From that day no one else was killed in Naphta. King Akaf was the first king of Naphta to live until it pleased God to take him away, in old age. When he died, Far-li-mas was his successor. With him, Naphta reached its highest point of happiness and its end.

For King Akaf’s fame as a wise and well-counseled ruler soon spread through all countries. All princes sent him gifts and wise men, who came to seek advice. All the great merchants settled in the city of Naphta. King Akaf had many large ships on the eastern coast that transported goods from Naphta to every part of the world. There were not enough gold and copper mines in Naphta to keep the workshops full. When Far-li-mas succeeded King Akaf, the happiness of the country reached its highest point. His fame spread through all countries, from the eastern sea to the western sea. But his fame also sowed the seed of envy in the hearts of men. When Far-li-mas died, the neighboring countries broke their agreements and began a war against Naphta. Naphta was defeated. Naphta was destroyed, and with it the most powerful palace of the great realm. The great realm fell to pieces. It was overrun by savage peoples. The gold and silver mines were forgotten. The cities vanished. Nothing is left of Naphta, except Far-li-mas’s stories, which he had brought with him from the land beyond the eastern sea.

This is the story of the ruin of the land of Kasch. Its last children live in the land of For.

Among the Ruins of Kasch

Leo Frobenius set out on his fifth African expedition in early 1912. He had only just returned from Africa: “All I needed was three days in the Tyrol to embrace my young daughter, my wife and my brother, and then straight back to Africa, but this time to the eastern part.

“Suez—

Port Sudan—

Khartoum—

El Obeid—

“And here we are—and once again we’re swimming in happiness.”²⁵⁰ He was searching for the passage to the lost mines of Hophrat-en-Nahas. They reached El Obeid as preparations were under way for a solemn celebration in honor of Lord Kitchener and Sir Reginald Wingate. Frobenius was not expecting this; his thoughts were quite elsewhere. But for the celebration, the “great man of For” had sent to El Obeid “ambassadors and gifts and a miscellany of other things … A miscellany! For example, a very old camel driver called Arach ben Hassul, who carries in his heart the most wondrous legend of the past.²⁵¹ The legend of Kasch or Napata.—Now you’re all ears, my friend, aren’t you?—It’s quite crazy! Served on a plate, in little more than half an hour, knowledge going back a thousand years!—After all our discussions on these matters, you’ll immediately understand, of course, what it means to me if this old bearer of myths can say how it happened that a king of the East sent one of his messengers to the Court of Napata, and this messenger tells wondrous tales and then changes the form of the State. The king from the far East, over the sea!—it could only be some place in the Indian Ocean. Would it be better, perhaps, in future to call the Indian Ocean the Kaschitic Ocean?”