the 20th June he cast anchor off Malembé, on the shores of the Congo,
in lat. 4 degrees 39 minutes S. The king of that country was much
annoyed when he found that the English had not come to buy slaves, and
spread all manner of injurious reports against the Europeans who had
come to ruin his trade.
On the 18th July, Tuckey entered the vast estuary formed by the mouths
of the Zaire, on board the -Congo-; but when the height of the
river-banks rendered it impossible to sail farther, he embarked with
some of his people in his boats. On the 10th August he decided, on
account of the rapidity of the current and the huge rocks bordering the
stream, to make his way partly by land and partly by water. Ten days
later the boats were brought to a final stand by an impassable fall.
The explorers therefore landed, and continued their journey on foot;
but the difficulties increased every day, the Europeans falling ill,
and the negroes refusing to carry the baggage. At last, when he was
some 280 miles from the sea, Tuckey was compelled to retrace his steps.
The rainy season had set in, the number of sick increased, and the
commander, miserable at the lamentable result of the trip, himself
succumbed to fever, and only got back to his vessel to die on the 4th
October, 1816.
[Illustration: View on the banks of the Congo. (Fac-simile of early
engraving.)]
An exact survey of the mouth of the Congo, and the rectification of the
coast-line, in which there had previously been a considerable error,
were the only results of this unlucky expedition.
In 1807, not far from the scene of Clapperton's landing a few years
later, a brave but fierce people appeared on the Gold Coast. The
Ashantees, coming none knew exactly whence, flung themselves upon the
Fantees, and, after horrible massacres, in 1811 and 1816, established
themselves in the whole of the country between the Kong mountains and
the sea.
[Illustration: Ashantee warrior. (Fac-simile of early engraving.)]
As a necessary result, this led to a disturbance in the relations
between the Fantees and the English, who owned some factories and
counting-houses on the coast.
In 1816 the Ashantee king ravaged the Fantee territories in which the
English had settled, reducing the latter to famine. The Governor of
Cape Coast Castle therefore sent a petition home for aid against the
fierce and savage conqueror. The bearer of the governor's despatches
was Thomas Edward Bowditch, a young man who, actuated by a passion for
travelling, had left the parental roof, thrown up his business, and
having married against the wishes of his family, had finally accepted a
humble post at Cape Coast Castle, where his uncle was second in
command.
The English minister at once acceded to the governor's request, and
sent Bowditch back in command of an expedition; but the authorities at
Cape Coast considered him too young for the post, and superseded him by
a man whose long experience and thorough knowledge of the country and
its people seemed to fit him for the important task to be accomplished.
The result showed that this was an error. Bowditch was attached to the
mission as scientific observer, his chief duty being to take the
latitude and longitude of the different places visited.
Frederick James and Bowditch left the English settlement on the 22nd
August, 1817, and arrived at Coomassie, the Ashantee capital, without
meeting with any other obstacle than the insubordination of the
bearers. The negotiations with a view to the conclusion of a treaty of
commerce, and the opening of a road between Coomassie and the coast,
were brought to something of a successful issue by Bowditch, but James
proved himself altogether wanting in either the power of making or
enforcing suggestions. The wisdom of Bowditch's conduct was fully
recognized, and James was recalled.
It would seem that geographical science had little to expect from a
diplomatic mission to a country already visited by Bosman, Loyer, Des
Marchais, and many others, and on which Meredith and Dalzel had
written; but Bowditch turned to account his stay of five months at
Coomassie, which is but ten days' march from the Atlantic, to study the
country, manners, customs, and institutions of one of the most
interesting races of Africa.
We will now briefly describe the pompous entry of the English mission
into Coomassie. The whole population turned out on the occasion, and
all the troops, whose numbers Bowditch estimated at 30,000 at least,
were under arms.
Before they were admitted to the presence of the king, the English
witnessed a scene well calculated to impress upon them the cruelty and
barbarity of the Ashantees. A man with his hands tied behind him, his
cheeks pierced with wire, one ear cut off, the other hanging by a bit
of skin, his shoulders bleeding from cuts and slashes, and a knife run
through the skin above each shoulder-blade, was dragged, by a cord
fastened to his nose, through the town to the music of bamboos. He was
on his way to be sacrificed in honour of the white men!
"Our observations -en passant-," says Bowditch, "had taught us to
conceive a spectacle far exceeding our original expectations; but they
had not prepared us for the extent and display of the scene which here
burst upon us. An area of nearly a mile in circumference was crowded
with magnificence and novelty. The king, his tributaries and captains,
were resplendent in the distance, surrounded by attendants of every
description, fronted by a mass of warriors which seemed to make our
approach impervious. The sun was reflected, with a glare scarcely more
supportable than the heat, from the massive gold ornaments which
glistened in every direction. More than a hundred bands burst at once
on our arrival, into the peculiar airs of their several chiefs; the
horns flourished their defiances, with the beating of innumerable drums
and metal instruments, and then yielded for a while to the soft
harmonious breathings of their long flutes, with which a pleasing
instrument, like a bagpipe without the drone, was happily blended. At
least a hundred large umbrellas or canopies, which could shelter thirty
persons, were sprung up and down by the bearers with brilliant effect,
being made of scarlet, yellow, and the most showy cloths and silks, and
crowned on the top with crescents, pelicans, elephants, barrels, and
arms, and swords of gold.
