Part 32

What the revenue of the sultan may at present amount to, it is difficult to say. His means and income consist chiefly in the presents which he receives on his accession to authority, in a contribution of one bullock’s hide or kulábu (being about the value of half a Spanish dollar) from each family, in a more considerable but rather uncertain tribute levied upon the Imghád, in the tax of ten mithkáls or four Spanish dollars which he levies on each camel-load of foreign merchandise which enters the town of Ágades[188] (articles of food being exempt from charge), in a small tribute derived from the salt brought from Bílma, and in the fines levied on lawless people and marauders, and often on whole tribes. Thus it is very probable that the expedition which ʿAbd el Káder undertook immediately after his accession, against the tribes who had plundered us, enriched him considerably. As for the inhabitants of Ágades themselves, I was assured that they do not pay him any tribute at all, but are obliged only to accompany him on his expeditions. Of course in earlier times, when the commerce of the town was infinitely greater than at present, and when the Imghád (who had to provide him with cattle, corn, fruit, and vegetables) were strictly obedient, his income far exceeded that of the present day. When taken altogether it is certainly considerably under twenty thousand dollars. His title is Amanókal, or Amanókal Imakóren, in Temáshight, Kókoy[189] bére in the Emgédesi, and Babá-n-Serkí, in the Háusa language.

The person second in authority in the town, and in certain respects the vizier, is now, and apparently was also in ancient times, the “kókoy gerégeré”[190] (_i.e._ master of the courtyard or the interior of the palace). This is his real indigenous character, while the foreigners, who regarded him only in his relation to themselves, called him sheikh el ʿArab, or, in the Háusa language, serkí-n-turáwa[191] (the chief of the Whites); and this is the title by which he is generally known. For it was he who had to levy the tax on the merchandise imported into the town,—an office which in former times, when a considerable trade was carried on, was of great importance. But the chief duty of the “serkí-n- turáwa,” at the present time, is to accompany annually the salt-caravan of the Kél-gerés, which supplies the western part of Middle Sudán with the salt of Bílma, from Ágades to Sókoto, and to protect it on the road as well as to secure it against exorbitant exactions on the part of the Fúlbe of Sókoto. For this trouble he receives one “kántu,” that is to say the eighth part (eight kántu weighing three Turkish kantars or quintals) of a middle-sized camel-load, a contribution which forms a considerable income in this country, probably of from eight to ten thousand Spanish dollars, the caravan consisting generally of some thousand camels, not all equally laden, and the kántu of salt fetching in Sudán from five thousand to seven and eight thousand kurdí or shells, which are worth from two to three dollars. Under such circumstances those officers, who at the same time trade on their own account, cannot but amass considerable wealth. Mohammed Bóro as well as Áshu are very rich, considering the circumstances of the country.

After having escorted the salt-caravan to Sókoto, and settled the business with the Emír of this place, the serkí-n-turáwa in former times had to go to Kanó, where he received a small portion of the six hundred kurdí, the duty levied on each slave brought to the slave-market, after which he returned to Ágades with the Kél-gerés that had frequented the market of Kanó. I had full opportunity, in the further course of my journey, to convince myself that such is not now the case; but I cannot say what is the reason of this custom having been discontinued, though it may be the dangerous state of the road between Sókoto and Kanó. Mohammed Bóro, the former serkí-n-turáwa, has still residences as well in Kanó and Zínder as in Sókoto and Ágades.

From what I have said it is clear that at present the serkí-n-turáwa has much more to do with the Tawárek and Fúlbe than with the Arabs, and at the same time is a sort of mediator between Ágades and Sókoto.

Of the other persons in connection with the sultan, the “kókoy kaina” or “bába-n-serkí”[192] (the chief eunuch), at present Ámagay, the fadawa-n- serkí (the aides-de-camp of the sultan), as well as the kádhi or alkáli, and the war-chief Sidi Ghalli, I have spoken in the diary of my residence in the place.

