The Mysterious - Forgotten Books

TH E MYSTE R I O U S

Translated from the French by

D IANA WHITE

With One hundred and fifty-three Ill ustrations from

Photographs and Drawings made on the spot

and Eleven Maps and Plans

L O N D O N

C O N T E N T S

CHAPTE R I

FROM PARIS TO THE N IGER ,

CHAPTER I I

THE N IGER,

CHAPTER I I I

THE VALLEY OF THE N I GER,

CHAPTER IV

THE TOWNS OF THE N IGER ,

CHAPTER V

JENNE,

CHAPTER V I

THE SONGHOIS,

CHAPTER V II

THE moons IN THE SUDAN,

CHAPTER V I I I

JENNE—YESTERDAY AND TO—DAY,

T I M B U C T O O

CHAPTER I !

FROM JENNE TO T IMBUCTOO,

CHAPTER !

TIMBUC’I‘OO,

CHAPTER ! I

T IMBUCTOO ACROSS THE CENTUR I ES ,

CHAPTER ! I I

THE COMMERCE AND LIFE OF T IMBUCTOO,

CHAPTER ! I I I

THE UN IVER S ITY OF SANKORE,

CHAPTER ! IV

POL IT ICS AND L ITERATURE,

CHAPTER ! V

E UROPE AND TIMBUC’

I‘

OO,

CHAPTER ! V I

THE FRENCH CONQUEST,

INDE!,

L I S T O F I L L U S T R A T I O N S

A Tra in in the Sudan Nat ive Pas senger s ,A Ra i lway Stat ion ,On the Road : D ioulas Halt ing,On the Road E u ropeans Travelling,A Com m i s sar iat Tran sport

,

The Com m i ssar iat : in Fort Bam m aku

Bam m aku,

The N iger at Koul i ko ro,A Fish ing—Village on the Ban k s of the N iger ,Scene on the N iger .My Yacht,On the Bank s of the Niger The Venus Anadiom enes,

The M i l itary Salute,Pastu re on the Shores of the N iger,The Shores of Lake Debo at Gouwo Gunboat Station ,Mount St. Charles

,at the E ntran ce to Lake Debo

Moun t St. Hen r i,Oyster-Beds at Segu,Th rough the Sea of G rass ,The Fer ry-Boat,Go ing A s hore in the E ven ing ,

The Valley of the N iger’s Sou rce,

The Tem b i in the Sacred Wood,A Waterfall in the Valley of the N iger

’

s Sou rce ,Prepare to rece ive Caval ry,

’

The Rocky Bar r ier at Sotouba,AWo rk shop on the Ban ks of the Niger,Cotton in the Sudan ese Ma rkets,

vi i i T I M B U C T O O

\Veavers on the Bank s of the N iger,Segu ,

Segu The Anc ient Palace of Ahm adou t ran sform ed into a Fo rt

(E xter ior ) ,The Fo rt of Segu View of the Inter ior,A r r ival of the Cou r ier Segu,Postal Canoe on the N iger,Bearer of an Urgent Message,E ntrance to Madem ba

’

s Palace,

A Cou rtyard in Madem ba’

s PalaceFam a Madem ba

,

San san d ing : Co rner of the Market ,The Bosos in the bow abruptly ceased plying the i r bam boo

poles,

’

Jenne,

Boats on the N iger,Jenne A Corner of the Town ,

House in Jenne,

A Street in Jenne,

Hou se in Jenne,

A Street in Jenne,

A Pas senge r on the River,Houses in Jenn e

,

Jenne A Corner of the Town,

Jenne : The Fi sh ing Po rtA House in Jenne

,

View of Jenne,

A Co rner in Jenne,

Native Ch i ld,

A Street in Jenne,

Jenne,

Jenne,

A Square in Jenne,

B r ick -m ak ing,House in Jenne

,

I L L U S T R A T I O N S

The Old Mosque restored ,The Ru ins of the Old Mosque,The Cem etery in the m i d st of the Ru ins,View of the Inter ior of Jenne and the Old Mosque,Bu i l d ing a Large Boat,Jenn e A Corner of the Quay,The Ch ief of the Town of Jenne

,

Market in the Streets,P rec incts of the Dwel l ings of the G reat Merchants,The Com m erc ial Harbou r,Shops of It inerant Merchants

,

Wom en sel l ing in the Streets,The G reat Mar ket of Jenne,The Money-Changer,The Butcher,Corner of the Mar ket,Jenne : The Ha i rd resser

,

f Jenne The Ba rber ,A Com m erc ial Fleet upon the N iger,On the N iger,The Fo rt of E l Oual Hadj ,The Ar r ival at Kabara,The Quays of Kabara,Kabara : The Graves of the Aube E xped it ion ,On the Quays of Kabara,Scene at Kabara

,

The Fo rt of Kabara,

The Convoy,The Dwar f Forest,Ford ing the St ream on the way to Tim buctoo,Our

’

Oum aira,

’

In sc ri pt ion on Cross,

D i stant ViewofTim buctoo,A St reet at the E ntrance to the Town ,Tim buctoo The G reat Market,

i x

T I M B U C T O O

A La rge House,

The Straw Huts, with Straw E nclosu res ,Tim buctoo : A Street,Tim buctoo : A Corner of the TownMy Cou rtyard at Tim buctoo

,

Scene in Tim buctoo,Moor s in the Neighbou r hood ofTim buctoo,Moor i sh Wom en ,Moor i sh E ncam pm ent,School in a Moor i s h E ncam pm ent,Moor ish Flock s in the Neighbou rhood ofTim buctooTouareg with N ioab and Litham

,

’

Touaregs and the i r Flock s,A Pool at the Gates ofTim buctoo,Panoram a ofTim buctoo

,

A Ve iled Man in Som bre Garm en ts,

A Thoroughfare in Tim buctoo,Sudan ese wear ing the Di ssa

,

’

Tim buctoo : A Corner of the Town ,A Caravan

,

A B lock of Salt,

A Salt Merchant,Reta il ing Salt,Caravan ,

The Port ofTim buctoo,Halt of a Caravan ,Un load ing Cam el s,The Gardens ofTim buctoo

,

Traders from the Country of Moss i,

Street in the Arabian Quarter,Gol d Merchants,A Lady ofTim buctoo,A Bakehouse in the Street

,

M us ician,

The Mosque of Sankore,

I L L U S T R A T I O N S

The Tom bs Su r round ing Tim buctoo,Tom b of a Sa int

,

A School at Jenne,A School in the Street,A Schoolm aster

,

A Sew ing-Schoo l in the Sudan ,The G rand Mosque ofTim buctooBeh in d the Mosque of San kore,Oratory of S id i Yaia

,

A Sudanese Scene : A Read ing in the St reet,Cross rai sed to one of the Com pan ions of Mungo Park ,La ing

’s House,Caillié

’

s Hou se,

Barth ’s Hou se,View taken from the Terrace of Barth’s House,Tai l-p iece,Genera l View of Fort Bonn ier,E nt rance to Fo rt Bonn ier ,Fort P h i lippe,Colonel Bonn ier’s Tom b at Tim buctoo,A House Typ ical ofTim buctoo Restored ,The Pol icem an at Tim buctoo

,

xi

MAPS AND PLANS

The Sou rces of the N iger Tem b i,Map of the N iger ian Region s as far as Tim buctoo ,The Region of the Th ree Deltas,Map of the Songhoi E m igrat ion ,The E ar ly Songhoi E m p i re,The Songhoi O rgan i sat ion ,

Map of Jenn eri,

The I sland and Town of Jenne,

P lan of the O ld Mosque,

Tim buctoo and Kabara,showing Inundation s ,

P lan ofTim buctoo,

CHA P T E R I

FROM PARIS TO THE N IG E R

THE j ourney from Paris to the Niger i s scarcely so s im ple as

that from Nice to Algeria.

Having fal len asleep in a rai lway carriage on your departure

from Paris,you awake si x weeks later on a canoe-barge upon

th e Niger.

The steamer lands you at the entrance to the Senegal , i n a

country wh ich has belonged to France for centuries, and yet i s

only known to the general publ i c by its thermometrical mention,

inscribed between ‘ bain s ordinaires’ and ‘

culture des vars d

soie’ at 40° centigrade as ‘ the tem perature of Senegal .’ These

rudimentary notions are not even accurate. Will you bel ieve

that for months there you wear your greatcoat morning and

evening, the m ean tem perature registered at the local observatory

being not

From Dakar (the port of Senegal , and the finest harbour on

the west coast of Africa) you go by train to St . Louis, the

capital of the co lony . Greeting to those on e h undred and seventy

odd m i l es of i ron road ! They are the fi rst laid by Europeans

in Negraic Africa, and date from 1889 . Civi l isation has stamped

other of its signs upon these v irgin soils. In St . Louis and at

Rufisk (an im portan t commercial town in Dakar Bay) you find

the streets lighted by electrici ty ; and universal suffrage is

2 T I M B U C T O O

vigorously handled under the fo rm of legislative elections, m unici

palities, and general elections . Betting and horse-racing are

treated with equal vigour .

A smal l service of steamers starts regularly twice a week from

the quays of St . Louis for th e Sudan . The m anagem ent on

board i s com fo rtable and dear ; and you play poker in the saloon

j ust as on any big sel f- respecting steamer. For eight days you

watch the banks of the Senegal m onotonously unfo ld then comes

the morning when you m oor on a broken bank at the foot of a

huge tree . This i s Kayes,the port and actual capital of the

Sudan .

A pesti lential corner, and the sol ution of the fo l lowing d ifficult

problem How to be at the same tim e a town in the middle of a

swam p and a swam p in the m iddle of a town . This anom alou s

m ethod o f building a town makes you think for a m om ent that

you have arrived at the end o f the world,but you recover yo ur

self-possession on seeing the telegraph wi res crossing the street

and on hearing the whistl e of the locom otives . A rai lway in fact

continues the path from the Senegal to the Niger, and wil l one

day carry the travel ler right up to Bam m aku so easi ly that we

shall be able to reckon it a fortnight from Paris to the Niger.

At present the railway only extends 108 of the 341 miles that

separate Kayes from Bam m aku. For the fi rst 78 m i les its track

(reduced to a three-foot way as are certain local l ines in France) i s

no rm al and open to commercial trafl‘ic . Its administration and

maintenance are in the hands of m i l itary engineers,and the

trains arrive at both ends with remarkable punctuality . Its only

mistake is in stopping at Bafoulaba, where the Bafing and the

Bakoy unite to form the Senegal . After that you have to con

tent yo urself,for the present, with a decauville fo r the 130 miles

to D ioubaba .

4 T I M B U C T O O

I found my caravan,which had gone on in front, awaiting m e

at Dioubaba . I picked up l uggage,porters

,and horse there,

and a curious adventure in addition . I had stumbled upon a

white horse in the early part of m y j ourney . I say stumbled ,for I should assuredly never have bought such a thing ; the

colonial adm ini stration had kindly placed i t at my disposal . A

white ho rse ! What a predicam ent ! Bad l uck , as every one

knows, bad luck for the rest of the j ourney ! How coul d I avert

A RA ILWAY STATION

such an evi l omen ? Providence obligingly cam e to my rescue by

one of tho se secret ways wh ich are His.

I l uck ily noticed at Kayes that m y saddle-cloth was missing,and I tried all the shops (n

'ot a long business ) without being able

to find another . In these countries the only thing you can find

that you want or can rely upon i s—yourself. I had to fall

back upon one of those blankets they sel l to the n egro, and chose

one that was cheap and red,but soft to the horse’s back . He, the

horse , had com e by luggage-van as far as Bafoulaba, but as the

decauvi lle was unable to carry him further in that m anner,I

o

sent

him on by road to Dioubaba , whilst I made use of the l ittle

rai lway . It i s j us t as wel l to avo id twenty-eight m i l es of road on

F R O M P A R I S T O T H E N I G E R 5

horseback when you have some hundreds i n prospect . It was

night when the miniature train entered the leafy vault at Diou

baba, that serves as station and waiting-room . My people were

all asleep,and my horse peacefully grazing . Noth ing abnormal

there, apparently . But at starting next morning, as I was about

to bestrid e my mount for the fi rst time,what did I see P—A

scarlet horse ! Imagine m y j oy ! It was evidently the finger

o f God that had thus transformed m y steed ,—aided by heat,perspiration

,and the negro blanket . Behold me now

,full o f

confidence for the rest of m y j ourney .

The adventure d id not end here,for in spite of repeated

groomings and washings it proved im possible to restore m y

charger to h is original colour. The dye,detestable for blankets

,

i s admirable for horses . My anim al was the wonder of the natives

of al l the villages we passed through .

‘Ah ! these white m en ,

they said,they can even m ake scarlet horses

Enough of the horse ! Let us n ow review my equipment .

First am ong them i s my valet-de-cham bre, butler, etc . , etc . , for

numerous functions accumulate in the Sudan under the modest

title of He i s a black,thick -l ipped fellow, with a

European straw hat,a wh ite vest w ith shiny leather buttons ,

short breeches with narrow blue and wh ite stripes, naked legs,and feet d itto . One of th e survivors of the Bonnier affair, i n

wh ich he figured under the title of ‘ Captain Nigotte’

s servant . ”

His master was the so l itary officer who escaped from the Touaregs,only to d ie shortly after m y arrival . Splendid testim onials .

’ The

doctor says he i s an excel len t sick-nurse. ’ I immediately engage

h im upon that,with the idea that i f I leave m y bones in the

desert it wi l l at least be with the conviction that they have been

wel l cared for. To sum him up he i s a wel l-balanced person , no

Chatterbox, but d ignified , as becom es a person of note.

6 T I M B U C T O O

There is nothing tragic nor historical about my cook . He is

m y j oy, except in those deadly m om ents when I rage with despai r.

I engaged him rather hurriedly . Can you cook Oh yes he

repl i ed,with the assurance of every good nigger when questioned

concern ing hi s capabi li ties . If I had said,

‘ Can you paint l ike

Raphael and Murillo ? ’ he would have answered ‘Oh yes,

” with

equal conviction . In real ity he can whi stle a few bars of the

Marsei llaise tolerably well,and can boi l water and eggs—hard . I

do all the rest.

The th ird and last person of m y establi shment i s the groom .

A s i lent, bearded fellow, with Semiti c profi le. He leads the horse

up to m e when we start, holds th e stirrup , and disappears for

th e rest of th e j ourney, reappearing at the end of i t to hold the

sti rrup,and vanish again—with the animal . Never a word says

he to me, and never a word say I to h im . I do not even know

hi s nam e : he i s a riddle,an enigma . It wou ld not surprise me to

learn that he i s the nigger from Porte St . Denis , though I have

not yet heard the clock tick ing in his stomach .

Around th is trinity circle twenty-two natives,uniform as to

rarity of drapery,but very varied as to coiffure . Som e have

hai r li ke astrachan o r door-mats ; th e h eads of o thers are shaved

as bare as a lawyer’s ch in som e have a tuft in the middle,others

again rej oice i n a ci rcular fringe li ke th e heard of some old

sea-dog . Scarcely less variegated are the co lours o f thei r skins

treacle black , charcoal black , d ul l prune, shiny prune, coffee

colour, Seine colour— a whole scale i s well represented .

Place half a hund redweight of baskets and cas es upon each

head , and you have a very com plete sketch of the equipm ent

necessary for travel in the Sudan .

Having made use of vario us means of locomotion , since leaving

Paris,for accompl ish ing his j ourney with com fort and rapid ity

,

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

8 T I M B U C T O O

In another vi l lage an old skeleton of a chief total ly ignores your

arri val,your presence, even your vis it . You stand near enough to

touch h i s foot, and he continues impass ively squatting and read

ing his Koran , unti l you half expect to hear the whistling of a

lance through the ai r,to see the flash of a sabre

,or hear the

cocking of an old musket. Then,again , some old negress stops

your horse, m um bling words that are unintell igible. She sm i les

at you , and offers you a handful of sweet roots . To gi ve her

pleasure, and because her wrinkl ed sm i le recalls the fact that such

poor old th ings took pity on Réné Caillié and Mungo Park (your

predecessors in this corner of Africa) , and saved them from dying

of hunger,you accept her present of cold cooked roots. Her

j oy i s great,and by some small donation you double i t . To

put the finish ing touch to her pleasing contentm ent,you bite one

of her offerings and continue your way, absently m unching the

sweet batatas,whose flavour so strangely recalls the m arron g lacé.

Mem ory is sent galloping in pursu it of visions of your native land

and you recal l the fact that i t i s snowing and hai l ing hard there

while you have been gently cooking since daybreak .

And then life in the bush means flocks of gu inea-fowls run

ning about in the thickets , and coveys of young partridges that

ri se, careless of sportsmen , from under your horse’s very hoofs

.

It means strange, intoxicating scents that suddenly envelop you ,and leave you as suddenly as they came ; and a del irium of s unsets

passionately colouring a sky that was monotono usly co lo urless

the mom ent before . And nights ! One night we encam ped

in the huts surrounding a village square, and my men lighted

huge fi res in the open air. The gleams from thei r flam es carved

a vault of red and go ld upon the darkness,and under this arch a

fantastic bal let took place . The w ings of bats,i l lum inated from

below , m ade streaks of l ight upon th e night, l ike the trails of


fall ing stars,and were distantly enci rcled with satell ites of fire

fl ies .

But I can only give a tenth part, and that feebly, of the

unexpected sights and sensations I enj oyed . You cannot taste

l ife”s choicest morsels recl ining in an arm -chair .

Dioubaba,the terminus of the decauvil le

,i s s i tuated in the

heart of lovely mountain and river scenery . Its landscape would

real i se a handsome income in Europe . The river Bakoy , h itherto

closely confined,here breaks into a rocky waterfall

,some hundreds

of yards in length,ful l of rapids and foaming currents . ' The

horizon is bordered by mountain-tops, and the river-banks are

covered by gigantic t rees festooned with garlands of long creepers .

A sergeant of the engineers acts as station-master, and a sapper

attends to the telegraph . They are perfectly happy,they say

and are married,according to the custom of the country

,of course,

to two gay l ittle natives with charm ing ways . This society i s

completed by Bibi,a young h ippopotam us

,lately captured

,and

very tame . With a discretion , unlooked for i n s uch an anim al ,he spends the day in the Bakoy, so as not to interfere with h is

friends” occupations . They go . to the bank when in want of

amusement and cal l ‘Bibi Bibi Bibi ”s pink muzzle soon appears ;

he looks round for them with his l ittle black ' eyes,and

,d ripping

and wr iggl ing, he runs up to be caressed .

The road from Dioubaba to Bam m aku cuts from east to

west across the m assive Foota Jallon range that separates the

bas in of the Senegal from that of the Niger . It i s ful l of pictures

recalling the Forest of Fontainebleau,and is so abundantly

watered that you fall asleep every night to the sound of some

gurgling cascade or waterfall . I know noth ing m ore suggestive

10 T I M B U C T O O

than thi s road,the m ain artery of the Sudan . You see the

colonial life coming and going upon it from dav to day ; and it

also reflects th e retrospective image of the l ife that rolled along

the great European highways before the days of coaches. With

out the highwaymen,however

, for we have made enormous pro

gress since the paeification of the Sudan ten years ago . Then

travel lers encamped upon it with sentinels posted at night as if

th ey were in the country of an enemy . To-day it i s as safe as the

Cham ps Elysees .

Not that vehicles are numerous,but people are

,and animal s.

They are principal ly parties of porters that you meet ; some

travell ing to their destination laden with cases,

‘and bundles , and

sacks of m illet ; others returning, freed from their burdens,

ON THE ROAD : D IOULAS HAL'

I‘

ING

dancing and capering along the road to the sound of flute or

drum , j oyous as ch ildren let loose from school . There are dioulas ,too, or nati ve com m ercial travellers , with their servants or slaves

FR O M PA R I S T O T H E N I G E R 1 1

and their w ives and children,all driving donkeys laden with salt

and pearls,etc.

A m eeting between Europeans i s particularly pleasant. You

ON THE ROAD : EUROPEANS TRAV ELL ING

exchange bows and a declension of n am es,and titles when you

have them ; and a long talk ensues between two people who have

never seen each other in thei r l ives before . News of the interior

i s exchanged for news of Europe or the coast . You hear what i s

passing in the countries to which you are going and in the

countries to wh ich you are not going . You exchange a thousand

little serv ices, and , above all , the time ! For watches in these

cl imates develop the most fantastic manners,and the only t hing

you can be sure of is that they wi ll never tell '

you the tim e even

approximately . After th is you turn your back s upon one another

with al l th e grace in the world,and each resumes his j ourney.

The Europeans you meet are mostly governm ent offi cials,


officers,and privates . Som e are returning to France for a holiday ,

having fulfi l led their year or eighteen m onths of service, while

others are newly arrived to take thei r vacant places . Sometimes

A COMM I SSAR IAT TRANSPORT

you pass a hand‘ am bulance from which the head of som e unlucky

invalid em erges,and

,if you are good-natured and furnished with

plenty of provisions,i t i s very easy to play the good Sam aritan

on these occasions .

Unfortunately the man of com m erce only furnishes the smallest

share of these encounters : and why ? The answer i s to be found

in the road itself and the troops of porters you are incessantly

m eeting upon it, for the head of m an i s too l im ited a means of

transport to perm it a very extensive traffi c. Why not use vehicles

then ? The account given above of the pseudo roads of the

Sudan wil l answer th is qu estion,for they exist only in name.

The comm issariat departm ent knows someth ing of al l th is, fo r the

forts we have set up in our vast Nigerian po ssessions must be

v ictualled . Europeans, surrounded by black troops , l ive in them ,


keeping the country in order,civi l ising it

,organising it

,and

preparing it for occupation . It i s of course necessary to supply

these garrisons with European provisions,such as cases of wine

,

great i ron boxes of flour,coffee

,sugar

,barrels of salt meat

,and arm s

,

am m unition, clothes, tools , etc . To carry these stores to the river

(the only easy m eans of transport) the commissariat possesses carts

which are set upon this pretence of a road ; at what cost of time,trouble, and money it would take vol um es to tell . One meets

these transports from time to time,struggling with the chasms

and other asperities of the so -called roads . They are comm anded

by artillery officers,and are always accom panied by a veterinary ;

but I prefer to leave to your im agination the condition to which

the unhappy mules are reduced , even though they only do ten or

0P itstwelve m i les a day . It i s a terrible thing thi s v ictualling ,

f'\

'M

\

THE COMM I SSAR IAT : I N FORT BAMMAKU

shadow pursues you al l along th e road . Encam pments are pro

vided every ten or twelve m i les with straw huts for the m en and

picket-lines for the anim als . You can fol low the progress of the

1 4 T I M B U C T O O

transports by the l itter of rags,‘ bits of paper and abandoned

carts they leave behind them . Two forts mark the road from

Badoumba to Kita . Neither’

i s garrisoned,and both have fal len

a prey to the com missariat departm ent. Their various outworks

and approaches'are strewn with a l itter of cases on which one

reads rm edicines, sugar, candles , oil , etc . , and the nam es of the

places to which these stores are destined—Farannah, Siguiri , Segu ,o rTimbuctoo.

'The fo rts themselves are fi l led from end to end with

squatting porters awaiting thei r share of burdens ; and you hear,i n

'

the snatches of conversation and th e orders that are flying

abou t, of noth ing but ‘ cases ” and ‘ transpo rt .” The impatience

with which Europeans and natives al ike are awaiting the con

tin uation of the rai l from Dioubaba to Bam m aku becomes

suddenly com prehensible .

At last beyond Kund u'

(a third fort, com pletely abandoned )you reach the l ine of cleavage between the Senegal and Niger.

So far the country has been pleasantly varied , recall ing som e

what of Switzerland without giving an equal im pression of

ferti l ity ; but in the next and last twenty-five miles of the

road springs and rivu lets m ultiply at every step . Agricu ltu re,i nterspersed with charm ing gl impses of si lvery water

,spreads over

uninterrupted fi elds for the rest of the way . The vi llages cl uster

closer together,and are m ore densely populated . In a del ight

ful valley of the great Kati mountains a stream tum bles along

between two rocky ledges,wh ich start suddenly aside and spread

into a fan , to di sappear upon the d istant banks of th e

Niger.

It was not without a certain amount of emotion that I

approached the great ri ver, and for th is reason . It was four

years now since I fi rst started for the Niger and fai led to reach



eyes from the serenely maj esti c panorama that i s spread before

me .

And now com e what m ay ! I rem ount my horse and urge

him to a gallop along the road,'

bordered by trees, that stretches

across the plain . A postern stops me,bearing a placard on wh ich

is written in wh ite letters on black,l ike the name of a rai lway

station Bam m aku .

C H A P T E R I I

THE N IG E R

THE Niger,with its vast and m i sty horizons, i s m ore l ike an

inland ocean than a river . Borne along upon it scarcely

seeing land,the traveller i s carried away by those endless

d ream s which haunt the infin itudes of the sea. Its waters

break upon i ts banks in the monotonously cadenced waves

o f the Mediterranean shores ; and when winds , grown to

violence in the desert, swel l its waves into a great race , sea

sickness wil l convince the m ost rebel lious that the ri ver Niger

i s of kin to oceans .

Its shores,

‘

no less than i ts waves,resem ble those of the

ocean . Only occasionally ri sing into cliffs, as at Koul ikoro, they

m ore frequently cal l to m ind our own Atlantic strands,being

form ed , not of the wh ite im palpable dust of the d esert, but of

the true reddened sh ingle of the beach .

Like the oceans , the Niger possesses i ts sai lors , n ot m erely

o ccasional seam en , but whole populations, privil eged to serve it

exclusively , l iving for i t and by i t alone . They are the Somnos

o r Bosos, and are no t the aboriginals of the Nigerian countries,

but were am ong the fi rst of those great migration s of people

who saw Western Africa across the centuries . The h istory of

1 8

T H E N I G E R 19

thei r origin i s shrouded in a legend which the ancient among

them are very wil l ing to impart .‘Our ancestors,

” they say,

‘ came from the great mountains

of the East. ” Do they mean the m ounta ins of Eth iopia ?

Could they have come from the hill s su rround ing the Upper

Nile ? They have no idea . Nothing in thei r features recal ls

the m arked type of the

Eastern African , and

thei r skins are as black

to -day as those of

the nati ves of the

A F I SH I NG-V I LLAGE ON THE BANKS OF THE N IGER

Sudan . The one thing th ei r legend preserves for certai n i s , that

even in those early times they were a purely aquati c people .

They fi shed and navigated for the king of thei r country, being

bond-servants,apparently

, to the crown . The Sudanese to th is

day do not reckon them among the free tribes .

Thus they boated and fished upon their rivers , unti l one day

the king wished them to build h im ho uses and bridges . This

was a task alien to thei r caste,the work of slaves accord ing to


their ideas,and

therefore repug

nant to them .

In revenge they

offered thei r k ing

a p r e s e n t o f

p o i s o n e d t o r

toise,of wh ich

he ate and d ied

whereupon they

took fl ight in

their vessels,carry ing a l l the boats with them , to ensure against

pursu it . They followed the course of river after river in thei r

fl ight unti l they arrived at the Niger,which

,accord ing to them ,

flowed to the north .

And there they l ive to this day,l ining its stream s and

tributaries with villages that recal l the fishing-hamlets of our

own coasts . They fo rm the sole popu lation of these settlements

and occupy distinct quarters i n the towns and cities,thus em

phas ising the fact that the Bosos sti ll belong exclusively to the

river. All th is gave m e a reflex affection for them which

increased with knowledge, gained by m any days spent in the

m idst of thei r l i ves . I have seen them set out to the capture

of thei r great prey (the all igator and sea-cow) , looking, the black

Bosos in hi s black canoe,l ike a bronze group against the blinding

light . In the bow of the long,narrow

,unsteady pirogue one

of their num ber stands upright in a fine attitude of attack,

whilst the other, crouching in the stern,noiselessly obeys the

d irections of his com panion . Silently,alm ost without movement

,

they advance unti l the watchful eye in the bow discerns som e

alligator asleep on the tide,or som e great bearded fi sh dozing

T H E N I G E R 21

betwixt wind and water. Then th e nude silhouette in the bow

i s strained by a bea utiful movement of the free body,the right

arm i s poised,and th e harpoon flung, strik ing the great beast

unawares .

The Bosos i s not only the fi sherman,he i s also the boatman

of the Niger,and I have seen him exert admirable physi ca l

qual ities in this latter capacity,yielding nothing in sobriety and

endurance to the ocean-going sailor . The si x or eight men

forming th e crew of my boat worked day and night,alternately

s itting to wield the paddle when the water was deep,and stand

ing,when the bottom could be felt, to ply the long bamboo

poles . This variation was the only relaxation they allowed

them selveS ' besides a few m oments for thei r meals . And what

meals they were ! If I had permitted it,a few handfuls of

millet seed,neither cooked nor ground , but merely moisten ed

with water, would have am ply satisfi ed th em . Sometimes when

the moon was late in ri sing, or slum ber pro ved too invi ting,

one of thei r num ber wo uld chant som e m onotonous and m elan

choly refrain to which the singer improvised brief couplets which

were taken up in chorus by hi s com rades . Now and again they

would rouse themselves to greater exertions by thei r cry of‘Tara (quick ly) , tara, Bosos !

” The six or seven days of our

j ourneying were only broken by som e four or five hours of

indifferent repose,uncom fortably snatched at th e bottom of th e

boat,and distu rbed by the continued paddling of thei r com

panions . Could any men of our race furnish a l ike example of

endurance ? The chatter and laughter were a l i ttl e less perhapin the last few days, and they had recourse rather more fre

quently to powdered tobacco (thei r only stimulant) , which some

thrust up thei r nostri ls and others into thei r m onths. These

were the only signs of unusual fatigue which they permitted to


appear. Nor were thei r exertions undertaken from any motives

of devotion,but for a man whom they had never seen unti l a

few moments before starting,and whom they knew they would

leave soon after reaching thei r destination . Moreover, my very

eagerness to press forward was unintelligible to them . Time

has neither value nor m eaning for them ; they do not even know

thei r own ages,and their l ife i s merely a road , sometimes long,

sometim es short,but in any case leading nowhere .

For the fi rst few days I had to d iscipline and threaten a

l ittle,and

,when warnings failed

,to d i stribute a few blows . A

strict im partial ity always determ ined these awards,and since a

rigid sense of j ustice i s preserved in all prim i tive natures,they

bore m e no il l-will for the chastisem ent . With the mark of

the blow sti ll showing grey on thei r black shoulders,they woul d

seize the first and least pretext to shout with laughter,while

the boat sl ipped along with increased rapidity to the cry of

Tara , tara, Bosos

One more tribute I wil l pay them . Alone among them,

distant m any days” j ourney from the wh ite m an,and travel l ing

through an im perfectly conquered,sometim es openly hosti le

country, never once di d I feel that m y safety was in any way

threatened . Was i t enti rely owing to the superiority of the

white m an, a conviction of which becomes fi rmly im pressed upon

one ( in spite of natural m odesty and ph ilosophy) as one traces

one”s path through these virgin countries ? Did not this sense

of security proceed as much from a contemplation of th e attrae

tive m anners dai ly di splayed before m y eyes, the litany of greet

ings exchanged with the unknown occupants of the canoes we

met or overtook , and the good-nature and disinterestedness

evinced by all ? Fish ing Bosos would spontaneously offer m y



cases,and portm anteaux . A long box fi l led with earth served as

k itchen and sto ve,and was placed fore and aft in accordance

with the direction of the wind . In the remaining very l imited

spaces the seven or eight m en who handled the boat were d is

tributed,together with two bleating sheep (representing our

meat-supply ) and some cluck ing hens . The game brought

down by l ucky sho ts,and the fi sh and other properties of

m y men , were extra ; and , in addition to al l th is, some place

had to be found for the k itchen fuel . For the benefit of

those who l ik e figures and complicated problem s,I wil l add that

my Noah”s ark m easured twenty-six feet three by seven feet s ix in

the widest part .

Obviously i t would have em barrassed me to give one of those

Trouvi lle or Cannes f étes to which m y fellow-yachtsm en are

accustom ed , but luckily the occasion never arose. Yet fetes there

were,provided day and n ight by the Niger with a variety and

MY V AC ! ”

T H E N I G E R 25

splendour that the richest merchant in sugar-plums could not

have equalled. Its waters were now blue as the Mediterranean,

now grey as the North Sea, and now again they were apparelled

in the green of the great ocean ; whi le Venus A nadiom enes in

black sported upon

its banks . If these

latter were not sm il

ngly coi l ing their

tresses, i t was only

because their hair

wa s s h o r t a n d

greased with butter.

Fail ing this poetic

occupation , th ey

were engaged in

alternately scrub

bing their cooking

ON THE BANKS OF THE N IGER : THE V ENUS ANADIOME NE S

utensils and washing thei r ch ildren in the splash ing wave . Art,however

,lost nothing by that, for, in thei r constantly changing

attitudes,their perfect nudity only served to call attention to

their marvellously sculptured torsos and thei r bronze skins,touched into gold by the brightness of the sunshine.


Here and there upon the great strands were playing the strange

ch ildish fo rms,W i th the great heads and stom achslbalanced on the

slender l im bs, of the negro babies . Drolly would they interrupt

their games and run close to the river-bank to’watch the white

THE M ILITARY SALUTE

man pass,making him the while—a m i l itary salute ! Nothing

more com ical could be imagined than these l ittle naked caricatures

with one arm stiffly raised at an angle . If I smi led,they gave me

back the same broad laugh the Venus A nadiom enes had tossed

me with their ‘A nissagai”

(Good day)—the same that m y Bosos

laughed a minute after they had been struck . This gentle

laughter,with neither intellect nor m al ice in it

,i s always ready

to thei r l ips,even in the most seri ous circumstances

,and i s as

necessary to thei r existence apparently as food or water. It i s the

happy mirth of a child ish people, ignorant of the physical and

moral torments from which the m ore perfect m an results.

The placid fi sher with the l ine also greets u s in mil itary

fash ion . This form of sal utation seem s to be the only thing

that our civi l i sation has brought them so far . Poor souls ! when

the rest has followed they wi l l have ceased to laugh .

Between Segu and the regions bordering Tim buctoo I passed

T H E N I G E R 27

wonderful herds of oxen , horses, goats, and sheep . Unlike the

stunted cattle and em aciated hacks of the countries of the Niger”s

source, these oxen had im posing hum ps, and the horses were on

the l ines of Arabs. The sheep, too, were astonishing. Long

fleece replaced the close wool of the southern animal,and thei r

flocks were to be counted by such thousands of heads that I was

greeted at long distances by ovations of bleating.

Travell ing one day between Lake Debo and Sarafara, i t was

given m e to see quite another sort of herd . We were touching

upon a large plain bordered by a distant wood, when suddenly ,at sunset

,four black l ions appeared walking in Indian fi le .

They advanced with slow and solemn steps, pausing with heads

erect as the sound of our paddles reached them . After fixing

upon us a look that was half-displeased,half-disdainful , they

turned their back s upon us, and , sti l l keeping the same order,disappeared with unmoved slowness and sol em nity in the wooded

PASTURE ON THE SHORES OF THE N IGER

green of the distance . The scene was so captivating that the

thought of m y Winchester never entered my head . The gun

was always at hand , however, to spread a l ittle perturbation

(im possible to effect more appreciable results) am ong the famili es


of hippopotami who , towards evening, thrust thei r pink m uzzles out

of the water,and to annoy the num erous all igators who relaxed

in sunny slum bers throughout the day .

The feathered species d id not get off so cheaply,however ,

especially the wi ld ducks,whom

,at my lei sure

,I would invite

to m v table .in the shape of roast or stew . The white ospreys,the Niger”s favouri te bird

,were truly innum erable . They dappled

the banks , look ing l ike flakes of precious snow, with si lky reflec

tions m ade lustrous by the sun . The gracious outl ines of thei r

slender forms, the supple necks and long sl im l egs, stood out

in such dainty visions from the green grass and grey banks that

one shot them rem orsefully . Alas their death-warrant i s written

and attached to the base of thei r slender necks ; for it i s there,and not on thei r heads, that the fragile plumes grow- del icate

em blem s of them selves and of those alone who should be privileged

to wear them . From these plum es , in fact, are m ade those preciou s

p arures which , m ounted in j ewelled clasps, place such a charming

point of pride upon the forehead of brunette and blonde alike .

The allurem ent of such a spoi l,seen in im agination adorn ing

some cherished head,dispels al l remorse

,and hastens the fall of the

trigger.

The confidence of these charm ing birds i s very great, for the

native , disdainful of its flesh and ignorant of the value of its

plum es,has never hunted it . They al ight bo ldly in the midst of

the flocks of sheep that have such an inexplicable attraction for

them,and it is very quaint to see groups of two or three ospreys

surround each sheep,and with gravely m easured steps fol low its

browsing unti l the innocent ruminant looks l i ke some captive sur

rounded by its gaolers .

Other birds of val uable feather dart about the sands, such as

the m arabou,metallic blackbirds

,kingfishers in every shade of

T H E N I G E R 29

wonderful azure, and flocks of guinea-fowls, flam ingoes, and pel icans .

Sometimes, on approach ing the sedgy banks, a strange rustl ing i s

followed by a cloud of dust . It i s caused by those tiny creatures,

scarcely bigger than crickets, the millet—eaters . I must not forget

to mention the trumpet-bird am ong my intim ate friends—a largeblack wader, whose note might easily be mistaken for the horn of

o ur tramways .

As infinitely varied as the colours of the kingfisher are the

scenes in which th is medley of l ife unfolds.At Toulimandio

SHORES OF LAKE DEBO AT GOURAO : GUNBOAT STAT ION

the shores are formed of high woods of wonderfu l verdure,

dark and deep as velvet , and the m o untains seen in the d istance

are the last ram ifications of the Foota Jallon range. I 'vere

i t not for the unaccustomed proportions of the river and the

marvellous sun,there would be nothing specially tropical about

this country .

Little by l ittle the woods th in and th e trees diminish in

height . The river-bed i s strewn with trunks torn from the banks

by the floods,and m any more hang d isconsolately over the water,

certain victim s to the approaching inundations .


At Nyam ina,Segu

,and Sansanding

, the woods give place to

great plains of tillage and cattle-rearing,that spread further than

the eye can reach , and close upon them follows, with Lake Debo,a maritim e scene . This lake i s a huge basin of water by the

side of the river, and , the two hillocks guarding its entrance

being passed,a veritabl e sea spreads before you . Water every

where,always, and for ever. Its shores are invis ible, for no distant

mountains betray thei r boundaries,as i s the case with the Swiss

lakes.

An equally unexpected vi sion awaits the traveller beyond

Lake Debo ; and i t i s now a landscape from Normandy or

England that i s d i sclosed to eves stupefied by such an apparition

in the heart of tropical Africa . Great m eadows of a m oist,

intense green are bordered by park-l ike woods . So vivid i s the

impression that you are disappointed not to see the turrets and

battlem ents of a Lancash ire manor, or the slated roofs of

some Chateau of th e Eure,rising from thei r m idst . The superb

MOUNT ST. CHARLES, AT THE ENTRANCE TO LAKE DEBO


T I M B U C T O O

Finally, on the borders of Timbuctoo the dunes of . the

Sahara begin to oppose the steri l ity of their bare whiteness to the

river, i ncreasing in number unti l the desert itself i s beh ind them .

Varied scenes

OYSTER-BEDS AT SEGU

i nterval,you seem to be following an entirely d ifferent river .

Where before you sailed in the midst of plains, you now pass

between banks some twenty-six feet h igh . There, where a vast

s tretch of water gave th e impression of a sea, you find a combina

tion of pools and sandbanks recal ling the flat shores of the ocean

at low tide . At Timbuctoo i t flows in swift and foaming

are, they possess a sti ll further element

of change in the form idable

ri sing and fall ing of the river .

A scene known at the height

of the waters i s unrecogn is

able in the fall . Taking the

same route after some months”

T H E N I G E R 88

torrents,its sides and bed being encumbered with rocks . The

towris and vi llages, at wh ich you had gone ashore to the nearest

houses,are now perched upon mounds enci rcled by vigorously

growing grass,and wearing the l ittle airs of a Rhenish burg .

Fields of tobacco-plants and kitchen gardens flo urish on the

uncovered banks,while before Segu the oyster-beds pierce the

surface of the water . This i s in the fall .

All the effects of the ri se originate from below Lake ‘Debo,

at Mopti,where the ri ver i s j o ined by another -as important as

itsel f, namely , the Bani . Towards Decem ber they have become

a vast mass of waters rushing to the north,and enti re plains are

subm erged to a considerable depth . On th e right of Lake Debo

an immense region to wh ich the l ittle arm of Koli-Kol i formerly

gave access, has now becom e a fief of the Niger. The greatest

surprise of all awaits the travel ler here,for i t i s l iterally a sea

of grass. How does that strike you , m y luxurious fellow

yachtsmen ? It i s in truth a singular element,being neither

THROUGH THE SE A OF GRASS


land nor water, but a strange mixture of both ; without being

a marsh,however, for, the waters not being stagnant, the passing

breeze rai ses no feti d odou r . From a depth of six to eight feet

the tall grasses emerge, th ick and green , and wearing al l the

appearance of a great field . One of our sheep was so deceived

by it that he threw him self overboard,think ing to arrive on

pasturage,but comm itted suicide instead .

Between banks perfectly clear cut, though formed solely by

grass,winds that Kol i-Kol i which has brought hither and

spread afar al l these waters . The boundaries of Lake Korienza

are no less sharply defined in thi s bizarre elem ent .

In crossing th is region m y Bosos recommended the abandon

m ent of the easy,but infinitely capricio us and wind ing, cou rse of

the Kol i-Koli . The j ourney,they say

,wil l be greatly lessened

by cutting straight across th is sea of green,a change of route

that suits me to perfection .

Paddling being no longer possible, the men , leaning heavi ly

on thei r bam boos,push the boat vigorously through the grass,

which,parting in front, closes together beh ind us with loud

rustl ing and crackl ing . We are no longer upon the water,but

seem ,and it i s a truly exotic sensation

,to be sl id ing under a

tropical sun over grassy steppes streaked with watery paths .

This region of navigable grass i s a world apart ; the repeated

passage of canoes has worn away the green and traced ribbons of

water on i ts surface, i n the same m anner that the constant tread

of man and beast upon the earth destroys the grass and exposes

the bare soi l . These paths,as conventional ity would requ ire of

them ,are beautifully flowered . Placi d water~ l i lies adorn their

surfaces w ith cups of wh ite,mauve

,and yellow , and they are

further encom passed by a strange tropical bindweed looking

l ike chaplets of floating onions . With this triv ial, perhaps, but

T H E N I G E R 35

certainly apt,comparison they possess another point of resemblance

,

they are edible, and are greatly esteem ed by the native in times

of dearth .

It would be ungrateful i f among all these pictures, pale im ages

as they are of hours of enchantm ent, I forgot to incl ude the

twilights and nights upon the Niger.

The moments of sunset upon the river are those

the greatest in tensity of l i fe . The canoes m ultiply

near the vi llages bringing the frui t of th e field to build

ings to which the people wi l l flock for to -m orrow’s

m a r k e t . The ferry-boat causes the river to resound

THE FERRY-BOAT

with gay chatter and laughter,th e bleating of sheep, and

the clucking of frightened poultry . In th e solitudes beyond

human habitation the timid hippopotamu s, again become th e

autocrat of the river, gambols grotesqu ely in th e water, prudently

waiting until nightfal l to come ashore and dine ; and th e

great trees on the bank are so whitened at th is hour by the


sleeping ospreys that they seem to have been covered by a fall of

SHOW.

I now j oin a vi llage and spread m y table-cloth on some grassy

h illock close to the river-bank . Very animated and wel l attended

are my dinners . First the ch i ldren com e, consumed with curiosity

to see the white m an,but a l ittle apprehensive too . They advance

timidly,evidently feel ing for me som e of th e fear wh ich the negro

inspires i n white ch ildren . A few lumps of sugar soon tam e them ,

however,and then

,duly apprised

,the ch ief and notabil ities of the

village arrive . They salute me and offer (read‘ sel l ”) presents of

mi lk,eggs

,and poultry

,and

,business being done, I detain them

with a l ittl e of those two precious com modities, tobacco and salt.

