Children go quite naked till the age of twelve or fourteen; their heads are shaved and figures drawn upon them, or tufts of hair left; but sometimes only half the head is shaved. At twelve the hair of the girls is suffered to grow, and the boys are completely shaved at eighteen. The opinion of some travellers, accredited in Senegal from popular stories respecting the manner of cutting the hair of the young people and leaving tufts to be cut off by degrees as they may distinguish themselves by brilliant actions, is absolutely false, at least in regard to the Braknas. I have had many occasions to know that these tufts of hair are a mere matter of fancy and that the number depends upon the will of the shaver or of the young man himself. It is a fashion which varies with individual taste; it is rare to see two heads trimmed in the same manner, excepting amongst the men above eighteen years of age, who closely crop the whole head.

I have already observed that the Moorish women have great influence over their husbands; I repeat it here, to correct an error into which M. Durand has fallen, and which he may have communicated to his readers. The husband has no authority over his wife but what a superior understanding gives him; I should even say that the Mooresses possess more influence over their husbands than our French women. They rarely wait upon them; and only for want of slaves; even then I have always seen that in this case a neighbour would lend a woman to pound the millet and make the sangleh. I except the zenague women; but if these perform menial offices for their husbands, it is because the slaves are occupied; and besides they are in the habit of working. M. Durand says also that wives are never admitted to the meals of their husbands: I have witnessed the contrary; I have seen them eat with their sons and husbands, not often, indeed, but I have remarked that it was owing to the custom which the women have of taking nothing but milk, which is set before them in small calabashes.

It is likewise incorrect to assert that the mother pays any deference to her son; or that the father and mother affect indifference to their daughters; the son is always submissive to his mother and pays her the utmost respect; and if the parents shew some preference for the boys, they do not love their daughters with less tenderness. Besides, I have never witnessed rejoicings at the birth either of a boy or a girl.

The greater part of the Moors believe that we live upon the sea, and that we have only a few little islands like St. Louis: under this impression they imagine that we wish to possess ourselves of their country, which they consider as the finest in the world. The marabouts are better informed, and know that we inhabit a country far superior to theirs. They often expressed their regret that they had nothing good to offer me; observing that God would recompense me for my voluntary privations, in relinquishing the happy land of the christians to live amongst them. They have however no idea of our arts or manufactures. They often inquired what use we made of gum and were always persuaded that I was deceiving them; they would not believe any other than that we transform it into amber, which it somewhat resembles in colour, and into other merchandise of great value, and that we could not dispense with gum nor even exist without it. I could not undeceive them on this point; and in like manner when discussions arise at the settlements or at the markets, or if they are refused what they ask, they threaten to bring no more gum.

CHAPTER IV.

On the 6th, I was told that the governor had passed the port on his way to Podor, and that on his return he would stop to have an interview with king Hamet-Dou; I was informed also that he had expressed a wish to see me. I desired most ardently to have an interview with him and did all that lay in my power to set off again immediately. But it was not till the 8th that I could set out again for the port, where I arrived on the 10th, two days after the departure of the governor for St. Louis. I expected to find a letter, but had the mortification to learn that he had not left one for me; he had however authorized the officer who commanded the brig on that station to make some advances on my behalf; but when I applied to this officer, he told me that he had no government effects on board, and that the advance which he was ordered to make was very trifling. My wants however were urgent, and I asked for two pieces of Guinea cloth; they gave me two pieces of burham pooter,[31] but so very bad that I could not have exchanged them for millet. I wrote again to the governor, but received no answer. I suspected from that time that opposition would be made to my scheme, and my fears were afterwards realized.

Before I left the mart, I took up some more goods belonging to M. René Valentin, who had the generosity to let me have them without security. I set off on my return to the camp with a heavy heart and a head wearied with the thoughts that crowded upon me, on losing the hope which I had cherished of assistance from government for the completion of my design. I scarcely noticed what was passing around me; it was not till we halted near a lake called Tichilite el Bedane, that I perceived that my companions had purchased a sheep with the Guinea cloth which I had received on board. Two zenagues, who had followed us in the hope of coming in for a share of the sheep which they had sold, were charged with the business of dressing it. When it was cooked, the two marabouts were very generous at my expense, and we found about fifteen persons ready to partake of it: they had the precaution, however, to reserve a piece uncooked for the morrow; the marabouts took their share apart, and did not eat with the rest. On a journey they always affect to be people of prodigious importance, and shew a great deal of pride in all their actions.

