The fishermen cut open the fish, dry it, and take it for sale to villages at a distance from the banks of the river; carrying on a very extensive commerce in this article.
On the 24th of August the steam-vessel, for which I was waiting to be conveyed to Podor, arrived; we started at seven in the evening of the 27th, and landed there on the 29th at two in the afternoon. It is an ancient French settlement, of which few traces only are now left. I went to lodge at the house of Moctar Boubou, the chief of the village, and minister of Hamet-Dou, king of the Braknas, to whom I wished to go for the purpose of completing my Arabic education, that I might the more easily penetrate into the interior of the country, and visit every part of that immense desert, respecting which we possess but vague and scanty information.
At this marabout’s I found the agents of Hamet-Dou, who had been to St. Louis to receive the customs which the government annually pays to that prince. They were delighted to hear that it was my intention to embrace Islamism, congratulating me at great length upon it, and encouraging me to persist in my resolution. They also promised to serve me as guides in my journey to their king; but, on the 1st of September, when they set out, they refused to take me along with them, alleging that the camp was ten days’ march distant, and that I should not be able to support the fatigue of the voyage. I guessed the motive which induced them to act thus: I offered two gourdes[12] to Boubou-Fanfale, the chief of the party; he agreed to take me with him and we started at eight in the morning.
We went back down the Senegal for two miles, towards the factory of the Cock or the Braknas. At the call of my guides, a negro brought us from the opposite bank a large canoe, into which the merchandise was put; we then went on board ourselves, ten in number. They made the bullocks swim after us, pulling them along by the cord passed through their nostrils: in this manner we reached without accident the right bank of the river. The bullocks were reloaded, and about eleven we were ready to resume our journey. The two negroes accompanied us to the marigot of Koundy. Our road lay through a black clayey soil, enriched by the relics of vegetables which cover it. Large mimosas form a thick wood under which the zizyphus lotus grows in abundance. This soil would be extremely fertile if it were cultivated.
Having reached the marigot the negroes began to look for their canoes which they had sunk in the water for concealment: they were very small, and could not carry the baggage across in fewer than six trips, which greatly delayed our journey.
When the negroes left us, the Moors would have obliged me to return with them, hoping no doubt to extort from me a fresh present: but I was firm, and reminding Boubou-Fanfale of the engagement which he made when receiving my two gourdes, I persisted in going along with them. At two o’clock we resumed our journey. We halted two miles N.E. of Koundy, on a pretty hill covered with verdure. The soil consisted of a reddish sand, and the ground was quite open. The bullocks there found abundant pasturage, and they were suffered to graze till five o’clock, when we resumed our route, proceeding N.E. ¼ N. We travelled in the night: the bullocks were already extremely fatigued, and one of them lay down. The Moors, unable to make it rise by blows, had recourse to a method which I have frequently seen used since, and which is always successful: they bound a cord tight round the muzzle so as to prevent respiration and left the animal to itself. It struggled for a moment, and then jumped upon its legs: the cord was immediately removed, its load replaced, and it followed the others. After we had gone nine miles in the same direction, we halted at eleven at night.
We were threatened with a storm: the firmament was on fire in the east quarter, and the thunder rolled incessantly. The Moors dug large holes, into which they put their goods to preserve them from the rain which seemed likely to be very heavy. The wind blew with violence from the east, and raised clouds of sand, which, falling again, annoyed us exceedingly. At length, the wind having ceased, the storm dispersed without rain.
The weather having become calm, the Moors prepared our supper, which consisted of a little couscous, which we took without salt, my guides having forgotten to procure a supply at Podor; but, having eaten nothing all day, appetite compensated the want of seasoning. The soil was of the same nature as at our preceding halting place.
September 2nd. At five in the morning we resumed our route proceeding N.E. Our road led through a delightful country. The ground, diversified by hills covered with verdure, presented, with its numerous valleys, rich in vegetation, a prospect of the most pleasing kind. Game is here very plentiful; the woods abound in wild boars and antelopes. I saw a wild cat, which on perceiving us, set up a loud cry, and then scampered away. The generally received opinion that ferocious beasts are numerous in the desert is erroneous; for, neither did I see any during my residence among the Braknas, nor did I ever hear of any accident indicating their presence. I have since remarked, during my journey to Timbuctoo, that these animals are not more numerous in the interior. It is the inhabited tracts, or those contiguous to the lakes and rivers, which are the haunts of lions and leopards; it is there that they attack cattle, and sometimes, but very rarely, men.
We halted an hour near a pool, by which stands a large baobab (adansonia digitata); the water was so muddy, that it was scarcely possible to drink it: the Moors, to render it less disagreeable, mix with it a little treacle. This forenoon we travelled nine miles. At three o’clock we stopped for prayer, and continued our journey for the space of twelve miles to the N.E. over a tolerably rich soil, covered with zizyphus lotus and a species of the gramineous tribe, the prickly seeds of which adhere to the clothes and run into the flesh; I had my feet full of them, and they caused me the most acute pain. This plant abounds in sandy soils; the negroes on the Senegal call it khakhame. No person ever visited the environs of that river without having been cruelly tormented by it. Fatigue, however, made me forget my sufferings, and I slept soundly.
September 3rd. About one in the morning I was awakened to take a little sangleh,[13] and two hours afterwards commenced the preparations for departure; at five we started. The heat during the day was excessive, augmented as it was by a scorching east wind. My thirst was insupportable; perceiving a group of trees, I ran to them, thinking to find water, but was disappointed; and I must have been quite knocked up had I not met by the way with abundance of grewia, the yellow fruit of which, of the size of a pea, is very glutinous, though far from agreeable to the taste. I kept continually chewing it, which relieved me much. At length, about one o’clock, we reached a pool, where we rested ourselves till three. Here I quenched my thirst, and my companions bathed: we had travelled nine miles to the N.E. ¼ N. over an absolutely sandy soil.
Having resumed our route to N.E. ¼ E. we came to solid ground, covered with small flints of a bright red which incommoded us much. We saw several ponds; and I remarked one on the banks of which were six baobabs of prodigious dimensions. At ten we came to a ravine where there was water: here we halted for the night. We were more fortunate in the latter part of the day than we had been in the morning; for there was no want of water, and we found in abundance a plant which I took for an anona, a foot high, and bearing extremely green foliage: its fruits is of the size of a pigeon’s egg, and contains several seeds; the pulp, slightly acid, is very good to eat. The Moors fell upon this fruit with avidity and devoured it; I followed their example and experienced great benefit from it, for it is an excellent thing for cooling and allaying thirst.
This day’s journey had greatly fatigued me; the sharp flints on which we had to walk, had cut my feet sadly. In vain did I entreat the Moors to permit me to ride for a short time on one of the bullocks; none of them would give up his place to me, so that I was obliged to follow on foot. Accordingly, the moment we halted, I threw myself on the ground, and slept in spite of the storm which came on.