We light great fi res as night falls,and they bring out their

l ittle clay pipes,their snuff-boxes, or som e kola-nuts, and a long

gossip ensues . Absorbing landscape all day,night reveals to

m e the soul and thoughts of the country, i ts h istory, and the whyof a thousand th ings the sight o f which had puzzled me d uring

the day . Above everyth ing, I enj oyed evoking oral traditions

concerning the first appearance of the white m an in these parts .

Mungo Park , the fi rst European to explore the Niger, i s the most

v iv idly remem bered . I frequently heard,between Nyamina and

Khabara , of Bonci-Ba (the great beard ) , a name given him by

the Nigerian tribes,but I could find no trace of our own Re’né

Caillié even at Timbuctoo itself. Barth ”s voyage,though not

accomplished in these regions,i s wel l known by report of people

who saw h im or heard him - spoken of in Timbuctoo . The old

men , with wrinkled skins and white hair and eyebrows, were my

favourite h istorians . They could recall to me the past prosperi ty

and great commerce of the Valley of the Niger . They told me of

the desolating conquerors and disastrous wars of the present cen

T H E N I G E R 37

tury ; of Cheikou Ahmadou , the fanatic Foulbe k ing, who changed

the prosperity of former days to misery . Timbuctoo was th e

most frequent subj ect of my questions . It was the home of

their youthful memories, and they wou ld speak of i t enthusi

astically, and with laughter—much laughter —at the recol

lections their there, l i vely frolics wh ich

GO I NG ASHORE I N THE EV EN ING

sweetened thei r labours, and the especial ly v iv id remembrance of

the bewitching beauty of the ladies of Timbuctoo .

In the v i llages of the Bosos the Niger formed the basi s of our

conversation . They would narrate to m e the legends and the l ife


and being of the giant. On the margin of Lake Debo, they told

me,a treasure of gold was h idden in the h il lock , which Re

’né Caillié

pompously christened ‘Mont St. Charles,

” and which they cal l

Mount Sorba. The treasure remains undiscovered to thi s day .

They often alluded to a very large town situated on a lake cal led

Guido . It was the centre of a powerfu l em pire, which , with i ts

capital , has now entirely disappeared .

Finally,with so many other affiniti es to the great oceans

,the

Niger could not decently lack its romances of pirates . They had

thei r nest at Sibi,a large village crowning a h igh m ound on the

Black Niger . It was passed daily by numberless boats laden with

the produce of Massina and Farinanka . Kaid-Ali,the chief of

the pirates,was taken with th e ingenious idea of stretching an iron

chain across the river,i n order to prevent the escape of these

boats,which he pillaged at leisu re .

These Bosos,l iving at a d istance of eight hundred and seventy

m i les from the coast, possess, as one might im agine, no idea of the

sea or of the part of outlet that i t plays to the rivers . The

question of what becomes of the Niger beyond the regions they

know troubles them very l ittle . I som etimes attempted,in the

course of conversation , to enlighten thei r minds on th i s point .

Having one day captured an unusually intel l igent Bosos,I made

h im enum erate al l the towns he knew, or had heard of, down the

Niger. Sarafara,Kliabara, Gao,

” he came to a standsti l l . Well

and beyond them,what becom es of the river ? ’ ‘Beyond them

,

”

he reflected . Oh beyond them the fi shes swallow it. ”

When I found some village particularly rich in inform ation and

the power of im parting i t, I would stay over the following day in

o rder to renew the nocturnal chat, generally retiring to the r iver

at night on account of i ts benefi cial freshness. In the distance,

beacon - l ike fi res blazing on the brim of the great river would


CHA P T E R I I I

THE V ALLE Y OF THE N IG E R

THE ancient renown of Timbuctoo, i ts boasted commerce , and

i ts prestige as a rich and powerful metropol is, warrant the

assertion am o m: that the regions surrounding thi s city of the

Niger must be remarkably fertile . It could hardly have usurped

such a reputation . History affords no parallel of an error con

tinuing to decei ve the worl d through four or five centuries .

The geographer,s itting in his study between a modern map

of Africa and the works of El Bekri,Ca da Mosto , De Baros ,

Leon the African,and other travel lers

,would reason th us : With

sand to the north-east and west of it the huge market of

Timbuctoo is situated on the threshold of the desert . Yet i t

i s not with sand that the wheels of such an enormous traffic are

greased . In order,therefore

,that Timbuctoo should be enabled

to play the part attributed to i t, we should expect to find a rich

extent of territory in the south,an i sthm us of ferti l i ty, as i t

were, j utting into the sea of sand . We should anticipate th i s

stretch of land to be large,since i t has maintained a great

commerce for some centuries, and suppl ied such varied markets

as Morocco, Tuat, and Tripol i , as well as the vario us nomad

populations of the desert.

Do these ferti le regions really possess the happy distinction40

T H E V A L L E Y O F T H E N I G E R 41

of being d iscoverable by mere force of logic, as certa in stars

are by mathematical calculation ?

The occupation of Tim buctoo has made it possible to

verify such surmises by opening up routes , accessible not only

to the explorer proper, who crosses the country worn by pri va

tion and at the mercy of his gu ides, but available also for the

traveller who l ingers to gather complete information at his ease .‘ Thi s country lying to the south of Tim buctoo i s the Sudan ,

otherwise called the Valley and th e Buckler of the Niger,a vast

region,traversed to an extent of nearly 2500 m i les by one of

the largest rivers in the wo rld .

Egypt was happ i ly d efined by Herodotus as being the

present of the Nile . ” What Herodotu s said of Egypt we might

with equal truth say of the Sudan .

The Arabian conqueror Amru,who took possession of Egypt

in the seventh century , g i ves the following complete and accurate

description o f i t i n a letter to hi s master the Khal if Om ar.‘O Prince of the Faithful ! Picture unto thyself .an arid

desert and a fruitful country, for such i s Egypt . A beneficent

river flows m aj estical ly through its midst . The rise and fall of

its waters are as regular as the course of the sun and the m oon .

At an appointed tim e all the springs of the un iverse come to pay

tribute to th is k ing of rivers . They cause its waters to swel l

and leave their bed,covering the surface of Egypt with a fru i tful

mire,and when thewaters cease to be necessary for the fert i l isation

of the soil,the obedient river returns to the l imits prescribed to

it by destiny,in order that th e treasures i t has h idden in the

bosom of the earth may be gathered . The people thus favoured

by Heaven sow seeds in the bowels of the earth , that they m ay

be brough t to prosperity by th e m un ificence of the Suprem e

Being who causes harvests to ripen . The most abundant


harvests are succeeded by sudden steri l ity ; and thus i t is , 0 Prince

of the Faithful,that Egypt offers successively the images of an

arid and sandy desert,a l iqu id and silvery plain , a marsh of

black mire,a green

,undulating meadow

,and a field of golden

grain . Blessed for ever be the Creator of such marvels . ”

What the Nile has done for Egypt,the Niger has aecom

plished for the Sudan . In the course of a year we wi tness

the same striking and opposed pictures . The cultivation i s as

faci le as that of Egypt,and i s due to the sam e regular ri se and

fal l of th e river. But the Niger shows an even greater m unifi

cence i n i ts gifts than does its brother of Eastern Africa . For

thousands of years the labour of man has co-operated with the

beneficent work of the latter,and yet, flowing imbedded between

two mountain chains,i t only carries ferti l ity to som e few

h undreds or thousands of feet ; while th e Niger, on the other

hand , owing to its immense plains,d ispenses its benefits over

an extent of more than sixty m i les without th e intervening aid

of man .

The prestige o f Tim buctoo in the past,and its boasted

commerce,are now explained by finding i t as we do upon the

th reshold of another Egypt, equal ly favoured by nature, but

infinitely greater in extent . Its only d isadvantages consist in not

having been developed by four or five thousand years of civi l i sa

tion,and in not standing i n th e doorway of Europe as does the

Valley of the Nile .

The Niger rises i n the mountain chain which extends from the

co untry of Sulima in the north to Kono in the south,and spreads

to the Kiss i country in the east. Contrary to the generally

accepted opinion,the range i s not

,geological ly speak ing

,a

dependency of that Foota Jallon upheaval which i s considered the


centre of a great movement whose subord inate branches were

push ed beyond th e sources of the Nig er . In real ity, the range of

the Niger”s sources,or the Kouranko chain , forms th e true centre

of the upheaval . Its altitud es , in the countries of Negaya and

Kono,attain to 3840 feet (sou rces of the Niger) , and 4920 feet i n

the south,while

the average eleva

tion of the Foota

Jallon i s not more

than 2625 feet.

The principal

summits of th e

Kouranko range

a r e M o u n t

Bondi , Mount

Ma,MountKeina,

Mount Konko

Kourawa, the two

Kolas,the two

Soullous, Mount

K o k 0 n a n t e

(sources . of the

Niger) , MountTHE SOURCES or THE N IGER TEMB I

Darou,theneedles

of Kinki,the Songoula, the Banka, Fingui, Soofoa , Tinki ,

Owaloo , Kora, and the Toum ba (the fou r last are in the country

of Kono ) .

In the Kiss i coun try two rivers , the Paliko and the Tem bi ,

flow towards the north , pursue a paral lel course, and , meeting at

Laya,unite i n one bed to become th e Niger or Joliba . The most

important of the two rivers i s the Tembi , considered by th


natives as the Father of Joliba . It rises in a l ittle hil l to the

east of Mount Kokonante, and not far from the foot of Mount

Darou . The h i l l from which the Tembi flows i s i n no way

remarkable from a topographi cal point o f v iew . Bare at i ts

summit, i t i s covered a l ittle lower down with a vegetation which ,growing thicker as i t descends towards th e waterway of the

valley,proclaim s th e presence of water .

About a hundred feet from the summ i t of the h i ll i s a l ittle

basin , about th ree feet in d iameter and a foot in depth , full of

clear water, and call ed by the natives Tem bi Kuntu , or Head of

Tembi . A hundred feet furth er down i s another and larger basin,

which i s not easi ly fo und on account of the th ick vegetation,the

inextricable confusion of thorny canes , trees thrown down by

storm s,tangles of creepers and tree ferns , i n wh ich i t i s hidden .

The water of th is l i ttl e creek flows through th e wood,and

re-appears .fi 56 feet lower down in the valley . At th is point the

Tembi i s a m ere rivulet ; 875 yards from its source i t has become,at the vi llage of Tembi Kuntu, a gen tle stream ,

increasing rapidly

in size and depth as i t flows towards the north . At Nelia,eight

miles from the source,i t i s eighty feet wi de

,and at Faranna ,

sixty-two miles from th e source, i t has attained a breadth of

nearly 328 feet .

The wood from wh ich the Tem bi springs i s reputed sacred ,and is th e subj ect of innum erable legends and superstitions.

Access to i t i s deni ed to the profane ; terrible m isfortunes over

take any o ne uttering a word or touch ing anything there, and

warrio rs and al l who have shed blood d ie on approaching th is

spot . Its waters are beli eved to express the j udgm ents of God .

If a man i s accused of some crim e wh ich he denies h e i s forced

to drink of them,and i f he i s guilty h i s s in i s proved by an

inflation of the stomach , followed by instant death .


The natives say that in the centre of the l ittle creek of Tembi

i s a rocky islet . This l i ttle island is the abode of the Spirit o f

the Spring, and the mysterious retreat of the High Priest who

represents the deity to m ortals . He takes up h is residence there

by plunging into the water and approaching i t invis ibly . Accord

ing to th e legend there i s a golden dwell ing at th e bottom of the

lake,and hi s acolytes , the m inor prophets

,profess to have heard

THE TEMB I I N THE SACRED WOOD

the noise he makes in opening and shutting the doors of h is super

natural hom e . High pri ests and lesser priests un i te in j ealously

guarding the approaches to the spring,and the mystery they

make of i t confers great distincti on and authority upon them

throughout the country . The neighbouring kinglets refer to

them before undertaking a war or other act of im portance,and

the com mon herd consult them on al l occasions of weight.

The Spirit of the Spring, being em inently practical , will


A VVA

'

I‘

E RFALL IN THE VALLEY OF THE N IGER’S SOURCE


becom e the waters by which it i s swelled . These suppl ies cease

abruptly above Bam m aku, and from there to Diafaraba the

river i s almost solitary .

It i s between Tembi-Kuntu and Diafaraba that we m eet

with the fi rst of a hom ogeneous seri es of naturally i rrigated

zones . The left bank i s narrow, and descends in a gentle slope

to the Niger,the Foota Jal lon range closely bordering and not

qu itting i t unti l after Koul ikoro . The right bank , however, i s

free,and forms a large plain

,which i s splendidly watered by the

crowd of tributaries that run parallel to the great river .

The latter does not squander its m iracles on th i s fi rst zone,wh ich i s already so richly dowered with precious waters that i ts

co-operation would be superfluous . These countri es of the

Upper Niger are radiant . Tropical vegetation spreads over

them with‘

th e utm ost prodigal i ty, its orange, citron , kola, and

banana trees del ighting the eyes of the European .

The Niger i s accumulating its forces as i t crosses th is region,

and its in undations are unimportant, scarcely overflowing the

banks by half a m i le . The giant i s reserving h is strength that

he may transform into opulent plains the immense stretches o f

sand that await h is com ing from here to Diafaraba . The river

pauses for a m om ent below Bam m aku, i n front of the rocky

barrier of Sotouba,in order to gather up and concentrate, before

approaching the sand , the formidable mass of waters sent by

the heavens during the previous five months . Then in the

plen itude of its strength it rushes on towards the no rth,passing

Nyamina, Segu , and Sansanding on i ts way.

Having cleared Diafaraba,i t arrives

,towards September

,

impetuou s and swollen , at Mopti , where i t i s j oined by a

m onster tributary,the Bani , with a mass of waters as formidable

as its own . With such a reinforcement,the army of waters has

TH E'

V A L L E Y O F T H E N I G E R 51

grown immense, infinite . Its bed i s now too narrow,i t stifles

between th e banks . In front,beh ind

,upon al l sides

,i t seek s

o utlets,hurl ing itself into the least depression

,and invading the

smallest passage. And now takes place what I shall cal l the

intox ication of the Niger.

Happy intoxication ! i f such i t be . The river fl ings itself

headlong over the enti re low-lying region between Diafaraba

and Tim buctoo,covering it and swamping it

,unti l a steppe of

barren sand becomes one of the most fertil e spots in the

universe . It has for centu ries drifted a beneficent vegetable mud

into these low-lying countries,effacing the sand and trans

forming th is region into a granary of plenty . We find there

not one delta, as in Egypt, but three .

The fi rst i s from Diafaraba to the approaches of Lake Debo.

On its left bank,having fo und two auspicious outlets

,the Niger

form s the pools of Diarka and Bourgoo . Its principal branch

runs in a paral lel direction,and flows with its two arms into the

Debo . Its waters are sti l l so abundan t, i n spite of th is distri

bution of its forces, that the three streams com municate with

o ne another by m eans of natural channels . The Ban i connects

itself with th e Niger i n th e sam e manner on the right bank .

Thus a most thorough and com plete system of i rrigation is

formed , to which man has not needed to put h i s hand ; and

ferti li ty is spread over thousands of square m iles . The rise and

fall of these waters i s as regular as those of the Nile, and an

infinitely greater d istance i s covered . At Mopti , for example,you can calculate in September ninety miles from east to west

inundated to a depth of eight or n ine feet .

The countries of Sana,Bourgoo, Massina, Jenneri, and Kunari

a re situated in th i s delta .

The second extends from Lake Debo to El Oual Hadj . Here

THE REG ION OF THE THREE DELTAS


the Niger again d ivides into three branches . The least important,

the Kol i-Koli,rises south of Lake Debo ; the Barra Issa or Black

Niger,and the Issa Ber or White Niger

,north of the lake . The

Koli-Koli traverses Lake Korienza and j oins th e Black Niger

at Sarafara,the latter being in i ts turn united with the Wh ite

Niger near El Oual Hadj .

Like the Bani and the Niger, l ike the Niger and the pools

o f Diarka and Bourgoo, these th ree branches communicate wi th

one another by m eans of winding channels,and we find every

where the same system of i rrigation accompanied by th e same

wonderful fertil i ty . Nor i s th i s al l . On th e left bank , at the

extreme l imit of in undation , the river finds a new formula for its

gifts in an admirable seri es of lakes,twelve in number

,and

separated by chains of b ills . The following are the names of

eleven of them,counting from south-west to north-east : th e

Kabura, Tenda, Sumpi , Takadj i, Sanaki, Horo, Fati , Goro,Dauna

,Tela

,and the Faguibina.

The floods fi l l th ese lakes by means of gu l li es more or less

wide . Those of the Fati,Horo

,and Takadj i are particularly

wide and open to commerce at any time of the year. Others are

clear for certain months (October to March) , and are then

obstructed by weeds,not, however, to the extent of impeding

the passage of smal l canoes . The borders of these lakes,l ik e

the banks of the ri ver th ey ri val i n ferti l i ty, are alternately

flooded and left bare for a d istance of som e hundreds of yards .

The lakes of Tela,Faguibina, and Dauna form depressions to

a depth of thi rty-three feet below th e mean level of th e Niger .

They are fed by means of gul li es and subterranean infi ltration .

At the height of the floods,by simply scraping the ground with

your hand , you can find water anywhere on the surface between

the ri ver and th e lakes .


This chaplet of lakes form s an ingenious system of reservoirs

for the form idable masses of water d i scharged by the Niger and

Bani united . They return a portion of thei r water by m eans of

gull ies and channel s as the floods subside . To the second delta

belong the countries of Guimbala, Farim anka, Aoussa-Kattawal,

Seno Krou-ku,Fituka, and Sobundu-Samba.

The th ird delta occupies the valley extending from El Oual

Hadj to Khabara,the port of Tim buctoo. After El Oual Hadj

the river pursues a solitary course to its m outh .

This zone of irrigation i s formed in the following m anner

Numerous natural channels connect th e Tela and Faguibina

lakes with the left bank of the ri ver,the most important of

them going by the name of the Pool of Gundam . On the right

bank a new series of lakes and th e Pools of Guaki and Kuna

are scattered over the north-east o f the valley . Unfortunately

these lakes are only known by name,but accord ing to the latest

information they are twenty-three i n number ; among them are

the Kangara, Dinaguira, Doumba, Labou , Hongonta, Fatta,

Tahetant, Tibouraguina, Do, Gakora, Tengueral, Titoulawina,Agwabada, Garo, Haribongo , Kherba, Tibouraghina , Dadj i ,Fankora, and the Marm ar .

This delta com prises Kissou,Kill i , Surayam o

,Aribinda

,and

Gurm a .

Retarded thus by innumerab le and remote digressions,by

l iberal i ties great and small,i t i s not unti l January that the

Niger reaches Tim buctoo . Driven back there by the sands

of the Sahara, i t takes a sharp turn to the east, the d unes

closely fol lowing i t on the left bank and preventing i t from

spreading to i ts ful l width . On the right bank,however

,the

country i s once more favourable for in undations,and th e Niger

makes i ts fer ti l i s ing power manifest in channels and lakes which


CHA PT E R I V

THE TOWNS OF TH E N IG E R

‘PRE PA RE to receive cavalry ! Mar-r-r-eh ! ” This com

mand u ttered in a ringing voice, a clang of arms and a great

clatter of feet,were the fi rst sounds I heard on awakening in

one of the casemates of Fort Bam m aku . Somewhat bewildered ,I question my servant

,who is squatting in the corner waiting

for me to open m y eyes .‘ I t i s th e soldiers being .drilled,

” he

says,and

,peeping through one of the loopholes, I see a square of

n egroes, bri stl ing with bayonets .

Bam m aku i s the fi rst fort upon our route that contains

mil itary apparatus and a garrison . The critical circumstances

under which it was built are curiously reflected in its structure .

It i s sim ply a great rectangular wal l with none of the ingenu ity of

modern cons truction about i t ; but a superabundance of loopholes

everywhere—in the stables,the powder-magazines

, the rooms,and the k itchen . They had to build qu ickly in 1 883 and content

them selves with the merely necessary ; for Samory was sti l l56

T H E T OWN S O F T H E N I G E R 57

terrori sing the country when Colonel Borgnis-Desbordes planted

the fi rst French flag upon the Niger . A little troop of infantry

intrenched in a neighbouring redoubt held the position wh ile

the Chinese hasti ly raised these prim itive fortifications : the

ho rdes of blacks multiplying the while , and Sam ory h im self

com ing to command th i s last and decis ive engagement . As

ammunition was giving out,the Colonel and h is staff j oined in

the m elee. Borg nis-Desbordes, runn ing to repell the last assault,sai d to h is companions

,

‘Better keep the last charge in your

revolvers, for when we have served the rest i t wil l be time to

th ink of ourselves .”

If Bam m aku i s not yet a purely adm ini strative centre, l ike

Bafoulaba,Badum ba

,and Kita , i t i s not because th is part of the

country needs a d isplay of strength ( it i s no less peaceful than

that through which I have j ust passed ) , but because i t i s s ituated

in the very centre of our colony, and forms an im portant strategic

point from which i t i s easy to send reinforcements to any part

that may be momentarily th reatened .

This precaution is wise . For do we really know how far we

are masters of this splendid co untry,which i s many times larger

than France,and contains from ten to fifteen m i l l ions of people ?

We have a fleet of two ‘

gunboats and some i ron barges arm ed

with mi trai l leuses , upon the Niger, commanded by a naval l ieutenant

and a midshipm an the crew i s black,as are al l the troops garri son

ing the interior. Except the servers of the field-pieces, there i s not

a single white private in the co untry . Officers and petty officers

alone are Europeans,and the respective n um bers of blacks and

whites occupying th e immense Sudan are : si x hundred Euro

peans, incl ud ing officers , petty officers , doctors, veterinaries,officials

,and telegraph -clerks

,and four m i ll ion negroes enrolled

as foot-soldiers,cavalry

,and transport-bearers .


When we real ise that we have only occupied th is country

for the last ten years,and that it i s three or fo ur tim es as large

as Algeria (which requires an army of men to maintain

i t) , we find th e necessary controlling force in the Sudan to be as

surprisingly as it i s delightfu l ly small . 1

The town of Bam m aku i s s ituated between the fort and the

river,not imm ediately upon its banks but at a di stance of a

quarter of a m i l e ; that is to say, on the l im its of inundation .

Its aspect i s most charm ing,thanks to the initiative and intelli

gence of the officers who have successively commanded it . They

have wel l taken to heart thei r mile of civi l i sing medi um , and have

made (between its rows of white dwell ings built of rammed clay )roads, which they have bordered with trees that give a most

welcome shelter.

They have also laid out great squares where the superbly

tal l cheese-tree spreads i ts parasol-l i k e fol iage . A large build

ing shelters the native market, and not far from i t are two shops

containing European m erchandi se . A negro,armed with an

old sabre,acts the part of superintendent of pol i ce and looks

after the town property . This Europeanising does not displease

1 This is howour conquest has been organ ised —The Sudan i s d ivided into regions ,the regions into c ircles, and these aga in in to posts . The first are five in num ber .The governm ent resides provis ional ly in the first region , that of Kayes (though logica l ly the centre of the co lony should be at Bam m aku ) . Its c ircles are those of Nioro

,

K ita, Bafoulaba, and its posts, Selibaba and Gum bu. Other E uropean centres areMedina, Dinguira i , Dioubaba, and Badum ba . Second , the southern region . CentreBissandugu (ancien t capital o f Sam ory ) . Circles : Siguiri , Farannah , E rim akono ,

Kissidugu . Posts : Kankan ,Beyla, Kerwana, Kuroussa. Third , the eastern region

on the left bank of the r iver and to the r ight across the val ley of the N iger. CentreBam m aku. Circle : Bougoun i . Posts : Koul ikoro and Toul im and io . Fourth , thenorth-east region on both sides of the r iver. Cen tre Segu. Circles Jenne, Sokolo ,Bandiagara. Posts : Mopti and Gourao on Lake Debo , headquarters of the fl oti l la .

F i fth , the northern reg ion com prising the lakes of the north val ley . CentreTim buctoo . Circ les : Gundam and Sarafara. Post : E l Oual Hadj . A superioroffi cer is at the head of each region captains adm in ister the c ircles ; and o fficers ofd ifferent grades com m and the posts .

T H E T OW N S O F T H E N I G E R 59

the natives in the least . Every year sees the town increase and

new roads constructed , while rapid strides are being made towards

regaining its ancient prosperity,wh ich was destroyed by El Hadj

Omar and Samory out of sheer envy .

The great encompassing plain i s no less enchanting to loko

at . Partly inundated and partly i rrigated by num erous rivu lets,there i s no need to di late upon its obvious ferti l ity

,and I pass

on to speak at greater length of th e three k inds of tree which

grow so abundantly in the fi elds,bush

,and rocky ledges of th i s

region .

The most interesting of the three i s the karita or butter-tree,and i s best represented among our trees by the pear, the sim i larity

of thei r leaves being remarkable . The bark and trunk are rugged

like those of th e chestnut-tree . Its branches develop in th e form

of a dome,and should attain to great d im ensions . A fully

developed karita i s unfortunately a rare sight ; for the natives

take no care ( i n thei r fields or elsewhere) to preserve th i s tree ,

which they have neither to plant nor to cultivate, and whose fruit

can always be gathered to satiety . I know no tree in the whol e

of Western Africa more val uabl e for the services i t renders the

native or for those i t wil l soon be called upon to render the

European .

It fi rst attracted m y attention at Dion at the close of a day’

s

j ourney that had been prolonged unti l nightfall . When we finally

reached the v illage in which we had arranged to spend the night,

great was my surprise at inhaling an unmistakable odour of

chocolate . Som e European has forestalled m e, I thought, and

I made inqui ries for h im am ong the inhabitants . No, not another

white man in the place . Whence this delectable odour, then ?

Guided by the perfume I presently found a large earthen pot con

fronting me,in wh ich a dark brown m ass was boil ing. This was


the karita,and they were boil ing i ts nuts to obtain the butter

they yield , and it was thence the well-known fumes escaped .

This nut is enclosed in a flesh that resembles the peach in

taste, and i s made into a sweetmeat by the natives . The nut i s

shel led and set to dry and harden ; in th i s state its red-brown

colour, aroma, and taste are completely analogous to our cocoa .

The Sudanese,though not yet initiated into the j oys of chocolate

,

make a very ingeniou s use of i t,nevertheless . They obtain , by a

process sim ilar to that of m aking cocoa-nut butter,a product o f

the fi rst necessity,vegetabl e butter ; and throughout the whole of

the Sudan no other fatty.

substance i s u sed , the great white

blocks of kari ta possessing the i nestim able advantage of never

going bad .

The European wil l undoubtedly find a sti l l more profitable

use for thi s tree later on,for on incision i t yield s a gutta-percha

a product for which m any industries are now anxiously seeking,for i ts supply has diminished in proportion to the increase of

demand .

In the neighbourhood of the karita grows another curious

tree, the nata . After the butter-tree the flour-tree . This flour,sold in all the markets of the region

,i s enclosed in large pods ; i t

i s of a yel low colour and singularly rich in sugar, so much so that

I have seen i t used by Europeans in the manufacture of confec

tionery and pastry .

It would be d ifficult to say too much about the thi rd tree

found in these parts, the cheese-tree. Not sati sfied with pro

viding her negro with butter and pastry, Dam e Nature has

benevolently adorned the branches of th is tree w ith cam enberts

and l ivarots . Thi s tree (called baga or bam anbi by the

natives) also produces capsu les, from which very fine and bri ll iant

fi lam ents escape . So much do they resem ble the precious threads

T H E T OW N S O F T H E N I G E R

THE ROCKY BARR I ER AT SOTOUBA

of the cocoon that the name of vegetable si lk has been given

them . Nor is th i s the only Sudanese plant to furnish this

miracle : the foll icle of a very abundant anemone i s equally full of

a lustrous si lk ; while in the second delta of th e Niger I have

frequently observed a large plant growing to about the height of

a man and bearing a pretty mauve blossom which is furni shed in

the same manner.

The principal articles of commerce sent by Bam m aku to

Timbuctoo are gold,kola-nuts, kari ta, and arachides . It would

doubtless send cereal s and other of its abundant products if the

river permitted of direct relations being establi shed between the

two cities .

At a l ittl e di stance down th e Niger, however, i ts bed is en

cumbered by the great barrier of Sotouba, forming one of the most

picturesque scenes in th e Sudan . I v isited i t j ust at the fall o f

the waters,and found that a formidable chaos of bitumen-coloured

rocks had been uncovered on the left bank , while a terribly swift


T H E T O W N S O F T H E N I G E R 65

i s Koul i koro , and i ts neighbouring forests supply th e wood from

which the barges are concocted . These boats are som eth ing

between a Whaler and a canoe i n shape , and offi cers, privates ,travellers , and s tores ci rculate up and down the ri ver upon them .

The director and workmen o f the shipyard are al l nati ves of

Senegal .

It i s an am us ingly prim iti ve and exotic arsenal that i s rep re

sented upon the r i ver-bank . The workshops are leafy vaults and

benches,with forges, lathes, and pyramids o f planks , l i e scattered

round the feet of m ighty trees . The form s of toi l ing carpenters,

blacksm i ths , and sawyers m ingle with those of thei r w ives and

children wash ing and bathing in the stream . Horses and o ther

anim als browse contented ly near,and the who l e form s a del ightfu l

babel of laughter, blows'

of the hammer,neigh ing

,saw-grinding ,

chatter,and bleating .

Further on,with Nyam i na and Sansanding we reach the co tton

district. Large field s are consecrated to the cu l tivation of thi s

valuable plant,and i t i s here those beauti ful fabrics known as

pag nes dc Seg a are made . They are patterned in deep indigo ,and are in great request in Senegal , in the markets of Tim buctoo ,and among the inhabitants of the coast

,who greatly prefer them

to the European texti les .

Nyamina reposes gracefully at the far end of a l ittle creek on

the left bank of the Niger . This town is as gay and anim ated as

possible,possessing

,not one

,but many m arkets in whi ch the pro

ducts of this ri ch country o f Sarro are exchanged . No t only i s

there no fort nor garri son , there i s not even a single European

here,the government of town and country being in the hands of

a native ch ief.

Segu,on the contrary

,d istant two days’ j ourney on the right

E

T H E T OW N S O F T H E N I G E R 67

river-bank,i s strongly fortified partly in its character of ancient

bulwark of the Toucouleur dominion and capital of El Hadj

Omar,and partly because i t i s the stronghold of the central valley

of the Niger. Seen from the river its appearance i s verv attractive,

with its massive gates and its wal ls zig-zagging like th e folds

of a screen . At the far end a conglomeration of points produces

the i llusion of a strong castle bristl ing with battlements . This

edifice was the fantasti c creation of the town’s fi rst governor,an

SEGU

arti llery officer,and it lodges th e European staff, provision and

ammunition stores . Its arch itect was inspired by the bizarre and

vague efforts at adornment on th e palaces of the kings of Segu .

The ornaments with which they sought to soften th e h igh bare

walls which m ade thei r palaces look l ike prisons were, i t appears ,

imported by masons from Jenne . ‘Vith these models before h im ,

the ingenuity of the artil lerym an,combined with negraic m asonry ,

resulted in a very queer product indeed . Seen close, i t resembles

a porcupine,or some large ca thedral organ with a multitude of

pipes. Unfortunately th e sun -dried bricks of which i t i s bui lt are

inconsistency itself,and every rainy season sees the pilasters melt

away like sugar-pl um s . Alas ! three tim es over, this curiosity

will not l ive to amuse our sons .

~ T I M B U C T O O

The town i s populous,busy

,and lively

,but its interior does

not fulfi l the promise of its outward show . It is a pity that no

one has taken the trouble to make the v istas and squares that

give so m uch charm to Bam m aku . The royal palace i s its only

5 3 0 0 : THE ANC I ENT PALACE or A HMADOU TRANSFORMED I NTOA FORT (E ! TER IOR )

obj ect of interest, and o f that not much m ore than the walls

have been left standing. The interior has been destroy ed

and altered to sui t our tastes and necessiti es,and it was

but the carcase of Ahmadou’s (son of El Hadj Omar) palace

that furnished the arti llerym an with a m odel for h is am azing

m onum ent . As for the abode of the fam ous negro conqueror,a cabbage plo t grows where h i s harem was wont to flaunt its

black beauty, and a post-offi ce stands upon the site of hi s

treasury .

This post-office i s the last and m ost northern of the fourteen

scattered about th e Sudan . Hereafter we shall onlv find second

hand ones—that i s to say,a petty offi cer who ensures th e departure


and del ivery of letters in every occupied town . Once a fortnight

a French mai l arrives and departs timed to reach Dakar the day

before the large steamers touch there . These mails, enclosed in

waterproof bags,cross the country by means of relays of porte

ARR I VA L OF THE COURIE R : SEG U

being carried in canoes on the Niger at the rate of th irty-five

m i les a day .

In add ition the Sudan is provided with 1860 miles of telegraph

lines . Segu i s their northern l imit,and it would be tedious to

insist upon the value, from thepoint of view of security alone,of these l ittle threads to a young colony . Not less useful are they

as an instrument of public information,a gazette ; a happy innova

tion for countries where newspapers only arrive some months old .

Twenty words from France arrive dai ly in Senegal . This despatch ,consisting of a sum mary of the day’s events

,i s transmitted to

Kayes, and from there i t i s re-telegraphed from office to offi ce

across the country . It i s com municated by letter to places that



and o thers are uti li sed in the adm in istration and telegraph offices,

while many fi l l the important post of i nterpreter .

Madem ba, son of a chief of Walo (of considerable authori ty

in m atters of rel igion and pol itics) , was ed ucated in th is manner.

He entered the telegraphic department som ewhere about 1868 , and

rendered devoted service for twenty years to the cause of French

occupation . He followed Colonel Borgnis-Desbordes and Colonel

Arch inard in thei r respective expediti ons up the Niger ; and the

latter,wish ing to reward his devotion , created for h im a l ittle k ing

dom on the left bank of the river,with Sansanding as h i s capital .

This i dea of governing the negroes of the Sudan by a Senegalese

negro educated in accordance with our ideas was a l ucky b it . It

i s a l iving and dai ly example

to these people,an encourage

m ent to them to receive the

education we offer . When we

rem em ber with what m odest,

m eans we occupy the Sudan ,we recognise how inestimable

th is moral force of education

m ust be .

When the com manders of

neighbouring forts have occa

sion to col lect provisions of

cereals,recrui t tirai lleurs

,as

BEARER OF AN U RGENT MESSAGEsem ble porters , or no m atter

what, they can rely upon Mademba as they would upon a

European . Any white man passing through Sansanding,what

ever h is position may be, receives the welcom e of a friend . If you

appeal to h i s assistance, even after only having once seen him ,

Madem ba wi l l perform the impossible in order to serve you .


Although a Mussu lm an himself, he so appreciates the benefits he

received from a European education , that he sends h is sons to the

Christian school

of St . Loui s, sub

scribes to ou r

papers,and keeps

up with the news

and politics of

France. Colonial ENTRANCE '

ro MADE MBA’S PALACE

movement more especially engages h i s attention,and he gives

i t practical encouragement in h i s kingdom . He sends to Pari s

for various seeds,and endeavours to introd uce new growths into

the country . He has an experimental garden on the banks of

the Niger,and I have seen corn , and plum and peach trees , etc . ,

trying to grow there . The natives have noticed al l this, and

respect h im accord ingly .

‘Mademba is not a negro,

” they say,

‘ he i s a tou bab ’

(European) , not mean ing by thi s that he

has renounced hi s race and colour, but to express thei r pride in

the fact that one of thei r number has raised himself to th e l evel

of thosewhite m en whose culture i s thei r perpetual astonishment .

The Europeans indorse th is j udgm ent and treat h im in every

way as one of themselves . I need sca rcely say that I passed

many interesting ho urs at the court of King—or,as the natives

say,Fama—Mademba . A m ost d iverting mixture of European

and native customs obtains th ere . His house i s bu ilt i n a

succession of courts cut i n battlements , and the whole is

enclosed with high wal ls after the fashion of nati ve palaces .

It i s at one , and the same time a farm ,barracks

,country house,

and royal dwell ing,j ust l i ke the k ingly palaces of Hom er. ’ In

the fi rst court you pas s th rough groups of horses , wom en ,

sheep,chi ldren

,and ducks and hens ; in the second , clusters of

F


servants,armed or otherwise

,are measu ring ri ce and m i ll et seed ,

or sel ling barrels of salt,tobacco

,and kola-nuts . In Madem ba

’

s

own apartm ents,amongst the sk ins spread about on the floor

for the accommodation of a native audience, were com fortable

arm—chairs,tables

,books

,pen and ink , lamps and candlesticks,

a thousand obj ects trifl ing in themselves but interesting enough

when found under a negro’s roof.

Mademba has retained th e religion of hi s father, and mo st

of h is subj ects practi se Islam ism . Although d iscard ing some of

its usages,he has preferred to preserve the custom of polygamy .

Towards evening, as the mares and colts were brought in

from the fields under h is v igilant eyes,I sat beside h im with my

glass of water

perfumed with

some drops of

absinthe ; and

A COURTYARD IN MADE MBA’S PALACE

melancholy were

the glances he

cast upon his own ‘undefiled tumbler . ” His retinue was

numerous,and he had too much tact to scandalise them by

drinking h i s water anything but neat,nor d id he neglect

to prostrate him self in the prayer that every good Mussulman

must say at sunset . But no sooner d id we find oursel ves

téte-d-tete at dinner, waited on by famil iar servan ts (Senegalese

l i ke their master) , than red wine and champagne from the

royal cel lars fi lled both our tum blers,n or was a final glass of

Chartreuse forgotten . The repast was served in European

fashion , plates and knives being changed with each course, a

l ittl e l uxury I had no t always met w ith in the Sudan at the

tables o f white people. In contrast to al l this,th e wardrobe

of the k ing retained its local colo ur. He wore a red fez and


a long mantle ( l ike the priestly cope) , dark green in colour and

heavi ly embroidered in gold . He wore,moreover

,various decora

tions,among wh ich I noticed that of the legion of honour . I

wi l l not deny that

he had something

of the stage mon

arch about him and

migh t have come

out of a theatri cal

wardrobe-shop, but

his appearance was

in no way inhar

m onious ; and how

ridiculous he would

have looked in

frock-coat and top

hat !

Having scoured

the country for so

many years,and

being by nature an

observer gifted with

a keen j udgment ,Bladem ba was a

FAMA MADEMBAperfect treasure

house of inform ation . He had a com plete knowledge of native

id ioms,and could express h imself in French with ease . He gave

me an account of the ancient spl endour of Sansand ing,and entered

into the reasons of its decadence,recounted h is heroic resi stance

against the Toucouleurs,and showed m e how he was slowly

rebu ilding his k ingdom . The explanation of m any things came


to me in th is way : the speedy submission of the Sudan , and , above

all,i ts rapid pacification , and the security of completely i solated

Europeans,l ike the two artil lerymen at Toulimand io.

Mademba sent for a ch i ef of the town in order that I might

receive enl ightenm ent at the fountain-head . He was an old

man,Bossissa by name, withered and wh itened by age, whose

energies had al l ebbed into h is eyes . His grandfather was the

m ost powerful sh ipowner in Sansanding a hundred years ago

the greater part of the canoes trading with Timbuctoo were h is,

and h is slaves were to be counted by hundreds . Mungo Park

was his guest in 1 805, and his descendants have preserved

more than one rem in i scence of the hardy explorer wh ich shal l be

recounted later on .

‘Thou hast seen our city in ru ins,

” said Bossissa ; ‘ i ts houses

deserted and fall ing in pieces . Thou hast beheld our m ost un

happy Mosque. And when thou shalt be returned into the

country of thy fathers , thou shalt say : I have seen Sansanding,and i t i s a city i n ru ins

,a city of nothingness . But yet thou

hast not seen our city, nei ther has the Fama beheld i t . This

beard and these wh ite hairs alone have seen it . And at that

tim e the city was cheerful and well bui lt,containing many

markets . The people were full of contentment,and were

apparelled in th e fine garm ents and rich cloth ing of Arabia

which were brought by our canoes from Timbuctoo,together

with many things both beauti ful and pleasant . All this suffered

sudden change forty years ago . It was the will of God ! Men

cam e from the south hungered and th irsting for blood,as the

hyena com es seek ing corpses. El Hadj Om ar was at thei r head .

From the west he brought them , saying unto them The Djoliba

takes i ts source in Mecca . To look upon it i s to make a

pilgrimage unto the Ho ly Ci ty . All who bathe in i t shall be


received in Paradise . We were good Mussulmans here,but they

made war against us for the sake of our wealth . We fought

long,and conquered many times

,but our city was taken from us

and set in ruins . Our people left thei r country. My friends

wished me to depart also,but I made answer, ! I wil l rather

d ie where my father died . A life of sadness began . The

Toucouleurs destroyed and pillaged ; many of the inhabitants

had nothing left to them but thei r two ears. The fields were

no longer cultivated . The country returned to the bush,and

wild animals peopled it . Hyaenas came to our very doors and


carried away our ch i ld ren in the twilight. Then the Frenchmen

came,and Segu was destroyed , and the Toucouleurs were swept

away,and j oy returned to the country . Peace reigns among

us ; he who does evi l i s of a certainty punish ed . Now that the

harvest i s no longer stolen,the fields are once more cultivated .

We can travel without fear ; a chi ld , knowing its way, m ay

walk alone along the roads. Merchants sleep in safety in th e

bush far from al l habitations ; whi le, form erly, we did not dare

to go beyond the town . When we met others stronger than

ourselves,they seized us and m ade us thei r slaves . The weak

vi llage was at the m ercv of the powerful . But to-day al l are

equal and contented,and one m ay not do wrong unto another.

It i s to the white man that we owe th i s and dost thou stil l

ask why we are satisfied with their presence and wherefore we

rej oice in i t ? Dost thou not now understand why the country

submits u nto thee and i s peaceful


l ! l

'law 01$14

CHA PTE R'

V

JE NN E

th e vi llage of Kouako ru we abandoned the Niger for one of

those natural channels wh ich carry ferti l i ty afar by their floods .

About twelve hours after we had left the main stream,to my

sudden astonishment, the Bosos in the bow abruptly ceased plying

thei r long bamboo poles . Sheltered as I was under m y thatched

hol low,the horizon was completely h idden from me

,and I could

see noth ing but water and raised banks . Unable to understand

their sudden inaction , I prepared to blow them up . They turned

at my appeal in open-mouthed surpri se,silently pointing to

some obj ect that was invis ible to me ; then , with voices barely

audible from emotion , they murmured , ‘ Jenne ! ’ They were

overwhelmed by the sight of an unknown town ; they, who knew

great cities l ike Segu , Nyam ina, and Sansanding ! Here was

som ething that I had never seen before,either

, and shal l never

see again , nam ely , a negro surpri sed and affected , not by som eso

European invention , but by a spectacle of his own country . I

hastened forward , and stood astonished in my turn ; for th e fi rst

time in these regions I was astounded by th e work of m an .

Curious and beautiful sights had not been wanting on my

j o urney , but therewas always someth ing lack ing to the eye and

mind of a cultivated m an,some trace of civi l isation that should

evoke the geniu s of humanity ; for, in spite of al l that has been

said about the muti lations and sacri leges to which man has

subj ected the great works of nature,one must confess to find

ing these great work s somewhat incom plete when one has seen

nothing else for a long time . The val ley of the Loire, clothed

so lely in its own vi rgin robe,i s a beautiful sight, but set with

those precious stones called Am boi se,Tours, Chambord , Chenon

ceaux , i t becomes marvel lou s .

Jenne i s the j ewel of the val ley of the Niger.

Here i s the picture engraved upon my mem ory as I sat

perched in the bow among my Bosos . A vast pla in , infin itelv

flat,without a touch of rel ief ; no villages nor any other sign of

hum anity,only now and again som e trees at long intervals,

81


showing as dark spots upon the yellow-green expanse . In the

very midst of thi s sol i tude is a ci rcle of water, and within i t,rising victorious (l ik e the summ i t of the palm -tree amidst the

sands of the desert) , i s reared a long m ass of h igh and regular

walls,erected on m ounds as high

,and nearly as steep, as them

selves . A forest of proj ections crowns them with terraced roofs ,palms

,gable-ends

,stairs

,and dome-l ike trees ; a whole sm i l ing

life salutes m e from the height of th is l ittle i sland .