The next day, when we wanted to cook the part we had saved, we were rather embarrassed by having neither gun nor flint to strike fire. I was then witness to an operation which I had never seen before, though I had heard of its being practised; the Moors took two pieces of wood, and rubbed them violently together, till they took fire, which was not for some time; the wood which they used was very hard.

The camp had again changed its situation; it was a mile further to the east, near a rivulet called Rekiza. On our arrival, we were informed that Hamet-Dou was at war with the Oulad-Hamets, and that the latter, who were greatly inferior in number, were flying from their enemies. The cause of hostilities was this: the laratine slaves of the tribe of Oulad-Hamet had quarrelled with those of the king, and had ravaged their fields of millet; the slaves complained to their master, who went with his people to seize the flocks of the Oulad-Hamets, in order to make them pay for the damage done in his territory. All the women of the tribe came to implore the king’s mercy, and he restored the cattle without insisting upon any indemnification for the damage. So far from being thankful for the goodness of the prince, these wretches attacked Hamet-Dou’s people again, surprised them in their tents, and killed four of them; they met with a vigorous resistance, however, for they retired with the loss of seven men. This atrocious conduct on the part of the aggressors excited the indignation of the king; he swore that he would be revenged, and declared war against the whole tribe. The Oulad-Hamets, knowing that they should have nothing to gain in this contest, entered into a negociation, and the king pardoned them once more.

The tribe of the Oulad-Hamets is the most perfidious of all the Braknas; they spare nothing, not even the people of their own tribe. When they meet travellers, they strip them if they can; and if chance conducts a stranger to their camps, he never escapes till he is plundered of every thing he has with him; of course care is taken to keep out of their way. Their atrocious character causes them to be detested by all the other tribes, and they are never spoken of but with horror.

The same day, word was brought that the Trarzas[32] had fallen upon the oxen in the woods, and were driving them off. Our people were greatly embarrassed, for there were very few men in the camp, most of them having left it at the approach of the Ramadan; seven or eight only were at hand to pursue the robbers. I observed that they had no guns, but I was assured that the Trarza hassanes would make no use of theirs, and that the matter would be decided with sticks. During the absence of the men, the women collected in groups, and discussed the probable result of the affair; there was much quarrelling amongst them, for some asserted that the Trarzas would carry off the oxen, and others maintained, on the contrary, that they would be beaten, and that the marabouts would oblige them to relinquish their prize. Towards the end of the day, these disputes were decided by the return of the marabouts, who reported that the robbers had fled at their approach and abandoned their prey.

At night, the new moon appeared; it was that of the Ramadan; and the fast was about to commence: long prayers were said, and a great quantity of sangleh was made. We supped later than usual, because we were to fast the next day. Before light I was roused to drink, for it is not lawful to take any thing while the sun is above the horizon.

The truly devout Moors observe a most rigorous fast; they make only one meal in the middle of the night, and not only take no food in the day-time, but neither drink nor smoke. As the Ramadan often happens in hot weather, and the fast is more painful on account of the dreadful thirst which is experienced, the less zealous take the opportunity of travelling just at this time, because they are excused from observing the fast when they are on a journey. It was for this reason that there were so few men in the camp, when the oxen were carried off; they had all set out on their travels a few days before. This emigration does not exempt them from fasting altogether, but it affords them the advantage of chusing their own season; they always fast in preference in cold weather, because they are not then liable to suffer so much from thirst.

The first day I bore the fast pretty well, but I suffered severely from thirst, and sighed for the setting of the sun; it was only a quarter of an hour after sun-set that the cheni was brought, and this quarter of an hour appeared as long as a day. Impatience increased my thirst to such a degree, that I could not restrain myself, and drank more than was prudent. My body was covered with a violent perspiration; my legs failed; I fell motionless upon the mat, where I remained for half an hour, but without losing sensation. At last my strength returned by degrees, and I was able to get up to go to prayer.

