i6o A TROPICAL DEPENDENCY tradition preserved in the history of Egypt that when the descendants of Misraim divided the land of Egypt between them, a territory which stretched from the present position of Alexandria to the borders of Tripoli fell to the portion of a well-beloved younger son called " Sa."

"Sa" devoted himself with the greatest interest to his kingdom, and made it very prosperous. He built towns full of marvels ; he constructed baths ; he had palaces with stained glass windows and exquisite gardens. He erected statues bearing burning-glasses, and other marvels, along the Mediterranean coast. His explorations extended to the Atlantic on the west, and far into the desert on the south.

Macrizi, writing in the fifteenth century, says of the towns which he constructed in the desert : " The dwellings have disappeared, their inhabitants are scattered, but the vestiges remain ; and all travellers who have penetrated into those regions relate what they can still see among those marvellous ruins."

This kingdom of "Sa" covered the Tripoli-Fezzan caravan road into the desert. If we may judge from all that is related of its monuments, it must have endured for many generations. It is no more difficult to believe that two of the princes of this Egyptian house of "Sa" should have reached Gao by marching southwards through the desert, than to accept the story that they came from the still more distant Arabia. The change of sound from " Sa " to " Za " is less than from " Dia " to " Za."

Whatever was their origin, the " Zas " reigned for many generations over Songhay, and "none of them believed in God," till in the year 1009 -•* 2a Kosoi accepted Islam. It will be observed that this was nearly a hundred years before Islam was generally accepted throughout the Soudan.

The fact is corroborated by El Bekri, who, writing in 1067, says that the inhabitants of Kaougha were then Mussulman, though the surrounding populations were pagan.