RENÉ CAILLIÉ.

London. Published by Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street.

TRAVELS
THROUGH
CENTRAL AFRICA
TO
TIMBUCTOO;
AND
ACROSS THE GREAT DESERT, TO MOROCCO,
PERFORMED IN THE YEARS 1824-1828.

BY RENÉ CAILLIÉ.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY,
NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
1830.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY G. SCHULZE, 13, POLAND STREET.

ADVERTISEMENT.

Among the geographical problems which, during the last half century, have occupied the attention of the scientific world and awakened a spirit of adventure in enterprizing individuals, has been the existence of a large and populous city in the heart of Central Africa. The solution of this problem appeared to be a subject worthy of the solicitude even of Societies and Governments; and various expeditions have been dispatched at their expense to explore the unknown interior of that continent, with a particular view to the settlement of this long agitated question. In vain, however, have Houghton, Browne, Hornemann, and Park—in vain have their successors, our countrymen, Tuckey, Peddie, Campbell, Gray, Ritchie, Bowdich, Oudney, Clapperton, Denham and Laing—in vain have other European travellers, Burckhardt, Beaufort, Mollien, Belzoni, started from different points of the coast of Africa, animated with the hope of removing the veil which enveloped the mysterious city:—all have either perished or been baffled in the attempt. Of this number Major Laing alone reached the desired goal; but the results of his perseverance and his observations were lost to his country and to the world through the barbarous murder of that officer, and the consequent dispersion of his papers and effects.

Our neighbours, the French, have therefore just ground for exultation in the fact, that what British enterprize, seconded by the liberality of the British government, failed to accomplish, has been achieved by a very humble individual of their nation, and by means of his own slender unassisted resources; and they have certainly a right to boast that M. Caillié, the author of the work here presented to the public, is the first European who has succeeded in the attempt to penetrate to Timbuctoo, and returned, in spite of the perils interposed by the climate and by the still more destructive passions of men, to communicate all the information that circumstances enabled him to collect.

Of the importance of this information the adjudication of a premium of 10,000 francs (upwards of £400 sterling) by the Geographical Society of Paris to the traveller, affords presumptive evidence. When it is considered that, pursuing his course eastward from the French colony on the Senegal, he advanced by way of Kakondy, Kankan, and Timbo, to the distance of two hundred miles beyond Soulimana; that he then proceeded northward through more than one hundred villages to Jenné; that, there embarking on the great river Dhioliba (the Joliba of Mungo Park) he enjoyed the best opportunities for observing its course, its islands, and the extensive lake of Debo, which has afforded matter for so much discussion, during a voyage of nearly a month to Timbuctoo; that he has furnished positive information of high political and commercial interest respecting that city; and that he has proved the practicability of reaching it from the coast of the Mediterranean by traversing the great Desert which girdles Africa, and through which he returned to the territories of Morocco:—when all this is considered, it must be admitted that his merits have not by any means been overrated.

In this country also, which has long taken the lead in the encouragement of geographical discovery, it is fair to presume that the work in which M. Caillié has recorded, in language of unaffected simplicity, the observations made in a journey of 4500 miles, (of which 3000 were through regions either absolutely, or nearly unknown), cannot but possess powerful attractions for every class of readers, whether pursuing the career of trade, of science, or of politics, whether in quest of individual advantage or personal information.

CONTENTS
OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

INTRODUCTION.

Having cherished from my earliest infancy a strong desire to become a traveller, I have always seized with avidity any occasion that could facilitate the means of acquiring knowledge; but, notwithstanding all my efforts to supply the want of a good education, I have not been able to procure more than a scanty store of information. My thorough conviction of the inadequacy of my means frequently grieved me, when thinking of all that I needed for the performance of the task which I had imposed on myself; but still, while reflecting on the dangers and difficulties of such an enterprise, I hoped that the notes and observations which I should bring back from my travels would be received with interest by the public. I did not, therefore, relinquish for a moment the hope of exploring some unknown portion of Africa; and in the sequel the city of Timbuctoo became the continual object of all my thoughts, the aim of all my efforts, and I formed a resolution to reach it or perish. Now that I have had the happiness to accomplish this design, the public will perhaps grant some indulgence to the narrative of an unpresuming traveller, who relates simply what he has seen, the events which have befallen him, and the facts which he has witnessed.

I was born in 1800, at Mauzé, in the department of the Deux-Sèvres; my parents who were poor, I had the misfortune to lose in my childhood. I received no other education than what the charity-school of my village afforded; and as soon as I could read and write, I was put to learn a trade, to which I soon took a dislike, owing to the reading of voyages and travels, which occupied all my leisure moments. The History of Robinson Crusoe, in particular, inflamed my young imagination: I was impatient to encounter adventures like him; nay, I already felt an ambition to signalize myself by some important discovery springing up in my heart.

Geographical books and maps were lent to me: the map of Africa, in which I saw scarcely any but countries marked as desert or unknown, excited my attention more than any other. In short, this predilection grew into a passion for which I renounced every thing: I ceased to join in the sports and amusements of my comrades; I shut myself up on sundays to read all the books of travels that I was able to procure. I talked to my uncle, who was my guardian, of my desire to travel: he disapproved it, forcibly representing the dangers which I should incur at sea, and the regret which I should feel far away from my country and my family—in short, he neglected nothing to divert me from my project. My resolution, however, was irrevocable; I still insisted on setting out, and he made no further opposition.

All that I possessed was sixty francs, and with this trifle I proceeded to Rochefort in 1816, and embarked in the brig La Loire, bound to Senegal.

This vessel, as it is well known, sailed in company with La Méduse, on board which was M. Mollien, with whom I was not then acquainted, and who has since made such interesting discoveries in the interior of Africa. Our brig, having luckily parted company with La Méduse, arrived without accident in the road of St. Louis. From that place I proceed to Dakar, a village in the peninsula of Cape Verd, whither the unfortunate persons saved from the wreck of La Méduse were conveyed by La Loire. After a stay of some months at this dreary spot, when the English had restored the colony to the French, I set out for St. Louis.

At the moment of my arrival, the English government was preparing an expedition, under the direction of Major Peddie, for exploring the interior of Africa: when ready, it proceeded to Kakondy, a village situated on the Rio Nuñez. The major died on his arrival there. Captain Campbell, who assumed the command of the expedition, set out with his numerous caravan to cross the high mountains of Fouta-Diallon: in a few days he lost part of his beasts of burden and several men; he nevertheless determined to pursue his journey, but no sooner had he entered the territories of the almamy[1] of Fouta-Diallon than the expedition was detained by order of that sovereign. It was obliged to pay a heavy contribution to the almamy for permission to return by the way it had come, to recross rivers which it had passed with great difficulty, and to endure such persecutions that, to put an end to them and to render his march less embarrassing, the commander caused the dry goods to be burned, the muskets to be broken, and the gunpowder to be thrown into the river. On this disastrous return Captain Campbell and several of his officers ended their lives at the same place where Major Peddie died: they were interred at the same spot with him, at the foot of an orange tree, at the factory of Mr. Bethmann, an English merchant.

The rest of the troops of Captain Campbell’s expedition sailed for Sierra Leone.

Some time afterwards, a new expedition was formed, and the command of it given to Major Gray. The English spared neither trouble nor expense to render it still more imposing and more numerous than the first. To avoid the terrible almamy of Timbo, the travellers proceeded by water to the Gambia and sailed up the river. As soon as the expedition had landed, it traversed Oulli and Gabou, and at length arrived in Bondou; but the inhabitants of Bondou are like those of Fouta-Diallon, equally fanatic, and equally malevolent, and their king showed not less ill will towards the English. Upon pretext of some old debt or other contracted by the English government, he demanded such a quantity of goods that Major Gray was soon entirely stripped, and obliged, as will be seen hereafter, to send an officer to the Senegal to procure more, in the hope of obtaining a passage by means of them.

I was ignorant of these unpleasant circumstances when I heard of the English expedition; and not doubting that Major Gray, standing in need of hands, would eagerly accept the offer of my services, though I was a stranger to him, I determined to proceed by land to the Gambia. I set out from St. Louis, accompanied by two negroes who returned to Dakar, and took the road leading from Gandiolle to the peninsula of Cape Verd. We travelled on foot: I was then very young, and my companions were two vigorous walkers, so that I was obliged to run in order to keep up with them. I cannot express the fatigue I felt, under the oppressive heat, journeying over a burning and almost moving sand. If I could but have obtained a little fresh water to allay the thirst which consumed me!—none was to be found but at some distance from the sea; and we were obliged to keep near the beach, that we might have a more solid footing. My legs were covered with blisters, and I thought that I should have been knocked up before we reached Dakar: at length, however, we arrived at that village, where I made no stay, but immediately took a passage in a boat which conveyed me to Goree.

The torments which I had already endured led me to reflect on the still greater hardships to which I was about to expose myself: the persons who felt a friendship for me, and M. Gavol in particular, had not therefore much trouble to divert me from my design; and, to gratify in some measure my fondness for travel, that worthy officer procured me a gratuitous passage on board a merchantman which was sailing for Guadeloupe.

I arrived in that colony with some letters of recommendation, and obtained a petty appointment, which I held but for six months. My passion for travelling began to revive; the perusal of Mungo Park gave new strength to my projects; and lastly, my constitution, having withstood a residence of some length at the Senegal and in Guadeloupe, gave me hopes of this time executing them with success.

I sailed from Pointe-à-Pitre for Bordeaux, and thence returned to the Senegal. Arriving at St. Louis, at the conclusion of 1818, with scanty resources, for I had exceedingly diminished them by useless voyages, I was not to be deterred by any consideration: every thing seemed possible to my adventurous spirit, and chance seemed to second my designs.

M. Adrien Partarrieu, who had been sent by Major Gray to purchase at St. Louis the goods required by the King of Bondou, was preparing to rejoin the expedition. I called upon M. Partarrieu, and proposed to accompany him without salary or engagement of any kind for the moment. He replied that he could not promise me any thing for the future, but that I was at liberty to join him if I pleased. I had soon decided—happy to seize so favourable an opportunity of visiting unknown countries and participating in an expedition of discovery.

M. Partarrieu’s caravan was composed of sixty or seventy men both white and black, and thirty-two camels richly laden.

We set out, on the sixth of February, 1819, from Gandiolle, a village in the kingdom of Cayor, situated at a short distance from the Senegal. The damel, or king, whom our presents had rendered favourable to us, issued orders that we should be well treated; we met every where with an hospitable reception, and in several places the people carried their generosity so far as to subsist our whole company without accepting any remuneration. On reaching the frontiers of Cayor, we came to a desert which separates it from the country of the Yolofs. It is well known that formerly these two countries belonged to the same sovereign, who governed them with the title of boor, or emperor, and that the damel is only an independent vassal: we experienced the same kind reception from the subjects of the boor of Yolof.

It was not long before we had to regret the generous hospitality of the Yolofs. On quitting their country we entered a desert, where, for five days’ journey, we were exposed to a thousand hardships. I hope to be forgiven for entering into these details, the only ones which could have fixed themselves in the memory of a mere youth, travelling rather in quest of adventures than for the purpose of making observations.

Our camels were so laden with goods, that we had been able to take with us but a very small quantity of water: it was soon found necessary to deal out but a very small portion to each person: mine was not more abundant. How could I complain—I, a useless consumer, attached to the expedition through the mere condescension of the leader! I had no right to find fault, but I suffered extremely from thirst. I was sometimes reduced to extremity; for, having no beast to ride upon, I was obliged to follow on foot. I have been since told that my eyes were hollow, that I panted for breath, and that my tongue hung out of my mouth: for my own part, I recollect that at every halt, I fell to the ground from weakness, and had not even the courage to eat. At length my sufferings excited the pity of all; and M. Partarrieu had the kindness to divide with me his portion of water as well as a fruit which he had found. This fruit resembles the potatoe; its pulp is white and of an agreeable flavour: we subsequently found many such, which were of great service to us.

A sailor, having in vain tried all means to allay his thirst, and set about seeking fruits, was deceived by the resemblance borne by one to that which M. Partarrieu had given to me. He ate it, and it set his mouth on fire as if it had been pimento: from the retching and the violent pains with which he was seized we concluded that he was poisoned; every one cheerfully gave up to him some of his allowance of drink; but he appeared to be relieved so suddenly that I have since thought his illness was only a feint to excite pity and get a little more water. I was not, however the worst off, for I saw several drink their urine.

We arrived at length at Boulibaba, a village inhabited by pastoral Foulahs, who live during part of the year in the woods and subsist entirely upon milk seasoned with the fruit of the baobab. To us Boulibaba was a paradise; we there found limpid and abundant springs: the water which we eagerly drank seemed to us excellent, but we had to pay a high price for it, the Foulahs to whom it belonged being poor and very selfish. We encamped near the village, the straw houses of which are in the form of a sugar-loaf truncated at top: the door is so low that, in order to enter, the inhabitants are obliged to crawl on all fours.

No sooner was our arrival known than the whole village sallied forth to look at us: a Foulah came to the foot of the tree where I was resting and asked me in the Wolof, which I understood, for a grigri[2] to confer riches. I wrote one for him, and out of gratitude he gave me a bowl of milk. I was nevertheless his dupe, for scarcely was he gone when I perceived that he had stolen my black silk cravat.