At eleven o’clock at night, some sangleh was brought for supper; I remarked that a greater quantity had been made than usual, but I ate very little, for thirst had taken away my appetite and I felt feverish. The women had all intended to fast, but at noon they were obliged to drink, and their fast was broken. For my part, I persevered for the next few days, and my sufferings increased, as my strength diminished. On the sixth day, I thought that I could no longer endure these privations. The east wind blew violently; the heat increased; my throat was parched, my tongue, dry and chapped, was like a rasp in my mouth, and I thought I should sink under my sufferings. I was not the only one who was in this state; every body around me was tormented in the same way. The marabouts, at last, bathed the face, head, and part of the body, and I was allowed to do the same; but I was watched very closely, and could only have deceived my Arguses at the risk of my life, in case I had been seen to swallow a drop of water. When my sufferings were excessive, and a murmur escaped me, they told me, for my encouragement, that when I died Mahomet would receive me into heaven, present me with a vase of delicious liquor to quench my thirst, and reward me for the pains and privations I had endured. One day I contrived to enjoy this treat beforehand, as the law permits you to wash your mouth, and to snuff up water through the nose, provided you spit it out again; I seized the moment when my marabout, being engaged in washing himself, could not observe me, to swallow part of the water that I had in my mouth: it seemed to me as if the prophet was that moment opening the gates of heaven to me, for I had never tasted any thing so delicious. This was the only time that I could elude their vigilance, and I did it then with fear and trembling. I fasted thus for seventeen days, and on the eighteenth I was attacked with a fever; a dispensation from fasting was then granted me, if a man can be said not to fast because he drinks a little water in the course of the day: they gave me absolutely nothing to eat.

Besides being compelled to observe a most rigorous fast, I had to bear the insolence of a number of travelling hassanes, with whom my sufferings were a subject of ridicule. If they found me lying upon my mat, and expiring of thirst and exhaustion, they pulled me by my clothes, and pinched me, and tormented me in a thousand ways to force me to answer their questions, which were all intended to insult me. They commonly concluded by asking me if I would not drink a little brandy and eat pork, and whether I did not intend to be circumcised. At each of these questions, to which I refused to reply, they laughed violently, and answered for me, affecting the most cutting contempt. The marabouts did not like this, but they could not protect me from the annoyance, and it was not till after the departure of the hassanes that they censured them and called them infidels.

I observed, that the marabouts were not so strict with their countrymen as they were with me, for I often saw young men who were eating in the day-time. When I asked why they were not obliged to fast like the rest of us, I was told that they could not have got through the day without eating. This pretext they employed whenever they were disposed to break the fast.

To amuse themselves, and make the days seem less tedious during the Ramadan, the Moors have a game called sigue. It consists of six flat pieces of wood, rounded at the ends in an oval form, white on one side, and black on the other. The game is played by two, four, or six persons, but always divided into two parties. Three rows of holes are made in the sand, twenty-four in each; the outside rows are taken by the different parties, who cover each of the holes with a straw, taking care that the straws of the two parties shall be of different colours, so as to be easily distinguished; the middle row of holes is left open. One of the players takes five bits of wood in his hand, shakes them and drops them on the ground; if all the pieces of wood are of the same colour, or all but one, this is called making the sigue, and counts for one: the player continues with six pieces until he fails to make the sigue; then another plays, and so on. Every time a player makes the sigue he puts a straw into one of the holes of the middle row, and moves it forward as many places as he has thrown pieces of wood of the colour adopted by his party. When a player has reached the last hole in the middle row, he leaves his straw there; if his adversary arrives at it also, the first straw is thrown out, and the player begins again as before. When all the holes in the middle row are taken, the player begins upon his adversary’s, and they go on with the game, taking straws out of all the holes which they win from him; when either party has lost all its holes the game is over.

They have another game which they seldom play because it requires more exertion. They set up several small flat bones in a row, and a number of men with four stones each throw at the bones from a distance; he who knocks down the greatest number fillips the noses of his companions. The princes sometimes play at this game. The boys, who are not so lethargic as the men, and love running about, have a game which really gives them some exercise. They form a large circle; one of them places himself in the middle, and all the others annoy him as they run round; one strikes him, another pushes, or pulls him by his coussabe. The one in the middle endeavours to catch his assailants, and when he succeeds they change places. This is a very noisy game, for they all shout and scream as they run round. The girls also play at this game amongst themselves.

It is during the Ramadan that the boys are circumcised, between the ages of four and twelve; a marabout always performs the operation. The child is not to shew any sign of pain, but is required to hold a bit of wood in his mouth, and pick his teeth with it during the operation. Nothing is applied to the wound but some ass dung mixed with water, and this plaster is allowed to drop off of itself. The boys who have been circumcised run off into the woods, armed with bows and arrows, and amuse themselves with shooting at birds; they do not return to the camp till two o’clock, when they eat sangleh; at night they have nothing but milk for supper. To prevent them from hurting themselves at night while asleep, stakes are driven into the ground about the place where they lie, so that they have not room to turn. The interval between the operation and their entire cure is a privileged time, when they play all sorts of roguish tricks on their parents; but I have been assured that they do not steal, as I have seen the children do amongst the negroes. The girls are circumcised at a year old; the hassanes, like the zenagues, always employ a marabout to perform the operation.