September 4th. An hour before sunrise we set out, directing our course eastward, and after proceeding three miles we found traces of a camp which appeared to have been left the same morning. We travelled about a mile to the south, to visit a small camp occupied by slaves of Hamet-Dou’s, who had been sent to this place to cultivate millet. In a moment I was surrounded by the inhabitants of this camp, who thronged round to examine me, being the first European they had ever seen. An old marabout, who appeared to be the chief of these slaves, ordered them to retire, and asked me numerous questions respecting my conversion to Islamism: after making me repeat some words of the Koran he directed sangleh to be made. Each family brought us a small calabash full; but had we not been so hungry as we were, we could not have eaten it, for, it was not only without salt, but the poor creatures had not even milk to mix it with. The appearance of the camp gave no high opinion of the magnificence of the prince to whom it belonged: the huts were small and ill built, and they scarcely afforded shelter from the sun. Two very shabby tents were no doubt the dwellings of the marabouts appointed to superintend the slaves, whose only garment was a sheep-skin, which covered them from the waist to the knees: they were about fifty in number and lived in fifteen huts.
A Wolof[14] slave having heard me speak her language came up to me and inquired if I was acquainted with her country: I availed myself of this opportunity to learn some particulars concerning their occupations. She informed me that the wealthy Moors send out slaves every year to sow millet, and that after the harvest they return to the camp of their masters. I went to look at their fields and found them badly cultivated. The negroes were busy weeding the millet; they merely scratched the surface of the ground, which, from its clayey compact nature ought to be turned up to some depth and broken.
At two o’clock we pursued our route to the E. ¼ N.E. and, having proceeded eight miles, crossed a rivulet in which the water was up to our waists: its current, which is very rapid, runs to the N.N.W. I was told that this stream descends from the mountains situated near Galam, the direction of which was pointed out to me to the E.S.E.; according to the Moors, it is absorbed by a lake about three days’ journey from the spot where we halted.
After crossing this rivulet, my guides changed their direction: we travelled five miles to the east over ground covered with khakames, which incommoded me exceedingly. It then became stony and hilly, and we proceeded a mile to the north that we might arrive at water; and about eleven we reached a pool, the water of which was tolerably good. We kindled a fire for the purpose of cooking our supper, but, by the time it was ready, a violent storm came on. The Moors took off their coussabes—a sort of tunics—and put them into the pots to protect them from the rain: I did the same, so that we were all naked. We collected wood, made a great fire, and huddled round it, and in this state were drenched with the rain, which fell for two hours in torrents: it was extremely cold, and as it may be easily conceived, we were very uncomfortable. When the storm had ceased, we again put on our coussabes, which were perfectly dry; but a mizzling rain, which lasted all night, incommoded us much. The bad weather having prevented us from getting our supper, we breakfasted at the dawn of day with a keen appetite, though our sangleh had been exposed to the rain the whole night. At sunrise we spread out the goods to dry; all of them had got wet, the soil, composed of ferruginous rock, being too hard to allow us to dig holes to shelter them in.
September 5th. At noon we resumed our route, travelling to the N.E. for the space of twelve miles, and at ten at night we arrived at a camp situated on the bank of a rivulet: here we halted a moment, and one of our people went to apprize the marabouts of our arrival: he soon returned and we entered the camp; I was immediately surrounded. The marabouts made me repeat the usual form of prayer of the Musulmans: There is but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet. I was besieged, and could not obtain a moment’s rest the whole evening. The females, squatted behind the men, thrust their heads between the legs of the latter to get a sight of me; but at every motion that I made they drew back their heads with loud screams, at the risk of upsetting the men, producing confusion among the throng which kept constantly increasing. Being warned by my conductors not to leave the centre of the camp, lest I should be robbed, I lay down upon the ground, and covered myself with a pagne, hoping that the Moors would retire; but this precaution was of no avail; they continued to torment me: the women, having grown bolder, uncovered me; the children, after their example, pulled me one by the leg, another by the arm, while others struck my feet or pricked me with thorns. Being unable to endure this treatment any longer, I started up in a rage, and my persecutors run away: I then went to Boubou-Fanfale, and expressed my dissatisfaction at his conduct towards me. I represented to him that I was about to turn Musulman, and that on this account he ought to protect me and to procure me a little rest. He spoke to an old marabout, who had great difficulty to keep off the crowd; I then accompanied my protector to prayers, and on my return lay down upon a mat. A calabash of milk, containing about four quarts, was given me for supper; and more was offered me in case I had not had enough. This was the season when the pastures were in the best condition; there was abundance of milk and we were supplied with more than we could drink.
September 6th. At seven in the morning, we prepared to depart. The women and children had assembled round me; for more than half an hour the rabble of the camp followed at my heels; the women, with their faces concealed by the end of the Guinea cloth which serves them for a garment, affected to take no notice of me, and turned their heads when I looked at them, while the boys pelted me with stones, crying: Tahale ichouf el nasrani! “Come and see the christian!” I faced about several times, and then they all ran away; but they returned the next moment, and were more troublesome than before. At length my guides, weary themselves of these importunities, drove off the crowd, who returned to the camp.
It was nine o’clock when we arrived at the camp of Sidi-Mohammed: we stopped there to obtain bullocks, for ours were exceedingly fatigued. The whole camp thronged round me, and I had to endure a repetition of all the annoyances of the preceding night. To quench our thirst we were supplied with a large calabash full of sour milk mixed with three parts of water; this pleasant and wholesome beverage is called cheni by the Moors, and is common in all the Arab countries that I have visited. We hired two carrier-bullocks, and at ten o’clock resumed our journey. I had walked all the way from Podor to this place; but, as we had increased the number of our oxen, I obtained permission to ride one of them.
After travelling eight miles to the N.E. over a stony soil, we came to a small camp composed of fifteen tents and some ill built straw huts, the dwellings of slaves. The baggage was deposited in a tent, and I was invited to retire to another. To avoid disagreeable visits, I pretended to be asleep, but it was to no purpose; the whole evening I had to endure the same kind of persecutions as I had suffered in the preceding camps. We supped very late; our meal consisted of sangleh, made with fresh milk. Having observed that the grains of which this mess was composed were whole, I inquired the reason, and was told that it was not millet, but haze[15], and that at this season the marabouts employ their slaves in gathering it. This grain is very common, and grows naturally without cultivation. Some slaves employed in this sort of harvest were pointed out to me: they were females, provided with a small broom, and two baskets, one of which, less than the other, is of an oval shape and has a handle above. When the haze is in the ordinary state and has not been trampled by cattle, they go along swinging this basket to the right and left, so as to rub the ears of the plants against it by striking them with their hands; the ripe grains fall into the basket, and when they have obtained a certain quantity they pour it into the larger one, which is destined to receive the produce of their labour. This method furnishes the grain in a much cleaner state than the second, but the quantity obtained is smaller, for, as it may be easily conceived, the whole of the grain beaten out does not fall into the basket. When the haze has been trodden, or a first gathering made in the manner just described, they cut the plant with a serrated knife which they have for this purpose, then sweep the grain together upon the ground into little heaps, which they afterwards take up; and, as in this way they get more mould than grain, they separate them by means of the layot,[16] which requires a great deal of time. On their return home, they take from the quantity collected (which may be estimated at five pounds of haze in a day) as much as they need for their supper, and carry the rest to their master’s tent. The haze is not pounded like millet: it is separated from the straw, washed several times to clear it from all the particles of earth and made to burst: this grain swells much and makes a very white but not very nourishing sangleh. To reduce it to flour, a little water is thrown upon it, and after steeping a short time, a few strokes of the pestle are sufficient to pound it.
