Whilst revisiting various sources on Bagirmi, we were struck by al-Tunisi's account of the staggering amount of wealth hoarded by the kingdom. Although he was not personally present for Sabun of Wadai's invasion of Bagirmi and the pillaging of Massenya, he did have access to informants who participated in the victory, such as his own father. This precious testimony makes al-Tunisi's Voyage au Ouadây an essential source on Wadai during the early 19th century. According to al-Tunisi, Wadai forces found the room in the palace filled up to the ceiling with leather sacs containing duros, or Spanish silver coins. One of the sacs supposedly contained 4000 duros and about ten were missing from the room of about 20 square feet. From this, we read an estimate of more than 200,000 francs were lost. He doesn't say the total number brought back to Wadai, but if the remaining number of sacs left in that room were brought back to Wara, loot seized from Bagirmi was immense. Indeed, perhaps the equivalent of millions of US dollars worth of silver coins were stolen from Bagirmi's palace. This amount of silver coins may have been the result of the last several Bagirmi kings hoarding the coins. Unfortunately, we do not know to what extent such silver was used in conjunction with strips of cloth or other units of exchange in the kingdom. Perhaps they were mainly used for purchasing luxury goods as well as ensuring the price of silver locally remained high (by restricting circulation)?
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