At the end of the fast, they celebrate a feast (the Tabasky) which is considered as a great solemnity. All put on their best apparel; a ram is killed, and plenty of sangleh is made: every one has abundance to satisfy his hunger, and it is perhaps the only day in the year when their appetite is completely satisfied. They present one another with millet; but it is rather an exchange than a gift, for they always give to those who have the ability to give to them and not to the poor.

This is purely a religious festival amongst the marabouts, and the greater part of the day is passed in prayer; it is a sort of Easter, when custom permits them to eat more than usual. The hassanes make it a day of rejoicing; the men fire off their guns, and perform evolutions on horseback, and the women, assembling round the guéhués, sing to their music, and accompany it by clapping their hands. The feasts of the hassanes are usually gayer than those of the marabouts, because the guéhués, who are present at the former, enliven them by their songs, their music, and their tricks.

On the 18th of April, my marabout’s sons returned from the port, whither they had been carrying gum, and told us that Hamet-Dou was going to St. Louis. Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar advised me to go thither too and look after my goods. “They would not dare,” said he, “to detain you while the king is there, and if they should refuse to deliver your goods, the king will take you under his protection.” This proposal suited me exactly; for I could no longer remain among them in the state in which I was, and I wanted to solicit from the governor the means of finishing my education and completing my journey. I did not betray my eagerness however, but, pretending to be guided by his advice, set off for the port with his second son Abdallah; we arrived on the 20th. On our way we passed the night in a camp of zenagues, and I heard a Moor who was talking of me say, “I should like him to die in my tent when he comes back with his merchandise.” “Do not say so,” replied a woman. “Why not,” rejoined the Moor, “would not he be very well off? He would go to paradise, and I should have his goods.” I heard all this distinctly, but I did not take the trouble to thank him for his good intentions towards me.

The king had set off from St. Louis two days before we arrived at the port, and we had to wait for an opportunity of following him. In the mean time I visited all the supercargoes on board their vessels; my guide followed me every where and made inquiries about me, my shipwreck, and my goods. He seemed very uneasy, but as I had cautioned all these gentlemen, they took care not to contradict my story. His curiosity nevertheless annoyed me a good deal, because I knew that he would find people at St. Louis who might undeceive him, even without intending to injure me; and, as I foresaw that I should have difficulty in obtaining what I meant to solicit from the governor, I did not wish that any thing Abdallah might hear should destroy the good opinion which his countrymen had formed of me, and induce them to thwart my schemes hereafter. I should for this reason have been very glad to get rid of my companion, and I had some hopes of being able to do so, for a short time, after a conversation which passed between us.

Every time that we left a vessel he reproved me for not begging of the christians, and when I told him that I was not in want of any thing he replied: “That is nothing to the purpose; you should always ask for something. If they give, so much the better; if they refuse, so much the worse. They are infidels, and you should always get as much as you can from them. Do you think that the Musulmans who are here come to see the whites? No such thing; they come to get their Guinea cloth whenever they can. Perhaps you imagine that I am going to St. Louis to see the town, and the christians?” I replied that I concluded he was, as he had expressed a wish to that effect, before we quitted the camp; “Besides,” said I, “what else should you go for?” “What should I go for?” said he, “do not suppose that I go to see the infidels and their country. I go to try if I cannot get some goods out of them, and that you may pay me three or four pieces of Guinea cloth and a gun for my company.” Though I was no stranger to the rapacity of his countrymen, yet this confession really surprised as much as it incensed me. I durst not give vent to my indignation, so I contented myself with saying, that if he had reckoned upon my generosity, he would find himself mistaken, because he had no claim upon it; that I thought myself indebted to his brother, and that he alone should receive the presents which I intended as a return for his kindness. He was disconcerted, and told me that if that was the case he should return to the camp and I might go to St. Louis by myself. I should have been heartily glad to do so; but when he saw me about to embark, he joined me. Before I leave the port, I must give a short sketch of the mode in which the gum trade is carried on.

At the appointed time, the government of St. Louis sends a king’s ship to the port under the command of an officer, who is charged with the police of the port, in all that concerns navigation, and the stationing of the different vessels; he is also empowered to decide all disputes with the marabouts and the Moors. The Moorish king on his side sends his plenipotentiaries, who remain at the port to settle the customs[33] and which are to be paid by the merchants. Any difficulties which arise are settled between them and the commander of the vessel on the station.