It i s sunset,and th e violent contrast of tropical l ight and

shade intensifies the effect . It is an impressive scene at th is

hour, and fully j ustifies the emotion of my Bosos . The high

mass of the town is dark against the sky and the bare immensi ty

of the plain that flames right and left of i t ; and Jenne stands

out without transition from the bri ll iance of land and sky . It

seem s as if all there was of l ife had sought refuge on th is

mountain i sle wh ich ri ses protectingly and m aj esti cally from the

d istance .

As my boat approaches by the channel that branches at

J E N N E 83

right angles towards the heart of the town,the banks and walls

of the city emerge in greater proportions from the enci rcl ing

water. At their feet I can d istingui sh a harbour fi lled wi th large

boats that have noth ing in com mon with the accustom ed pirogue .

They are large and strange in fo rm,l ike the city that sh elters

them

When I have climbed the banks and entered the walls,my

surprise takes a definite form,and I am completely bewi ldered and

thrown out of reckoning by the novelty and strangeness of the

town’s interior . Surely the angel of Habakkuk has suddenly

transported me a thousand leagues away from the Sudan . For

it i s not in the heart of a country of eternally sim i lar huts

(ch i ld ish in thei r s implici ty and confusion) that I should look to

find a real town . Yes, a real town in the European sense of the

JEN NE : A CORNER OF THE TOWN

word ; not one of those d isorderly conglom erations of dwellings

which we cal l towns in thi s country . Here are true ho uses ; not

prim itive shelters crown ed with roo fs that are either flat or in the


shape of an inverted funnel . Streets too ; not seed-plots of

bu ild ings amongst wh ich one wanders by paths that serpentine

more than the most serpentining serpent .

The idea suddenly occurs to me,perhaps th is i s Tim buctoo

after all . That would explain everyth ing . But it i s im possible ;the Bosos say we are sti l l twelve days” j ourney distant from there .

What i s this town,then , with its wide, straight roads, i ts

houses of two stories (some with a sketch of a th ird) bui lt in a

style that instantly arrests the eye I am completely bewildered

by an apparition so absolutely unexpected in the midst of a

barbarous country . Where d id th is gathering of unknown l ife

come from ? What i s th is civi l isation , s uffi ciently assured to

HOUSE I N J ENNE

possess a manner and style of i ts own ? My thoughts naturally

turn to the cul ture of the Khalifs : the Arabian countries are

those nearest to the valley o f the Niger,and Islam i sm i s d iffused

J E N N E 85

among them . But logically a creed should be accompanied by its

art, and there is noth ing Arabic in th is style. There i s no trace

in any of the houses, old or new, of the cupola which i s such a

A STREET IN JENNE

characteri stic commonplace of Egypt,Syria

,and Algeria. These

bui ldings have as l ittle in common with the airy palaces of Cairo

and Damascu s as they have with the del icate and complicated

structures , of Cordova, Granada, or Sevil le . This style is not

Byza ntine, Roman , nor Greek ; sti ll less i s i t Gothic or Western .

All traces of European civ il i sation cease between the coast and

the Niger.

T I M B U C T O O

At last I recall these maj estically sol id forms ; and the memory

i s wafted to me from the other extremity of Africa. Their

prototypes ri se upon the banks of another great ri ver, but no life

i s associated with their image . They are dead cities,or

rather cities of the dead ; for i t i s i n the li feless towns of the

Pharaohs and their hypogeums , i t is in the ruins of ancient

Egypt in the valley of the Nile,that I have witnessed th is art

before .

HOUSE I N J ENNE

How came it here across the far-off centuries ? How i s it

it adorns a l iving town to-day What i s th is h itherto unnoticed

Egyptian colony ?

The key to this enigm a must be found , and I interrupted m yj ourney

,fi rmly resolved not to resume it before I had unravelled

the m ystery . I succeeded in fathom ing the riddle by means of

long talks with the ch iefs, notabi li ties , and m arabuts ( learned

men and Mussulman priests) of the'

town . Arabic documents



country ; and by what means a reflection of i ts culture spread

and survived unto our day, contain ing in i ts afterglow al l th e

glory and vivi d charm o f the tropical twi light.

CHA PTE R V I

THE SONGHOIS

IN travell ing from the coast the European passes through suc

cessive native tribes of Western Africa : Ce’

reres, Oualofs

,

Khassonkas,Soussons and Bambaras, etc. , al l more or less

th ick-l ipped , woolly-headed , flat-nosed,and barbarous

,and all

equally wel l known to the ethnographer.

But arrived at Jenne the traveller finds h imself face to face

with an enti rely new ethnographica l enti ty,namely

,the Songhois.

Most Europeans miscal l them the Sonrhais,but the nati ves refuse

to recognise th e word d isfigured in thi s fash ion . During the

whol e forty years i n wh ich the interior of Africa has occupied

the attention of the world,the name has only appeared before

us once . Among ancient geographers Léon the African alone

has mentioned them,and that in a paragraph of— two

l ines ! Among moderns, the famou s German traveller Barth

mentions them at greater length,but al l h is rem arks are

wrongly based , for h e reckons the Songho is am ong the abori

ginal s of the Sudan , and places thei r cradle between Tindirm a

and the Dira,to the south-west of Tim buctoo . Quite other i s

the tradition of the Songho is themselves . They invariably told

me that they d id not originate in the countries of the Niger,and when questioned concern ing the home of thei r fathers they

all gave the sam e reply. The righ t arm of the human docu89


ment was rai sed,fl inging back the numerous wh ite draperies that

serve as cloth ing,the direction of the purple dawn . It was their unvarying response

and a black hand pointed unhes itatingly m

in Jenne or elsewhere, and it was never the west, where Tin

d irma and Dira l ie,that they ind icated , but always the east.

Once again was that great law of the migrations of peoples con

fi rm ed,which draws the nations from the land of the ri sing to

that of the setting sun .

After the hum an docum ents I consu lted the written,and

among al l the h istorical manuscripts collected in my travels the

only one to refer to the origi n of the Songhois i s th e Terri/c.

It must be attentively read , too, for its most precious ind i

cations are very concisely enclosed .

‘The fi rst king of the

Songho is,” i t says

,

‘ was cal led Dialliam an . His name comes

from the Arabian Dia, m in al Jem en , sign ifying He is com e from

Yemen .

”

Dialliam an ,

” the narrati ve continues,

‘ quitted Yemen

in company with his brother. They travelled th rough the country

of God until destiny brough t them to the land of Kokia .

‘Now Kokia was a town of the Songhois people situated on

the banks of a river, and was very ancient . It exi sted in the

time of the Pharaohs, and it i s said that one of them,during

hi s d ispute with Moses , sent thither for th e magi cian whom he

opposed to the Prophet .‘ The two brothers reached the town in such a terrible state

of d istress that thei r appearance was scarcely h um an ; thei r sk ins

were cracked by the heat and dust of the desert,and they were

almost naked . The inhabitants questioned them concerning the

country of their origin , and thei r names have been forgotten in

the surname with wh ich thei r reply provided them ,

! Dia min al

Jemen Come from Yemen .

” And Dialliam an the elder settled

in Kokia . Now the god of the Songhois was a fi sh who appeared


T I M B U C T O O

Again,Yem en is not far from the valley of the Ni le, and the

j ourney of Dialliam an from there to Kokia 1 i s qu ite plaus ible .

The passage of the desert that separates the Nile from the Red

Sea woul d amply explain the cond ition in which he i s depicted

to have arrived .

It now remains to be proved at what period and in what

HOUSES IN JENNE

manner the Songho is passed from the shores of the Nile to those

of the Niger. The reconstruction of their exodus is, unfortunately ,not so simple as the demonstration of thei r origin, but the follow

ing version seems to be the most probable .

1 It would probab ly be necessary, in order to iden ti fy Kok ia with a town of the

N i le val ley, to find one bui lt upon an i s land l ike the two principal Songhois towns,Jenne and Gao. The Tarz/é m entions a town of the sam e nam e ex isting in the s ixteen th century south of Gao , but it can have no connection with the Kok ia at presentunder d iscussion . The nam e was probab ly g iven to it by the Songho is in m em o ryof thei r first hom e ; i f indeed the town real ly had this nam e, and it i s not an errorof the copyists.

T H E S ON G H O I S 93

The em igrations must have begun towards the middle of the

seventh century, for Jenne was founded one hundred and fifty

years after the Hegira (about 765 of our era) , and Jenne i s the

extreme western point of thei r i nvasion . From a hundred to a

hundred and twenty years would be a sufficient length of tim e

to include the years of wandering and those of settlement and

occupation in the Songho i countries .

The tranqu il l ity of Egypt (which had lasted since the Rom an

conquest) was rudely d isturbed in the seventh century by the

lieutenants of the first Khal ifs ; and the country received a shock

that would fully j ustify such an exodus . The conquerors were

dazzled by the richness of these territories,as the letter sent by

Amru to th e Khal if Omar am ply proves . It was a magnificent

quarry to the starvel ing Arab, and the distress of the vanquished

must have been in proportion to the enthusiasm of the conquerors.

The Lower,Upper

,and Middl e Egypts were all overrun towards

the year 640. Possibly the Songho is s uffered more than o thers

from this invasion . Perhaps they refused to receive Islam ism .

My learned friends,the m arabuts, being the official representa

tives ofMohammedanism ,would naturally not have admitted this

reason,and the h istorical manuscripts are dum b upon the subj ect .

Thei r com pi lers of three centuries ago were l ikewise m arabuts,

and the s i lence of both is very l ikely to have been ac tuated by

the sam e motive . In any case, the habitual m ethods of the

conquering Arabs,thei r brutal i ty and cupid ity , would in them

selves s ufficiently account fo r the fl ight of a peop le as peacefu l

and industrious as the Songho is have remained to this day .

Was Dialliam an the prom oter and leader of th is emigration ?

The character woul d harmonise with the picture the Tarik has

drawn of the adventurer who raised h im self to the throne of a

country he had entered naked and hungry . His native land was


Yemen,the recent birthplace and centre of th e Mohamm edan

rel igion . He m ay have quarrel led with the early disciples of th e

Prophet,or h e may have qu itted Arabia in order to escape the

v iolence of thei r propaganda . Finding h imself once more face

to face with the fanatics in the co untry of hi s adoption , he

would naturally resolve upon a n ew exi le to more remote

co'untries,and would depart

,accompani ed not m erely by his

brother,but lead ing a whole peopl e w ith h im .

However that may be,Dialliam an

, the intrepid travel ler and

adventurer that the chronicle shows him to be—Dialliam an, th e

true Arab who changes h is country as eas ily as h i s coat, -was in

every way fi tted to be the l eader of a people dri ven by cruel

conquest to seek a new hom e in a far-off l and . The route taken

MAROCCO

La k e Chad

MAP OF TH E SONGHOI EM IGRATI ON

by the emigrants,keeping south of the Libyan desert, passing

by Agades and the no rth of Lak e Chad,would m eet the Niger

som ewhere near Gao . They would naturally follow the outski rts

of the desert,as th e l ine of less dense population would be that

least l ikely to im pede thei r progress . In thi s m anner they would



relation,and he believed its civi l i sation had been received through

the medium of the Mohamm edan rel igion ! Now, at the date of

the appearance of Islamism in the Sudan (wh ich was towards

the eleventh centu ry) the civi l isation of the Pharaoh s had been

dethroned for nearly four h undred years by that of the Khalifs.

It i s hard ly possible that the apostles of a new and essential ly

excl usi ve cult would have imported and establ ished the manners

of ancient Egypt in preference to those of contem porary and

Arabian Egypt,wh ich was at that time at the h eight of i ts

prosperity . It fol lows therefore that the d irect relation with

Egypt must have been instituted prior to the appearance of

Islam ism . The strength of the connection , in spite of the enor

mous distance wh ich separates the valley of the Nile from that of

the Niger,plainly ind icates a direct relation . The current that

flowed so persi stently and strongly between Egypt and th e Sudan

u p to the sixteenth century represents someth ing more than

a m erely commercial interest ; i t reveals the route of an exodus .

The influence and com merce of Morocco and Algeria in the

Sudan (countries comparatively near) were for a long time over

powered by distant Egypt. We find undeniable proofs of this

among the anci ent geographers . Ibn Batouta,a Moor

,who

visited the countries of th e Niger in 1 352, relates that at Oualata‘ the greater part of the inhabitants wore the beautiful costumes

of Egypt .” Now Oualata i s only two months” j ourney d istant

from Morocco,while the valley of the Ni le i s at a distance of at least

e ight months . Again , to destroy the powerful and trad itional

bias of Egypt towards the Niger and establish th e preponderance

of the northern countries o f Africa would requ ire no less than a

Moorish occupation in 1 592.

The Songhois themselves furni sh further proof that they were

originally strangers in the country . Thei r speech i s tota l ly

T H E S O N G H O I S 97

different from the numerous Sudanese d ialects,and its roots are

those of the languages of the Nile . Moreover, th ei r physical type

owns noth ing in com m on with that of the West African negro.

In the most m i xed group of negroes a Songhois m ay be identifi ed

at the fi rst glance ; h is Skin i s as black as theirs , certainly , but

n oth ing in hi s m ask conform s to their wel l-known characteri stics .

The nose of the Songho is i s straight and long, pointed rather than

flat ; the l ips are com paratively thin , and the mouth wide rather

than prom inent and broad ; wh ile the eyes are deeply set and

straight in their o rbi t . A cursory glance shows that the profi le

resem bles that of the E uropean,and one i s struck by the rem ark

able intelligence of thei r physiognom y and expression . In addi

tion , they are tall , wel l-m ade, and slender .

These pecul iarities are still m ore noticeable am ong chi ldren

between six and ten years of age . Their skins are less pro

foundly black than are those of other infant negroes, and the

regularity of their features i s even m ore remarkable than in

the adult . Many a tim e I have been arrested by the sight of a

group of chi ldren in Jenne and charmed by thei r rare beauty .

They seem ed to be deeply bronzed ch ildren of the race of Shem

rather than of Ham . In short,the Songho is recalls the Nubian

rather than the West African negro,and I have studied both at

leisure . Ethnography,then

,assists us i n determ in ing the point

of departure of the emigration from the valley of the Ni le.

It i s to the south of the i sland of Philae that we find a

sim i lar race, and there also has ancient Egypt left indelible

traces . On the left bank of the river she has set up a m agnifi

cent series of her m ost characteristi c monuments,and i t i s sm all

wonder that its inhabitants should be so strongly im bued wi th

them that they preserved the vision to the furthest point of thei r

wanderings .


This point was Gao,as we have already seen . Quitting a

country of such num erous waters as Nubia, th e em igrants would

naturally,before settl ing

,seek a situation that would recall the

land of their birth in its external conform ation less from

pio us memories, perhaps (patrioti sm i s always th e latest virtue

acquired by a race) , than from a desire to continue to l ive accord

ing to thei r customs and special aptitudes For a great distance

thei r route would appear singularly unprop i tious, for m uch sand

and littl e water was not what they wanted,and they would not

settle in any quanti ties between the Nile and the Niger .

But at Gao they would find a river wh ich would recall the

shores they had left,and whose rise and fall ferti l i sed the country

in the same manner. Here they could resume their accustomed

methods of labour and cultivation ; and , l ik e Barth , they would

do ubtless be charmed by the beautiful vegetat ion,containing the

date,tamarind

,and sycamore trees of thei r mother-country .

And so they fixed their capital at Gao , where they could th ink

for the fi rst tim e

of defin ite repose,

and where thei r

hope of a new

home was realised .

Half the valley

of the Niger they

made thei r own,

finding only aTHE EARLY SONGHOI EM P I R E feeble and pati ent

aboriginal population there, which has almost disappeared to—day .

These people,the Habais, are so tim id that they arm themselves

with bows and arrows to wo rk in fields wh ich are surrounded by

their own vil lages,and then prefer running away to using their


T I M B U C T O O

In the reign of Dia Sobo’

i the Songhoi kingdom experienced

its first cri sis,becom ing the vassal of its neighbour of the west, the

Mal i em pire,then at the h eight of i ts glory . In add ition to th is

an arm y of the Mossi crossed the val ley to pi llage Tim buctoo,and succeeded in separating Jenne from th e m ain body of the

em pire

Dia Sobo'

l'”

s two sons,Ali Kolon and Sul im an Nare

,were taken

to the court of Konkour-Mo ussa .

‘For it was, and i s sti ll , th e

custom in the Sudan for a m onarch to be served by th e ch ildren

of his vassals,

” says the Tarilr. ‘ Som e were perm i tted to return

to their native countries after a certain time,but others l ived in

bondage to the end of thei r days . The young Songho i princes

were detained for a long period at the court of Konkour-Moussa,

but Al i Kolon travelled through the k ingdom of the Mali from

tim e to t im e under the pretext of increasing its revenues and

augmenting its comm erce . He was an intelligent youth,ful l of

prudence,reflection

,and enlightenment . By prolonging each

j ourney a little further h e learned to know the roads of th e

co untry, and , above all , those l ead ing toward s Songbe i . At last

he determ ined in h i s heart to return to h i s native land,and

for th is purpose he co l lected stores of arms and provis ions,which

be concealed along the route he intended to take . Having

confided h is plan to h i s brother,they began to train thei r horses

,

feed ing them wel l and accustoming them to endure great fatigue .

One day they took thei r d eparture . When the news of their

fl ight cam e to the k ing”s ears he comm anded them to be pursued

and k il led ; bu t although they were overtaken , they defended

them selves so wel l that they were enabled to reach the country

o f the Songhois.

Al i Kolon was proclaim ed k ing and given the name of Sunni,

the Liberator . ”

T H E S ON G H O I S 101

Such is the history of the founder of th e second dynasty,which

lasted from 1 355 to 1 492 , and counted eighteen kings.

I

Freed by Ali Kolon from the dominion of the Mali,the

Songho is resumed the peaceable exi stence they seem ed to have

led in the preceding centuries .

The h istory of the Songho is takes a wider range with Sunni

Ali (1 464 to They now overflow thei r early boundaries

JENNE : A CORNER OF TH E TOWN

and develop an empire of an extent never before witnessed in

western Africa .

1 Sunn i A likolon, Sunn i Sul im an Nare’, Sunn i Ibrah im Kobia, Sunn i Osm an

Kanava, Sunn i Barkalna Ankab i, Sunn i Moussa, Sunn i Boukar i Dianka, Sunn iBoukar Dalia Bougoum ba, Sunn i Marik in , Sunn i Moham m ed Daon

, Sunn i Mohamm ed Kokia , Sunn i Moham m ed Barro , Sunn i Maré Kollighim on , Sunn i Maré A rcouna,

Sunn i Maré Ardhan, Sunn i Sul im an Dam i , Sun n i A li , and Sunn i Baro (or Boukari

Dao ) .


Sunn i Al i i s pre-em inently the so ld ier ; th e true negro sold ier,who m arches from conquest to conquest absorbing al l the popu

lations in war, and so absorbed in i t him self that h e has no

time to create and organise h is conquests in durable form . He

is an old sold ier solely occupied with plunder and prisoners an d

the levying o f tribute . Nevertheless , while fighting from east to

west during twenty years,he is unconsciously laying the founda

tions of Songhoi greatness ; and the ground being thus prepared ,i t i s not long before an organiser appears who speedily raises th e

glory and pro sperity of the em pire to thei r greatest height .

The career of Ali the Conqueror started in masterly fashion

with the conquest of Tim buctoo in 1 469. It i s som ewhat sur

pris ing that we have not m et th i s name earl i er in the hi story

of the most civi l ised race of the Sudan ; but i t was not founded

by them,and had never befo re been counted am ong thei r pos

sess ions . So com plete was the annexati on of th is fam ous city

that i t obtained its suprem e grandeur at the preci se moment of

the Songho is” pre-eminence and decl ined with thei r fall .

Jenne,having em ancipated itself at the tim e the Mal i and

the Mossi were signal ising their v ictories over the last of the

Dias,was reduced to obedience after a long si ege . Sunn i Al i

fo l lowed up the conquest by attacking th e k ingdom s of th e

Mossi and the Hom bouri in the centre of the valley,and the

Teska Kouboura and Kanta in the east . His ch ief and most

pro longed effort, however, was directed to th e west, and con

centrated upon the destruction of that Mali empire which had

threatened h is nation in form er days . He subdued nearly the

whole of the left bank of the western Niger in th is manner,

taking l ittle Haoussa ( sou th of Tim buctoo) and Barra (country

of Gundam at Lake Debo) ; d estroying Guiddio,a large town

on Lake Debo, and fighting against the Senhadiata, the Foulbes,



we shal l find i t sti l l pursuing th is 7 626 and becom ing the prim e

factor in considerable and calam itous events . The great griev

ance cheri shed against the conqueror by the m arabuts was h i s

very lukewarm rel igiousness . ‘He took great l iberties with the

faith,

” relates the Tarik. He was wont to delay unti l n ightfall

or even ti ll n ext morning the five prayers wh ich every good

Mussulman should say between the rising and the setting of th e

sun . By degrees he contented h im self with merely mentioning

their names,and finally h e sti l l further s im pl ifi ed these negl igences

into a s ingle invocation of the nam e of God , adding, ! You all

know my prayers,let each take therefrom what concern s him .

”

The origin of this sceptici sm i s explained in a l ittle work by

El Mouchali,a very learned man of Tlem cen

,of whom I shall

have occasion to speak later on . He affords us a glimpse of the

customs of the period,and shows us the position of Islamism in

this country towards the close of the fifteenth century . The

higher classes alone, i t appears, had rall i ed to the rel igion of

Mahom et, and that without any great conviction . Idolatry was

not proh ibited in th e court itself,and

,seeing that the m onarch

showed h imself scarcely a Mohammedan even in name,h is retinue

would naturally follow h is example. The people openly continued

to practise wi tchcraft and the worsh ip of fetiches,whose tem ples

remained standing even in Gao and Jenne .

God had directed us,” says another extract, towards a country

whose inhabitants called themselves Mussu lmans,and who were so

on the surface. They attended the great service of Friday and

the week -day call to the five prayers,but we had l ittle confidence

in thei r m arabuts . The manners of this country are very

singular . We find a people here who pretend to know the science

of occult th ings, and base th is knowledge upon a study of l ines

traced upon the sand , on the position of the stars, the cries of


birds and their fl ight,etc . They profess to write charms which wil l

increase profits,excite love

,and oppose ru in ; wh ich wil l put th ei r

enemies to fl ight in battle and preserve th emselves from the sword

and the poison of arrows : and many other th ings that sorcerers

practise in incantations .‘The m other of Sunni Al i cam e from the country of Farou

(Sokato) , a nation of infidels who adored images of wood and

stone. They bad faith in these idols and consu lted them . When

good or evi l befel l them,they ascribed it to th e idols being

favourable or unfavourable . The worsh ip of these false gods i s

d irected by priests, who are guided in thei r turn by soothsayers

and magicians who give consultations .

Sunn i Ali passed his youth and grew to manhood there, and

his m ind was naturally influenced by these idolatries and customs .

Nevertheless,he decided in favour of Mohamm edanism when he

becam e k ing, although its usages were barely known to him . He

would add after the nam e of the Prophet, Let h im be praised

and after the holy name of Allah he would say,May the

pi‘

ayer and salvation of God be with him . But the reverse i s

what he should have said . For a tim e he fasted during the

m onth of Ram adan,and m ade offerings and sacrifices in the

mosques ; but after a whi le h e returned to i dols and soothsayers,he sought guidance in practices of witchcraft, and honoured trees

and stones with sacrifices and offerings,asking of them the fulfil

ment of his desi res .‘At last, neither be nor h is companions were ever seen (even on

Friday) i n the cathedral mosque, or i n any of the others, and from

fear of him the thousands of m en and women dwelling in h i s house

neither fasted nor prayed during Ram adan . He did not know the

Fatiha (the fi rst sfira ) by heart, nor any other sura of the Koran .

Habitual ly careless in his prayers , he neither bowed nor pro



number of t im es he was condemned to death,but h e was Sunni”s

right hand,h is best general and hi s w isest m inister . ‘A great

heart,gifted with a great generosity wh ich God had given him

by nature . ”

death Ali gave th is reflection .

A HOUSE I N J ENNE

He naturally did not care to continue the same precarious

existence under the son,Sunni Barro

,which he had enj oyed under

the father . His personal influence being considerable, he deter

mined to seize the crown .

‘As soon as hi s preparations were com plete, therefore, he

placed him self at the head of his partisans and attacked Sunni

Barro at Dangha. His army was defeated and he was obl iged

to take refuge in Gao . Reassembl ing h is forces, however, the

adventurer tried his fortunes a second time. The struggle which

ensued was a long and desperate one, both armies being al l but

annihilated,but Sunn i Barro was final ly obliged to fly from the

T H E S ON G H O I S'

109

country never to return to it,and Moham med ben Abou Bakr

ascended the throne in 1 494 .

The news being announced to the daughters of Sunni Ali,

they exclaim ed ‘Askia ! ” which signifies ‘ It is not h e,

” or‘Usurper.’ This being repeated to him

,Moham m ed ordained

that no other surnam e should be given him,and Askia Moham m ed

he accordingly becam e .

We have th us arrived at the th ird and last Songho i dynasty ,which reigned from 1 494 to 1 591 .

Askia Mohammed showed considerable pol itical abil ity from

the very m om ent of h is accession . He adopted an entirely new atti

tude towards religion,and a few m onths after h is accession there

was not a m ore devout Mussulm an throughout all Songho is than

the late friend and com panion of the ‘ miserable infidel . ” He

insisted that Islamism should be held in hono ur throughout the

country, and instead of the fo rmer soothsayers h is retinue now

consisted of m arabuts . He showered gifts upon them and took

their advice in everything .

They,in return

,hastened to legitim i se h is usurpation

, autho

rised him to take possession of the Conqueror”s treasure, and assisted

h im in despo i l ing the dignitaries of the form er”s rule. They

demonstrated in council that Sunn i Al i had been the m ost

abom inable of infidels,and , in consequence, the war undertaken

by Askia against h is descendant was a necessary war,an excellent

war— in short,a holy war .

The pious biographers exult o ver h im,they represent him

as ‘ a bril l iant l ight shin ing after great darkness ; a sav iour

who drew the servants of God from ido latry and the country

from ruin . The Defender of the Faithful , who scattered j oy,gifts

,and aim s around him .

”


As soon as h is authori ty was well established he placed

the reins of governm ent in the hands of his brother Omar,and

proceeded to stil l further legitim i se h im self by a gorgeous pilgrim

age to Mecca and Cairo‘He m ade a pilgrim age to the house of God , accompanied

by a thousand foot-so ld i ers and five hundred horse,and carrying

with h im three hundred thousand m itkals of gold from the treasure

of Sunni Al i . He scattered th is treasure in the holy places,at

the tomb of the Prophet in Medina,and at the sacred mosque at

Mecca . In the latter town he bought gardens and establ ished a

charitable institute for the people of the Sudan . This place i s

well known in Mecca,and cost five

,thousand m itkals .

He rendered hom age to the Khal if A bassid Motewekkel i n

Egypt,praying to be made h is deputy in the Sudan in general

and in Songhois i n particular. The Abassid consented , requ i ring

the king of Songhois to abdicate for three days and to place the

power in his hands . On th e fourth day Motewekkel solemnly

proclaim ed Askia Mohamm ed the representative of th e sultan

in the Sudan . He accompanied th i s by plac ing a green fez

and wh ite turban upon his h ead and returning him his sabre.”

This pi lgrimage had another and still m ore important effect

upon hi s reign and hi s people, for h e assiduously entertained the

theologians and learned m en of Cairo wh i le there . He evinced

a great interest in many subj ects , and d isplayed much anxiety to

receive thei r counsel upon the best and most enl ightened m anner

of l ife and governm ent . He deferred especial ly to E ssoyouti,

a scholar whose nam e i s celebrated in Arabian l i terature to th is

day . Ask ia opened a correspondence with h im on hi s retu rn to

Songhois, and always subm itted h is most important reforms to

th e savant,never neglecting to fo llow his advice concerning them .

It was at Cai ro,undoubtedly , that he acqu i red those n o tions of


1 1 2 T I M B U C T O O

must take counsel with h is ancestors who were in the other wo rld

and for th is purpose h e reti red to the tem ple of h is i dol s,aecom

pan ied by hi s court and the am bassador, the latter being curious

to see how the dead were com m unicated with .

‘After the perfo rm ance of th e usual ceremonies of these

heathen,an old man appeared

,before whom they prostrated

themselves,del ivering the Emir”s m essage . I will never consent

to your doing th is th ing,” was th e reply . You m ust fight agai nst

the Songhois unti l you have exterm inated either the enem y or

yourselves . ” Then said the k ing to the ambassador, ! Return

to your master and say to h im that nothing but war can be

between him and m e.

” When all the people had quitted the

tem ple, the ambassador spoke to th e being who had appeared in

th e form of an old m an, and said , ! In the nam e of the al l

powerful God , what art thou ? I am Satan,was the response

,

and I have led these people astray that they might perish in

thei r infidel ity.

” The ambassador related al l that had passed to

the Emir,and a holy war was declared . The arms of Askia were

victorious,and be destroyed thei r fields and villages

,making men ,

women,and ch ildren hi s pri soners

,and com pel ling them to be

converted .

”

After the south , the west ; and it now becam e necessary to

destroy the k ingdom of the Mali , a twelve years” task ( 1501

Zalna,the capital , was taken , and so thoroughly destroyed that i t

is now im po ssible to i dentify the si tuation of th is once im portant

town . This success was followed up by a savage war upon the

provinces,the towns , and the races of the Mali .

The struggle was a desperate one on both s ides,and the final

supremacy was dearly bought, as the fo l lowing anecdote wi l l show

The Em i r lo st such great quan ti ties of h is best so ld i ers in Mal i

that his bro ther Omar wept, saying, The Songho is wil l be exter

T H E S ON G H O I S 1 13

m inated . But Askia repl ied , On the contrary , these conquered

nations wi ll make our l ives easier, for they wil l becom e a part of us,and wil l assist us in ou r enterprises . And in this manner he

drove the sadness out of h i s brother”s m ind .

”

Having thus reduced th e west,Askia turned his attention to

the east, and reorganised that portion of his em pire ly ing in

the neighbourhood of Lake Chad (151 4 Agades had

asserted its independence at the instigation of the Berbers,and

he was obliged to reconquer it,as Sunn i Al i had formerly sub

dued . Jenne. He also subj ugated the kingdom s of Katsina, Kano ,Zegz ey, and Sanfara.

His empire now extended from the salt-mines of Thegaz z a in

THE SONGHOI ORGAN I SATI ON

the north to Bandouk, or the country of Bam m aku,in the south ,

and from Lake Chad in the east to the shores of th e Atlantic

in the west . ‘ It was a s ix-m onths” j ourney to cross th i s for

m idable em pire,

” says a contemporary .

And yet the reign of Ask ia the Great i s no t so remarkable

1 1 4 T I M B U C T O O

for its conquests as for the wise method of governm ent he estab

lished in the coun try, and the pains he took to closely incorporate

the new territories w ith the Songhoi empi re .

Unlike Sunni Ali,he was not content with s imply demanding

tribute, but destroyed al l the old systems, and reconstructed

them,giving thei r administration into the hands of his own

functionaries . Thus the em pire was not merely temporari ly but

actually enlarged,and that for a prolonged period . It i s

said that h is will was as well carried out in the furthest

extremities of h is k ingdom as in Songhois, or even in the royal

palace itself.

Four viceroys were created,who control led the governors of

the provinces, mil itary ch iefs, j udges, and th e coll ection of taxes .

The fi rst was the viceroyalty of Dand i (with a capital of the

same name) , which comm anded Lake Chad ; the second , that of

Bankou,governed the country between Tim buctoo and Gao in

the north ; the th ird was the v iceroyalty of Ba! or Balm a, and

administered the whole of the north -west from Timbuctoo and

Gambara to Thegaz z a, and incl uded the control of the k ing of

the Touaregs ; whilst the fourth and most im portant was that

of Kourm ina (capital Tindi rm a) and compri sed the governm ent

of Baghena (Mali ) , Barra (capital se) , Dirm a (capital Dira) , and

Massina .

The great governments of Bando uk, Kala (Sansanding) , and

Hom bouri had no V i ceroy .

The highest officers of state were either chosen from the

royal fami ly or married to its princesses,as were the principal

m i l itary ch iefs and m arabuts.

The administration thus formed a dynastic ari stocracy of the

greatest importance to national unity .

Another innovation ,which assi sted Askia to effect h is num erous


1 1 6 T I M B U C T O O

pean m erchandise penetrated in large quantities to the centre

of the black world,and were in such request

,that the supply

scarcely kept pace with the dem and .

In the train of the m erchants came the learned strangers who

flocked to the Sudan upon hearing that they would be parti

cularly wel l received . They cam e from Morocco, Tuat, Algeria,and Cairo . Sci ence and letters received a sudden im petus

,and

were not long in producing Sudanese writers of the greatest

interest ; whose m anuscripts , in fact, furnish m e with all these

details,and of whom I shal l speak at greater length when we

have reached Timbuctoo .

Among his numerous innovations Askia natural ly d id not

neglect religion . It bad,after him self

,an official and supreme

representative (exclusively ecclesiasti c) in the person of a Shei k

ul-Islam,whose resid ence was at Timbuctoo . The king had seen

a sim i lar authori ty side by side with th e Khal if A bassid in

Egypt ; and be adopted th is religious institution , together with

the attire and manner of l iving of the Arabian ruler . He form ed

the etiquette of h i s court upon that of the Khal if s, keeping

him self strictly invis ible to the vulgar eye . ‘Askia el Hadj d id

not care to be seen,

” reports the Tarik, and he persuaded his

brother Omar to follow h i s exam ple in th is . Expose not thyself3to perish of the evi l eye

,

” he sai d to him . He compelled the

wom en of the towns to lead the l i fe of the Eastern harem,and

forbade that any (married or Single) should Show them selves

unveiled,making h is own family set the exam ple . People

approach ing the king in audience covered their heads with dust

he never spoke directly to assemblies nor to the people , but

always dealt with them through the medium of a herald . Upon

the occasions of h is going out,h is cortege was preceded by

m usicians, drum s , and trumpets , and he rode in sol itary state,


with his su ite at a respectful d istance behind . Servants

m arched surrounding h is horse , and hold ing by turns to his

saddle ; they were called foot com panions, and thei r head -m an

was the master of the road .

” Viceroys had a right to a sim i lar

but more modest d isplay . Only one drum was allowed to precede

them,and thei r musicians were to keep si lence when in sight of

a town in wh ich the king was residing . In short, the royal

negro,like other wh ite usurpers , made th e greater parade of the

power and state of maj esty the less right he had to i t . But all

this i s insignificant in v iew of the really great qualities possessed

by th is ruler of th e Songho is.

A wonderful impul se was im parted to thi s country in the s i x

teenth century, and a marvellous civi l i sation appeared in the very

heart of the black continent . This civ il i sation was not im posed

by circum stances and force, as i s so often the case, even in our own

countries,but was spontaneously desi red

,evoked

,and propagated

by a man of the negro races . Unfortunately , i ts fairest promises

were never fulfi lled , owing, not so m uch to the native successors,

as to the civi lised (som e sav white) peoples who ruthlessly

destroyed al l thi s good seed , and caused the tares of barbarism

to sprout anew.

After thirty-five years of responsibi l iti es nobly d ischarged,the

faculties of Askia the Great began to decl in e . His num erous sons

(he had a hundred ) now longed to be quit of h im ,and finally the

eldest,Askia Moussa

,revolted and deposed hi s father at Gao

,1529.

All that Moussa and his successors were called upon to do was

to l ive in the sol id edifice erected by the founder of thei r dynasty .

I wi ll only relate, therefore, those particulars of thei r reigns which

wil l enabl e us to form some idea of the character,m anners

,and

customs of these people at this time.


Moussa”s fi rst care was to moderate the ambition of h is

brothers by having a certain number of them put to death .

Som e offered armed resi stance,notably Bala

,his father”s favourite

son .

‘ Being forced to give h imself up,Bala repl ied to the

intercession of the k ing”s son on hi s behalf,

! My child,i t i s

necessary that I should die ; for these three things I would never

consent to do—give Moussa the title of Askia,throw dust upon

my head in h i s presence, nor ride behind him i n processions .”

Moussa com m anded an exceedingly deep hole to be dug,in wh ich

Bala and one of h i s cousins were placed ; i t was then fi l led with

water,and the two young men were drowned .

’ These singular

fam i ly manners furnished the restored and consol idated Islam with

an occasion to,very laudably and courageously, assert its authority .

The Sheik-ul-Islam interposed as mediator between Moussa and

h i s brothers, and vindicated h is posi tion in the fol lowing manner .

He took h is place besi de Moussa, turning his face away from him .

Dost tho u dare to turn thy back upon me ? ” asked Moussa ; and

the Sheik repl ied,I cannot look upon the face of him that has

deposed the Emir of the true believers . On another occasion

a mere marabut del ivered h imself of the fol lowing : We enj oyed

prosperity and repose in the reign of thy father,the happy

,the

good ; and we made prayers that God m ight accord him victory

and a long l ife . We asked ourselves, Has h e a son who shal l be

the hope of Islam ? and we answered,Yes ; so we offered prayers

for thee as well as for thy father . Thou hast deceived our hopes,but we do not cease our prayers

,only instead of invoking God in

thy favour we pray against thee .”

Finding them selves in the process of decimation , the brothers

of Moussa assassinated h im,and a nephew of Askia the Great

reigned under the title of Askia Bankouri He, also, made

haste to remove a certain number of h is uncle”s sons, and even



rescue my father from his d i stressful condition,to enable my

sisters to resume the vei l that Bankouri had obliged them to

rel inqu ish , and to pacify Yan Mara, one of the hundred hen

ostriches who was wont to throw hersel f into a frenzy whenever

she saw Bankouri. ”

The Tarik does not tel l us i f Yan Mara recovered her

happiness after this, but we learn with pleasure that Ask ia theGreat returned to h i s palace of Gao

,and d ied in peace there in

1538. Ismael was the fi rst of the Askia to die on h i s throne

and he was succeeded by h i s brother,Askia Ishak . He,

l i ke his predecessors, had very strong family feelings, and put an

end to a good m any of h is relations. He is reported to have

destroyed one of them by m eans of a spell . A rbinda,h is sister”s

son , caused h im much anxiety . He was a remarkable man , of such

astonishing valour,that he was greatly desi red as a successor to

Ishak . The latter confided h is fears to a man versed in the occul t

sciences,and begged h i s assi stance . The magician fi l led a vase

with water and pronounced several invocations,after wh ich he

called ‘A rbinda ! A rbinda ! come hither ! ” Then there rose out

of the water a puppet greatly resembling A rbinda,and the

magician put chains upon i ts feet and struck it with a spear,saying, Go and the puppet d isappeared . Soon afterwards it

was found that A rbinda had d ied at the moment the image was

struck by the magician .

The four last A skias to reign over the whole em pire were

Askia Daoud , 1 549-1 581 ; Askia El Hadj I I . ,1581—1 586 ; Askia

Moham m an Ban,1 586-1 587 ; and Askia Ishak I I . ,

1 587-1591 .

These,l ike their predecessors

,undertook a certain number of

expediti ons (alm ost all fortunate ones) , not so much to make new

conquests as to preserve the old ones . They had no need to

enlarge their magnificent heritage,as we can wel l understand

,but


they d id not even m ake an effort to im prove it,nor to encourage

the progress instituted by th e fi rst of thei r race . If, on the one

hand , they were not guilty of any retrogressive movem ent, as

l ittle can any wise innovation be attributed to them .

Fratricidal struggles,family ferocities

,and a perpetual fear of

rival ry,were thei r dominant pre-occupations, always including

debauch . They changed the fear of God into infidelities . Aban

doued to the practice of forbidden th ings, they covered themselves

with sin in the open day . They drank intoxicating liquids,and

committed acts contrary to nature. Adultery was thei r most

common vice ; i t would seem that they did not even consider it

reprehensibl e,and neith er rank nor services were any obstacle to

them . Some even committed th is sin with thei r own sisters . ”

In spite of receiv ing no care from its rulers,the powerful

machinery created and set in

motion by Askia the Great sti ll

endured,so well had i t been

planned and so sol idly was i t

bui lt . For nearly a quarter of

a century its prosperity suffered

no decrease . The empire was so

fi rmly constructed that i t would

have lasted intact unti l the race of

Askia had produced a sovereign

worthy of its founder and wel l

fi tted to continue his work .

But now the invad ing Moor

appears , and the Songho i empire

passes out of sight,to become a

Moorish colony,which is to say that the terrible Arabian race is

about to accom pli sh one of i ts worst pieces of work in th e Sudan .

CHA PTE R V I I

THE MOORS IN THE SUDA N

TH E prosperity of the Sudan,and i ts wealth and comm erce were

known far and wide in th e sixteenth century . Caravans retu rning

along the coasts proclaim ed its splendours in thei r camel loads of

go ld , i vory, h ides, musk , and the spoi ls of the ostri ch . The

Portuguese (always the fi rst traders of Europe) , endeavoured at thi s

time to enter into relations w ith these countries of the Niger,

whose m agnificence had become a proverb . As tar cures the gal l

of a camel,so poverty finds i ts unfai l ing remedy in the Sudan

,

”

was th e saying of northern Africa .

So m any attractions gathered together under one sky could

not fai l to rouse the attention , and by-and-by the cupidity,of

neighbouring territories . Chief among these was natural ly that

country nearest to the Sudan,Morocco . From the fi rst thei r

avarice assum ed a harshly definite character, for the people of

Morocco had not, and never d id have, any desire to co lon ise and

develop a com merce, nor even to institute a rel igious propaganda.

They looked upon th e Sudan in the l ight of a gold-mine, and

their first aspirations,l ik e thei r ultimate efforts, were concentrated

upon the mere drainage of thi s preciou s metal . This covetousness

of thei rs was also the source of a new danger to the Sudan , as i t

becam e the m eans of j eopardising i ts salt-supply .

The interior of the Sudan lacks this m os t necessary of1 22



had greatly increased the effici ency of the army by supplying i t

with firearms,cannon

,etc .

From th e beginning of his reign El Mansour had especial ly

occupied himself with the Sudan . He sent an embassy in 1 583,ostensibly charged wi th magnifi cent gifts, but in real ity com

missioned to reconnoitre the roads and principal towns of Songho is,and make a study of its army . Askia El Hadj 11 . received the

embassy at Gao,and returned it laden with gifts of stil l greater

splendour than those i t had brought . Thi s was fuel to the flames,

and,too impatient to waste any tim e in making preparations

,El

Mansour set twenty thousand men on the road to Timbuctoo .

The route,traversing desert after desert , was a long one, and in

no way fitted to accommodate an unexpected army . Hunger and

thirst very soon forced the invaders to retreat, and the sultan had

to content h im self with posting a body of two hundred musketeers

at Thegaz z a . Thereupon the Sudanese abandoned the place and

its mines for others recently discovered at Taoudenn i , which

for the future suppl i ed them with the precious produce.

El Mansour now had more salt than he knew what to do

with,but no gold , and the Sudan contin ued to occupy his

thoughts . A new king reigning in Songhois, he resuscitated the

ancient pretext of tribute, and demanded a m itkal of gold for

every load of salt entering the Sudan . Askia Ishak II . refused

point blank,and

,by way of expressing hi s whole thought, aecom

panied the refusal by a gift of swords and j avelins . He should

have gone sti l l further, and fol lowed the example of Ishak I . by

sending a force of Touaregs to show themselves upon the Moorish

frontier . As it was, El Mansour took the in itiative .