I have already stated above, that the southern part of the town, which at present is almost entirely deserted, formed the oldest quarter, while Katánga, or “báki-n-bírni,” seems to have been its northern limit. Within these limits the town was about two miles in circuit, and when thickly peopled, may have contained about thirty thousand inhabitants; but after the northern quarter was added, the whole town had a circuit of about three miles and a half, and may easily have mustered as many as fifty thousand inhabitants, or even more. The highest degree of power seems to have been attained before the conquest of the town by Mohammed Áskiá in the year 1515, though it is said to have been a considerable and wealthy place till about sixty years ago (reckoned from 1850), when the greatest part of the inhabitants emigrated to the neighbouring towns of Háusa, chiefly Kátsena, Tasáwa, Marádi, and Kanó. The exact circumstances which brought about this deplorable desertion and desolation of the place I was not able to learn; and the date of the event cannot be made to coincide with the period of the great revolution effected in Middle Sudán by the rising of the Jihádi, “the reformer,” ʿOthmán da-n-Fódiye, which it preceded by more than fifteen years; but it coincides with or closely follows upon an event which I shall have to dwell upon in the further course of my proceedings. This is the conquest of Gʿao or Gógo (the former capital of the Sónghay empire, and which since 1591 had become a province of the empire of Morocco) by the Tawárek. As we have seen above that Ágades had evidently been founded as an entrepôt for the great trade with this most flourishing commercial place on the Ísa or Niger, at that time the centre of the gold-trade, of course the ransacking and wholesale destruction of this town could not but affect in the most serious manner the well-being of Ágades, cutting away the very roots through which it received life.

At present I still think that I was not far wrong in estimating the number of the inhabited houses at from six hundred to seven hundred, and the population at about seven thousand, though it must be borne in mind that, as the inhabitants have still preserved their trading character, a great many of the male inhabitants are always absent from home, a circumstance which reduces the armed force of the place to about six hundred. A numerical element capable of controlling the estimated amount of the population, is offered by the number of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred well-bred boys, who at the time of my visit were learning a little reading and writing, in five or six schools scattered over the town; for it is not every boy who is sent to school, but only those belonging to families in easy circumstances, and they are all about the same age, from eight to ten years old.

[Illustration:

1. House where I lodged.

2. Great mosque or Mesállaje.

3. Palace or Fáda.

4. Káswa-n-delélti or Táma-n-lókoy.

5. Káswa-n-rákoma.

6. Katánga.

7. Erárar-n-zákan.

8. Mohammed Bóro’s house.

9. House of the Kádhi.

10. Well Shedwánka.

11. Pools of stagnant water.

12. Kófa-n-Alkáli.

13. Masráta hogúme.

14. Suburb of Ben Gottára.]

With regard to the names of the quarters of the town, which are interesting in an historical point of view, I was not able to learn exactly the application of each of the names; and I am sure very few even of the inhabitants themselves can now tell the limits of the quarters, on account of the desolate state of many of them. The principal names which can be laid down with certainty in the plan, are Masráta, Gobetáren, Gáwa-Ngírsu, Dígi or Dégi, Katánga, Terjemán, and Arrafía, which comprise the south-western quarter of the town. The names of the other quarters, which I attempted to lay down on the plan sent to Government together with my report, I now deem it prudent to withdraw, as I afterwards found that there was some uncertainty about them. I therefore collect here, for the information of future travellers, the names of the other quarters of the place besides those mentioned above and marked in the plan—Lárelóg, Churúd, Hásena, Amaréwuël, Imurdán (which name, I was assured afterwards, has nothing in common with the name of the tribe of the Imghád), Tafimáta (the quarter where the tribe of the same name lived), Yobímme (“yobu-mé” meaning the mouth of the market), Dégi-n-béne, or the Upper Dégi, and Bosenrára. Kachíy_u_ (not Kachí_n_) seems to have been originally the name of a pool; as I was assured that, besides the three ponds still visible, there were formerly seven others, namely Kudúru, Kachíyu, Chikinéwan, Lángusú-gázará, Kurungúsu, and Rabafáda,—this latter in the square of the palace.

The whole ground upon which the town is built (being the edge of a table-land, which coincides with the transition from granite to sandstone[193]), seems to be greatly impregnated with salt at a certain depth, of which not only the ponds, but even the wells bear evidence,—two of the three wells still in use having saltish water, and only that of Shedwánka being, as to taste, free from salt, though it is still regarded as unwholesome, and all the water used for drinking is brought from the wells outside the walls. Formerly, it is said, there were nine wells inside the town.