On quitting Boulibaba we had another desert without water to traverse: before we entered it, we thought it advisable to recruit ourselves from the fatigues which we had undergone and to sojourn some days with the Foulah herdsmen. A stock of water was procured: guides were hired, and we set out.

After we had made half a day’s journey we arrived at Paillar, where we laid in a fresh store of water. It would not have been prudent to traverse Fouta-Toro, the inhabitants of which are thieves and fanatics: we avoided it by turning a little to the south. The precautions which we had taken to obviate the want of water cheered our minds. The country in general appeared to us to be fine: we beheld with admiration trees of great height, with umbrageous foliage, covered with birds of various kinds, which by their song enlivened these solitudes. It was no doubt the agreeable sensations produced by this scenery that caused us partly to forget our fatigues, though we travelled from sunrise till near ten o’clock at night, taking but a few moments’ rest during the day. On the fifth day, however, we were all exhausted: we suffered from thirst, and our water was nearly spent. European ingenuity came to our succour: peppermint-drops were distributed among us, and we experienced immediate relief. Our camels suffered severely for want of water and forage, having no other food than young branches of trees, cut off here and there.

At length we reached a hamlet where the negroes readily brought us some calebashes of water, but they were not prodigal of it, and this was prudent, considering the number of men and animals to be supplied: for my part, I received no more than about a large glassful. But no sooner did we begin to drink than swarms of bees settled upon the vessels containing the water, and even upon our lips, disputing it with us; and to this horrid punishment, these grievous pangs, we had been several times exposed during the journey. I have frequently seen the water-skins covered with bees, which we had no means of driving away but by burning green wood, the smoke of which forced them to quit.

At length we entered Bondou. M. Partarrieu, who was extremely afraid of falling in with the almamy, wished to avoid Boulibaneh, his usual residence, and to reach Bakel speedily and by the direct route; but the inhabitants of Potako, the second village we came to, manifested a disposition to oppose this design. It was therefore necessary to encamp for the purpose of holding a palaver.[3] This palaver still continued; we were near wells, but were not supplied either with water or provisions; no millet was brought, and a war of famine was commenced. This system of attack upon us was the worst and the most dangerous of all: it behoved us to meet it with firmness and resolution. M. Partarrieu, who was not deficient in these qualities, was preparing to pursue his route directly towards Bakel, and we were on the point of starting, when Major Gray, the commander of the expedition, who came to meet us, appeared on horseback, and directed us to go to Boulibaneh, under the idea that the almamy would keep his word, and that, after he had received our goods he would suffer us to pass. Major Gray was rather credulous. For the rest, the inhabitants, as soon as they saw us change our route, readily permitted us to draw water and brought us abundance of provisions of all kinds. Peace being concluded and both parties on good terms, traffic commenced.

The day after the arrival of Major Gray we received orders to set out and to take the road to Boulibaneh: we could do no other than obey; but, that the inhabitants of that capital might not remark the great quantity of goods which we brought with us, we entered the place at night. I was in the rear-guard, with some English soldiers mounted on asses: these poor fellows were exhausted with fatigue: never had they made so arduous a campaign; they proposed to stay behind: I prevented them from so doing and we at length rejoined, though rather late, the head of the caravan, which we found asleep in the camp that it had formed outside the town. This camp was nothing more than a cluster of straw huts, surrounded by a palisade four feet high, formed of trunks of trees interlaced with branches.

Our people had neglected to inclose the wells within the palisade of the camp—an unpardonable oversight, which in the sequel exposed us to the most severe privation. The chiefs of the expedition proceeded on their arrival to pay their respects to the old almamy, carrying with them valuable presents to dispose him in our favour.

This was not all: they were obliged to make him fresh presents every day, for the greedy almamy was incessantly craving. Curious to see this sovereign, I repaired to his residence: I penetrated thither without impediment, and found the king of Bondou seated on a mat spread upon the ground, watching a negro mason belonging to our expedition, for whom he had applied, that he might build him a stone powder-room destined to contain the ammunition with which we had presented him.

The almamy of Bondou, a man of about seventy, had quite white hair, a long beard, and a face deeply wrinkled. He was dressed in two pagnes[4] of the country and covered with amulets down to the ancles. He eyed me with a look of indifference and seemed to pay much more attention to the work of the mason than to my presence, which afforded me leisure to examine without giving him offence.

Having staid some days at Boulibaneh, during which we were on the best terms with the inhabitants, Major Gray made arrangements for quitting this royal residence. But before his departure he deemed it right to make the almamy a farewell present: it consisted of a piece of Guinea cloth,[5] and a few trifling articles. Whether the prince was dissatisfied with it, or apprehensive that the English were going to join the French for the purpose of attacking his dominions, or had vowed not to allow us to pass, he declared with feigned regret that he could not permit us to proceed to Bakel; that he would suffer us to go to Clego, but we must traverse his territories and those of Kaarta: otherwise there was no alternative for us but to take the road of Fouta-Toro, to reach the Senegal. These two routes were equally arduous and dangerous for us, since we were sure to find in both those countries people as fanatic and as barbarous as the inhabitants of Bondou. It was evidently the almamy’s design to cause us to be plundered and perhaps murdered. Our situation became alarming. A council was held, and the indignation excited by the almamy’s conduct caused the adoption of the violent measure of opening by force a passage to Bakel. The animals were immediately laden, and preparations made for breaking up: but no sooner was our intention known than the king’s soldiers, fifty in number, armed with lances and muskets, came and possessed themselves of the wells and surrounded our camp. We had but little water, through the imprudence which I have mentioned above; and notwithstanding the economical manner in which we employed it, we were on the point of being totally cut off from it. In Africa it is easier to reduce a place by thirst than by famine.

This was not the only danger that threatened us; the war-drums were already heard on all sides. At the sound of this tocsin of alarm, crowds of armed men hastened to obey the summons of their chiefs; and a tremendous uproar every where prevailed. In less than two hours a numerous army was on foot, ready to rush upon us: resistance became impossible, since we were no more than one hundred and thirty persons. Notwithstanding the ardour and the despair which animated all of us, we could not hope to withstand so many foes united. It was useless therefore, to think of fighting, and all that could now be done was to endeavour by new negociations to avert the calamities which threatened us: such were the sentiments of the chief officers of the expedition; they conceived that a battle could not fail to have a most disastrous issue; and that, independently of the loss of men and the pillage of goods, it would thenceforward render the whites objects of horror and execration in the interior of Africa. These prudent reflexions induced our chief to demand a palaver, which was granted by our enemies, but with the superiority and haughtiness of men sure of victory.

The almamy rejected all the propositions that were made to him, and arrogantly dictated the conditions of peace: all that could be wrung from him by dint of solicitations and presents was permission to keep as near the Senegal as possible, that we might not be in want of water: but he was inflexible in regard to the route which we were to pursue; Fouta-Toro, or no water, was his definitive answer. We submitted thankfully to every thing, and, when once assured of our obedience, he made a sign to the soldiers who guarded the wells to retire, and we could then drink with security. The anxiety in which we were during this parley, added to the heat, caused us to consider this permission of the almamy’s as a kindness, especially for our animals, which had been on their legs with their loads ever since day-break, without eating or drinking.

Our departure for Fouta-Toro was deferred till the following day. Our caravan resembled a long file of prisoners: a multitude of horsemen hovered upon our wings, to prevent our straggling. The almamy was more vigilant on this point than any other; the traitor, to make the more sure that this valuable booty would not escape his allies of Fouta-Toro, followed us to our first halting-place, and did not leave us till he had received a fresh present; but, on retiring, he committed the duty of superintending our march to several princes of his family, who accompanied us with a numerous escort of soldiers, horse and foot. Night having come on, a large fire was lighted, and, that we might no longer be embarrassed by the baggage which retarded our progress, orders were issued that every one should throw into it all he possessed, excepting such articles of clothing as were absolutely necessary. This useful sacrifice was made before the faces of the Foulahs, who in vain entreated us to desist. In our just indignation against them we would rather have suffered death than have allowed them to save so much as a handkerchief from the flames.

At day-break the next morning we entered Fouta-Toro preceded by a very bad reputation. The people of Bondou had so effectually recommended us to their neighbours, that wherever we went we met with only hostile looks and inimical dispositions; neither were we any where suffered to supply ourselves with water till the price of it had been fixed: the reader will perhaps scarcely believe that frequently it cost us six francs per bottle. If we ever deviated from the track prescribed by our convention with the almamy of Bondou, the natives immediately secured all the wells, and we were obliged to return to the route agreed upon lest we should perish with thirst. At another time, on the contrary, the people of a village would have forced us to quit the road we were pursuing for another which would have taken us to a distance from the Senegal. I know not how we should have been able to withstand this fresh violence, since we were to have been allowed access to the wells only upon the dreadful condition of pursuing this latter route; as we were all reduced to extremity and our strength exhausted, two wretched blunderbusses would not have sufficed for laying siege to the wells. Fortunately, M. Partarrieu found means to gain a chief, who procured us two skinfuls of water; they cost us nearly ten francs a bottle; but having allayed our thirst we somewhat recovered our spirits and pursued our journey.

Having got out of this dilemma, we proceeded to another village, situated at a little distance from the Senegal, intending to take the first opportunity of approaching the river. Here we halted to hold council: it was resolved that we should rest there, and break up secretly in the middle of the night for the purpose of gaining the bank of the river. This resolution of M. Partarrieu’s was opposed by Major Gray; he objected that we might be attacked by the way, and that, after having broken the convention we should be treated as deserters, and surely murdered; adding, that he had better take with him one attendant and make the best of his way to the French factory at Bakel, to solicit succour. In vain did M. Partarrieu strive to convince him of the imprudence of such a plan and the danger in which we should be left by his absence, “When the Foulahs,” he added, “shall know that our chief is no longer with us, they will consider us as a body without head and not hesitate to attack us.” All was to no purpose; the major would not listen to any remonstrance, and departed. In the morning, the Foulahs discovered his absence; they came in crowds, accusing us of treachery, and using terrible menaces; they were even preparing to fire, when M. Partarrieu conceived the happy idea of telling them that he had quarrelled with Major Gray, and that he would rather die than suffer him to come back to us. This tale was believed; the Foulahs were appeased and permitted us to go to a village situated near the river.

Major Gray accordingly repaired to Bakel, where he obtained a few blacks, with whom he set out to rejoin us; but, like ourselves he did wrong in coming off without water; having been unable to procure any by the way, he dispersed his men to seek for some. They not only found none, but lost themselves in the woods, where they fell in with the Foulahs, who, apprized of their departure, had gone in force to oppose their junction with us, and easily made them prisoners. In this affair a few shots were fired: several French negroes were dangerously wounded, and one of them had his thigh broken: Donzon subsequently performed amputation at Bakel.

The news of this disaster soon reached us; without loss of time M. Partarrieu repaired to the village where Major Gray was detained; entreaties, presents, threats, nothing could prevail upon the Foulahs to release him; and the joy we felt on being allowed to proceed at not too great distance from the river was embittered by grief at seeing the major conducted on horseback, under a strong escort, by a contrary route to ours. The Foulahs took him away solely with a view to induce us to turn back and follow him; but, conceiving that this proof of our attachment to the major would only have involved us in destruction, we took good care not to run into the snare which was laid for us, as, by so doing, we should in all probability have merely increased to no purpose the number of victims to an imprudence, which no solicitations could dissuade the major from committing.

We continued our route, still proceeding northward. After suffering at several places a repetition of the same torments, we reached Adgar, a village only a day’s journey and a half distant from Bakel. Here M. Partarrieu halted and encamped close to the place, as if he intended to make a long stay there: he then visited the chief, and talked to him of sending off his sick to Bakel, that he might afterwards proceed with more ease to Fouta-Toro; but, perceiving that this plan displeased the village chief, he had recourse to a stratagem to gain his consent: he told him that, not having animals enough to carry all his baggage, he should leave part of his goods with him. The chief, perceiving in this proposition the means of subsequently possessing himself of a valuable booty, assented to every thing. M. Partarrieu immediately directed part of the chests with which the camels were usually laden to be filled with stones, and having locked these chests, he had them carried to the chief of the village; he then put aside the chests containing our goods. The camels, it is well known, are accustomed to cry when they are loaded; to obviate the danger in which this cry, the signal for our departure, might have involved us, we took care to make our camels utter this cry for several successive nights, that the inhabitants of the village might not know the moment of our flight.

All the arrangements being made, a very dark night was chosen, and as soon as we judged that every body was asleep, we started, leaving tents, huts, and palisades, standing, without extinguishing the fires which we had kindled, without even removing the pots which had been set on them for our supper, that the discovery of our departure by the inhabitants might be delayed as long as possible. The justice of this calculation of a prudent foresight was speedily demonstrated.

Part of the caravan pushed on before by a route which it opened for itself. I remained with the rear-guard, under the direction of M. Partarrieu and an English serjeant who had the superintendence of the baggage: this division set out an hour later than the other.