When a merchant ship arrives at the port, she remains at anchor in the middle of the river till the duty is fixed; a point which is seldom settled without a long discussion, for the Moors always persist in the hope of gaining some advantage, though the tax is governed by the tonnage of the vessel; it is often necessary to have recourse to the king to terminate the dispute. It is not till the agreement has been signed that business can be transacted, and the aloums (or Moorish agents) watch on the shore, to see that no gum is taken on board. These same agents watch the vessels when their right to trade is suspended.

The duties which the merchants pay are considerable. A vessel capable of carrying from twenty-five to thirty thousand pounds of gum pays in general one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty pieces of Guinea cloth[34] in fixed customs; to this may be added three or four pieces more in the shape of presents to the princes, which they call their supper, and two or three for the aloums, who, if they were not feed, would give the preference to other vessels.

All the preliminaries being settled, the ship begins to trade; she approaches the shore, to which a bridge is thrown to facilitate the communication; the trader has a hut built on the beach where the women whose business it is to pound the millet are lodged; where all cooking operations for the ship’s crew are performed; and where the master may repose when he comes on shore. He must now have an interpreter to carry on conversation between himself and the marabouts, and this interpreter is paid and fed on board; the aloums are also fed at the joint expense of all the merchants. The princes and princesses who come to the port must also be fed, and any one who should refuse to conform to this practice would lose his right of trading.

When a prince arrives, he sometimes takes up his abode on board one of the ships, where he is politely received, and allowed to be as troublesome as he pleases, for fear he should interrupt the traffic. He takes possession of the cabin, throws himself on the master’s bed, calls for treacle and water to drink, and worries his host with incessant questions. At dinner, he sits down at table without invitation, thrusts his fingers into all the dishes, tastes all the victuals, and puts back what he dislikes after it has been in his mouth; he touches every thing with his dirty hands, takes bread, sugar, and whatever he pleases, pretending all the time, that he likes nothing, and boasting of the good cheer that is to be found in his own camp.

It may seem possible that a Mulatto born at Senegal, accustomed from his childhood to such behaviour, and having but an imperfect notion of European manners, should put up with this treatment; but how a European, and a Frenchman, can endure it, is what I never could comprehend, though I have seen it. It is true that it is in general the clerks of traders at St. Louis who are forced to submit to these customs, for fear of compromising the interests of the houses by which they are sent. They have only one chance of avoiding the annoyance of such guests, and eating their meals in peace; and that is, to have every thing cooked with bacon or pork; the Moor, in that case, will eat what has been prepared for him in a corner by himself; but he exercises the same rapacity upon bread, sugar and every thing else that pleases his gluttonous palate. Sometimes the dealers, wearied out, attempt to dismiss the princes; but they avoid coming to a quarrel, because, if a blow should be struck, the right of trading would be suspended; fresh negociations must take place, and they would only terminate in the payment of a fine of several pieces of Guinea cloth. When the zenagues come on board to walk about, there is no such thing as getting rid of them without making them some present, or at least giving them a calabash of molasses and water.

The traffic generally commences in the month of January, and ends the 31st of July. Towards the end of May, the king comes to the port; he sometimes lodges on board the station-ship, but more commonly on shore in a hut that the dealers have built for him. During his stay, which sometimes lasts two months, the dealers are obliged to feed all his attendants, and to pay a daily tax of two or three pieces of Guinea cloth; this is called, as I said before, the king’s supper. He visits one or other of the ships every day, receives presents, and never forgets to call for an enormous calabash of sugar and water for himself and his suite. He is always received with the greatest politeness on board all the ships, for he would break off the traffic if any dealer were not to behave well to him. In this way he is sure of obtaining whatever he desires.

Whilst he stays at the port, he levies another tax, which has been established for some years under the name of a “forced present.” He requires from each dealer one hundred pieces or more of Guinea cloth, and if this quantity is not delivered to him within a fixed time, he breaks off the trade. The dealers then contribute each of them according to the tonnage of his vessel, and when the quantity required is made up, it is delivered to the king, who permits them to resume their traffic. A whim, or the slightest complaint made to the king, is enough to interrupt it; nay, I have known it to be broken off because Fatme-Anted-Moctar (the king’s aunt) complained that one of the supercargoes had given her some coffee which she did not like.

It may be supposed perhaps, that the price at which the gum is bought makes amends for all these annoyances by the profit which it affords. No such thing! the profit might indeed be immense if the dealers understood their own interest; instead of which they enter into a ruinous competition with one another, to the advantage of the Moors. If they know that a caravan is on the way to the port, each dispatches his interpreter to meet it and make offers to the marabouts. They go on shore themselves to try to gain the chief by promises and presents, and to get him on board their own vessel. The consequence of all this eagerness is that the Moor becomes more and more greedy and obstinate; he suspects that he is selling his gum too cheap, hesitates a long time before he closes the bargain, runs backwards and forwards to all the ships, and decides at last in favour of the highest bidder.

