ADMINISTRATION OF THE MELLESTINE 149 horse in Bornu was fifteen slaves. In Ibn Batuta's day a Barbary horse cost one hundred ducats at Melle ; but no deductions can be legitimately drawn from these two facts as to the money value of the ordinary slave.

The vast body of slaves no doubt represented the labour power of the country, and that they existed within its boundaries without disturbance and without the multiplication of crime, if it says much for the organisation and the administration of justice, says also something for the manner in which they were treated.

After a stay of several months in the capital of Melle, Ibn Batuta visited some of the minor towns, in most of which he mentions the black governor with respect, and in nearly all of them received hospitality from *' persons of merit " who had made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Amongst these minor towns he mentions Timbuctoo, which was still far from the height of its fame. He disposes of it in a sentence, as a town situated at a distance of four leagues from the Niger, and occupied chiefly by Berbers. It was here that he witnessed, on the occasion of the appointment of the captain of a troop, the ceremony of lifting him on a shield above the heads of his men. He mentions incidentally that this captain was a Berber. Berbers and blacks seemed to enjoy at the time perfect equality throughout the kingdom — all being alike Mohammedan. The only class distinction seemed to be idolater or orthodox, slave or free. He does not mention either the mosque or palace of Timbuctoo, though as they were at the time of his visit only fifteen years old, and as we know from previous and subsequent descriptions that they were handsome buildings of cut stone, they might have been expected to attract his attention. He does, however, mention the tombs of several distinguished persons, amongst them that of the young poet and architect from Granada who designed the mosque, and who had not lived long to enjoy the favour of his black patrons, the monarchs of Melle.

From Timbuctoo Ibn Batuta, having evidently resolved