Such was our fear of being discovered, and so sensible were we of the imminence of our danger, that our march was more like a rout than a retreat. Forsaken chests and bales were to be seen every where; nay the very animals, as if aware of the peril and anxious to avoid it, were more untractable than ever, and scampered away across the country after throwing off their loads. It was more than two hours before we came up with our first division. Gracious Heaven! what anxiety we felt during those two painful hours! scarcely durst we ask what had become of our companions, scarcely durst we think of them; we fancied that they were taken, and had every reason to apprehend the like fate ourselves. A horn was blown from time to time: this signal of distress, amid the silence of night and the horror of the desert, had something doleful which made us shudder. Could we but have heard some answer to it! but no, not the faintest sound, not even the shriek of a night-bird enlivened the woods which we traversed in the utmost haste. Presently we perceived nothing but ambuscades on all sides; every bush, every tree, assumed to our agitated minds the form of armed enemies; every branch was mistaken for a levelled musket. At length we had recourse to a final expedient to convey to a distance an intimation of our approach. A gun was fired: echo by repeating the report several times, increased our consternation without imparting a hope that we were heard. I then compared our situation with that of the victims on the raft of La Méduse, cast upon the bank of Arquin, without hope of relief. Excessive fear gave us the courage of despair, and we made such a noise with our horns that the first division at length heard it and answered us. With what joy did we accelerate our pace to come up with it! at last we joined it just as day began to dawn. We hastily deliberated on the course to be pursued. On all sides we were surrounded with dangers; but, at any rate, the farther we proceeded from the village which we had left the preceding night, the nearer we should approach to the Senegal. This plan was unanimously adopted; and to carry it into effect with the greater chance of success, we abandoned baggage, animals, goods of all sorts; such was the panic that had seized every mind.

Day-light appeared, and enabled us to discover a village close to us; but fortunately its inhabitants had not yet risen, and we were not perceived. We soon came to a stony road which indicated the vicinity of the river; the hope of procuring water rendered our thirst more tormenting, and agitated our minds to such a degree that we kept advancing without knowing where we were: and we might have continued thus but for a negro whom we met and forced to conduct us to the river: he first led us past a field, where several negroes, who were at work, fled at sight of us towards their village. At length, at ten o’clock in the morning, we arrived at a hamlet situated on the left bank of the Senegal, at a little distance from Bakel. Without halting there, we lost no time in availing ourselves of a ford a short way off to cross the river. Though the water was then low, yet in some places it was up to our chins, so that every man was obliged to carry his things upon his head for fear of wetting them.

We were now on the right bank of the river, and it was high time we were, for some of our number were still crossing when multitudes of Foulahs appeared on the other side armed with pikes and arrows. It had been all over with us had we fallen in with them in the woods, for they were the neighbours to our camp, enraged at having been deceived by our stratagem. They durst not cross the river; but reckoning upon our simplicity, they made signs to M. Partarrieu to come to them and explain himself. The latter replied, that if they would call upon him at Bakel he would hear what they had to say. This invitation was not acceptable to them; accordingly they never came, but returned immediately to their village.

After crossing the river we were still a day’s journey from Bakel: and though it would have been more prudent to push on to that place at once, we were all so overwhelmed with fatigue that we were obliged to encamp by the way before night. We went to sleep in the most complete security, under the idea that the sentinels would keep good watch; but these sentinels having undergone the same fatigues as ourselves fell asleep too. No accident, however, befel us, and early next morning we arrived at Bakel.

The reader may conceive our joy on entering that fort, especially when we observed the generous zeal with which Messrs. Dupont and Dusseault, who commanded there, hastened to relieve us. We were treated with the kindest attention and supplied with refreshments of all sorts; and our joy was at its height, when we saw Major Gray return, the negroes having released him as soon as they ascertained that he could not serve them for an hostage to bring us back to them: nay more, their envoys, more tractable under the cannon of the fort of Bakel, restored to us part of the things which we had abandoned on our flight, and which they had picked up.

The rainy season, upon which we were entering, shed its baleful influence over me as well as the others. I had the fever, which soon assumed so alarming a character that I quitted the expedition and embarked on the Senegal to descend to St. Louis. I hoped, by the aid of medicine and the effects of a more salubrious climate, to recover my health in that town; but my disorder was so violent, that my convalescence was long and difficult. To complete my recovery, I saw no other way but to return to France, and I sailed for L’Orient.

There I learned that Major Gray, after making fresh purchases of goods at the Senegal for the purpose of continuing his journey in the interior, had failed in all his attempts, not without injuring the French commerce, a species of success which can have made but poor amends for the enormous loss which he has occasioned to England: for his enterprize, and those of Peddie, Campbell, and Tuckey, have, it is said, together cost England eighteen millions in French money (£750,000 sterling).

In 1824, I returned to the Senegal to try my fortune with a small venture, for which M. Sourget, a merchant of distinguished merit, made advances for me: the paternal sentiments which he manifested for me I shall ever hold in grateful remembrance.

I need not observe that, at the bottom of my heart, I still cherished my design of visiting the interior of Africa: and it seemed as if no obstacle could any longer impede me, when I saw at the head of the colony Baron Roger, whose philanthropy and enlightened understanding promised me a patron of all great and useful enterprizes.

I solicited therefore his authority for travelling in the interior, with the support and under the auspices of the king’s government: but M. Roger strove in the kindest manner to damp my zeal. He represented to me that the business in which I had embarked offered chances of fortune which it was imprudent to sacrifice; and that my youth and inexperience might moreover ruin my future prospects, and perhaps endanger my life. These representations entitled him to my gratitude, but did not shake my resolution.

I was bent on going, and I declared that if the government would not accept my offers, I would carry my plan into execution with my own unaided means. This determination made an impression upon the mind of the governor, who granted me some goods, that I might go and live among the Braknas and learn the Arabic language and the religious ceremonies of the Moors, in order that I might subsequently be able to lull their jealous mistrust, and thus penetrate the more easily to the interior of Africa.

TRAVELS
TO
TIMBUCTOO,
&c. &c.

CHAPTER I.

Pedestrian journey from St. Louis to Neyreh. — Passage to N’ghiez. — Manners of the inhabitants. — Miraculous stone. — Departure. — Robbers. — Mode of fishing with nets. — The steam-vessel. — The author’s arrival among the Braknas. — Conversation with Mohammed Sidy Moctar, chief marabout to the king. — Reception by the king.

On Tuesday the 3rd of August 1824, at four in the afternoon, I set out from St. Louis, accompanied by two men and a woman, all three inhabitants of N’pâl, to which village they engaged to serve me as guides. About seven, we arrived at Leybar, a village situated two leagues S.E. ¼ E. from St. Louis. We there passed a wearisome night, on account of the musquitoes which devoured us. The weather was stormy; the thunder rolled the whole night, and the rain fell in torrents. We went to bed on our arrival: at ten o’clock we were called up to supper, for which a very good fish couscous[6] was provided.

On the morning of the 4th we pursued our journey. My fellow-travellers met with a little incident which delayed our progress: a sheep, destined for the celebration of the festival of the Tabasky[7], escaped from the negress who was driving it; we were obliged to run after the animal, but after several useless attempts to catch it, we continued our route. At ten in the morning we arrived at Gandon, a village only one league E. ¼ S.E. from Leybar. A most delightful country presented itself to our view. I saw many fields of cotton, which the negroes cultivate with success; indigo grows there without culture; there is but little millet in the environs of the village.

We sat down under a great tree, where travellers usually rest themselves till some one comes to offer them hospitality: on that day there was a great number of them, who took me for a Moor, because I wore the Moorish dress; but, being undeceived by my guides, who told them that I was about to become a convert to Islamism, they congratulated me upon my intention.

My companions, who were much grieved at the loss of their sheep, went back to look for it. I rested myself for about an hour, and then proceeding eastward, set out alone for N’ghiez. Between these two villages the traveller who pays any attention to the beauties of nature is enchanted by the view of the groups of verdure scattered over the plain. They consist of mimosas, the thick branches of which support the slender and flexible stems of asclepias and of different species of cynanchum, which, after climbing to their tops, droop down in garlands, and by the diversity of their flowers produce an admirable effect. They frequently meet with other plants; their stems mutually entwine, and their numerous branches become so closely united and twisted together as to form an aerial canopy, through which the eye perceives at a distance other groups, frequently fantastic, but always wonderful. The plain is covered with a carpet of verdure, the pleasing smoothness of which is broken by numerous shrubs, all differently decorated by the climbing plants which grow about them.

The parinarius senegalensis, which is very common in the plain, also embellishes the scene, and heightens the interest of the view to the traveller reposing in the shade of its thick foliage. All these beauties, with which nature is adorned, irrestibly lead the mind up to its Creator and fill it with admiration of his profound wisdom.

These delightful plains are intersected by marshes, wherein grow a great number of aquatic plants; as the road crosses these marshes, I was up to the knees in water. I reached N’ghiez about one in the afternoon: I rested there but a very short time: then, continuing my course eastward, I passed through some fields of millet. My way then led me into a desert plain, but clothed with vegetation, and I arrived at N’pâl by sunset, quite tired with my day’s journey, which I had performed barefoot and carrying my baggage on my head. I sought a lodging with a woman of St. Louis, who had her family at N’pâl: she received me very kindly, and thanks to her attentions, I passed a good night, which made me some amends for the preceding one.

On the 5th I remained at N’pâl. I spent the day in visiting the environs of the village, which is charmingly situated, amidst an immense plain, fertilized by the rains of the tropic. The inhabitants grow in abundance all that is requisite for their wants: accustomed to lead a very temperate life, they frequently have a surplus, which they carry for sale to St. Louis, bringing back in exchange fire-arms for their defence, and amber, coral, and glass trinkets to adorn their wives. This village is reputed to be the wealthiest in the neighbourhood of St. Louis. Its population may be estimated at two thousand, all marabouts. The natural advantages of their soil and situation have a visible influence on their manners; less slothful, less insolent, and less treacherous, than the negroes of other parts, they bestow hospitality without ostentation, and always in a generous manner which heightens its value. Every stranger is sure of finding an asylum among them.

Situated between the country of Cayor and Wâlo, twenty miles eastward of Gandon, this village, entirely independent, is governed by a marabout who is its absolute master. At his death he is succeeded by his eldest son; if the latter dies without children, the supreme power devolves to his nearest kinsman. This chief levies an impost on millet, which is paid to him in kind at harvest-time, and amounts to one tenth. The inhabitants are armed with muskets and lances. When the neighbouring villages are threatened with pillage by the damel, or king, of Cayor, their inhabitants seek refuge at N’pâl, where they are not only received, but also find generous allies who take up their defence.

Throughout the whole country the huts are small, ill constructed, and extremely filthy; the door is so low that to enter you are obliged to crawl on all fours. The residence of each family is composed of several huts surrounded by quick hedges, planted at random and without taste: sometimes this inclosure is formed merely of posts and rails, or a kind of palisade of straw. The streets are extremely narrow, winding, and dirty, all sorts of filth being thrown into them. Both men and women are very uncleanly, as in all the negro villages in this country, and they rub a great quantity of butter upon their heads.

Few idle persons are to be seen among them. The men employ themselves in the cultivation of their fields during the rainy season, and in clearing the land required for fresh crops during the dry season: the women have to attend to the household concerns; they spin cotton; some dye cloths blue with the indigo which the country supplies almost without culture; and the cleverest of them traffic in the productions of the soil, which they procure in exchange for the glass beads, amber, and coral, purchased at St. Louis, whither they repair to sell the corn and cloths, by which they make a great profit.

Though better than the other negroes, their neighbours, they are not exempt from superstition: the scarcity of stones in the neighbourhood has given rise to a fable which, being generally believed, may long contribute to the security of the country. There is one, about a quarter of a mile E. ¼ S.E. from the village. The absurd stories which I heard concerning this stone made me desirous to see it. It is by the road side, about eighteen inches in length and eight broad, the top of it projecting about four inches above the surface of the ground: in colour it is ferruginous and it has a volcanic appearance: I would have broken off a piece, but the negro who accompanied me prevented it. According to an ancient custom, all the inhabitants, when they pass this stone, draw a thread from their pagne, which they throw upon it, as a sort of offering which they make to it.

The marabouts assert and firmly believe, that when the village is threatened with any danger, for instance, pillage, this stone moves thrice round it in the preceding night, by way of warning; and all the warriors arm themselves in consequence. The two following tales are related by them in proof of the virtue of their stone. The Moors, joined by the people of Wâlo, advanced to the vicinity of N’pâl with the intention of plundering the place. This was in the dry season. The stone, after making the circuit of the village in the night, caused it to rain so vehemently, and blue flames to issue from the ground in such great quantity, that the Moors, struck with terror, betook themselves to flight: the inhabitants pursued and made a dreadful slaughter among them, and took prisoners a great number of Wâlo blacks, who were sold as slaves and carried to the colonies.

On another occasion, they were attacked by two Moorish kings, who carried off some of the inhabitants into slavery. These two kings, they say, were taken suddenly ill and died by the way: they did not fail to attribute their death to the power of the stone; the slaves were nevertheless carried away and have never returned. In short, the veneration excited by this stone has always been so great, that only ten years ago it was the object of a sort of religious worship. A festival was held and all the inhabitants were obliged to attend it: in the evening, calebashes full of nicely prepared couscous were placed near the stone, and as it was always eaten by the animals, the people believed that a spirit dwelt in the stone, and considered the acceptance of the offering as a happy omen. The greatest part of the day was spent in prayer; after which, on a signal given by the chief marabouts, all present ran away. If any one, in running, happened to fall, the accident was always regarded as an indication of his speedy death.

