RISE OF THE SONGHAY EMPIRE 165 '* A prince," says the Tarikh, "■ who cannot defend his possessions, does not deserve to keep them." Melle had accordingly been forced in 1434 to abandon Timbuctoo, and at the date of Sonni Ali's accession to the Songhay throne the Tuaregs had been masters of the town for upwards of thirty years.

Rude people as they were, their conquest does not seem at first to have carried with it any disastrous consequences to the life of Timbuctoo. There had been no convulsion. The sovereignty of Melle had simply been withdrawn, and the existing Timbuctoo Koi, a man of eminent piety and learning of the name of Mohammed Naddi, had continued to exercise his functions. It is expressly stated that he had all powers in his hands, that under the domination of the Sultan of Melle he was already the chief of the city, and that his title alone was changed by the change of government. Up to the time of his death all went well, but shortly before the accession of Sonni Ali, Mohammed Naddi died. A new Koi was appointed whose authority was not respected, and Timbuctoo then became a prey to the *' odious exactions" of the Tuaregs. An epoch of violent tyranny ensued, during which desolation spread within its walls.

While the Tuaregs had thus shorn Melle of power on its desert frontier, the King of Mossi was ravaging its territories from the south ; and the Fulanis of Massina towards the west, forced to defend themselves against the inroads of Mossi, were also incidentally strengthening their independence of an empire which could no longer give them adequate protection. Jenn6, with its 7000 villages, rich and famous as the centre of an extremely flourishing cotton industry, remained, as ever, independent. Aiwalatin — or Biro, as it is usually called by Songhay historians — was fast becoming, on the far northwestern frontier, the safest place of residence in the empire for persons of peaceful disposition. The disturbances in Timbuctoo were restoring Aiwalatin to the distinction enjoyed by the Ghana of old days as the