[Footnote 162: Leo, in the interesting description which he gives of this town, l. vii. c. 9., expressly praises the size and architecture of the houses: “Le case sono benissimo edificate a modo delle case di Barberia.” He also speaks here of the great number of male slaves whom the merchants were obliged to keep, in order to protect themselves on the roads to Negroland.] [Footnote 163: From Leo’s description, l. vii. c. 9., it would appear that the palace of the sultan in former times was in the middle of the town—“un bel palazzo in mezzo della città.” He kept a numerous host of soldiers.] [Footnote 164: The hostile disposition of the kádhi towards me was most unfortunate, as he would have been the very man to give me the information I wanted; for I did not meet any other native of the place well versed in Arabic literature, and but a few were able to speak Arabic at all.] [Footnote 165: Whether this name be a corruption of Mghíli, meaning the fanatical Mohammedan apostle Mohammed ben ʿAbd el Kerím el Maghíli, of whom I have spoken above, I cannot say.] CHAP. XVIII. HISTORY OF ÁGADES. If we had before us the historical work upon the authority of which Mohammed el Bágeri assured Sultan Bello that the people of Góber, who formerly possessed the country of Aïr, were Copts[166], we should most probably find in it the history of Ágades. As it is, however, until that book shall come to light, of which I do not at all despair, provided future travellers inquire diligently for it, we must be content with endeavouring to concentrate the faint and few rays of light which dimly reveal to us, in its principal features, the history of this remarkable town.