As I have already observed, the plain through which runs the road from N’ghiez to N’pâl is not cultivated, though the soil is capable of being rendered very productive. The woods consist principally of mimosas; and the various species of grasses which cover the ground attract thither abundance of all sorts of game. The soil in the environs of N’pâl is of two kinds: you meet with hollows in which the rain water settles, and this renders them far superior to the rest of the plain: they are composed of black sand, enriched by the mud which the water deposits, and by the remains of the vegetables which rot in it: these are the most productive spots. The rest of the land, though of inferior quality, is very fertile; it contains fields of considerable extent, cultivated with the greatest care; each marabout has his own, which he tills himself with his slaves. The inhabitants grow abundance of millet, cotton, water-melons, and a sort of beans, of which they consume a great quantity. They have herds of horned cattle, sheep, and goats: they rear great numbers of poultry, wild and tame ducks, Guinea fowl, and several kinds of game, the young of which they pick up in the fields.

The water which they drink is bad: they collect it in ponds during the rainy season, for the wells are at a great distance from the village, and even these furnish water that is by no means agreeable: I meant to go to see them, but a violent storm prevented my making this excursion.

On the 6th I purposed to set out, but it was Tabasky day, and I could not procure a guide. One offered himself for the following day, when I was seized with a fever, which confined me to my bed, and had such pains in all my limbs that I was unable to move. In the rainy season all the negroes are liable to this disorder, for which, however, they employ no remedy.

At length, on the 9th I was about to depart, when I was told that my guide was a thief, and that he would certainly rob me, or arrange with some accomplice to do it. As it was impossible for me to procure another, I deferred my departure till the following day.

On the 10th I availed myself of the opportunity of some persons going to their fields on the frontiers of Wâlo, who promised to put me into the right track. We proceeded N.E. ¼ N. for three miles; there they pointed out the route which I was to pursue, and then went to their work. I stopped for a moment, and then travelled on alone in a north-east direction toward Wâlo. About noon I arrived much fatigued at Sokhogne, a village in the Wâlo country; the route which I had followed was covered with wood. The environs of this village are not cultivated.

After resting myself under a tamarind-tree, I bought some milk and couscous. I went to see the chief of the village, who offered to conduct me to Merina, whither he was going, to ascertain the truth of certain rumours which were circulated, respecting a war between his country and the Peulhs.[8] I accompanied him, in spite of the fever which had not left me, and we arrived there at three in the afternoon. This village is about eighteen miles N.E. from N’pâl. We had still to travel through woods. I was extremely fatigued, and lay down in the shade of a hut into which I had been refused admission. The man, who had acted in the capacity of guide, came and informed me that two men would set out the same evening for Mall, and he advised me to seize this opportunity. He asked me if I could walk well at night, adding that it was as far from that place to Mall as it was from N’pâl to Merina; and he assured me that on the following day I should not meet with a guide. I determined therefore to accompany those whom chance offered me: I arranged with one of them to carry my baggage; he agreed to do so for two quires of paper and four heads or three leaves of tobacco; at sun-set we started.

The direction we pursued was N.E. ¼ E. One of my guides was on horseback; we walked at a good pace. Travelling in the dark was very unpleasant; I ran so many thorns into my feet that I was unable to proceed, and I offered the negro who had the horse the same price to let me ride as I paid for carrying my baggage: the negro accepted it and made me get up behind. I found this position so inconvenient that I was as tired as if I had walked; my feet, however, became no worse.

An hour before we reached the village, we entered some very fine fields of millet, which the moon-light enabled us to perceive. We reached Mall about one in the morning: at the noise made by the dogs on our approach, some of the inhabitants rose to enquire who we were. A good old marabout offered me his hut: my feet were so swollen and so painful that I could not stir a step: the negro lent me his arm, and kindly leading me in, told me to lie down on his humble bed. But for this attention of the humane old man’s, I should not have been able to prosecute my journey on the following day.

Having extracted a great quantity of thorns from my feet, I thought myself capable of starting, when I was suddenly seized with a most violent pain in my left arm, which obliged me to halt that day and the 12th at this village. I saw the lake of Panieh-Foul or N’gher; it is at this part about a mile broad.

On the 13th at sun-rise I set out from Mall with my old marabout, who insisted on accompanying me to Nieyeh,[9] about three miles distant. The whole country between these two villages is highly cultivated. It was eight in the morning when I parted from my guide: I proceeded northward, and about ten arrived at Neyreh. I sought a lodging with the chief of the village, to whom the old marabout at Mall had directed me, and who received me very kindly. He questioned me concerning the object of my journey; I replied that I was going to embrace the Mahometan faith: he highly approved my design, and endeavoured to impress me with the notion that God was extremely gracious to me in thus delivering me from the flames to which the christians are destined. My disguise deceived some persons; for, being in the evening at the door of the hut for the sake of coolness, I overheard a dispute between two women, one of whom asserted that I was a Moor.

On the following day, the 14th, I joined a Moor and three Moorish females who were travelling the same way as I was; they were mounted on carrier-bullocks[10]. At the distance of about three miles, we met a troop of Moors and negroes of Wâlo, who attempted to rob me. One of the Moors thrust his hand into my bundle, which was placed on a bullock, and pulled out a roll of papers, among which were letters of the utmost consequence to me, and carried them off. I ran after him, and had a long struggle with him for the purpose of recovering them, but several negroes interfered and knocked me down: at length the Moor who acted as a guide to me came to my assistance and obtained restitution of my roll. After some altercation they let me go; they nevertheless wanted to force me to give them some tobacco, which they had seen in my bundle; I would gladly have made a sacrifice to get rid of them, but this article was absolutely necessary to me, and I persisted in my refusal to give them any thing. They left us and we continued our route, without any other accident, to the camp to which my guides were bound, where we arrived about two in the morning. By the way I had suffered severely from thirst; I appeased it with milk and water, and lay down under a tent for about an hour, after bargaining with a man to take me on a carrier-bullock to the French settlements for a hundred head of cloves.

I set out and at five in the evening arrived at Richard-Tol, where I waited for an opportunity of proceeding. On the 18th I embarked in the Active cutter for Dagana. The night which I passed on board was as harassing as that which I spent at Leybar: at this season it is impossible to get any rest on board these small vessels unless you are provided with a mosquito-curtain; the mosquitoes settling upon you in countless numbers and inflicting inexpressible torments. In the evening of the 19th I arrived at Dagana, where I sojourned eight days. During this time I took walks in the environs, especially towards the neighbouring marigot[11] to the east of the village, where I had occasion to notice the ingenious manner, adopted by the negroes of Wâlo to catch the fish which are very abundant in these waters. They have a net eight or nine feet square, sewed up at one end: two thick flexible sticks are securely fastened at the extremities to the lateral sides of the net in such a manner, that by means of them the net may be shut and opened at pleasure: the upper side is left open or but half sewed up; lastly, the two sticks being held together with the hand, the net has the form of a bag. The negroes drive a row of stakes into the bottom of the marigot, so as to divide it in two: these stakes are placed so close as to allow only very small fish to pass; and they fasten to them, two feet below the surface of the water, wooden cross-bars on which they stand. To catch the fish, they sink the net gently to the bottom, holding the two sticks apart, that is, keeping the net open; then bringing the sticks together, they close it and draw it out of the water: in this manner the fish are taken as in a bag. To manage it with the greatest ease, they take care to let the sticks project two feet beyond the top of the net, and support these ends upon their shoulders; then with their hands they can move it about at pleasure. They have a stick about a foot long, with which they kill the fish, and then by means of an iron hook and a cotton cord they hang it to one of the stakes, to keep moist in the water till they have finished their fishery, which is always very productive. The nets are made of twisted cotton thread of the thickness of sail-makers’ twine.

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.

On the 11th, at five in the morning, we continued our journey still in the same direction. One of the marabouts was going the same way, and we travelled in company. The soil, consisting of yellow sand, was covered with khakhames. We passed near eight or ten tombs, and as soon as my fellow-travellers descried them at a distance, they exclaimed: Salam aleycoom; la allah ila allahou! (Peace be with you; there is only one God.) We stopped to pray, which gave me time to examine the tombs. Mounds are raised upon the bodies, and at the head of each is a flat stone, on which is written the name of the deceased. After a short prayer, we each threw a small branch of a tree on the tombs; my companions then went to the grave of a celebrated marabout which had a hole a foot deep at the head; they took earth from this hole, and rubbed their foreheads, breasts, and backs with it, and then invited me to follow their example; from which I inferred that all passers-by were expected to perform this ceremony.

At eleven o’clock, we arrived at the camp of the Dheiolebere tribe, of which my marabout was the chief; we had then travelled ten miles. We rested here during the heat of the day, and they gave us water to refresh ourselves. At two, we continued our journey towards the west, over a rich black argillaceous soil. We came again to the rivulet, and at six o’clock we halted at el-Khara Hett-Louhed-lahi. A little before we reached the place, we were espied by a troop of women, who were gathered around a drum; two youths, with each a stick, were beating this drum; and the women kept time, clapping their hands, singing, and making a thousand contortions without changing their places. As soon as they perceived me, they left their amusement and came to torment me; gathering around the bullock on which I was seated, they pulled me by the legs, pinched me, and screamed frightfully whenever I moved. In vain the marabout who was with me attempted to drive them away, and assured them I was a Musulman; they pursued me, shouting el-nasrani! el-nasrani! (the christian! the christian!) while the children threw stones at me. A girl struck me with a stick, and fairly exhausted my patience; I snatched the stick from her, and gave her a such a stroke on the face, that all the rest were frightened and ran off. We visited a friend of my guide’s, where I was well received, and had some couscous given me for supper which I thought delicious; for it was the first time I had eaten any since I had been amongst the Moors. I was afraid that I should have been tormented again in the evening, but the stick had frightened the curious, and I was left in perfect quiet.

On the 12th of October, at six in the morning, we resumed our route to the south. The soil, though stony in some places, is good. I remarked on the road some indigo plants of great beauty; the Moors are not aware of its properties. We travelled for six miles, and towards nine in the evening arrived at the camp of my marabout, where I was received with great joy by the inhabitants.

On the 13th, the youngest son of Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar cut off my hair, and made me a pair of breeches out of my coussabe, and a coussabe out of a pagne which I had with me.

On the 14th, we went to visit his aunt, whose camp was not far from ours. All the marabouts welcomed me politely, and I was happy to find that I should be less tormented than I had been by the hassanes. One of the marabouts brought me a slave who had a cancer in her breast, and begged me to tell him of some herb which would cure her, offering me six oxen as a reward; I bade him observe that vegetation was all dried up at this season, and that it was impossible to procure any herbs. After him, came a multitude of invalids, all entreating that I would cure them; some I remarked were suffering acutely, and it grieved me extremely that I could afford them no assistance. In vain I told them that I was not a physician, and that I had no medicines with me; they renewed their entreaties, and I could only escape from this scene of woe by leaving the camp. It was one o’clock when I returned to my marabout.

I have observed that the Moors in general are not subject to severe illnesses, an exemption which they probably owe to their temperance; but they are very susceptible of pain, and the least suffering unmans them. I have seen a Moor with a slight head-ache cry like a child. The remedies most in vogue amongst them, are the following: when ill, they diet themselves and take nothing but milk, and as soon as they are convalescent, they feed upon flesh only, that they may recover their strength the sooner. When they have a head-ache they bind a cloth round the forehead, as tight as they can. For a cold, they introduce melted butter into their noses, by means of a pipe fitted into a vessel, and they pretend that they derive much benefit from this, especially for a cold in the head. When troubled with pain in the stomach, they make a drink of half a glass of camel’s urine mixed with two bottles of water; the bark of mimosa burnt and reduced to powder serves for all sorts of cuts, burns, contusions, &c. They make an ointment of it, by mixing it with butter, and rub it on the part twice a day. The leaf of the bauhinia pounded, and mixed with powdered gum and water, is a recipe for aches; they lay it like a poultice on the part affected, and the gum when dry forms a crust, which they leave to fall off of itself; they sometimes burn the gum before they make use of it. For pain in the face occasioned by cold, they have a special remedy in a certain very hard red stone, which they find on the mountains; they reduce it to powder by grating it against a flint, and rub the powder in a dry state upon the part. It is common to see people with half the face red—sometimes an eye, or part of the cheek: this stone is called lahmiri; I consider it to be a sort of red lead, and the Moors make ink of it by mixing it with gum water. I wished to have brought home a specimen of this stone, but I looked for it in vain, and could never persuade any one to give me a bit. The Moors are subject to fever, for which they have no remedy, but they drink gum and milk when they are attacked with it. I saw a woman, who had had a fever for a month, rub her head with very hot butter, in which pounded cloves had been steeped.

Aperients are seldom employed, although they are acquainted with the use of them. They collect senna, and call it falagé; when they mean to make use of it, they bruise it in a mortar with the fruit of the ziziphus lotus, and dilute the powder in a considerable quantity of water, which they give to the patient to drink. They have another plant which they use as an aperient, which is less potent in its effects.

The itch, so common among the negroes, is rare with the Moors. Whoever is attacked with it is shut out from society; he is forbidden to enter the mosque; a mat is spread in one corner of a tent for his bed, and nobody drinks out of the same vessel with him till he is cured. Gunpowder steeped in water is the remedy, and with this the patient rubs his body all over. Such is the medical practice I have seen in this country, from which the Moors appear to benefit very little. I saw during my stay, one case of elephantiasis, one blind man, but not a single leper; with the last disease they seem not to be acquainted; I never once met with a cripple.