"The king's messengers, with gold breastplates, made way for us, and we
commenced our round, preceded by the canes and the English flag. We
stopped to take the hand of every caboceer, (which, as their household
suites occupied several spaces in advance, delayed us long enough to
distinguish some of the ornaments in the general blaze of splendour and
ostentation). The caboceers, as did their superior captains and
attendants, wore Ashantee cloths of extravagant price, from the costly
foreign silks which had been unravelled to weave them, in all the
varieties of colour as well as pattern; they were of an incredible size
and weight, and thrown over the shoulder exactly like the Roman toga; a
small silk fillet generally encircled their temples, and massy gold
necklaces, intricately wrought, suspended Moorish charms, inclosed in
small square cases of gold, silver, and curious embroidery. Some wore
necklaces reaching to the navel, entirely of aggry beads; a band of
gold and beads encircled the knee, from which several strings of the
same depended; small circles of gold, like guineas, rings, and casts of
animals, were strung round their ancles; their sandals were of green,
red, and delicate white leather; manillas, and rude lumps of rock gold,
hung from their left wrists, which were so heavily laden as to be
supported on the head of one of their handsomest boys. Gold and silver
pipes, and canes, dazzled the eye in every direction. Wolves' and rams'
heads, as large as life, cast in gold, were suspended from their
gold-handled swords, which were held around them in great numbers; the
blades were shaped like round bills, and rusted in blood; the sheaths
were of leopard skin, or the shell of a fish like shagreen. The large
drums, supported on the head of one man, and beaten by two others, were
braced around with the thigh-bones of their enemies, and ornamented
with their skulls. The kettle-drums, resting on the ground, were
scraped with wet fingers, and covered with leopard skin. The wrists of
the drummers were hung with bells and curiously-shaped pieces of iron,
which jingled loudly as they were beating. The smaller drums were
suspended from the neck by scarves of red cloth; the horns (the teeth
of young elephants) were ornamented at the mouth-piece with gold, and
the jaw-bones of human victims. The war-caps of eagles' feathers nodded
in the rear, and large fans, of the wing feathers of the ostrich,
played around the dignitaries; immediately behind their chairs (which
were of a black wood, almost covered by inlays of ivory and gold
embossment) stood their handsomest youths, with corslets of leopard's
skin, covered with gold cockle-shells, and stuck full of small knives,
sheathed in gold and silver and the handles of blue agate;
cartouch-boxes of elephant's hide hung below, ornamented in the same
manner; a large gold-handled sword was fixed behind the left shoulder,
and silk scarves and horses' tails (generally white), streamed from the
arms and waist cloth; their long Danish muskets had broad rims of gold
at small distances, and the stocks were ornamented with shells.
Finely-grown girls stood behind the chairs of some, with silver basins.
Their stools (of the most laborious carved work, and generally with two
large bells attached to them) were conspicuously placed on the heads of
favourites; and crowds of small boys were seated around, flourishing
elephants' tails curiously mounted. The warriors sat on the ground
close to these, and so thickly as not to admit of our passing without
treading on their feet, to which they were perfectly indifferent; their
caps were of the skin of the pangolin and leopard, the tails hanging
down behind; their cartouch-belts (composed of small gourds which hold
the charges, and covered with leopard's or pig's skin) were embossed
with red shells, and small brass bells thickly hung to them; on their
hips and shoulders was a cluster of knives; iron chains and collars
dignified the most daring, who were prouder of them than of gold; their
muskets had rests affixed of leopard's skin, and the locks a covering
of the same; the sides of their faces were curiously painted in long
white streaks, and their arms also striped, having the appearance of
armour.
"We were suddenly surprised by the sight of Moors, who afforded the
first general diversity of dress. There were seventeen superiors,
arrayed in large cloaks of white satin, richly trimmed with spangled
embroidery; their shirts and trousers were of silk; and a very large
turban of white muslin was studded with a border of different coloured
stones; their attendants wore red caps and turbans, and long white
shirts, which hung over their trousers; those of the inferiors were of
dark blue cloth. They slowly raised their eyes from the ground as we
passed, and with a most malignant scowl.
"The prolonged flourishes of the horns, a deafening tumult of drums,
and the fuller concert at the intervals, announced that we were
approaching the king. We were already passing the principal officers of
his household. The chamberlain, the gold horn blower, the captain of
the messengers, the captain for royal executions, the captain of the
market, the keeper of the royal burying-ground, and the master of the
bands, sat surrounded by a retinue and splendour which bespoke the
dignity and importance of their offices. The cook had a number of small
services, covered with leopard's skin, held behind him, and a large
quantity of massy silver plate was displayed before him--punch-bowls,
waiters, coffee-pots, tankards, and a very large vessel with heavy
handles and clawed feet, which seemed to have been made to hold
incense. I observed a Portuguese inscription on one piece, and they
seemed generally of that manufacture. The executioner, a man of immense
size, wore a massy gold hatchet on his breast; and the execution stool
was held before him, clotted in blood, and partly covered with a cawl
of fat. The king's four linguists were encircled by a splendour
inferior to none, and their peculiar insignia, gold canes, were
elevated in all directions, tied in bundles like fasces. The keeper of
the treasury added to his own magnificence by the ostentatious display
of his service; the blow pan, boxes, scales and weights, were of solid
gold.
"A delay of some minutes whilst we severally approached to receive the
king's hand, afforded us a thorough view of him. His deportment first
excited my attention; native dignity in princes we are pleased to call
barbarous was a curious spectacle; his manners were majestic, yet
courteous, and he did not allow his surprise to beguile him for a
moment of the composure of the monarch. He appeared to be about
thirty-eight years of age, inclined to corpulence, and of a benevolent
countenance."
This account is followed by a description, extending over several
pages, of the costume of the king, the filing past of the chiefs and
troops, the dispersing of the crowd, and the ceremonies of reception,
which lasted far on into the night.
Reading Bowditch's extraordinary narrative, we are tempted to ask if it
be not the outcome of the traveller's imagination, for we can scarcely
credit what he says of the wonderful luxury of this barbarous court,
the sacrifice of thousands of persons at certain seasons of the year,
the curious customs of this warlike and cruel people, this mixture of
barbarism and civilization hitherto unknown in Africa. We could not
acquit Bowditch of great exaggeration, had not later travellers as well
as contemporary explorers confirmed his statements. We can therefore
only express our astonishment that such a government, founded on terror
alone, could have endured so long.
It is a pleasure to us Frenchmen when we can quote the name of a
fellow-countryman amongst the many travellers who have risked their
lives in the cause of geographical science. Without abating our
critical acumen, we feel our pulse quicken when we read of the dangers
and struggles of such travellers as Mollien, Caillié, De Cailliaud, and
Letorzec.
Gaspar Mollien was nephew to Napoleon's Minister of the Treasury. He
was on board the -Medusa-, but was fortunate enough to escape when that
vessel was shipwrecked, and to reach the coast of the Sahara in a boat,
whence he made his way to Senegal.
