Part 6

Next morning the Fullán and the merchants from the north assembled in the house of Mohammed el Férreji, and discussed with great energy what means they should adopt to drive me out, binding themselves by an oath that I should not see the sun set over the town. The officer Hámedu, the son of Mohammed Lebbo, even went so far as to rise in the assembly and swear that he himself would certainly slay me if I should stay any longer. The alarm which this affair caused in the town was very great, although matters of this kind in Negroland are never so serious as in Europe. Álawáte, therefore, being informed of what was going on, entered the assembly and made a formal protest that I should see both sunset and sunrise in the town, but he pledged his word that I should leave it before the sun reached that height called dáhhar (about nine o’clock in the morning) by the Arabs, and if I remained after that time they might do what they pleased with me.

[Sidenote: March 17th.]

I had lain down rather late, and was still asleep, when Sídi Mohammed, before sunrise, sent word to me to mount in order to follow him out of the town; and he behaved very unpolitely when objections were raised to the effect that it would be better to wait for El Bakáy. Soon after he came up himself on horseback before my door, sending one of his brother’s principal and confidential pupils, whom I could scarcely expect to do anything contrary to the wishes of his master, to bid me mount without further delay, and to follow him to the “ródha,” or the sepulchre of Sídi Mukhtár, where El Bakáy would join us. Seeing that I had nothing to say, while as a stranger I could neither expect nor desire these people to fight on my account, I mounted, fully armed, and with two servants on horseback followed Sídi Mohammed on his white mare.

All the people, in the streets through which we passed, cautiously opened their doors to have a peep at me. The ruling tribe also were not inactive; and they had mounted several horsemen, who followed close upon our heels, and would probably have made a demonstration if we had halted at the “ródha.” But my conductor, instead of staying there, as I had been made to believe, led on straight to the tents. Numbers of Tawárek families, carrying their little property on half-starved asses, met us on the road, flying westward, and confirming the fact that the approach of the tábu was not merely an idle rumour. The encampment also, which had been chosen at another spot, presented a very animated scene, a large hamlet, consisting of matting dwellings, or seníha, inhabited by the Kél-úlli and the Ígelád, _protégés_ of the Sheikh, being closely attached to it. The consequence was, that although the whole locality, formed by a sandy ridge with a slight depression full of trees, presented a more cheerful aspect than the former encampment, by degrees it became rather narrow and confined. Having received the compliments of my new friends, I endeavoured to make myself as comfortable as possible; but not much repose was granted me, for, about three o’clock in the afternoon, Mohammed ben Khottár, the Sheikh’s nephew, arrived with a verbal and peremptory message from the former to his elder brother, Sídi Mohammed, to the effect that the Fullán were about to storm my house in the town, in order to seize my luggage which I had left there; and desiring him instantly, and without the slightest delay, to bring me back, as all these proceedings were the consequence of his (Sídi Mohammed’s) indiscretion.

Roused by this angry message, the noble son of the desert repented what he had done to the detriment of his brother’s interest, and calling together by strokes of the tobl, or great drum, which hung ready on the top of the sandy slope, all the people capable of carrying arms, he mounted his mare, with his four-barreled gun before him, while I, with my two servants, followed behind.

Thus it appeared as if I was destined once more to enter Timbúktu, and this time under very warlike circumstances. We went at the beginning at such a rate, that it seemed as if we were about to storm the place directly; but on reaching the first creek of the river we made a short halt, while my Mohammedan friends said their prayers, and at last came to a stand on an eminence, whence we sent a messenger in advance. Sídi Álawáte came out of the town to meet us. Meanwhile darkness set in, and we again halted on another eminence in sight of the town, and sent a second messenger to the Sheikh. We were joined after a while by the people from Tawát, who informed us that El Bakáy had left the town with a numerous host of followers, but that they themselves did not know whither he was gone. Messengers were therefore despatched to endeavour to find him.