Having convoked a grand counci l of h is m ost experienced

advisers at Marrakesh , he explained his plans to them in the

following words : ‘ I have resolved to attack the Sudan . It

T H E M O O R S I N T H E S U D A N 125

I s an exceed ingly rich country,and will furnish us with large

taxes,and we shall thus be enabled to gi ve greater im portance

to the Mohammedan armies . ”

The sultan hav ing thus, as a contem porary Moorish h istorian

expresses i t, em ptied h i s quiver and purged h is l iver of its bile,”

did not find h is assembly particu larly enth usiasti c upon the

subj ect . Prince,” they said , there i s an imm ense desert between

our country and the Sudan , which is devoid of water and y ege

tation ,and so hard to traverse that the very bi rds lose thei r

way there . If these are al l your obj ections,

” repl ied El Mansour,

‘ I see no reason why they should h inder my resolution . You

speak of dangerous deserts and peri lous sol i tudes . But do we

not see,from day to day, feeble merchants , poor in resource,

penetrating these regions , and passing through them on foot, on

horse or camel , i n groups or solitary ? Cannot I do what these

caravans accomplish ? I, who am in every way better equipped

than they ? The conquest itself wi ll be an easy one , for these

Sudanese know neither powder nor cannon,nor are they

acquainted with the muskets of terri fying sound . They are

only armed wi th spears and sabres,and what can they avai l

against us ? Why should we make war against the Turk,who

gives m uch trouble and l ittle profit, when the Sudan would

be an easy conquest,and is richer than the whole of northern

Africa ? ” The councillors al lowed themsel ves to be persuaded

by this eloquence,saying

,Lord

,God has inspi red you wi th the

truth,and we have no longer anything to say against it. So true

i s i t that the minds of princes are th e princes of m inds .”

El Mansour took immense pains to organise an army, not

great in num bers,but careful ly selected . From among h is nomadic

so ld iers and auxil iaries he chose the bravest and most devoted

m en,providing them with strong camels and thoroughbred horses.


In th is manner he collected an arm y of three thousand musketeers

and a thousand combatants (half cavalry and half foot) with

side-arms . The supreme command was i ntrusted to the Pasha

Dj onder, with ten subordinate ch iefs (or kaids) , and the expedition

left Morocco towards the end of the year 1 590.

It entered the Sudan from the west,near the region of the

lakes south of Timbuctoo, and its fortunate arrival on th e banks

of the Niger was cons idered in the l ight of its first victory,and

was celebrated by a great festival of rej oicing . It now turned

towards Gao,the capital

,and when Ishak I I . heard of the arrival

of the Moors be assembled an army of thirty thousand foot and

twelve thousand horse,and opposed them to the invaders . The

battle took place in February 1 591 at Toundibi, not far from

Tim buctoo .

El Mansour had not m ade a wrong estimate of the perfections

of h is arm ament . The Songhois were routed almost w ithout a

blow being struck,

‘ in the twink ling of an eye,

” i t i s said . The

sudden shock of sm oke, noise, and the hail of balls so terrifi ed

them,that many, think ing nothing could preserve them from such

miracles , did not even attempt to fly . They were found upon

thei r sh ields with legs crossed,waiting for the conquerors

,and

they allowed them selves to be ki lled without m aking any move

ment in self-defence . The Moors pitilessly slew the demoral ised

crowd,not even sparing those who cri ed

,

‘We are Mussulmans ;we are your brothers i n religion .

”

The panic lasted as i t had reigned during the battle, and

spread throughout the entire country . Ishak , who had gone to

battle ful l of confidence,s urrounded by magicians and sorcerers,

took to h is heels at th e beginning of the action , and made n o

attempt to resist,even in the capital i tself. On receiving a com

mand to evacuate i t the m onarch sought refuge wi th the crowd ,



conquest . They found that the Sudan,

” says the Tam il!, rivalled

the countries m ost favoured by God , in the abundance, prosperity ,security

,and health of all its territori es

,and all these benefi ts

resulted from the blessed reign of the Em i r of the true bel ievers,

Askia E l Hadj . But from thi s time everything was altered ;securi ty became fear

,prosperi ty was changed into ru in

,health

into sickness and angu ish,and men began to fight and pi llage

among them selves.

Dissatisfied with the m oderation of Dj onder, El Mansour

removed him from the supreme command and instantly despatched

another pasha,nam ed Mahm oud

,to the south . He was instructed

to pursue A sk ia Ishak to the death , and m ake the Sudan a

Moorish prov ince . On reach ing Timbuctoo , Mahm oud garri soned

i t and departed with the army in search of the k ing of the Songhois .

The latter, hearing that h i s terms were rej ected by the sultan ,took up arms afresh ; but the disaster of Bamba was as complete

as that of the first encounter,and Ishak was forced to retreat

further into the south .

In these circum stances (already sufficiently critical) , the Song

hois enfeebled them selves stil l further by i nternal d issensions. Half

the arm y proclaim ed Askia Kaghou king, and Askia Ishak was too

demoral ised to make any effort to regain the supremacy . He dis

appeared from the scene in a m anner that, i f not h eroic, was at least

tragic . Having resolved to yi eld the power to his rival , he gathered

together the officers of that part of the army wh ich had remained

faithful to h im,and collecting al l the insignia of royalty, they

burned them in a place cal led Tera. The king and his officers then

took leave of one another, weeping and begging mutual forgiveness ;

and thi s was the last tim e they saw each other . ” Ishak shortly

afterwards d ied,obscure and abandoned , at Gourma

T H E M O O R S I N T H E S U D A N 129

The pasha now proceeded to a conquest and pacification which

have become legendary . The usurper, Askia Kaghou, having given

h im self up , he and his retinue were crushed (by order of the pasha) ,by the fal l of the house i n wh ich they were imprisoned . Eighty

three members of the royal house suffered death in variou s ways,som e being beheaded

,while others were drowned orcrucified .

Timbuctoo,wh ich had rebelled against the harsh treatment

of the garri son , was cruel ly punished . Two of its ch ief personages

were m utilated by having their hands and feet cut off,and were

then left to die. Many were massacred , and al l the l earned men ,those m arabuts who had been the pride of the great city, were

im prisoned or taken to Morocco, from whence very few returned .

With the fall of the Songhois many of thei r conquered pro

vinces revolted , pi llaging and destroying in the south and east of

the em pi re . Half the kingdom fel l a prey to anarchy . Foulbes

Touaregs and Bam barras distingu ished themselves in this capacity .

Moorish columns, aided by the kaids, overran Baghena, Diarka,Jenne

,and the countries of the Upper Niger

,ravaging as they

went .

At the same time,the pasha Mahmoud was similarly occupied

in the other extremity of the k ingdom , i n Houm bouri and Dand i,

where a few Songhois had taken refuge wi th Askia Noé .

In 1595 the conquest was complete, and the Moors, real i s ing

that the Niger was the key to the Sudan , fo rtified its course from

east to west, garrisoning Jenne, Tindirma, Timbuctoo, Bamba,Gao, and ' Koulani in the extreme south-east. Each of these forts

was placed under the command of a kaid .

The governor of the colony took th e title of pasha . He was

nom inated by the sultan,sent from Morocco

,and exercised the civ i l

power only . The chief command of the troops devolved upon a

kaid , and there was also a hakim ,or kahia

,who fi lled the offices

K


of treasurer and prime minister . The sultan further instituted

two emirs,who were comptrollers for the crown

,and res ided , the

one at Tim buctoo,and the other at Jenne . These two towns,

with Gao,were the great centres of occupation , Jenne and Gao

finally ced ing the position of capital to Timbuctoo . The latter

town,si tuated on the h igh -road to Morocco, was the residence of

the governor ; the greater part of the troops were quartered in

i t,while reinforcements arri ved at and expeditions started from

there.

Thi s represents the Moorish side of th e colony , but i t sti ll

preserved a native one . Mahmoud,after establ ish ing the pres

tige of the conquerors by the cruelties we have j ust witnessed ,soon real i sed that the administration of the country would be

impossible i f be destroyed the whole of its organisation . Some

m embers of the royal family had j oined him since the invasion , and

be d istinguished one among them,Askia Soleiman

,by making

him king under h i s tutelage,and giving him a residence at Tim

buctoo . Askia the Great”s d istribution of the country into vice

royalties and governments was preserved,the pasha retaining the

nomination to these posts. Touaregs,Foulbes

,Songho is, and

feudatories were recrui ted to form auxil iary troops,and when the

musketeers departed on an exped ition they were accom panied by

native contingents , comm anded by their king, or V i ceroy,under

the orders of the kaid .

For twenty years the constitution work ed pretty well ; then , in

consequence of events that occurred at Morocco,disintegration set

in . El Mansour died from poisoning in 1 604 . His successors ,occupied with palace intrigues and intestinal struggles

,took no

further heed of the Sudan than to look for i ts convoys of gold,

and interested themsel ves l ittle, i f at all, in what went on there .

In 1613 the governor of the Sudan was no longer nominated


A STREET I N J ENNE

T H E M O O R S I N T H E S U D A N 1 33

retained the title of pasha,but i t became a purely nom inal one,

and h is authority was only recognised in h is own region . The

single remaining tie between the colony and Morocco was the

tribute to the sultan,

'

and that was paid as i rregularly as

possible .

In the eighteenth century the independence of the Sudan was

complete ; the name ‘Moor ” had even ceased to distinguish the

masters of the country . The former conquerors had intermarried

with the Songho is, and had increased and multiplied abundantly,their descendants being called Roum as, after El Mansour

”

s

musketeers,who had m ade such a terrible im pression on their

fi rst appearance in the Sudan . The native organisation , A skia”

s

viceroys and ko'

i'

s,had di sappeared

,and m any territories had

asserted their independence under the governm ent of local ch iefs.

The Roum as retained principally those banks of the Niger on

which thei r forefathers had settled . Each group only concerned

itself with its own region,and had no relations

,beyond occasion

ally hosti le ones,with neighbouring groups . Profiting by all th is,

two elements of confusion established themselves and augmented

the general anarchy,viz . the Touaregs and the Foulbes .

The Touaregs were the fi rst to exploi t the situation . They

crossed the river,exchanging their po sition in the sands of th e

Sahara for the opulent plains in the north of the valley . In

1770 they had taken Gao from the Roum as,and Tim buctoo in

1800. The constant rivalri es of thei r distinct tribal d iv i sions

delayed the organisation of thei r conquests . It was not so, how

ever, with the Foulbes .

Contrary to the opin ion that obtains am ong the Europeans of

the Sudan and Senegal,and i s accepted to th is day by the

num erous books of travel,the Fo ulbes d i d not enter th e Sudan


from the east . Neither did they come by the valley of the Nile,as some, identifying them with the Fellahs, bel ieve : there i s no

connection between them . It was from the west, from the Adrar,the land of sand extending to the north of Senegal , that they

arrived . The Tarik clearly says , The Foulbes are nations of the

land of Tischitt.” They are connected with the wh ite race, as

are the Touaregs,and l ike them are pastoral nomads .

The Fo ulbes were probably fo rced back towards the Sudan

when the Moors,driven out from Spain , invaded Adrar . This

exodus towards the east was not an em igration,nor an invasion ,

nor a conquest . It was for these shepherds and their flocks a

m ere changing of pasture . A great number of them settled

amid the ferti l i ty of Massina,and i t i s there that we see a power

ful ly organised empire arise ih 1813 .

Cheikou Ahm adou, its only ousted the Roum as,

J ENNE

but made war u on the Touareg s and ca tured Timbuctoo fromP o

them,accom plish ing all this in the space of twenty years .



sovereign ”s glory,and securing the sym pathy , i f not the con

cu rrence,of th e Songho is populations . He di lates at great length

upon the renown,goodness

,and wisdom of th e great Askia

,

details h is pilgrimage to Mecca, announcing that he becam e

Khal if,but add ing that he was only the eleventh of those Khalifs

whose coming had been foretold by Mahomet .

So far he i s accurate enough and fairly approximates to history ,but after this we enter the region of fable, the myth ical facts of

interested trickery . After recall ing the fact that Askia conversed

with and became the friend of E ssoyouti at Cairo, the author of

the pamphlet makes the fam ous sheik del iver h imself of the

following prophecy . After thee,” he announced to the king of

the Songhois, the Sudan shall behold a twelfth Khalif, who wil l

not be of thy family, Askia. A holy man shall arise,a priest shall

he be and learned , an active man and an observer of the law , and

he shall be called Ahmadou ben Moham m ed,of the tribe of the

Ulem as of Sonkor,and shall m anifest him self in the island of Sibre

Massina. He shall inherit the Khalifat from thee , and shal l have

abundance of sm i les,moral beauty

,and victory, and he shall be

established in al l hi s designs . Thy greatness shal l be surpassed by

h is,for he wil l have studied the sciences , whi le thou knowest only

j ustice,prayer

,and the elem ents of th e faith . Such shall be the

twelfth Khalif announced by Mahom et .”

No one but Askia would have persisted in the face of such very

unpleasant predicti ons,but (according to the pamphlet) the great

k ing desires to know m o re concerning the successor who i s to have

no connection with h is family but i s to surpass h im in glory .

‘Will th is new Khalif find the faith prospering ? ” he asks.

No,” the oracu lar sheik repli es . He will find religion destroyed

,

but Ahm ado u shall be as a spark am ong dry grass. God shal l

give him the victory o ver infidels, and will prosper all who aid h im .


Those who see thi s Khal if and follow him shall be blessed as were

the followers of Mahom et , and all who render obed ience unto

him shall be as those who obeyed the Prophet.

It can scarcely be necessary to explain that this prophecy is

not to be found in the Fatass '

z'

,but was invented to assist the

cause of Cheikou Ahmadou and the Foulbes . It is as well,

however, to bring the docum ent to l ight, as it was probably in the

sam e m anner that th e Mahdi of the Egyptian Sudan was acere

d ited fourteen years ago. It was thu s we recently saw El Hadj

Omar and Samory rise,and i t wi ll undoubted ly be in the cause of

religious fanatici sm that the country wil l be roused to revol t

against our dom in ion in the futu re .

Our Sudanese possess ions are peopled wi th d ivers races

owning so l ittl e in com mon with one another,that i t would always

be possible to bring one tribe to reason with the assistance of

another,on th e cond ition that the rel igiou s influence, wh ich alone

could subdue the j ealousies and dissensions of these d ifferent

nations and unite them In a dangerous whole,must be at once

and total ly crushed .

Cheikou Ahmadou d ied in 1 844,and was succeeded by his son

Ahmadou Cheikou . Even during the l ifetime of its founder this

hasti ly constructed empire had shown signs of fail ing,for th e

Foulbes,rapacious and cruel to co-rel igionists and infidels alike,

were kept constantly defend ing thei r supremacy . So great was

their unpopularity that the inhabitants of Timbuctoo d id not

hesitate to cal l a thi rd elem ent to thei r ass istance,and introduced

the Berber tribe of Kountas from the south of Tunis into the

valley of the Niger.

In addition to this,a rival dynasty was already dawning in the

regions of the Upper Niger and Senegal . It was founded by a


member of the Toucouleurs,a tribe of negro and Foulbe half

breeds . Of insign ificant origin,the son of a m arabut

,he too traded

on a reputation for hol iness . He made a pi lgrimage to Mecca,

and called h imself El Hadj Omar. Like CheikowAhm adou,he

put the whole of the southern Sudan to fi re and sword under the

pretext of a divine mission against the infidels the infidels” being

all those who were unwill ing to submit to h is authori ty . Having

pillaged and destroyed the sou th , he turned to the north and

west, to attack the Foulbe empi re and their new king, Ahmadou

Ahmadou . A great battle took place at Sofara,which resulted

in a victory to El Hadj Omar,and decided the supremacy of the

valley of the Niger. Sorely wounded , Ahmadou Ahmadou, wi th

a few faithful spi ri ts,took fl ight in canoes

,hoping to reach

Timbuctoo .

Learn ing the d i rection taken by the fugitives,the k ing of the

Toucouleurs commanded him to be pursued and taken al ive . The

wounded man would have offered some resistance on being ever

taken,but the last of the faithfu l fled across the fi elds leaving

Ahmadou alone, face to face with El Hadj Omar”s people . On

hearing the order that had been given to them ,Ahm adou Ahmadou

repl ied, I wil l not retu rn to Om ar . I wil l never see him in this

world again . He returned to the canoe,and tak ing h is valuables

from i t he placed them upon th e ground . Putting on a wh ite

garm ent he knelt and made salaam,then

,having finished h is

prayer, he turned to the Toucouleurs and said , I wil l never be

Om ar”s prisoner . Fulfi l now my last request,and do that which

is pleasing to God . Kill me, and all these th ings wi ll I give to

you in recompence, and you shall say to Omar he d ied of his

wounds . ”

Thus was the tale of the death of the last king of the Foulbes

told m e at Jenne. El Hadj Om ar vowed undying hatred against



The death of Ahmadou Ahmadou was speedi ly followed by

that of h is conqueror. El Hadj Omar was scarcely installed in

the capital of h is foe before he was attacked by an arm y of

Foulbes,accom panied by a reinforcement of Kountas. The

Toucouleur held out for several m onths, but the town was finally

captured . He succeeded in escaping to the neighbouring moun

tains of Bandiagara,and there h e learned in h is turn to know

all the desolation of defeat wh ich had been suffered by Ahmadou

Ahmadou . His death,not so heroic as that of his v ictim , came

about in the fol lowing m anner . Being pursued by h is enemies

he sought refuge in a cave, which they surrounded and blew up

with gunpowder,and El Hadj Omar perish ed in i ts ruins

(1863)

The Toucouleurs,under the government of Tidiani

,a nephew

of the late k ing,'sti l l remained m asters of the north of th e valley .

Tidiani was succeeded by h is son,who was opposed by h i s bro thers

in a series of civi l wars wh ich term inated in 1877, leaving Ahm a

dou sole ruler.

A new prophet entered the scenes about this time,he too

massacring and pillaging in the name of God . He was

Sam ory, that scourge of the valley and of the left bank of the

Niger .

But l ittle by little, under the directions of General Borgn is

Desbordes, our forts advanced towards the great river, and we

were installed upon i ts banks at Bam m aku in 1 883. Our gunners

made us known in the north whi le our colum ns pursued Sam ory

in the south . Colonel Archinard continued our march along the

co urse of the Niger,and the capture of Segu marked the term ina

tion of the Toucouleur dom in ion in 1 892. We reached Jenne in

1 893, and before the end of the sam e year the tricolour flag waved

o ver Tim buctoo .


These few pages of history,and the fresh inform ation they

contain , are not necessary only to explain Jenne and i ts E gyptian architecture, they have another claim on our atten

tion .

They serve to Show that we have taken possession o f the

Sudan at an exceptionally favourable m om ent as far as ease

of conquest i s concerned . But they also show that we

arrived after two hundred years o f i ts worst misfo rtunes,and

at a tim e singularly unpropitious to the pro sperity of the

country .

The Moors were the fi rst cause of th e work of d isintegra

tion, which steadi ly increased during the two centuries of

thei r reign,to reach i ts maximum in the present day . The

history of thi s d isruption i s a ti ssue of accum ulated m i sery and

desolation .

We find the country in a m ost abnormal pol itical and

economical position,a position which i s general

,not local ised

and partial . From north , east, and south Touaregs,Foulbes

,

Toucouleurs and Kountas have flung thei r starvel ing herds into thi s

promised land . They appear in the l ight of some m onstrous

association eager to destroy the happy privi leges nature showered

upon these rich terri tori es,and labouring to annih ilate the

benefits of an ancient civi l i sation in the tri umph of thei r

native barbarism . And all this in the name of the one God !

Cheikou Ahmadou,El Hadj Om ar

,and Sam ory were not the

only devastating prophets . I have pruned numerous other

fanatic and sanguinary m eteors from these pages who account

for a lesser share of the great sum of ev il .

During al l th is tim e agriculture was interrupted and com merce

des troyed . The river was deserted o f i ts canoes , and the traffic of

the caravan became impossible . The markets were em pty, the


population decimated by slavery and famine,and enti re countries

were depopulated by emigration .

The negro race i s so prol ific,however, thanks to polygamy ,

and the earth i s so fertile,thanks to the inundati ons of the Niger

, !

that al l these evi ls wil l be repaired in a few years owing to the

peace and organisation we have introduced in the country .



flows from the Bani to the Niger, for the four succeeding months

it flows from the Niger to the Bani,and during the rest

”

of the

year i t has no current at al l . This alternation has been rem arked

by the natives,and recorded in th e following na'i've observation

Our country i s watered by two great rivers that marry at Mopti .

The Bani i s the male,and the Niger i s the female element . At

fi rst the Bani fi l l s

the Niger,but

som e time after

wards the Niger,grown great

,re

turns its fulness

to the Bani . ”

The scientific

explanation of

thi s phenomenon

i s sim ple. The

Niger and theMAP OF JE NNE RI

Bani pursue an

almost parallel course,and are enlarged at the same period

of the year by the sam e rains . The course of the Niger i s

impeded,however

,by great natural dams, and i t has in addition

to fi l l the Pools of Dia and Bourgoo , while that of the

Ban i i s free,and augments no reservoi rs . Inasmuch as the

waters of the Niger are m ore considerable , the two rivers do

not overflow at the same time of the year . The Bani rises fi rst,and as i t encounters no obstacle, and suffers no d iminution , i t can

by means of the Kouakouru, transfer i ts superabundance to the

Niger.The larger river attains i ts fullest height later on ,

!and it

i s then the Niger that flows into its dimin i shed confluent . The

im mense plain is flooded from September to October, and during

J E N N E—Y E S T E R D A Y A N D T O-D A Y 1 45

th is period the waters of the Ban i are at their highest . This i s

not the case with the Niger, but its mass i s nevertheless greatly

augmented,and form s a barrier against the rapid currents of the

Bani at Mopti . The level of the latter,owing to th is dam of

water,begins to rise . The Pool of Kouakouru and the various

channels ri se also,and the surrounding country

,owing to the

absence of protec ti ve dykes, i s flooded . At this period the

appearance of the region closely resem bles that of th e valley of

the Nile in tim es of inundation . The vi llages of the Songho i

agriculturi st em erge from the sheet of water li ke those of the

Fellahs . They are built of the sam e light grey clay upon m ounds

m ore or less ar tificial , and are interspersed with the same feathery

tufts of palm -trees . The roads and the banks of river, channels,and pools have enti rely disappeared, canoes being the only means

of comm unication rem aining to the vi llagers. The great plain

has become a great sea strewn with grey islands crested with

green .

The waters subs ide in Novem ber , and rice (the principal cereal

of th i s region ) , having been planted in the fi rst rains,i s then

harvested . The soil being mo i st and easi ly worked,a second

harvest of mil let or m aize i s prepared . The wonderful ferti l ity of

the gro und is such that two closely consecutive harvests may be

obtained from it .‘Fortune has showered its gifts upon Jenneri

,

” says the old

chronicle ; ‘ its m arkets are held every day of the week,and its

populations are very num erous . Its seven thousand v illages are

so near to one another that the ch ief of Jenne has no need of

m essengers . If he wishes to send a com m and to Lake Debo, for

instance, i t i s cried from”

the gate of the town,and repeated from

village to vi llage, by which m eans it reaches its destination alm ost

instantly .

”


The meeting of many channels in this golden land severs an

i sland from the plain,and that i sland is Jenue .

Was i t chance,or was i t i ntention resulting from i nquiry

,that

drew the first Songho is to establi sh here the frontier town of

thei r empi re ? It matters very l i ttle ; inspiration or choice was

equally remarkable .

The position was im pregnable . If i t were attacked in the fall

THE I SLAND AND TOWN OF JENNE

of the rivers,when its girdle of waters was fo rdabl e in parts, its

banks (from twenty to sixteen feet h igh ) , crowned by a ten-foot

wall,sti ll presented an inaccessible front . In the floods the enemy

would have requ ired special apparatus and instruments of war

wh ich were unknown in those days . To starve i t into capitulation

wo uld have been the work of at least two years ; and i t would

have needed a formidable army to blockade both land and water,for Jenne i s defended by its channels, poo ls, and floods as m uch as

by i ts walls .

Its inhabitants do not fo rget to tel l you that Jenne , alone



and again a hundred years after with the Toucouleurs. She would

have spontaneously opened her gates to Colonel Archinard had it

not been for Alpha Moussa,the commander of the Toucouleu r

garrison .

Jenne possesses another advantage in its insular posit ion,from

an archaeological point of v iew . The town,being built in a

comparatively l im ited space, could not invite the settlement of

foreign elements in any numbers sufficient to influence her appear

ance and customs . In another s ituationthe city would have

enlarged into suburbs, which , being incorporated with the town ,would

,by degrees

,have modified its earl ier aspect

,as was

ev idently the case at Gao . But Jenne in her i sland has remained

as completely herself as if she had been enclosed in a tower of

ivory.

We know that the palaces and temples of the Pharaohs were

raised by blows of the lash , and the fathers of the Songhois pro

bably laboured under them . The builders of these edifices were

themselves content with modest earthen dwel l ings ; and if the

construction of houses in the new country had been a matter of

quarrying and shaping blocks of stone,they would have been

satisfied with the prim i ti ve native but, and I should not have seen

a city of the Pharaohs existing to this day. Fortunately the

Songhois discovered a su itable material for the building of their

town,which was neither the granite nor sandstone of Egyptian

monuments,but was merely a clay

,plentiful ly found in

”

the island

and its neighbourhood . Humble as it was , to these new-comers

i t must have been inestimably precious,Since i t replaced that mud

wh ich the negro i s obliged to solid ify by m ix ing with gravel,

manure,or any fi lth that comes to hand before he can build w ith

i t. It was not the wretched banco that makes Segu so unhealthy

J E N N E—Y E S T E R D AY A N D T O-D A Y 149

when the deluges of the winter season soak into the infected

Sponges that represent its houses, but was a good stiff clay, solid ,resi sting

,and wholesome.

They were enabled to make regular bricks from it, flat, long

BR ICK -MAK I NG

and rounded at the ends l i ke tho se of ancient Egypt . Except inthe Songhoi countries, the negro does not proceed thus, but i s

content to fash ion his banco into i rregular balls as he uses them .

These bricks, being baked by the fi erce Sudanese sun , are set in

the walls with mortar,and finally recei ve a special rough-casting.

Dwellings thus constructed are of great durabil i ty,and have al l

the appearance of being cut from one enormous block of stone .

They defy the heaviest tornadoes of rain and wind in an astonish

ing manner,and with some repairing

,wh ich consists entirely of

renewed rough -casting, they last for centuries .

These clay bricks are admirably suited to the massive and


simple l ines of Egyptian arch itecture,and the Songhois could

bu ild on as large a scale with them as could the Pharaohs with

their great blocks of stone . Owing to thei r being enabled to work

quick ly and easi ly with th is clay,the town could be begun and

completed while the memory of their native country was sti l l

v ivid ly before th em .

Above all,the houses of Jenne display that essential charac

teristic of Egyptian art—the pyram idal form , which represented

solid ity to those ancient arch itects . The walls of the oldest

constructions have a sl ight inward incl ination,and possess no

windows,or only the roughest sketch of them . Light and ai r

enter through openings cut in the ceil ing or roof. In all the

negro habitations the roofs are rounded to carry off the terrible

deluges of winter,but here they are flat

,l ik e those of the valley of

the Nile, where rain i s scarce . The Songhois knew no more how

to construct an arch than did the Egyptians . The'

sum m its of

their dwell ings are ornamented by those triangular battlements

which may be seen on the palaces of Rameses Meiam oun . The

pylon,which is another characteristic of Egyptian arch itecture

,

gives access to the dwel lings of Jenne,and forms

,too, a motive of

decoration,the facades of the houses being adorned

'

with great

buttresses of pylouic form . You would suppose these buttresses

were intended to give add itional support to the edifice, but inter

rogation of th e local arch itects convinces you that they are merely

ornamental adj uncts . Moreover, they are only to be fo und in the

houses of the wealthy,though the poorer dwellings are no less

sol idly constructed . On certain bui ld ings two of these pylons are

united at thei r summ it by a proj ecting plinth,recall ing the ancient

propylon . In short, the effect of the whole, i ts harm onious pro

portions,the symmetrical d istribution of its ornamental m oti ves

,

and its massiveness,unmistakably proclaim the art of Egypt.



and the whole was covered by a thin layer of earth red uced to the

consistency of mud . This covering sl ightly proj ected from all

sides of the wal l . ”

The same methods of construction are purs ued in the buildings

of Jenne ; all these details are to be found , with others that are

veritably stupefying when seen in the heart of a negro country . A

system of baked pipes is establi sh ed in every dwelling to carry

away the household water, and latrines, with perfectly constructed

drainage,are establish ed on al l the terraces .

The s urvival , through al l those ages, of th is m ethod of build ing

is due, not only to the fact that the town has never been destroy ed ,but also to the great durabil ity of the houses. I was shown some

which were three or four h undred years old , thei r age being proved

by the fact that their ground floors were about three feet below

the l evel of the street outside . Centuries of layers have raised

these roads as they have those of Jerusal em ,wh ich stands to-day

four teen or sixteen feet above its original level . Successive

generations always possessed,therefore, some models of ancient

times,and their types have been handed down to the present day .

The great pent-houses with wh ich som e are supplied form thei r

chief d igression . This addition to the principal doors was pro

voked by the torrents of rain wh ich threatened to flood the

ground floors. They are massively designed , somewhat resembling

the mantles of our ancient fi replaces,and are in nowise out of

harmony with the facades . One or two courts are arranged inside

the dwell ings,and the few openings for air and l ight in the latter

are embel l ished with Slabs of terra-cotta, ornamental ly designed ,and set in ‘ the wal ls . The Moors, who installed them selves at

Jenne after the conquest , introduced the use of windows with

wooden shutters in the Arabian style,the only growth of their

art they succeeded in engrafting . Moreover, these windows were

J E N N E—Y E S T E R D A Y A N D T O-D A Y 153

not m anufactured in Jenne, but were imported whole from

Timbuctoo

The Egyptian original ity of the town must have been greatly

j eopardised by the Moorish arrival , for the new-comers,impreg

nated as they were wi th Arabian art, would assuredly attem pt

other innovations . Thanks to its preciou s clay, however, Jenne

remained unspoi led,for thi s substance did not l end itself to th e

construction of little colum ns and colonnades,and Moorish arcades

,

nor was i t su itable for arabesques and all that slenderness of detai l

that have caused Fez and Marrakesh to resemble Cairo and Algi ers .

Some adaptations would doubtless be attempted , but they would

crumble away in the fi rst rains,and th us th e city has remained

faithfu l to i ts ancient traditions, preserving through twelve cen

turies indubitable proofs of its origin .

Although private houses are num erous , the type of monu

menta l ed ifice i s lacking . It d id exist, however. The domicile of

the governor of Jenne was of much greater d imensions than those

of the ord inary dwell ing ; hi s rank , and the custom of mainta in ing

a numerous retinue,would require it . His ho us e, wh ich was cal led

the Madou,would have supplied us with the missing exam ple of

the Songho i palace, but unfortunately in the eleventh century an

event occu rred which swept away thi s monument . ‘The town

remained pagan,

” reports the Tarilr and popular tradition , unti l

the fifth century of the Hegi ra At that period it followed

the exam ple of its ch ief Koum bourou, and adopted Islamism . The

ch ief convoked al l th e ulemas of the country,and more than four

thousand obeyed the summons . Koum bourou, having shaved his

head in their presence and announced h is conversion , asked the

ulemas to address the fol lowing prayer to God in favour of the

town : ‘That any person who should arri ve there, having quitted


his country from poverty and an inabil ity to li ve in it,should

receive from God such abundant and easy means of l ife that

he should forget h is native land . That Jenne should become

a great centre of com m erce , and that its inhabitants should

be overwhelm ed with wealth .

” This the ulemas d id,and

the prosperity of the town is a proof that God heard thei r

prayers .

On becoming a Mussulman Koum bourou destroyed hi s palace

and bui lt a mosque upon its site. He l ived to see its completion ,but i t was hi s successor who surrounded it with walls .

The zeal of the neophyte has thus robbed us of the sight

of an ancient Songho i palace . The fact i s th e more lamentable

that the various Sudanese ch ronicles give no compensating de

scri ption of the bui ld ing. The temple that was built to the

new God som ewhat attenuates these regrets, however, for the

grand mosque of Jenne was long fam ous i n the valley of the

Niger,being considered m ore beautiful than the Kasbah of

Mecca itself.

It was an enormous block , rigid ly square, i ts s ides measuring

one hundred and eighty-three feet long by th irty-nine feet high .

Besides the usual pylon ic adornments, three groups of buttresses

were d istributed on each facade. Every group was composed of

three deep ridges,possessing a proj ection of nine feet at the base ,

wh ich diminished as they rose. The fi rst of these groups was

thi rty-two feet from the angles of the building,and they were

separated from one another by an interval of about twenty-six

feet . The walls were crowned with triangular battlements

separated by the terminating ridges of the buttresses,which were

of simi lar form,but greater in height . The build ing was oriented

with each facade toward s one of the cardinal points, but the sides

were not absolutely uni form with one another.



in front of the ninth triforium ,and measured one hundred and

fifty feet long, by sixty-five wide .

In the centre of the bu ild ing, between the seventh and n inth

trifori um s,rose a quadrangular tower, of which two sides measured

twenty-si x feet at the base . Steps were cut in i t, and it opened

on to th e terraced roof by m eans of an edicul e, from wh ich a

marabut called the faithful to the fi ve daily prayers . Another of

these edicules was placed in th e centre of the eastern si de.

A low wall ran round the build ing at a distance of sixteen

feet from it,widening respectfully to sixty-five feet before the

sacred facade, and forming there a spacious parade. This was

the holy ground in which the venerated m arabuts, together with

the schblars and people of importance, reposed in thei r last sl eep .

It was thei r Pantheon,and thi s chosen cemetery harmonised wi th

the high wal l that looked towards the Kasbah . With its ridged

buttresses alternating with pylons, and with no doors nor windows

to break i ts uniform grandeur by a note of l ife, this eastern

facade gave a very forcible impression of a mausoleum .

The mosque was bui lt on rising ground in the south of the

town . A great excavati on at its feet provided the m aterials for

its construction,and served to further separate i t from the town ,

so that i t stood(

out from the surround ing fortifications and

houses,soaring above them like a castle.

Is i t necessary to refer o nce more to the Egyptian atavism

revealed in i ts massive d imensions, in the plan and symmetry of

its construction ? Is it not better to dwel l upon the fact that the

only materials employed b y i ts arch itects were clay and wood , and

yet,i n spite of that

,their work lasted eight centuries ?

It sti l l survi ved sixty years ago,and would have lasted many

centuries longer if Cheikou Ahm adou , the great Foulbe conqueror,had not commanded its destruction in 1830 .


For a long time this command remained inexpl icable to m e.

How came a prince, a wel l-known fanatic, to destroy a m osque ?‘Because there were so m any mosques

,

” said one .

‘Because i t

claimed to be more beautiful than that of Mecca,

” said another,

with greater probabi l ity . Priestly amour-p rop re caused them to

conceal the true reason,and i t was a priestly j ealousy that revealed

i t to m e .

I was hold ing a séance of human documents one day, and

among i ts mem bers were three m arabuts ; two of them were

natives of Jenne,and the th i rd was from Segu . In this religious

society I di d no t fail to return to the question of th e destruction

of the mosque . Quite in vain ; the two natives reiterated the

same imbeci le reasons I had al ready heard,wh ile the th i rd sat

silent,obstinately studying h is sandals.

It did not occur to m e that there had been anyspecial signifi

cance in th is attitude, unti l I saw h im mysteriously reappear very

early next morning. After rapidly examining my dwelling upon

al l s ides,he entered

,and closing the door

,he assumed the attitude

of the evening before,saying

,You asked us why Cheikou

Ahmadou destroyed the old mosque . I know the reason , but the

hi story of i t i s unpleasant to Jenne,and the m arabuts naturally

do not care to repeat it . That i s why I d id not tell i t to you

yesterday . I wi ll do so now, and you shall go to them ,saying

,Is

thi s true

Which I d id and the two m arabuts confirmed the story , pre

tending to have learned i t in the interval .

Part of Cheikou Ahmadou”s youth had been spent in Jenne.

He was sent there by his parents to acqu ire learning from the

numerous m arabuts and scholars Of the place. ' As his fam i ly was

neither rich nor powerful,the yo ung man was forced to lead the



the dancing and drinking had taken place, he bu ilt the new

mosque,which , sim ple, bare, and com mon—place, marks the spot

to this day . When it was com pleted he ordained hi s son and

successor, Ahmadou Cheikou , his grand Im an , and then—he

commanded the destructi on of the old mosque

All that now rem ains of i t i s a heap of ruins,su rrounded and

preserved by thei r enclosm g walls . The interior of the edifice

has d isappeared , the trifori um s, the” cei l ing

,the gal leries

,and the

two towers are to tally effaced . The great wal ls offered more

res istance to the destroyers,and are only partial ly broken through .

With the assistance of these,and the memories of the old m en

,

my work of re-construction was easy eno ugh . The rows of

windows are fairly d istinguishable, so are the indented l ines of the

terrace and the positions of the great buttresses . Guided by

these indications i t was not difficult to trace the wall s of the

trifori ums,the m inarets

,and the extent of the court . The only

consolation left for its destruction l ies in the fact that i t i s now

possible to verify the great antiqu ity of the monum ent . This i s

easi ly done by a method resem bling that of the woodman,who

determines the age of a tree by the concentric circles of its trunk .

From the great walls of the facade , whose norm al thickness

was th ree feet,I rem oved a layer of rough -casting not less than

thirty-five inches th ick . Accord ing to the old houses,the m asons

allowed about four inches a century,wh ich would take us back

to the eleventh century,and th is date would correspond with that

given by the Tarik .

The venerated tombs were the only th ings respected by

Cheikou Ahmadou , and they now form a cemetery, or rather a

charnel-house, in which I spent many hours of research . I had

no idea that I was in a place of tom bs and corpses the fi rst time

I saw it . The surface of the earth was pierced here and there by


terra-cotta pipes simi lar to those employed in the household

drainage of the town . Here, planted vertically in the soi l, you

would take them for the chimneys of troglodyte dwel l ings . But

on look ing down these supposed ch imneys you find them ful l of

earth ; they are connected with subterranean dwell ings, however,for this i s the abode of the dead

, andt hese pipes m ark thei r tombs .

In some places the earth had fallen through,and I could

THE CEMETERY I N THE M IDST OF THE RU I NS

d istingu ish pi les of skeletons that were only separated from on e

another by thin layers of earth . The dead sleep so closely to one

another that in a short time there wil l be more human d ust than

earth in this l ittle place . One seldom sees the l iv ing in this spot,but there i s l ife here, of a sort, that i s very intense and active, and

i s produced by the dead lying below the red tubes .

Eagles and crows,hovering overhead , swoop suddenly down

upon the dogs and rats that dig up the tombs . Legions of

red and yel low lizards frisk unconcernedly about in this world

of worms and insects . Goats and their kid s make pretty spots of

wh ite and red against the sombre tones of the ruined walls . They


J E N N E—Y E S T E R D A Y A N D T O -D A Y 1 65

comm on to all the towns above and below her . Moreover, i f her

insular position was an excell ent one from point of vi ew of

security,i t was a serious drawback where com m unication was

concerned . Segu and Sansand ing on one side, and Mopti ,Korienza

,Sa , and Sarafara on the oth er, possessed the advantage

of being situated on the Niger itself ; yet Jenne was the town

that attained the greatest celebrity . She not only ranked above

Tim buctoo,but took her place among the great comm ercial centres

of Islam . And whyBecause, among al l the towns of the Niger, Jenne alone was a

Songhoi city. Because her inhabitants bore within them th e

germ s of the great Egyptian civ il i sation . Because,from the m idst

of the gloom of barbarity which covered the whole of the valley ,Jenne stood out as the luminous point in which the cultured man

appeared . Because th is culture gave Jenne conceptions,and the

m eans for executing them,that were unknown to her ri vals .

In place of the prim itive barter between vi llage and village,

and market and market,sh e created a true commerce . Her ih

habitants formulated ‘ business fi rms,

” i n the European sense of

the word , wh ich were provided with a routine and staff sim i lar to

our own . They establ i shed representatives in im portant centres

and opened branches at Tim buctoo . They sent out travell ing

agents who received so m uch per cent . on the business they aecom

plished, and were, i n fact, no other than our ‘ com m ercial

travel lers . The staffwas composed of relatives and slaves,or free

men who were obliged to earn their l iving . Among their num bers

there were occasionally,as with us

,certain indel icate m em bers

who disappeared with the m erchandise that had been intrusted

to them .

Thus organised , Jenne drains the whole of the Sudan in

general , and the south of the valley in particular, thro ugh the


med ium of the m arkets of Baramandougou,San

,and Bla . The

gro und floors of its large houses serve as spacious bonded ware

houses by m eans of wh ich thei r merchandise i s not exposed to the

rain and numerous parasites,as i s the

”

negro”s . These storehouses

are fi l led with cereals,great sacks of rice and mil let

,j ars ful l

of honey, blocks of karita covered with leaves and bound wi th

rushes, arach ides, spices , onions, cakes of indigo, baskets of kola

nuts, neta flour,m onkey bread (the fru it of the baobab) , and

bars of a wonderful Iron brought from Karaguana (a country

near Mossi) , packets of ostrich feathers , i vory , v i rgin gold, civet

musk l ead from the mountains ofHom bouri and marble bracelets

from the sam e place (ornaments greatly affected by the inhabi

tants of Nigerian countries) ; antimony, used by the negresses

to darken the orbits of . their eyes and increase their bri ll iancy

the blonde among them (for there are fair negresses) using i t

to darken their complexions ; native fabrics, fine l inen and

wool len texti les , long wh ite lengths of stuff from which the

ample garments of these people are made, p agnes dc Sega for

the women , and superb large draperies arti sti cally patterned in

yel low,black

,copper-colour

,and blue. I must not forget to

mention another k ind of m erchandise,warehoused in the same

place and as m uch in demand as any of the preced ing,namel y

,

slaves .

There is no special isation of trade . Every one sel ls every

th ing : texti les, human flesh,cereals

,metals, and spices . These

merchants do not carry on their real trade in the market—they

merely send th ither agents provided with a small stock ; thei r

true business i s done in the penumbra of their large Egyptian

dwell ings .

With this abundance of products, the means of assembling,and shops to shelter them

,there stil l remains the problem of



long by ten broad , and able to carry from twenty to th i rty tons .

To convey the sam e weight by land would necessi tate a caravan

of a thousand porters,or two hundred cam els or three hundred

bullocks . Instead of any one of th ese costly m ethods,a single

vessel,with from s ix to ten boatmen , i s al l that i s requ ired ,

wh ich clearly proves the superiority of Jenne to the surrounding

country .

Its great merchants have thei r own boats devoted excl usively

to transpor t. The less wealthy have fleets of regular fly-boats at

thei r d isposal,which carry merchandise and passengers at a fixed

tariff. Bars of i ron , block s of karita, j ars , anything, in short,that water cannot dam age

,are stored in the hold , and upon these

are pil ed sacks of cereals and the more del icate merchandise. A

com pact mass i s th us obtained wh ich forms th e deck,and upon

thi s the passengers l i e or squat,protected by an awning from the

sun . A space is l eft i n the middle of the hold for bal ing out and

cooking pu rposes . These fly-boats travel al l day, and only stop

at sunset for the evening meal when there i s a moon the j ourney

i s resumed as soon as i t ri ses . For a consideration of 1 500 cowries

(2 frs . 50 c . ) you can go to Timbuctoo (a twenty days” j ourney) ,

or for three francs you can send th ither a hundredweight of

goods .

Other towns,such as Sansanding, Kori enza, and Sarafara,

learned how to construct these large boats,which

,wherever they

may have been built,are invariably called ‘Jenne boats . ” Little

by l ittle an acti ve com m ercial movement was diffused am ong the

labyrinth s of the Niger . But Jenne sti l l retained her po siti on

as metropolis,owing partly to the superiority of her inventive

resources, and partly to her i solation , which protected her from

the sudden cataclysm s and destructions to wh ich th e other ci ti es

were subj ect .

J E N N E—Y E S T E R D A Y A N D T O-D A Y 169

By means of her numerous fleets, her more civ i lised m anners,progress and arch itecture spread throughout the western valley

,

even penetrating to Timbuctoo and th e Kong country . After

leaving Bam m aku I found adaptations of her architecture every

where : in the facades of the royal dwell ings of Segu and in the

town gates . All the mosques, though of m ore modest propor

tions,are bui lt in the styl e of the old mosque at Jenne .

The so l e point of contact between th ese vast regions and the

Songhoi world , Jenne had m orally dom inated them long before

they were actually conquered by the k ings of her race. With

th is supremacy augmented by her fabu lous wealth,i t i s smal l

wonder that she was enabled to hold her own in nearly a hundred

battles ” against the Mal i k ings,who were practical ly the masters

of the valley . Her work of civi l i sation continued un interrupted ly

through centuries . Slowly she prepared th e Western Sudan for

JENNE : A CORNER OF THE QUAY


that sudden and brilliant flight revealed by h istory in the great

century of the A skias (1500

This civi l ising 76 16 would be a titl e in i tself to a place in the

memories of mankind,but she possessed another of equal im port

ance she coul d claim to be the foundress of Tim buctoo .

