of Borku) which was still heathen, and communicated their own religious zeal to such other sections of the tribe as had only a very superficial knowledge of Islam, and were Muhammadan only in name; [1090] the Tedas of Tu or Tibesti, in the Sahara, S. of Fezzan, who were likewise Muhammadans only in name when the Sanūsiyyah came among them, also bear witness to the success of their efforts. [1091] The missionaries of this sect also carry on an active propaganda in the Galla country and fresh workers are sent thither every year from Harar, where the Sanūsiyyah are very strong and include among their numbers all the chiefs in the court of the Amīr almost without exception. [1092] In the furtherance of their proselytising efforts these missionaries open schools, form settlements in the oases of the desert, and—noticeably in the case of the Wadai—they have gained large accessions to their numbers by the purchase of slaves, who have been educated at Jaghabūb and when deemed sufficiently well instructed in the tenets of the sect, enfranchised and then sent back to their native country to convert their brethren. [1093] It would appear, however, that the influence of this order is now on the decline. [1094] Slight as these records are of the missionary labours of the Muslims among the pagan tribes of the Sudan, they are of importance in view of the general dearth of information regarding the spread of Islam in this part of Africa. But while documentary evidence is wanting, the Muhammadan communities dwelling in the midst of fetish-worshippers and idolaters, as representatives of a higher faith and civilisation, are a living testimony to the proselytising labours of the Muhammadan missionaries, and (especially on the south-western borderland of Islamic influence) present a striking contrast to the pagan tribes demoralised by the European gin traffic. This contrast has been well indicated by a modern traveller, [1095] in speaking of the degraded condition of the tribes of the Lower Niger: “In steaming up the river (i.e. the Niger), I saw little in the first 200 miles to alter my views, for there luxuriated in congenial union fetishism, cannibalism and the gin trade. But as I left behind me the low-lying coast region, and found myself near the southern boundary of what is called the Central Sudan, I observed an ever-increasing improvement in the appearance of the character of the native; cannibalism disappeared, fetishism followed in its wake, the gin trade largely disappeared, while on the other hand, clothes became more voluminous and decent, cleanliness the rule, while their outward more dignified bearing still further betokened a moral regeneration. Everything indicated a leavening of some higher element, an element that was clearly taking a deep hold on the negro nature and making him a new man. That element you will perhaps be surprised to learn is Mahommedanism. On passing Lokoja at the confluence of the Benué with the Niger, I left behind me