Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo; and across the Great Desert, to Morocco, performed in the years 1824-1828, Vol. 1 (of 2)

They have several wives, whom, however they do not ill-treat, like the negroes further to the south. The women never go out unveiled, and are not allowed to eat their meals with their husbands, or even with their male children. The girls, when they attain a suitable age, assist their mothers in cooking, washing and other household business. They occupy their leisure moments in spinning cotton, which they buy in the market, for in the marshy environs of the city it is not cultivated; however, on the west side, I saw a little field of cotton surrounded by a thorn hedge. It appeared to be of very inferior quality, and does not thrive well.

The people of Jenné know no other writing than that of the Arabs: almost all can read, though few understand it. There are schools for youth, like those which I have already described. After the children have learned every thing that is taught in these schools, they are sent to El-Lamdou-Lillahi; and when they know the Koran by heart, they are looked upon as learned men: they then return to their native places, and enter into trade.

The inhabitants of Jenné live very well: they eat rice boiled with fresh meat, which is to be procured every day in the market. With the fine millet they make couscous; this is eaten with fresh or dried fish, of which they have great abundance. Their dishes are highly seasoned; they use a good deal of allspice, and salt is common enough to enable every one to get it. The expense of maintenance for a single individual is about twenty-five or thirty cowries per day. Meat is not dear in this place: a piece which costs forty cowries (twenty centimes) is enough to furnish a dinner for four persons. They generally make two meals a day; all sitting round one dish, and each taking out a portion with his hand, like all the inhabitants of the interior.

Their houses are not furnished. They have leather bags in which they put their things; these bags are sometimes hung to a line put up across the apartment. The people always sleep on bullocks’ hides, or mats, spread upon the ground. Hence they are very subject to rheumatic complaints, owing to the extreme dampness of the soil, for they cannot keep fires during the night on account of the scarcity of wood. The children, as well as grown persons, are very neatly dressed. They wear a coussabe made of cloth of the Soudan, generally white, which is the favourite colour; their trowsers reach to the ancle, and are not so full as those worn by the Mandingoes in the south; they have a hem at the waist in which is run a cotton string that ties above the hips. The Mandingo traders buy these trowsers and carry them to their country: I saw them at Sambatikila, Timé, and Tangrera. The people of Jenné never go barefoot, not even the children of the slaves. Their shoes, which are very neatly made, ressemble our European slippers; they have them of various colours. Their shoe-makers use no lasts they get thin leather from Timbuctoo, whither it is brought by the Moors from Morocco. I saw no tanners in Jenné.

The most elegant head-dress worn in this place is a red cap, round which a large piece of muslin is rolled in the form of a turban. Men of inferior rank, like the saracolets, wear caps made in the country. The dress of the women consists of a coussabe with a pagne under it. I saw several females with sandals. They plat their hair and wear necklaces of glass, amber, coral, and gold ear-rings. Some also wear about the neck plates of that metal which are made in the country. I saw some with nose-rings; they all have their noses pierced, and those who are not rich enough to buy a ring have a piece of pink silk in its stead. They wear silver bracelets of a round form, and their ancles are encircled by flat rings of plated iron, four inches broad, which cover them completely.

The price of an ordinary coussabe of cloth of native manufacture is two thousand cowries; a pair of trowsers costs one thousand, and a pair of slippers three hundred. They are to be had either cheaper or dearer, according to the variety of form or colour. The Moors have magazines well supplied with European merchandise; such as white Guinea cloth, (for they have but little blue) calico, scarlet cloth, paper, muskets, powder, hardware, needles, silk, and sulphur. They sell all these things wholesale. They have also white sugar and tea; but it is only the very rich who can afford such luxuries. I was pleased to find at Jenné that one might use a pocket-handkerchief without being ridiculed; for the inhabitants themselves use it, whereas, in the countries through which I had previously passed, it would have been dangerous to suffer such a thing to be seen. A cake of salt, of the dimensions which I have described in a former part of this volume, costs ten, fifteen, or even twenty thousand cowries, according to the scarcity or abundance of the article; there are smaller cakes, which cost seven or eight thousand cowries.