Her comm ercial attention must have been fixed from the first

upon that inestim able comm odity wh ich the Sudan lacked,viz .

salt. The caravans bringing it fronr the Thegaz z a mines returned

by the interio r,instead of d iverging to th e east towards the river.

Thei r preciou s burden would thus be rapi dly diffused among the

wealth i er towns (notably Oualata) , and but a costly fraction of it

would reach the banks of the Niger .

Jenne would therefo re take especial pains to assure a regular

salt-market from wh ich she could prov ide herself with large

quantities at! a fair price . Th is would natural ly lead her to the

d iscovery of the adm i rabl e geographical pos ition of Timbuctoo,which was s ituated at the very doors of the Mal i people and on

the confines of h er frontier . Caravans could go there di rect from

the mines, and the merchandise be secured at fi rst hand ; Jenne”s

great vessels,her m ost valuable auxi l iari es

,would now enter upon

the scene,and the new market would th us be establ ished .

Timbuctoo (as we shall see later) could hardly be said to

exist unti l the merchants of Jenne settled there,and brought al l

that the wealth of the Sudan could offer to the indigent starve

l ings of the desert in exchange for thei r loads of salt . The traders

of Morocco and Tuat followed in her train , and in th i s way

Jenne, although she d id not actually create, undoubtedly founded

Tim buctoo,for she was the means of transforming the poor

ham let into a great commercial centre of un iversal renown .

The Sudanese express th i s idea in th eir saying :‘ Jenne and

Timbuctoo are two halves of the same city.

” It i s, in fact, a



against the caravans of nor thern Africa . Their cam els,adm ir

ably adapted to the passage of the desert, would have been

totally useless in such a country,and would soon have perished

from the excessive mois ture . The north,therefore (at that time

Europe”s sole source of information concerning the i nterior) ,total ly ignored the Sudan proper ; they only knew, and could

only know,Timbuctoo . This crush ing preponderance i s far from

obtaining in the Sudan, however, where the name of Jenne is

known to every one,while Tim buctoo i s frequently ignored .

The renown of the Songhoi town extends to the Kong country

in the south,and to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. She sends

m erchandise to the sea-coast ; and when the fi rst Europeans

trading between Banin and Cape Palmas asked where th e gold

and produce offered them for sale came from , the natives

answered ‘ from Jenne . ” Her name was thus given to the Gulf

of Guinea,and

,

’ i nd irectly,to an Engl ish coin , the guinea, so

called because th e first pieces were struck from gold Coming

from there.

Of al l the great cities of the Niger,Jenne was the one to

suffer least from the long period of anarchy that the h istory of

the Sudan has revealed to us. Signs of v iolence are not v i s ible

at fi rst sight as they are at Nyamina and Sansanding . It was ,neverth el ess

,cruel ly used under the Toucouleur dom i nion . We

suffered no th ing but vexation and pillage,” an old chi ef told me .

‘El Hadj Omar was a brigand,and his sons and generals have

carried on h is trade . Little by l ittl e the town has been emptied

of i ts original inhabitants . Thou wilt find more of the people

of Jenne in the surrounding country than in the ci ty i tself. It

was tim e for the French to come . Co lonel Archinard has done very

wisely . When he came befo re our walls be respec ted the m erchant

J E N N E—Y E S T E R DA Y A N D T O-D A Y 173

quarter,and bombarded only that Toucouleur citadel which i s

now y our fort .

I wi ll not disguise from thee that, in spite of all we suffered

from the Toucouleurs, the arri val of y our people was disagreeable

to us . The Toucou

leurs were at least

Mussulm ans , and we

were afraid of the

dom i nion of the

Christian . We had

been told of many

m i sdeeds comm itted

by you . But now

we are very sati sfied .

You al low us to

m ake our prayers,

and you do not

despoi l us as the

Toucouleurs did , no r

do you fo rce im

pious practices upon

us, and make us eat

and drink unclean

th ings,as we were

told you would .

THE CH I EF OF THE TOWN OF JENNEWhen yo u have col

lected the tax you do not demand m ore,and you pay for al l

you want . We can resume our trades in safety and with greater

profi t, for the three tolls we had to pay upon the Niger before

reaching Timbuctoo have been removed . This i s why the fo rm er

inhabitants are returning to us from all sides . ”

T I M B U C T O O

In fact,during my staythere many old houses became re

inhabited and new ones were built,and these latter afforded me

the Opportuni ty of observing those SOngho i methods of construc

tion wh ich had been brought fromso far, and were so d ifferentfrom those I had h itherto noticed among the negroes . The

general physiognom y of the town is not‘ less striking. Its

thresholds are no longer encum bered by sleepers and idlers,nor

are i ts streets obstructed by loafers, as i s the customelsewhere.

A bright energy and an unusual gaiety and elasticity of move

ment are astir in the town from early morning . The people

h urry busi ly about,driv ing donkeys and carrying burdens

,and al l

are work ing to attain some end . I must admit that al l thi si

4

MARKET I N THE STREETS

energy Is only relativex In Pari s or London I

i

rshould cal l i t

indolence, but in theBlack Continent, under a blazing sun , it does



not do to be too particular . The precincts of the great m erchant

dwel lings are particularly busy, thei r doors being l iterally besieged .

A crowd of cl ients, in the Roman and comm ercial sense of the

word , are awaiting their turn of audience . Some fi l l th e streets

with a sound of noisy discussion,

while others,preoccupied by

thei r affai rs,m ed ita

tively crack

and peel

TH E COMMERCIAL HA RBOUR

kola-n uts . Here and there i n front of the eastern ram part, where

the bank Slopes gently to the commercial gate,slaves load and nu

load the vessel s wh ich are i ncessantly coming and going. At the

four cro ss-roads you see low straw huts (the improvised stalls of

the itinerant vendor) looking conspicuously out of harm ony with

the large houses . A few women keep a stall before their doo r ;sometim es th ey leave their goods with piles of cowri es beside them

indicating the prices, whi le they themselves are busy about th e

house. Thus, instead of confining her trade to the market-place,as is the case in other towns, Jenne cri es Com m erce com m erce

at every step of the way .


The market does not present the accustomed haphazard

appearance of i ts negro counterpart, with merchandise strewn

about here,there

,and everywhere . It occupies a large square in

the centre of the town,and i s regularly intersected with paths

WOMENSELL I NG I N THE STREETS

for the buyers and raised places for the sellers. Rows of shops

border th ree of i ts sides, and the fourth opens upon the Mosque ,as if in reminder that honesty and good faith should preside

over al l its transactions . Sitting surrounded by calabashes and

potteries,the women sel l vegetables, milk , fi sh , anim al butter (salt

or fresh ) , karita, spices , soap, and faggots of wood . There are

three erections formed by square posts in the centre of the m arket

place,with a shop between every two posts, i n which men

sel l the choicer goods—native and European texti les principal ly,

with sal t, kola—nuts, sl ippers, boxes of matches, mirrors, pearls ,


T I M B U C T O O

THE MONEY-CHANGER

crowd of people clothed in the white draperies of the Songhois

for surround ings .

Islamism and Arabian civi l isation have been superim posed and

so fi rmly planted in these countries that a great m any Egyptian

manners and customs have disappeared . The embalming of the

dead bodies of their celebrities (one of th e most marked charac

teristics of th e peoples of the Nile) i s no longer practised . The

Mohammedan religion considered the practice impious , but the

custom survived among the Songhois for a long tim e, nevertheless .

The old chronicles tel l us concerning Ali the Conqueror : ‘The

king being dead , h is ch ildren caused him to be opened and the

entrai ls were taken out and replaced by honey, in order that the

body should riot become corrupt . ” Un fortunately their docu

J E N N E—Y E S T E R D A Y A ND T O-DA Y 181

ments do not shed as m uch light upon other subj ects. Noth ing

recalls the ancient h ieroglyphic or dem otic characters . It i s true

that thin pieces of a very smooth wood are used instead of paper

(which is expensive) , to teach writing to the school-ch ildren . The

Pharaohic scribes were wont to employ the same material s, in order

to econom ise the more costly papyrus . The Arabic writing has

enti rely obl iterated the other,as i t has in Egypt, and , for that

matter, as the Koran and Arabian j urist have effaced the native

j udicial customs .

But you have only to enter their houses, and penetrate their

private life, to find in manners and customs many very char

acteristic indications of thei r origin . Their oral trad itions,

their ch ronicles, and their dwell ings al l betray their Nilotic

fatherland . The Songho is resem ble a pal impsest on wh ich the

THE BUTCHER

fi rst manuscript is dimly decipherable . Fragments are, and

always will be,m issing

,but the omissions are those wh ich it i s

easy to supply .

Among the favourite d ivin ities of ancient Egypt,the crocodile


was especial ly dear to the priests of Thebes and Crocodilopol is,and

the cult i s sti ll to be found at Jenne under a form naturally

attenuated . The town and its envi rons are frequented by

CORNER OF THE MARKET

enormous green iguanas very simi lar to crocodiles . In Senegal

and elsewhere the natives hunt th is sau rian for the sake of its flesh ,

which i s very fine and del icate—so I am told . The people of

Jenne,on the other hand , consIder i t sacred , and to kill i t is to

commit sacri lege . ‘The Koran does not forbid its meat,” repl ied

the m arabuts to whom I repo rted this custom of the negroes, ‘ but

we venerate the iguanas because our fathers d id so .

”

The dove,the oracu lar bird of the temple of Ammon

,enj oys

sim i lar privi leges at Jenne ; nests and food are arranged for them

in the houses,and they are never by any chance put upon the

spit . The respect paid to the dove by these peopl e i s known of

in Nigerian countries other than Songho i, where they are called

birds of Jenne . ”



to earn a l iving . However poor he may be, a man has but to;

work to become rich .

”

We will now pass to more com monplace comparisons . Con

trary to Oriental and Arab usage, but conformably with ancient

Egyptian custom,i t i s the men among the Songhois who weave

the texti les,and not the women . The latter do the spinning and

dyeing. Moreover, the Nigerian negro knows only one colou r, the

blue of h is indigo,but the Songhoi uses black , yellow, and copper

red vegetable dyes . The ornamental motives employed are

severely symmetrical,the most frequently used being thatalterna

tion of dark and l ight squares so often found in the hangings and

d raperies of the Egyptian frescoes . Among their finer tissues one

deserves special attention it is a luxurious stuff,used for shawls or

turbans,and woven wi th an uneven surface resembling our honey

combed towell ing .

Among the arti sans we can trace vestiges of a division into

companies . Masons and blacksmiths al ike are furnished by certain

fami lies,the trades descend ing from father to son . Both occupa

tions recognise the supreme authority of one of their number,who takes h is place among those personages of the town who

del iberate and control public affai rs . Masonry i s man”s work

here,while i n the negro countries it is the women who bui ld the

houses .

While Senegalese and Sudanese lean towards blue as the pre

vail ing tint of thei r garm ents,the Songho is show a preference for

white,l i ke the Nub ians ; and rice, not mil let, i s their staple food .

Their kuss-kuss i s not taken from calabashes, but i s served in cups

of baked clay similar in every point to those in th e scenes of

repast depicted upori the Egyptian tombs . The various fo rms of

thei r numerous potteri es also recall the antique specimens of the

same land ; and they have real wooden bedsteadsinstead of the

J E N NE—Y E S T E R D A Y A N D T O-D A Y 185

l ump of earth , covered with skins , that serves the negro as a

place of repose .

The last day at Jenne ! I have been employed since morning

in receiving processions of the friends I have slowly gained among

her inhabitants . Oh very

slowly . Our first acquaintance

was not made without

JENNE

much hesitation,suspicion even . They could not understand

thi s European,the fi rst they had ever seen

,who was neither

soldier nor trader. My incessant and enti rely unexpected ques

tions bewi ldered them . They looked at one another and laughed

as the interpreter transmitted them ,and were obviously think

ing, ‘What absurd idea has the white man got into h is head ?

What has all this got to do with h im Then,hearing that their

most learned marabut was reading the Tarik to me, and that I


gathered m arabuts about me and blacked sheets of paper as I

l istened to them,they began to classi fy me accord ingly and cal led

me the m arabut-toubab ”

(the wh ite marabut) , and the nick -nam e

soon became popular. By-and-by I became a subj ect of much

sal utation in my walks abroad . The men greeted me in Arabian

fash ion , with the right hand placed first to the forehead and

then to the heart ; th e wom en with a gracious movem ent of

the left hand similar to the m i l itary salute. I d id not deceive

myself, however ; these demonstrations merely expressed much

compassion and indulgence for a harmless l unatic, an inoffensive

imbeci le, the man with the questions .” But wh en I could speak

wi th some knowledge of thei r ancestors,thei r epopee, and their

l ittle anecdotes : Iho, iho (ah , ah they triumphantly exclaimed ,thou wilt write a Tarik for the wh ites about the blacks ! ” After

th is they lent me thei r books wil lingly enough,and opened thei r

doors to m e,even introd ucing me to the women”s apartments .

Thus the monomaniac became,bit by bit, more than a mere

acquaintance,and an indulgent contempt was exchanged for a

real affection . Thei r farewel l v is its (enti rely unexpected) revealed

th is to me,and I d iscovered that I too had a feel ing for some of

them which was more than sympathy . They al l brought some

offering,a smal l souven i r

,a few provisions, and l ittl e notes in

Arabic,representing letters of introduction . Kindly wi shes for

the j ourney were mingled with affectionate questions : ‘Would I

come and see them again ? ” Should we tal k together once more

of Dialliam an , the impious Sunn i Al i , and the unhappy old age of

Ask ia the Great ? ” In order to j ustify my reputation of marabut

toubab,

” I sai d to them Yes,we shall al l meet again . Not here,

but in a country where there are neither blacks nor whites, i n th e

land of Allah,where you wi ll be wh ite l ik e me . ” Whereat we al l

laughed together for the last tim e .



already darkened east, which is l ighted for them by that eternal

light in wh ich Mecca i s to be found .

The si lence i s harshly bi'oken by a brazen sound i t is the bugle

from the fort sound ing the call for rations .

The plain is now a vast desert,phantasmagorically i lluminated .

Above, the sky flam es into every imaginable colour,and the

channels,scarcely vi sibl e a moment ago

,blaze i nto a reflection

of the ardour of the sky, while the rows of ospreys upon their

banks look l i ke necklaces of pink pearls . Then all the enchant

ment is overwhelmed in the sudden darkness of a tropical night.

Farewell,my friends

,whose l ips are m urmuring prayers un

known to mine ! Farewell , strange i sland ! Farewel l , mother of

Timbuctoo,thou Egyptian Jenne to whom I owe the unim agin

able j oy of having l ived,at the end of the nineteenth century, i n

a city of the ‘

Pharaohs

CHA PTE R IX

FROM J E NN E TO TIMBUCTOO

RE -INSTALLE D i n my yacht-c anoe, I followed the accustomed path

of the Niger in order to reach Timbuctoo . I hastened towards

the mysterious city, hoping to find the sequel to that epoch of

civil i sation of which Jenne had accounted for the fi rst hal f. I

longed to raise completely the vei l wh ich has hidden the Sudan

from us for so long, and caused us to look upon that country as

the last refuge of barbarity, which was in real i ty an offshoot of

the great Egyptian tree,the father of all western ci vi l isation .

Tara, ta ra, Bosos ! give way, my brave fel lows ! What a l ife

that was during those seven days We j ourneyed day and night,

and I d id not get two hours” consecutive sleep the whole time. To

find one”s way across the three deltas lying between Jenne and

Timbuctoo i s no easy task . I was obliged to navigate my l ittle

craft with compass in one hand and chart in the other,l ike a

captain crossing th e ocean . An ocean thi s country veritably i s in

January. When the floods are at thei r height, i t becomes a

region of navigable verdure,a labyrinth which extends a bewilder

ing network of meandering tributaries, creeks, and channels along

the course of the river. My imperfect chart and hasti ly recru ited,

inexperienced crew demanded an untiring vigilance. No moon !

and the vague ligh t of the stars only served to assist our

digressions . One night in particular has left beh ind i t the memory189


F R O M J E N N E T O TI M B U C T O O 193

and El Oual Hadj , both being so entirely different from any I had

seen before that they deserve mention . It i s only a year since we

set foot in this region (lately the scene of Touareg pi l lage and

exploitation) , and i t i s easi ly understood that these posts (being

val uable strategic points) are not s imple centres of survei llance and

administration,but have retained the character of forts . The

gleam of bayonets i s visible at some distance,and look-outs are

posted on high places to keep watch on the horizon .

The military aspect of El Oual Hadj i s parti cularly marked .

It i s a pioneers” outpost,and was entirely constructed by a half

com panv of Sudanese tirai lleurs . On an artificial h illock,in a

clearing in the midst of palm-trees,two rows of sheds are set up .

The trees which were cut down to m ake the glade formed the sole

materials used for thei r construction . One row contains the

whites, officers and petty officers, and the other the blacks . The

embankment i s surrounded by a pal i sade, clumps of dead thorn

are scattered about i ts slopes,wh ile iron wires are stretched

across to guard against surprise . It has no wall s or loopholes,i ts

very rough-and-ready intention be ing merely to guard against

surprise, and to permit the d ischarge of volleys of fi ring. Do you

care to know what the fort has cost the nation The formidable

sum of forty-nine francs fifteen centimes,incl usive of an adm i rabl e

m im dor, from which the look-out signals suspicious arrival s by

water or land .

At some hundreds of feet from these fortifications,a soli tary

hil lock rises from the banks of the river. It i s obviously an arti

ficial eminence,and here and there are foun d scattered about the

bricks and . stones which so puzzled Captain Ph ilippe,the con

structor of El Oual Hadj . The natives, upon be ing questioned ,yield the i nformation that several s imi lar mounds are to be

found on the left bank of the river, and a legend affirms that


THE FORT OF EL OUAL HAD!

they were the dwell ings,now fallen into ruins

,of the chiefs

of old .

This i s not my opinion . I bel ieve them to represent the

tombs, and not the palaces, of these same ch iefs . El Bekri , an

Arab who visited this country towards the middle of the eleventh

century, describes thei r funerals in these words Upon the death

of a king these negroes construct a great wooden dome,wh ich they

set up in the place appointed to be h is grave . They then arrange

the body on a couch covered with stuffs and cush ions,and set i t

inside the dome . Beside the dead they place h is ornam ents, arm s,and the plates and cups from which he had eaten and drunken

during h is l ifetim e . Different kinds of food and beverages are

also placed there,and they enclose with the monarch several of

h is cooks and the concoctors of royal drinks . The whole being

co vered with mats and cloths,the people assem ble and throw

earth upon the tom b until i t forms a large h illock . These

negroes sacrifi ce v ictim s to their dead,and bring them intoxi

cating drinks as offerings . ”

Unfo rtunately,I was not able to ascertain i f these mounds sti l l

enclosed thei r ghastly remains . But better times are com ing ; and

when the Touaregs are once more relegated to thei r real home, the



The kingdom of the sands i s now our goal , for the famous

town stands at its very gates . The river may pursue the dawn ;

we wil l part from him here and d irect our steps towards the Poo l

of Dai . This month of January marks the h ighest moment of

flood,and the waters carry their weeds right up to the foot of the

F R O M J E N N E T O T I M B U C T O O 197

dunes . A vast yellow-green expanse spreads to th e distant fringe

of trees that indicate term fi rm a . This border i s abruptly broken

as we advance, and a sandhi l l larger and whiter than any wehave

seen before i s unmasked , dominating the horizon and arrogantly

proclaim ing the victory of the desert . It has reason to be proud,

for d irectly behind it l i es Timbuctoo .

Kabara,however

,the land ing-place and fort of Timbuctoo

,i s

not there, but further away upon the horizon , where that round

dark mass emerges . We make for i t in a di rect l ine, abandoning

the pool to cut straight across the navigable green . As my boat

advances,another sandy height appears besi de the distant mass,

and slowly defines i tself into a square mass of walls . At one

extremity a flag i s floating (the fort, doubtless) , and at the

other, clearly cut against the sky,spread the sini ster arms of a

tall black cross . Below this strange apparition square earthen

houses and round straw huts cover the sloping banks . It i s

Kabara .

THE A RR IVAL AT KABARA


We have now reached a basin of water in which a fleet of‘ Jenne boats ” are lying at anchor. The buzz of h umanity ri ses

from its large quay,and

!

an the amusing bustle of a harbour reigns

THE QUAYS OF KA BARA

there . In miniature certainly . The port of Timbuctoo i s a mere

toy in com parison with Havre or Marseilles, but the fi rst impres

s ion i s the same.

We are no sooner d isem barked than my attention is arrested

by two things wh ich stay by me unti l m y departure, viz . the sand

and the Touaregs . The sand , because you have no sooner set

your foot on shore than you flounder about in i t as i f i t were

a mire, and it pursues you everywhere, in the country, in the

streets,and in th e houses .

The Touaregs are im pressed upon you, because, though you

never see them,everything recall s them . You notice the nu



not one of poverty. The wretchedness of the town itself i s over

powered by the l ife and m ovement i t encloses . The quays are

asti r with l ively bustle,and encumbered with bal es, j ars, and sacks

in the process of loading or unloading . Boatmen and passengers

economically camp out in parties everywhere.

ON THE QUAYS OF KABA RA

Through the streets stream a perpetual com ing and going of

dock ~labourers, donkeys and camels, convoys arriving from Tim

buctoo in search of m erchandise, and nomads from the desert

bringing their cattle in exchange for fresh provis ions . These

two figures m ay help to give precision to the details : with

twelve h undred settled inhabitants, the town contains a floating

population of a thousand strangers .

Kabara is not the only port of Tim buctoo . She shares the

honour with two others,being herself only able to play the part

during a lim ited period (November to March) of each year. When

the waters are at thei r maximum ( in January) they encroach upon

and fol low th e course of two depressions at the extremity of the

dune of Kabara,passing behind it and penetrating some si x or

eight miles into the midst of the sands . One of these branches,the smallest, turns to the west and is navigable . It i s called the

Pool of Kabara, and they say that in years of unusual inundation


(such as in 1894) large boats of th irty tons can go , by its means,right up to the gates of the town . O therwise their cargoes have

to be considerably l ightened,but

,for si x weeks or so

,canoe l ighters

ply regularly between Kabara and Timbuctoo by means of th is

pooL

The level of the Niger being considerably lowered in Apri l,the

great plain of navigable grass d ri es up and becomes a stretch of

cultivation which reaches to th e quays of Kabara ; and the town ,ceasing to be a harbour, becomes an agricultural centre .

From Apri l to Jun e the great boats stop at Dai , two and a

half miles from Kabara, and canoes carry the cargoes between the

two places by means of a small canal . Later on , in July, the

vessels are stopped at Korioum a-Dj itafa , s ituated upon the Niger

itself at a d istance of Six miles from Kabara .

Timbuctoo has therefore three ports, the inconvenience of

which d id not fai l to attract the attention of Askia the Great

n ew!

when be concentrated h is fleet at Kabara . He it was who cut the

canal from Dai to Kabara,and at that tim e i t probably assured

the permanent circulation of lighters and made Kabara the so le

port,Dai and Korioum a being rel egated to the position of m ere


places of trans-sh ipment . The canal has si lted up now , however,and is useless at the fal l of the river .

Timbuctoo i s only separated from Kabara by five miles of over

land route,and I could have reached the m ysterious town a few

hours after landing at its port . But I was in need of rest to

restore my m ental balance before I could qui etly, sanely, and fully

enj oy the sight of the town that I had travelled al l these m iles to

behold . To see Timbuctoo I had dreamed of it as a schoolboy,

and now my dream was about to be real ised . I determ ined to be

epicurean,and rush into no rash gluttony. They tel l me I can

THE FORT OF KABARA

see the town from the height of the fort, but I wil l not go . I wish

to taste the fi rst impression in its enti rety, without destroying its

bloom by a bird ”s-eye vi ew .



small donkeys, with thei r screaming progeny on the crupper .

The whole thing has less the effect of a caravan than of the

FOREST

emigration of an armed people carrying the very uttermost of

thei r household goods with them .

‘

The borders of the desert were a surprise to me, for I had

fully expected to find them a sudden expanse of bare, sh ining

sand . Nature”s m oods are not so abrupt,however ; sh e prepares

a transition . We are in the midst of hot,soft sand certainly,

but i t i s not bare . Only the road,or rather track

,i s of the

expected sh ining wh iteness . The rest i s covered with a pecul iar

vegetation which i s neither wood nor thicket . It i s a dwarf forest

containing a rickety growth of scrubby palms,m imosas

,and gum

acacias . They are a pale, dusty colour, an anaem i c green , with

such triv ial branches and leaves that the shade they give is

anaemic too, th e phantom shade of a phantom forest .

The watercourse which we meet and meet again,and yet a


third time,i s equally unexpected . Water in the desert ! It i s

the Pool of Kabara on its devious way to Tim buctoo . God be

prai sed,they have not yet m ade a bridge across i t. Imagine the

Sahara with bridges ! The water cuts straight across the track ,and escort and escorted have to ford it

,to th e great j oy of the

spectator .

The water i s ful ly breast high . The ti rai lleurs carefully

remove thei r un iforms,and th e men take off their am ple draperies ;

so do the wom en,but they im perturbably reta in thei r pipes .

They carry thei r most precious possessi ons,arm s

,clothes

,and

goods , on thei r heads ! It i s now th e turn of the animals, and

the donkeys m ake the most rid iculo us scenes . As soon as the

water has so shallowed that swim ming i s unnecessary,they si t

down in it,apparently bent on suicide . Indescribable barbarities

now take place . Men,women

,and ch i ldren fl ing themselves upon

an unfortunate animal . One sei zes i t by the ears,another by

the legs,and a great many by the tai l (the lever p ar excellence

on these o cca sions) . The animal calm ly allows itself to be drawn

to the bank , while its zealous rescuers charge into th e absent

m inded , and cause m any an invo l untary bath .

FORD I NG THE STREAM ON THE WAY TO T I MBUCTOO


I pictured a party of Touaregs arriving in the midst of this

h ubbub . Right and left of the track th e undulating ground and

scrubby th icket could well mask a surprise,and equally well cover

a retreat,th e attack being once made .

The road half-way between Kabara and Timbuctoo bears a

Sinister reputation . The natives have given it the tragic name

Our” Oum aira”

(They hear not) , meaning that neither at Tim

buctoo nor Kabara can the cries of the victims be heard . The

OUR’OUMA IRA

’

place has bitter memori es for us also . A cross,s i ster to the one

that gloomily dominates Kabara, i s set up in one of these valleys .


D ISTANT

CHA PT E R X

TIMBUCTOO 1

AN immense and brill iant sky, and an immense and brill iant

stretch of land , with the grand outl ines of a town uniting the

two . A dark si lhouette, large and long, an image of grandeur in

im mensity,— thus appeared the Queen of the Sudan .

Across the space everyth ing looks s imple and severe ; the

1 The native pronunciation i s m ore nearly represented by the orthographyTom boutou.

208

) F TI MBUCTOO

forest i s dwarfed out of sight,and noth ing d im in ishes the vast

landscape , which i s l ighted by the th robbing glare of th e veri table

sun of the desert.

Truly sh e is enthroned upon the horizon with the m aj esty of

a queen . She i s indeed the city of imagination,the Timbuctoo

of European legend .

Her sandy approaches are strewn with bones and carcasses that

have been disinterred by wild beasts,the remains of the camels,

horses, and donkeys that have fal len down and d ied in the last

stages of the j ourney. The citi es of the East are invariably

enci rcled by their bones, and the roads across the desert are l inedby their bodies.

The detai ls of the distant shape grow clearer by degrees . The209


ill us ion of wall s, produced by the distinctness with which the town

stands out from the white sand,disappears

,and three towers

,

placed at regular interval s, dominate the mass . The terraces of

A STREET AT THE E NTRANCE TO THE’

I OVVN

square houses are now distinguishable,giving an appearance of

depth to the outlined mass, and renewing the fi rst impression ofgrandeur .

Whether you approach from the banks of the Niger,from the

shores of the Atlantic, by the Moroccan and Arawan routes,or

from the coasts of th e Mediterranean by Tripol i or Ghadames,the


T I M B U C T O O 213

day or those of Nlj n i Novgorod of to-day ! I , who expected to

see heaps and heaps of the produce of Arabian Africa, Negraic

Africa,and Europe

Instead of obliterating the image of these ruins,thi s Spectacle

bites i t in more deeply . What i s passing here ? what has passed

here ? I ask myself in d isconcerted bewi lderment. The houses

round th e m arket-place have the appearance of being able to

stand,certainly, and are even inhabited , but, 0 my beautiful

dwellings of Jenne, how far away you seem ! Where are you r

imposing forms and harmonious outlines ? You would appear

monumental now . Here are merely houses of a k ind,th ings

without character,height, or style . Just fou r walls and a flat

roof. If th is med iocri ty were only pleasingly clean ! But thei r

unburnt brick s are worn , crumbl ing, and cracked , under the com

bined effects of rain , wind , and sun . Any attem pt to keep

them repaired was given up long ago . They seem to have been

deserted for years and inhabited again quite recently . The

bizarre appearance of thei r enclosing wal ls seems to confi rm th is

hypothesis,for the breaches in them have been hasti ly stopped

with carelessly adj usted mats,bundles of straw

,and fago ts o f

brushwood .

The further we advance the more the misery increases, and al l

traces of the m aj estic exterior d isappear . Only the sky i s the

same,bri ll iant and imm ense .

Let us fo l low the road that buries i tself in the heart of the

town . The bu ild ings bordering i t are rather h igher here ; they

even have an add itional story . But indulgent as I am incl ined to

be,I cannot deny that they also are threatened with ru in

,and

that neglect i s written on thei r wall s in cracks and crevices .

Their second stories are sti l l further advanced in di sintegration,

and the bars of the l i ttl e Moorish windows have fallen away .


Only the doors and thresholds show any sign of care and habita

tion. The former are cu rious, being very massi ve, garnished

A LARGE HOUSE

with a profusion of enormous-headed nai ls, and bound with i ron

l ike a safe . They are all carefully shut,too

,contrary to the

custom of negro countries .

Beyond thi s road (a comparatively sound spot) , the l eprous

patches reappear,and vague bits of ground (the sites of houses

which have been deserted or destroyed ) , m ingle w ith poo r

ho vels enclosed by a heterogeneous collection of brushwood ,m ats

,and wal ls . The general wretchedness i s o ccasional ly varied

by groups of straw h uts with fences of matting . They are

clusters of nomad Foulbe dwel l ings in the midst of the debris

of the town .

In spite of certain vague imagin ings,I had not expected to

find an Athens , Rome, or Cairo here ; but straw huts ! not many

o f them , certainly , but— in the very heart of the town .

Here and there I pass a few healthy islands of tal l houses with



were in the m i dst of the desert . A city in del iquescence, such is

the town which the sun had shown from afar as so maj estical ly

great .

Have I been the sport of a mirage ? The spectacle was so

unexpected and absorbing that I had hitherto paid no heed to

the l ife and movement stirring am ong these ruins,and had not

noticed thei r contrast with th e fad ing town . But tal l blue

and-white forms are energetically stirring about the city,and

strings of heavi ly laden camels,donkeys

,and porters encumber

th e roads . I scarcely notice that all the i diom s of the

Sahara,Sudan , and elsewhere, from the Med iterranean and

the Atlantic to Lake Chad , are to be heard here . I do notdistinguish

,under wh ite turban or red fez, all th e different

types of the negro races ,—Arab, Berber, Songho i, Mossi ,Bambara

,Toucouleur

,Malinka

,among the blacks ; and Foulbes,

Moors, To uaregs , and Tripol itans among the whites. This

h uman amalgam i s m iserably clad , and their untidy, ragged ,and d irty coats are so com pletely in harmony with their back

T IMBUCTOO : A STREET

T I M B U C T O O 21 7

ground , that one confounds them with the ru ins . The obstinately

closed doors would lead you to imagin e that all these passers-byare strangers to the town .

T I M BUCTOO : A CORNER OF THE TOWN

The impression is so profound that sight and j udgment are

deceived,overthrown . It i s not only th e i l lusion of the d istant

view,the vanished m irage

,which embi tters the deception , i t is the

destruction of all that glam our wh ich surrounded the name of

Tim buctoo in the mind of the European . The disi llusion i s

com plete, for I know that the town has not been besieged ,pi llaged

,bombarded , nor destroyed since i t was occupied by our

troops . Our flag was planted there some months back without

Q


a shot being fi red . The town is precisely what i t was before we

entered her .

And this i s the great Tim buctoo,the metropol i s of th e Sudan

and the Sahara,with its boasted wealth and commerce. This i s

Timbuctoo the holy,the learned

,that l ight of the Niger

,of which

i t was written,We shall one day correct th e texts of our Greek

and Latin classics by the m anuscripts wh ich are preserved there .

And I have not even seen one o f the open-ai r school s which wereso num erous at Jenne .

These ruins,thi s rubbish

,this wreck of a town

,i s th is the

secret of Tim buctoo the Mysterious ?

You can im agine my perplexity when i t became time to th ink

of a lodging . My fi rst thought was naturally to settle in the

road and pitch my tent in one of its empty spaces , —at a respectful

and prudent distance from these fall ing houses,be i t understood .

My servant, however, an old Senegalese ti rai lleur,who had fought

against Sam ory,and who was afrai d of noth ing

,set out in quest of

an abode while I continued to explore the town . I have found a

house,” he cried o n his return , and radiantly led m e towards one

that was in every respect as del iq uescent as the rest .

To m y great surprise, however, the inside did not harm oni se

w ith its exterio r . It was no palace,but it was fresh and clean

,

and in good condition,truly regal in contrast with the outside

sights . I decided upon it at once,and found the habitation com

prised two room s, a vestibule, and an ante-room to a co urt, which

was about as large as a couple of l inen sheets . Three room s (the

apartm ents proper) opened from these . A passage l ed to a court

of vague local ity som ewhere at the back,and a littl e stai rcase gave

access to the roof. The whole was let fo r twenty-five francs a

m onth .



by a verandah,and sti l l further defended by a large awning

against the ardour of the Saharian sun , I held m eetings night

and morning.My visitors sat crouched upon thei r heels, while

MY COURTYARD AT T I MBUCTOO

I occupied the solitary chair,wi th a li ttle table and some blank

paper before me . The picture recalled certain gl impses of the

Mosque University of El Azhar at Cai ro . It was a class, in fact,with the proportions reversed

,the professors being the many and

the pupi l the one . The del iberate and picturesque phraseology

of the Oriental flowed on unceasingly,recitations being succeeded

by readings from the old chronicles of Timbuctoo .

There was noth ing pedantic nOr affected about Our gatherings ;each member related his m em ories at random

,and passed from

subj ect to subj ect with every Im agm able ease . Tea,coffee,

cigarettes, and kola nuts circulated at intervals . The neigh

bours” pigeons and my hens ” m ade an occasional i rruption , but

T I M B U C T O O 221

with discret ion . Chaffinches with red throats and tai ls,and th e

lively l i ttle l izards who shared the apartments with me,j oined

the party . They frolicked in our midst with the utmost effrontery .

The li zards ran about al l over m y guests, and the birds flew round

them,

fluttering and singing incessantly . No one but m yself

took any notice of them,however

,so accustomed is Timbuctoo

to their numbers and caprices .

For several days I d id not sti r out of my house ; my life was

so full I had no lei sure to do so . Yet so pleasantly active and

varied was i t that I was content to rem ain in, and gradual ly ,


without having set foot in the street,a new Timbuctoo was bu i lt

up before me . The wretched spectacle which had greeted me on

m y arrival , and which I had bel ieved ineffaceable, d isappeared bit

by bit . A secret had clearly hovered over Timbuctoo the Mys

terious. I had the eyes that saw ; and at last the image of the

great city, the wealthy Timbuctoo of the legends, was restored

to m e .



back into the interior,and they it was who transformed them

into a nom adic people.Original ly the Berbers of Morocco

,that is to say th e Moors ,

MOORS I N THE NE IGHBOURHOOD OF TI M BUCTOO

were the last to suffer. The ancient colonisation , most intense

in Algeria and Tuni s,was less direct in its effects on Morocco,

which was not entirely d ivested of its i nhabitants by the arrival

of the colonists . Half i ts population , fol l owing th e coasts of the

Atlantic,wandered towards the country of the blacks, whi le th e

o ther half maintained themselves sid e by side with the new

com ers . This portion remained fairly stationary and compact

unti l the Arabian invasion . Moors and Arabs then combined

to conquer Spain , where for three centuries they enj oyed the

ho spital ity offered them by Europe . It i s well known what

T I M B U C T O O A C R O S S T H E C E N T U R I E S 225

valuable services their poli shed manners and beautiful art,thei r

cultured l iterature and advanced industries, rendered to th e cause

of Western renai ssance .

What became of these bri ll iant people,we ask

,when they

were driven out of Spain ? Returning to Morocco to find their

ancient patrimony in the hands of the Arabs , and being forced

to prolong their exodus i nto the south,they followed the Atlantic

MOOR ISH \VOME N

coasts and the negro countries and became nomads in their turn .

These Span ish Moors,wandering about the great lakes on the

left bank of the Niger in the neighbourhood of Oualata and


Timbuctoo,carried with them a name wh ich leaves us in no doubt

as to thei r origin . They are called Andalusians to th i s day .

As we shall see later,these Moors

,at the epoch of their

return,became one of the prim e factors in Timbuctoo”s great

ness . The wonderful arch itects and the sumptuous possessors of

the palaces and mosques of Seville, Granada, and Cordova dwel l

to-day in leathern tents,and the sands of th e Sahara are thei r

only place of prayer. The vicissitudes of nomadic l ife have sadly

deteriorated them from the exalted civi l isation to which they had

attained . Herds of goats and h umped oxen,flocks of sheep, and

a few horses and books, form their sole wealth . The delicate

ornam entation of leather,their em broidered wallets

,cush ions

,

and gun-cases,with som e j ewellery work

,are all that recall the

characteristic m anner of the art they introduced into Europe .

Let us now see what became of the Berbers of Algeria and

Tunis, countries in wh i ch the action of the Ancients was more

MOOR I SH ENCAMPMENT

brutal . A sm al l number, thrown back beyond the Atlas Moun

tains, found a land capable of maintaining them in the mountains



possible under a sky from whi ch the rain does not fal l for si x or

eight consecutive years .

Owing to thei r eyes not being accustom ed to the terrible glare

of this desert,nor thei r lungs to its sand -storms, they adopted

a head-dress of two vei ls . One, the n icab, i s rol led round the

temples,hanging down in front to protect thei r eyes ; the other,

the litham ,reaches from the nostri ls to the edge of their cloth ing

,

completely covering the lower part of the face . Hygiene was

obviously the only motive of th is mysterio us accoutrem ent, which

set the savants seeking all m anner of far-fetched origins with

which to endow these Touaregs . This i s proved not only by

thei r own statements,but also by the sobriquet ‘

m ouths for

fl ies,” which they give to al l who do not wear th is costume . The

veils are never removed , even at m eal-tim es , and the garb has

MOOR ISH FLOCKS I N THE NE IGHBOURHOOD OF T I M BUCTOO

becom e so m uch a part of them that ‘ any one being deprived

of i t i s unrecogni sable to h is fri ends and relatives . If one of

their num ber is k i lled in battle and d ivested of hi s veil,no one

can identi fy him unti l i t has been restored to its place .

” And


thi s in spite of the fact that the bridge of the nose and the eyes

alone are visible .

The scarcity of water and thei r speedy exhaustion of the scanty

pasturage of the desert kept them perpetually on the m arch .

With th is constant movement any aggregation of thei r l ife was

impossible ; every

social and poli ti cal

organisation disap

peared, and they

gradually lost al l

notion of law and

authori ty . Like

the Jews,and all

people thrown out

of thei r natural

paths, their souls

and brains became

steeped in v ice,and

it was not long

before they had

become the mere

prey of thei r in

stincts . Thei r

nomadic l i fe soonTOUA REG \V ITH N ICAR AND L ITHAM

reduced them to the level of vagabonds,th i eves , and brigands ,

and the only law they recogni sed was the right of the strongest .

Theft was thei r natural industry—a branch of education , i n fact

and they augmented the meagreness of thei r herds by extorting

ransom s from some of thei r neighbours and completely despoi l ing

others . Travellers and merchants were thei r principal victim s, but

when these fail ed they robbed and k ill ed each other ; for, so far



town of Arawan in the Sahara and the l ittle vi llage of Am tagh 1

si tuated on the banks of th e Niger .

During the sum mer and dry season they pastured thei r flocks

on the shores o f the ri ver, returning to the desert for the winter

floods . In one of their many wanderings they noticed an oas is in

the m id st of the sands, formed by an overflow of the Niger. It

was a narrow depression,having somewhat the appearance of a

river,and must have been fairly deep, s ince the h ippopotamus

found h i s way there,and was a place in which the Touaregs could

always be sure o f finding some vegetation , as well as abundant and

excellent water .

The situation was an admirable one for man and beast,

and,with the palm-trees wh ich reared their elegant forms there,

did not lack a certain charm of aspect. They establi sh ed a

fixed cam p on this spot in order to prevent its occupation by

others during thei r absence. They cut down bushes of thorny

mimosa from the neighbouring th ickets , and formed , accord ing

to their custom , a sanie, or enclosure, to keep out the wi ld

anim als of the desert— l ions,panthers

,and hyaenas . S traw huts

were built beh ind th is shelter,in which the Touaregs placed

thei r provisions and other cumbersome properties . They left

some Bailas, or slaves, there, who kept guard under the super

intendence of an old wom an cal led ‘Tom boutou”

(The mother

with the large navel ) .

The sobriquet becam e popular in the country,and contributed

to the speedy renown of the advantages of their encampment .‘Travellers paused there,

” says the Tarik é Sudan .

‘The popu

lations increased by the power and will of God,and the people

began to build themselves fixed dwel lings . Caravans com m g from

the north and east (Algeria and Tripol i ) on thei r way to th e1 The Ham tagal of to-day, to the south-west ofTim buctoo .


Mali k ingdom delayed at the camp to renew their stores . A

market was soon formed ; a h igh enclosure of matting was sub

stituted for the barrier of dead thorns , and it became a meeting

place for people travell ing by canoe or camel .”

The place d id not deserve the name of town , however, unti l

the merchants of Jenne (wh ich had been a ci ty for some three

hundred years) settled there . The tradition which I have j ust

mentioned concerning the origin of the town was confi rm ed in

Tim buctoo .

‘The Touaregs are the fathers of the town,

” my

friends to ld me. When thou wert l i ttl e, what didst thou cal l her

who nourished thee at her breast ? Thou ca l ledst her mother,

d idst thou not ? Well , Jenne i s the mother of Timbuctoo, for

i t was she who made it l ive and grow ; and it was she who,by

bringing h ither her merchandise, caused it to become a great

place of commerce. ”

The m erchants of Jenne taught Timbuctoo to build houses

of baked brick , and to replace the sam'

é of m ats by a low earthen

wal l . They also built a mosque, afterwards the Cathedral Mosque

of Ghingaraber ; and a wealthy wom an , a native of Sokolo ,erected a second temple, wh ich becam e later the University

Mosque of Sankore, Thus enlarged,Tim buctoo entered into

competi tion with Oualata .

1 The latter town was the great

cosm opol itan market of western Africa in the twelfth century .

‘ It was with Oualata that the caravans traded,and it was there

the most pious,learned

,and wealthy men l i ved . They went

th ither from al l countries and all tribes,from Egypt

,Fez z ara ,

Soussa, Tuat, Tafilalet, Ghadam es, Ouargla, and Fez.” This

ac tive and intel ligent population , which was strongly imbued

with the Arabian civil i sation could not fai l to make acquaint

1 Cal led Ganata and Gana by the Arabs in the ancient texts, and Biron by theSonghois.



thei r rivals . The Maksara Touaregs pillaged the outsk i rts of the

town,and the Malinkas were afrai d to offer any resistance . Akil,

the”

chief of the Touaregs,sent a message to them at last, saying,

If you cannot defend Tim buctoo, cease to occupy i t.” Whereupon

the people ofMali retired .