When I returned to the camp, I asked the marabout’s son, who was about eighteen years of age, to repeat some verses of the Koran, which I wanted to write down, that I might learn them by heart. At the second line, however, he stopped and refused to proceed, telling me that it was unlawful to write the words of God with a profane hand; he afterwards consulted one of the marabouts on this point, who was wiser and bade him to continue.

Walking about in the camp, I remarked some heavy black stones lying loose on the soil; one of these I broke; and found that it contained a great deal of iron; a specimen of these stones I have sent to the governor. The Moors smelt this ore, and make locks, fetters, and other things, of the iron. To smelt it, they dig a hole in the ground, a foot and a half deep, over which they build a furnace in the shape of a pyramid five feet high, leaving at the bottom four holes for the bellows. They fill the furnace with ore broken into small pieces, and heat it with sheep’s dung, which when dry makes a very strong fire. Four men, placed at the apertures of the furnace, blow the fire, till the iron is melted, after which they leave it to cool without giving it any form, which renders it very difficult to work, so that they prefer what they buy of us.

On the 15th of October, the pasture being exhausted, we broke up the camp, and removed four miles to the S.W. ¼ W. to a peninsula formed by the bed of a rivulet, and called by the Moors Guigué; it was then covered with pasturage, which is inundated in the rainy season, and the trees are finer there than elsewhere.

On the 21st, I suffered much from the colic. One of my marabout’s sons repeated prayers, and then spat on my stomach, assuring me that it was an excellent remedy; he did the same to the milk which I was to drink, and I let him have his own way, disgusting as it was, rather than contradict his opinions.

In the evening, a caravan on its way to Fouta, to exchange salt for millet, stopped at our camp, and took up its quarters in the midst of us; mats were brought to serve as beds for the travellers. At ten o’clock at night, milk was brought to the marabout, from all sides, and calabashes full of sangleh and milk, which were distributed among the ziafis, or travellers.

When a caravan is small, only a part of the camp contributes to the supply of its wants, and the inhabitants take their turns to do so: if it is large, every body furnishes his quota. If it arrives in the day time, the chief of the camp, when he goes to the mosque to prayer, makes a collection for the ziafis, and each person sends a measure or two of grain according to the number of the strangers. A slave is appointed to pound the corn and prepare the sangleh. When a traveller arrives alone, he goes to any tent he pleases, and the owner supplies him without having recourse to his neighbours. As strangers always prefer the best-looking tents, the same tent is often visited five or six days in succession. Travellers frequently stay some time in the camp; for the first three days they are fed as a matter of right, after which the master of the tent is at liberty to refuse them provisions. The hassanes when they travel are always unwelcome guests, on account of the arbitrary manner in which they exact what they want. If they are not waited upon as quickly as they expect, they clamour and threaten, and call their host an infidel—the most opprobrious epithet that can be bestowed on a marabout. If a stranger arrives amongst them, he is ill-treated, and ill-fed; hence their camps are always avoided, and the burden of entertaining travellers devolves in consequence upon the marabouts.

The Moors, as has just been observed, afford one another hospitality, but they do not deserve to be called hospitable, for nothing annoys them so much as the sight of strangers. They receive them not out of humanity but from fear, particularly when they happen to be hassanes, who would not fail to plunder, if they were not treated as they liked. They seldom afford assistance to travelling negroes; if any such pass through a camp, they beg morning and night when the cows are milked for a draught, going about with a jotala in their hand, and receiving so little, that they are obliged to traverse two or three camps before they obtain sufficient for a meal.

Many negroes from Fouta-Toro come amongst the Moors to study the Koran; they often remain five or six months, and have no other means of subsistence but alms. Though Musulmans, they are in bad repute, and very generally despised amongst the Moors, who say they are fit for nothing but slaves. The negroes take nothing with them, because they would be sure to be stripped by the hassanes; they always travel on foot, and carry at their backs a small board, on which they write passages of the Koran.

There are amongst the Moors a sort of vagabonds called Wadats; these are the very poorest hassanes, who have often neither tents to lodge in, nor cattle to feed them; and being too idle to work, which indeed they consider as a disgrace, they like better to run from tent to tent and beg for a living. The insolence of these troublesome parasites is without bounds; when they arrive at a camp they throw it into confusion: nothing is heard on all sides but the disputes which they cause by their importunities. Impudent as they are, they get whatever they ask for; because, if they were to complain to their tribes that they had been ill received in a camp, the hassanes would carry off the herds belonging to that camp while feeding in the woods, and the marabouts would be obliged to give many head of cattle to redeem them. The parties of Wadats are chiefly composed of women and children; there are seldom any men amongst them: they travel on foot or mounted on asses, and always apply to the chief of the camp, who is obliged to find them provisions. To get rid of them, it is common to give them food enough for three or four days, and send them off; they then go to another camp, where they beg again, and as they know that they shall always obtain as much as they want to eat, they sell what they can spare for Guinea cloths, often to the very people who afford them hospitality. If they have no beasts to carry what has been given to them, they borrow some to go as far as the next camp. They visit only the marabouts, for the hassanes and zenagues refuse to receive them.

At the time when the gum is collected, these vagabonds beset the marabouts, and follow them into the woods, requiring to be fed, and worrying them till they can get a good share of gum, which they carry to the markets. The marabouts dare not refuse them, for the Wadats would join together if they did, beat them, and steal their gum. Such is the life of these people. It is worthy of remark, that when they are with the marabouts they are very exact in performing the salam; but they trouble themselves no further about it when they are out of their sight.

I had now been nine days with Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar, and not a word had been said about teaching me. I applied to the eldest of Mohammed’s sons, who wrote the Arabic alphabet upon a board for me, and told me to learn it by heart; I could not do it alone and begged him to help me; and I afterwards applied to his brothers, but seldom found them disposed to take the least trouble with me: they liked better to loll in their tents and to chat or sleep. In other respects, my situation was more agreeable than in the king’s camp; I never suffered from hunger, for I had commonly sangleh twice a-day with a little milk to it. At noon and at ten o’clock at night they gave me my allowance. At noon I had sometimes cheni instead of sangleh, and sometimes my sangleh was moistened with cheni and butter; but this mess was always so filthy, that I often went without my dinner on account of the nasty way in which the butter is made; nevertheless it is a great luxury amongst the Moors—none but the rich eat it, and they very seldom. The marabouts live better than the hassanes because they employ their slaves in gathering haze; the men eat sangleh once a-day, and drink milk at night; the women live entirely upon milk. In the dry season, when milk is scarce, the marabouts go to Fouta to buy millet in exchange for cattle and Guinea cloth. Those who have no means of buying it, content themselves with what milk they have; and to a certainty they are very ill off, for in the months of February and March the best cows do not give above two bottles a day. The poor who have no herds of their own are maintained by their tribe, every inhabitant of the camp in turn giving them the milk of one cow; this however is only amongst the marabouts.

Those who have large herds and flocks kill a cow or a sheep, but it is a rare event: during the seven months that I spent in Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar’s tent, only ten were killed, and those during the dry season, for they are never killed when milk is abundant, or after the millet harvest.

The wealthiest hassanes eat meat once a day; some, however, from economy, refrain from it for several days. They are great gluttons, and if they were to eat as much as they liked, their flocks would not be capable of supplying their wants. They never eat to their heart’s content except on a journey, when they can levy contributions upon their hosts.

CHAPTER III.

Method of cultivating and using millet. — Character of the hassanes or warriors. — The balanites ægyptiaca, its fruit, method of extracting oil from it. — Quarrel excited by a woman. — Manner of protecting oneself from cold in the tents. — Method of collecting gum. — Marriages of the marabouts, and of the hassanes. — Inheritance of property. — Method of tanning leather. — Dress of the Moors.

The millet is reaped at the end of May; at that time the marabouts receive it from their slaves and the hassanes from their zenagues, or tributaries. This millet supports them till the month of July when the rainy season commences; they then withdraw from the banks of the river, and live entirely on milk. If any millet remains, it is laid by till the next dry season.

In the month of November, when the waters begin to subside, the Moors send their slaves to sow the ground which has been flooded by the rains, or by the overflowing of the river. It is at this season also, that the zenagues come down to the banks of the river to cultivate millet. The slaves of the same camp lodge together, and cultivate the same district; each field is marked out, and the produce carefully kept in a separate place. Their method of cultivation is exceedingly bad, but it gives them little trouble. With a thick stick they make holes in the ground six inches deep, and into these holes they drop three or four grains of millet, covering them with sand or light mould. They never prepare the ground in any way, and only weed it after the millet has come up. To save themselves trouble they select a poor soil, because a richer would require more weeding, and they are naturally lazy. When the seed is sown, they wait quietly till the millet makes it appearance, then thin it a little, and weed round the roots to give it air; many do no more than this, and suffer the grass to grow up between the roots.

When the ear begins to show, they stay in the field to drive away the birds, which would devour the grain before it is ripe; and this occupation does not allow them a moment’s rest: they walk about the field incessantly, shouting and throwing stones, and at night they lie down among it to protect it from gazelles, porcupines, and wild boars, which would make great havoc.

When the millet is ripe, they cut it, and thrash it with sticks. The grain is put into sacks, and carried to the camp, and those who have reaped more than they are likely to want carry the surplus to the markets, and sell it to the dealers.

On the 4th of November, the son-in-law of Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar came to the camp. As he did not lodge with his father-in-law, I conclude that they were not on good terms. I went to pay him a visit; he was very polite, and asked me many questions about the resolution which I had taken, congratulating me upon it, and telling me that he was very much afraid the christians would detain my goods, or, if I returned to fetch them, would detain me by force. I endeavoured to correct a mistake which proceeded from his religion, and assured him that the christians would leave me at perfect liberty to do what I pleased; and that as to my goods they would be as safe in their hands as in my own. “The whites,” said I, “rob nobody; their laws punish such crimes with severity, and they would do justice to the poorest Musulman exactly as they would to a christian of the first importance; both are equal in the eye of the law.” I seized this opportunity to ask him, why the Musulmans pursued a conduct with regard to christians, so contrary to religion; and why they ill-treated and made slaves of those who ventured amongst them for commercial objects, without having committed any offence. “I cannot believe,” added I, “that a good and merciful God approves of such conduct. If you want to convert the christians, it can only be effected by intercourse with them, and by excelling them in justice and kindness—not by ill-treating them. For my part, I am a Musulman, but I shall never approve of doing ill to those who have done us no harm.” The marabout allowed the truth of what I advanced; but he said it was unbearable, that when a Musulman spoke to a christian about the prophet, the christian should laugh in his face; that none but an infidel would do so; and that it would be a good action to kill him, that they might both go to heaven. I wished to enter into some particulars respecting christianity; but I durst not let my zeal run away with me, and I contented myself with telling him that the christians adored the same God as the Musulmans. “Yes,” said he, “I know that; but they never pray; they drink wine and spirituous liquors, which is displeasing to God; and the religion of Mahomet, which alone is agreeable to him, condemns to everlasting fire those who do not adopt it.” He asked me afterwards if I meant to make a journey to Mecca; to which I replied that it was the duty of every good Musulman, and that I hoped to discharge it. He took me by the hand, and answered: “That is right, Abdallahi, you love God and the prophet.” Boubou-Fanfale served as interpreter in this conversation.

The same day, a young Moor invited me to accompany him into the woods, where I was to meet a number of other young men from the same camp. When we came to a very thick part of the wood, he sat down, and a moment after a slave brought a sheep; he then picked up wood, and lighted a fire, after having made a hole in the ground, in the form of an oven; a marabout then killed the sheep,[24] and the slave skinned it. The marabouts took the intestines, which they emptied by squeezing them between their fingers; and then, without washing, they made puddings with them; these were put over the fire, and eaten when they were half cooked. When there was a large quantity of embers, they were removed from the hole, and the sheep put in their place; embers and ashes were then spread over it, and fire kindled above. In half an hour’s time, my companions considered that the sheep was sufficiently dressed; they took it out of the hole, gave the head and a scrap of the neck to the slave, and divided the rest into as many portions as there were persons present; lots were cast after this to determine to whom each share should belong. Feasts of this kind are much in vogue with the Moors; five or six young men join, and furnish each a sheep in their turn, which they eat in the woods, that they may not be beset as they would be in the camp. When they have had as much as they can eat, they carry the rest to their relations; but there is never much left for this purpose, and sometimes none at all. Of the skins of their sheep and goats they make leather bags, and use them to keep and carry water in; for that purpose, they slit the skin of the animal from the knee nearly to the shoulders, loosen it with their hands and turn it back, and then take out the flesh through the opening.

On the 6th of November, the camp broke up; we then marched three miles W. ¼ N.W. along the bank of a stream, where pasturage was abundant. Part of the camp remained behind, and rejoined us on the 8th. I was informed by a marabout that Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar was then on the road to his camp.