The Moorish merchants derive considerable profit from their trade in salt. They have great influence over the negroes, who give them credit for being richer than they really are. The poor Mandingo traders, after travelling for two months with loads of colat-nuts on their heads, are obliged to go through the streets of Jenné to sell them; for, being merely articles of luxury, they are not easily disposed of. It is true that a great many are consumed in the neighbourhood of Jenné and on the banks of the river as far as Timbuctoo; but the quantity which is brought from the south is immense, and they are consequently sold at eight or ten cowries each. Certainly at that price the poor Mandingoes can gain nothing; for the expenses incurred on their journey and during the time they stay at Jenné, the fares across the rivers, the passage-duties in the villages, and the requisite presents, absorb all their profits. The cowries obtained by the sale of their colats are appropriated to the purchase of salt, which cannot be bought with their merchandise.

As there are no inns in this country, the strangers are obliged to lodge in the houses of private persons, whom they pay in merchandise. They buy wood in the market for their cooking, and as provisions are dear in the town, they send their slaves to the neighbouring villages, where it is procured somewhat cheaper. The fishermen catch many small carp in the surrounding villages. They dry them by laying them on straw and then setting fire to it. This fish is bought by the poor people.

Ségo-Ahmadou, the chief of Jenné, maintains an active war against the Bambaras of Ségo, whom he wishes to subject to the standard of the prophet; but the Bambaras who are a warlike race, resist him. This war is very injurious to the trade of Jenné, because it interrupts all communications with Yamina, Sansanding, Bamako, and Bouré, whence the gold is brought which is circulated in the interior. The town of Jenné can no longer be considered as the central point of commerce. Yamina, Sansanding, and Bamako are, in reality, the entrepôts: those places are visited by trading Moors from all parts of the desert, and by the negroes of the Soudan, from Kong to Galam, Bondou, and the Fouta-Dhialon. Jenné cannot enjoy the same advantage on account of its distance from Bouré. Previously to the war, small canoes used to go from Jenné to Bouré, and return laden with gold. The merchants of Jenné suffer considerably by this war; but they are afraid to complain openly: indeed, they would not better themselves if they did. Several negroes informed me that since the war the Moors are forsaking this town, and taking up their abode at Sansanding.

I often went up to the terrace of the house in which I lodged. As far as the eye could reach, the country was open and marshy; there were to be seen a few clumps of ronniers at a great distance and some tamarind-trees on the most elevated parts of the banks of the river. To the west I could distinctly see a branch of the Dhioliba, which appeared tolerably large. I was told that it came from the neighbourhood of Ségo, and that that town was five days’ journey west, or rather S.S.W. of Jenné. This branch, as I have already said, rejoins the river at Isaca. The island on which the town of Jenné is situated is formed by an arm of this branch, which comes from W.N.W. The island is about twelve or fifteen miles in circumference. I did not go round it, but that appeared to be its extent from my point of view. This secondary arm, or branch, is wide but rather shallow. On the north of the town it cannot be crossed but in canoes; in other places it may be forded; when the water is low it is navigable for small canoes only, for its bed is full of sand-banks; and the inhabitants are obliged to push their large empty canoes down nearly to the river, where the branch is navigable at all times. Thither the merchandise is conveyed in small canoes: this is a long and toilsome process, but the traders are not obliged to hire hands, having their own slaves to do the work. During inundations the branch is easily navigable for large canoes. Round the town I saw a great many canoes undergoing repair.

Jenné is situated in the eastern part of the island, on an elevation of seven or eight feet, which preserves it from the periodical inundations of the river. Its soil is composed of red argillaceous earth, mixed with a great deal of grey sand, among which I saw not a single stone.