The nomads now reigned for forty years , committing the

grossest excesses . They proved themselves tyrants and oppressors ,accum ulating exactions, hunting people from thei r dwell ings, and

violating the women ; and for the second tim e the town was

fo rced to seek a new m aster.

Oumar,i ts governor

,having been wronged by h i s own people

(the Touaregs) , secretly resolved upon revenge . With this

intention he sent a messenger to Sunni Ali,giving inform ation

concerning Aki l and the Touaregs,expos ing thei r weakness

,and

prom ising to deliver up the town . The messenger took Oum ar”

s

sandals with him as a guarantee of good fai th . Sunni Ali,who

was at that tim e (m iddle Of the fifteenth centu ry) laying the

foundations of the Songhoi em pire, accepted the invitation . At

the appearance of his cavalry on the river-bank opposite the dune

of Am tagh, Aki l resolved on fl ight . He departed,fol lowed by

his people and a great num ber of the learned m en of Sankore,to

seek refuge in Oualata . Sunn i Al i was furious at the exodus of

m arabuts, and suspecting the rem ainder of being the friends and

accom plices of the Touaregs, he heaped every im aginable i ll

treatment upon them . Did he show him self equal ly cruel towards

the rem ainder of the inhabitants ? In spite of the old chronicles,

I do not bel ieve he did,for the reasons I have given in the h istory

of the Songhois .

The year 1 496, the year of the capture of Timbuctoo by Sunn i

Al i , i s an important one in the history of that city.For the


future she form s part of the Songho i empire, steadily keeping pace

with the progress of th e latter, unti l sh e becomes Tim buctoo th e

Great, the city of universal renown , the fabled Queen of the

Sudan .

More than a century of tranquill ity now l ies before her,the

century of Askia the Great . Owing to hi s wise creation of a

standing army,h is great era of war had no d i sturbing influence

upon th e Sudan . The well-regulated and powerful organisation

wh ich,with thei r viceroys and governors

,he bestowed upon th e

conquered territories,soon brought them under control .

The im mense k ingdom of the Songhois now extended over the

desert from Thegaz z a to Agades, and the conquered Touaregs

renounced thei r brigandage to become docile auxil iaries in the

hands of Askia . The routes of the desert were perfectly secure,and the caravans came and went with an activity h itherto

unknown .

This security,spreading north and south of Tim buctoo

,was

not the only element of her prosperity,but was seconded

by the organisation and inspection of her markets,the un ifica

tion of weights and measu res,and the stern suppression of all

falsifications. Timbuctoo,more than any other town in th e

Sudan,profited by the measures and victories of A sk ia the

Great .

The city had now doubled its extent. Its houses were well

built,and arranged in orderly streets . The ancient mosques had

been restored and new ones bu ilt . A great em igration of

Songho is reinforced the Jennerean s, counterbalancing the Arabian

and Berber elem ents,which had h itherto predominated . The

dialects of Jenne and Gao became i ts current speech , Arabic

remaining the m ed i um of communication with strangers and the

language of science. The university of Sankorewas at the height


of i ts prosperi ty,the fam e of its professors being known not only

in the black countries but throughout Arabian Africa i tself.

Learned strangers flocked h ither from Morocco,Tunis, and Egypt .The civi l isation of Arabia clasped hands with the civil isation o f

Egypt,and from thei r union resulted the apogee of Tim buctoo

(1 494

Such was her splendour that our imaginations are stil l dazzle d

by i ts refl ections,three centuries after the setting of her star . So

great was her glory that,in spite of al l the v icissitudes she has

suffered , her v ital i ty is not yet extinguished .

The decadence ofTim buctoo began with the Moorish conquest

in 1 591 . The powerful l inks forged by Askia the Great being

once snapped,the whole of western Africa was shaken . IVhile

the last of the A skias was fighting for national independence on

the eastern shores of the Niger,Jenne revolted in the west, her

example being fo l lowed by the Touaregs,Foulbes

,and Malinkase .

The north and south were thrown into confusion,and Tim buctoo,

thei r intermed iary , seeing her comm erce m uti lated , rebelled in her

turn . She was brutally repressed by the conquerors,and the

flower of her scholars exiled to Morocco A terrible

dearth , provoked by the lack of rain, visited the town , and her

inhabitants were reduced to ‘ eating the corpses of animals,and even of men .

” This was foll owed by the pesti lence in1618 .

WhenI

the Sudan had once more regained tranquil li ty,

Timbuctoo, by reason of her proximity to the Moori sh frontier,had become the capi tal of her conquerors . The rivalries of theRoum as reigned with in her walls

,their pashas d isputing the

supreme power, and thei r troops settl ing thei r d ifferences in thes treets . The town was the constant scene of some panic

,and


240 T I M B U CTOO

PANORAMA

In the beginning of the nineteenth century the city had

relapsed into the sam e state as that preced ing its conquest by

Sunni Ali . The Roum as had becom e the mere representatives of

the Touaregs,governing and imposing taxes in thei r name . Straw

huts increased in num bers, and the new quarters at the north of

the city, which had been bui lt in the time of Askia, were com

pletely deserted , the houses fall ing into ru ins . As i ts decl ine

becam e more accentuated the town d iminished in extent until i t

had sh runk to its d im ensions of the si xteenth century .

Timbuctoo was re-del ivered from the hands of the Touaregs in

1827 . Cheikou Ahmadou,the Foulbean leader

,made successfu l

war against the nom ads, and took possessio n of the town . But the

Touaregs, grown aggressive, wearied out h is successor, who agreed ,for the sake of peace, to pay them a third of the taxes levied upon

the city . This understand ing lasted unti l E l Hadj Omar destroyed

the power of the Foulbes in 1861 .

TI MBUCTOO

The most criti ca l period of h er h istory now opened for

Timbuctoo . The roads of th e Sudan and desert al i ke had never

been less safe,nor had her commerce ever encountered such

difficulti es, al l secu ri ty having d isappeared in the town itself.

If Timbuctoo was now without a master,sh e was i n the pos

session of a thousand tyrants . Touaregs, Tenguaragifs and Irre

genaten d ivided her among themselves and adorned her with the

tragic and sordi d atti re which n ow clothes the Queen of the

Sudan .

That time has been described to me in the fol lowing words :

Thou hast seen those vei led men in sombre garments,with ch est

and back covered wi th red and yellow tal ismans as though by

cuirasses . When they come to us now they are modest, but before

th e French arrived thev walked insolently through the streets,carrying i ron spears . Every year we paid them tribute in gold or

k ind, corn , salt, garm en ts,'

and turbans, etc . Thei r ch iefs with


their retinues were well lodged when they came here . The cara

vans bound for this town paid them tol l in the desert, and they

exacted tol l upon the ri ver also,from the fl eets going to Kabara .

This d i d not suffi ce

them ; these were

the least of ou r

evi ls . From one

end of the year

to th e o ther they

treated us as cap

tives of war, as

slaves . They were

constantly arri v

ing in groups and

d ispersing through

the town . All

doors were closed

as soon as they

appeared,but they

beat upon the

doors,and thou

canst see the

traces of the heavy

blows from thei r

lances everywhere .

We were forced

to open to them ,

and without paying the least attention to the m aster of th e

house or h is family, they would instal l themselves in the best

rooms, taking all the cushions and couches, insolently demand ing

food and drink , and insisting upon having sugar,h oney

,and meat .



man returning from the market wi th some meat he had bought .

They took h i s purchase from him,and when the young man re

sisted,the Abandoned of God ki l led him with thei r spears . All

for a piece of meat ! At another time a woman who was alone in

a house was il l-treated by one of them . Her cri es attracted her

brother,who mortally wounded th e Touareg i n h i s wrath . The

avenger im mediately fled and sought refuge in Sarafara, but he

was fo rced to return,and the veiled men cut h is throat as they

would a sheep”s .

We coul d not prevai l against them,because we are merchants

and not fighters . And i f we had subdued them i n the town they

woul d still have rem ained our m asters,because they controll ed the

routes of the caravans and the road to Kabara. They could have

ruined us and left us to die of hunger whenever they l iked .

Strangers sometimes gave these hyaenas a lesson . Four or five

years ago a caravan from the south , composed of three hundred of

the men of Mossi,was staying in the town . One of them ,

wear

ing a beautiful new turban,encountered a Touareg

,who snatched

it from hi s head and ran away . But the people of Mossi are

active and brave, and thi s m an gave chase to the th ief and over

powered him . Other Touaregs,however

,cam e up and rescued

their companion .

The man of Mossi ran .to the ch ief of the caravan , who said ,Beat the alarum of the people of Mossi upon the tom-toms. ”

His people, armed with spears and bows and arrows , came running

to answer the summ ons . Their ch ief distributed honey-dolo,and

they set out to find the Touaregs . The principal personages of

Timbuctoo sought to prevent the confl ict . ! No ! ” repl i ed the

chief, we are strangers here and your sacred guests . We have

been inj ured, and we wil l avenge ourselves or d ie.” The kaid of

the town offered to give them a similar turban .

! No,

” said the


ch ief of the Mossi , ! i t is the Touaregs who have stolen i t,

and i t i s they who must make am ends .” They were only to be

appeased on hearing that the Touaregs had prudently q uitted th e

town?

Such was the existence of Timbuctoo during the last thirty

five years . One can imagine the d isastro us results such a state of

A THOROUGHFARE I N T I MBUCTOO

affairs was bound to produce in the l ong-run . Finding themselves

thus molested,the strangers who ventured there gradual ly lessened

in num bers . Weary of l iving in a constant state of alarm , and of

submitting to exactions to wh ich they saw no end , the people

began to emigrate . The strangers who had settled in the cityreturned to their native country. Natives who had relations in

the neighbouring countries j oined them there: The deserted

houses cracked,their walls crumbled and fell to pieces, forming


the unexpected and inexpl icable heaps of ruins wh ich greeted

me on my arrival .

The poorest and wealthiest alone remained faithfu l to the citv .

The first,l i ving in straw huts

,possessed noth ing, and consequently

had nothing to lose . The second , the Opulent m erchants , could ,owing to thei r great fortunes, manage to endure these annoyances ,and the emigration of the sm aller traders, moreover, perm i tted

them to augment th eir business, and therefore thei r profits .

No one ever gets accustomed to pillage and il l-treatment how

ever,whatever the compensations m ay be ; and to avoid being

robbed in the open street, and seeing their houses turned upside

down ,the inhabitants adopted a new m anner of l iving . They

transformed thei r garments and dwel l ings,and ceasing to be

Tim buctoo th e Great, they became Timbuctoo the Mysterious .

Instead of the imposing white turbans of the natives and the

beautiful dark ones (m ade of sh in ing tissues) of th e Moors , the

peopl e cover thei r heads with unappetising rags,or cheap caps .

Shabby old shoes are substi tuted for the yellow Turk ish sl ippers

of the wom en and the si l k embroidered,soft

,red leather boots of

the m en . The caftans and the ample garm ents of dazzl ing wh ite

ness, the beautifully em broidered vestments, the fringed and

ornam ented B issas (thrown over the shoulder as the toreador wears

hi s cloak ) , have al l d isappeared . They wear instead old '

scanty

clothes, who se d i rtiness, being thei r sol e adornment, offers no

temptation to the Touaregs. In place of the long cane, orna

m en ted with leather o r chased i ron,on wh ich the Sudanese loves

to support h is fine form , they use a plain stick of a cheap white

wood . Their one idea being to avoid any sign of affl uence which

m ight attract the attention of their oppressors .

On the few occasions of thei r going out, the women attire

themselves in the coarsest stuffs,and take off all their gold and



and battered appearance.Everything seems to be fal ling into the

streets,except the doors—those obstinately closed doors that had

so astonished me on my arrival . They are the obj ects of the most

T I M BUCTOO : A CORNER OF THE TOWN

stud ied care,and are set up regardless of cost. Heavy planks of a

very hard wood are brought from a distance for this purpose, and

are adorned with armour l ike any gentleman of Agincourt . Thus

barricaded,the inhabitants

,under cover of a simulated misery ,

l ive the s ilent l ife of the cloisters . They have given up grm dingtheir k uss-kuss in the great wooden mortars common to the

Sudan,and now crush the grain between two stones and pound


it without noise, for the sound of th e heavy pestle would inevit

ably attract some m arauding Touareg in search of a m eal .

If a knock ing on the door i s heard,the whole household

,hasti ly

conceal ing its valuables,assum es the silence of death . The

unfamil iar visitor has to loudly recite h i s names,h is recom m enda

tions,and the purpose of h is v isit . If h i s d iscourse is j udged sati s

factory, and i t i s decided to show some sign of l ife, there are sti l l

questions to be asked and answered before the door i s final ly

opened .

The same mystery naturally attends al l business transactions ;a moment must be snatched when all Touaregs are known to be at

some d istance,otherwise i t i s necessary to wait unti l nightfall .

I was ini tiated into the secret of Tim buctoo, and her d isastrous

appearance was explained to m e . ‘Vith m y narrators for guides I

explored the same streets and houses that I had seen on my

arrival . The arm oured doors were opened for me, and there lay

revealed all that these tumble-down old places concealed . I was.

sei zed with adm i ration both for the splendou r of Timbuctoo”s pas t

and her ingenu ity and tenacity of to—day .

CHA PTE R X I I

THE COM M E RCE AND L IFE OF TIMBUCTOO

TIMBUCTOO i s the meeting-place of all who travel by cam el or

canoe. ”

This simple d ictum of an old Sudanese chronicle excel lently

expresses the commercial greatness of the city ; the ‘ canoe ”

r ep re sent

i n g t h e

s o u th of

t o o (t h e

S u d a n ) ,

a n d t h e‘camel ” in

d i c a t i n g

the Sahara

a n d t h e

w h o l e o f

n o r t h e r n

Africa,Morocco, Algeria, Tuat, Tunis, Tripoli , and , finally

,

Europe .

An intermed iary of exchange between north and south having

become essential , Timbuctoo suppl i es the part , and serves to uni te250


T I M B'

U C T'

O O'

On account of its proxim ity and its’ former conquest of the

city, Morocco has become the principal cli ent of Timbuctoo,

Tendouf, Souara, Marrakesh , Fez, and Tafilalet being the points

of departure of its caravans . Algeria i s only of secondary import

ance,as its relations with the city are indirect

,being establi shed

by means of Tuat ; in the sam e manner Ti mi s and Tripol i trade

through Ghadames . The caravans from the coast are chi efly

laden wi th European stuffs, the principal fabric being the indigo

blu e cotton called Guinea,which is imported al l over Africa .

It i s worth from fourteen to twenty-five francs th e length in

Tim buctoo, and only seven in Senegal . White cal ico i s also in

great request,and a few silks are num bered am ong the more

l uxurious textiles . In a general waythe odd medley of patterns

and colours which are in such demand upon the coast are despi sed

in Nigerian Africa, thei r place being taken by more sober designs

ofArabian character .

Other articles of commerce are fi rearm s,gunpowder

,cutlery

,

paper (so l d on the Niger at twenty-five or th irty centimesa sheet) , scissors, needles, m i rrors

,si lk

,and seed pearls (for

embroidery) , am ber, coral , large pearls for necklaces, spices

(principally. cloves) , sugar, tea, coffee , perfumes , tobacco from

Tuat, teapots, cups, snuff-boxes , dates , carpets , fez, burnouses,caftan s

,etc.

The camels are only partly loaded on starting,for half-way the

caravans complete thei r freights with that un ique articl e,salt . I

have'

lai d stress upon the prim ary importance of th i s product in

former chapters , and i t only rem ains for m e to Show how it i sprocured .

The long depression in the western Sahara bearing the name

of El Dj ouf i s a vast m ine of rock salt . We have seen that the

supply fi rst came out of Thegaz z a, and that these mines were

C O M M E R C E A N D L I F E O F T I M B U C T O O 253'

abandoned in the sixteenth century for those of ‘Ta'

oudenn ifi

situated nearer Tim buctoo .

Little accustom ed as they are to sm i l ing pastures,Taoudenni

,

according to the people of th e desert, i s one of the 'drearies'

t spots ;

on the face of the earth , possessing neither trees nor vegeta

tion,while the l ittle

water that is to be

found there i s salt .

Shade,and water fi t

to drink,must be

sought at the wells of

Oued Teli , distant a

day ”s j ourney . Not

even earth for the con

struction of dwellings

i s to be found,houses

and mosques being

built o f rock salt and

roofed with camel

skins . The inhabi

tants of the town

subsist upon the datesA BLOCK OF SALT

th e caravans bring on

thei r way to Timbuctoo, and the cereals and other provi sions they

leave behind on thei r return .

Under a th in covering of sand the m ineral is found in clearly

marked layers . It i s dug out in large lumps by slaves, and

trimm ed down to block s (about 3 ft . 7' in . by 1 ft: 3 looking

like bars of red o r grey-veined marble, and which , as they come

out of the mine,are stam ped with the trade-marks of the‘

d ifferent contracto rs . They are wo rth from ’

two to S ix francs,‘


accord ing to thei r q ual ity, and a camel can carry four or five at

a time .

Before entering the Negraic countries they undergo a regular

toilet at Timbuctoo,where they are embelli shed with geometrical

designs in black paint, and the name of some venerated chief

i s written on them in Arabic characters . Sid i Yaia, the patron

of Timbuctoo, Abd”

el Kader,the great Algerian ch ief

, Cheikou

Ahmadou,El Hadj Omar

,etc . , are honoured in th is fash ion .

Thus ornamented , they are bound round with thongs of raw

leather,which are arranged to hold the fragments together in

cases of fracture . The fact that the m anufacture of these

thongs occupies an enti re branch of business from one end of


256 T I M B U C TO O

salt possess over our powdered substance i s sufficiently obvious .

Hard as stone,and proof against inj ury from moisture, they do

not suffer from the loss and theft to wh ich our sacks of salt are

peculiarly liable . The sel ler retai l s them in sm all pieces propor

tioned to the demand . They often serve th e traveller as a

means of barter,for the Sudanese who decl ines to sel l h i s

provisions for cowri es si lver,or even gold

,will never refuse

a small lum p of salt .

Having completed i ts freight at Taoudenni , and paid one

or several tolls to the Touaregs,the caravan reaches Tim buctoo

,

i f it has not been enti rely pil laged by the way . It does not

enter the town , which would be seriously encumbered by its

multitude of camels,but encamps before the northern walls

in the Abaradiou,or caravan suburb . This quarter consists of

groups of straw cabins surrounded by thorny fences,which

recall th e early settlement of Touaregs that gave birth to the

city of Timbuctoo .

The merchants accompanying the caravans lodge in the

town , but the cam el-drivers find shelter in th e A baradiou . The

camels are watered at large pools lying near,and are pastured

on the neighbouring dunes,where the sober-minded anim als

C O M M E R C E A N D L I F E O F T I M B U C T O O 257

find the camel-grass and other m i serable and thorny vegeta

tion wh ich form thei r ch ief del i caci es .

As one would suppose,th e number and im portance of the

caravans vary in direct relation with the secu rity of the Sahara

on the one side and the prosperi ty of the Sudan on th e

other . The large caravans incl ude from si x him dred to a

thousand cam els and from three to five hundred men,thei r

freight representing from si x h undred thousand to a million

francs”-worth of goods . They generally arrive from December

to January and from July to August . Sm aller caravans of

sixty or a hundred camels are arriving al l the year round, the

town annual ly receiving about fi fty or si xty thousand camels .

In the year following our occupation (evidently an abnorm al

one) the official retu rns only s tated fourteen thousand cam els .

Like the burdens of the camels,th e cargoes of th e fleets

comprise two distinct parts. One portion,destined for Tim

buctoo and the towns and nomad ic tribes of the Sahara , consi sts

pri nc1pally of matters of al im entation , such as millet, ri ce,karita

,manioc

,arach ides

,honey

,kola nuts

,neta and baobab

flour,monkey-bread

,tamarinds

,on ions and tobacco (cheaper and

inferior to that of Tuat) , dried fish , and in addition , soap, i ron ,antimony

,cotton

,straw hats

,potteri es

,and calabashes . The

other i s special ly allotted to Morocco, Tuat, and Ghadames ,and compri ses gold

,i vory

,ostrich plum es

,raw leather, wax,

i ncense,civet musk

,indigo

,gum

,etc . , and incl udes a few

slaves .

The different methods of northern and southern transport being

now explained,the comm erce of Timbuctoo appears i n all i ts

simpl ic ity . The camel s transfer their burdens to the canoes, and

the vessels confide thei r cargoes to the camels, Tim buctoo being



days, and interprets th e noble precept in a disinterested and

elevated manner. There is a perfect ly straightforward under

standing that at parting on the fourth day the guest shal l h ire

one of h is host”s houses (some own as many as ten or fifteen) for

the remainder of his stay . These dwell ings are similar to the one

I occupied,and are large enough to serve as warehouse as well as

habitation . Moreover, the part of dia tig ui or landlord does not

end there ; he i s expected

to instruct the

the current prices,

UNLOAD I NG CAMELS

abundance or scarci ty of the product he has come to buy or

sell , the standing of any cli ent who may offer h imself,and

also to ass ist h is guest in making hi s purchases,the price of

lodging thus including the benefits of brokerage .

I too made use of m y landlord acco rding to custom,asking

h im to advise me in the choice of tradespeople,and appeal ing

to him i n al l m y business transactions . I requested h im to con

duct me about the town as though I were some merchant of

Mossi or Tafilalet, and he led m e th rough the markets and


showed me the interior of those crumbling wrecks of houses which

had so deceived m e on my arri val . To my great surprise I found

wel l-provided shops under these ruins,stored wi th the most varied

fabrics from al l parts of Europe and th e Sudan , and contai n

ing every description of n ative product . We pursued the same

d ilapidated road I had fol lowed on the fi rst day . Under the low

roof of a but, open to the four winds, we found a tailor and his n ine

workmen , whose needleswere flying through blue-and-wh ite stuffs,while an old greybeard in spectacles read verses of the Koran to

them through h is nose . Some were m ak ing pantaloons and th e

ample robes of the Sudan,while others were orn amenting them

with elaborate Moorish embroideries . These embroidered robes

(Timbuctoo”s ch ief industry) were notorious at the time of the

Sudan”s greatest prosperity,and her workshops could barely keep

pace with the demand for them . They were exported to Morocco,Bam m aku, and Gao, and cost from three to four thousand francs

apiece. They are marvels of taste and del icate workmansh ip,with roses and arabesques on th e back and front

,embroidered

in sh ining si lken threads that stand out i n bri ll iant wh iteness

from the raw si lk of the fabri c.

Shoemakers form erly em ployed a simi lar art upon the wonder

fu l leather of the country,the true marocco, fine, supple, and

light, which i s made into boots embel l ished with green and

yellow embroideries,and into slippers

,cush ions

,and bindings .

We directed our steps towards a cracked and dilapidated house,whose upper story had fallen into fragments . It was the abode

of a great m erchant,and before its closed and barricaded door

my guide recited the accustomed d iscourse ; in spite of the several

months of ou r occupation,the old habits of precaution have not

entirely di sappeared . Having passed the second armoured doo r,we found ourselves in a courty ard shaded by a large verandah ,


whose arched gal leries ran round its four sides, l ik e the p atio of

Spanish houses . -Out in the streets the heat was terrific, but this

court was agreeably cool,with no trace of the external misery and

ruin . Everything was m arvellously clean and wel l kept, and after

the La sciate og ni sp eranz a of the exterior i t seemed a paradise.

Carpets and cush ions were scattered about under the galleri es,

for th is court i s the reception-room , and i t i s here that al l business

i s transacted . A panther sk in was offered me for seat, and we

were served with tea and sugar and the del ici ous dates of Tuat .

THE GARDENS OF TI MBUCTOO

After that we visited th e shop,which ran across the enti re house,

and in which sacks of millet were heaped upon sacks of rice,and

blocks of salt were to be counted by the hundreds . Bales of dates

lay sid e by side with packets of ostrich feathers and elephant

tusks . This house, outwardly a ruin , contained about fifty

thousand francs”-worth of merchandise .

Side by side with these unofficial are th e offi cial brokers ortaif a , who special i se in certain products, such as salt, gold ,



as thei r fortunes were made . All these people bought and sold

d irectly from the caravan .

The Arabian traders formerly constituted the most numerous,

enterprising, and richest element of the city .They introd uced

a system of bank ing, and the traveller could procure from them

TRADERS FROM THE COU NTRY OF MOSS I

letters of cred it for the whole of northern Africa . They alsogave cred it to the diozdas, or travell ing negro merchant

.

Allth i s required considerable courage, for there are no pol ice in theSudan, and two or three years had often elapsed befor

ethey

saw their debtors again . Frequently they never reappeared at

C O M M E RC E A N D L I F E O F T I M B U C T O O 265

all,owing not so much to intentional di shonesty, as to the

numerous wars and the frequent insecuri ty of the different

STREET I N THE ARAB IA N QUARTER

routes. The quarters occupied by the Arabs were called th e

Baghinde, .and the population ,

natives of Morocco , Tuat, and


Tripol i,formerly num bered about three h undred . They form ed

a colony which was known by th e nam e o f ‘ the community of

wh ite men,

’ and was analogous to the European colonies o f

Eastern c iti es . They had a deputy at thei r head , occupying

a sim i lar pos ition to o ur consul , who was called‘ head of the

whites,

’ and who was always a m em ber of the town council.

On our en try into Tim buctoo , our o fficers found the ‘ head of

the whites ’ to be a Tripol i tan named Milad . He was a m an of

excep tional intel l igence, and having had interco urse with Europeans

if) his own coun try ,he was enabled , by hi s advice and other

good offices, to give m ateu'

al assistance to our occupation .

i Like the native population , thi s Arabian colony fell to p ieces

uhder the unbearable tyranny of the Touaregs ; but for al l that

if would be a mistake to suppose that Timbuctoo was ever a

very populous city. I should calculate th e town to have pos

sessed a population of only fo rty or fifty thousand inhabitants ,even at the tim e of i ts greatest splendou r. The absence and

impracticabi li ty of any local industry explains a figure so incon

si‘

derable when compared wi th other great places of Mussulman

com m erce,such as Cairo and Damascus

,but sufficiently important

when we real ise that the entire population l ived by,and was

occupied with , comm erce alone.

Seen in th i s l ight, the following figures wi l l not be surpri sing .

In January -1 895 the stati stics show a turnover of francs

and at the time these figures were stated to m e those who com

puted them assured m e that they hardly represented a third of

the actual sum . No serious effort has ever been m ade to obtain

an accu rate knowledge of such things . The captain of the port

of Tim buctoo has'

not even an interpreter at h is service. One

has to be satisfied with the. voluntary declarations m ade by the

m erchants to the mil itary authorities’

and the native pol icesuper



Not only was Timbuctoo the great commercial centre, i t also

represented a city of pleasure to the whole of western Afri ca,and especial ly to the Arabs .

I talked at Senegal with one of those Moori sh traders who

form a very acti ve and wealthy colony at St . Loui s . Being en

route for Timbuctoo, I natural ly d i d not forget to ask h im what

he knew, or rather had heard , of th e ci ty, for h e had never

vi sited i t . Ah l you are going to Timbuctoo he cri ed , with

sparkl ing eyes . Oh ! at Tim buctoo there are ladies, very many

and very beautiful ! ’ To his m ind the city seemed to represent

a gallant l ife rather than business . After gold,i vory

,and ostrich

feathers, the principal attractions of Timbuctoo for the people

o f the north are undoubtedly th e easy m anners prevail ing in the

Sudan . This i s also confi rmed by anci ent geographers .

Leon the African contents h imself with saying, ‘The inhabi

tants of Timbuctoo have gay natures,and dancing goes on every

evening unti l an advanced hour.’ He was writing for the

Vatican , which may explain hi s reserve . Ibn Batouba i s more

explicit. He observes on h is arrival in the Sudan that ‘ these

people have very singular m anners . The m en are not in the

l east j ealous concerning thei r wom en-folk . The latter are not

at al l em barrassed in the presence of a man ; and although they

are very devout in thei r prayers,they go about with unveiled

faces . They have friends and companions among the men, and

the m en on their s ide have fri ends among the wom en . Thus i t

often happens that a man,on returning home

,finds his w ife enter

taining a friend . Having received permission from the kaid ' of

Oualata to visi t h im , I presented myself at h is house on e day,and found him with a woman who was young and beautiful . I

was about to reti re upon seeing her,when

,without showing the

least shame , she went i nto fi ts of laughter at my embarrassment .


Do not go,” said the kaid . It i s only a good friend of m i ne .

I was thunderstruck at seeing a j uriscons ult, a scholar, and a man

who had made a pi lgrimage to Mecca, behaving in such a m anner.

I learned later that he had appl i ed to the sul tan for permission to

make the pilgrim age that sam e vear i n com pany with h is good

friend ! Upon another occas ion I visited a man,and found h im

seated on a rug whi le h is w ife o ccupied a chair and was con

versing with a m an who was sitting besi de her. ! Who is that

woman ? ” I asked . She i s my wife,h e repl ied . And who i s

the man sitting beside her ? ” That is a friend of hers .” How

can you suffer s uch a th ing ?” I indignantly ask ed ; you who

have l i ved in our countries of the north,and know th e rules of

the Koran .

” With us,” he replied

,wom en have friendsh ips that

are in every way honourable,and no suspicion i s ever aroused

,for

1our wom en are not l ike those of your country .

’ I was so d is

gusted by h is folly that I instantly qu itted his house,and have

never set foot in i t again .

”

It was towards 1 350 that Ibn Batouba was so scandal ised by

the manners of Oualata,and h istory has shown us that Timbuctoo

was developed by the immigration th ither of the people of the

form er town . Merchants and scholars would naturallv im port

th ei r manners as well as their commerce, wealth , and science .

In a chapter entitled,All that I found of evi l i n th e conduct

of the blacks,

”

the sam e author continues , ‘The slaves, male and

fem ale,and the young girls

,appear in the streets qu ite nude . I

saw a great number thus even in the m onth of Ramadan . It

i s the custom for all great personages to break thei r fast with

the sultan,and for th is purpose they send parties of twenty or

more young slaves to carry the provisions to the palace . Thev

appear befo re th e sultan qu ite n ude,and his own daughters do the

sam e. The evening before Ramadan I saw several slaves w ith food


leave the palace accompanied by two of the sultan’s daughters,and they l ikewi se wore no clothes .’

Ibn Batouba was a highly cultured man,as pious as he was

l earned,and deeply imbued with the vei led manners of Islam .

Such custom s could but sh ock and m ove to wrath a m ind thus

educated,but their effect upon the vulgar, the merchants and thei r

clerks and camel-drivers,would probably be d ifferent . Bred in th e

Arabian world,in which men and wom en l i ved absol utely separate

l ives,and in which the latter disgu ise not only thei r form but even

their features under heavy draperies,the spectacle of such manners

must have been to them both novel and curiou s . They would not

experience the repulsion of the learned Ibn Batouba,but would mix

with this l ife and enj oy the new custom s that i n'

their own

countries would raise a bl ush to thei r ch eeks . Tim buctoo woul d

soon be surrounded by a halo in thei r minds as being,upon

earth , one l ittle corner of the parad ise prom i sed by Mahomet .

Askia the Great,having observed the Mohammedan practices of

Egypt, attem pted several reforms . The women were com pelled to

drape them selves from head to foot and adopt the l ife of the harem .

He also establ i shed a body of men charged to exercise a constant

surveillance, and to arrest and imprison any m an found talking to

a strange woman after nightfall . ! These m easu res fel l into disuse

under the sons of the great king,and the manners of the country

relapsed into their accustomed freedom .

Ibn Batouba”s description of Timbuctoo being amply suffi cient,I prefer to speak of the women of the city

,that i s to say

,those of

i ts aristocratic famil ies . By reason of continual interm arriage

with the Berber and Arab races,thei r features have become m ore

regular and considerably refined . Although they are black in

colour they approximate more to the Aryan type than th e Negraic

the flatness of the nose and mouth is much less noticeable,and the



whole face i s pleasantly lighted by wonderful eyes, whose gentle,intel ligent glance seems to enfold you .

These natural charms are supplemented by th e arts of coquetry .

Their foreheads are charmingly adorned with bands of pearls and

sequins,and the most accom plished hairdressers arrange their

tresses in wonderful top-knots interspersed wi th ornam ents of

golden filagree. Ear-rings of the same precious metal dangle from

their ears,and necklaces of gold , coral , or amber are wound round

thei r throats ; they also em bell ish their nail s with henna and

darken their eyes with antimony . Above all , they know how to

drape themselves tastefully in the various k inds of stuff which

are to be found in Timbuctoo—European , Arabian , and nativefabrics.

Unlike her negro sister,the wom an of Timbuctoo plays the

part of great lady . She transfers the household work and the care

of her ch ildren to slaves,contenting herself with seeing that her

orders are carried out . She em ploys her ' tim e in read ing and

playing upon the viol in (whose sole string i s made of camel’s hair) ,

vi siting her fri ends and—smoking pipes,for no o ne i s perfect .

Over and above these m onda i'nes, Tim buctoo possesses her

dem i-m ondaz’

nes, who im itate the form er in al l things . The follow

ing i s an account of fash ionable l ife given me by one of its

members

Business here allows of plenty of leisure ; we have to wait until

certain articles have arri ved,or unti l others have diminished or

risen in price . The stranger merchant,i n order to amuse

h imsel f, gathers h is fri ends together at m id-day, or in the

evening by preference, and offers them a repast . They eat

fat sheep , pigeons, kuss-k uss, dates, kola n uts,Wheaten biscu its

,

and honey-cakes . They drink tea,and som etim es coffee.

Marabuts (to whom some present has been made beforehand)

C O M M E R C E A N D L I F E O F T I M BU C T O O 278

are invited,and delight the assem bly with th eir old-world

histories . Each guest also tell s some tale of h is native country ,and it i s by these means we know so wel l, not only what is passing

in Morocco,Tuat, and Tripol i , but all that is going on in Europe

and France also . These l ittl e fi les have become less frequent in

the present time of misfortune . Formerly one used to receive an

invitation nearly every day . Many Arabs from the nor th l ived in

Timbuctoo then,and one might have built houses of l um ps of

sugar,such great quantities of i t were brought here by the cara

vans . The people of Ghadames , Tunis, and Fez l i ked to

l ive well . They taught their slaves the art of preparing

very elaborate and varied dishes , pastries , and sweets ;so much incense was burned and such great

quanti ties of attar of roses

sprinkled about the houses that

you were seized with

headache on the

doorstep .

T h e m o s t

c o s t ly fé tes w e r e

those given to the

women . The people

of Jenne, Sansand

ing, and Bam m aku

ri valled the Arabs,

but the people of A BAKE IIOUSE

IN THE STREETTuat were the m o st

extragavant. On the other hand,the Mossi d id not squander

thei r money in th is fash ion,but left the town as soon as thei r

business was concluded.

‘Those who had mistresses gave feasts wh ich lasted m any


hours,much intox icating l iquid was consumed , and the m en became

as drunk as the idolatrous Bam barras . Musicians were sent for,dancing began and was pro longed through the night. Men

would spend two or three hundred gold pieces in d isputing a

mistress with a rival . A m erchant of Sansand ing i s sai d to have

m ade his lady a present of five hundred blocks of salt . This

m an l ived near the mosque,and having passed the night in

feasting he wish ed to sleep during the day,and had th e audacity

to say to the muezzin who cal ls the faithful to the five dai ly

prayers,

! I am very tired,your voice wi l l d i sturb me. If I do

not hear you throughout the day, I will make a rich offering to

the mosque. ”

‘Many people who only came to stay a few weeks would pro

long thei r visi t for months and years,detained ei ther by the

agreeable l ife of the town or some passion ; and m any who arrived

with a fortune returned home ru ined .

”



and literary centre of the Nigerian regions . ‘ Salt comes from

the north,gold from the south

,and silver from the countrv of

the wh ite men,but the wo rd of God and th e treasures of wisdom

are only to be found in Timbuctoo ,’ says an old Sudanese

proverb.

It would perhaps be an exaggeration to put the school of

Timbuctoo on a level with tho se of Syria,Spain , Morocco, and ,

above all, Egypt ; for I m ust adm i t that I have not found among

her l ibraries any work equal in l iterary glory to those m aster

pieces of the Arabian language and intel lect— the Hariri, the

Ham adani , or the Bedouin Kaisadas . For al l that , Timbuctoo

was not m erelv the great intel l ectual n ucleus of the Sudan , that

i s to say,of the negro es— she was also one of the great scientific

centres of Islam i tself, her university being the younger sister of

those of Cairo,Cordova

,Fez

,and Damascus . Her collection of

ancient manuscripts leaves u s in no doubt upon the point, and

perm its us to reconstruct th is side of her past in its smallest

details .

It i s i n Eastern Africa that the origin of the intel lectual

glory of Timbuctoo m ust be sought,and i t i s to the Moors

that it must be attributed . We know that th is fraction of the

Berber peoples adopted the rel igion of their Arabian conquerors,and i t was th rough the Moori sh tribes who ranged along the

Atlantic coast that Islam i sm penetrated to the country of the

blacks in the ninth century . Wherever th e Mussulman rel igion

found foothold it was invariably followed by the language of

the Koran and the Arabian sciences . The holy book contained ,or should contain, everyth ing needful for a disciple of Mahom et.

It gave laws to m an and regulated his faith,whether rel igious

or ph ilosoph ical . The Koran was a code in wh ich everyth ing

T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F S A N K O R E 277

was decreed—so much so, i ndeed , that to elucidate it was to

teach religion,phi losophy, and law . Grammar and l iterature

were also founded on it,for they were taught on th e lines of

the language employed by the editor of the holy book and

i llustrated by examples taken from i t .

Thus the Arabian language and culture spread over the

frontiers of the negro countries . Oualata, ‘ where the hol iest

and mo st learned men resid ed ,’ became its bulwark ; and upon

the emigration of her people to Timbuctoo, the latter town

becam e the pallad ium of th e fai th . The Moorish poets and

scholars of Spain brough t with them the harvests of Grenada

and Cordova . The caravans from the north spread abroad

the progress of Fez,Marrakesh , and Tuni s ; and the annual

pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina proved the m eans of dissem i

nating the many advantages of Cairo. Tim buctoo,more than any

other town,was enabled to profi t by the conquests of Arabian

intel lect and to collect and arrange large l ibraries . Market of

merchandise as she was,she al so became the storehouse of the

Arabian language and sci ence,spread ing them afar with her

texti l es and salt .

The confusion of tongues prevai l ing in the m etropolis of

the Sudan necessitated a common language,and Songho is,

Foulbes, Toucouleurs, Touaregs, Bam barras, Mossi , Haouss

ankas, Malinkas, etc . , al l used Arabic as the veh icle of a

mutual com prehension .

An entire clas s of the population was devoted to the study

of letters , being cal led fak irs or sheiks by the old manu

scripts , and m arabuts by the Sudanese of to-day . The fi rst

term carries the meaning of j uri st,

‘ those who know the law ,

’

and is in terestin cr as it proves that the scientific movem ent0 ,

o riginated from the study of the j udicial principles contained


in the Koran . The name shei k o r marabut i s preferable fo r

present use,as i t signifies both priest and doctor, and therefore

better expresses the dual character of the Sudanese scholar.

The m arabut i s a man who, by his devotion to Islam and

hi s appl ication of the duties ind icated by the Koran , by h is

profound knowledge of the holy writ, his learning and the

dign ity of h is personal l ife, sets an example to al l true

bel ievers . He belongs in general to a fam i ly which,so to

speak,m akes a profession of devotion and science ; th is twofold

rep utation descends from father to son , and is sustained by

pilgrimages to the holy places and soj ourns in the great

Arabian universi ties . We possess the biograph ies of several

hundreds of these learned m en, and al l are related to one

another i n a more o r less d irect l ine . A cerebral refinement

was thus produced among a certain proportion of the negraic

population which has had su rpri sing resu lts , as we shal l seelater

,and wh ich gives the categori cal l i e to the theori sts who

insist upon the inferiority of the black races .

These pious and cultured famili es of Timbuctoo l i ved

within the precincts of the m osque of Sankore, and formed a

locality analogous to the Quartier Latin of Paris . Thev were

held in great esteem by both d ignitari es and people . ‘The

learned Ahmed (father to Ahmed Baba the writer) was

attacked by a dangerous i llness . In order to render homage

to the m erits and piety of this holy m an,the sultan went

every evening to pass several hours by his bed of suffering, con

tinuing thi s assid uity unti l the pious sheik was completely

recovered .

” For a long time a portion of the taxes (the diaka

or tenth ) was reserved for these m arabuts. The Songho i kings

pensioned the most celebrated,and they received many gifts

,

espec ial ly in the month of Ramadan . They were intrusted



with the education of chi ldren , and , to ensure them the tran

qui lli ty so necessary to the man of thought and letters , thei r

affai rs were m anaged and thei r properties cultivated by their

slaves .

Each marabut followed h is special vocation . Some confined

themselves to the study of religion and the service of God and

the m osque, others practised law, becoming magistrates or kadi ,and a great num ber consecrated thei r l ives to the art of

teach ing . It was not unusual to see two , or even al l three, of

these professions united in one person , and the study of books

and the art of wri ting them were pursued by all .

Having already described the rich metropolis and the city

of pleasure,we wi ll now

,with the aid of the m arabuts who

consecrated them selves to God , resusci tate that Holy City of

which the Tari/c proudly says,

‘Never has Tim buctoo been

sul l ied by the worship of idols nor by rendering homage to

any other dei ty than the merci ful God . It is the dwell ing-place

of wise m en,the servants of the Most High

,and the perpetual

habitation of saints and ascetics .’

The m arab uts, under the direction of the Sheik ul Islam

and the im ans , cal led the faithful to prayers, held publ ic read

ings of the sacred writings,and preach ed during the month of

Ram adan , the great Mussu lm an fast . Som e,l ike the recl uses

of the Theba’

id , withdrew from the world and fasted incessantly .

They passed enti re nights i n prayer in the mosque,and were

ful l of care and pity for orphans . Others—but let us rather

adm i re the perfect picture given in the original.

‘The very learned and pious shei k,Abou Abdallah

,had no

property , al l his goods went to succour th e poor and unhappy, and

he bo ught slaves that he m ight give them thei r l iberty.His

TH E U N I V E R S I T Y o r S A N K O R E 281

ho use had no door, everv one entered unannounced , and men

came to see him from al l parts and at al l hours,especially on

Sundays after the two o”clock prayer. Moors and Arabs flocked

to him in crowds as soon as they learned his v i rtues . ”

We might be reading the l ife of some Christian saint ; and

numerous m i racles are not lack ing to com plete the resemblance:

The following was accom plished by a marabut who lived some

where about the year 1330 : The faki r El Hadj , grandfather of

the Kadi Abderrahman,was l iving in Bankou when the k ing of

Mal i attacked that town . The people gath ered round him before

going to battle,and he instructed them to eat of a certain herb .

With the exception of one man,al l d id as they were d irected .

Then sai d El Hadj,

! Go forth to battle,and the arrows of the

enem y shall have no power to hurt you .

” They all returned safe

and victorious , with the exception of the m an who would not eat ,

and he had died in the contest . ” A no less extraordinarv incident

happened to th e great-great-grandfather of the celebrated writer

Ahm ed Baba . Being in Medina (Arabia) , he asked permission to

vi sit the tomb of the Prophet . This grace being denied to h im , he

sat down upon the thresho l d and recited the l itanies of God”s

elect . The doo r immediately opened of its own accord , and the

priests,am azed by th is marvel

,humil iated themselves before him

and kissed his hands .’

The life of Sidi Yaia,the patron of Timbuctoo, i s particularly

full of miracles . One dav , as he was hold ing an open-air reading

of the Koran,a cloud appeared overhead and rain fell . The rain

being followed by a clap of thunder,h is d isciples arose to seek

shelter. ‘Remain in your places,

” said Sid i Yaia , ‘ i t wi ll not

rain upon th is spot .” And thus it happened .

