Part 4

The principal articles of merchandise are tobacco, kameemas[35], beads of all colours for necklaces, and cowries, which are bought 21 at Fas by the pound.[36] Small Dutch looking glasses, some of which are convex, set in gilt paper frames. They carry neither swords, muskets, nor knives, except such as are wanted in the caravan. At the entrance of the desert they buy rock-salt[37] of the Arabs, who bring it to them in loads ready packed, which they carry as an article of trade. In their caravan there were about 500 camels, of which about 150 or 200 were laden with salt. The camels carry less of salt than of any other article, because (being rock-salt) it wears their sides. They pay these Arabs from twenty to fifteen ounces[38] of Barbary money per load. An ounce of Barbary is worth about _6d._, and a ducat is worth about _5s._ sterling. They sell this salt at Timbuctoo upon an average at 50 per cent. profit; it is more profitable than linen. They take no oil from Barbary to Timbuctoo as they are supplied from other places with fish-oil used for lamps but not for food; they make soap with the oil. The returns are made in gold-dust, slaves, ivory, and pepper; gold-dust is preferred and is brought to Timbuctoo from Housa in small leather bags. He bought one of these bags of gold-dust and pieces of rings for 90 Mexican dollars, and sold it at Fas for 150. The merchants bring their gold from Timbuctoo in the saddle-bags, in 22 small purses of different sizes one within the other. The bag which Shabeeny purchased was bought at Housa, where it sells for seven or eight ducats cheaper than at Timbuctoo. On articles from Marocco they make from thirty to fifty per cent. clear profit. Cowries and gold-dust are the medium of traffic. The shereefs and other merchants generally sell their goods to some of the principal native merchants, and immediately send off the slaves, taking their gold-dust with them into other countries. The merchants residing at Timbuctoo have agents or correspondents in other countries; and are themselves agents in return. Timbuctoo is visited by merchants from all the neighbouring black countries. Some of its inhabitants are amazingly rich. The dress of common women has been often worth 1000 dollars. A principal source of their wealth is lending gold-dust and slaves at high interest to foreign merchants, which is repaid by goods from Marocco and other countries, to which the gold-dust and slaves are carried. They commonly trade in the public market, but often send to the merchant or go to his house. Cowries in the least damaged are bad coin, and go for less than those that are perfect. There are no particular market days; the public market for provisions is an open place fifty feet square, and is surrounded by shops.[39] The Arabs sit down on their goods in the middle, till 23 they have sold them. The pound weight of Timbuctoo is about two ounces heavier than the small pound of Barbary, which weighs twenty Spanish dollars; they have also half and quarter pounds; by these weights is sold milk, rice, butter, &c. as well as by the measure. The weights are of wood or iron under the inspection of a magistrate called in Barbary _m'tasseb, i.e._ inspector of weights and measures, and if the weights are found deficient, he punishes the offender immediately; they have also a quintal or cwt. They have a wooden measure called a _m'hoad_[40], equal to the small _m'hoad_ of Barbary, where a _m'hoad_ of wheat weighs about 24 lb. Both the weights and measures are divided into 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 and 1/16.

[Footnote 35: _Kameema_ is the Arabic word for the linen called _plattilias_. They are worth 50 Mexico dollars each, at Timbuctoo.]

[Footnote 36: Called, in Amsterdam, _Velt Spiegels_, and in Timbuctoo, _Murraih de juah_.]

[Footnote 37: This salt is bought at Tishet, at Shangareen, and at Arawan, in the south part of Sahara; for which see the Map of Northern and Central Africa, in the new Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Article _Africa_.]

[Footnote 38: _Okia_ is the Arabic name for this piece of money.]

[Footnote 39: Similar to the corn-market at Mogodor.]

[Footnote 40: The _m'hoad_ is no longer used in Barbary. There is a _krube_, of which sixteen are equal to a _saa_, which, when filled with good wheat, weighs 100 lbs. equal to 119 lbs. English weight.]

MANUFACTURES.