In this camp we passed part of the 7th of December, because we were approaching that of the king, and my guides did not wish to reach the latter till night. We left it at two o’clock, and proceeded northward for three miles upon a soil composed of black sand, covered with ferruginous stones. The country is studded with patches of verdure, which afford pasturage for the cattle.
It was near three o’clock when we arrived at the camp of Mohamed-Sidy-Moctar, head marabout of the king, and chief of the tribe of Dhiedhiebe. He had been apprised of my coming, and had waited for me, he said, with impatience: he came to meet us, took me by the hand, and having led me to the front of his tent, made me sit down upon a sheep-skin. He appeared highly pleased, seated himself beside me, and having sent for Boubou-Fanfale, who spoke Wolof, to act as interpreter, he inquired what were the motives that induced me to change my religion; what I had been doing at St. Louis; of what country I was; whether I had any relatives in France; and lastly, whether I was rich. I was obliged to answer these questions, for I perceived from the way in which they were put, that this marabout had conceived suspicions in regard to me, which, for my security, it was of consequence to remove: I replied therefore, that, having met with a French translation of the Koran, I had there found important truths, with which I was deeply impressed; that ever since I had ardently desired to embrace Islamism, and had been incessantly engaged in devising the means of accomplishing this purpose, but that my father had opposed it; that since I had resided at the Senegal, where I had settled as a trader, I had received intelligence of his death, on which I returned to France to secure what property he had left; and that, being then my own master, I had sold every thing I had in my country, and bought merchandise, for the purpose of carrying my design into execution. I added that, at the Senegal, I had heard the wisdom of the Braknas highly extolled, and had in consequence determined to come and live among them; but that, on entering the Senegal, the vessel which I was in was wrecked, and I had saved but a small part of my goods; that I had left them with M. Alain, who lived at St. Louis and was advantageously known to them, and intended to lay out the produce of the little pack which I had brought with me in the purchase of cattle, for the purpose of settling in their country, as soon as my education should be finished. He seemed satisfied with my answers; the intimation concerning the goods was what pleased him most, and I congratulated myself on having resorted to this artifice. It was agreed that I should remain with him, that he should undertake my education and provide for my wants; and he added, in an emphatic manner, that he already considered me as one of his children.
Several young persons, doubtless with a view to learn my business, invited me to accompany them to prayer; but the chief marabout opposed it, alleging that I was not yet a Musulman. One of the sons of my host came and asked me if I would choose meat or sangleh for supper. I replied that all dishes were alike to me; on which he left me, and at nine o’clock a large plate of meat swimming in melted butter was brought to me: I have since learned that this dish is considered as a great luxury by these people. After supper, Mohamed Sidy Moctar informed me that next day we should set out for the king’s camp, and that it would be necessary for me to bathe before I was presented to that prince; to this I agreed with the greater pleasure, as a bath could not but be very beneficial to me and refresh me much after the fatigues of the journey.
September 8th. When I had risen, I took out of my sack some articles which I had brought with me, and offered them as a present to my host, who seemed highly flattered and accepted them with pleasure. A little milk was brought to us; he then made me mount a camel with him and we set out for the king’s camp. We proceeded to the N.E.; the whole plain was studded with ferruginous rocks, and here and there small islands of sand remarkable for their verdure; they are cultivated by the Moors, who sow them with millet. We passed on the way several camps of zenagues, or tributaries, but at great distances from one another.
I saw some slaves employed in weeding millet; they used an instrument like a chimney-sweeper’s scraper, having a handle a foot long; they knelt to their work.
The motion of the camel fatigued me to such a degree that I was obliged to dismount. The country was open, and intersected by ravines: the soil was composed of a very hard red sand, on which I saw a great number of blocks of white marble; several of these I examined to ascertain their nature. We halted at a small camp consisting of seven tents; the marabout ordered some milk and water to be given to me to quench my thirst. We remained there during the heat of the day; my marabout then desired me to perform the salam[17], and we pursued our journey still in the same direction. Before we reached the king’s camp, we passed near a pond, in which my guide caused me to be again washed by a zenague Moor, to purify me, as he said.
It was three o’clock when we reached the camp of the king: we had travelled twenty-four miles, and that in a very short time, for our camel went at a great rate. The camp was situated at a place called Guiguis, near a pond which served for watering the cattle.
Every body was apprized of my coming; in consequence I was presently surrounded by a numerous concourse. There were in the camp many marabouts who expected presents from this prince; they received me kindly: one of them, the Sherif Sidy-Mohammed, belonging to the Koont nation, proposed to me to take up my abode in his camp, promising to treat me as his son. I thanked him, and told him in answer to his politeness, that if I had not promised Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar, I should have given him the preference. I desired to be presented afterwards to Hamet-Dou; but I was told that this prince was lying down and that I could not see him till he awoke: in a quarter of an hour he sent for me, and I found him with a negro who spoke a little French and served as interpreter. When I entered the king’s tent, he stretched out his hand with a smile, and addressed me with the customary salutation. Salam aleïkoom, adding these words of French which he had picked up at the Moorish market—“Comment vous portez-vous, Monsieur? Bien, merci, Monsieur.” He asked the question, and answered it himself, not understanding the meaning of the words, which he repeated several times; he then asked me many questions, inquiring about the merchants of St. Louis with whom he was acquainted, and lastly about my own profession. I told him the same tale which I had got up the evening before for Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar; he was perfectly satisfied with it, and I perceived (as I had on the former occasion) that what pleased them most was the account of my wealth. He reiterated his questions, to try whether I should repeat the same answers, and concluded by assuring me of his protection while I should remain in his dominions, and particularly against his great marabout. He told me not to be afraid of any of his subjects; to which I replied that I feared no one but God. This answer pleased him; he took my hand with an air of satisfaction, exclaiming at the same time: Maloum, Abd-Allahi (that is right Abd-Allahi[18]) and then dismissed me, admonishing me to rejoin my mentor, and not to leave him again. As it was now dark however, and I did not know where to find Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar, I was lodged in a tent belonging to the king’s suite, many of whom crowded around me.
I was not yet accustomed to the Moorish diet, and the small quantity of milk I had drunk in the morning was very little support; it was now late at night and I was ravenously hungry. I ventured at last, to ask those who were about me for something to eat. One of them repeated the request to the king, who sent for me again, made me say a prayer, and then ordered a slave to milk a cow for me. I had hoped for something a little more substantial, and I told Hamet-Dou, when they brought me the milk, that I should like to eat something before I drank, and that I was more hungry than thirsty. These words excited “laughter unextinguishable” in all those who were in the tent; the king himself laughed as if he would have split his sides, and then told me he had nothing better to offer me, for that he never took any other nourishment than milk. I drank a little, and then returned to the tent which was allotted to me. About ten o’clock at night a Moor brought me some scraps of mutton, which he carried in his hand; they were sent, as I found out, by my marabout, and the bearer sitting down on a mat very unceremoniously partook of the feast. The mutton was boiled and full of sand, but hunger gave it a relish, and I thought it good fare.
In the night between the 8th and 9th, Boubou-Fanfale arrived; they had only been waiting for him to break up the camp.
