The name of this small town is variously written Bou Djebiha, Bousbehay and Boûdjbéha, and it lies some 220 km. north-northeast of Timbuktu and 100 km south-east of Arawān. It was founded by Sī. Muḥammad al-Sūqī at the time Muḥammad w. Raḥḥāl was chief of all the Barābīsh (mid-18th cent.). In the early twentieth century the population was some 300 persons, made up of Kel al-Sūq scholars, some Barabish and Ḥarāṭīn. In 1920 Marty described it as having only 15-20 houses not in ruins, and a population of no more than fifty; the population in 2001 was about the same.

Zayn al-Dīn b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b…