The ground in the vicinity of el-Hadjar is rich, and covered with fine vegetation. The periodical inundation of the river deposits a slime which improves the soil, and it is also enriched by the numerous flocks and herds which are attracted by the pasturage. This virgin soil wants nothing but the hand of the husbandman to produce in abundance all the plants which it might be desirable to cultivate; but it would be in vain to suggest such a thing to the Moors, and the distance from the coast will never admit of a European establishment. Half a league from the banks of this stream, the nature of the soil changes, and it becomes ferruginous; vegetation is to be found only on little patches of very hard yellow sand, where the rain brings forth a few species of grass.

On the 9th of November, some Moors came and asked me to shew them the proper way of taking sweet basil; Mohammed’s eldest son advised me not to tell them till they had given me a new coussabe; but I replied that if I was fortunate enough to have it in my power to render any service to the Moors, I would do it for the love of God, and not to gain a reward. I mention the fact to shew how little idea those people have of generosity. I have already said that the sons of my marabout gave me very few lessons; I did not, however, neglect any opportunity of gaining instruction; I applied to the other marabouts, who taught me some verses of the Koran, and I also learnt from them the Arabic letters. The news of their father’s speedy arrival rendered my hosts more attentive; they now furnished me with a regular scholar’s board, and I was set morning and night to sing the praises of God and his prophet, by the light of a small fire.

On the 10th, as I was boiling a little milk for my breakfast, two hassanes, who had lately arrived at the camp, came to me; one of them threw a dirty rag into my milk, and then began scolding his companion, as if he had done it, and pretending to take my part. This anecdote will give a correct idea of this class. Both these men were still with the camp on the 12th, when we were preparing to remove. They had found a poor wretch, a haddad, or blacksmith, and wanted to force him to give them a coussabe: the poor fellow had not one for himself, for he was naked; they struck him, threatened him, and at last put a cord round his neck, and tied him to a camel to take him off with them; but, at this moment, a marabout interfered, and obtained his release after many entreaties. When I inquired the cause of this cruelty, I was told that the hassanes always treat the zenagues, or tributaries, in this way when they want to extort something from them; they make them run to keep up with their camels, beating them unmercifully, and do not let them go till they get what they want.

The artizans are always zenagues; they are generally despised by the other classes, and perpetually exposed to the rapacity of the hassanes. When they have earned any thing by their labour, they give it to a marabout to keep, for it would not be safe in their own hands. They are either shoemakers or smiths; the shoemakers do all kinds of work in leather, make shoes, portfolios, saddles, etc.; the smiths make locks, fetters, poniards, and other iron articles; they are also goldsmiths, and are extremely ingenious; though they have few tools, they produce astonishing pieces of workmanship. Those who employ them commonly supply them with metal, and pay them with millet, milk, or stuff for clothing.

It was eight o’clock when the camp broke up. We travelled six miles N.N.W., on a soil covered with iron-stone, and three miles over yellow sand. The tree named balanitis ægyptiaca, grows here in great abundance; the Senegal negroes call it soump. The Moors collect the fruit of this tree, from the kernel of which they make a kind of sangleh, which they relish much, because it is very greasy. This kernel contains much oil, and the inhabitants of Senegal extract it for their use when they are short of olive oil. I tasted it at St. Louis, and found it tolerably good, but I think it might be better if more care were taken in gathering the fruit, and expressing the oil. If government were to afford encouragement to this culture, this fruit might become an important article of commerce. The tree grows every where near the Senegal. To extract the oil, the inhabitants pound the kernels in a mortar; when reduced to a paste, they make a hole in the middle, into which the oil flows speedily and abundantly; they lade it out by degrees, until no more runs; they then squeeze the paste in their hands, and it yields a little more oil, but not so clear as the first. A quart of kernels produces about a bottle of oil; hence it might be inferred, how much might be obtained by a better process. The negroes eat the pulp of the fruit, either raw or baked in the ashes. The trunk of the balanite furnishes yellow wood, easily worked, and firm; the Laobés[25] make mortars, pestles, baganes (large wooden bowls) and many other things of it.

On the 24th of November I was witness to a scene which diverted me extremely. I saw a number of women outside the camp, who were uttering shrill cries, and some children who were throwing stones; I approached to see what was the matter, and found a woman in tears, muffled up in her garments, and supported by her friends. While I was inquiring the cause of her affliction, I espied some men and a crowd of women at a distance, quarrelling about the loads of two oxen; three slaves with leather straps attacked the women when they came near the oxen, and the women in their turn laid on with sticks, and pitched off the loads. While the men were engaged in replacing them the women snatched what they could reach, and carried it off towards the camp in triumph, singing as they went. This contest lasted more than two hours, and the baggage was perceptibly diminished, when the wife and daughter of the great marabout interfered; they seated themselves on the remainder of the baggage, and the two parties began to listen to one another. The distressed female was born in this camp, and had married a marabout of a distant camp. Wishing to see her relations again, she had persuaded her husband to accompany her; some days after their arrival the husband was desirous of returning, he put off his journey however, at the request of his wife. At last, his business required it, and he was determined to return; but his wife who was bent upon keeping him, got up a quarrel, struck him, and collected all the women of the camp round him. The women flew at the husband like furies; the husband was supported by some of his friends; they tried to load the oxen again with the goods which the women had thrown on the ground; the women pushed and pulled, and sent them rolling with the bales; and the oxen were four times loaded and unloaded in my presence. In vain did three strong negroes, slaves of the husband, lash the women by the order of their master; they could not keep off the crowd, but were beaten themselves; and the boys, who are always fond of mischief, threw showers of stones upon them and the marabouts. At last, the wife and daughter of the grand marabout having taken possession of the baggage, a capitulation ensued; the women were desired to disperse; and the marabouts promised to take the goods back to the camp till the morrow. When every body was gone, they loaded the oxen again and set off, taking with them about a fourth of their goods; and in the evening the lady departed to rejoin her husband.

The Moorish women have great influence over their husbands, which they frequently make a bad use of. Polygamy is not practised by the inhabitants of this part of Africa, and their wives would not permit them even to have concubines. The king himself has, like his subjects, only one wife.

On the 25th of November, an hassane stole some oxen belonging to a marabout of our camp, which caused a great bustle; every body was on foot all the evening, and two friends of the injured man went to the hassane’s camp to demand the oxen. I was told that if the king had been there the thief would have been severely punished. The same evening Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar arrived; I expected to see his family very joyful upon the occasion, and was surprised that nobody went out to meet him. He entered his tent, and saluted them all; his greeting was very coldly returned; his daughter alone rose, and laid her hands respectfully upon his head, without any demonstration of affection. I have never seen the Moors embrace each other; even a lover does not kiss his mistress; he lays his hand on her lips, and then puts it to his own, no doubt to convey to it the kiss which she has impressed on it. The next day the marabouts who went to demand the oxen returned; but without success.

On the 28th, the grand marabout went himself to claim them, and they were given up; he had much difficulty in prevailing, and did not return till the 6th of December; the oxen arrived shortly after him.

The Moorish laws are very severe against theft, but they are hardly ever enforced. If the thief is taken in the king’s presence, the king may order him fifty or sixty stripes on the back, or have his ears cut off, without any form of trial. Capital punishment is sometimes inflicted upon the tributaries, but never upon hassanes or marabouts. By the law of Mahomet, a thief is to have his hand cut off; but every body has an interest in mitigating this clause, for the Moors would all be one-handed if it were rigorously enforced. The law does not apply to those who pillage christians; on the contrary, that is considered a meritorious action, and they lose no opportunity of plundering them.

On the 10th of December, the camp moved twelve miles W. ¼ N.W. to a spot three miles east of lake Aleg, whither a party went to fetch water for the use of the camp. The women are charged with this labour; they fill the skins and load them upon asses; at nine they left the camp, and they were back again in an hour.

It was now beginning to be cold; the north wind blew violently, and rendered the nights very unpleasant. At this season the Moors set up the varroi, a large covering made of tanned sheep-skins sewed firmly together; they stretch it over stakes in their tents, with the sides hanging down, so as to keep off the wind during the night. They have also woollen counterpanes, or cloaks, which they buy from the Koont traders, who bring them from Wâlet, or other great towns in the interior. They wrap themselves up in these counterpanes at night, and also in the day, when the cold is severe. The slaves sleep also under the varroi, upon the ground, with no other covering than the sheep-skin which serves for their clothing.

On the 11th, I saw an ox killed: the four feet were first tied by slaves, who knocked the beast down, and thrust a stake through the skin of his throat to prevent him from moving his head; a marabout stuck him, and the slaves took off the skin. The flesh was cut into thin slices and hung upon cross-bars, fastened to poles, to dry. A fence of briars was formed round it to keep off the dogs, and it was covered with mats to preserve it from being spoiled by the sun. A slave slept by it till it was dry, and kept up a small fire at night to counteract the effect of damp. The meat thus dried was put in leather sacks to preserve it. When it is well dried, it will keep a long time, and has no disagreeable taste. The Moors generally eat it without further preparation or cooking. The slaves who flay the ox receive the neck and some bones; the head is given to the haddads, and the other bones are distributed as presents.

The Moors never invite their friends, not even their relations, to eat meat; what they have they keep for themselves. Sometimes a number of them join together, each furnishing his ox, which they kill in turn, and eat the flesh in common, as I have before said respecting the young men and the sheep. This is a sort of carnival amongst them, and they give it a name which signifies “a party to eat flesh.”

On the 12th of December I went to lake Aleg, it was surrounded by camps of marabouts, for it is the rendezvous of all those who travel on the banks of the river. The environs are broken by little hillocks covered with iron-stone. The voscia integrifolia grows abundantly in the plain; the Moors collect the fruit, which they call iré, and eat it cooked with meat. The banks of the lake are covered with mimosa, zizyphus lotus, and nauclea africana. Its breadth does not exceed three miles; it stretches from south to north, and terminates in a north-westerly direction; the circumference may be about twelve leagues. It overflows periodically, like the river, and inundates the contiguous lands for a mile round. These lands are particularly productive, and are cultivated by the Moors when the waters have subsided. The lake is fed by the el-Hadjar, and by an immense number of ravines, which collect water during the rainy season.

The season for collecting gum had now arrived, and every body was employed in making preparations; I intimated a wish to accompany those who were going out for that purpose, but I could not get leave. I attribute this refusal to distrust; for the Moors conceive that the Europeans wish to take possession of their country as being the finest in the world. Not being allowed to gratify my wish of observing these operations, I tried at all events to obtain accurate information on the subject.

On the 13th the slaves destined to this labour set off under the direction of several marabouts; it was not till some days afterwards that I learnt from my host’s wife the particulars which I am now about to relate. It has been believed, but without foundation, that there were forests of gum-bearing trees in the desert; travellers have fallen into this error from the inaccurate accounts of the Moors, who, to do honour to their country, always profess that every thing is to be found there in the greatest abundance. The acacia which furnishes gum grows singly in all the elevated parts of the desert, never on argillaceous or alluvial soil, but on dry sandy ground; it is very rare on the banks of the Senegal. The tree is not the same with the mimosa gummifera of the botanists, which I had seen in our settlements; its leaves are regularly pinnated; the folioles are broader, thicker, and of a darker green; in its shape and appearance it more nearly resembles the acacia cultivated in France.

The wells which have been dug in the interior, where the operation of collecting the gum is carried on, have given their name to the neighbourhood, and such has been the origin of the names that have been given to the fictitious gum forests. Near these wells the marabouts take up their abode, and the slaves cut straw to make huts; a single marabout superintends the slaves of his whole family, or of several of his friends; and he assembles them all, sometimes to the number of forty or fifty under the same hut. Every marabout sends as many slaves as he can spare, and they are sometimes joined by a few wretched zenagues. The superintending marabout takes with him two cows, and carries a bag of millet for his food.

When a zenague joins the slaves, he applies to the marabout, who gives him a cow and what else is needful, and at the end of the gum-harvest he receives half of what he has collected. The zenagues are only permitted to gather upon this condition; if they were to attempt it on their own account they would be plundered by the hassanes. Every detachment is provided with a pulley and cord to be used at the wells, and a leather bag which is to serve as a bucket for drawing up water. I have been assured that those wells are very deep, and the ropes which I saw were thirty or forty fathoms long. The pulley is fixed to two stakes driven into the ground on each side of the well, and meeting at their extremities; the end of the rope passed through it, is tied round the neck of an ass, which, driven by a marabout, draws up the bucket; another marabout receives it, and pours the water into a wooden trough for the use of the cattle. The superintending marabouts are charged with this duty. The slaves fill their leather bags with water every morning, and, furnished with a great forked stick, they traverse the fields in search of gum; as the gum-bearing trees are all thorny, this stick is used to knock off from the higher branches the lumps of gum which could not be reached by the hand. As they pick it up they put it in their leather bags; and thus they spend the day, without any thing but a little water to refresh them. At sun-set they return to the hut; a woman prepares sangleh for the marabout’s supper; another milks the cows; and each drinks the milk of that which is allotted for his subsistance. When the gum is plentiful each person employed collects about six pounds a day, which proves that the trees are detached; for if they grew in forests, as some say, and no time were lost in running from one to another, the quantity of gum collected must be much greater.

The superintending marabout receives a proportion of the gum; the slaves work five days for their master, and the sixth for the superintendent, who thus comes in for the greater part of the produce. The Moors have neither vessels nor bags to carry home their gum; when they have collected a certain quantity, the slaves make holes in the ground and there deposit what they have collected. When these holes are full they are covered with ox-hides, straw, and earth; care is also taken to give the surface of the soil above the same appearance as it has round about; for, if discovered, the treasure would be carried off by other Moors; when they remove from the spot, they make a mark on some tree or stone near the hole, and the gum is left there till it is taken to the markets to be sold: it is then put into large leather bags; and carried by oxen and camels.

