Said tells us that his father was 'the son of the ruling chief of Molgoy, a small country south of, and tributary to Bornou' (Said, 1873, p. 9). Ethnographic studies indicate that Molgoy is another name for the non-Muslim Margi people who inhabited small vassal chieftaincies on the southern frontier of Borno (Askell, 1912, pp. 134, 144-140; Barth, 1857-1859, vol. 2, pp. 104-105). Despite his origins in a non-Muslim society, Said's father became a Muslim, held an important political title during the reign of al-Kanemi and had four wives. The Muslim identity is also confirmed by Said's name. In addition, Said refers to his father as Barka Gana, which is a Kanuri name given to someone who is named after someone else in the family, usually a grandfather or uncle. It really means 'younger' and, hence, 'little' in terms of age not height. Furthermore, the name does not itself indicate that his father was a slave, as was suggested in an earlier study (Kirk-Greene, Newman, 1971, pp. 39, 104).  
In effect, Said's father was a royal slave, while his mother, Dalia, is said to have been a freeborn daughter of a Mandara chief. The rulers of Mandara and many of their followers had embraced Islam prior to the nineteenth century and, despite occasional friction with Borno, they formed an anti-Fulani alliance with al-Kanemi. Thus, Said's mother hailed from a Muslim-dominated region, and her Muslim name, Dalia, ${ }^{3}$ confirms her religion. Said tells us that his mother's marriage to his father was arranged and that she had 19 children including himself.  
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[^0]:    3 Dalia is an Arabic name meaning 'gentle' or 'flower'.