The circumstance of the kings of Songhay not having procured at that time—the end of the sixteenth century of our era—even the smallest number of firearms, is remarkable, if we compare with it the fact which I have dwelt upon in its proper place[117], that Edrís Álawóma, the king of Bórnu who ruled in the latter part of the sixteenth century, possessed a considerable number of muskets. The cannon which was found among the Songhay when they were conquered by the Moroccains had, I have no doubt, formed part of the present which the Portuguese had forwarded to Áskía Músa, as we shall further see in detail in the chronological tables; but the fact of the enemy having found this piece of ordnance among the spoil of the capital, and not in the thick of the battle, sufficiently proves that the Songhay did not know how to use it. As for the matchlocks, which even at the present day are preserved in Gágho, and of which, by some accident, I did not obtain a sight, they belonged originally to the very conquerors from Morocco, who afterwards, as Rumá, formed a stationary garrison, and even a certain aristocratical body, in all the chief towns of the kingdom. Side by side with a certain degree of civilisation, no doubt, many barbarous customs were retained, such as the use of the lash, which in other parts of Negroland we find rarely employed, except in the case of slaves, but which, in Songhay, we see made use of constantly, even in the case of persons of the highest rank; and instances occur, as in that of the instigator of the revolt of El Hádi, under the king El Háj, of persons being flogged to death.[118]