The dangers from which Mollien had just escaped would have destroyed
the love of adventure and exploration in a less ardent spirit. They had
no such effect upon him. He left St. Louis as soon as ever he obtained
the assent of the Governor, Fleuriau, to his proposal to explore the
sources of the great rivers of Senegambia, and especially those of the
Djoliba.
Mollien started from Djeddeh on the 29th January, 1818, and taking an
easterly course between the 15th and 16th parallels of north latitude,
crossed the kingdom of Domel, and entered the districts peopled by the
Yaloofs. Unable to go by way of Woolli, he decided in favour of the
Fouta Toro route, and in spite of the jealousy of the natives and their
love of pillage, he reached Bondou without accident. It took him three
days to traverse the desert between Bondou and the districts beyond the
Gambia, after which he penetrated into Niokolo, a mountainous country,
inhabited by the all but wild Peuls and Djallons.
Leaving Bandeia, Mollien entered Fouta Djallon, and reached the sources
of the Gambia and the Rio Grande, which are in close proximity. A few
days later he came to those of the Falemé; and, in spite of the
repugnance and fear of his guide, he made his way into Timbo, the
capital of Fouta. The absence of the king and most of the inhabitants
probably spared him from a long captivity abbreviated only by torture.
Fouta is a fortified town, the king owns houses, with mud walls between
three and four feet thick and fifteen high.
At a short distance from Timbo, Mollien discovered the sources of the
Senegal--at least what were pointed out to him as such by the blacks;
but it was impossible for him to take astronomical observations.
The explorer did not, however, look upon his work as done. He had ever
before him the still more important discovery of the sources of the
Niger; but the feeble state of his health, the setting in of the rainy
season, the swelling of the rivers, the fears of his guides, who
refused to accompany him into Kooranko and Soolimano, though he offered
them guns, amber beads, and even his horse, compelled him to give up
the idea of crossing the Kong mountains, and to return to St. Louis.
Mollien had, however, opened several new lines in a part of Senegambia
not before visited by any European.
"It is to be regretted," says M. de la Renaudière, "that worn out with
fatigue, scarcely able to drag himself along, in a state of positive
destitution, Mollien was unable to cross the lofty mountains separating
the basin of the Senegal from that of the Djoliba, and that he was
compelled to rely upon native information respecting the most important
objects of his expedition. It is on the faith of the assertions of the
natives that he claims to have visited the sources of the Rio Grande,
Falemé, Gambia, and Senegal. If he had been able to follow the course
of those rivers to their fountainhead his discoveries would have
acquired certainty, which is, unfortunately, now wanting to them.
However, when we compare the accounts of other travellers with what he
says of the position of the source of the Ba-Fing, or Senegal, which
cannot be that of any other great stream, we are convinced of the
reality of this discovery at least. It also seems certain that the two
last springs are higher up than was supposed, and that the Djoliba
rises in a yet loftier locality. The country rises gradually to the
south and south-east in parallel terraces. These mountain chains
increase in height towards the east, attaining their greatest elevation
between lat. 8 degrees and 10 degrees N."
Such were the results of Mollien's interesting journey in the French
colony of Senegal. The same country was the starting-point of another
explorer, Réné Caillié.
Caillié, who was born in 1800, in the department of the Seine et Oise,
had only an elementary education; but reading Robinson Crusoe had fired
his youthful imagination with a zeal for adventure, and he never rested
until, in spite of his scanty resources, he had obtained maps and books
of travel. In 1816, when only sixteen years old, he embarked for
Senegal, in the transport-ship -La Loire-.
At this time the English Government was organizing an inland exploring
expedition, under the command of Major Gray. To avoid the terrible
almamy of Timbo, who had been so fatal to Peddie, the English made for
the mouth of the Gambia by sea. Woolli and the Gaboon were crossed, and
the explorers penetrated into Bondou, which Mollien was to visit a few
years later, a district inhabited by a people as fanatic and fierce as
those of Fouta Djallon. The extortions of the almamy were such that
under pretext of there being an old debt left unpaid by the English
Government, Major Gray was mulcted of nearly all his baggage, and had
to send an officer to the Senegal for a fresh supply.
Caillié knowing nothing of this disastrous beginning, and aware that
Gray was glad to receive new recruits, left St. Louis with two negroes,
and reached Goree. But there some people, who took an interest in him,
persuaded him not to take service with Gray, and got him an appointment
at Guadaloupe. He remained, however, but six months in that island, and
then returned to Bordeaux, whence he started for the Senegal once more.
Partarieu, one of Gray's officers, was just going back to his chief
with the merchandise he had procured, and Caillié asked and obtained
leave to accompany him, without either pay or a fixed engagement.
[Illustration: Réné Caillié. (Fac-simile of early engraving.)]
The caravan consisted of seventy persons, black and white, and
thirty-two richly-laden camels. It left Gandiolle, in Cayor, on the 5th
February, 1819, and before entering Jaloof a desert was crossed, where
great suffering was endured from thirst. The leader, in order to carry
more merchandise, had neglected to take a sufficient supply of water.
At Boolibaba, a village inhabited by Foulah shepherds, the travellers
were enabled to recruit, and to fill their leathern bottles for a
journey across a second desert.
Avoiding Fouta Toro, whose inhabitants are fanatics and thieves,
Partarieu entered Bondou. He would gladly have evaded visiting
Boulibané, the capital and residence of the almamy, but was compelled
to do so, owing to the refusal of the people to supply grain or water
to the caravan, and also in obedience to the strict orders of Major
Gray, who thought the almamy would let the travellers pass after paying
tribute.
The terrible almamy began by extorting a great number of presents, and
then refused to allow the English to visit Bakel on the Senegal. They
might, he said, go through his states, those of Kaarta, to Clego, or
they might take the Fouta Toro route. Both these alternatives were
equally impossible, as in either case the caravan would have to travel
among fanatic tribes. The explorers believed the almamy's object was to
have them robbed and murdered, without incurring the personal
responsibility.
