inks of different colours

Evidence

"Neat handwriting, using inks of different colours, and the arrangement in blocks of extensive commentaries with elaborate references suggest that the annotations resulted from a well-planned process requiring time and concentration."

Remarks

The use of inks in various colors in the margins is noted as a core component of a sophisticated system for recording scholarly annotations, including teacher's oral instructions or copied commentaries from other manuscripts (p. 159). The visual differentiation through color (such as the use of blue or greenish ink circles seen in Fig. 39) supports the organization of extensive commentaries and elaborate references within the multilingual manuscripts of the Greater Senegambia region (p. 159, 160, 162). In some instances, the marker ȁ8ajamĩ is added to the end of annotations to distinguish non-Arabic glosses from the primary text (p. 161).