The black natives are smiths, carpenters, shoemakers, tailors, and masons, but not weavers. The Arabs in the neighbourhood are weavers, and make carpets resembling those of Fas and of Mesurata, where they are called telisse[41]; they are of wool, from their own sheep, and camels' hair. The bags for goods, and the tents, are of goats' and camels' hair; there are no palmetto trees in that country. Their thread[42], needles, scissors, &c. come from Fas: 24 most of their ploughs they buy of the Arabs near the town, who are subject to it. Some are made in the town. These Arabs manufacture iron from ore found in the country, and are good smiths. They make iron bars of an excellent quality. They tan leather for soles of shoes very well, but know nothing of dressing leather in oil: the upper leather comes from Fas[43]; their wooden combs[44] and spoons come from Barbary; they have none of ivory or horn. No lead is brought from Barbary; he thinks they have lead of their own. The best shoes are brought from Fas.

[Footnote 41: _Telissa_, sing.; _Telisse_, plur.]

[Footnote 42: To Fas they are brought from England through Gibraltar and Mogodor.]

[Footnote 43: Leather is also imported from Marocco, and from Terodant in South Barbary.]

[Footnote 44: Wooden combs are imported from Marseilles to Mogodor.]

HUSBANDRY.

The country is well cultivated, except on the side of the desert. They have rice, _el bishna_[45], and a corn which _they_ call _allila_[46], but in Barbary it is called _drah_: this requires very rich ground. They make bread of _el bishna_: they have no wheat or barley. Property is fenced by a bank and a ditch. Dews are very heavy. Lands are watered by canals cut from the Nile; high lands by wells, the water of which is raised by wheels[47] worked 25 by cattle, as in Egypt. They have violent thunder-storms in summer, but no rains: the mornings and evenings, during winter, are cold; the coldest wind is from the west, when it is as cold as at Fas. The winter lasts about two months, though the weather is cool from September to April. They begin to sow rice in August and September, but they can sow it at any time, having water at hand: he saw some sowing rice while others were reaping it. _El bishna_ and other corn is sown before December. _El bishna_ is ripe in June and July; as are beans. _Allila_ may be sown at all seasons; it requires water only every eight or ten days. Their beans are like the small Mazagan beans, and are sown in March; the stalk is short, but full of pods. The _allila_ produces a small, white, flattish grain.

[Footnote 45: _El Bishna_. This is the Arabic name for Indian corn.]

[Footnote 46: _Allila_, a species of millet.]

[Footnote 47: A wheel similar to the Persian wheel, as before described in the note, page 13.]

PROVISIONS.

Rice is their principal food, but the rich have wheaten flour from Fas[48], and make very fine bread, which is considered a luxury. Bread is also made from the _allila_. They roast, boil, bake, and stew, but make no _cuscasoe_. Their meals are breakfast, dinner, and supper. They commonly breakfast about eight, dine about three, and sup soon after sunset. They drink only water or milk with their meals, have no palm wine or any fermented liquor; when they wish to 26 be exhilarated after dinner, they provide a plant of an intoxicating quality called _el hashisha_[49], of which they take a handful before a draught of water.

[Footnote 48: And also from Marocco.]

[Footnote 49: _El Hashisha_. This is the African hemp plant: it is esteemed for the extraordinary and pleasing voluptuous vacuity of mind which it produces on those who smoke it: unlike the intoxication from wine, a fascinating stupor pervades the mind, and the dreams are agreeable. The _kief_ is the flower and seeds of the plant: it is a strong narcotic, so that those who use it cannot do without it. For a further description of this plant, see Jackson's Marocco, 2d or 3d edit. p. 131 & 132.]

ANIMALS.

Goats are very large, as big as the calves in England, and very plentiful; sheep are also very large. Cattle are small; many are oxen. Milk of camels and goats is preferred to that of cows. Horses are small, and are principally fed upon camels' milk; they are of the greyhound[50] shape, and will travel three days without rest. They have dromedaries[51] which travel from Timbuctoo[52] to Tafilelt in the short period of five or six days.

[Footnote 50: These horses are the desert horse, or the _shrubat er'reeh_. See Jackson's Marocco, 2d or 3d edition, p. 94. to 96.]