They resolved to force their way. Preparations were scarcely begun for
a start, when the caravan was surrounded by a multitude of soldiers,
who, taking possession of the wells, rendered it impossible for the
travellers to carry out their intentions. At the same time the war-drum
was beaten on every side. To fight was impossible; a palaver had to be
held. In a word, the English had to own their powerlessness. The almamy
dictated the conditions of peace, mulcted the whites of a few more
presents, and ordered them to withdraw by way of Fouta Toro.
Yet more--and this was a flagrant insult to British pride--the English
found themselves escorted by a guard, which prevented their taking any
other route. When night fell they revenged themselves by setting fire
to all their merchandise in the very sight of the Foulahs, who had
intended to get possession of them. The crossing of Fouta Toro among
hostile natives was terribly arduous. The slightest pretext was seized
for a dispute, and again and again violence seemed inevitable. Food and
water were only to be obtained at exorbitant prices.
At last, one night, Partarieu, to disarm the suspicion of the natives,
gave out that he could not carry all his baggage at once, and having
first filled his coffers and bags with stones, he decamped with all his
followers for the Senegal, leaving his tents pitched and his fires
alight. His path was strewn with bales, arms, and animals. Thanks to
this subterfuge, and the rapidity of their march, the English reached
Bakel in safety, where the French welcomed the remnant of the
expedition with enthusiasm.
[Illustration: "He decamped with all his followers."]
Caillié, attacked by a fever which nearly proved fatal, returned to St.
Louis; but not recovering his health there, he was obliged to go back
to France. Not until 1824 was he able to return to Senegal, which was
then governed by Baron Roger, a friend to progress, who was anxious
-pari passu-, to extend our geographical knowledge with our commercial
relations. Roger supplied Caillié with means to go and live amongst the
Bracknas, there to study Arabic and the Mussulman religion.
Life amongst the suspicious and fanatic Moorish shepherds was by no
means easy. The traveller, who had great difficulty in keeping his
daily journal, was obliged to resort to all manner of subterfuges to
obtain permission to explore the neighbourhood of his house. He gives
us some curious details of the life of the Bracknas--of their diet,
which consists almost entirely of milk; of their habitations, which are
nothing more than tents unfitted for the vicissitudes of the climate;
of their "-guéhués-" or itinerant minstrels; their mode of producing
the excessive -embonpoint- which they consider the height of female
beauty; the aspect of the country; the fertility and productions of the
soil, &c.
The most remarkable of all the facts collected by Caillié are those
relating to the five distinct classes into which the Moorish Bracknas
are divided. These are the -Hassanes-, or warriors, whose idleness,
slovenliness, and pride exceed belief; the -Marabouts-, or priests; the
-Zénagues-, tributary to the Hassanes; the -Laratines-; and the slaves.
The -Zénagues- are a miserable class, despised by all the others, but
especially by the -Hassanes-, to whom they pay a tribute, which is of
variable amount, and is never considered enough. They do all the work,
both industrial and agricultural, and rear all the cattle.
"In spite of my efforts," says Caillié, "I could find out nothing about
the origin of this people, or ascertain how they came to be reduced to
pay tribute to other Moors. When I asked them any questions about this,
they said it was God's will. Can they be a remnant of a conquered
tribe? and if so, how is it that no tradition on the subject is
retained amongst them. I do not think they can be, for the Moors, proud
as they are of their origin, never forget the names of those who have
brought credit to their families; and were such the case, the Zénagues,
who form the majority of the population, and are skilful warriors,
would rise under the leadership of one of their chiefs, and fling off
the yoke of servitude."
Laratine is the name given to the offspring of a Moor and a negro
slave. Although they are slaves, the Laratines are never sold, but
while living in separate camps, are treated very much like the
Zénagues. Those who are the sons of Hassanes are warriors, whilst the
children of Marabouts are brought up to the profession of their father.
The actual slaves are all negroes. Ill-treated, badly fed, and flogged
on the slightest pretext, there is no suffering which they are not
called upon to endure.
In May, 1825, Caillié returned to St. Louis. Baron Roger was absent,
and his representative was by no means friendly. The explorer had to
content himself with the pay of a common soldier until the return of
his protector, to whom he sent the notes he had made when amongst the
Bracknas, but all his offers of service were rejected. He was promised
a certain sum on his return from Timbuctoo; but how was he even to
start without private resources?
The intrepid Caillié was not, however, to be discouraged. As he
obtained neither encouragement nor help from the colonial government,
he went to Sierra Leone, where the governor, who did not wish to
deprive Major Laing of the credit of being the first to arrive at
Timbuctoo, rejected his proposals.
In the management of an indigo factory, Caillié soon saved money to the
extent of two thousand francs, a sum which appeared to him sufficient
to carry him to the end of the world. He lost no time in purchasing the
necessary merchandise, and joined some Mandingoes and "seracolets," or
wandering African merchants. He told them, under the seal of secrecy,
that he had been born in Egypt of Arab parents, taken to France at an
early age, and sent to Senegal to look after the business of his
master, who, satisfied with his services, had given him his freedom. He
added, that his chief desire was to get back to Egypt, and resume the
Mohammedan religion.
On the 22nd March, 1827, Caillié left Freetown for Kakondy, a village
on the Rio Nuñez, where he employed his leisure in collecting
information respecting the Landamas and the Nalous, both subject to the
Foulahs of Fouta Djallon, but not Mohammedans, and, as a necessary
result, both much given to spirituous liquors. They dwell in the
districts watered by the Rio Nuñez, side by side with the Bagos, an
idolatrous race who dwell at its mouth. The Bagos are light-hearted,
industrious, and skilful tillers of the soil; they make large profits
out of the sale of their rice and salt. They have no king, no religion
but a barbarous idolatry, and are governed by the oldest man in their
village, an arrangement which answers very well.
On the 19th April, 1827, Caillié with but one bearer and a guide, at
last started for Timbuctoo. He speaks favourably of the Foulahs and the
people of Fouta Djallon, whose rich and fertile country he crossed. The
Ba-Fing, the chief affluent of the Senegal, was not more than a hundred
paces across, and a foot and a half deep where he passed it; but the
force of the current, and the huge granite rocks encumbering its bed,
render it very difficult and dangerous to cross the river. After a halt
of nineteen days in the village of Cambaya, the home of the guide who
had accompanied him thus far, Caillié entered Kankan, crossing a
district intersected by rivers and large streams, which were then
beginning to inundate the whole land.
