The country from hence towards the capital we never find comprised by Áhmed Bábá under a general name, nor do we meet with the names of Zabérma or Zérma, which I therefore conclude to be of more recent origin, although that country, at present so named, was evidently comprised in the kingdom of Songhay. West of Gágho, on the banks of the river, we next find the province of Banku or Bengu[100], which evidently comprised that part of the river which is studded with islands, as we find the inspector of the harbour of Kábara taking refuge in the district of Banku, with the whole of his fleet, after the capture of the town by the people of Morocco. Passing then by the province of Bantal, the limits of which I have not been able to make out, we come to the province of Bel or Bal, which evidently comprised the country on the north side of the river round about Timbúktu, and, perhaps, some distance westwards; but without including that town itself, which had a governor of its own, nor even the harbour of Kábara, which at that time was of sufficient importance to be placed under the inspection of a special officer or “farma,” who, however, seems to have been subjected in a certain degree to the inspection of the Bal-mʿa, or the governor of Bal, who was able to call him to account.[101] The governor of the province of Bal, who bore the peculiar title of “Bal-mʿa,” a word likewise of Mandingo origin, mʿa corresponding to the Songhay word “koy,” seems to have been of great importance in a military respect, while in a moral point of view the governor of the town of Timbúktu enjoyed perhaps greater authority, and the office of the Túmbutu-koy, seems always to have been filled by a learned man or fákih, proving that this town was regarded at that time as the seat of learning; and that the fákih who governed the town of Timbúktu possessed great power is evident from the fact, that Áhmed Bábá mentions it as a proof of great neglect on the part of Al Hádi the governor of Tindírma, that he did not go in person to the kádhi to pay him his compliments.