FULAHS [properly Rae (sing. Pallo), called also Fellani (sing. Bafellanchl), and Fulian], the name of a widely-spread negro people in upper &Mom, regarding whose origin there is much diversity of Opinion. 3f. Eichwaldt (see Journal de In Societe Etrenologique. 1841, vol. i. p. 2, et seq.) has endeavored to connect them with. the Malays in the far east, but' according to Dr. Barth, " none of his arguments are of any consequence." Yet Dr. Barth himself is of opinion that "their origin is to be sought for in the direction of the east; but this," he adds, "refers to an age which for us is enveloped in impenetrable darkness." The F. first emerge Into the liglit bf history about the beginning of the 14th c., when, as we learn from Ahmed Haba's History of &akin, two members of the tribe went on a religious mission from 3Ielle, on the bor ders of Senegambia, to the king of BOrnu. The importance of this incident lies in the fact, that it shows that in the dawn of their history—as has invariably been the case in later thnes—the course of the tribe was from west to east, and also, that at the early period referred to, they were distinguished for that religious learning which still char acterizes them. After the 14th c., of F. appear.to have left the king doth of Melle, or the mountainous region of Fuladu, and to have spread themselves over the greater portion of Sudan, "absorbing and incorporating with themselves dif ferent and quite distinct national elements, which have given to their community a rather varying and undecided character." Hence originate the conflicting accounts of
travelers, some of whom speak of the F. as differing little from the negroes; others, as having their features and skulls cast in the European mold; while Bowen describes those of Yoruba as being some black, some almost white, and many of a mulatto color, varying from dark to very bright. Many other tribes, which have not been quite absorbed by the F., are yet so far blended with them, that they have lost their native idiom altogether, and speak the language of the predominant race, which is termed the Fulfdlde. The F. are not all under one ruler; they are a race, not a nation; and have founded many kingdoms, such as those of Soketo, Ganda, Timbo, etc. The endless tribes belonging to their stock are generally divided into four groups or families, the Jel, the Iraa, the So, and the Berl. Most of them became converted to Mohammedan ism about the middle of the 18th c., and in 1802, under the Imilm Othman, commenced a religious war on the surrounding pagans, which terminated prosperously in the estab lishment of the great Fulah empire of SOkoto. Othman died in a sort of fanatical ecstasy or madness, in 1818. The F. are industrious and inclined to trade; they work iron and .silver; manufacture with great neatness articles in wood andleather, and weave various durable fabrics. They are by far the most intelligent of the inhabitants of and have, besides mosques, schools in almost all their towns.