On the 30th May the explorer crossed the Tankisso, a large river with a
rocky bed belonging to the system of the Niger, and reached the latter
on the 11th June, at Couronassa.
[Illustration: Caillié crossing the Tankisso.]
"Even here," says Caillié, "so near to its source, the Niger is 900
feet wide, with a current of two miles and a half."
Before we enter Kankan with the French explorer, it will be well to sum
up what he says of the Foulahs of Fouta. They are mostly tall,
well-made men, with chestnut-brown complexions, curly hair, lofty
foreheads, aquiline noses, features in fact very like those of
Europeans. They are bigoted Mohammedans, and hate Christians. Unlike
the Mandingoes, they do not travel, but love their home; they are good
agriculturists and clever traders, warlike and patriotic, and they
leave none but their old men and women in their villages when they go
to war.
The town of Kankan stands in a plain surrounded by lofty mountains. The
bombax, baobab, and butter-tree, also called "cé" the "shea" of Mungo
Park, are plentiful. Caillié was delayed in Kankan for twenty-eight
days before he could get on to Sambatikala; and during that time he was
shamefully robbed by his host, and could not obtain from the chief of
the village restitution of the goods which had been stolen.
"Kankan," says the traveller, "is a small town near the left bank of
the Milo, a pretty river, which comes from the south, and waters the
Kissi district, where it takes its rise, flowing thence in a
north-westerly direction to empty itself into the Niger, two or three
days' journey from Kankan. Surrounded by a thick quick-set hedge, this
town, which does not contain more than 6000 inhabitants, is situated in
an extensive and very fertile plain of grey sand. On every side are
pretty little villages, called -Worondes-, where the slaves live. These
habitations give interest to the scene, and are surrounded by very fine
plantations; yams, rice, onions, pistachio nuts, &c., are exported in
large quantities."
Between Kankan and Wassolo the road led through well cultivated, and,
at this time of year, nearly submerged districts. The inhabitants
struck Caillié as being of a mild, cheerful, and inquiring disposition.
They gave him a cordial welcome.
Several tributaries of the Niger, including the Sarano, were passed
before a halt was made at Sigala, the residence of Baranusa, the chief
of Wassolo. He was of slovenly habits, like his subjects, and used
tobacco both as snuff and for smoking. He was said to be very rich in
gold and slaves. His subjects paid him a tribute in cattle; he had a
great many wives, each of whom owned a hut of her own, their houses
forming a little village, with well cultivated environs. Here Caillié
for the first time saw the Rhamnus Lotus mentioned by Park.
On leaving Wossolo, Caillié entered Foulou, whose inhabitants, like
those of the former district, are idolaters, of slovenly habits. They
speak the Mandingo tongue. At Sambatikala the traveller paid a visit to
the almamy.
"We entered," he says, "a place which served him as a bedroom for
himself and a stable for his horse. The prince's bed was at the further
end. It consisted of a little platform raised six inches from the
ground, on which was stretched an ox hide, with a dirty mosquito
curtain, to keep off the insects. There was no other furniture in this
royal abode. Two saddles hung from stakes driven into the wall; a large
straw hat, a drum only used in war-time, a few lances, a bow, a quiver,
and some arrows, were the only ornaments. A lamp made of a piece of
flat iron set on a stand of the same metal, stood on the ground. This
lamp was fed by a kind of vegetable matter, not thick enough to be made
into candles."
The almamy soon informed Caillié of an opportunity for him to go to
Timeh, whence a caravan was about to start for Jenneh. The traveller
then entered the province of Bambarra, and quickly arrived at the
pretty little village of Timeh, inhabited by Mohammedan Mandingoes, and
bounded on the east by a chain of mountains about 350 fathoms high.
When he entered this village, at the end of July, Caillié little dreamt
of the long stay he would be compelled to make in it. He had hurt his
foot, and the wound became very much inflamed by walking in wet grass.
He therefore decided to let the caravan for Jenneh go on without him,
and remain at Timeh until his foot should be completely healed. It
would have been too great a risk for him in his state to travel through
Bambarra, where the idolatrous inhabitants of the country would be
pretty sure to rob him.
"The Bambarras," he says, "have few slaves, go almost naked, and are
always armed with bows and arrows. They are governed by a number of
petty independent chiefs, who are often at war with one another. They
are in fact rude and wild creatures as compared with the tribes who
have embraced Mohammedanism."
Caillié was detained at Timeh by the still unhealed wound in his foot,
until the 10th November. At that date he proposed starting for Jenneh,
but, to quote his own words, "I was now seized with violent pains in
the jaws, warning me that I was attacked with scurvy, a terrible
malady, all the horrors of which I was to realize. My palate was
completely skinned, part of the bone came away, my teeth seemed ready
to fall out of the gums, my sufferings were terrible. I feared that my
brain might be affected by the agony of pain in my head. I was more
than a fortnight without an instant's sleep."
To make matters worse, the wound broke out afresh; and he would have
been cured neither of it nor of the scurvy had it not been for the
energetic treatment of an old negress, who was accustomed to doctor the
scorbutic affections, so common in that country.
On the 9th January, 1828, Caillié left Timeh, and reached Kimba, a
little village where the caravan for Jenneh was assembled. Near to this
village rises the chain erroneously called Kong, which is the general
name for mountain amongst the Mandingoes.
The names of the villages entered by the travellers, and the incidents
of the journey through Bambarra, are of no special interest. The
inhabitants are accounted great thieves by the Mandingoes, but are
probably not more dishonest than their critics.
The Bambarra women all wear a thin slip of wood imbedded in the lower
lip, a strange fashion exactly similar to that noticed by Cook amongst
the natives of the north-western coast of America. The Bambarras speak
Mandingo, though they have a dialect of their own called -Kissour-,
about which the traveller could obtain no trustworthy written
information.
Jenneh was formerly called "the golden land." The precious metal is
not, however, found there, but a good deal is imported by the Boureh
merchants and the Mandingoes of Kong.