From what I have said above, it may be concluded that the commerce of Ágades is now inconsiderable. Its characteristic feature is, that no kind of money whatever is current in the market, neither gold, nor silver, nor kurdí nor shells; while strips of cotton or gábagá (the Kanúri, and not the Háusa term being employed in this case, because the small quantity of this stuff which is current is imported from the north-western province of Bórnu) are very rare, and indeed form almost as merely nominal a standard as the mithkál. Nevertheless the value of the mithkál is divided into ten rijáls or érjel, which measure means eight drʿa or cubits of gábagá. The real standard of the market, I must repeat, is millet or dukhn (“géro” in Háusa, “éneli” in Temáshight, _Pennisetum typhoïdeum_), durra or _Holcus sorghum_ being scarcely ever brought to market. And it is very remarkable, that with this article a man may buy everything at a much cheaper rate than with merchandise, which in general fetches a low price in the place; at least it did so during my stay, when the market had been well-stocked with everything in demand, by the people who had come along with us. English calico of very good quality was sold by me at twenty per cent. less than it had been bought for at Múrzuk. Senna in former times formed an article of export of some importance; but the price which it fetches on the coast has so decreased that it scarcely pays the carriage, the distance from the coast being so very great; and it scarcely formed at all an article in request here, nor did we meet on our whole journey a single camel laden with it, though it grows in considerable quantities in the valleys hereabouts.

Ágades is in no respect a place of resort for wealthy merchants, not even Arabs, while with regard to Europe its importance at present consists in its lying on the most direct road to Sókoto and that part of Sudán. In my opinion it would form for a European agent a very good and comparatively healthy place from which to open relations with Central Africa. The native merchants seem only to visit the markets of Kátsena, Tasáwa, Marádi, Kanó and Sókoto, and, as far as I was able to learn, never go to the northern markets of Ghát or Múrzuk, unless on a journey to Mekka, which several of them have made. Neither does there seem to exist any intercourse at present with Gágho or Gógo, or with Timbúktu; but the Arabs of Azawád and those parts, when undertaking a pilgrimage, generally go by way of Ágades.

I here add the prices of different articles, as they were sold in the market during my residence in the place:—

Mithkál.[194] Réjel.

Dukhn “géro” (_Pennisetum_), or durra “dáwa” 1 0 (_sorghum_), twenty zekka, being equal to forty of the measure used in Tin-téllust

Rice, ten zekka 1 0

Camel, a young one, two years old, not yet 18 0 fit for carrying loads

Ditto, full grown 25 0

Horse, a good strong one 100 0

Ditto, a fine one, of Tawát breed 1000 0

Ass 6 to 8 0

Ox 8 0

Calf 4 0

Ram 1 5

Sandals, a pair of common ones 0 1

Ditto, a pair of fine ones 0 5

Camel-saddle (or “rákhla” in Arabic, “kígi” 10 0 in Temáshight)

Ditto, a common one 5 0

Leather bag, of coloured leather, for 1 0 containing clothes

Mat, a fine coloured one 0 6

English calico, ten drʿa or cubits 1 0

Subéta, or white Egyptian shawl with red 1 0 border

Kórnu, or the fine Egyptian coloured 1 0 sheep-leather, a piece

Túrkedi, or the dark-coloured cotton cloth 2 0 for female dress of Kanó manufacture, common

Ditto, of finer texture 3 to 5 3

I must here add, that I did not observe that the people of Ágades use manna in their food, nor that it is collected in the neighbourhood of the town; but I did not inquire about it on the spot, not having taken notice of the passage of Leo relating to it.