From the arrival of the caravan to the delivery of the gum, all the marabouts belonging to it are fed by the dealers; and every time a Moor goes on board a ship to sell the smallest package of gum, he and all who are with him are treated. Five or six of them will often go about with twelve or fifteen pounds of gum, hawk it about for two or three days, and at last, when they have sold it, require a dinner into the bargain. The bargains are usually made very slowly; the marabouts, for fear of being cheated, measure their gum before they expose it for sale, with a small measure, the weight of which they know, that they may ascertain beforehand the quantity of Guinea cloth which it ought to produce them. In general a certain weight in gum is agreed upon as the value of one piece of calico. This price varies according as the season is more or less productive; when I was at the Cock station a piece would fetch fifty or sixty pounds of gum, sometimes it is up at one hundred, and sometimes down to thirty or even lower.

When the price of the piece of stuff is fixed, the bargain is not concluded; it is still to be settled what presents shall be made to the marabout. These presents consist in gunpowder, sugar, small trunks, looking-glasses, knives, scissors, &c.; and this last part of the bargain is often longer in being concluded than the first: after all, when the things are delivered, and every thing settled, he stays a longer time, teazing the purchaser for further presents. However outrageous his demands, he always thinks that he receives too little for his gum; so valuable do the Moors suppose it to be to us.

These expenses and these presents, added to the price paid for the gum, raise the price to such a height, that it costs more at the port than it will fetch at St. Louis. The dealers endeavour to cover themselves by practising a thousand tricks on the Moors; the latter, however, being always on their guard, are not often deceived. The Europeans frequently suffer considerable losses, and will continue to do so as long as the trade is founded on fraud. Their leisure moments are all employed in devising some new cheat; and the successful inventor conceals his scheme from the other dealers, and, reckoning upon his ingenuity, offers his cloths at a low price to attract the marabouts. His rivals all the time watch him narrowly, and set their wits to work, so that they are never long in finding out his contrivance, or inventing one of their own that may enable them to sell at the same rate. It is evident that people are not all equally qualified for a traffic of this kind; we may even assert that it requires a particular course of study to make a good gum-merchant.

It would certainly be doing a great service to the inhabitants of Senegal to put this commerce on a more honourable footing; but, if such a thing is suggested, they take fright and protest that it is impossible to deal honestly with the Moors. Government alone could set matters right, by forming a company, in which each member might hold a share proportionate to his capital, and then appointing two agents to traffic at each port, subject to the inspection of a government-officer, whose business it would be to see that the conditions on each side were fulfilled. By these means, competition would be annihilated, and the expenses considerably reduced, because a single ship would be sufficient at each port, and the gum would be conveyed to St. Louis in boats. The Moors would be unwilling to submit to any alteration at first, but when they should have ascertained that there was no other intention than that of dealing fairly with them, a mutual confidence would soon take place between them and the dealers, which would permit the latter to behave in a manner more suitable to the dignity of the French character. The merchants allege that the Moors in this case would take their gum to Portendick; but they would not take it all thither; and government would have it in its power to adopt measures for diminishing the competition which the English are creating at that port.

During the traffic, many camps of the zenagues establish themselves near the port, to be ready to sell the produce of their herds and flocks. Morning and evening the women bring milk and butter to barter for Guinea cloth, gunpowder, glass wares, etc. A pound of butter sells for about seven pence halfpenny, and a calabash of milk for two pence halfpenny.

Those Moors who have no gum, and who cannot procure the means of subsistence at the port, force themselves into the camps of these poor creatures, live upon them, and devour the profits which they have made by the sale of their commodities. It is indeed an established principle, that this class should be continually plundered by the others.

As commerce attracts to this spot a vast number of dealers and visiters, there is a perpetual bustle. While the trade lasts, the port is like a tumultuous fair; on one side are the camels and oxen of the caravans, driven out to graze or to the river to water; on another a flock of sheep, which a zenague is endeavouring to sell; here a caravan just arrived from the desert, with dealers besetting it and quarrelling with one another; laptots[35] fighting, and women squabbling; further on, hassanes on horseback, or mounted on camels, running to and fro, and heightening, by their violence, the confusion of all the groupes which were already too turbulent.