Jenneh, two miles and a half in circumference, is surrounded by a mud
wall ten feet high. The houses, built of bricks baked in the sun, are
as large as those of European peasants. They have all terraces, but no
outer windows. Numbers of foreigners frequent Jenneh. The inhabitants,
as many as eight or ten thousand, are very industrious and intelligent.
They hire out their slaves, and also employ them in various
handicrafts.
The Moors, however, monopolize the more important commerce. Not a day
passes that they do not despatch huge boats laden with rice, millet,
cotton, honey, vegetable butter, and other native products.
In spite of this great commercial movement, the prosperity of Jenneh
was threatened. Sego Ahmadou, chief of the country, impelled by bigoted
zeal, made fierce war upon the Bambarras of Sego, whom he wished to
rally round the standard of the Prophet. This struggle did a great deal
of harm to the trade of Jenneh, for it interrupted intercourse with
Yamina, Sansanding, Bamakou, and Boureh, which were the chief marts for
its produce.
The women of Jenneh would not be true to their sex if they did not show
some marks of coquetry. Those who aim at fashion pass a ring or a glass
ornament through the nostrils, whilst their poorer sisters content
themselves with a bit of pink silk.
During Caillié's long stay at Jenneh, he was loaded with kindness and
attentions by the Moors, to whom he had told the fabulous tale about
his birth in Egypt, and abduction by the army of occupation.
On the 23rd March, the traveller embarked on the Niger for Timbuctoo,
on which the sheriff, won over by the gift of an umbrella, had obtained
a passage for him. He carried with him letters of introduction to the
chief persons in Timbuctoo.
Caillié now passed in succession the pretty villages of Kera, Taguetia,
Sankha-Guibila, Diebeh, and Isaca, near to which the river is joined by
an important branch, which makes a great bend beyond Sego, catching
sight also of Wandacora, Wanga, Corocoïla, and Cona, finally reaching,
on the 2nd of April, the mouth of the important Lake Debo.
"Land," says Caillié, "is visible on every side of this lake except on
the west, where it widens out like a vast inland sea. Following its
northern coast in a west-north-west direction for a distance of fifteen
miles, you leave on the left a tongue of level ground, which runs
several miles to the south, seeming to bar the passage of the lake, and
form a kind of strait. Beyond this barrier the lake stretches away out
of sight in the west. The barrier I have just described cuts Lake Debo
into two parts, the upper and lower. That navigable to boats contains
three islands, and is very wide; it stretches away a short distance on
the east, and is supplemented by an immense number of huge marshes."
One after the other, Caillié now passed the fishing village of Gabibi;
Tongoon in the Diriman country, a district stretching far away on the
east; Codosa, an important commercial town; Barconga, Leleb, Garfolo,
Baracondieh, Tircy, Talbocoïla, Salacoïla, Cora, Coratou, where the
Tuaricks exact a toll from passing boats, and finally reached Cabra,
built on a height out of reach of the overflowing of the Niger, and
serving as the port of Timbuctoo.
On the 20th, Caillié disembarked, and started for that city, which he
entered at sundown.
"I, at last," cries our hero, "saw the capital of the Soudan, which had
so long been the goal of my desires. As I entered that mysterious town,
an object of curiosity to the civilized nations of Europe, I was filled
with indescribable exultation. I never experienced anything like it,
and my delight knew no bounds. But I had to moderate my transports, and
it was to God alone I confided them. With what earnestness I thanked
Him for the success which had crowned my enterprise and the signal
protection He had accorded me in so many apparently insurmountable
difficulties and perils. My first emotions having subsided, I found
that the scene before me by no means came up to my expectations. I had
conceived a very different idea of the grandeur and wealth of this
town. At first sight it appeared nothing more than a mass of
badly-built houses, whilst on every side stretched vast plains of arid,
yellowish, shifting sands. The sky was of a dull red colour on the
horizon; all nature seemed melancholy; profound silence prevailed, not
so much as the song of a bird was heard. And yet there was something
indescribably imposing in the sight of a large town rising up in the
midst of the sandy desert, and the beholder cannot but admire the
indomitable energy of its founders. I fancy the river formerly passed
nearer the town of Timbuctoo; it is now eight miles north of it and
five of Cabra."
[Illustration: View of part of Timbuctoo. (Fac-simile of early
engraving.)]
Timbuctoo, which is neither so large nor so well populated as Caillié
expected, is altogether wanting in animation. There are no large
caravans constantly arriving in it, as at Jenneh; nor are there so many
strangers there as in the latter town; whilst the market, held at three
o'clock in the morning on account of the heat, appears deserted.
Timbuctoo is inhabited by Kissour negroes, who seem of mild
dispositions, and are employed in trade. There is no government, and
strictly speaking no central authority; each town and village has its
own chief. The mode of life is patriarchal. A great many Moorish
merchants are settled in the town, and rapidly make fortunes there.
They receive consignments of merchandise from Adrar, Tafilet, Ghât,
Ghâdames, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli.
To Timbuctoo is brought all the salt of the mines of Toudeyni, packed
on camels. It is imported in slabs, bound together by ropes, made from
grass in the neighbourhood of Tandayeh.
Timbuctoo is built in the form of a triangle, and measures about three
miles in circumference. The houses are large but not lofty, and are
built of round bricks. The streets are wide and clean. There are seven
mosques, each surmounted by a square tower, from which the muezzin
calls the faithful to prayer. Counting the floating population, the
capital of the Soudan does not contain more than from ten to twelve
thousand inhabitants.
Timbuctoo, situated in the midst of a vast plain of shifting white
sand, trades in salt only, the soil being quite unsuitable to any sort
of cultivation. The town is always full of people, who come to exact
what they call presents, but what might with more justice be styled
forced contributions. It is a public calamity when a Tuarick chief
arrives. He remains in the town a couple of months, living with his
numerous followers at the expense of the inhabitants, until he has
wrung costly presents from them. Terror has extended the domination of
these wandering tribes over all the neighbouring peoples, whom they rob
and pillage without mercy.
