2i6 A TROPICAL DEPENDENCY became a monarch for thirty-six years. Ali Folen, his Prime Minister, already a chosen councillor whose fidelity had been approved in 1492, held office till the end of the sovereign's reign in 1528. Mohammed Goddala, the first Cadi of Timbuctoo appointed by the great Askia, a man highly distinguished both for learning and justice in the annals of his country, lived to the age of eighty-four, and was Cadi for fifty years. The Cadi el Aquib, who rebuilt the mosques of Timbuctoo under Askia Daouad, held his functions as Cadi for eighteen years. Mohammed Naddi, the famous Timbuctoo Koi, who, having held office under the Sultan of Melle, was reinstated by the Tuaregs on their capture of the town, had held office for more than thirty years when he died in 1464. It is needless to multiply examples ; but the longevity of the individual is an element of so much importance in the development of the race that, in view of the opinion usually entertained with regard to the climate and institutions of the Soudan, it seems interesting to establish the fact that there is nothing in the health conditions of the country which, for those who are acclimatised, is opposed to long and active life. As regards the institutions, continuity of office in the individual is nearly always coincident with stability in the state. Short reigns, short ministries, short military commands, are symptoms which seldom fail to indicate an unsettled and unsatisfactory condition of public life. Prosperity and permanence go hand in hand ; and where we find judges, generals, viceroys, kings, holding their public positions for periods varying between twenty - five and fifty years, we may fairly argue a peaceful and prosperous condition of the country.

The history of the Soudan offers no contradiction to the assumption that the life of the nation will correspond to the life of the individual. The duration of the Soudanese empires will bear comparison with that of others which are better known to fame. Ghana enjoyed an independent existence of about iioo years — that is, a period nearly equivalent to the period of existence of our