On the 9th, early in the morning, preparation was made for departure. The queen sent for me, and gave me some milk for breakfast. At sunrise the slaves took down the tents, and loaded them upon camels, together with the stakes, each camel carrying a tent; the rest of the goods were borne by oxen, and the women were conveyed, on camels appropriated to that office. The saddles for this purpose are furnished with a sort of oval pannier, large enough for two persons to sit in, and lined with a handsome carpet; that the journey may be more agreeable to the Moorish ladies, their seat is shaded by an awning of their finest manufactures.
The queen’s saddle was adorned with scarlet and yellow cloth, and her cloth housing embroidered with many colours in silk. Her bridle was enriched with three pieces of copper, which rose like pyramids from the nose of the animal. The camels of the princesses were also much ornamented; and they sit in their saddles cross-legged like so many tailors. This position is so habitual to them, that they never change it, even on the couches, where they sit all the day. On the journey, their camels were led by slaves, and that on which Hamet-Dou rode was led also. The saddles for the men are of a different construction from those used by the women; they are high, narrow seats, on which a single man sits with his legs stretched out and crossed on the neck of the beast. If several men ride on the same camel, only one sits on the saddle, the others are behind; and it was thus that I rode with my marabout.
Our party when on march resembled a routed army, all confusion. The cattle went first, driven by a few men mounted on oxen; the mournful lowing of the animals, the shouts of the men, and the shrill voices of the women, resounded on all sides. Here a camel had disburdened himself of a woman, there a refractory bullock refused to proceed, a little farther a restive horse threatened to throw his rider, and was rearing and plunging amongst oxen and camels; women losing their balance in consequence, were rolling on the ground screaming; the hurly-burly was such, that there was no hearing one’s self speak. At last, after having proceeded three miles towards the north, we halted to pitch our tents, and the confusion subsided. The slaves unloaded the beasts and set up the tents, and as there was no water at this place, they went back for it to the lake of Guiguis which we had just left. Such of the slaves as took charge of the cattle employed themselves in cutting briars to make fences for the calves, and others went to seek fire-wood to light fires before the tents. This article is so rare in this country, that when the camp remains long in a place, the poor fellows are obliged to go a couple of miles in search of it.
The Moors always burn fires before their tents; a custom which is inconvenient on many accounts: in the day time the heat of these fires is unpleasant, and a multitude of grasshoppers and other insects, with which the country abounds in this season, take refuge in the tents and prove a great nuisance.
On the 10th of September, the king left us to carry a present to his brother Sidy Aibi, chief of a tribe of Braknas; he took my marabout along with him. At his departure he directed that I should lodge with his aunt Fatmé-Anted-Moctar, to whom he recommended me. I had not seen her before, but she treated me with great kindness, as did also two of her nieces who lived with her. They were considerate enough to send away all the curious who were incessantly besetting me.
At noon, they gave me some sangleh, the first I had eaten since I arrived at the king’s camp. I was indebted no doubt to the protection of Hamet-Dou for the peace I enjoyed here; the women also were less annoying than I had found them in the districts I had lately traversed; their curiosity was sometimes vexatious, but I was no longer tormented as I had been elsewhere. The wind was high, and it raised a prodigious quantity of sand, which fell like rain on our heads, and incommoded us for half an hour, so that we could not stir out of doors. In the evening we had a shower of rain, and I could breathe more freely again. On the 12th, the king returned; and on the 15th, we made our arrangements for proceeding on our journey, for we had only stopped to give Hamet-Dou the opportunity of visiting his brother.
We advanced nine miles E. ¼ N.E. on a stony ground covered with briars and abounding in pasturage. At noon we encamped in the vicinity of a range of mountains which they told me were called Zirih, but, as I afterwards learnt, Zirih signifies mountain.
CHAPTER II.
The author is forced to turn physician. — Distrust of the Moors. — Description of the camp of King Lam Khaté. — Schools. — Amusement of the women.
On the 16th the king was indisposed; he sent for me and inquired if I could tell him of any herb which would ease him. I promised to make an excursion to look for some; and accordingly I ranged the neighbourhood, and found abundance of sweet basil, a plant which grows spontaneously in a rich soil; I gathered also a number of seeds, which I concealed with care in a corner of my pagne. When I returned, I gave the sweet basil to the king, and advised him to make tea of it; he drank it and found himself better. The properties of this plant are entirely unknown to the Moors, and the circumstance made a great noise in the camp. All the princes sent for me to their tents, to consult me on their various complaints, and to ask me for remedies. A quack would have taken advantage of this event to levy contributions upon their credulity, and I do not doubt that one of their own marabouts would have played them this game; but I gave them simply the most innocent remedies, things indeed which I knew to be harmless, whenever I was compelled to prescribe. I was not ill-pleased with this transient celebrity, for it procured me the advantage of rambling about in the country without exciting suspicion, under pretence of collecting medicinal herbs.
On the 20th of September, before sun-rise, I set off to visit the chain of hills two miles east of our camp. I crossed, on my way, a plain of rich black sand, intersected by ravines covered with luxuriant vegetation. I made my way to the summit of the loftiest of this chain, which may be about three hundred feet high, and is sprinkled with detached rocks of granite. Having reached the top of this, I discovered that the chain extends far to the N.E.; the width from north to south being about three miles. The other hills of which it consists are much less considerable than that which I ascended; among the rocks I found a quantity of cotton trees, with deeply indented leaves; the husks and seeds also being smaller than those of the cotton tree cultivated in our establishments in Wâlo. I took some of the seeds of these and of many other shrubs which happened to be ripe, and hid them in the corner of my pagne; I also collected some plants. In descending the hill I was met by two Moorish hunters; they looked surprised to see me, and asked me what I came to look for so far from the camp; I shewed them my plants, and told them that I came to fetch medicines for Hamet-Dou, who was ill; they appeared satisfied, shewed me some young Guinea-fowl which they had caught and left me. I climbed another of these hills, composed of flesh-coloured quartz rocks, in smaller masses than those which I had remarked on the former. I found many resembling marble; the intermediate spaces are covered with pure reddish sand.
On my return I searched the plain for cotton trees, like those I had discovered on the hill; but I could not find a single plant. The two Moors whom I had met, had arrived at the camp before me, and given an account of my excursion: the news had come to the ears of the king and awakened his suspicions. As soon as he was aware that I had returned, he sent for me, and I had not time to dispose of my seeds. When I entered, he asked me, with an air of dissatisfaction, whence I came, and why I went to a distance from the camp by myself. There were plenty of herbs, he told me, close by, without my going so far to look for them. Some of the Moors who were present, perceived that I had a knot in my pagne, and catching hold of it, they asked me what I had got there; and then, without giving me time to reply, they untied it themselves. “What do you want with these?” said they. “These are to take to the white men when you go back to them;” and, without waiting for an explanation, they threw away the seeds. I tried to persuade them that these seeds had medicinal virtues, and that I had gathered them for the benefit of more than one of themselves; but, not succeeding, I assured them that when I came to them, my connexion with whites had ceased, and that I could never return to their country.