The Tuarick costume is the same as that of the Arabs, with the
exception of the head-dress. Day and night they wear a cotton band
which covers the eyes and comes down over the nose, so that they are
obliged to raise the head in order to see. The same band goes once or
twice round the head and hides the mouth, coming down below the chin,
so that the tip of the nose is all that is visible.
The Tuaricks are perfect riders, and mounted on first-rate horses or on
fleet camels; each man is armed with a spear, a shield, and a dagger.
They are the pirates of the desert, and innumerable are the caravans
they have robbed, or blackmailed.
[Illustration: Map of Réné Caillié's Journey.]
Four days after Caillié's arrival at Timbuctoo, he heard that a caravan
was about to start for Talifet; and as he knew that another would not
go for three months, fearing detection, he resolved to join this one.
It consisted of a large number of merchants, and 600 camels. Starting
on the 4th of May, 1828, he arrived, after terrible sufferings from the
heat, and a sand-storm in which he was caught, at El Arawan, a town of
no private resources, but important as the emporium for the Toudeyni
salt, exported at Sansanding, on the banks of the Niger, and also as
the halting-place of caravans from Tafilet, Mogadore, Ghât, Drat, and
Tripoli, the merchants here exchanging European wares for ivory, gold,
slaves, wax, honey, and Soudan stuffs. On the 19th May, the caravan
left El Arawan for Morocco, by way of the Sahara. To the traveller's
usual sufferings from heat, thirst, and privations of all kinds, was
now added the pain of a wound incurred in a fall from his camel. He was
also taunted by the Moors, and even by their slaves, who ridiculed his
habits and his awkwardness, and even sometimes threw stones at him when
his back was turned towards them.
"Often," says Caillié, "one of the Moors would say to me in a
contemptuous tone: 'You see that slave? Well I prefer him to you, so
you may guess in what esteem I hold you.' This insult would be
accompanied with roars of laughter."
Under these miserable circumstances Caillié passed the wells of
Trarzas, in whose vicinity salt is found, also those of Amul Gamil,
Amul Taf, El Ekreif, surrounded by date-trees, wood, willows, and
rushes, and reached Marabouty and El Harib, districts whose inhabitants
are disgustingly dirty in their habits.
El Harib lies between two chains of low hills, dividing it from
Morocco, to which it is tributary. Its inhabitants, divided into
several nomad tribes, employ themselves chiefly in the breeding of
camels. They would be rich and contented, but for the ceaseless
exactions of the Berber Arabs.
On the 12th July the caravan left El Harib, and eleven days later
entered the province of Talifet, famous for its majestic date-trees. At
Ghourland, Caillié was welcomed with some kindness by the Moors, though
he was not admitted to their houses, lest the women, who are visible
only to the men of their own families, should be seen by the irreverent
eyes of a stranger.
Caillié visited the market, which is held three times a week near a
little village called Boheim, three miles from Ghourland, and was
surprised at the variety of articles exposed for sale in it:
vegetables, native fruits, fodder for cattle, poultry, sheep, &c. &c.,
all in large quantities. Water in leather bottles was carried about for
sale to all who cared to drink in the exhausting heat, by men who
announced their approach by ringing a small hand-bell. Moorish and
Spanish coins alone passed current. The province of Tafilet contains
several large villages and small towns. Ghourland, El Ekseba, Sosso,
Boheim, and Ressant, which our traveller visited, contained some twelve
hundred inhabitants each, all merchants and owners of property.
The soil is very productive: corn, vegetables, dates, European fruits,
and tobacco, are cultivated in large quantities. Among the sources of
wealth in Tafilet we may name very fine sheep, whose beautifully white
wool makes very pretty coverlets, oxen, first-rate horses, donkeys, and
mules.
As at El-Drah, a good many Jews live in the villages together with
Mohammedans. They lead a miserable life, go about half naked, and are
constantly struck and insulted. Whether brokers, shoemakers,
blacksmiths, porters, or whatever their ostensible occupation, they all
lend money to the Moors.
On the 2nd August the caravan resumed its march, and after passing
A-Fileh, Tanneyara, Marca, Dayara, Rahaba, El Eyarac, Tamaroc,
Ain-Zeland, El Guim, Guigo, and Soporo, Caillié arrived at Fez, where
he made a short stay, and then pressed on to Rabat, the ancient Saléh.
Exhausted by his long march, with nothing to eat but a few dates,
obliged to depend on the charity of the Mussulmans, who as often as not
declined to give him anything, and finding at Fez no representative of
France but an old Jew named Ismail, who acted as Consular Agent, and
who, being afraid of compromising himself, would not let Caillié embark
on a Portuguese brig bound for Gibraltar,--the traveller eagerly
availed himself of a fortunate chance for going to Tangiers. There he
was kindly received by the Vice-Consul, M. Delaporte, who wrote at once
to the commandant of the French station at Cadiz, and sent him off
bound for that port, disguised as a sailor, in a corvette.
The landing at Toulon of the young Frenchman fresh from Timbuctoo, was
a very unexpected event in the scientific world. With nothing to aid
him but his own invincible courage and patience, he had brought to a
satisfactory conclusion an exploit for which the French and English
Geographical Societies had offered large rewards. Alone, without any
resources to speak of, without the aid of government or of any
scientific society, by sheer force of will, he had succeeded in
throwing a flood of new light on an immense tract of Africa.
Caillié was not indeed the first European who had visited Timbuctoo. In
the preceding year, Major Laing had penetrated into that mysterious
city, but he had paid for his expedition with his life, and we shall
presently relate the touching details of his fatal trip.
Caillié had returned to Europe, and brought back with him the curious
journal from which our narrative is taken. It is true his profession of
the Mohammedan faith had prevented him from taking astronomical
observations, and from making sketches and notes freely, but only at
the price of his seeming apostasy could he have passed through the
region where the very name of a Christian is held in abhorrence.
How many strange observations, how many fresh and exact details, did
Caillié add to our knowledge of North-West Africa! It had cost
Clapperton two journeys to traverse Africa from Tripoli to Benin;
Caillié had crossed from Senegal to Morocco in one--but at what a
price! How much fatigue, how much suffering, how many privations, had
the Frenchman endured! Timbuctoo was known at last, as well as the new
caravan route across the Sahara by way of the oases of Tafilet and El
Harib.
