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 year, whom they shall bring forth and for whom they shall receive food in exchange.

The caliph al-Mahdi ordered that Nubia be held responsible every year for 360 slaves and one giraffe, and that they be given wheat, vinegar, wine, clothes and mattresses or the value thereof.

The Nubians recently claimed that the tribute is not due on them every year, and that it was demanded from them in the caliphate of al-Mahdi, at which time they told the caliph that the tribute was a part of what they took as slaves from their enemies and therefore they had, if they could not get enough slaves, to use their own children and offer them. Al-Mahdi ordered that they be tolerated, and that the tribute of one year be considered as if for three. No confirmation, however, could be found in the registers of al-Ḥaḍrah; but it was found in the register in Egypt.

. Al-Mutawakkil ordered one, Muḥammad ibn-ʿAbdallâh, known as al-Ḳummi, to be sent and put in charge of al-Maʿdin in Egypt. He also put him in charge of al-Ḳulzum [Suez], the road of al-Ḥijâz, and the furnishing of guides to the Egyptians when on holy pilgrimage. Arriving in al-Maʿdin, he conveyed provisions in ships from al-Ḳulzum to the land of al-Bujah. He then proceeded to a sea-coast, called ʿAidhâb, where the ships met him. With these provisions, he and his followers were strengthened and fed until they came to the castle of the king of al-Bujah. Al-Ḳummi attacked him in