In the evening, being in the tent of a marabout, who gave instruction, I took advantage of a moment when I could procure some ink, and fell to work upon my journal: I had written about a page, when the Koont sherif came in and caught me; he took the paper from me, and, amazed to see no Arabic characters, asked me what I was writing. I thought at first of saying that I had set down some prayers that I wanted to remember, but recollecting that I had not learnt prayers enough to take up a page, I told him it was a song, and I began to sing to convince him. The incredulous sherif did not appear to believe it, and he accused me of coming to spy out their ways, that I might give an account of them to the christians. It was of importance to me to drive this idea out of his head, and I succeeded, by pretending the utmost indifference as to what I had written. I put the paper into his hands again with a smile, and said, “Go to the factory and get this paper read; you will see whether I have deserved the affront you have offered me.” This stratagem had the effect I expected; he gave me back my paper, and asked me to read another verse. I sung another couplet; the sherif appeared convinced, and left me, to my great joy, for his surmises alarmed me exceedingly. I thanked God that I had come off so well, and resolved to be more prudent in future. From that time forward, when I wanted to write, I took care to get behind a bush, and at the least noise I hid my notes and took up my beads, pretending to be saying my prayers. This feigned devotion procured me much commendation from those who surprised me; but it was painful to me to perform such a part.
For three days the wind had blown hard from the east; the pastures were nearly bare, and messengers had been dispatched to the north to see if they were more abundant in that direction. In the evening a tremendous storm came on, the thunder rolled awfully, and the rain fell in torrents; all the tents were blown over, and the utmost confusion pervaded the camp. The storm had taken every body by surprise; there had been no time to take down the tents; the very huts themselves were carried away, the briars which had been used for fences were likewise torn up, and many persons were hurt. The Moors, though accustomed to scenes of this sort, seemed very much frightened. Nothing was to be heard but men and women recommending themselves to God: the tumult was increased by the doleful lowing of the cattle, which had been torn by the briars which the wind carried off, and were now wandering about at random. This was the first storm that I had witnessed in the desert, and the general consternation which I remarked, made me suppose that there was some imminent danger; for a moment I shared the terror of the Musulmans, but the wind subsided in about three quarters of an hour, and the rain ceased soon afterwards. The people then bestirred themselves to set up the tents again, and to collect the scattered cattle; the fires which the wind had extinguished were re-lighted, and every one dried his clothes, for it is the Moorish custom to have only one suit. I had a dry pagne with which I covered myself, and more than ten people asked me for it to change themselves; but I had too urgent occasion for it myself, to lend it, which drew upon me their abuse. I observed that the king himself had been exposed to the rain like the rest of us, and that he had no more change of apparel than his subjects, for he remained all night in his wet clothes.
I have already mentioned that this storm took every body by surprise; in a general way the Moors strike their tents when they are threatened by a storm, leaving only a few small ones, which almost always resist its force, and serve to shelter the king and the royal family; all the rest remain outside exposed to the rain. On this occasion the wind was so high, that the very smallest tents were thrown down, and the princes and princesses shared the common fate.
On the 21st of September, a Trarzas marabout, from Portendik, arrived at the camp: I was called to see some articles which he brought with him from that place: he showed me a pair of pantaloons, which I thought I recognized as having belonged to M. Lacaby, who was wrecked in the Rose Virginie, on the bank of Arquin; he had also a handsome little dressing-case, and seaman’s boots, which he used to protect himself from the thorns and khakhames. I should have liked to ask him a few questions, but I dared not for fear of exciting suspicions. The particulars of this shipwreck I had been acquainted with before I left Saint Louis, and I had even seen some of the sufferers.
On the 23d of September, the messengers who had been sent to look for pasture returned, and said that they had found no water in the direction in which they had been: it was then determined to move to the N.E., where we hoped for better success.
On the 24th, the camp broke up. My marabout’s camel was ill, so I travelled on foot. We crossed the hills; about six miles from the place which we had left we came to a lake, called Lakhadou, surrounded by a fine plain of argillaceous soil, covered with vegetation: here we halted for several days. This lake is pleasantly shaded by grewias.
For the last three days, Fatmé-Anted-Moctar had omitted to send me a meal of sangleh, as she had been accustomed to do; I received nothing from her but a little milk morning and night, and was tormented with hunger. The king had told me, it is true, to ask him for every thing I wanted; but I got no more for that; and the milk, instead of satisfying me, gave me the colic, and impaired my strength.
This evening a Moor, called Moxé, arrived at the camp; he is the interpreter in ordinary to the king when he goes to the coast, and speaks French perfectly well. Hamet-Dou sent for me to question me again, and I gave him the same replies as before. Moxé told me that he was come from Galam, where the agent of the commercial society had given him a piece of Guinea cloth and a gun, and that he should return very soon; he proposed that I should accompany him, adding that four or five days would be sufficient for the journey. I should have been very glad to take this trip, and alleged, as a pretext for it, the great need I had of some new clothes. I asked the king if he would lend me a camel for the journey, and he promised he would when the waters had subsided; for, he said, the roads are impassable at this season. At night he sent me a piece of mutton for supper.
On the 25th of September, while I was at prayer, I felt myself ill from exhaustion: Moxé asked me if I had a fever, and I told him the cause of my illness, adding, that I had great difficulty to support this way of living; but I hoped, nevertheless, that I should become used to it in time. After prayer the king offered me a sheep, advising me to cook it myself, because, if I trusted to the Moors, they would devour it all. I accepted the offer; but, no doubt, fearful lest I should not take his advice, and with a view to save me from the rapacity of his subjects, he took care not to send me the sheep! It is probable that I owed this good turn to Moxé; for I was told by Fatmé-Anted-Moctar, that Moxé had endeavoured to prejudice the king against me: he insinuated, as I found, that it was not the love of God, but curiosity, which had brought me among them, and that I should not be likely to remain very long. Fortunately, some of the marabouts took my part, and the king said himself, that he could not believe that curiosity alone would have induced me to come amongst them to suffer such privations, and that God must have wrought a miracle in my behalf in operating my conversion. I thought I could perceive a little jealousy in Moxé’s conduct with respect to me, and he probably feared that my presence, when I should have learned Arabic, would render his own needless. No doubt this was what also induced the negro, whom I mentioned as my interpreter in the first conversation I had with the king, to tell him I had not been shipwrecked, but that I had committed some atrocious crime among the whites, who had expelled me for it. Although the king laughed at all this, it did not fail to diminish his confidence, and I could perceive from day to day that I lost something of the esteem with which I had at first inspired him. I was extremely desirous to leave the camp, not only on this account, but because I could learn nothing; it consisted entirely of warriors, who did not trouble their heads about study, and my marabout was too much engaged to give me lessons. I opened my mind to the marabout, who entered entirely into my views, and persuaded me to ask the king for a beast of some sort to convey me to his camp, where his son, he assured me, would undertake to instruct me. Hamet-Dou told me to wait a few days and he would send me thither.
