THE PHARAOHS IN HAUSSALAND 235 persecuted in Syria and Egypt, spread its monophysite emissaries far into the heart of Africa, leaving to its Nestorian rivals the open road of Persia, China, and the East. Distinct traces are to be found in the eastern part of the West African Soudan of this Coptic movement. Borgu, already famous for its connection with the Pharaohs, claims to have received in more modern times a form of Christianity from the East, and though the tradition is not general in the country, Borgu natives have recently asserted that their prophet is not Mohammed but Kisra, a Jew who died for the sins of men. In the second half of the fifteenth century the Portuguese had knowledge of a native state in the interior which professed Christianity ''after the manner of Egypt." They took that state to be Mossi, but if reliance is to be placed on the very circumstantial account of the Tarikh-es-Soudan, they were mistaken in their assumption, and the honour must be attributed to some other people.

It may have been Borgu, but it must be admitted that the Christianity of this province, if schismatic to begin with, has wandered now so far from the established path as to be scarcely recognisable.