On the 31st of July in the evening, the station-ship fires a gun, which is the signal for the close of the traffic and the departure of the vessels. Such of the Moors as have not sold their gum take it away, and dig holes in the ground, where they keep it till the next season. The remainder of the customs is paid at this time; for the dealers never pay in advance, lest the Moors should send off their gum to some other place, in order to obtain double dues. Neither is it till after the return of the station-ship to St. Louis that the king receives the allowance granted by government to insure the protection of the trade. She sails on the 1st of August, and all the merchant ships usually follow.

On the 11th of May I embarked for St. Louis; my guide accompanied me, and we arrived on the sixteenth. I took every possible precaution on the way, to prevent him from having an interview with Schims, the chief of the Dawalache tribe;[36] but my efforts were frustrated, and they met in a village not far from his post. They had a long conversation together, in which Schims informed my marabout that I had been with him before I went to the Braknas, and that I had proposed to receive my education from him; entering at the same time pretty fully into his motive for not receiving me, which he said was founded upon the accounts he had heard of me. As soon as Schims perceived me, he dropped the subject and congratulated me on my conversion; I reproached him for his refusal to take me into his camp, and he then repeated what he had just said, and laid great stress upon the bad account that the children of the Senegal[37] had given him of me; but for this, he said, he should not have hesitated to receive me and to treat me as his own son.

I strove during the rest of the conversation to counteract the bad impression which these imputations had made upon my marabout; but I saw that I had lost all his confidence, and that it was only by a speedy return, and an apparent resolution to settle in his country, that I could impose upon him or his nation.

CHAPTER V.

This favour vexed me exceedingly, by postponing the possibility of undertaking my journey. I felt that I possessed energy enough for something better than a negro driver and in my despair, instead of going to Richard Tol[38], according to my instructions, I set off for N’pâl, a village near St. Louis, without any other design than that of catching and stuffing birds for my livelihood. One of the grandees of the colony, from whom I had sent to beg the necessary instruments, replied to my messenger: “By all means; and then he will be of some use.” This reply, which was repeated to me, put me in a rage, and in the utmost indignation I left N’pâl to go to Richard Tol.

On my arrival at this settlement, I was consoled by the kindness of M. Lelièvre, the gardener, who had the kindness to add some other provisions to the regular soldier’s allowance, which was all I could claim as overseer.

Whilst I was discharging this office, with all the mortification of a man who feels that his business is beneath him I learnt the arrival of Baron Roger. At this intelligence I was transported with joy; I ran about in all directions in search of a vessel to take me to St. Louis, and if I could I would have swum thither. On landing, I hastened to present myself to our former governor; I delivered into his hands, the same day, the notes which I had taken during my stay with the Braknas; I accompanied them with a fresh application for assistance, or for an appointment, to enable me to perform my great journey—it was not granted!

To any other person this would have been a thunderclap; but my resolution struck deeper and deeper root every day, and I had the courage to return to the charge. Then indeed, I was kindly promised a sum of money on my return from Timbuctoo.—On my return from Timbuctoo! And what if I died on the way? this idea so dreadful to a man, who in case of this misfortune would leave a sister whom he adored in a state of want, suggested my answer. I refused to make any arrangement; and I determined that, were I destined to die, I would at least leave an incontestable legacy to the friend of my childhood—the merit of having done all without help. I changed my plan, and asked for nothing but the hundred francs that were due to me as overseer. I had disdained to receive them before, but my poverty and the way in which I was abandoned rendered them indispensable.

Attired as I was in my Arab costume, I did not care to ask for letters of introduction to Albreda,[39] whither I resolved to go, knowing that I should have been refused because I was not dressed in the French fashion. As if my heart had ever ceased to beat for my country!—as if I had been more guilty than Aly-Bey, whom government had so warmly patronized! I set off then without passport and without letters of recommendation. I crossed over to the main-land in a canoe, and then pursued my way alone, and with no resource but my hundred francs, towards Goree. Eight years before, I had followed the same route, poor, dejected, and ready to renounce the scheme which might then perhaps have met with encouragement; I was no richer the second time, but I had all the ardour and energy of riper age, and I was resolved, were it only out of pride, to undertake what I had been supposed incapable of accomplishing.

On landing at Goree, I called to see nobody, for I was afraid of being subjected, in this insular dependency of St. Louis, to the same insults with which I had been loaded at the capital of our settlements. I took my passage in a French brig, which was about to sail for Albreda; and thence I proceeded to Sierra-Leone. General Turner, governor of this English establishment, received me with kindness, and, in order to keep me in the colony, he offered me the superintendence of an indigo-factory, and attached to the situation (which he created for me,) a salary of 3600 francs, (£150).

