MANSA MUSA 123 Mansa Musa took with him gold dust to the value of upwards of a million sterling. This was carried in eighty camel loads of 300 lbs. weight each. His Songhay historian says of him that, notwithstanding all this magnificence, he was not generous in the gifts which he made in the holy cities. Others say that, on the contrary, he was so lavish in his gifts, that the large provision which he had made for his journey was insufficient, and that he had to borrow money for his return, which, as his credit was good, he had no difficulty in doing, and that the debt was afterwards punctually paid.

He made of his pilgrimage something more than a religious journey to Mecca. It was also a state progress through his dominions. Instead of starting eastward, as might have been expected, he started in a westerly direction, going first through the conquered territory of Ghana to the town no longer spoken of by that name, but by the modern name of Walata, or Aiwalatin. On his way thither, at Mimah, one of the conquered towns, a characteristic little incident occurred. There was in the Sultan's train a white judge to whom he had given four thousand ducats to meet the expenses of the journey. At Mimah this white judge complained that his four thousand ducats had been stolen. Mansa Musa sent for the governor of the town, and ordered him, on pain of death, to produce the robber. The governor caused the town to be vigorously searched, but he found no robber; " because in that town there were none." He went to the house occupied by the judge and crossexamined the servants. A slave of the judge then confessed : " My master has lost nothing ; but he himself hid the money in this place." He showed the place to the governor, who took the ducats, and reported the circumstances to the Sultan. Mansa Musa sent for the judge, and, after trial, banished him to the country of the pagans *'who eat men." He remained there, the historian states, for four years, at the end of which time the Sultan allowed him to return, not to Melle, but to