My stay in Ágades was too short to justify my entering into detail about the private life of the people, but all that I saw convinced me that, although open to most serious censure on the part of the moralist, it presented many striking features of cheerfulness and happiness, and nothing like the misery which is often met with in towns which have declined from their former glory. It still contains many active germs of national life, which are most gratifying to the philosophic traveller. The situation, on an elevated plateau, cannot but be healthy, as the few waterpools, of small dimensions, are incapable of infecting the air. The disease which I have mentioned in my diary as prevalent at the time of my sojourn was epidemic. Besides, it must be borne in mind that the end of the rainy season everywhere in the tropical regions is the most unhealthy period of the year.[195]

[Footnote 166: Sultan Bello’s “Enfák el Misúri fi taríkh belád el Tekrúri,” in Denham and Clapperton’s Travels, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 162. I myself have a copy of the same extracts from this work of Bello.]

[Footnote 167: Marmol, Descripcion dell’ Africa, vol. iii. fl. xxiv. b.: “Agadez es una provincia . . . ay en ella una ciudad del proprio nombre, que a sido edificada de ciento y sesenta años a este parte.”]

[Footnote 168: Leo Africanus, l. vii. c. 9.: “Edificata dai moderni re (?) ne’ confini di Libia.” The word “re” is very suspicious.]

[Footnote 169: See the extracts of Bábá Ahmed’s “Taríkh e’ Sudan,” sent by me to Europe, and published in the Journal of the German Oriental Society, 1855. This statement agrees exactly with an interesting passage in Sultan Bello’s “Enfák el Misúri,” which has been unaccountably omitted by Saláme in the translation appended to Denham and Clapperton’s Travels.]

[Footnote 170: Bello took an erroneous view of the subject in supposing all the five tribes to have come from Aújila. Only one of them was originally from that place; and the names of the five tribes as mentioned by him are evidently erroneous. (See the following note.) The error in deriving all these five tribes from Aújila originated, probably, in the general tradition that the whole nation of the Berbers had spread over North Africa from Syria by way of the oasis of Aújila.]

[Footnote 171: Bello, in Appendix to Denham and Clapperton’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 160. Indeed in this passage he does not mention distinctly Ágades, but speaks in general of the province of Ahír (Aïr); it is clear, however, that the five tribes mentioned here as having wrested the whole country from the hands of the Goberáwa are identical with those settled in Ágades. Bello, in this case, was evidently ill- informed, for Amákitan seems not to be the name of a tribe, but of a man; Ajdaranin is the name of a section of the Kél-gerés; the Agdálar seem to be identical with the Íghdalén. Certainly the Aújila were a most celebrated tribe; and it appears from Edrísi’s report (Jaubert, vol. i. p. 238.), that even at so early an age as the middle of the 12th century of our era they carried on intercourse with Kawár and Gógo by way of Ghadámes.]

[Footnote 172: Áhmed Bábá, in relating this most interesting expedition of the greatest hero of his historical work, is most provokingly brief; but the reason is, that he was well acquainted only with the countries near Timbúktu.]

[Footnote 173: In the Report which I sent to Government from my journey, and which has been printed in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, I stated, that according to Leo’s account the Háusa language was spoken at that time in Ágades; but it was a mere lapse of memory. From no passage of his can any conclusion be drawn with regard to this subject.]

[Footnote 174: “E questa città è quasi vicina alla città dei Bianchi piú che alcun’ altra _de’ Negri_.”]

[Footnote 175: Leo, l. vii. c. 9., et l. i. c. 10. near the end.]

[Footnote 176: What Leo says, l. vii. c. 1., of Abubakr Ischia (that is to say, Mohammed ben Abú Bakr el Háj Áskiá)—“Acquistando in anni quindici appresso molti regni, e poichè ebbe reso pacifico e quieto il suo, gli venne disio di andar come pellegrino a Mecca”—is very confused; for Mohammed Áskiá, having ascended the throne on the 14th of Jumád II. 898, began the pilgrimage in Safer, 902, consequently in the fifth year of his reign; yet Leo received information of his expedition against Kátsena and the adjoining provinces, which was made in 919.]

[Footnote 177: See itinerary in the Appendix.]

[Footnote 178: See Appendix.]

[Footnote 179: Ebn Khaldún, ed. Slane, Alger. 1847, tom. i. p. 267. Ebn Khaldún evidently says that the chief of Tegídda had friendly intercourse with Wárgela and Mzáb, although Mr. Cooley (Negroland, p. 65.) has referred these expressions to Músa, the king of Sónghay.]