In the meanwhile the Tawárek whom we had with us, beat their shields in their usual furious manner, and raised the war-cry; the night was very dark, and I at length fired a shot, which informed our friends of our whereabouts. We found the Sheikh close to the town south of the “ródha,” with a large host of people, Tawárek as well as Arabs, Songhay, and even Fullán. The Fútáwi, Ismʿaíl, who from his knowledge of colonial life in St. Louis or Ndér, afforded me a constant source of entertainment as well as vexation, welcomed us with a song, and all the people gathered around us in motley confusion. The spectacle formed by this multifarious host, thronging among the sand-hills in the pale moonlight, was highly interesting, and would have been more so to me, if I could have been a tranquil observer of the scene; but, as I was the chief cause of this disturbance, several of my friends, especially the Imám, Háj el Mukhtár, whom I had known in Bornú, made their way to me, and begged me to beware of treachery. The Sheikh himself despatched his most trustworthy servant to inform me that I had better keep in the midst of the Tawárek, whom he himself thought much more trustworthy than the Arabs. The Kél-úlli forthwith formed a square round me, but at the same time made a joke of it, trying an experiment as to the warlike disposition of my horse, by pushing against me with one side of the square, while beating their shields, till, being thrown back upon the other side, I spurred my horse and drove them to their former position. Excited by this animated scene, my noble charger, to the great amusement of this turbulent host, began to neigh from sheer delight.

Meanwhile the brothers had dismounted, together with their trusty councillors, and were wasting the time in useless consultation, while some Fullán horsemen were roving about and kept me on my guard; but one of them was dismounted against his inclination. His horse received a wound either from the stump of a tree or from a spear, and thus he remained the sole victim of this glorious and memorable night’s campaign.

At length, having moved to and fro for some time, we approached the outskirts of the Áberaz, and there took up our position. But the Fullán and Songhay, who had likewise assembled at the beating of the alarm drum, being arranged in front of us, notwithstanding their cowardly disposition, it did not seem likely that we should be allowed to get inside the town without bloodshed, and I protested repeatedly to the Sheikh, that nothing was more repugnant to my feelings, than that blood should be shed on my account, and perhaps his own life be endangered.

Meanwhile numerous messengers were sent backwards and forwards, till my protector and host, whose feelings had been deeply wounded, declared that he would allow me to remain outside the town, if the Fullán would withdraw their force so as to put every thing in his own hands, and would promise to leave my house untouched. And he strictly kept his word; for, while he himself entered the place with Álawáte, he allowed me to return to the tents in the company of his elder brother. We did not arrive at the encampment before three o’clock in the morning, for we lost our road in the pale moonlight, and became entangled among the numerous creeks of Bose-bángo, while we suffered at the same time greatly from hunger, and the coolness of the night. Such was the sole result of this night’s campaign.

The following day we received the news from an Urághen, who arrived from the east, of the tábu having returned eastward, in consequence of a serious quarrel having broken out between the tribes of the Tarabanása and the Tin-ger-égedesh, who composed part of the army; and in consequence of the obstinacy of Ákhbi, the chief of the Igwádaren, who had refused to acknowledge the authority of his liege lord, and to come forth from his place of retreat, the island of Kúrkozáy, in order to do homage to Alkúttabu. The ruling tribe of the Awelímmeden gave vent to their anger by plundering the poor inhabitants of Bamba, or Kasbah, a place situated about half-way between here and Gógó. That dreaded host having retraced its steps, and thus disappointed the hopes of my protector, all the poor people who had put themselves under the protection of the Sheikh felt reassured, and again brought out their little property, which they had secreted in the various tents of the encampment. The Ígelád lagged a little longer behind, and in the evening assembled in considerable numbers before my tent in order to have a talk with me. On the whole they behaved very decently.

Seeing that I was now restricted to a stay in the encampment, I had sent my servant, the Gatróni, into the town in order to bring out my luggage. He returned in the evening without having accomplished his errand, but in the company of the Sheikh himself, who informed me that he did not wish the luggage to be brought out of the town before he was ready to accompany me himself on my journey, as he was afraid that his two brothers still wanted to get something more out of me than they had done. But as he had sworn in the first paroxysm of anger that he would at all hazards bring me back into the town, I told him, in order to console him, that I would once more re-enter the place in the dark, quite by myself, stay a short time in my house, and then return to the camp, in order that his oath might be fulfilled. But he would not allow me to expose myself to any danger on his account, as the rules of his creed made it easy for him to get rid of the obligation thus contracted against his conscience, by subjecting himself to the penance of a three days’ fast. He informed me now that the Fullán officer, Férreji, had accompanied him on leaving the town as far as the “ródha,” giving him every assurance of his friendship, and that thus everything would end well; and he hoped to obtain for me favourable conditions from the Fullán for any future European or Englishman visiting this place. Together with the Sheikh, Sídi Álawáte also had come out, and he behaved in a rather friendly manner to me, offering his services towards hastening my departure, which I gladly accepted, without however putting any confidence in him; for I was well aware that he liked my property better than myself.

