Nearly the same character distinguishes the tribe of the Laúbe on the Senegal, who, in general, at the present time have been reduced to the rank of carpenters, but, nevertheless, at a former period evidently constituted a distinct tribe.[44] It is these degraded tribes—viz. besides those above mentioned, the Mábube or Mábe, considered in general as weavers; the Gergasábe, or shoemakers; the Waílube, or tailors; the Wambaibe, or singing men; the Waúlube, or beggars,—who impart to the community of the Fúlbe the character of a distinction into castes, especially as all of them, in the imaginary pedigree of the Púllo stock, have been carried back to one common progenitor called Só; but we find the same degraded families among the Jolof.[45] The absorbing of these western tribes, especially the Jolof and Wákoré by the Fulfúlde nation, furnishes at the same time an unquestionable and unmistakable proof that the march of conquest of the latter proceeded from west to east, and not in an opposite direction, as has been the generally-adopted view of those who have touched upon the subject. No doubt it is impossible for us with our faint knowledge of the migration of tribes in general, and of African tribes in particular, to explain how this tribe came to settle in the region along the lower course of the Senegal, as their type is distinguished in so very remarkable a manner from the character of the other tribes settled in that neighbourhood, and evidently bears more resemblance to some nations whose dwelling-places are in the far east, such as the Malays, with whom M. Eichwaldt, in his ingenious but hypothetical essay on the Fúla[46] has endeavoured to connect them by way of Meroë. I myself am of opinion that their origin is to be sought for in the direction of the east; but this refers to an age which for us is enveloped in impenetrable darkness, while what I have said about the progress of their conquest from west to east relates to historical times, comprising the period from the fourteenth century downwards.[47] In this respect the mission of two religious chiefs of this tribe from Melle (where they resided at the time) to Bíri the king of Bórnu, who ruled about the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century[48], is of the highest interest, as it shows at once that this tribe, even at that early period, was distinguished by its religious learning, and gives a proof of the progress of the tribe from west to east. Some other facts which have come to our knowledge with regard to the progress of this tribe eastward will be mentioned in the chronological tables; here I will only call the reader’s attention to the circumstance, that we find, among the most intimate friends and most stanch supporters of Mohammed el Háj Áskia, a man of the name of ʿAlí Fulánu, while in general it was the policy of the Songhay dynasty, which was begun by that great ruler of Negroland, to keep in check this tribe, the conquering tendency of