” The fo l lowing

anecdote i s equally rem arkable : His female slaves wished to

cook a fi sh,and for a whole dav they subm i tted it to th e action of


the fire without resul t . The women were astounded , but Sid i

Yaia,overbearing thei r talk , said to them , As I went to pray

in the mosque th i s morn ing my foot touched som eth ing moist ; i t

was probably your fish , for that wh ich my body has touched fi re

has no power to burn

Miracles being so plentiful,i t wi l l surpri se no one to learn

that th e m arabuts were on equally'

fam iliar terms w ith prophecies

and visions . The departure from Marrakesh of the Moorish army

which was to conquer the Sudan was announced on the same day

to the people of Timbuctoo by the fak ir Abderrahman .

After reciting the morning prayer,

” say s the Tarik,he invoked

the name of Allah three times , and said , This year thou shalt

hear many things, the l ik e of which thou hast never heard , and

thou shalt see many things,the l ik e of wh ich thou hast never

In the early part of Sid i Yaia”

s l i fe,Mahomet was wont to

appear to him every night , but as he grew older these visits became

less frequent,unti l finally the Prophet only appeared to him once

a year . ‘Vhen asked the reason of thi s remissness, Sid i Yaia

replied , ‘The only reason wh ich occurs to me is , that formerly I

paid no attention to trade,and now I devote a good deal of

tim e to i t . ” ‘But why do you do so ?” ‘ Because I have no

wish to be dependent on others,

” answered the saint.

Mohamm ed Neddo,who governed Timbuctoo in the name of

the Touaregs shortly before i ts conquest by Sunni Ali , was on

very intimate terms with Sid i Yaia. Towards the end of his life

i t was shown to Neddo in a dream that though the sun had set

the moon had not risen . This portentous vision was imparted to

his fri end , who said , ‘Art tho u afraid to learn the m eaning of

thi s dream I am not afraid,

” was th e reply . It signifies,then ,

that I shall d ie very soon, and that you wi l l d ie shortly after .

”



out of th e dust of those who slept there,m y servant and I sall ied

forth one m orning,with Winchesters d uly charged in readiness for

the Touaregs. Scarcely a dozen of these edicules are sti l l standing

under the sick ly shade cast bv a few of the consumptive trees of

the desert . We found an old man before one of them ,a marabut

of the present who had com e to visit h i s brothers of the past .

He had opened the door of one of the littl e chapels,and its

interior showed a smal l clay mound covered with pieces of a

coarse stuff. Sitting on the threshold,the old m an quavered a

few verses from the Koran .

It was the only sound we heard,and he was the only l iving

being we met in the white furnace of the sands,the vast fi eld

of death wh ich surrounds the city . At every step the foot knocked

against som e skul l , tibia, or even an entire skeleton , the remains

of bygone generations,and of corpses confided yesterday to the

inconstant sands, and disinterred to-day by the wi ld beasts of

the desert . The sternness and steril ity of th e desert , and the

THE TOMBS SURROUND I NG TI M BUCTOO

accumulated death encircl ing me, recalled the vi sion of the Valleyof Jehoshaphat spreading before the walls of Jerusalem the Holy

,

whose so i l , l ike this, produces only an efflorescence of death .


The m arabuts, who devoted themselves to the study of law,administered j ustice accord ing to the precepts of the Koran and

the decisions contained in the most im portant works of the

Arabian j urists . They also m ade i nventories of property, deter

m ining its succession , and generally fi l l ing the position of lawyer .

The scholars of Timbuctoo yielded in nothing to the saints

and thei r miracles . During their soj ourns in the foreign uni

versities of Fez,Tunis

,and Cairo

,

‘ they astounded the most

learned men of Islam by thei r erud ition . That these negroes

were on a level with the Arabian savants i s proved by the fact

that they were installed as professors in Morocco and Egypt . In

contras t to th is we find that the Arabs were not always equal to

the requ irements of Sankore.

‘A celebrated j urist of Hedjaz

(Arabia ), arriv ing in Timbuctoo with the intention of teaching,found the town ful l of Sudanese scholars . Observing them to be

his superiors in knowledge,he withdrew to Fez

,where he suc

ceeded in obtaining employm ent . ”

The profession of teach ing was absolutely free, its only qualifi

cation consisting of a suffi ciently large audience. If one may

bel ieve thei r biograph ies , these masters were of rare m erit, full

of k indl iness and goodwil l toward s thei r pupils, and keenly alive

to the responsibil i ties of thei r position . They would refuse the

exalted and lucrative post of iman in order to continue thei r

profession . One of them ‘multipl ied obstacles to avoid being

made Grand Kad i . ”

The following is a descrip tion of the dai ly occupation s of

Mohammed ben Abou Bakr,one of the most respected scholars

of his day : He gave lectures on different subj ects from early

morning unti l ten o ”clock . After returning hom e for prayer he

went to the kad i to settle the affairs of his cl ients and act as

m ed iator between di sputants .”

He recited the midday prayer in


publi c,and taught i n h is own house until th ree o”clock he then

said the prayer of asr, and went out to teach in a different

place unti l d usk , and after sunset he gave a final lecture in th e

mosque . ”

Here i s the portrait of a (professor of whom it was written,

TOMB SA I NT

‘The Sudan did not possess another as learned and pious . ” He

was endowed with every imaginable gift, and was, in fact, none

other than Sid i Yaia h im self,the patron of Tim buctoo ; and we

shal l see him under the triple aspect of saint,kadi

,and scholar

‘He was gifted with a calm intelligence which was only

equalled by his infallible memory . His science was universal ,hi s whole personality commanded respect and obedience

,and

many men owned no other rule of conduc t than the precepts

which fell from his l ips . People came in crowds to ask his

blessing,bringing with them gifts of considerable value . He

received al l these visitors with great m odesty, and invariablygave thei r presents away to others . On being elected kadi he

abolished many of the abuses and corrupt practices of the tribunal ,and was a model of equity in the eyes of all true bel ievers . The



sciences were represented by books on astronomy and medi cine.

In short,the l ibrari es of Timbuctoo m ay be said to have included

alm ost th e whole of Arabian l iterature.

Amongst other trades,the city made a special ity of manu

scripts . ‘Books sel l very wel l there,

” said Leon the African ,‘ and a greater profit i s to be made out of them than out of anv

other merchandise . The lear ned doctors were,to use an expres

sion which may appear strange when appl ied to negroes, biblio

phi les. In the best sense of the word , be it understood they had

no mania for collecting uncut books and bindings , but were true

lovers of books . We see them ‘ search ing with a real passion for

volum es they d id not possess ,” and making copies when they were

too poor to buy what they wanted . They would in th is manner

co l lect from seven h undred to two thousand vol um es ; and in

marked contrast to the miserly book-lovers of our day,these

bibl iophi les experienced a real joy i n sharing thei r most precious

manuscripts w ith others . Abou Bakr loved the friends of science,and paid them every sort of attention . He would lend them his

most cheri shed books and never ask for th em back again,however

rare they might be . He lavished hi s entire l ibrary in th is manner

(may Allah reward him the student who came to h is door to

borrow was never denied,and this i s the more remarkable

,as

he was passionately devoted to books,and would only obtain

his reward in heaven .

”

The l ibraries of Tim buctoo were sadly reduced by the pillage

of the Foulbes and Toucouleurs . At the present time the mara

buts and kadis are best provided,but every wealthv inhabitant

prides h imself upon the possession of a few books . He does not

often read them , it i s true, but he l ikes to show them ,wh ich

, to

him,i s almost as good .

In spite of this I found i t very difficult to procure any books

T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F S A N K O R E 289

in the early part of my stay . They were afraid I should practi se

the nefariou s customs of the Toucouleurs and Foulbes . After I

had gained some cred it among them,a few sol itary pages were

lent to me, and when th ey saw that I treated them tenderly and

faithful ly returned them , they decid ed to trust me with whole

volumes . I never succeeded in inducing any of them to sel l me a

book , however m uch I offered for it, and had to conten t myself

with copying al l that seemed interesting to me . One man told

me the h isto ry of a unique volum e wh i ch he had parted with to

a merchant from the south,and had regretted ever since . He had

received forty gros of go ld for i t,which

,at the rate of ten francs a

gros,represents a respectable sum for a book

,even in France .

From the masters we wil l turn to the pupils . These fl ocked to

the ci ty from all s ides , from the desert, Morocco , and al l parts o f

the Sudan . Jenne and the secondary intel lectual ci rcles,such as

Tind irma,Dia

,Sa , Korienza, etc. , served as preparatory schools

for Timbuctoo . The sons of the Songhoi kings qu itted the palaces

of Gao,and th e ch ildren of the Touaregs deserted their great tents

to receive an education at the Un iversitv of Sanko re. The Tarik

mentions th i s interesting fac t : ‘One of the Askia,Mohamm ed

Bankouri, collected an arm y with which to dispute the supreme

power with a k ing proclaim ed at Gao . Pausing at Timbuctoo,and hav ing conversed with the Grand Kadi , he requested him to

write a letter to h i s rival,saying that he , Bankouri, renounced

the throne that he m ight follow the l i fe o f a student in th i s ci ty

of books . ” Side by side wi th princes and sons of Ch ieftains

cam e poor wretches,eager for knowledge, who were supported by

the d ignitaries o f the town,and by those merchants who l iked to

play the mile of Maecenas .

The student or Taliba arrives armed wi th the groundwork of


instructio n ; some small m arabut of his native country having

taught him to read and write . It i s a picture one constantly sees

in the Sudan . In the shade before the schoolmaster” s house, a

collection of ch ildren are gathered together in the coolest corner.

Arranged in ci rcles and si tting on their heels, they repeat verses of

the Koran in chorus,following the inflections, marking the pauses ,

A SCHOOL A l J ENNE

and im itating the tone indicated to them . They learn to form

the Arabic characters by copying a page of the holy book on the

wooden tablets which tak e the place of the too costly paper. From

tim e to time the tablet i s washed and set in ‘ the sun to dry, after

wh ich it i s again ready for use .

Reading and wri ting being accompl ished,the master del ivers

a grammatical and exegetical explanation of the text . He either

takes the words one by one, or grouped in sentences, and dis

courses on the rules of syntax , explains the m eaning of the



passage,and a dds some religiou s or h istorical reflections . When

the entire Koran has been gone through , the parents, who have

offered weekly presents of cowries or in k ind , make a final and

m ore extensive present to the professor, and invi te h im to a l ittl e

fete given to thei r friends and acquaintances .

The young m an i s now prepared for the reading of works of

greater im portance of another k ind . I say ‘reading ’ designedly,

for Arabian instructions consist less of lessons ex professo than

of th e explanation of books .

Thus prepared,the Taliba sets out for Timbuctoo, and there

he usually studies under several m asters, each of whom makes a

special ity of elucidating some particular work . He goes from

one to another,accord ing to thei r m erits or the dictates of hi s

own fancy . The lessons are given under th e arcades of the mosque

of Sankore, or in the court or gardens of the teacher”s house .

The branches of instruction were m any and various . The

theologians commented upon and analysed the great sacred

books,and taught rhetori c

,logic

,eloquence

,and d iction in order

to prepare the student to spread abroad the words of God and

maintain controvers ies . The j urist expounded the law according

to the Malakite dogmas , and th e styl ists taugh t the art of writing‘ in ornam ental term s . Others professed grammar, prosody, philo

logy, astronomy , and ethnography ; and others again were ‘verv

versed in the trad itions,biograph ies

,annals

,and h istories of man

kind .

” Mathematics do not appear to have formed a special

course ; and as for medicine, the grossest empirici sm was mingled

with the hygieni c principles of th e therapeutic Arab . A certain

shei k is shown curing a toothache ‘with a l ittl e earth from his

garden ,” and , worse than that, ‘ a great personage having been

attacked by leprosy,doctors came from al l parts of Africa to pre

scribe for him . One of them said , ! He can onlv be cured by


eating the heart of a young man . The emir instantly ordere d

one to be killed , but it did no good , and the great personage died

of h is disease . ”

These stud ies were exceed ingly long. We were three years

over the explanation of the Teshil of the Iman Malek before we

acquired a thorough mastery of the subtleti es of the Arabian

language,” says a writer of Tim buctoo . Physical education, on


the other hand , was grossly neglected . Even in the time of Sunni

Al i the children were forbidden to play or practise bodily exerci ses .

When the learned men , pursued by the tyrant, were obl iged to

qu it Timbuctoo,

‘ they did not know how to mount a cam el,and

fell miserably to the ground .

”

The students , having completed thei r ed ucation, receive a

diplom a or l icence to teach . They are now m arabuts in thei r

turn,and all the l iberal careers of the Sudan are open to them .

They can enter the mosques and becom e imans or preachers

in some smal l town,or they can aspire to the position of kadi

,or

assistant-kadi,in their own country . Some adopt the careers

of thei r m asters and found fresh famili es of sheiks .

Rich merchants often take one of these young men into thei r

household,where he plays a part analogous to that formerly

o ccupied by the chaplain in European families . He occupies

h im self with the ed ucation of the ch i ldren , reads aloud to the

head of the fami ly,and writes hi s l etters . He also gives h i s

opinion on matters of hygiene and moral ity, superintends the

merchant”s chariti es,and tell s h im amusing stories . Other Talibas

gain a l ivel ihood by giving lessons in the Arabian language and

writing to the negro strangers passing through Tim buctoo . A

great number fi l l the office of publ ic scribe, and undertake the

correspondence of different merchants ; they al so copy books, for

which they are paid from fi fteen to one hundred francs,acco rding

to the im portanceof the work .

Thieves and hypocrites may also be counted among thei r

numbers . These exploit the credulous and cultivate superstition

am ong the people, red ucing Islamism to the level of the fetich

worship and the practice of m agic,brought from Egypt by the

ancestors of the Songho is . They wil l prepare noxious potions for

a consideration, and hold som nam buli s ti c consultations . They fore


CHA PT E R ! IV

POL ITICS A ND L ITE RATURE

NOT content with being priests,magistrates

,and scholars the

m arabuts further extended thei r influ ence over the dom ains of

pol itics and l iterature .

We have shown great and smal l hasten ing to the dwellings

of these learned men to seek counsel and consolation from thei r

holiness and wisdom , and in th i s manner the m arabuts accustomed

themselves to giving advice w ithout always waiting to be asked

for i t . These pious and wise men remonstrated,sometimes

severely,with people of al l classes

,even princes . ” Kad i El Akib,

for exam ple,possessed a m ixture of fi rmness and independence

wh ich raised h im above al l prej udices ; he expressed his opinion

to the sultan with the same frankness he employed to his hum blest

s ubj ect . When h e observed anything in h i s sovereign”s conduct

that was reproved by the Law of th e Prophet ” (nota bene, i t i s

always possible to find a text in the Law of the Prophet which

wi ll command or forbid anything, no matter what) ,‘ he would

resign h is post and retire to h is house . ” Thus the m arabuts

glided into the dangerous path of politics .

Their i ntrusion into the pol itical world soon led to their being

regarded wi th grave suspicion, and finally caused thei r fall . As

we have seen, the sold ierly fist of Sunni Ali weighed heavi ly upon

those who opposed him .


The m arabuts regained thei r lost ground, however, under the

A skias .The founder of the dynasty, whether from conviction or

expediency,showed himself their ardent and unti ring friend ,

and we have seen them lend ing devoted support to the u surper

in return,and legitim ising with sacred texts h is assumption of the

throne.They were kept constantly about h is person , and he

consulted them in everything, even ask ing their advice in matters

of war . He appealed to them in al l legal affairs, and treated them ,

i n short,as h i s ministers . A pamphlet of the peri od , found in a

l ibrary at Timbuctoo,describes the part played by the m arabuts .

Its author i s not a Sudanese, but i s one of those Arabian doctors

who travelled about the Sudan in the reign of the famous monarch ,and whose description i s unfortunately stil l wanting . The very

original character of El Mouche’

ili may serve to fi l l the blank,

perhaps .

Born in Tlemcen in Algeria, he combined a remarkable intel

ligence,” says h is biographer

,

‘ with a passion for study,and was

di stingu ish ed as much by h is p iety as h i s erudition .

” Of a bold

and enterprising disposition , and fil led with zeal for the Koran , he

devoted all h is knowledge and energies to the cause of fanatic ism .

Having gained considerable influence with the Assembly of Notables

during hi s soj ourn in the confederation of Tuat,he urged them to

a persecution of the Jews . Not content with degrading and

depriv ing these people of thei r priv i leges,he incited the populace

to massacre them and destroy thei r synagogues . The Grand Kad i

of the Republ ic highly disapproved of this violence, and the

ulem as of Fez,Tunis, and Tlemcen were consulted on the question .

Two of them defended El Moucheili, and one of them drew up a

long m em orial on the leg itimacy of intolerance, addressm g the

hero of Tuat in the following words : All honour to our brother

the zealous doctor,who alone had courage in these tim es of cor


300'

T I M B U C T O O

exercised over the Sudan (he i s sti ll an authority there) leads

us to a subj ect upon which h itherto we have not had occasion to

touch , but which , nevertheless, i s of considerable importance, viz .

the psychology of the Mussulman negro :The character of the Sudanese in general , and the Songhoi i n

particular, i s essential ly based upon a foundation of goodness and

docil ity,and they lack th e elem ents necessary to pro

duce th e savage sectarian so com mon to the north of

Asia . The Sudanese generally adopted

THE GRAND MOSQUE OF T I MBUCTOO

the rel igion of Mahom et out of pure snobbishness,because thei r

conquerors professed it, and i t reflected som e prestige upon them

and gave them a claim to consideration . Once under European

rule , therefore, there would be no impediment to thei r conversion

to Christianity . Left to themselves , they form the type of the

tolerant Mussulman . Five centuries after the introduction of

Islamism into the Sudan we sti ll find the fetichist”s tem ple standing

side b y s ide with the m osque,even in great centres l ike Jenne

,

where the i dolatrous altars were not destroyed unti l 1 475 .Among

P O L I T I C S A N D L I T E R A T U R E 301

the num erous biographies of the saints I have never seen the

intolerance of these pious ind iv idual s boasted of nor even men

tioned . In a general way, the tepid fervour of the populace i s

tainted by the naive sceptici sm d isplayed by Sunni Al i in th e

very typical incidents I have already described . They seldom

observe the fast of Ram adan in all its rigour, and I have m entioned

the consum ption of intoxicating l iquids once or twice before .

Circumcision and the daily prayers constitute, in fact, thei r

pri ncipal Observances of the Mohammedan rel igion .

Contemporary h isto ry of the Sudan has, however, revealed

frequent fanatica l explosions and numerous holy wars . The

curious biography of El Mouche'

ili has d isclosed one of the causes

of these d isturbances, namely , the influence of the Arabian Mus

sulm an, which at the present moment principally makes itself felt

by the propaganda of the sect of the Snoussi . Another fruitful

cause is to be found in the pilgrim ages to Mecca . It is , there

fore, through d irect, or ind irect, contact with the foreign Mus

sulm an of th e wh ite races that the Sudanese i s transformed into

a sectarian , and it i s from this contact that we must preserve

him in o rd er to maintain peace in the Nigerian countries .

Finally,and most characteri stically, i t i s not the pure-bred negro

among the populations of the Sudan who allows himself to be led

into holy wars,but i t i s those people in whose veins the blood of

the wh ite races flows,the Foulbes of Berber origin , and the Tou

couleurs,who are a mixture of the Foulbe and the negro of Mal i .

Am ong the Sudanese m arabuts noted as the m in isters of Askia

the Great, Moham an Koti , or Koutou , deserves special notice .

With him we shal l have occasien to speak of the l iterary produc

tions of the Sudan,for among the Nigerian writers worthy of

attention h e i s the fi rst in date .


According to som e he was a Malinka, according to others a

Songhoi born at Karam iou . His education , begun at Tindirma,was completed at Tim buctoo, and he became the most esteemed

and even tyrannical counsel lor of the great k ing . His authority

originated in the following manner . Askia one day distributed

some dried dates among his retinue, and Koti, newly arrived at

the court,was somehow overlooked . Shortly afterwards the

learned doctor assem bled his pupils and dispensed fresh dates

am ong them . This miracle—for the Sudan does not produce

dates—having reached the ears of the k ing,he immediately di s

cerned that Koti was marked with the d ivine seal . From that

moment Askia gave him all hi s confidence, and bestowed so much

wealth upon him that he was free to devote h imself entirely to

l iterature.

The Sudanese doctors were enabled to add the works of their

own authors to the books of Bagdad , Cai ro, and Grenada, which

formed the foundations of their l ibraries . These writings were

almost invariably of a seriou s k ind,scholastic and j udicial treati ses

,

and the greater part of their productions are enti rely without

interest to us . A fraction of it, on the other hand , i s of the

h ighest im portance,and contains those h istorical works which shed

so m uch l ight upon the obscu re past of these vast regions .

Under the title of the Fatassi, Koti edited a h istory of the

kingdom s of Ganata, Songhoi, and Timbuctoo, from their origins

to the yea r 1 554 (950 of the Hegira) . In spite of the most per

s istent research , I have not been able to procure more than

fragm ents of this important work . Every one knows al l about it,but no one possesses i t ; it i s the phantom book of the Sudan .

Koti was born in 1 460, and as he su rvived Askia the Great

by fourteen years , and was connected with all the publ ic affai rs,h is account of th is bri ll iant epoch of the Sudan would be of



the Fatassz'

. Shortly afterwards the k ing sent a troop of soldiers

to dig up the mound and d i scover its precious treasure ; but as

th ey were returning to Ham adallai the bearer of the priceless

volume capsized h i s canoe,and the book was lost to the worl d

for ever. ”

IVe have seen that, in order to l egitim i se his holy war and h is

conquests, Cheikou Ahmadou gave h imself out to be the twelfth

Khal if, and rested the pretension upon an obvious fabrication pro

fessing to be taken from the Fa tassi . Is i t not l ikely that the

Foulbes organised the persecution of the book with the intention

of destroying the proofs of their k ing”s tri ck ery ?

The pol itical influence of the m arabuts steadily increased under

the su ccessors of Ask ia the Great, and we have shown them

remonstrating with the unnatural sons of the unhappy old m an .

The turn taken by their authority is interesting and unexpected ,for i t represents what we to-day cal l publ ic opinion

,

” and we are

about to see the Songhoi k ings showing themselves singularly

susceptible to its influence.‘The k ing, Askia Moussa,

” relates the Tarik,‘ having been

defeated in the countri es of Lake Chad and obl iged to take to

fl ight wi th h is arm y, said to h is general issimo , In spite of al l the

anguish of defeat, i t i s less painful to m e to endure than i s the

thought of what will pass in Timbuctoo when the news of my

disaster reaches there . The agitators w ill gather together beh ind

the m osque of Sankore and say,Young men

,have you heard

what is passing in Kanta ? The k ing has been forced to fly lest

he and his arm y should perish . They whom he has fought would

annih ilate him —I can hear them as plainly as though I wereas !there.

Other anecdotes show us the m arabuts treating the royal


authority with a freedom which savours of insolence . The

sovereigns,on the other hand , di splay a great lack of spirit, and by

the sixteenth century the pious scholars have become a political ly

dangerous and turbulent element .

It was thi s wh ich brought upon them the Moorish exile ; thei r

BEH I ND THE MOSQUE OF SANKORE

conquerors, although Mussulmans, soon saw that the m osque con

stituted their sole danger . It was undoubtedly at the instigation

of the m arabuts that Tim buctoo revolted against the foreign

garrison,and the pasha Mahmoud employed a sold ier”s method

(that is to say, a radical one) of quelling these priests . He arrested

a great number of them,with their fam i l ies

,and despoiled them or

thei r wealth,which had become considerable . A certain propor

Z


tion were massacred,and the rest

,after five months” imprisonment

,

were exiled to Morocco

Their misfortunes surpassed those endured by thei r ancestors

under Sunni Ali,for they were dragged in chains through the

desert and incarcerated at Marrakesh . Though they had abused

their power in the days of prosperity, they d id not succumb to

the blows of adversity. So far from hum il iating themselves before

their merci less conquerors , the firm and haughty dem eanourl

they

maintained excites our admiration . One of them,finding death to

be near,charged h is com panions to del iver a sealed letter to the

sultan,which contained these words : Thou art the oppressor and

I am the oppressed,but Oppressor and oppressed al ike shall stand

before the Eternal Judge . ”

However regrettable this exi le may be from its consequences

to the Sudan , it does not lack great h istorical i nterest . It is the

to uchstone wh ich enables us to test the eulogies concerning

Sudanese science and learn ing contained in the native documents,

for we now see the scholars of Sankore confronted by the highest

developments of Arabian civil isation . How will they stand the

ordeal ? The test proves entirely to their advantage .

Among the ex iles was a learned doctor,Ahm ed Baba by name

,

born in 1 556 at Arawan , of Senhadj an1 Berber parentage

.In

spite of his youth , he enj oyed a considerable reputation in Tim

buctoo at the tim e of the Moorish conquest,and h is brethren

gave him the title of The Unique Pearl of h is Time. ” His renown

increased in Morocco and becam e universal,spreading from Marra

kesh to Bougie, Tunis, and even to Tripol i . The Arabs of the

north cal led th is negro very learned and very magnan im ous,

” and

his gaolers found him ‘ a fount of erudition .

” At the request of

1 This tribe of Senhadj a spread very freely over the south -west of A frica, and it i sfrom them that Senegal takes its nam e.



the sultan,and since you were one of the most d istingu ished

representati ves of Islam in your country, we expected your sub

mission to be followed by that of your fellow-citizens . ” If that

i s so,why did you n ot seek to establ ish th is unity amongst the

Turks of Tlemcen and other places nearer to you ? ” ! Because

th e Prophet says,Leave the Turks in peace so long as they do not

interfere with thee . ” That was true at one tim e,

” responded

Ahmed Baba, ! but since then Iba Abbas has said,Leave not

the Turks in peace even though they should not interfere with

thee.” El Mansour, being unable to reply to th is, put an end

to the audience .”

Although apparently free,Ahmed Baba was detained in

Morocco for twelve years ; the sultan had only released him on

that condition,fearing the effect of h is influence on his fellow

citizens. It was not unti l after the death of El Mansour that

perm ission was obtained from his son for the learned man to return

to the Sudan . Ahm ed Baba then set out for the country to

which he had so ardently desired to return,and of wh ich he

never spoke without tears i n hi s eyes . The following verses were

written by him in his exile‘O thou who goest to Gao

,turn aside from thy path to breathe

m y nam e in Tim buctoo . Bear thither the greeting of an exile

who sighs for the soi l on which his friends and fam i ly reside .

Console m y near and dear ones for the deaths of their lords, who

have been entombed .

”

The principal m arabuts of Marrakesh formed him a guard of

honour at his depar ture, and , at the m oment of farewell,one of

them seized Ahm ed Baba by the hand and saluted him wi th the

following sfira from the ho ly book : ‘ Certainly he who has made

the Koran for thee shal l lead thee back to thy point of departure ”

—a customary address to a traveller in wishing h im a safe return .


On hearing these words, the shei k abruptly withdrew his hand ,exclaim ing, ‘May God never bring me back to this meeting

,nor

make me return to this country

He reach Timbuctoo in safety,and died in A m an

of great learning and a prol ific writer,the names of twenty of hi s

books have been handed down to us. Except for an astronom ical

treatise, written in verse, and some comm entaries on the holy texts .

hi s books are ch iefly elucidations of the lawand the sciences be pro

fessed , and prove that he was above everyth ing a j urist . Two of

hi s works alone possess general interest ; they have been preserved ,happily, and I was enabled to bring copies of them away with m e.

One i s entitled the ill im z . and is a l ittle book upon the different

negraic peoples, written by Ahmed Baba in exi le,with a V iew to

making the Sudanese populations known to the Moors . The

other is E l Ibtihaelj , a large biograph ical d ictionary of the Mussul

man doctors of the Malekite sect ; i n it Ahmed Baba carried on

the famous work of Ibn Ferhoun , and m ade i t a continuation of

the latter”s D ibacgj e. The learn ed biographer added to i t the l i ves

of al l the scholars whom Ibn Ferhoun had not m entioned . Ahmed

Baba completed his book in 1596, and it had such a great success

in both northern and negraic Africa that the author was obliged

to publ ish a popular ed ition containing the principal biograph ies

only .

2

It i s partly owing to the I btz'

harfj that i t has been possibl e to

reconstruct the intel lectual past of Tim buctoo,and for this reason

the name of Ahm ed Baba deserves to be held in pious mem ory by

our savants, as it i s by those of the Arabian countries of Northern

1 He was buried beside his father, S id i Ahm ed,whose tom b is stil l to be seen to

the north ofTim buctoo .

2 A copy of th is book is to be found am ong the m anuscripts of the Bibl iothequeNationale, Fonds Orscela, No . 4628. It was found in A lgeria by M . Cherbonneau,

who has pub l ished som e very interesting extracts .


Africa. To this day his name represents to the latter every effort

m ade by the Sudan to attain the intel lectual level of the Mussul

man world ; so much so, in fact, that any Sudanese work of

unknown parentage is attributed to him .

The fam i ly of Ahmed Baba i s not yet extinct, and I found

some of his descendants l iving near the mosque of Sankore in a

house of considerable size,which had been

,I was told , the home of

their ancestor. One of h is great-great-grandch ildren , Ahm adou

Baba Boubakar,i s kadi

,and enj oys a considerable reputation for

learning ; the other, Oumaro Baba, l ives by making copies of

books,which he executes i n a very beautiful handwriting. The

fam ily religiously preserve a chair wh ich had belonged to their

glorious progenitor,to whom it had been presented by his

l iberator, the Sultan El Zidan . A curi ous fam ily trad ition i s con

nected with th is venerated piece of furn iture . On the occasion

of the marriage of a member of the family,the bridegroom is

permitted to seat him self in thi s chair on the day of hi s nuptial s .

It is hoped, they told me, that some of the great qualities of

the i llustriou s sheik will fall upon the husband and his de

scendants.

That sixteenth century,which we saw end so d isastrously for

the m arabuts,form ed the apogee of Timbuctoo”s scientific and

l iterary grandeur. The wholesale arrest and exportation of her

scholars proved a fatal blow to the un iversity of Sankore. The

decl ine of learning, as of everything else, set in w ith the Moorish

occupation , and yet the greatest work of all the l iterature of the

Sudan was produced in the first days of its twilight,nam ely

,

that Tariff é Soudan (the History of the Sudan) which we have

so often had occasion to mention .

The Oriental ists have long been on the watch for th is precious

book , whose existence had been signalled to them from Tripol i ,



Algeria,and Mo rocco

,and which had been unanim ously attributed

to Ahm ed Baba .

The explo rer Barth , who was the fi rst to reveal some of its

fragments,confirmed tnis error. How could a man so

'

wel l in

formed on Arabian subj ects be so completely deceived ? The very

extracts collected by h im refute th is paternity,for they citeAhmed

Baba as an authority . But the learned German is not to be

embarrassed by such a trifle . ‘ It i s the custom of these Arabs,”

he observes , to quote themsel ves .”

If he had read the entire book with more attention , he would

have seen that the date— year, month , and day— ofAhm ed Baba”s

death i s m entioned by the author, and that elsewhere he gives a

very circum stantial account of h im self and h is belongings . His

nam e is Abderrahman (ben Abdallah , ben Amran , ben Amar) Sadi

cl Tim bucti, and he was born at Timbuctoo (the‘ obj ect of

his of one of those famil ies in wh ich science and piety

are transmitted as a patrim ony. In m entioning the death of an

i llustrious professor,he observes that he

,Abderrahman

,was hi s

pupil ; and from th is we may gather that h is youth was spent in

study . He arrived at the age of manhood somewhere between

1625 and 1 635, at a tim e when the power of the pashas of

Timbuctoo was on the wane . The Moors had interm arried with

the native populations and,instead of persecuting the sheiks as

formerly, they protected them , and made use of them when . they

were in need of intell igent and devoted men . We can see with

what consideration a learned man l ik e Abderrahman Sad i was

treated ; and the account of h is j ourney to Massina and the regions

of the Upper Niger shows the high reputation he enj oyed,not only

in Tim buctoo , but in all the countries which shared the intellectual

l ife of that ci ty . Wherever he went h e was received with j oy,covered with marks of respect

,and overwhelmed with presents .


In 1631 he was nominated iman of the mosque of Jenne .

Deprived later of the honour by the kad i of the town,

‘ a m an

who rej oiced in exactions and inj u sti ce,

”

he returned to Tim buctoo,where society consoled h im for his m ortification by the most heart

felt marks of sym pathy. He relates that when he visited the

kad i of th is city, he arose from his seat as soon as he saw me,and , tak ing m e by the hand

,be seated me upon the chair he had

j ust vacated .

”

Abderrahman Sad i l ived sometimes at Tim buctoo and som e

times at Jenne,being employed on negotiations and m issions by

the pashas,and engaged as secretary to one of thei r num ber . He

also occupied his time in giving lectures and holding conferences ,and , above all , he undertook the great h istori ca l work which

embraced al l the countries of the Niger . Thanks to his voyag es,his official functions

,and h is pe rsonal position , he had access to

all exi sting documents,so many of which have disappeared in the

to i l and tum ults of centuries . This work , to which he consecrated

the last years of h is l ife,i s i nestim ably precious .

The Tarik é S oudun i s concei ved upon a perfectly clear and

logical plan,accord ing to the most correct rules of l iterary composi

tion . Nothing i s lack ing,not even a preface, which I wi ll quote

because i t shows,am ong o ther things , the very clear, perhaps exag

gerated,estim ate the author had of the decadence of the empire

Praise be to God whom the weight of a pearl upon the earth

does not escape . May prayer and salvation be w ith the Master

of the fi rst and last,our Lord Mohammed . We know that our

ancestors took pleasure in mentioning the companions of the

Prophet and the saints,the sheiks and em inent k ings of thei r

country , with thei r l ives, thei r ed ifices, and the great events of thei r

reigns . They have to ld u s all that they have seen , or h eard , of

th e tim es extending beh ind us .


‘As for the present time,no one i s to be found to take an

interest in these th ings or follow the path traced by their

ancestors . Witnessing the decl ine of th is sci ence (history) , so

precious on account of the instruction it offers to mankind , I have

im plored the assi stance of God in writing down all that I have

read,seen

,or heard concern ing the k ings of the Sudan and the

Songhoi people, and in relating their h istory and the events con

nected with their expeditions of war . I shal l speak of Timbuctoo

and of its foundation,of the princes who have wielded the power

of that city,I shall men tion the learned and pious men who dwelt

therein, and I shal l continue thi s h istory to the close of the

dom in ion of the sultan s of Morocco .

”

After th is prelude he opens h is h i story at the earl iest date

known to him , and notices th e origin of the Songho i kingdom ,

the founding of Jenne and Timbuctoo,and of the empires of

Ganata and Mali . He rapidly and clearly familiarises the reader

with the principal towns and peoples wh ich are to figure in h i s

narrative,and he enters ful ly into h is subj ect with Sunn i Al i .

We are taken as far as th e year 1653, and given an excel lent

idea of Foulbes, Touaregs , Mossi , and Ouolofs by the way . He

di lates upon Morocco and the kingdom of Massina,adds a series

of biographies of saints and scholars,and appends h is own curri

eulam vitaz .

He does not consider h is work ended with the tas k he set

himself to do, however, and the historian takes up the pen of

the annali st. ‘What shal l happen hereafter I wil l relate in the

same manner as that which is past,for as long as I shall be

al ive,” says the last page of the Tarik . An append ix enumerates

all the events unti l 1656, which we m ay take to have been the

year of h is death .

Such is the plan of the im portant work wh ich served as my



for fables,m arvels

,and miracles are agreeably intermingled

with real events .

I wil l remark further that the Tarik i s to th is day the

Hoz ier of the Sudan . In addition to the attractions to be

found in its pages,it contains a charm which entirely escapes

the Sudanese, and which we alone are privileged to taste, v iz .

the na‘

ivete, good-nature, and del icious sincerity wh ich pervade

the book . Like Homer, Abderrahman sometim es wanders astray,pen in hand . Side by side with the gravest events he mentions

that ‘ a white crow appeared from the 22nd of Rebia to the

28th of Dj oum ada,on wh ich day the ch ildren caught and ki ll ed

i t . ” Elsewhere in the narratives of h i s vovage to Massina, one

of his hosts gave h im his daughter in marriage. He was fi fty

years of age at”

the time,and in possession of several other

wives . Not content with im parting the event to posterity, he

adds , My union with Fatima was concl uded on the twelfth day

of MOharrem , but the marriage was not consummated

unti l Friday the si xteenth .

” I beli eve h e would have given us

his washing-bi lls i f the use of body l inen had been familiar

to the Sudanese. His book adm i rably reflects the l ife and mind

of the Sudan of yesterday . One enj oys from its pages the

delicate repasts offered by Homer,Herodotu s

,and Froissard,

and it i s for th is reason I have called the Tarik the chr‘

ffi f eeuvre

of Sudanese l iterature .

I found and brought away from Timbuctoo other h istorical

works composed at later date, upon the model of the Tarik .

One of them i s called the Diwan el Moulouk, fa

”

Salatin es

Sudan (Divan of Kings , a book on the Sultans of the Sudan) ,and narrates the events occurring between 1656 and 1 747 ; the

nam e of the author i s unknown . Another book,on the con

trary, has no title, but is known to us by the nam e of its

P O L I T I C S A N D L I T E R A TU R E 317

author, Mouley Rhassoun . He resumes the Diwan from the

last date given in its pages and carries i t up to the year 1769,so that we are wel l instructed up to the beginning of the nine

teenth century . Other documents

and oral trad itions permit us to

reconstruct the order of dates

SUDANESE SCENEA READ I NG I N THE STREET

and events,and

,in its broad outl ines at least, the whole of the

Sudanese past is known to us .

Although these two books are precious for their historical

value,they entirely lack the l iterary merits which charm us in


the Tarik . Intel lectual decadence has m ade rapid strides since

the eighteenth century,and the author of the Diwan states in

h is fi rst pages‘The men of my generation have arrived at the point where

thei r intellects possess noth ing . As for the old m en,those who

know the deeds of their ancestors are few and far between , and

those possessing any intel l igence at al l are equally raref When

I question them concerning what i s passing in the town, they

are incapable of making a response of any interest .”

His narrativei

reveals th e fact that he h imself was betrayed

into the errors he deplores. His style i s ful l of faults , the pages

are encumbered with repetitions,and the interest of the narrative

gradually decl ines . The work of Mouley Rhassoun i s sti l l more

feeble,consisting entirely of dry records and obituary notices .

‘Why did they no t write more books and abandon records ?”

was the question I asked the m arabuts at Timbuctoo .

‘We

have no men among us clever enough to do so,

” they answered .

‘Nor can we devote ourselves excl usively to science ; we cannot

buy books nor travel to complete ou r learning in Cairo,Fez

,

or elsewhere,for to-day we are the poorest people in the country .

Form erly the people noted the most uninteresting th ings ; they

counted the num ber of days on wh ich rain fel l in winter ; they

mentioned that such-and—such a person was going to marry so

and -so . For Ahm ed Baba had taught the im portance of the

Science of facts and dates . 1 When the town was rich and every

one sought to please the m arabuts, they were wel l clothed and

1 The fo l lowing encoun ter took p lace between the chief of chiefs Om ar and a

Jewwho brought h im a docum ent in wh ich the Prophet com m anded the exem ptionfrom taxation of the people of Khaibar (a Jewish town in Arabia) . Th is docum ent

was accom pan ied by the testim ony of the com pan ion s of the Prophet, Ali Ibn AbmThaleb am ong o thers . These docum ents were brough t to the chief of chiefs , andcaused great aston ishm en t to all people . They were shown to Aben Bekr, a pruden tm an and endowed With a wonderful m em ory. He reflected a m om ent, then said , All



horizon . The camels cease to grum ble, they roar ; and , as the

three m inarets grow clearer, Tim buctoo displays her m aj esti c

fo rm . Behold her gardens,her palm-trees, and her gleaming

waters ! The town i s three tim es as large as i t i s to-day, the

streets are fresh and blue under the shade of the great trees,and

they seethe with the l ife of i ts fifty thousand inhabitants .

In place of the sol itude, abandonment, and m i sery of to-day,

i t presents the traveller with a satiety of everything desirable .

With abundance of water and shade,i t represents the saving

help of the word of God , the charm of the word of man , the

wealth of gold and ivo ry, the sweetness of honey and a profusion

of sm i les . I have been told that men went temporarily mad

upon seeing it for the first tim e.

Can we not understand how it was that the men of Tripo li,

Tunis, Algeria, and Fez, having experienced its pleasures for one

day only,have celebrated the splendo urs of Timbuctoo to their

last hour, and how it was that thei r narratives, reaching Europe,gave birth to the legend of the fabulous ci ty ?

CHA PT E R ! V

E UROPE AN D TIMBUCTOO

A LL who have studied the remarkable geni us of Co lbert proclaim

his ideas to have been greatly in advance of h is century . It

wil l not surprise us, therefore, to find h is nam e am ong the first of

those who attempted to open the gates of Tim buctoo to Europe .

The great minister acquired a very clear apprehension of the

value of the Sudan from a report made by André Bruc,governor

of the African colonies, and he concei ved the notion of reach ing

Tim buctoo by way of Senegal . This plan , which recei ved the

approbation of Loui s x1v .,was preci sely that followed by Faid

herbe forty years ago,continued by Borgn is

-Desbordes and

Arch inard,and finally completed in the last days of 1894 .

We shal l see later o n how Lieutenant Boiteux took posses

sion of Tim buctoo in the name of France , and how the tricolour

was hoisted in th e town for the fi rst time by one of his sai lors .

Now, i f ever, we might say, It was written ,’ —for th e first European

to see Tim buctoo was al so a Frenchman and a sai lor, Paul Imbert,who was born on the sands of Olonne . I must add that h is

j ourney th ither was purely invol untary . He was shipwrecked on

the coast of Morocco,captured by the Arabs, and sold as a slave to

a Portuguese renegade in the service of the su ltan . His m aster,sent on a mission by the Moorish governm ent, took the old sai lor

with him to Tim buctoo in 1670 . Paul Imbert contri ved to send

2 A


news of his misfortunes to Europe, but d ied in captivi ty before it

was possible to effecth is release .

The third nam e connected with Timbuctoo i s that of Mungo

Park . Starting from Gambia, he succeeded in reach ing the Niger

at Segu,and was the fi rst European to see the great river of

Western Africa (17 He publi sh ed a most attractive account

of the Niger,which is doubled in value by the sol id information

of the writer. His book was the point of departure for numerous

explorations into th is portion of Africa i n the early part of th e

present centu ry,and is sti l l well worth reading. The Sudan is

shown at a relatively normal period , and the picture i s drawn by

an interesting and com petent pen .

The giant river exercised the same fascination upon Mungo

Park which was experienced by myself,and which I have attempted

to describe, and he soon returned to i t with the intention of

descending the river to its m outh He was accom panied

by forty Europeans—thirty-five Engl ish soldiers,four carpenters

,

and an artist named Scott . This l ittle troop,consi derably lessened

in number by fever,reached the Niger at Bam m aku . I found

very v ivid recollections of Mungo Park below thi s town . He

had been well provided with merchand ise,and had d isplayed a

generosity in dealing with the people wh ich had deeply im pressed

itself on thei r mem ories . They natural ly do not Speak of him by

his real nam e, which could have no mean ing for them ,and would

have been difficult to rem ember ; but l ike al l the early Europeans

who ventured into those parts,he was given a picturesque

sobriquet, and called Bonc'iba-tig ui ,‘the man with the large

beard ’ (l iterally : ba tig ui, owner bonoi , beard ; ba , large) .

The natives also spoke of him at Samba-Marcalla,a charming

l ittle town built under large and beautiful trees,upon the l eft

bank of the Niger, between Nyamina and Segu . The traveller



upon the Niger at Sansanding in a large, flat-bottom ed boat he

had had constructed ; and from there, ignorant of which of the

many possible routes he had taken to reach Tim buctoo , I found it

difficult to trace him .He was spoken of at Kabara, but he had

CROSS RA ISED TO ONE OF THE COM PAN IONS OF M UNGO PA RK

not been able to reach that port on account of the hosti lities of

the Touaregs,who attacked h im at Korioum a .

Mungo Park was therefo re obliged to turn his back upon

Timbuctoo, and Barth found traces of h im at Bam ba, Bou rroum ,

and Gao . The appearance of the white man with the great beard

and his large boat has becom e a l egend on the shores of the

Easter n Niger, and the end of the courageous explorer i s well

known . His boat was sm ashed upon the rocks of the Boussa

rapids, at a comparatively short d istance from the mouth of the

E U R O P E A N D T I M B U C T O O 325

Niger, an d the brave Scotsman and his four or five remaining

companions were drowned .