There is no private property in gum-trees; every marabout has a right to send as many slaves as he likes, without asking leave, or paying any additional contribution. It would assuredly be a great source of wealth to them, if they consulted their own interest better, but they are so indolent that they not only do not try to augment the number of their slaves, but do not even send as many of those they possess as they might do. Their wants however are limited; a single garment suffices them.

On the 14th a young man belonging to a neighbouring tent, having a mistress in the camp of the Oulad Biery tribe, invited me to accompany him, with some other friends, to pay her a visit; this camp was a mile to the north of ours. I accepted the invitation, for I sought every opportunity of obtaining an insight into the character and customs of these people. I was politely received; all the women collected around me, talked to me a great deal, and asked me many questions; our conversation was pretty lively; for they asked me amongst other things if I intended to marry, and on my replying in the affirmative, they desired me to chuse one of them, and pressed me to say which I liked best. I told them that the choice was too embarrassing, and that I would rather marry them all, for I thought them all equally beautiful and agreeable. This joke amused them; they were very much pleased with it and even thanked me. Perceiving that the marabout lover was absent, I inquired what had become of him, but could get no information except that he would come again towards night. Several of the women were employed in adorning the betrothed lady, and they had just put on the henna to render her more lovely in the eyes of her admirer. This henna, lawsonia inermis, is found in great plenty in the interior; the Moorish women bruise the leaves, and obtain from them a pale red tincture which they use to brighten their charms. The leaves being bruised and reduced to pulp, this pulp is applied to the various parts of the body which they are desirous of staining; it is kept covered, to preserve it from the action of the air, and moistened at intervals with water in which camel dung has been steeped. The colour is five or six hours in fixing; after that time the pulp is removed and the flesh to which it has been applied is stained a beautiful red. Henna is applied to the nails, the feet, and the hands; upon which last they make all sorts of patterns; I have never seen it applied to the face. The colour remains a month without changing, and does not disappear entirely in less than twelve months. It is not only an ornament with the Moors, but a religious ceremony for women who are about to be married. When a woman has used henna she takes care to show it, and to attract attention to her hands and feet, that she may be complimented; women are coquettes all the world over!

The toilet of the Moorish ladies is not confined to the use of henna; the lady in question had her hair dressed; her tresses, which hung on her shoulders, were smeared with a sort of ointment, made of butter, pounded cloves, and water; and adorned with amber, coral, and bits of glass of different colours. I had never seen a Mooress so bedizened before.

In the evening I went to look for the lover; a young Moor accompanied me. We met him close to the camp, and I concluded that he was going to his intended; but he told me, on the contrary, that he did not chuse to pass by her tent, and that he was on the way to one of his friends. I expressed my surprise, and he told me that he wished to avoid the lady’s relations; on this subject we had a long conversation, the substance of which is as follows.

When a young man becomes attached to a girl, and wishes to marry her, he seeks her in secret, and obtains her consent. That point secured, he commissions a marabout to treat with the girl’s relations, as to the presents which he is to make, the number of oxen he is to give to the bride’s mother &c. This being arranged, the marabout who has undertaken the negotiation informs the other marabouts, when they are assembled to prayer, the lover himself being present. From this moment the lover is not to see the father and mother of his future bride; he takes the greatest care to avoid them, and if by chance they perceive him they cover their faces, as if all the ties of friendship were broken. I tried in vain to discover the origin of this whimsical custom; the only answer I could obtain was, “It is our way.”

I did not like to suppose that a connexion of this kind could destroy the esteem and affection which had previously subsisted between the two families, and I took some pains to ascertain whether it was so or not; I often talked to a father of his son-in-law and vice versâ; and I found that the indifference was only feigned, that they felt the same affection as before, and in conversation extolled one another’s merit.

The custom extends beyond the relations; if the lover is of a different camp, he avoids all the inhabitants of the lady’s camp, except a few intimate friends whom he is permitted to visit. A little tent is generally set up for him, under which he remains all day, and if he is obliged to come out, or to cross the camp, he covers his face. He is not allowed to see his intended during the day, but, when every body is at rest, he creeps into her tent and remains with her till day-break. This indiscreet method of courtship lasts for a month or two; after which the marriage is solemnized by a marabout. The mother of the bride gives a feast, and kills an ox if she can afford it; providing abundance of couscous and sangleh for the guests, who are sure to be numerous. The women collect round the bride, singing her praises and amusing themselves the whole of the day; I have seen some of them dance.

The hassanes are not obliged to conceal themselves from their new relations; they meet as usual both before and after the marriage: their feasts are also more gay and brilliant, and they admit the guéhués to them. Whatever may be the difference between the ceremonial however, the woman and her husband are in all cases subjected to the parents of the latter.

When the marriage is celebrated, the husband may take away his wife forthwith if he has a camel; in that case the mother-in-law supplies the equipage for the beast, the cradle, and the carpet which lines it; she adorns the daughter with her finest ornaments, gives her a mat to lie upon, and a sheep-skin for a coverlid; the husband leads the camel, and keeps his face covered till he is out of the camp. If he has no camel, he leaves his wife in the camp till he can procure one, for it would be a terrible disgrace if the woman were brought home to her husband’s camp on a bullock. Sometimes he settles in his wife’s camp, sends for his flocks and herds, and ceases to hide himself.

It often happens that the husband and wife cannot agree, or are desirous of a separation; one of them then quarrels with the other, and they part without having recourse to the marabouts who brought them together. The one who wishes for a divorce makes a present to the other. If there are children, the boys go with the father, and the girls remain with their mother; if she is pregnant at the time, and brings forth a boy, it is sent to the father who has it nursed by a zenague.

When the husband dies, his wife goes into mourning and wears it four months and ten days; during this time, she puts on her worst apparel, receiving nobody into her tent but her nearest relations, and covering her face when she goes out. The husband, on the other hand, does not wear mourning for his wife, and may marry again the next day.

The law of inheritance is as follows: when a man dies his wife receives one fourth of his goods; the mother of the deceased has a tenth of the three other fourths, and the father a fourth of the remainder; the children’s share, which is thus reduced to one half, is so divided, that each boy shall have twice as much as each girl. When the husband inherits, he takes half the property of his wife, and the other half is divided among the grand-parents, and the grand-children, in the same proportions. At the death of husband and wife without offspring, the property goes back in the ascending line; for collateral branches never inherit.

At the death of husband or wife, the uncle of the deceased becomes guardian to the children, until they are eighteen, which is the age of majority; the oxen which they are to inherit are confided to the grandfather until that time. Children who are still at the breast are sent to the zenagues, till they are two years old, and then return to their uncle.

The Moors never grieve for any body’s death, and would think it very improper to shed tears over the deceased, being persuaded that his soul has ascended straightway to heaven! They shave the whole body with the exception of the beard, and wrap it in a white shroud, after having washed it with care; it is then left exposed in the tent for four days, during which time the marabouts assemble round it and sing verses of the Koran.

If the relations of the deceased are rich, they kill an ox to regale the singers; if they are poor they only give a little sangleh every evening. On the fifth day, they dig a grave about two feet and a half deep, and the body is laid in it on one side, with the face towards Mecca. Briars are placed upon the grave to protect it from wild beasts. If the deceased was a person of consequence, the grave is lined with mats; when it is filled up, an inscription is placed upon it; the marabouts perform the salam and return to the camp.

The hassanes and zenagues do not bury their own dead, but have recourse to the marabouts, who undertake the business for a small remuneration. The women are not present at the interment of a man, nor the men at that of a woman.

When a child is born its body is rubbed all over with fresh butter, which is also given to its mother to take; her face is likewise rubbed with it; she eats nothing but meat till her complete recovery. The husband takes care to be absent himself when his wife is in labour, for no sooner does a woman feel her pains coming on, than she screams in the most frightful manner, and assails her husband in the most abusive and indecent language. This is another of their customs! When the child has acquired a little strength, it is slung in a pagne, tied at the four corners to serve as a hammock. The mother usually suckles the child herself.

The country of the Braknas is situated about sixty leagues E.N.E. of St. Louis; it is bounded on the south by the Senegal; on the east by the country of the Douiches;[26] on the N.E. by that of the Koonts;[27] and on the north, by the tribe of Oulad-Lame,[28] which is united with another neighbouring tribe; these two compose a nation formidable on account of the depredations which they commit; they are not Mahometans. The tribe of Labohs[29] is on the N.E., and to the west of the Trarzas. This nation is composed of several tribes, some hassanes, and others marabouts. The principal tribes of hassanes are: Oulad-Sihi, Oulad-Aly, Oulad-Hamet, Oulad-Makhso, Oulad-Abdallah, Oulad-Baicar, Oulad-Pis-nem-Nematema; of the marabouts, Dhiedhiebe-Touaryk, Oulad-Tandora, and Oulad-Biery-Togat. Each of these tribes has its separate and independent chief. Hamet-Dou is recognised as king by the French government, and the duty on the trade in gum is paid into his hands; he receives also the tax which is levied on merchant ships; but the goods derived from these sources are divided amongst all the chiefs and princes. The marabouts receive nothing from the princes.

These tribes are often engaged in war with one another, which they undertake without the king’s consent. The crown is hereditary only when the king leaves a son who is of age; if he leaves no children, or minors only, it devolves to his brother, who enjoys it during life; after his death, if the sons of the preceding king are of age to inherit, the eldest succeeds to his father’s rights. The population of the Braknas is not very numerous; it is divided into five classes, which have been already mentioned: hassanes, marabouts, zenagues, laratines, and slaves.

The hassanes may be considered as the aristocracy of the country and its warriors; their armies consist of themselves and their slaves; the zenagues join also, in the hope of pillage; the common people, that is, the poorer hassanes, are attracted by the same hope, but they serve only as volunteers, and the princes have no power to compel free men to enlist in their armies.

When the chief of a tribe is cruel or unjust towards his subjects, or even deficient in liberality, it is at every man’s option to remove with his flocks, and to join any other tribe which he pleases; hence nothing is more uncertain than the population of a tribe, which increases or diminishes according to the reputation of its chief; even the king’s own tribe is not exempt from desertion.

When the Moors make war upon one another, they take no prisoners; if any of their enemies fall into their hands, they kill them immediately, and the spoils of the slain belong to the conqueror. They fight from a distance, and only attack by surprise. The chiefs fight like their subjects; I have been told, however, that when Hamet-Dou goes to war, he is always accompanied by one of his ministers, whose business it is to hold him by his coussabe and to keep him at a safe distance: report says the coussabe has never been torn; but this may be a calumny. It is the hassanes who always make excursions against the negroes to pillage them, and carry off slaves; and on these occasions they are seldom accompanied by the zenagues. The hassanes are idle, mendacious, thievish, envious, superstitious, and gluttonous; they combine in short, all possible vices. An hassane who possesses a horse, a gun, and coussabe, thinks himself the happiest of mortals. Filthiness they seem to consider as a virtue. The men swarm with vermin, of which they take no pains to rid themselves. The women are disgusting; lying always upon their couches, with their heads besmeared with butter, which, being melted by the heat, runs down their faces and their whole bodies: they exhale in consequence a perfume which to Europeans is any thing but agreeable. In idleness they surpass the men, for they will not even rise to take their food, but rest on their elbows while a slave gives them their milk.

The commerce of the Braknas is carried on by the marabouts. It is they who collect all the gum, for which they pay no tribute; and when they have disposed of it to Europeans, they travel into a distant part of the country, to sell the guns and Guinea cloth which they receive in exchange. They often stop at Adrar, seven days’ journey north of lake Aleg; this town gives its name to a small kingdom, and is inhabited by a number of marabouts who are wholly engaged in agriculture, and keep numerous herds of cattle. Dates are plentiful in this part; the fields are surrounded by date-trees. These marabouts do not live in tents, like the Braknas; they have mud houses one story high, and flat at the top. They barter their dates and millet, for the guns and Guinea cloth of the Braknas; of the Guinea cloth they make garments, for they grow no cotton. They have many slaves, who are employed in the cultivation of rice and millet, and in the tending of the cattle. Pasturage is not abundant in the neighbourhood of the town, so that they are obliged to send their flocks to a distance to graze: it is said that the slaves who take care of them are sometimes absent for one or two months. This nation is peaceful, and only takes up arms to defend itself against the depredations of its neighbours. It is during the rainy season that the Braknas undertake their trips to Adrar, in which they are compelled to cross a desert of four days’ journey. These particulars I received from some marabouts who have visited that country several times. I intended to accompany those who were going the following spring, if I had remained among them.

The Brakna marabouts are as idle as the hassanes; they take no other exercise than walking to the mosque; and their only diversion is reading the Koran. They sometimes converse together as they lie on the sand, and go to sleep while talking over religion and politics.

