. Barth says they came from Borku, which is north-east of Kanem, and that they were descended from the Libyan tribe of the Berdoa, who, according to Nachtigal, occupied the oases of Kufra and Tou. Having thus conquered Kanem, the Tubbas or Seibuas established their capital at Birni Njime, thirty miles east of Mao, north-east of Chad. Towards the end of the fifteenth century the Tubbas left Kanem in order to instal themselves in Bornu. According to Barth and Nachtigal the Tubbas were driven out of Kanem by the Bulala; according to our informants they left there in order to conquer Bornu, a more fertile country than Kanem.’

There is also another version of the installation of the Tubbas in Bornu (Doc. sci., ii. 356). After having abandoned Kanem, about four hundred and fifty years ago, they came to Bornu, then occupied by the Sos, whose chief Guma Kandira or Dala Gumami [cf. Benton, Kanuri Readings, p. 27] (‘Kandira’ means in Kanuri ‘hunter, archer’) was living in straw huts at Gambaru on the River Yo. Having obtained leave to sit down near him, the Tubbas bought land in order to build their houses there. Amongst this land was a garden planted with ‘kumo’, which means in Kanuri ‘the calabash-gourd’. When their town or ‘birni’ was built, it was called Birni Zerku Kumo, i.e. the town of the calabash-garden, ‘zerku’ meaning in Kanuri ‘a garden’. [Probably the word spelt ‘zerkou’ by Landeroin should be ‘ze̥rge̥’ = a dry watercourse, a natural place for a market-garden.—P. A. B.] By inversion of syllables ‘zerku’ became ‘kuzer’, hence Kuzer Kumo. Another derivation is suggested by Landeroin. Nachtigal speaks of a group of three villages to the north of Mao, whose chief bore the title of ‘Kumo’. Perhaps the Tubba chiefs, who bore in Bornu the title of ‘Mai’ (= ‘king’ in Kanuri), may have formerly borne that of Kumo, hence Kasr Kumo = the palace of the Kumo. [‘Kasr’ is an Arabic word for a castle or citadel, sometimes used in Hausa, vid. Robinson’s Hausa Dictionary, under the form ‘kasru’ to mean ‘a palace’.][490] The Tubbas constructed their first capital at Gambaru, but finding that it was apt to be flooded by the river during the rains and was unsuited for the operations of their cavalry, they removed a few miles south to Kasr Kumo. Gambaru became the residence of the Queen Mother and her court.

In the course of time the So king got into debt to the Tubbas and finally fled to escape his creditors. The following legend is told to explain how the Tubbas got rid of the remaining Sos. The Tubbas were accustomed to stain their hands and nails with a tincture of henna. The Sos had tried to imitate them, but they were ignorant both of henna and how to use it. The Tubbas had jealously guarded their secret, but at last they agreed to reveal it on condition that all the Sos in the country were present. Accordingly on the appointed day they killed an ox and made the credulous Sos dip their hands in its blood. Their hands were then enveloped in green leaves, as the Tubbas were accustomed to do themselves, and the leaves bound round with thongs of raw hide. These thongs were not to be removed for three days. At the end of this period the thongs had shrunk so much that it was impossible to remove them without cutting them. The Tubbas then fell upon the unfortunate Sos, only one of whom escaped. This happened in the year 1452 of our era.

The Sos mentioned above were, according to the natives, the autochthonous inhabitants of Bornu. They lived chiefly by hunting and professed no religion. History has not preserved the names of their chiefs, but legend paints them as of gigantic stature and of such strength that when a So killed an elephant, he could carry it home on his shoulder [cf. Benton, Kanuri Readings, p. 9]; their bracelets would have been too big for our thighs and their axe-heads were as big as a man’s body of the present day. But nothing in the country recalls this extraordinary strength,—no weapon, utensil or dwelling which can justify their reputation. [Since these words were written by M. Landeroin some implements have been discovered bearing on this point. During the excavations for the wall of the Maiduguri leper-camp at the end of 1911 three implements were turned up, which the Shehu at once pronounced to be So arrow and spear-heads or hoes. They are shaped like a very blunt arrow-head, and the biggest measures 14 in. by 8 in. at its greatest length and breadth, and weighs 4 lb. 12 oz. They are perhaps So hoes, and are certainly infinitely heavier than those used at the present day. They have been deposited in the Zungeru museum. No other remains were found.—P. A. B.] Another argument against the Sos being giants is that their descendants the Beddes, Ngizims, Kotokos, &c., are no taller and no stronger than individuals of other races inhabiting the country. [But according to Miss Macleod, Chiefs and Cities of Central Africa, p. 196, few Kotokos are under 6 ft., and some are as tall as 6 ft. 7 in.]