Old Kai-mou, my guide, came to pay me a visit; he had been purchasing a fine cotton wrapper of the manufacture of the country. It consisted of narrow breadths sewed together like the pagnes. These wrappers are much esteemed by the negroes, who are very chilly; the Moors do not wear them: they have better which come from Morocco. My guide told me that he had not yet found purchasers for his colats. I asked him to go with me to Timbuctoo, where he could dispose of them more advantageously. He laughed at this, and said he should spend all he possessed before he got thither: I gave him some glass beads and he left me in good humour.

I conversed every day with the Moors, who, as I perceived, regarded the negroes as a race very inferior to themselves. They often used to say to me: “The negroes are ignorant brutes; when they see a Moor they think he is entirely covered with gold, however poor he may be. They imagine that we have gold between our skin and flesh.”

At the distance of three days’ journey N.W. of Jenné is situated the kingdom of Massina, inhabited by Mahometan Foulahs; almost all of them wear their hair in small tresses. They often come to Jenné for the purposes of trade, and sell oxen and sheep for the daily consumption of the town. Their sheep are the finest that I have seen in the interior; they are large and have wool like those of Europe. The fleece is used for making wrappers, which sell at very good prices. These Foulahs also bring milk and butter to Jenné. Massina is very productive in rice, millet, pistachios, water-melons, giraumons, and onions. The inhabitants rear a good deal of poultry, and have a fine breed of horses. Every Moor on the island has his own horse. Massina is governed by a king, who is the brother and ally of Ségo-Ahmadou. The dress of the people is the same as that worn by the inhabitants of Jenné, with the exception of the piece of muslin in the form of a turban. The men of Massina whom I saw had round straw hats with broad brims, and were armed with bows and arrows, and three or four javelins which they always carry in their hands. They sometimes go out without their bows and arrows; but never without their lances.

As I was one day sitting before my door with some Moors, several Foulahs stopped to look at me. They seemed very gentle, and were apparently much interested about me. One of them, perceiving a friend at a little distance, called him, and told him he would give him ten cowries. I was much astonished to see a man call to his comrade in the street, for the purpose of offering him so trifling a present. The man to whom the money was offered did not seem to be in want of it, yet he received it very gratefully. Ten cowries are of about the value of a French sou.

As I had been informed that I should depart for Timbuctoo, by the first opportunity, I selected some articles of merchandise, which I wished to dispose of at Jenné. Not knowing their value, I gave them to the sherif and the Haggi-Mohammed to sell for me. They carefully counted the glass beads, and measured the cloth in my presence, and the sherif noted down the quantities of each on a bit of paper. They executed this commission very well: they were to be sure the principal gainers by it, for they bought the greatest part of the things themselves. Before the bargain was concluded, they did indeed ask me whether I was satisfied with the price they had offered. I was aware that it was too low; but I readily gave my consent to all they proposed, feeling that I was in a situation in which I might need their services. They certainly took advantage of me, but they were merchants who bought merely upon speculation. The Haggi-Mohammed, thinking that I had some other things in reserve, came to my lodging, and tried to prevail on me to shew him the contents of my bag. He asked me whether I had any gold or silver, observing that he should be very glad to hear that I had some, as it would enable me to support myself on my journey home. I assured him that I had none left, and emptied my bag in his presence, having previously taken the precaution of hiding my papers and money, for I expected that I should have to undergo this scrutiny. He saw some glass beads, amber, and coral, which I had reserved, and he again told me that as all those things were brought to Jenné from Timbuctoo, it would be advisable for me to dispose of them before I set out. I at first scrupled to do this, but at length yielded to his urgent solicitations. He particularly admired the amber, all of which he bought at two hundred cowries per bead, (twenty-two French sous), one-fourth of its value at Sierra-Leone, where I had purchased it. He bought part of the coral at a still lower rate; but the glass ornaments and cloth, though they fetched a low price, I sold more advantageously. For sixty coral beads, (No. 4,) he offered me two hundred cowries. On my declining to sell them at that price, he took them up, and putting them into the pocket of his coussabe, said, “I will give you a thousand cowries, (one gourde.)” In this manner he extorted my consent, though I am certain that had I insisted on it he would have returned them. The traders of Jenné obtain mock amber and coral from Timbuctoo, which they sell at very low prices. Haggi-Mohammed, who was very well satisfied with his bargain, gave me half a dozen dates, and shortly afterwards presented me with a very neat white coussabe, made of cloth of native manufacture. In truth I stood greatly in need of it, for my own was absolutely in tatters. He also gave me about two yards of the cloth of the country to roll round my head in the form of a turban.