Was Caillié compensated for his physical and mental sufferings by the
aid which the Geographical Society sent to him at once, by the prize of
10,000 francs adjudged to him, by the Cross of the Legion of Honour and
the fame and glory attached to his name? We suppose he was. He says
more than once in his narrative that nothing but his wish to add by his
discoveries to the glory of France, his native country, could have
sustained him under the trying circumstances and insults to which he
was constantly subjected. All honour then to the patient traveller, the
sincere patriot, the great discoverer.
We have still to speak of the expedition which cost Alexander Gordon
Laing his life; but before giving our necessarily brief account, for
his journals were all lost, we must say a few words about his early
life and an interesting excursion made by him to Timmannee, Kouran and
Soolimana, when he discovered the sources of the Niger.
Laing was born in Edinburgh in 1794, entered the English army at the
age of sixteen, and soon distinguished himself. In 1820 he had gained
the rank of Lieutenant, and was serving as aide-de-camp to Sir Charles
Maccarthy, then Governor General of Western Africa. At this time war
was raging between Amara, the Mandingo almamy, and Sannassi, one of his
principal chiefs. Trade had never been very flourishing in Sierra
Leone, and this state of things dealt it its death-blow. Maccarthy,
anxious to put matters on a better footing, determined to interfere and
bring about a reconciliation between the rival chiefs. He decided on
sending an embassy to Kambia, on the borders of the Scarcies, and from
thence to Malacoury and the Mandingo camp. The enterprising character,
intelligence, and courage of Laing led to his being chosen by the
governor as his envoy, and on the 7th January, 1822, he received
instructions to report on the manufactures and topography of the
provinces mentioned, and to ascertain the feeling of the inhabitants on
the abolition of slavery.
A first interview with Yareddi, leader of the Soolimana troops
accompanying the almamy, proved that the negroes of the districts under
notice had only the vaguest ideas on European civilization, and that
they had had but little intercourse with the whites.
"Every article of our dress," says Laing, "was a subject of admiration;
observing me pull off my gloves, Yareddi stared, covered his
widely-opened mouth with his hands, and at length exclaimed, 'Alla
Akbar!' 'he has pulled the skin off his hands!' By degrees, and as he
became more familiar, he alternately rubbed down Dr. Mackie's hair and
mine, then indulging himself in a loud laugh, he would exclaim, 'They
are not men, they are not men!' He repeatedly asked my interpreter if
we had bones?"
These preliminary excursions, during which Laing ascertained that many
Soolimanas owned a good deal of gold and ivory, led to his asking the
governor's sanction to explore the districts to the east of the colony,
with a view to increasing the trade of Sierra Leone by admitting their
productions.
Maccarthy liked Laing's proposal and submitted it to the council. It
was decided that Laing should be authorized to penetrate into Soolimana
by the most convenient route for future communications.
Laing left Sierra Leone on the 16th April, 1824, and rowed up the
Rokelle river to Rokon, the chief town of Timmannee. His interview with
the King of Rokon was extremely amusing. To do him honour Laing had a
salvo of ten charges fired as he came into the court in which the
reception was to be held. At the noise the king stopped, drew back,
darted a furious look at his visitor, and ran away. It was with great
difficulty that the cowardly monarch was induced to return. At last he
came back, and seating himself with great dignity in his chair of state
he questioned the major:
"He wished to know," says Laing, "why he had been fired at, and was,
with some difficulty, persuaded that it had been done out of honour to
him. 'Why did you point your guns to the ground?' 'That you might see
our intention was to show you respect.' 'But the pebbles flew in my
face; why did you not point in the air?' 'Because we feared to burn the
thatch on your houses.' 'Well, then, give me some rum.'"
Needless to add that the interview became more cordial after the major
had complied with this request!
The portrait of the Timmannee monarch deserves a place in our volume
for more than one reason. It is a case of -ab uno disce omnes-."
"Ba-Simera," to quote Laing again, "the principal chief or king of this
part of the Timmannee country, is about ninety years of age, with a
mottled, shrivelled-up skin, resembling in colour that of an alligator
more than that of a human being, with dim, greenish eyes, far sunk in
his head, and a bleached, twisted beard, hanging down about two feet
from his chin; like the king of the opposite district he wore a
necklace of coral and leopard's teeth, but his mantle was brown and
dirty as his skin. His swollen legs, like those of an elephant, were to
be observed from under his trousers of baft, which might have been
originally white, but, from the wear of several years, had assumed a
greenish appearance."
Like his predecessors in Africa, Laing had to go through many
discussions about the right of passage through the country and bearers'
wages, but thanks to his firmness he managed to escape the extortions
of the negro kings. The chief halting-places on the route taken by the
major were: Toma, where a white man had never before been seen;
Balandeko, Roketchnick, which he ascertained to be situated in N. lat.
8 degrees 30 minutes, and W. long. 12 degrees 11 minutes; Mabimg,
beyond a very broad stream flowing north of the Rokelle; and Ma-Yosso,
the chief frontier town of Timmannee. In Timmannee Laing made
acquaintance with a singular institution, a kind of free-masonry, known
as "Purrah," the existence of which on the borders of the Rio Nuñez had
been already ascertained by Caillié.
"Their power" [that of the "Purrah"], says Laing, "supersedes even that
of the headmen of the districts, and their deeds of secrecy and
darkness are as little called in question, or inquired into, as those
of the Inquisition were in Europe, in former years. I have endeavoured
in vain to trace the origin, or cause of formation of this
extraordinary association, and have reason to suppose, that it is now
unknown to the generality of the Timmannees, and may possibly be even
so to the Purrah themselves, in a country where no traditionary records
are extant, either in writing or in song."
So far as Laing could ascertain Timmannee is divided into three
districts. The chief of each arrogates to himself the title of king.
The soil is fairly productive, and rice, yams, guavas, earth-nuts, and
bananas might be grown in plenty, but for the lazy, vicious, and
avaricious character of the inhabitants who vie with each other in
roguery.
"I think," says Laing, "that a few hoes, flails, rakes, shovels, &c.,
would be very acceptable to them, when their respective uses were
practically explained; and that they would prove more beneficial both
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