On the 30th of September, the camp broke up, and we advanced nine miles to the north, over a sandy soil covered with khakham. As I wore sandals only, after the Moorish fashion, I suffered extremely from the prickles of this plant, and my feet and legs were covered with blood. I asked several of the Moors to take me up behind them on their camels, but they said that their beasts were weary, and I must apply to the king who would furnish me with one. The king was gone on before, and I had lost sight of my marabout, so I had no hope except from the pity of those who were near me. I tried again to persuade them, for I was exhausted with pain and fatigue, but in vain; I got nothing but raillery in answer to my entreaties; and I was told that I should win heaven by suffering with patience. They spoke the truth; but I am sure not one of them would have taken my place to earn heaven at this price. If they had even left me alone in my misery, it would have been more bearable; but the young princes, mounted upon their fine horses, came bounding about me, running against me, and rallying me upon my dress, which consisted only of a coussabe[19] made of coarse blue pagne, and falling to pieces. I found on the road some water-melons, which I ate to quench my thirst, and when it became still more intolerable I was forced to beg some water, with my beads in my hand, and then I sometimes succeeded in obtaining a little.
At last, about eleven o’clock we stopped near a lake called Tobaïti. I perceived the tent of the king, which was pitched, and thither I went to rest myself. Several marabouts came and took out the numerous thorns which had run into my feet, and the king appeared sorry to see me suffer; he assured me that if he had fallen in with me by the way, he would have ordered a beast for me, and he sent me some milk and some water to refresh me. When I had rested a little, I went to the tent of Fatmé-Anted-Moctar, the residence which had been assigned me. In the evening, at the usual hour, milk was distributed among us for supper, and as soon as I had received my portion, I inquired if there was any body to be found who would exchange a little sangleh for milk; upon which I was referred to an old female slave who was seldom without it. She accepted my proposition and gave me a little at the time, promising me the same quantity every day. I, on my side, promised her a reward. This poor creature was in the habit of going, when her master could spare her, to pick up haze for her subsistence; she only received the milk of one cow for her share, and care had been taken to allot her one of those that gave the least; nevertheless, in her forlorn state, she found means to soften my lot; so true it is that the wretched are the most compassionate. During the whole week that I remained after this time in the camp, she did not fail once to bring me a little calabash of sangleh.
October the 7th, I requested the king to send me to the marabout’s camp as he had promised. He gave me a bullock to ride upon, and a slave to guide me. At nine in the morning we set off, but had scarcely proceeded a quarter of a mile before the bullock stopped, and would not go further, upon which we were forced to return to the camp.
On the 8th, Hamet-Dou having provided me with another bullock, I set off at six o’clock in the morning, travelling to the S.W. ¼ W. over a sandy soil covered with khakham. Our journey was very painful, on account of the thirst we endured; for there was not a drop of water to be found on the road. At two o’clock we found traces of a camp, which we followed. Climbing some hillocks of loose sand, we perceived to the south a streamlet running from W. to S.W.; its banks were bordered with mimosa, zizyphus lotus, and nauclea, which appeared in full verdure. My guide told me that the rivulet was called el-Hadjar, and that it overflows the plain in the rainy season. I thought that it was probably the same which I had passed with Boubou-Fanfale. I saw some smoke rising from the banks of the river, which seemed to indicate the vicinity of a camp, and I rejoiced at it, hoping that I should have an opportunity of quenching my thirst; but, on advancing a few paces towards it, I perceived that the whole plain was on fire. Some person had set fire to the dry herbage, and the birds of prey were hovering around to catch the insects and reptiles as they were escaping from the flames.
When we reached the bank of the streamlet, we found a number of slaves employed in collecting haze, and some of the Moors superintending. I went up to them, and obtained a little water to drink; one of the Moors took me by the hand, and told me he was delighted to see me; he made me repeat a short prayer, and then, having called for a little pot, containing sangleh, he took me to the side of a pool, a few paces off, in the bed of a rivulet, which is dry at this season, and shaded by the green foliage of a beautiful tufted tree, which keeps the water cool. While I was sharing the sangleh with the Moor, I learned that when the grass is too short to be cut they burn it, that they may afterwards gather the haze.
We had travelled twenty-three miles since morning, and we had still three miles to go to the camp of Mohammed Sidy, lakariche, or prince. Having rested, and quenched our thirst, we proceeded to the N.W. The road that we pursued was crossed by banks of moving sand. At four o’clock in the afternoon we arrived at the camp.
As soon as I made my appearance, I was here, as in the other camps, the object of universal curiosity; all its inmates collected about me, and I was compelled to repeat prayers for great part of the evening. Some of the women inquired if I would accept a share of their bed; and on my replying in the affirmative, they ran off with bursts of laughter. One of them wished to examine whether I had undergone the rite prescribed by the law of their prophet, but I did not think proper to satisfy her. The site of this camp was called Lam Khaté. I had nothing but milk given me for my supper, and I was not allowed to add sangleh to it, as in the camp of the king. In the night, there was a hurricane from the east, which overthrew the tents, and prevented us from sleeping.
On the 9th of October, the guide who had been sent with me by Hamet-Dou, refused to go any further; I employed all the means in my power to induce him, but in vain; he chose to return to his master. I must stop at Lam Khaté to give a description of the royal camp.
This camp comprises the tribe of Oulad-Sidy, otherwise called the lakariches, or princes; and from this tribe spring all the kings of the Braknas. In some circumstances, the camp is divided into two or three parts, all retaining the original name, but distinguished also by the name of the chief who commands them. The camp of Hamet-Dou probably contained at the time of my visit about one hundred tents, and four or five hundred inhabitants. When the king receives his customary tribute, his camp is filled with strangers, who come to ask for presents. I have seen some of these gentry who had staid for three months in the hope of at last obtaining ten ells of Guinea cloth, worth, perhaps, about eight shillings. These parasites establish themselves in the first tent where they can procure lodging, and twice a day, morning and night, they sally forth, with their beads in one hand, and a tin can in the other, to beg milk from door to door. In the day time they walk about the camp, two and two, or assemble in tents to converse; and here they commonly fall asleep, while they are ridding each other of the vermin with which they are infested. I was a great source of amusement to them, and when they came about me, they were sure to pass a part of the day in questioning and tormenting me. I suffered most from the hassanes,[20] or warriors; fanatical, idle, and ignorant they were never contented but when they annoyed me, and they added to all their other insults an insupportable ironical laugh. They were continually asking me whether I meant to be circumcised. I replied, that I had referred the affair to my marabout, who, to my great satisfaction, declared that the operation was unnecessary, that it was dangerous at my age, and that I could go to heaven without it.
The marabouts[21] do not usually inhabit the same camp with the hassanes; four of them only were to be found in that of Hamet-Dou. One of these was very poor; he was a schoolmaster, taught girls and boys, and when their education was completed the parents presented him with a coussabe or a bullock. Evening and morning the children are engaged in picking up fire-wood; it is always after dark at night, and before it is light in the morning that they take their lesson. By the light of a great fire, they recite some verses of the Koran, chanting them in a loud tone; these verses the master writes upon their boards and they have to learn them by heart. At night they meet again at the master’s tent to repeat their lesson. Whilst he is hearing his class, the master walks round the fire, singing himself to give the note to his scholars, and holding in his hand a long stick, with which he lays about him, when he sees any one inattentive. When a pupil is perfect in his lesson, he goes all round the camp repeating it, and obtains great applause.
The Moors have a profound reverence for the Koran; they never lay it on the ground, not even on a mat, without putting a pagne under it. Before they venture to touch it they perform an ablution, raising their hands above their heads first, and then rubbing them over their faces and arms; any one who should do otherwise, would be despised and considered as an infidel.