[Footnote 51: These are _El Heirie_, (or _Erragual_), for a particular description of which see Jackson's Marocco, p. 91. to 93.]

[Footnote 52: A distance of upwards of 1200 British miles.] 27 BIRDS.

They have common fowls, ostriches, and a bird larger than our blackbird[53]; also storks, which latter are birds of passage, and arrive in the spring and disappear at the approach of winter; swallows, &c.

[Footnote 53: The starling.]

FISH.

They have many extremely good in the Nile; one of the shape and size of our salmon[54]; the largest of these are about four feet long. They use lines and hooks brought from Barbary, and nets, like our casting nets, made by themselves. They strike large fish with spears and fish-gigs.

[Footnote 54: The _shebbel_, a species of salmon, a very delicate fish, but so rich that it is best roasted, which the Arabs do in a superior manner.]

PRICES OF DIFFERENT ARTICLES.

Sheep from ten to sixteen cowries. Cowries[55] are much valued, and form an ornament of head-dress even for the richest women; they are highly valued as ornaments. Goats are cheaper than sheep; the best from eight to twelve cowries. Fowls from four to six cowries each. Antelopes are very scarce and dear. Camels from thirty to sixty cowries, according to their size and condition. Ostriches, of which vast numbers are brought to market, are very cheap; the fore-feathers[56] are often carried to Tafilelt and Marocco, the 28 inferiors are thrown away. A good slave is worth ten, fifteen, or twenty ducats of five shillings each; at Fas, they are worth from sixty to a hundred ducats: females are the dearest. Slaves are most valuable about twelve years old. They have fish-oil for lamps, but use neither wax nor tallow for candles. The fish-oil is a great article of trade, and is brought from the neighbourhood[57] of the sea by Genawa[58] to Housa, and thence to Timbuctoo; dearer at Timbuctoo than at Housa, and dearer at Housa than at Genawa.

[Footnote 55: Cowries are called _El Uda_, and are sold in Santa Cruz and in South Barbary, at twenty Mexico dollars per quintal.]

[Footnote 56: Called _Ujuh_.]

[Footnote 57: Probably from the coast of Guinea, with which Housa carries on an extensive trade.]

[Footnote 58: _i.e._ Guinea; Genawa being the Arabic name for the coast of Guinea.]

DRESS.

The sultan wears a white turban of very fine muslin, the ends of which are embroidered with gold, and brought to the front; this 29 turban comes from Bengala.[59] He wears a loose white cotton shirt, with sleeves long and wide, open at the breast; unlike that of the Arabs, it reaches to the small of the leg; over this a _caftan_[60] of red woollen cloth, of the same length; red is generally esteemed. The shirt (_kumja_) is made at Timbuctoo, but the caftan comes from Fas, ready made; over the caftan is worn a short cotton waistcoat, striped white, red, and blue; this comes from Bengala, and is called _juliba_.[61] The sleeves of the caftan are as wide as those of the shirt; the breast of it is fastened with buttons, in the Moorish style, but larger. The _juliba_ has sleeves as wide as the caftan. When he is seated, all the sleeves are turned up over the shoulder[62], so that his arms are bare, and the air is admitted to his body.

[Footnote 59: _i.e._ Bengal.]

[Footnote 60: A _caftan_, or coat, with wide sleeves, no collar, but that buttons all down before.]

[Footnote 61: It is not the cotton cloth which comes from Bengal that is named _Juliba_, but the fashion or the cut of it.]

[Footnote 62: The Moorish fashion.]