During my stay at Jenné I was very kindly treated by the Moors. I paid nothing for my maintenance, and was provided with every thing I could wish for. The sale of my merchandise was the only thing of which I had reason to complain. I often sat in company with the Moors, upon a mat which was laid down in the shade before the door, and saw them make their purchases. I also observed many negroes, who, as they passed the sherif, saluted him by kissing their hands. The latter gave them cowries from a little bag, which he kept beside him for that purpose. A young Moor, named Hassan, who was very attentive to me, advised me, when I should get to Timbuctoo, to take the road to Tafilet or Fez, whence I could go to Algiers and afterwards to Alexandria. He informed me that there had been at Timbuctoo a christian, who had been attacked and beaten on the road; that he remained a long time at Timbuctoo to recover, but that he afterwards died, he could not tell how. I asked him what could have induced a christian to go to Timbuctoo: he answered that it was only to write the country, (Jektoub torab.) I concluded that this christian was Major Laing, who I was aware had left Tripoli to proceed to the capital of the Soudan, by crossing the great desert. I deplored the unhappy death of the intrepid traveller, and reflected that in case of my disguise being discovered I should in all probability share the same fate.

At four o’clock on the 16th, I was requested to wait on the sherif Oulad-Marmou, to whose good graces the sale of my merchandise had somewhat recommended me. I was shewn into a large lofty room on the ground-floor, which was lighted from an opening in the ceiling. To one part of the ceiling was attached a cord, supporting a lamp, in which vegetable butter was burned by way of oil. A mattress was laid upon the floor above a mat; a brass candlestick of European manufacture, in which was a sort of candle or taper, and a small cupboard, formed in the wall, and fastened by a lock and key similar to ours, together with some sacks of grain, standing in a corner, were all that the room contained. I ascended by a good staircase to the terrace, where I saw several little closets, all empty, except one, which appeared to be the sherif’s wardrobe, for some of his clothes were hanging to a cord, fastened to the wall. I was requested to sit on a round leather cushion, near which a mat was spread: and I found myself in company with seven Moors and a negro, all merchants of Jenné.

A neat little round table was brought and placed before us; it had legs three inches high. I thought at first that it was a table for playing some game, for it was inlaid with pieces of ivory and brass, ranged in regular order; but on the entrance of a large pewter dish, containing an enormous piece of a sheep, which had been killed in the morning, and stewed with a great quantity of onions, I discovered that I had been invited to dinner.

The sherif had beside him a covered basket, containing several small round loaves, weighing about half a pound each, and made of wheat-flour and yeast. He broke some of them in pieces, several of which he placed before each of us. Although our dinner was somewhat in the European style, yet we had neither knives nor forks, but all ate with our fingers. I found that the bread was very good, and certainly I never expected to make such a meal that day. We all helped ourselves from the dish with our hands, but with a certain degree of politeness. The conversation, which was exceedingly lively, was all at the expense of the poor christians. I was again asked whether I had eaten pork and drunk spirits. I made them the same reply as before, at which they burst into laughter, and began to ridicule the Europeans.

Our repast being ended, tea was introduced. The sherif, on this occasion, seemed to make his very best display. He was evidently anxious to let his negro guest see his superiority. We were attended by a young and handsome female slave. A box was brought in containing a porcelain tea service, which the sherif himself arranged on a plate of copper, which served the purpose of a tea-board. The cups, which were very small, were placed within others of a larger size, which had feet like egg-cups. We each took four of these cups of tea, with white sugar; and, after dinner, of which the sherif did the honours admirably well, we took a walk on the banks of the river. We sat down for a few minutes to see the canoes pass by, and, afterwards, we all said the evening prayer together, it being too late to go to the mosque. We then each returned to our homes. I found a great difference between the Moors of Jenné and the Brakna Moors, among whom I had lived eight months.

