"The Sultan of Mali sits in his palace on a great raised dais, and is concealed from the people by a curtain. When a man wishes to speak to the Sultan, he must first fall to his knees and sprinkle dust on his head as a form of respect... No one enters his presence except in clean clothes. If anyone should sneeze during an audience with the Sultan, he is beaten; but if the Sultan himself should sneeze, those present beat their breasts in token of respect."

Ibn Battuta, Rihla (Travels), account of Mali, c.1352–1353. Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan scholar and traveller who visited the Mali Empire in 1352, near the end of his extraordinary 30-year journey across the Islamic world.