The boys are not admitted into the schools till they have been circumcised, and before this epoch they are forbidden to touch the holy book. The slaves are never allowed to handle it, being regarded as impure. When the boards, on which the Koran has been written, are removed, they must be taken by the cord which serves to hang them up by, and neither be turned wrong end upwards nor trailed on the ground. When school is over, these boards are laid upon the thorn fence, and a slave who should presume to meddle with them would be beaten without mercy.
The education of the girls is very limited; they are taught to repeat the salam, and a few prayers, but seldom to write; some of them however are tolerably well informed. The boys learn the Koran by heart; but it is to the education of the marabouts that most attention is paid; some of them are very well read in the precepts of their religion, and pretend to know more than we do of sacred history. They were quite surprised that I should know any thing of the Bible, and I gained great applause by reciting some of the adventures in the lives of the patriarchs; but they were still more astonished that I was acquainted with the history of Mahomet, and this gained me their good-will more than any thing else.
Till the education of the children is supposed to be finished they go very ill clad, or even naked; the boys have only a coussabe made out of a pagne; the girls are usually naked till the age of puberty; some wearing a small guinea cloth when they have left school, or when they have made especial progress in their studies, by way of distinction.
A father seldom instructs his own children, unless there is no school in the camp, in which case he teaches the girls, because it is not the custom to send them to school in another camp. The father does not complete the education of the boys; they commonly learn the first elements from him, and are then sent to some marabout who keeps school. The parents give each of them two cows, the milk of which supplies them with food; the master does not receive his salary till the education of the pupil is finished. The hassanes seldom learn to write, and their principal ambition is to ride a horse well and to fight.
The Moors assemble to prayers five times a day, the king always attending. Amongst the Braknas the mosque is formed by an enclosure of thorns, sometimes under the shelter of a mimosa, if there happens to be one at hand. The Moors often meet here to discuss affairs of business or politics; they even pass the whole of the day in chatting on indifferent subjects; but this holy place the women are not permitted to enter; they perform the salam before their own tents. Even the men, when they enter the mosque, observe a peculiar ceremonial, which consists in putting the right foot first, and leaving it with the left foremost: on entering the mosque they perform an ablution. They have no public crier, as amongst the negroes, to call them to prayer; but, according to ancient custom, one of the oldest marabouts summons them together by calling Allah akbar; several of the other marabouts repeat this cry on entering the mosque; the practice is not obligatory, but they seem to consider it as a duty.
The king’s tent differs in nothing from those of his subjects; it is twenty feet long and ten wide, and covered like all the others, with a stuff made of sheep’s hair;[22] at each end are eight leather straps, and as many stakes, upon which it is stretched. Two upright poles ten or twelve feet long, crossing at top and fitting into a cross-piece a foot long and six inches wide, are placed in the centre to raise it; this cross-piece rises above the uprights, and prevents their ends from piercing the awning. A carpet of sheep’s hair manufactured in the country surrounds the interior of the tent; four stakes are driven in at one end, supporting two cross-bars, over which a cord or string is passed in the form of a net, and upon this is placed their baggage. Their things are stowed in square leather sacks shaped like portmanteaus with an opening at the end; and these bags have a lid secured by a padlock.
The harness of the horses and camels hangs up round the tent. The king’s bed is after the same fashion as that of the negroes, consisting of a hurdle covered with mats, and raised by stakes and cross-bars about a foot from the ground. A mat spread on the ground covers the unoccupied part of the tent, and serves the king’s attendants for a bed. The common people lie on the ground on mats, under which they sometimes spread a little straw. A matting is put round the goods at the end of the tent, to preserve them from thieves. The store of water is kept in skins upon stakes in the inside of the tents; it is reserved for the masters and the calves, and refused to the slaves; and even she who has had the trouble to fetch it cannot obtain a little but by dint of entreaties and after enduring all sorts of mortifications.
The king’s table service consists of six or eight deep round wooden dishes, each containing about three quarts, and used to hold milk and other articles; three metal pots and two of earthen-ware, which they obtain from the Fouta, form the cooking apparatus, and complete the list of the furniture. This description will serve for all other tents as well as the king’s, except that the poorer class have mats instead of a carpet.
Hamet-Dou is almost always surrounded by guéhués or strolling singers, who abound among the Moors, and are always to be found in the train of the princes, from whom they obtain whatever they want, sometimes by threats, at others by the basest flattery. Every prince has one of these men in his retinue, and Hamet-Dou’s guéhué follows him wherever he goes. When they are seated together in the tent, he sings the king’s praise, and loads him with such outrageous panegyric, that none but an African monarch could hear it without blushing; the king’s wife and children usually join and repeat in chorus all the absurdities he can invent. These parasites have contrived to make themselves as much feared as despised by the Moors; they understand the art of persuasion in perfection; and though they are noted impostors and consigned to everlasting fire by public opinion, their calumny is so ingenious that it always injures the character of those against whom it is aimed. The marabouts have the greatest contempt for the guéhués, but they always receive them politely when they make their appearance, for fear of the false reports which they would raise if they were offended. The instruments which the guéhués use to accompany their songs are of two kinds. One, in the form of a guitar, is nothing but an oval gourd, covered with a well dried sheep-skin; this is crossed horizontally by a stick a foot long, upon which the strings of the instrument, five in number, are fastened: these strings are made of twisted hair, and the tone of this instrument, which is touched by the hand, is pleasing enough. The second is a sort of harp with fourteen strings of sheep’s gut, mounted upon a stick two feet long, and placed obliquely in a round calabash of much larger dimensions than the other. A leather thong, stretched horizontally over the skin which covers the gourd, serves to fasten the lower end of the strings, or sometimes they are attached to a bit of wood placed across. At the edge of the calabash and under the last string is a piece of iron, flat and oval, about five inches long, and set round with small iron rings, which tinkle when the harp is played upon, and add to the effect. The musicians never fail to ask for presents from the princes whose praises they sing, and as they are seldom refused they have numerous flocks and good beasts of burden. Sometimes they make presents to the marabouts to conciliate their esteem; and the marabouts accept the gift and despise them nevertheless.
During the month that I passed with the king, I never once saw him take any solid food, or drink any thing but milk. When I asked him why he took neither sangleh nor meat, he replied that he preferred milk to all other food. To distinguish themselves from the common people, the king and his nobles always drank camel’s milk, and said they preferred it; but I always suspected that their only motive was the difficulty of procuring it, which prevented the slaves from drinking it also; a sort of distinction of which they are jealous. I have seen the queen several times eat meat swimming in melted butter.
In the rainy season the Moors seldom take any other food than milk, which they have in abundance at that period of the year. The rich sometimes kill a sheep, but not often. The king’s guéhué killed a sheep one day, and was roasting it on the embers while I was in his tent; presently as many as thirty Moors collected, having found out what was going on by the smell of the meat; and they watched like so many ravenous beasts for the moment when they could satisfy their voracious appetite. The guéhué hoped to have got rid of them by distributing some small pieces among them; but no sooner had he sat down to the feast with his wife, than the Moors fell upon it and carried it all off, tearing the scraps from one another’s hands and mouths; they even fought for the bones, and dispatched the poor guéhué’s sheep without giving him a taste. I could only compare them to dogs fighting for a piece of meat that one of them had stolen; and I, who had been invited to partake with the lawful proprietor, was not more fortunate than himself. This was a great disappointment to me, as I was very hungry. I was told that this scene could not have taken place except at a guéhué’s, and that they would not have dared to behave so to a person of more importance.