[Footnote 180: Ebn Batúta in the passage referred to above. It is curious that both these writers give the exact distance of Tegídda from Búda, in Tawát, and from Wárgela, both distances as of seventy marches, while they omit to mention its distance from Gógo.]

[Footnote 181: El Bekri, “Notices et Extraits,” tom. xii. p. 649.]

[Footnote 182: Ebn Batúta repeatedly calls it the largest, handsomest, and strongest of all the cities in Negroland.]

[Footnote 183: Leo, l. vii. c. 7.]

[Footnote 184: Navigazioni di Aloise Ca da Mosto, c. 13.: “La prima parte di loro va con la carovana che tiene il cammino di Melli ad un luogo che si chiama Cochia.”]

[Footnote 185: We shall see, in the further course of our proceedings, that there is another direct road from Gógo to Tawát; but this, in ancient times, seems not to have been frequented, on account either of the difficulties of the road itself, or the dangerous character of the tribes in its vicinity.]

[Footnote 186: Leo, l. vii. c. 1.: “E rimase debitore di centocinquanta mila ducati.”]

[Footnote 187: Whether the story which circulates among the people, that this family originally came from Stambúl or Constantinople has any reasonable foundation, I am unable to decide.]

[Footnote 188: This seems also to have been the most important income in the time of Leo: “Riceve il re gran rendita delle gabelle che pagano le robe de’ forestieri.”]

[Footnote 189: In the Sónghay language “koy” means master, and is not only employed in other compositions, such as kút-koy (the shepherd), bír-koy (the marksman), but even as title for a governor, such as Túmbutu-koy (the governor of Timbúktu), Jínni-koy (the governor of Jínni). I therefore conclude that kó-koy means the master of the masters, or greatest master—the king of kings, like the Háusa “serkí sárakay.”]

[Footnote 190: Perhaps some might conjecture that this word geré-geré has some connection with the Gér-geri of Ebn Batúta (see above); but I think there is none.]

[Footnote 191: “Turáwa” is the plural of “ba-túre.” “Túre,” or “túri,” is an old word, already mentioned by Ebn Batúta (Journal Asiatique, 1843, tom. i. p. 201.): “Les hommes blancs, qui professent les doctrines sonnites et suivent le rite de Malik, sont designés ici (dans le royaume de Melle) par le nom de توري.” The word, therefore, seems to have been introduced into the Háusa language at a later period as designating the white people, and I think has connection with the word “túra” (to pray) in Fulfúlde, the language of the Fúlbe. I have only to mention that it never refers to any but Arabs or Europeans.]

[Footnote 192: “Kókoy kaina” properly means the little master, a very appropriate term for a eunuch in an Oriental court. The homonymy of bába-n-serkí, the chief eunuch, and babá-n-serkí, the great lord or king, in the Háusa language, is really provoking.]

[Footnote 193: Unfortunately I was unable to ascertain the elevation of the locality by observation, as I could only take a common thermometer with me on this trip; but, considering the whole ground along the road from Tintéllust, I think it can scarcely be less than 2500 feet.]

[Footnote 194: The mithkál of Ágades is equal to 1000 kurdí, 2500 of which make a Spanish or Austrian dollar.]

[Footnote 195: In an appendix will be given some routes which connect Ágades with other places, and, radiating from it in various directions, serve as rays of light to discover to us districts not yet visited by any European.]

CHAP. XIX.

DEPARTURE FROM ÁGADES. — STAY IN TIN-TÉGGANA.

[Sidenote: Wednesday, October 30th.]

We at length left Ágades. I felt as if I had enjoyed a glimpse of a totally different world, a new region of life, many relations of which were as yet obscure to me. Timbúktu, which was in the background of this novel and living picture, seemed an almost unattainable object. An acquaintance with it would not fail to throw light upon this advanced post of Sónghay nationality, and its state of civilization; but at that time I little expected that it would be my destiny to dwell a year in that mysterious place, and I had even reason to doubt the possibility of reaching it from this quarter. All my thoughts were bent on the south; and although at present retracing my steps towards the north, yet, as it carried me back to our head- quarters, whence I might soon expect to start for the southern regions, I regarded it as a step in advance.