Seeing that I was obliged to resign myself in patience, and had still to wait here some time, I sent one servant and two of my horses into the town. Since the waters had retired, the flies had become such a terrible plague, that they threatened the life of man and beast, and it was chiefly this nuisance that rendered my stay here so uncomfortable. It was likewise almost the ruin of the horse, which I was obliged to keep with me in case of any emergency. It is on account of this pest that none of the people of the desert, whose chief property consists in camels, are enabled to visit the town at this period of the year.

Not only flies, but other species of insects also, became now exceedingly abundant in this desert tract, after it had been inundated and fertilised by the waters of the river; and a countless number of caterpillars especially became very troublesome, creeping about the ground, and getting upon the carpets and mats and every other article. While thus the inconvenience of the open camp was manifold, my amusements were rather limited, and even my food was poorer than it had been before. The famous “rejíre” had been supplanted, from want of cheese, by the less tasteful “dakno,” seasoned, in the absence of honey, with the fruit of the baobab or monkey-bread tree. In the morning, however, it afforded me some amusement to observe the daughters of the Ígelád driving out to the pasture grounds their parents’ asses, and to witness the various incidents in the daily life of these people. But they were soon to leave, as well as the Kél-úlli, both tribes returning to their quarters further eastward.

All my friends, with whom I had had only so short an acquaintance, thus taking leave of me, I was extremely glad when a brother of Mohammed ben ʿAbd-Alláhi came out of the town and paid me a visit. It was from this man, whose name was Dáúd, that I obtained a great deal of important information with respect to the quarter north of the river, between Hamda-Alláhi and Bághena. I also met here another person, who gave me a curious piece of information with regard to the Rás el Má, the great north-westerly creek of the river, which I have already mentioned repeatedly, and of which I shall say more in the Appendix[23], although I was not enabled to understand its whole purport. In reference to that basin, he said, that, when the waters had decreased very considerably, a bubbling was observed at the bottom of the basin; but whether this referred to sources of living water, or to some other phenomenon, I could not make out distinctly, although I imagine the former to be the case.

[Sidenote: March 21st.]

This was a very important day in various respects. First, it was highly remarkable for its atmospheric character, as beginning the “nisán,” that is to say, the short rainy season of spring. This peculiar season I had not observed in the other more southerly parts of Negroland which I had visited, but it is also observed in other tropical regions, especially in Bengal, although that country is certainly placed under different conditions, and reaches farther northward. We had two regular falls of rain this day, although of no great abundance, this phenomenon being repeated for about seven days, though not in succession. Meanwhile the flies became quite insupportable, and almost drove me to despair.

But the day was also important in another respect, as the sons of Sídi Mohammed, El Bakáy, and his brothers, attempted to bring about a friendly understanding among themselves; and I was not a little surprised in the morning of this day, on being informed by Sídi Mohammed, who acted as my guard here, that I was to accompany him back to the “ródha,” the venerated cemetery a few hundred yards east of the town, where Sídi Mukhtár lies buried; for it thus seemed as if there was still some prospect of my again coming into collision with the townspeople. Galloping on the road with Dáúd, the brother of ʿAbd- Alláhi, who accompanied us, and beating him easily on my fine “Blast of the Desert,” as I styled my horse, which was still in tolerable condition, I followed my companion, and we took our post at the southern side of the tomb of the ancestor of the holy family. Although I had passed it repeatedly on former occasions, I never until now inspected it closely. I found it a spacious clay apartment, surrounded by several smaller tombs of people who were desirous of placing themselves under the protection of the spirit of this holy man, even in the other world.

Gradually we were joined by the relations and friends of the Sheikh, Álawáte appearing first and saluting me in his usual smiling manner; then the sickly Mohammed ben ʿAbd-Alláhi, who was regarded almost as a member of the family; next followed Hammádi, who greeted me and received my compliments in return; then the Sheikh el Bakáy; and, lastly, ʿAbidín, whom I had not seen before. He looked rather older than the Sheikh, with expressive sharply cut and manly features, besides a rather fair complexion, fairer than my host. He was clad in a bernús of violet colour, and it appeared remarkable to me that, although I had placed myself exclusively under the protection of his brother, to whom he as well as Hammádi was vehemently opposed, yet he behaved very friendly towards me.