Upon his turban, on the forehead, is a ball of silk, like a pear; one of the distinctions of royalty. He wears, also, a close red skull-cap, like the Moors of Tetuan, and two sashes, one over each shoulder, such as the Moors wear round the waist; they are rather cords than sashes, and are very large; half a pound of silk is used in one of them. The subjects wear but one; they are either red, yellow, or blue, made at Fas. He wears, like his subjects, a sash round the waist, also made at Fas; of these there are two kinds,--one of leather, with a gold buckle in front, like those of the soldiers in Barbary; the other of silk, like those of the Moorish merchants. He wears (as do the subjects) breeches made in the Moorish fashion, of cotton in summer, made at Timbuctoo, and of woollen in winter, brought ready made from Fas. His shoes are distinguished by a piece of red leather, in front of the leg, about three inches wide, and eight long, embroidered with silk and gold. 30 When he sits in his apartment, he wears a dagger with a gold hilt, which hangs on his right side: when he goes out, his attendants carry his musket, bow, arrows, and lance.

His subjects dress in the same manner, excepting the distinctions of royalty; viz. the pear, the sashes on the shoulders, and the embroidered leather on the shoes.

The sultana wears a caftan, open in front from top to bottom, under this a slip of cotton like the kings, an Indian shawl over the shoulders, which ties behind, and a silk handkerchief about her head. Other women dress in the same manner. They wear no drawers. The poorest women are always clothed. They never show their bosom. The men and women wear ear-rings. The general expense of a woman's dress is from two ducats to thirty.[63] Their shoes are red, and are brought from Marocco.[64] Their arms and ankles are adorned with bracelets. The poor have them of brass; the rich, of gold. The rich ornament their heads with cowries. The poor have but one bracelet on the leg, and one on the arm; the rich, two. They also wear gold rings upon their fingers. They have no pearls or precious stones. The women do not wear veils.

[Footnote 63: Equal to from two to thirty Mexico dollars.]

[Footnote 64: They are manufactured at Marocco.] 31 DIVERSIONS.

The king has 500 or 600 horses; his stables are in the inclosure; the saddles have a peak before, but none behind. He frequently hunts the antelope, wild ass, ostrich, and an animal, which, from Shabeeny's description, appears to be the wild cow[65] of Africa. The wild ass is very fleet, and when closely pursued kicks back the earth and sand in the eyes of his pursuers. They have the finest greyhounds in the world, with which they hunt only the antelope[66]; for the dogs are not able to overtake the ostrich. Shabeeny has often hunted with the king; any person may accompany him. Sometimes he does not return for three or four days: he sets out always after sunrise. Whatever is killed in the chace is divided among the strangers and other company present; but those animals which are taken alive are sent to the king's palace. He goes to hunt towards the desert, and does not begin till distant ten miles from the town. The antelopes are found in herds of from thirty to sixty. He never saw an antelope, wild ass, or ostrich alone, but generally in large droves. The ostriches, like the storks, place centinels upon the watch: thirty yards are reckoned a distance for a secure shot with the bow. The king always shoots on 32 horseback, as do many of his courtiers, sometimes with muskets, but oftener with bows. The king takes a great many tents with him. There are no lions, tigers, or wild boars near Timbuctoo. They play at chess and draughts, and are very expert at those games: they have no cards; but they have tumblers, jugglers, and ventriloquists, whose voice appears to come from under the armpits. He was much pleased with their music, of which they have twenty-four different sorts. They have dances of different kinds, some of which are very indecent.

[Footnote 65: The _Aoudad_; for a particular description of which, see Jackson's Marocco, Chapter V., Zoology, p. 84.]

[Footnote 66: The Gazel, or Antelope, outruns at first the greyhound; but after running about an hour the greyhound gains on him.]

TIME.

They measure time[67] by days, weeks, lunar months, and lunar years; yet few can ascertain their age.

[Footnote 67: The hour is an indefinite term, and assimilates to our expression of a good while; it is from half an hour by the dial to six hours, and the difference is expressed by the word _wahad saa kabeer_, a long hour; and _wahad saa sereer_, a little hour; also by the elongation of the last syllable of the last word.]

RELIGION.

