SPANISH ARABS IN AFRICA 75 honoured than in any other centre of civiHsation. He mentions, in regard to the organised charities of the country, that free hospitals were constructed and endowed in every town of the kingdom. As regards the endowment of science and literature, he describes the great College of Fez as having " no parallel in the known world for size, beauty, and magnificence." He speaks of the deep interest taken by the sovereign in all that related to science and literature, the very considerable literary achievements of the sovereign himself, and of the generous protection which he gave to all persons who were devoted to the study of science. Here also, before the date of Ibn Batuta's visit, we are brought into touch in the year 1338 with the political life of the Negro kingdom of Melle. Mansa Musa, a black sovereign, of whom we shall presently hear more, and the seat of whose empire was in the territory now known as the Bend of the Niger, sent an embassy on the occasion of the conquest of Telemgan by the Merinites to congratulate the Merinite sovereign, who was his nearest white neighbour. His embassy was accompanied by an interpreter from Masina in the Upper Niger, where the Fulanis had then a principal seat of occupation. Abou el Hagen — the king so warmly praised a few years later by Ibn Batuta — received them very cordially, and sent back by their hands a very handsome present to Mansa Musa.

In the lists which are given of the presents exchanged between monarchs on state occasions, interesting glimpses of the condition of the nations concerned may be obtained. The present made by Abou el Hagen to Mansa Musa is not described, but here is the description of a present sent by him to the reigning Sultan of Egypt on the same occasion of the taking of Telem9an from the Hafsides in 1337-First on the list is placed a copy of the Koran written by the monarch's own hand, and most beautifully bound at Fez. The binding, which is described in great detail, was made of ebony, ivory, and sandalwood, " inlaid with admirable art," and decorated with fillets of gold and pearls and