All the parties having assembled, we were regaled with a luncheon, at which I was the first to be helped. The people then having said their prayers of “ʿaser,” while I retired behind the sepulchre, in order not to give any offence, we went to a greater distance from the town, in an easterly direction, in order to get out of the way of the people who had come from the town on this occasion, when the various members of the family of Mukhtár sat down upon the ground in a circle, and began a serious private consultation, in order to settle their political affairs; but, although it lasted for more than an hour, it did not seem to lead to the desired end, and broke up abruptly. The Sheikh had endeavoured to persuade me to pass this night in the Áberaz, or the suburb of the town; but this I had refused to do, being afraid of causing another disturbance, and, as he promised that he would come out of the town with my luggage on the Friday following, I returned with Sídi-Mohammed to the tents.

Honourably as I was treated on these different occasions in consequence of the great exertions of my protector, yet the Fullán had obtained, throughout the whole affair, a slight advantage in political superiority, and they followed it up without hesitation and delay, by levying a tax of 2000 shells upon each full-grown person, under the pretext that they did not say their Friday prayers in the great mosque as they were ordered to do. This is one of the means by which the conquering tribe was endeavouring to subdue the national spirit of the native population, by making them celebrate the great weekly prayer in the mosque which had originally been built by the Mandingo conqueror Mansa Músa, and which they themselves had made the centre of their establishment in the town. Even in previous times it had always been the centre of the Mohammedan quarter. They were supported in this endeavour by the precepts of Islám, according to which a Moslim, even if he says his ordinary prayers at home, is obliged, when staying in the town and not prevented by disease, to say his Friday prayers in the Jámʿa.

When the Fullán conquered the place, they purposely increased the ruin of the old native mosque of Sán-koré, which is situated in the northern quarter, and afterwards prevented its being repaired, till by the exertions of the Sheikh El Bakáy, especially on his visit to Hamda- Alláhi some years previously, the inhabitants of the town had been allowed to repair that mosque at their own expense. This had been accomplished at the cost of 600 blocks or rús of salt, equal to about 200_l._

Besides levying this tax upon the inhabitants in general, they also devised means to subject to a particular punishment the Arab part of the population who had especially countenanced the Sheikh in his opposition against their order to drive me out, by making a domiciliary search through their huts, and taking away some sixty or eighty bales or sunníye of tobacco, an article which, as I have stated on a former occasion, forms a religious and political contraband under the severe and austere rule of the Fúlbe in this quarter.

[Sidenote: March 24th.]

This was the day on which the Sheikh had promised to bring out my luggage, but, to my great disappointment, he came empty-handed; and again he had much to say about the expected arrival of Alkúttabu, the chief Somki, it was stated, having been called from Áribínda to meet his liege lord at Ghérgo (pronounced Rérgo) with fifteen boats. But, as the sequel showed, this was a mere stratagem of that crafty chief, who intended to make an unexpected foray upon his foes the Kél-hekíkan, in which enterprise he was perfectly successful, killing about a dozen of that already greatly reduced tribe. While the Sheikh boasted of the innumerable host which his friend the Tárki chief carried with him, I was greatly amused at learning from an Urághen, who had come to pay us a visit, that Alkúttabu had only 300 fighting men with him at the time. I also observed with a certain degree of satisfaction that my kindly host became aware of what I was subjected to day by day; for, while on a visit to my tent, one of the flies that tormented me stung him so severely as to draw blood; and I then showed him my poor horse which was suffering dreadfully, although at times we lighted a small fire in order to afford him some relief.

During my stay here, I had become better acquainted with Sídi Mohammed, and I had convinced myself that he was a straightforward man, although certainly not very friendly disposed towards Christians in general. Next morning, therefore, when he and the Sheikh were consulting together, I complained bitterly of their breaking their word so repeatedly, and putting off my departure so continually. They then endeavoured to soothe my disappointment, and, as they were going into the town, wanted me to go along with them, but I declined. In consequence of this remonstrance, they sent me from the town the Sheikh’s nephew, who had been ill for several days, to bear me company and to take care of me, and this was a great treat in my solitary situation, as I had nobody to speak to. However, new difficulties appeared to arise with regard to my departure, and, during the next few days, I received several curious messages, the real purport of which I was quite at a loss to understand. But El Bakáy at length promised that I should only have to wait two days longer, when he would go with me himself; but it was not till the very last day in March that he returned from the town to the camp, and, although he at length brought my luggage with him, my real departure was even then still far remote.