Of all the classes of Moors the marabouts give the least and require the most; their quality of priests causing them to be considered as the dispensers of favours, they are never refused any thing, especially as the Moors are persuaded that they shall gain heaven by liberality. It is not to the hassanes alone that they apply; they harass one another also, and they torment the poor zenagues more especially. This class, despised by the others, is oppressed by them all. If the marabouts do not maltreat them as the hassanes do they threaten them with everlasting fire; and the poor zenague, in the hope of a happier life hereafter, strips himself to comply with the demands of his insatiable masters in this. Those marabouts who have no slaves to collect gum, being far too lazy to work for themselves, would be without clothes if the zenagues did not supply them with the means of procuring them. In the same way they obtain bags of butter to sell at the markets for Guinea cloth. It may be thought, perhaps, that the marabouts are grateful, and know how to appreciate the sacrifices which the zenague makes to please them; but ingratitude is one of their vices, and scarcely have they obtained what they want before they slander their benefactors, curse them, and devote them to eternal fire.

Some of these wretches, who have no other means of subsistence, settle amongst the zenagues to instruct their children: besides their food, they receive in payment sheep, butter, tanned hides, and stuff for tent-covering.

The marabouts are not more susceptible of friendship than of gratitude. I told Mohammed-Sidy-Moctar one day, that I should like to go and see his son-in-law; he tried immediately to dissuade me. “He is a good-for-nothing fellow,” said he; “he ought to have given you an ox the first time you went to his tent, and he only gave you a coussabe; he never gives me any thing; he does not like me.” I asked him if he liked Hamet-Dou, who had made him presents before my eyes: “Oh,” said he, “Hamet-Dou is rich.”

I recollect, that when I was leaving the camp, I gave a pagne to a slave who had taken care to supply me with sangleh; my marabout, who was near, took the pagne from her, and gave her a severe scolding. I insisted that the pagne should be returned, but he would not hear of it, and he scolded me in my turn, and told me that a marabout ought never to give, but always to receive. At last he handed the pagne to my guide, and bade him put it with the rest of my goods. This trait conveys a good idea of their character.

If they are ungrateful, they are also inhuman. They treat their slaves with barbarity; calling them by insulting names, beating them, and requiring a great deal of service in return for very little food, and having no other garment than a sheep-skin. I sometimes protested against the cruelty with which these wretches were treated. “They are slaves, they are infidels,” was the reply; “you see that they never pray; they know neither God nor the prophet.” I have seen slaves however who prayed with the utmost regularity, and were no better treated for it; neither did it save them from the degrading appellation of slaves.

The office of the marabouts renders them more dissembling than the hassanes; they are less cruel, and more hospitable; but I have found repeatedly that they receive strangers unwillingly, rather from the fear of insult or pillage than from humanity.

A European traveller who should not make up his mind to dissemble, as I did, if he were to escape the fanatic fury of the hassanes, would probably not be murdered by the marabouts; but they would forbid him to enter their tents; and they would afford him no sustenance; or if they gave him a little milk to save him from dying of hunger, it would be in the hope of being well paid. If a christian were to fall into the hands of the hassanes or zenagues, there is no kind of torture to which he would not be exposed.

The marabouts wander less from the banks of the river, than the hassanes; they remove their camps less frequently, and never change their place except to seek pasturage.

The zenagues, or tributaries, are the most wretched of the Moors; they are the serfs of the hassanes, and every hassane has more or fewer under his command. They exact from them annual contributions, consisting in general of a mator (about a quarter of a barrel) of millet, a calabash of butter, a few sheep-skins, and a laize of stuff for a tent; or a cow and a calabash of butter from each. The tributaries pay with the utmost exactness; but their unjust and grasping lords always claim more than is due, and inflict the most horrible tortures to extort what they want. I have already mentioned how they drag them at the camel’s tail; but their cruelty goes still farther; if nothing can be got by torturing a poor zenague, his barbarous master not unfrequently stabs him. They are never safe from these tyrants, who pursue them even into their camps; where they sometimes take up their abode for days, and call for whatever they like.

The zenagues possess few oxen, but large flocks of sheep and goats, of whose milk they make butter, which they can exchange at the markets for Guinea cloth. They are allowed to keep a few slaves, who are employed in taking care of their flocks; but they must not send their slaves to collect gum, or the hassanes would take it all for them. They seldom go far from the river, and usually encamp in a thick wood, to avoid as much as possible the troublesome visitations of the hassanes and other travellers. They prefer marshy land, because it affords most food for their cattle. They have a great deal of milk, but its flavour is unpleasant, owing to the many rank herbs which the ewes and goats feed upon; it is so bad indeed, that the hassanes and marabouts who come amongst them will hardly drink it, and never if they can procure any other.

Immediately after the waters retire, the zenagues come down to the banks of the river to sow millet; they work in the fields themselves with their slaves. The women, laborious through necessity, spin and weave the hair of the sheep and camels, to form coverings for their tents; they also sew them together; tan leather, make the varrois and every thing else except iron-work. Their method of tanning is as follows: if it is an ox-hide, they cut it down the middle; they then make a pit in the ground and plaster it with cow-dung; after having moistened the hide, and rubbed it with ashes, they put it into the pit, and cover it carefully with ashes. Having thrown water upon the ashes so as to wet them thoroughly, they close up the pit with a layer of cow-dung. The hide is left in this state for six or eight days, at the end of which time they scrape it with a knife to take off the hair, and then wash it well to cleanse it from the ashes. When cleaned it is put into a large calabash with the bark of the boscia and the seed of the mimosa, (the same that is known in commerce by the name of babela, and on the Senegal by that of nem-nem,) taking care to rub and mix them well. Water is poured upon it to soak it thoroughly; in this state it is left for four days or more, then taken out again and scraped, to remove any hair that may have remained after the first operation. When thoroughly cleaned, it is again put into the calabash with an increased quantity of seed, reduced to powder and sufficiently moistened. Four days suffice to tan it completely. At the end of this time, it is well washed, and scraped with sharp-edged shells, which the Moors bring from the sea-shore. Sheep and goat skins are tanned in the same manner, only more quickly, from being thinner. The leather which is tanned by this process, is exactly of the same colour as ours, and very good. For common purposes it is used without further preparation, and a little butter is applied to grease it, when it is required to be particularly supple. The women also make soap of beef-tallow and ley; but the soap is very bad, washes ill and gives an unpleasant smell to the linen.

When a tributary is unusually oppressed by his master, he can choose another. He takes his flocks and all he possesses to him to whom he wishes to subject himself, and tries to cut off his ear, if he finds him asleep, or to kill his horse; from that moment he is tributary to this new master, who has immense power over him, while the former loses all his authority. If the fugitive should be taken again before he has cut off the ear or killed the horse, he is beaten, stripped of all he possesses, and driven away without mercy. He is then extremely wretched; few people will grant him hospitality; his life is only protracted suffering, and he frequently sinks under the weight of his misery, while none of his fellows deigns to bestow on him a look of pity. I saw one in the camp where I was, who came stark naked to beg alms and shelter; instead of awakening the least symptom of compassion, he was driven away with blows, and they even set the dogs at him. What would become of this unhappy creature? And what cause could there be for such cruelty? Had he lost the attributes of humanity because he wished to change his oppressor? With what pleasure would I have gone without my supper, to give it to him! but his relentless countrymen would not allow me this satisfaction.

I have been told that in times of scarcity the zenagues eat grasshoppers, drying them first in the sun; this, however, I suspect to be only a fiction to degrade the zenagues in my estimation; for, as they cultivate millet, and possess flocks, they are usually better provided with food than the other classes, and must suffer less in a scarcity than the less industrious orders. In the whole course of my peregrinations, though I have been among very needy tribes, I have never seen the Moors eat grasshoppers.

The haddads (or blacksmiths) belong to the class of tributaries, and are, perhaps, still worse off than those who are employed in agriculture and the care of flocks. They cannot inhabit a separate camp, if they did, the hassanes would plunder them; they are obliged, in order to avoid their rapacity, to dwell in the same camps as the marabouts, and make them the guardians of all they possess.

Notwithstanding the pains I took, I never could learn the origin of this race, nor how it had been reduced to pay tribute to the other Moors; when I made inquiries on the subject, I was always told that it pleased God it should be so, and that they were infidels who seldom performed the salam. Can they be remains of conquered tribes? And, if so, why is there no tradition left about them? This can hardly be; for the Moors, proud of their ancestors, never forget the names of those who have been a credit to their race; and the zenagues, forming the majority of the population, and being, moreover, accustomed to war, would have revolted under the conduct of some descendant of their former chiefs, and recovered their liberty, by exterminating their oppressors. It is in their power to do so, for they are very numerous.

The fourth class of the Moorish population is composed of the offspring of a Moor and a black slave; they are called laratines. Though slaves by birth, they are never sold, but have land of their own, and are treated almost like the zenagues. The laratines, whose fathers are hassanes, are warriors; those, whose fathers are marabouts, receive instruction and embrace the profession of their fathers. Proud of their birth, they are not very obedient to their masters, and it is only by force that the latter can compel them to pay the tribute which is due to them. They possess few cattle, for they are not allowed to increase their herds, lest they should enfranchise themselves if they were to become wealthy. The laratines and the zenagues have the care of the herds which the hassanes possess out of their camps.

The slaves form the fifth class, and are all negroes. They are charged with all the labours of the camp—the care of flocks, the providing of water and wood, and the culture of the land. The women pound millet, prepare food, wait upon their mistresses, water the calves, fetch water, and if they belong to marabouts, collect haze and gum. On a journey, the slaves carry on their heads whatever cannot be laid upon oxen. They are, as I have already mentioned, ill treated, ill fed, and beaten at the caprice of their masters, whether they have committed any fault or not. They are seldom addressed by any name but that of slave. In short, there is no species of vexation, which they are not obliged to endure.

The Moors leave the banks of the river, when the rainy season commences, that is at the beginning of August; for not only would they be greatly incommoded by the inundations, but they would also be exposed to many diseases which they occasion, and their cattle would be devoured by the mosquitoes. They remove to the N.E., to the confines of the great desert, where they find plentiful pasturage, and a salubrious climate, and are free from the inconveniences which they would suffer in the vicinity of marshes. They return towards the river when the waters retire, and reside there from March till August.

The dress of the wealthy Moors consists, in a drah, or tunic of Guinea cloth, which reaches nearly to the knees; the sleeves are as wide as the body and hang down to the ground. Loose drawers containing six or eight yards of Guinea cloth come down to their knees; a pagne completes the dress; this is put on over the tunic, and sometimes on their heads also, like a turban. Those who cannot afford a tunic, wear only a coussabe[30] made of two or three yards of Guinea cloth.

The Moors shave all the hairy parts of the body except the beard, which they suffer to grow and hold in great veneration. A fine beard is the greatest ornament of a Musulman.

The dress of the woman is half a piece (about seven yards) of Guinea cloth, which they wrap three times round them. With one end, consisting of about one third of the stuff, they make a kind of coussabe, doubling the stuff down and sewing it so as to leave three holes, one for the head, and two for the arms. The openings are not at the side, as they are in the men’s dresses, and the stuff falls in drapery so as not to obstruct the motion of the body; where it is sewed together at each shoulder, there is a silver clasp, which serves to support the second round of the stuff; the third passes over the head, and forms a head-dress.

In mourning, or in the presence of strangers, of christians especially, they put it on so as to show nothing but their eyes. This dress is called malafé; they have no change of apparel, but wear it for two or three months without washing, and are often two years without being able to procure a new one.

They have fine hair which they lay in tresses round the head in an oval form, two smaller tresses which unite under the ear, are ornamented with pieces of glass, and hang down on each side of the head. Some of them have, on the sides, two other longer tresses, from which they suspend strings of amber, coral, and glass beads, hanging down upon the breast; others again have an immense number of tresses, but always loaded with ornaments. Those who do not suspend their string of beads from the hair, attach it to the clasps of their dress; they are not in the habit of wearing it round the neck. A strip of Guinea cloth, five feet in length, and five or six inches wide, completes their head-dress; they wrap it several times round the head. They grease their hair daily with butter; this custom preserves the hair extremely well, but communicates an insupportably rank smell. The young girls have a large gold ear-ring in the lower part of each ear, and four others in the upper part, which is bent down by their weight. Women of twenty-four wear only one small ring in the upper part of the ear.

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.

Difficulty in going to market. — Oxen stolen by a neighbouring tribe. — The Ramadan. — Circumcision. — The feast of Tabasky. — Gum trade with the Europeans. — My return to St. Louis.

We sojourned upon the shore of lake Aleg till the 20th January. The north winds blew with violence and were very cold; part of the time they lasted, I was kept in my tent by fever. In the course of the month, slaves were sent to a distance with part of the cattle, because the grass diminished around the camp; they only kept the milch cows, as indispensibly requisite for the support of the inhabitants: they pursue this plan to avoid removing the tents elsewhere.

The 21st January, 1825, the pastures being entirely exhausted, we broke up the camp and went two miles to the east, over a soil covered with ferruginous hillocks. The place at which we halted was of the same nature, and yet covered with herbage. The slaves set out in the morning to fetch water from the lake and did not return till night; the camp was without water till sun-set, but fortunately the weather was not hot or we should have suffered severely.

On the sixth of February, we returned towards the west: at the distance of three miles W.S.W., we crossed the rivulet, and it was not till we had gone nine miles further that we encamped upon a sandy soil, very hard and covered with forage. I had remarked on the banks of the rivulet the zizyphus lotus; here we found only the balanites ægyptiaca. People were again sent to the lake for water; it was very scarce in the camp on account of the distance; there was often not enough for cooking the meals.