On the 18th of March, the new moon was saluted with several discharges of musketry, and, on the 19th, commenced the feast of the Ramadan. The Haggi-Mohammed asked me whether I meant to fast during the Ramadan. My interest was so much concerned in submitting to it, that I dared not venture to refuse; and, indeed, the fast was by no means so great a hardship to me now, as it had been in 1824. Then I had no shelter but a tent, whilst now, I was protected from the heat of the sun, in a cool well-aired house; so that I did not suffer much from thirst. At sun-set, a beverage, made of tamarinds, was brought to me, and, afterwards another, made of honey and sour milk, strained and dried in the sun, forming a kind of very hard cheese, which the Moors, who are fond of it, bring to Jenné. They reduce it to powder, and mix it with their drink. On the following days, a sort of pudding was brought to me, made of very white flour, mixed with a few tamarinds; so that I could patiently wait until supper was ready.

About eight in the evening, an enormous mess of rice, boiled with mutton was brought to me. In the course of the day, I had expressed a wish to buy some milk, for the purpose of mixing it with water, to drink in the night; but I could not get any at the market. However, about ten at night, the Haggi-Mohammed, sent me a good quantity of milk and also, a candle to light me at my repast. About one in the morning, I was supplied with a breakfast as abundant as the supper of the previous evening.

I soon found an advantage in this change of habits; for I was much better served in the night time than I had hitherto been in the day. Nothing could be easier than this kind of abstinence, which merely consisted in sitting up a little later than usual for the purpose of making a hearty meal, and sleeping away the hours devoted to abstinence. The slaves are obliged to observe the fast, but they, as well as their masters make ample amends in the night for their privations during the day.

On the 20th, I determined to make a present of my umbrella to the sherif. I thought it but right to do so, as he was to procure me a conveyance by water to Timbuctoo. He appeared highly pleased with the present. I thought that the Haggi-Mohammed was already sufficiently rewarded by the purchase of my amber and coral at a price much below their value; however, as I wished to continue on good terms with him, I made him a further present of a yard of calico, which I had reserved for myself.

At sun-set Oulad-Marmou gave me a handful of dates, and a very fine water-melon. He repeated this present every evening until my departure: the umbrella had completely established me in his favour. The produce of the sale of my merchandise was valued at thirty thousand cowries, and the sherif bought cloth of the country for me to that amount, assuring me that it would sell well at Timbuctoo. The cloth was packed up in two pagnes, for which I was indebted to his liberality. He also gave me four yellow wax-candles, made in the country, which I burned on board the canoe, during my passage.

On the 22nd of March, I was informed that I could start next day for Timbuctoo. The sherif sent me in the evening, a new loaf and a very good mutton stew for my supper.

On the morning of the 23rd he sent for me to his house. I took with me my bag, which he ordered one of his people to carry to the canoe, as well as my package of merchandise. He mixed together in my presence a good deal of millet flour and honey. This preparation was intended to be put into water for my drink; and I found it very useful on my passage, during which I was extremely ill-used, as will be seen in the sequel. The young Moor, whom I have already mentioned and to whom I made a present of a pair of scissors, gave me a large supply of wheaten bread, which had been dried in an oven, and told me how it was to be eaten; they first soak it in water and then mix it with a good deal of butter and honey. The sherif informed me that he had paid the master of the caravan three hundred cowries for my maintenance during the whole passage. He, as well as the young Moor, and the Haggi-Mohammed, attended me on board the canoe, which might be of twelve or fifteen tons burden. This canoe was not going to Timbuctoo, but merely to convey us to another vessel of larger size, which was waiting in the river; for at this season the branch was not navigable by large boats. The cargo of our canoe consisted of various kinds of provisions, twenty slaves, women, and children, the stoutest of whom were in chains. On the shore there was a crowd of people waiting to see us start.

END OF VOL. I.

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