I sometimes suggested to the Moors that they would improve their fare by sending their slaves to collect haze, and making it into sangleh, but this hurt their pride: “It is food for the common people,” said they, “and for slaves; we do not condescend to eat it.” Those who have a little millet left from their stock save it for the return of the dry season, when milk becomes scarce.
The Moors have large herds of oxen and camels; and they have also a number of fine horses, of which they take great care; giving them milk when it is plentiful, morning and night. When a horseman arrives at a camp, he goes about inquiring for milk and for water for his beast.
The care of the camels is committed to the Laratines[23] or the zenagues, and very seldom to negro slaves. As soon as a camel is foaled, its legs are tied under its body, to habituate it from the first to the posture in which it is to receive its burthen. When it is old enough to carry a load, a month is sufficient to teach it to rise with its burthen, and to balance itself. When it is to be weaned, they thrust a splinter through its nose, and fasten some thorns to the splinter, that it may prick its mother whenever it comes near her, and she may prevent it from sucking. They also tie a cloth round the teats of the mother, and fasten it over her back. The black slaves attend on the bullocks, driving them to pasture at seven o’clock in the morning, and bringing them back at sun-set. The cows are not milked till ten o’clock at night, after the last prayer; those who took care of them in the day time performing the office. The wooden vessel which they use to milk into is never cleaned except by holding it over the fire for about ten minutes; by this method of purification, it contracts a smoky taste, which it imparts to the milk, and this renders it very unpleasant. The Moors let the calves suck, because they fancy that the cow would cease to give milk if they did not. A boy is employed to lead them out one after another, as soon as they are milked. The calf runs to its mother, and is suffered to suck for a few minutes; they then tie it to one of its mother’s legs, and she permits herself to be milked without perceiving the change. The calves are left for a short time with their mothers, and are then shut up again in the thorn enclosure, where they remain the rest of the night and all day.
The favourite female slaves of the princes receive the milk in calabashes, and distribute it again to their masters. Beauty amongst the Moors consists in enormous embonpoint; and the young girls are therefore obliged to drink milk to excess; the elder ones take a great quantity of their own accord, but the younger children are compelled by their parents, or by a slave whose office it is, to swallow their allowance. This poor creature commonly takes advantage of the “brief authority” that is granted her, to revenge herself by her cruelty for the tyranny of her masters. I have seen poor little girls crying and rolling on the ground, and even throwing up the milk which they had just drank; neither their cries nor their sufferings making any impression upon the cruel slave, who beat them, pinched them till they bled, and tormented them in a thousand ways, to force them to take the quantity of milk which she thought proper. If their food were heavier, such a system would have fatal consequences; but it is so far from hurting their constitutions, that they grow visibly stronger and fatter. At twelve years old they are enormous, but at twenty or twenty-two they lose their embonpoint; I never saw a woman of that age who was remarkably corpulent.
The largest women are reckoned the handsomest. The Moors have no taste for beauty of form or mind; on the contrary, what we consider a capital defect is an attraction with them; they admire women who have the two front teeth of the upper jaw projecting from the mouth; and ambitious mothers employ all possible means, to make their daughters’ teeth grow in that direction.
The men, as I have said, feed also on milk; but they drink less than the women. The slaves live upon cows’ milk, and in the season when milk is scarce, they are allowed a small portion of grain, about three quarters of a pound, without milk; at that season they eat only at 11 o’clock at night, when their masters are in bed. Such of the Moors as have young slaves ten or twelve years old, send them to the enclosure where the calves are, at milking time; and from every cow they let them drink a mouthful of milk; which is all the food they receive, so that they suffer much from hunger.
When supper is over, the milk which is left is put in a leather bag, called soucou, to curdle. In the morning, after the cows are milked, they breakfast as they supped over-night, that is to say upon milk; the difference being that they have less of it, because the calves are allowed to suck in the morning.
At noon, a slave churns the milk to make butter; filling the soucou which holds it with wind, and then shaking it on her lap for a quarter of an hour. When the butter is made, they work it into little balls of the size of a walnut, and add three parts water to the milk, which is set by in calabashes to be distributed at dinner. The balls are put into the portion destined for the women, and they swallow them in drinking; this beverage of milk and water is called cheni.
The Moors are naturally filthy; and they seem to chuse the dirtiest slave on purpose, to make the butter and apportion the cheni. I have seen the women making the balls of butter with their hands wipe their fingers on their hair, and then plunge them again into the calabash containing the butter and milk. They disgusted me to such a degree by their uncleanly ways, that I have often suffered hunger, rather than accept a drink which they had prepared so filthily.
If the slaves are ill treated by the hassanes, those who belong to the marabouts fare still worse. I have mentioned that the hassanes allow them to gather haze for themselves, which tends much to alleviate their condition; the marabouts, on the other hand, make them collect it for them, and give them a very small quantity of it, and that without milk.
The herds of the hassanes are less numerous than those of the marabouts; they have hardly ever any thing in their camp but a few cows and oxen; the rest of their cattle, the camels excepted, are entrusted to zenagues, or tributaries, who are responsible for them, and bring them back when they are wanted. Each tribe has a distinct mark for its herds, to which the proprietor adds his own counter-mark. The wooden vessels which they use for milking are made by their workmen; they take a piece of the trunk of a tree of suitable size, cover it with cow-dung except where they mean to hollow it out; then putting fire under it, they blow up the fire with bellows, driving the flame towards the wood; and thus, the dampness of the cow-dung on the outside preventing it from burning too far, the vessel is hollowed. They make wooden funnels also by this process, which is very tedious, but the only one with which they are acquainted.
I have already mentioned that I was on the point of continuing my journey, and that my guide had left me at Lam-Khaté. On the 10th of October, one of the sons of Mohammed-Sidy, lakariche, gave me a slave for a guide; we set off at seven o’clock in the morning, and advanced a mile to the west along the bank of a large lake, where I saw plenty of ducks, teal, and coots. The soil in the neighbourhood of the lake is argillaceous and rich; I observed there some stems of millet of the preceding year. After having passed this lake, we directed our course to the S.W. and proceeded fifteen miles on stony ground covered with dog-grass. I had nothing to hold water, and suffered from thirst. On the road we met a marabout riding on an ox; I begged him to give me a little water, and accompanied my request by a short prayer in Arabic; he gave me some rather grudgingly, and told me that I should have had none if it had not been for the prayer. At noon we arrived at the camp of Boubou-Fanfale, situated on the bank of the Hadjar; he seemed pleased to see me, and gave me a bit of mutton for dinner. My guide returned and Boubou sent one of his sons to conduct me to the camp of my marabout. At two o’clock we set off again, directing our course over a stony soil. At six in the evening, having travelled about ten miles, we arrived at Ténèque, the camp of the zenagues belonging to the king; we passed the night there. My host gave me for supper a bowl of sangleh, which I enjoyed very much. In the evening, I was visited by all the women of the camp.