This governor had no notion of the passion for activity which stimulated me, and he fancied he could gratify me with money—a generous mistake, for which I was grateful to him. Shortly after, in 1826, he was succeeded by Sir Neil Campbell, to whom I applied for 6000 francs to enable me to undertake my journey; I met with the refusal which the meanness of my appearance, and what was called the extravagance of my scheme, had already procured me. Sir Neil Campbell did not mention M. Beaufort, but he spoke of Major Laing, from whom he said it would be unfair to attempt to snatch the glory of first arriving at Timbuctoo, and on this ground he rejected my proposal.

The refusal of the French governors had distressed me, but that of the English governor did not affect me at all; I felt myself the more free: I thanked heaven that I was now able to break off my engagement with foreigners, to whom I was indebted for their generous hospitality, but who might perhaps in return have laid claim to the glory of a discovery, with which I hoped to do honour to France. I gave in my resignation, therefore, with as much eagerness as I had felt in giving up my little allowance of fifty francs a month. The sacrifice was so much the easier as I had saved nearly two thousand francs, and this treasure seemed to me to be sufficient to carry me all over the world. Lastly, there was a hope which tranquillised my mind as to the fate of my poor sister; I had just heard of the premium offered by the Geographical Society of Paris to the first European who should reach Timbuctoo, and I said to myself: “Dead or alive, it shall be mine, and my sister shall receive it.”

These hopes, these visions of glory, of patriotism, and of fraternal affection, left me no rest; and I had nothing like peace till the evening before I left Sierra-Leone. Not having been able any where to obtain the necessary assistance for a journey to Timbuctoo, I determined to undertake it entirely at my own expense. I hoped also that when I returned, the French government, ever just in its appreciation of courageous exertion, would reward the service which I should have rendered to geographical science, by making known the new countries which I intended to visit.

Encouraged by these hopes, I gave in my resignation without regret; I was afterwards actively engaged in procuring the goods I was likely to want, and laid out my savings in the purchase of paper, glass, and other articles.

During my residence at Freetown, the capital of the colony of Sierra Leone, I became acquainted with some Mandingoes and seracolets.[40] I won their confidence, and availed myself of it to gain information about the countries which I intended to visit. At last, to make sure of their friendship, I gave them a few trifles; and then I told them one day, with a very mysterious air, and a charge of secrecy, that I was born in Egypt, of Arabian parents, and that I had been carried into France, in my infancy, by some soldiers of the French army which had invaded Egypt; that I had afterwards been brought to the Senegal by my master, who in consideration of my services had given me my liberty. I added that, as I was now free, I felt a natural inclination to return to Egypt, to seek my relations, and to adopt the Mahometan religion. At first the Mandingoes did not seem to credit my account, and especially what I said of my zeal for their religion; but their doubts were removed when they heard me repeat many passages of the Koran, and saw me join with them in performing the salam; at last they said to one another that I was really a good Musulman. Need I say that in secret I addressed my fervent prayers to the God of the christians to favour my undertaking?

The Mandingoes, deceived by my apparent anxiety to observe all the ceremonies of their religion, confided in me entirely. Our acquaintance ripened into intimacy, and they seemed as if they could never be happy without me; every day I was invited, to my great annoyance, to dine with them upon boiled rice and palm-oil. It will be seen by what follows how far these effusions of friendship were to be trusted.

One day, when I was going home, I was accosted in the street by one of my new friends, the Mandingoes, who asked me if I had not taken a silver toothpick which he had lost; the rogue added, aside, “Do not make a noise; give me back my toothpick, and I will say nothing about it.” Imagine my surprise and indignation! I had no difficulty in understanding what the fellow meant; I reproached him for this shameful behaviour to a brother, without protection, in a foreign country; then, transported with anger, I followed him home and appealed to the merchants who were assembled there; but they all refused to interfere in the business. I then went to fetch a negro who spoke English and Mandingo, that we might the better understand one another. When my accuser saw the interpreter, he was alarmed, and said I had mistaken his meaning, and that he only came to inquire whether by chance I had found the article which he had lost, adding, that he should be miserable to have any dispute with me. I was satisfied with this explanation; but I left my former companions with looks of scorn, and told them that they had taken the wrong way to gain any thing from me. Recollecting very soon that I might meet some of these Mandingoes on my journey, I thought it best to appear to forget the offence, and I made a few presents to their chief, after which we were as good friends again as ever.