They have no temples, churches, or mosques, no regular worship or sabbath; but once in three months they have a great festival, which lasts two or three days, sometimes a week, and is spent in eating and drinking. He does not know the cause; but thinks it, perhaps, a commemoration of the king's birth-day; no work is done. They 33 believe in a Supreme Being and another state of existence, and have saints and men whom they revere as holy. Some of them are sorcerers, and some ideots, as in Barbary and Turkey; and though physicians are numerous, they expect more effectual aid in sickness from the prayers of the saints, especially in the rheumatism. Music is employed to excite ecstasy in the saint, who, when in a state of inspiration, tells (on the authority of some departed saint, generally of Seedy Muhamed Seef,) what animal must be sacrificed for the recovery of the patient: a white cock, a red cock, a hen, an ostrich, an antelope, or a goat. The animal is then killed in the presence of the sick, and dressed; the blood, feathers, and bones are preserved in a shell and carried to some retired spot, where they are covered and marked as a sacrifice. No salt or seasoning is used in the meat, but incense is used previous to its preparation. The sick man eats as much as he can of the meat, and all present partake; the rice, or what else is dressed with it, must be the produce of charitable contributions from others, not of the house or family; and every contributor prays for the patient.

DISEASES.

The winds of the desert produce complaints in the stomach, cured by 34 medicine. They have professed surgeons and physicians. The bite of a snake is cured by sucking the wound. They have the jlob[68] violently, for which sulphur from Terodant in Suse is taken internally and externally. This disorder is sometimes fatal. They are afflicted also with fevers and agues. Bleeding is often successful; the physicians prescribe also purgatives and emetics. Ruptures are frequent and dangerous; seldom cured, and often fatal. They tap for the dropsy. He never heard of the venereal disease there. Head-aches and consumptions also prevail. The physicians[69] collect herbs and use them in medicine.

[Footnote 68: Probably the itch, called El Hack in Barbary.]

[Footnote 69: The physicians have a very superior and general knowledge of the virtues of herbs and plants.]

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

The nails and palms of the hands are stained red with henna[70], cultivated there: the Arabs tatoo their hands and arms, but not the people of Timbuctoo. These people are real negroes; they have a slight mark on the face, sloping from the eye; the Foulans have a horizontal mark; the Bambarrahees a wide gash from the forehead to the chin. Tombs are raised over the dead; they are buried in a winding-sheet and a coffin: the relations mourn over their graves, and pronounce a panegyric on the dead. The men and women mix in 35 society, and visit together with the same freedom as in Europe. They sleep on mattresses, with cotton sheets and a counterpane; the married, in separate beds in the same room. They frequently bathe the whole body, their smell would otherwise be offensive; they use towels brought from India. At dinner they spread their mats and sit as in Barbary. They smoke a great deal, but tobacco is dear; it is the best article of trade. Poisoning is common; they get the poison from the fangs of snakes, but, he says, most commonly from a part of the body near the tail, by a kind of distillation. Physic, taken immediately after the poison, may cure, but not always; if deferred two or three days, the man must die: the poison is slow, wastes the flesh, and produces a sallow, morbid appearance. It causes great pain in the stomach, destroys the appetite, produces a consumption, and kills in a longer or shorter time, according to the strength of constitution. Some who have taken remedies, soon after the poison, live 8 or 10 years; otherwise the poison kills in 4 or 5 days. Physicians prescribe an emetic, the composition of which he does not know.

[Footnote 70: A decoction of the herb henna produces a deep orange die. It is used generally by the females on their hands and feet: it allays the violence of perspiration in the part to which it is applied, and imparts a coolness.]

NEIGHBOURING NATIONS.

There are no Arabs between Timbuctoo and the Nile; they live on the 36 other side[71], and would not with impunity invade the lands of these people, who are very populous, and could easily destroy any army that should attempt to molest them. The lands are chiefly private property. The Foulans are very beautiful. The Bambarrahs have thick lips and wide nostrils. The king of Foulan is much respected at Timbuctoo; his subjects are Muhamedans, but not circumcised.[72] They cannot be made slaves at Timbuctoo; but the Arabs steal their girls and sell them; not for slavery, but for marriage.

Girls are marriageable very young; sometimes they have children at ten years old.

[Footnote 71: North of the town.]

[Footnote 72: All true Muhamedans are circumcised, so that they must partake of Paganism if uncircumcised.]

37

JOURNEY FROM TIMBUCTOO TO HOUSA.