The soldiers and considerable sum s of money placed at Mungo

Park’s disposal prove how much the Nigerian countries interested

England at th is tim e . She made repeated efforts to penetrate

Western Africa between 1810 and 1825,the most remarkable

being conducted by Maj or Laing,aide—de-camp to the governor

of Sierra Leone. Thi s young officer also succeeded in making hi s

way to the Niger,reach ing i t at Falaba . He

,too

,was a Scots

man,as powerfully constituted and well- informed as his com

patriot, and was . looked upon by England as a second Mungo

Park . His government prov ided h im with large resources, and

the mission of attain ing Timbuctoo was confided to h im in

1825.

His first voyage having famil iarised him with the negraic

countries,Laing preferred to take the northern route in hi s

second,and traverse the Arabian and Berber countries . Starting

from Tripol i , he passed through Ghadames, Tuat , Oualata, and

Arawan,was attacked in the desert by the Touaregs, and reached

Timbuctoo in August 1 828.

I have collected fresh detai ls concerning his stay there and his

death . Although they are somewhat at variance with the

general ly accepted account, I do not hesitate to vouch for them ,

as they came from an excell ent source . They were communicated

to me by the most learned m an in Tim buctoo,the alam any, or

rel igious ch ief of the town,and grand im an of the great m osque of

Ghingaraber. He was an old man,bent with age and almost

bl ind,but of sti l l rel iable intel l igence and well versed in the

traditions of the town . He had obtained hi s facts from hi s uncle,Alpha Saidou

,who was grand kad i and j udge of Tim buctoo at the


tim e of the Scotsman’s stay there,and was therefore in a position

to be well informed .

Laing, who was known under the nam e of E l Rais, the ch ief

(gi ven him ,doubtless, on account of his rank as maj or) , presented

h imself as an envoy from the Engli sh government to the ch ief of

the town,Osman-Alcaidi ben A lcaidi Boubakar . According to

custom,the latter offered him one of his houses as a dwelling

,

which , thanks to the alam any, whose uncle Sai dou had also l i ved

in it,I was enabled to see . The fam ily being extinct in the di rect

l ine, the house became, accord ing to custom ,the property of the

ch ief of the town .

It is situated in a l ittle square near the great market and the

mosque of Ghingaraber, and i s surrounded by the usual shabby,

dilapidated houses and straw huts with straw enclosures . On

one side of the square an oblong m ound of masonry represents the

LA I NG’S HOUSE

tomb of some saint, or Oualiou . The house appears to have

been one story high , and of good size, but I found it in the

process of demol ition .

1 The facade was destroyed,and the fi rst

1 I procured from i ts destroyers a l ittle wooden Moorish window belonging to theupper story, in wh ich the travel ler l ived during h is stay. I brough t away the poorrel ic, wh ich is in every way worthy of a place in the Greenwich Hospital by the sideo f the m em entoes o f the Frank l in Po lar expedition .



one conspired against you,certainly I , or one of those who know

you,would warn you .

’

The people were afraid of Laing and h is notes and questions,and the surnam e of E l Rais doubtless added to thei r fears . The

unhappy man d id noth ing to offend or shock the inhabitants,

and no one had any reproach to bring against him,but all

unanim ously agreed that the suspicion of h is being a spy had

finally roused the hostil ity of th e people. This was evidently

the real cause of h is death , and not, as was supposed , the fact

of h is being a Christian .

Som e days before hi s departure Laing determined to visi t

Kabara,and persisted in rid ing there after nightfall, in spite of

the warnings of his host as to the insecurity of the road . This

last im prudence seems to have been decis ive . He i s undoubtedlya spy

,

’ thought the inhabitants, and , urged by the populace, the

notables of th e town planned the murder of the stranger . His

host, the ch ief of the town , was charged with hi s arrest . Being

asked by Laing (who had decided to return by Arawan ) to pro

cure h im a guide, Osman-A lcaidi sent for the chief of the Bera

bichs, a Moorish tribe encamped in the neighbourhood . To this

man , Sid i Mohammed Habeida (grandfather of the present ch ief) ,the A lcaidi confided the anxieti es of the town

,and requested

him to dispose of the European,body and goods .

The witnesses are unanim ously agreed ‘ upon th is point, the

Berab ichs did not k il l Laing upon thei r own in itiati ve, nor

because he was a Christian , but at the form al request of th e

chief of Tim buctoo . This new version i s evidently the true

one ; for if in certain cases interest m ay compel them to disguise

the truth , i t would clearly have been to the interest of the natives ,in this instance

,to put al l the responsibi l ity of the murder upon

the shoulders of the Berab ichs, and n ot charge them selves with i t .


Mohammed Habeida m ade no difficulty about accepting a

part which d id no violence to the pillaging instincts of hi s

tribe, and Laing left Timbuctoo under h is guidance . For two

days they travelled together towards Arawan,and th e unfor

tunate man was kil led at dawn on the th ird day .

La ing’s visit and the circumstances accompanying it are sti l l

v ividly impressed upon the m emori es of the inhabitants ; for, at

the instance of England I bel ieve, the Sultan of Morocco made

an inqu iry at Timbuctoo concerning his death . At that tim e

the authorities naturally did not care to assume the responsi

bility of the deed , and would certainly shift i t on to the backs

of the Berab ichs. In this way the version wh ich m ade Laing

a vi ctim of th e fanaticism of th e desert was accepted .

One of his last letters announced that he had collected

num erous manuscripts on the subj ect of Timbuctoo, and these

preciou s docum ents naturally occupied the mind of the sci enti sts

and explorers a good deal . Réné Caillié m ade inqu iries con

cerning them,and reported that they had been dispersed am ong

the inhabitants of the desert . Barth raised the question twentyfive years later

,and was told that not one rem ained . Lenz, on the

contrary,bel ieves that the papers and effects are sti ll preserved

in Arawan . Since our installation in Timbuctoo, the military

authorities have made several attempts to discover the fate of

these letters from envoys sent by the ch ief of the Berabichs .

M . Josse, the Arabian interpreter, was especial ly persevering,but i n vain ; the Berabichs insisted that nothing rem ained in

thei r possession . For my part, I m ade the acquaintance, during

my stay,of an agent of the Mossi , with whom I was at pains

to be on excel lent term s, and who rendered m e m any l ittle

services. One evening I sent for him ,and , with ai r of great

m ystery,offered him a large sum of m oney if he would find


the papers of E l Ra i s and bring them to me. I assured him

that no one in the town , European or native, should know any

thing about it ; but in spite of al l my diplom acy, I was no more

successful than the rest . Som e time afterwards he assured me

that the tribe possessed neither papers nor anything else belong

ing to the travel ler. Knowing the keen di strust of these people,

however,and the fear of punishm ent they stil l entertain ( in spite

of repeated assurances) , and , knowing too, the great respect with

which al l written m atter is regarded in these countries, I do not

think all hope need be abandoned .

If the fi rst explorer to reach Tim buctoo was an Engl ishm an,

the fi rst to come back from it was a Frenchm an— Réné Caillié, to

wit . As was proved by the Grand Pri x of francs offered

by the Geographical Society of Pari s to the fi rst vi sitor from

Tim buctoo, the interest to Europe consi sted in the return .

Behold the perversity of things,or

,i f you will

,the ways of

Providence . Mungo Park and Laing departed accom panied by

the good wishes and encouragem ent of thei r countrymen , well

provided with money, m erchandise, and escort—and failed .

Success was reserved for a h umble and sol itary m an of rid iculously

small m eans who had been contem ptuously repulsed by the repre

sentatives of hi s country,and who had scarcely a frien d to press

h is hand at parting.

‘ I was born,

’ says Réné Cailhe,

‘ in 1800 at Mauz é, in the

department of the two Sevres,of poor parents , whom I had the

m isfortune to lose in m y ch ildhood . I was apprenticed to a trade

as soon as I could read and write,but i t was not long before I

weari ed of i t, thanks to the books of travel which I read in al l m yleisure m oments . I borrowed geographical work s ; and the maps

of Africa, i n wh ich I saw deserts and unknown regions m arked ,


T I M B U C T O O

He neglected nothing to ensure the success of this great enter

prise . Real ising that a knowledge of Arabic and the forms of

the Mohammedan rel igion was essential , be subm itted to a second

and severer trial . Leaving his business, and atti ring h imself in

Moorish dress,he went to the Braknas Moors with the request

that he might li ve with their tribe and be converted to Islamism .

He suffered many annoyances and much il l-treatment,but he

learned to talk , read , and write Arabic, and was initiated into the

mysteries of the Koran and the Mussulm an prayers . He then

returned to St . Lou is to find th e means of putting into execution

his plan of reaching Timbuctoo and travell ing across Africa to

Egypt, under the guise of a merchant and pilgrim to Mecca .

His real hardsh ips were to begin now ; for, instead of being

encouraged in his purpose and congratulated upon th e task he had

ach ieved , he was received with cold sarcasm at St. Lou is. Instead

of the 6000 francs he asked for to buy the necessary merchandise,the governor of Senegal allowed him soldier’s rations that he

m ight not die of hunger, and found him em ployment with a

salary of fifty francs a month .

‘The fatigue and privations I

endured had perhaps entitled me to expect som ething better,” i s

his sole comment .

A new governor,Baron Roger

,arriving in Senegal

, Cailli e s

hopes revived , and for the second time he related h is soj ourn

among the Moors and explained hi s plans . Th is i s how he tell s

the story of his attem pt‘M . Roger pooh-poohed m y proj ect, and refused me any

pecuniary aid . This would have been a thunderbolt to any one

else, but it only had the effect of more deeply rooting m y deter

mination . I had the courage to return to the charge,and he was

then good enough to prom i se me a certain sum upon m y return

from Tim buctoo . Upon m y return from Tim buctoo ! And


i f I died on the way ? This idea, terrible to a m an who would

leave a much- loved sister without help or resources,determ ined

my reply . I refused every arrangement,deciding that i f I

died,I would at least leave the friend of m y ch ildhood one

incontestable possession—the meri t of having done everything by

myself.’

While France refused him 6000 francs, England was spending

eighteen mil lion francs in attem pting to penetrate from the western

coast of Africa . Caillie’ now turned to the Engl i sh colony of

Sierra Leone,and at once aroused the interest of the governor

,

General Charles Turner. He obtained,instead of the ri diculous

em ployment offered to him by a Frenchm an , the direction of an

indigo factory and a salary of 3600 francs . He would probably

have succeeded in getting the 6000 francs for his voyage, but the

governor obj ected—very reasonably from an Englishm an’s point of

view—that Maj or Laing was already en route for Timbuctoo, and

he could not have a hand in depriving him of the glory of being

there fi rst .

Caillié succeeded in saving 2000 francs, however, and was no

longer affected by the refusal . Having resumed the Moorish

costume,be converted hi s savings into m erchandi se, and set out

upon his j ourney

His stock of goods being too small to perm i t of h is giv ing

himself out to be a trader, as he had fi rst intended , he invented a

new pretext . ‘Born in Egypt,’ he told every one, ‘ I was taken

as a ch ild and made to serve in the French arm y, which was

then in Egypt. I was brought as a slave to France, and m y

master took me with h im to Senegal to assist him in h i s business .

He was so pleased with my serv ices that he gave me my l iberty.

and now that I am free to go where I will , I naturally desire to

return to Egypt to find my parents , and resume the Mussulman


3religion . Thanks to h is knowledge of Arabic and the prayers of

the Mussulman cult,the fable of his origin was everywhere

accepted,and his j ourney was made com paratively easy . He

entered Tim buctoo on the 20th of Apri l 1 828, having passed

by the Foota Jal lon , reached the Niger at Kankan , traversed

the Bambara kingdom of Segu , and paused at Jenne by th e

way.

As Cailhe was taken for the man he pretended to be, I found

i t exceedingly d ifficult to follow h is track . All inqu iries at Jenne

were fruitless,and I feared they would be equally so at Timbuctoo

,

for poor Arabian travellers arrive there all the year round , and he

had only stayed fourteen days in the city . The nam e of h is host,however

,Sid i Abdal lah Chabi r

,one of the most important

m erchants of hi s time,was perfectly wel l remembered . One of

his wives had d ied only w ith in the last few years, and his son

but shortly before my arrival . I saw the house in which Caillié

had lodged,and the old alam any rev ived some memories of the

explorer himself.

The latter had not fai led to im part'

the h istory of his Egyptian

origin , his misfortunes, and h is slavery in France, and I was thus

enabled to trace h im . The old alam any repeated to me (with

som e variations) the fable mentioned above as concern ing a

traveller lodged by Sid i Abdallah . The worthy merchant, an

Arab fond of rem arkable stories,had been greatly struck by this

tale, and , being a pious man into the bargain , he had been deeply

touched by the rel igious zeal of the young Egyptian . From all

this Sid i Abdallah had concocted a narrative which he del ighted

to impart to his fri ends, and which he accompanied by im proving

reflections on the tenacity of the Mussu lm an faith . The h istory

was so often repeated in Tim buctoo that the Grand Kadi , Alpha



plainly indicating the importance of the man who showed the

poor travell er such gracious hospital ity . Sid i Abdallah did not l ive

in it himself,but used it as a warehouse . It i s now occupied by

one of the principal merchants of Timbuctoo, a Moor, l i ke Sid i

Abdallah,and he too has converted it i nto a shop . I, therefore,

saw the dwelling under much the sam e aspect i t must have

worn to Réné Caillié.

I found,surrounding the two spacious courts, the l ittle, long,

narrow and windowless room s, serving indifferently . as shop or

bedroom,

”

in one of which Réne’

Caillié lodged , and in wh ich

he suffocated day and night . ” The interior was encumbered with

packages and sacks of al l k inds,principal ly bales of ostrich feathers

and ivory . Lances thrust into the floor showed that the men of

the Desert occupied those suffocating rooms at the moment . The

real proprietor of the house,Mohamm ed El Bakir, had j ust

received his annual caravan from Tendouf, a Moorish town on

the borders of the Sahara . His relations had great”

troops of

cam els over there,and they were enabled to continue thei r com

m erce in spite of the insecurity of the desert routes, for they

belonged to a fam ily of m arabuts possessing great influence in the

Sahara . I was on excel lent term s w ith Moham m ed El Bakir,and he it was who furnished me with som e notion of the present

state of the comm erce of Timbuctoo . He was acquainted wit h

Europeans, having traded with them at Mogador, where i t was his

custom to buy large quantities of our produce. I was surprised ,nevertheless

,when he asked m e for news of Paris (he pronounced

it Parisse) . He said he had long known the nam e of the town , for

the rich Moorish Jew who bought his ostrich plumes l ived there .

His curiosity had been excited by the marvels described to him by

a Moor who had visited the city during the exhibition , and he

wished to know if he had not been the dupe of a too l ively


imagination . I reassured him , of course, and told him the true

h istory of Réné Caillié . To risk one”s l ife and sacrifice one”s

interests for the simple satisfaction of seeing a new town or

country was incomprehens ible to him,but he understood

,never

theless, that in our eyes h is house was the most interesting thing

in Timbuctoo, and I profited by that to advise him to keep i t in

very particular repai r .

Whether it was the considerable sacrifices made by the English

Government for Laing, or whether it was owing to the great con

fidence the publ i c had in th is bri ll iant officer, I do not know,but the Engli sh have always expressed great contem pt for Réne

Caillié”

s success . Their d isdain developed into inj ustice, and they

d isputed his j ourn ey , his book , and h is soj ourn in Timbuctoo,

professing themselves completely edified when , twenty-five years

later,the truth of Ca illié”s statements was confirmed by a

German .

The English Government made a fresh effort to reach the

Sudan in 1850 . Richardson was equ ipped at Tripol i with the

same m un ificence that had been al lowed to Mungo Park and

Laing,and intrusted with the mission of reaching Lake Chad.

At the request of Prussia,two Germans were added to the party,

one of whom was Doctor Barth .

All h is compan ions having died one after the other, Barth

was left to fulfi l the mission alone. After exploring the basin of

Lake Chad,and discovering the Benue, he pursued the Bournou

and Sokoto route,passed Say

,crossed the val ley of the Niger

from south to north,and arrived at Timbuctoo on August 29th,

1 853 .

HIS journey was greatly facil itated by h is position as English

ambassador,and by the rich presents with wh ich he was enabled

2 B


to sustain th e part . His position at Timbuctoo, however, was

extremely cri tical . There are people sti ll l iv ing in the city who

remember seeing Barth , or rather Abdel Kerim (‘ the servant of

the as he called himself,and I gathered som e interesting

detai ls from them .

The explorer had counted upon staying at Timbuctoo with a

sheikh named El Backay, whose importance had been boasted of

and greatly exaggerated to h im ,and wh ich he in turn exaggerated

to Europe . The Backays belonged to the tribe of Kountas .

These Berbers,strongly infused with negro blood

,were

, two

centuries ago,sti ll settled to the south of Timbuctoo

,in the

neighbourhood of Kairwan . From there they em igrated to the

desert,spread along the route from Tunis to the Sudan

,and

settled in Saharian Adrar,a rocky plateau to the north -east of

Timbuctoo,near the town of Mabruk . They have since drawn

nearer the Niger,and are now to be found in the valley east of

Timbuctoo,on both sides of the river .

The Backays were a family of m arabuts and scholars, not

warriors,and none of them ever had th e opportunity of mounting

the throne,” as Barth has affirm ed . They were content to mount

the pulpit,and their learning and wisdom have been famous in the

desert for over a hundred years . The fi rst to be mentioned in the

h istory of Timbuctoo was Sid i Moktar el Kabir,a man pious to

asceticism , in whose eyes smok ing was an impurity . He wrote a

book entitled Taralifa Koubm (The Great wh ich is still

i n the possession of the Kountas, and would be a desirable book to

procure, for it contains several historical notices, I am told .

The fam e of his wisdom was the cause of his being called to

Tim buctoo in the early part of the present century . The last of

the Roum as were l iv ing on exceed ingly bad t erms with the

Touaregs, and Sid i Moktar, on being inv ited to adj ust their



greatly diminished the prestige of the family in Tim buctoo .

Now, the am bitiou s uncle was none other than Sheik El Backay,who

,having final ly got the better of his nephew, endeavoured to

restore the family reputation and make himself fam ous by travelling

in the neighbouring countries . He was soj ourning in Gundam

when the explorer reached Tim buctoo in 1853 .

Barth was evidently under the im pression that El Backayoccupied some commanding position in Timbuctoo . This is the

only possible explanation of the attitude he adopted upon h is

arrival,and hi s singular want of tact whi ch led to so many

disagreeables . Contrary to custom , he vis ited neither the ch ief

of the town nor the authoriti es, but contented himself with

settl ing in one of the shiek”s houses and awaiting h is return there .

The town was offended by this want of respect,and so much

hostil ity was displayed that the European was warned not to

venture out. This state of affairs lasted a month , and al l Barth

saw of Tim buctoo was the view of the town he enj oyed from the

roof of h is house .

Instead of improving, the situation became more critical with

the return of El Backay . In 1853 Timbuctoo formed,as we

know,a part of the Foulbe empire, and the local authorities had

hastened to send a m essage to Ham adallai, the residence of

Ahmadou Ahmadou, to inform him of the arrival of the traveller.

Greatly affronted that an ambassador should go to Timbuctoo

without offering h im homage or the customary presents, without

ask ing permission to enter one of hi s towns,nor even informing

him of h is presence, the k ing sent an order that the stranger

should be taken and brought to him . The arrival of th is

command , with a troop of sold iery charged to execute i t,coincided , happily for Barth , with the return of th e sheik .

E l Backay, greatly flattered by receiving an ambassador,

E U R O P E A N D T IM B UzCTO O 341

seeing all the lost prestige he could recover,and del ighted to pla

y

a trick upon the government which had crossed his ambition,

formally and very courageou sly took Barth under hi s protection.

The stranger is in my hand . You must cut it off before you can

take h im,

’ was

the haughty re

m am

or cifisvr

afnd l

fifiburbspon se he m ade Fort Philippe

to the envoys .

The whole of

Timbuctoo was

confounded by

th is incident .

The authorities

made many vain

attempts to in

duce El Backayto reconsider h is

decision , and i t

was finally deter

mined to attack

protector and

protected , and PLAN OF TIMBUCTOO

carry away the

latter by force. The two then quitted the town together, and

took refuge in a neighbouring cam p . Backay was com pelled to

call the worst enem ies of the city to h is assistance, and it was to

the Touaregs that Barth owed h is escape from the fate of Laing

and his safe return to Europe.

From'

the day of his arrival to the hour of his departure, the

explorer l ived in Timbuctoo l ike a prisoner . He was confined

to,one house with h is own and his host”s servants perpetually


on guard . He was unable to explore the town or even take an

hour”s walk in i ts streets, and al l he saw of them were the few

he passed through as , surrounded by an escort, he left the city

to take refuge in the desert from the hosti l i ty of the populace.

He only knew Timbuctoo through the eyes of h is servants and

other people of that class,and that is why this portion of his

book i s so deceptive and,in spite of its length

,vague and empty .

It consists of copious detai ls of h is anx ieties,his hopes and fears

for hi s l ife and its few interesting passages are swamped in an

ocean of ti resome details,according to the method of German

scholars . Instead of showing us some new aspect of the Mysteri

ous City, he rails at h is servants l i ke a peevish housewife and

entertains us again and again with the health of his camels .Réné Caillié saw

,questioned

,and observed an astonishing amount

during h is fourteen days” stay in Timbuctoo,and gathered an

incomparably richer harvest than d id Barth in h is soj ourn of a

month . On comparing the two accounts, one sees that Barth”s

utteran ces are mere amplifications of the facts acqu ired by his

predecessor.

After this we are somewhat surpri sed to see Barth,from his

height of Doctor,treating Réné Caillié as an altogether incapable

man ”

;1 and surprise turns to stupefaction when he assumes that

‘ no one has been as wel l able as h imself to represent the town

and i ts inhabitants in their true aspect . ” 2 It i s another exam ple

of the old saying,that one may have great learning and l ittle

wit . Réné Caillié has given us far m ore than we could expect

from a man who only knew how to read and write,a poor fellow

who had not enough to eat most of h is days,and was tormented

by scurvy ; while Barth on the contrary did not, in Timbuctoo

at least, fulfi l the promise of h is great reputation .

1 Bart/z , vol. iv. p . 38, French ed ition . Jbz'

d. ,p . 442 , Germ an edition .



Europeans at Timbuctoo remember with gratitude that he was

the fi rst to follow the course of the eastern Niger to Say, and

to clear up ° the vast geograph ical regions surrounding Lake

Chad .

I also found traces of Barth in h is character of ambassador .

On his return to Europe he set before the Engl ish a scheme of

BARTH’S HOUSE

penetration in the direction of Timbuctoo which was based upon

an exaggerated notion of the authority of El Backay. The

shorter routes, those of Algeria and Senegal,being in the pos

session of France, he advocated reaching the city by way of the

Niger, starting from its m outh . He laid great stress upon the

value of El Backay”

s support to an English enterprise,a view

which was the more readily accepted by the Government as the


progress France was m ak ing in Southern Algeria was causing

them much anxiety .

The capture of Timbuctoo gave some curious docum ents into

our hands . They have not been edited,and we give them i n

their entirety, for they display English plans and m ethods with

out any need of com mentary .

LE TTE R I

LETTER FROM LORD CLARE NDON TO SHE IK EL BACKAY .

Pra ise be to God May He be glo r ified I

On the part of Cla rendon,M in ister to the Queen and Gove rn

m ent of E ngland, to the g reatly hon oured and ve ry n oble She ikthe learn ed am ong scholars who sh in es by h is in tel l igence, S id iMoham ed E l Rackay

,ben S id i Moham ed, ben S id i Mokhar E l

Koun t i ; to whom we address our thank s and the express ion of our

cons iderat ion . May God reward h im So be it

Salutat ion be w ith you .

May God accord you H is m ercy and b less ing w ith the pu re stof His graces !I would have you know that the Queen of E ngland has hea rd the

report of Doctor Barth (n am ed Abdel Kerim am ong the Arabs) , whov is ited you a t her com m and, in your coun try

,to ren ew the fr iendsh ip

ex i st ing between you and us, and to m ake you known to he r . Barthhas m ade kn own to us the goodw i ll w i th wh ich you rece ived him

and wh ich can never be forgotten . You have protected h im from

a fa ith less people who were unable to d i st ingu ish good from ev i l

(m ay God reward you for the good act ions His law recom m ended to

you He has in form ed us of you r st rength and cou rage, and we

have fe lt great j oy the reat .

The letters you sent by h im have a r r ived . We have read them

and wel l unde rstand what they con ta in . It has been a great p leasu reto us . The hop es of the E ngl ish Gove rnm en t have b een understoodby you . What we w ish is to open the eyes of the Arabs of the


south to com m erce and all app ertain ing to it, and we are now awarethat you have looked upon our m iss ion w ith pleasure and haveaccepted our fr iendsh ip with j oy .

We have g iven you our word that the friendsh ip b ind ing us shal lnot d im in ish through the centur ies, and that all that theArabs requ i reof us we w i l l do

,without inc rease or d im in i shm ent . We w i l l ass i st

them in all that they are unable to p erform ,and as our governm ent

is very powe rful we w i l l p rotect you r p eople who turn to us,above

all w ith the aid of your Lo rdsh ip, who have long shown your powerand your fr iendsh ip for us .The Queen exp er ienced great j oy when she knew the benefits w ith

wh ich you loaded Abdel Ke rim ,who was enabled to return in p eace

ow ing to your recept ion and the hon ours w ith wh ich you surroundedh im

,and she sends you p resents of products m an ufactured in

E ngland .

These presents have been pack ed in cases and sent to the Consul

genera l of Tripo l i, who w i l l send them on to you. God g rant thatthey m ay arr ive safely and in good con d it ion, and that they m ay

please and rej o ice you .

We request and recom m end you to say to the ch ief of the Aoulem idens and the ch ief of the Tadem ekkats, that the Queen of E nglandhas rece ived the letters sent by them to her through Abde l Ker im .

We have all been pleased by them . She begs you to say to thesech iefs that she salutes them and sen ds them a po ignard and a sabre

,

the po ignard for on e, and the sabre for the other. You will eas i lyrecogn ise these obj ects, for the nam e of the rec ip ient is wr itten uponeach .

To conclude th is letter,we wish to say to you that our j oy would

be g reat to see on e of your p eop le, above all a ch i ld of your own

house, whose v is it would honour us. We wish to show him our powe r,our m anufactures

,and m any other th ings .

May God p ro long your l ife and p rese rve you to l ive .

You r fr iend,

CLARE NDON,

Minister of the E nglish Governm ent.

LONDON, thefifteenth day qf'

Ap ril 1859.


T I M B U C T O O

LE TTE R II

LETTER FROM THE E NGL ISH CONSUL A '

I‘ Tm rou To E L BACKAY .

Praise be to the one God ! May God grant His bless ing to him

after whom there was n o longer a Prophet (otherw ise Mahom et)To our friend the noble Lo rd, the ve ry h igh , very learned, very

com p lete S id i Ahm ed Rackay.

May our greet ing reach him w ith the express ion of our cons iderat ion .

You w i l l find in th i s letter an ep istle from the m in ister Cla rendon ,w ith a translat ion in Arab ic . It is wr itten in rep ly to the letterrece ived by you.

When you have read th is lette r you will knowthat the E nglish Gover nm ent has sent a steam er up the river thatfl ows out of your country ,

and has

recomm ended those on board to m ake every effort to reach you . Watchfor them . We desire to unite ourselves in friendship with the p eop le of

your country , and m ake ourselves known to you, above all at Tim buctoo

where you live. We ask God to ass ist us in th is ta sk because it willresult in great good to your country and to us also.

The son of you r s iste r,S id i Moham ed, and the people of his

ret inue are we l l . He is w ith m e at th is m om ent,await ing the

p resen ts the Gove rnm ent IS send ing him ,and the w r it ings wh ich

sea l the fr iendsh ip ex ist ing between you and us .

Our Gove rnm ent has a lready g iven S id i Moham ed the cho icebetween several th ings . They would send a boat to tak e him to

them , or they would reward h im he re and return him to you, or hecould stay w ith m e t i l l the end of the w in te r and the beginn ing of

the spring, when a boat could tak e him to E ngland . S id i Moham eddec ide s to return from here

,and th i s is a lso prefe rred by m y Govern

m ent, for we fear the effect of the co ld of our c l im ate upon h is health .

Th is co ld is ve ry great, etc.

(Signature illegible. )

The boat mentioned never d id reach Timbuctoo,nor did El

Backay visit England and see its manufactures . Lord Clarendon”s


! great j oy ’ was of short duration,and his hopes resulted in

nothing .

After the departure of Barth, his protector had no leisure to

gi ve to the plans wh ich had been sketched between them ; he was

enti rely occupied i n tak ing care of himself. The generous attitude

which had popularised h im with Europe had greatly complicated

hi s position in Timbuctoo . His very strained relations with the

Foulbe authori ties, and the suspicion with which the inhabitants

regarded a p rote’

g é of the Touaregs obliged him to maintain a

good deal of reserve .

The most critical period of the Sudan was now approach ing,

and the Toucouleur invasion was spreading from south to north .

El Hadj Omar had marched from victory to victory, and was now

menacing the Foulbe em pire Ahmadou Ahmadou nai vely

sough t to avert the peri l by opposing a man of rel igion to one

who,to j ustify his massacres, posed as a reformer, and Sheik

El Backay reappeared on the scenes . He was exhorted to inter

vene as mediator between the k ingdom and the new Prophet, but,remembering the former harshness of the Foulbe monarch , he

at fi rst refused . Afterwards, however, he addressed a message of

peace to El Hadj , which he accompanied with several presents .

For all reply the conquering Toucouleur i ronically invi ted the

shei k to hasten w ith h is hom age, to wh ich El Backay responded

by a satire i n verse on the false Prophet. Ahmadou Ahm adou

had perished meanwhile,and the Toucouleurs were installed in

h i s capital of Ham adallai . One p f thei r columns, entering Tim

buctoo under the comm and of Alpha Omar, pillaged the town

and sacked the house of El Backay .

After a wh ile the sh eik decided to return from the desert,

i n which h e had sought shelter, and at his instigation Touaregs

and Kountas j oined the fray. Alpha Om ar’s col umn was surprised


by night and totally destroyed,and the conquerors, reinforced

by Foulbes,besieged El Hadj Omar in Ham adallai . The Tou

couleur peri l was averted,but dissension now spread among the

troops,and El Backay quitted Timbuctoo to establi sh peace .

Before reaching Ham adallai, however, he fell i l l at a l ittl e village,on the right bank of the Niger, called Saradina , and d ied there

eight days afterwards

Abb idin , who was h is favourite son , accord ing to Barth ,attempted to assum e hi s father’s posi tion at Timbuctoo, but in

vain,for neither Touaregs nor inhabitants would have anything

to do with him . He then attempted a politi cal role in the

countries of the Deltas, and finally relapsed into brigandage

pi llaging and terrorising the shores of the Black and White Niger,under the pretext of figh ting the Touaregs . He was k illed by

the latter as he was mak ing a pilgrimage to his father’s tomb

in 1 890.

Such was the h istory of the Backays up to the moment of

our arrival in Timbuctoo. It i s the story of the decl ine of a great

and noble family of the desert . I wil l mention one more some

what remarkable episode . Barth awoke at Berl in one morn ing

under the impression that he must write to General Faidherbe,

the governor of Senegal , and recommend the Backays to him in

case one or other of them should require assistance. He sent the

letter, and at the precise moment of its arrival in St . Louis, Oulad

Backay had been arrested as a spy, and was on the point of being

condem ned to death by a court-martial . Faidherbe naturally

acquitted the prisoner, and thus Barth’s and England’s debt was

repaid .

Two of the sheik’s sons, namely, Baba Ahmed and Bai , were

sti ll l iving when we entered Timbuctoo. They had retu rned to

the Saharian Adrar, the cradle of their family, and settled at


CHA PT E R ! V I

TH E FRE NCH CONQUE ST

UP to the last m oment England endeavoured to put her hand

upon the comm erce of Timbuctoo . Fail ing in her efforts from

Tripol i and the Niger’s m outh,she attem pted to secure a footing

by way of Morocco,and was installed towards 1 890 at Cape Juby .

It was then too late . Our columns and posts had been slowly

advancing by the Senegal route advocated by Colbert,and in

1893 Colonel Archinard took Jenne, the last halting-place but

one . The fol lowing year we were at Timbuctoo, and Cape Juby

was evacuated .

Whatever m ay have been said at the time, the occupation

of Timbuctoo was not only necessary, but had to be effected

with the least possible delay . No one can complain now that

we have not made known the history of these people and their

country. The prosperity of the Sudan i s so closely connected

with that of its principal market, that if the general anarchy had

been prolonged in Tim buctoo all the sacrifices of h um an life and

money we had made on her threshold would have remained steri le .

The sooner an end was put to the ruinous dominion of the

Touaregs the better would i t be . What would have becom e ofthe town if the French occupation had been prevented ? We can

easily picture the scene : the Touaregs would assemble and unite

with Kountas, Foulbes, and Moors,as they did th irty years ago

352

T H E F R E N C H C O N Q U E S T 353

against the Toucouleurs at the instigation of El Backay . The

routes from Morocco, Tuat, and Tripol i would have left the

Sudan (that enorm ous country which we occupy with such modest

means) open to foreign intrigues, to the introduction of arms and

ammunition , and to fanati cs led by some inspired marabut, to a

second El Hadj Omar returned from Mecca,or to some Mahd i

come from Tuat . The result of long years of struggle and effort

would be destroyed in a few months, our patient work of regenera

tion and paciflcation woul d be hopelessly compromised , and the

flames of revolt which would break out in Timbuctoo would rapidly

spread to Algeria . The seat of so many perils,the key to al l

the routes of the Sahara and Sudan , must be in our hands as

soon as possible .

These dangers were d issipated by the promptitude of our

march on Tim buctoo . All homage to Colonel Archinard , who

knew so wel l the country and people with whom he had to deal .

By his alacrity the colony was spared fresh convulsions and the

capital great sacrifices. No sooner was Jenne taken , than , with

remarkable intu ition,he traced th e plan of the succeeding cam

paign . A force dmarch was to be made on Timbuctoo to prevent

auv concentration of the nomads, one column traversing the

countries on the l eft bank of the Niger, another advancing by

m eans of the river as the gunboats cleared the passage . Such

were the tactics pursued at the end of 1894 . Colonel Bonnier

conducted one of the colum ns , Colonel Jouffre the second , while

Lieutenant Boiteux commanded the floti l la. Unfortunately

Colonel Arch inard was not there to conduct the campaign ; had

he been,the unfortunate episodes which marred its execution

wou ld probably have been averted .

I am now going to show the tak ing of Tim buctoo in a new

l ight,as it appeared to the inhabitants. They related it to m e

2 c


as the old Sudanese chroniclers,whose ant i s uii happily lost, might

have done .

From the beginning of November 1894 vague rumours were

afloat in Timbuctoo, reports of a mustering of troops at Segu .

The country being quiet on their side, the i nhabitants conj ectured

it to be some expedition preparing for the north . Three weeks

passed without ' any news,and then suddenly events took shape.

A m erchant,who arrived from the south

,announced that the

gunboats had reached Sarafara and were preparing to start for

Kabara . They had taken on board , as pilots, two of the lead ing

merchants of Timbuctoo, who were i n exi le at Sarafara, having

been ruined by the Touaregs . The next day news came of the

arrival of the floti lla at Korioum a .

A body of Tenguaragif Touaregs were i n Timbuctoo, and they

summoned Ham dia, the chief of the town, and ordered him to

have the tabala (war drum ) sounded, and to command the people

to take up arms . The excitement was great, the population

being div ided between fear of the French and terror of the

Touaregs ; some of the notables remonstrated with Ham dia, and

the Kountas alone showed any courage. However, al l those who

had not hidden themselves in time had to set out in company

with the vei led men . This small army,of which the Touaregs

formed the cavalry, was armed with lances and j avel ins, and a few

rifles belonging chiefly to the Kountas .

As this army was march ing to Kabara on the m orning of

December 5th, the flotil la had left Korioum a, and was ascending

the P0 0 1 to Dai . There Commandant Boiteux and some Laptots

(black sailors) disembarked in a l ighter to reconnoitre the route to

Kabara, and gather suflicient information to acquaint the two

colum ns with the si tuation when they should arrive . But an



You can get to Kabara by other than the main route .”

So be it,

” said Ham dia finally . Let us do as you say.

”

The kad i drew up the letter, and wrote to the commander as

follows :

We would have you to know that what took place this

m orning was done without our sanction . We only took part

under compulsion from the Touaregs, and we fled as soon as we

could . Our united resolution was this . When , a month ago, we

learnt of the arrival of your troops at Segu,some Arab merchants

counsel led us to write to our former master,the Sultan of

Morocco,and ask him what we were to do if the white men came.

The messengers set out for Fez with a caravan . The route is

GENERAL V IFAV OF FORT BONN I ER

long, and they have not yet returned . We are women.We do

not fight . ”

Two m essengers, who were bribed with a hundred yards of

white l inen to go to Kabara, im mediately set out . Before sunrisethey returned . One of the Tim buctooans, who accompanied thegunboats, had read and translated the kadi ”s letter to the whitem an

”

s i nterpreter, and then written the fol lowing answer in thecom m andanf s name

‘ I know that all the m ounted men and those armed with


lances were Touaregs , but those who had guns were natives of

Timbuctoo . Why did you attack us before you knew what we

wished ? It i s not thus you should receive people with whose

intentions you are not acquainted . Ours were for your good.

But what is past i s past ; to -morrow send some of your chiefs for

a palaver. ”

Early in the m orning of the next day the Touaregs returned to

Timbuctoo . They were questioned by one of the notables,Alpha

Saidou , the ch ief of the Ghingaraber quarter .

We pay you taxes, therefore you ought to defend us . Here

are the wh ite men . What do you intend doing ? ”

Do as vou l ike,” they repl ied . The Tenguaragifs are not the

only m asters here. Other tribes share the tax with us,and our

people ought not to be the only ones to be slaughtered . Besides,

we have j ust learned that a column i s com ing from the west,the

Gundam quarter, where our flocks and wives are. We want to

protect them,and we are going.

”

The Touaregs having left the town , the chiefs and notables

assembled in the m osque of S idi Yaia after the sunset prayer .

They decided to accede to the com mandant”s wish,and two delegates

were chosen . The letter which accred ited them repeated that they

were merchants and not combatants, and that i f the comm andant

would wait for the sultan”s answer al l would be wel l ; but if not, he

was at l iberty to do j ust what he pleased he would not be opposed

by the people . However, the delegates came back one,a Tripol itan

chosen by the Arab merchants,would not do. The comm andant,

would not treat with a stranger, but only with the natives . He

was replaced by an influential marabut, Moham an Kouti , the

other delegate being Alpha Saidou . From that time negotiations

Opened very amicably with Kabara, the delegates frankly explaining

the s ituation and announcing the exodus of the Touaregs . The


commandant received them courteously, told them that twoarmies were fol lowing him up , and demanded that a treaty of

peace should be signed by the chi ef and authorities of the town

placing the country under the protectorate of France . But no

one in Tim buctoo dared give his s ignature . The town was di s

mayed,every one feared the return of the Touaregs , knowing that

in that case h i s signature woul d cost h im h is head .

According to a local l egend , the Niger has an exceptional ly

high and early ri se i n those years when som e remarkable event,

generally sin ister, i s to take place, such as war, epidemic, or fam ine .

For th irty years no one remem bered to have seen so much water

i n the pool that winds from Kabara to Tim buctoo . M . Boiteux

decided to hasten the negotiations , and arrived at Tim buctoo, by

means of the pool of Kabara, with two l ighters armed w ith revolv

ing gun s,borrowed from the gunboats .

And thus it was that Timbuctoo,a town nearly eight hundred

miles from the sea—a town of the Sahara,moreover, —was taken

by sailo rs, th us equal ling the feat of Jourdan”

s Hussars, who took

possession of the Dutch fleet among the ice of the Zuyder Zee .

It was December 1 5th . The even ing before,the two delegates

had been sent back to Tim buctoo to prepare i t for the events

which were to fol low . During the night,the l ighters, manned by

eighteen m en, had crossed the sands without h indrance, and were

befo re Timbuctoo by the morning . On hearing th is, some fortyof the besieged , Foulbes and Kountas mostly, took up arms ; but

the authorities com pelled them to put them down , threatening

to sti r up the mob against them if they did not . The ch iefs then

proceeded to the banks of the pool,tak ing with them gifts of

welcom e. Are you bringing me the treaty of peace I demanded ? ”

asked Commandant Boiteux . No ,” the ch ief replied , for we only



Your decision gives me much pleasure,

” M . Boiteux assured

them . We do not l ike mak ing war, we prefer peace . It was the

Toucouleurs who fi rst fired at Jenne ; had it not been for that, we

should not have fired a shot. In future, you have nothing to fear.

Sign the treaty by which you recogni se the French as m asters of

the town,and I

,on my side, wi ll sign one which wi l l place you

under our protection .

”

The next morning,the two treaties having been exchanged

in the presence of the ch iefs and m arabuts, they implored the

commandant to enter and occupy the town , explain ing thei r fear

of reprisals from the Touaregs, and assuring him that henceforth

he could in al l things count upon them . They loyally informed

h im that the besi eged had tak en up arms, and they undertook to

keep them under survei llance, and to acquaint him with al l that

went on inside and outside the city .

M . Boiteux requested them to show him the highest point of

the city,and there he selected a large house . One of the guns

was hoisted on to the terrace,and the surrounding walls were

temporari ly put into a state of defence. Thi s improvised fortlet

was at the north of the town , where a real fort, occupied by a

squadron of Spah is, now stands . At the south of the town

another house was transformed in the same manner, and the

second gun was placed there , wh ile the handful of Europeans

and Laptots were stationed in between, and some fifty men

,

armed with guns furnished by the town , were posted as sentinels .

In the meantime the Touaregs had plotted with,and been

j oined by, som e Kountas. On December 21 st they attacked the

floti lla reserve station at Kabara . It was on th is occas ion the

sad episode occurred wh ich cost Midsh ipman Aube h is l ife. At

the m om ent he was dying at Our” Oum aira, the sentinels at

Timbuctoo, having heard rifle-shots,had given the alarm . The


march ing on Timbuctoo, but had been opposed by the chiefs of

the Kalintassars .

The com mandant was immediately warned , and the alarm

given to the inhabitants,who feared an attack in the dark

,

according to the usual custom of the vei led men . Every one

was armed ; even the strangers of Mossi, who had been recently

exploited by the Touaregs,seized their bows and arrows . They

were posted east and west, whil e the two fortlets guarded north

and south .

As day broke they could see bands passing from east to west,but not daring to approach when they saw the muster. The

d ivisions among the Touaregs increased ; the Kalintassars, who

had not wished to attack Timbuctoo, returned to their homes ,and only the Tenguaragifs remained , and they seized the road to

Kabara with the intention of starving the town .

They calculated wel l . About January 6th the garri son found

the .provi sions were running short . Whatever happened,they

m ust revictual from Kabara . The commandant resol ved to use

the path by which he had come ; so, in the night, the two lighters,armed afresh with the revolving guns and a few men

,glided out

unperceived . However, they could not get back before daylight,and the Touaregs

,having d iscovered them

,assem bled in a m ass on

the shores where the bank s of the pool narrowed . As they were

preparing to fl ing thei r j avel ins, the guns were unm asked , and a

charge of grape-shot saluted them . The Touaregs had not

noticed the d epartu re of the l ighters,and think ing that reinforce

ments had arrived , they fled to the interior westward of the town ,and the road to Timbuctoo was free.

Four days later,January l 0th

,the fi rst column , under

command of Colonel Bonnier,entered the town , and thus ended

the extraordinary adventure of the marines in Timbuctoo .



cavalry and artil lery with naval combats and pictures of siege

does not last for one or several days, it i s prolonged for a month .

In fact,one i s surprised not to see the green-eyed Pallas Athene

,

or the wh ite-armed Venus, appearing in the plain of Timbuctoo to

protect the combatants and inflame them with warl i ke ardour,

wh ile Apollo of the s i lver bow brings the others to confusion with

h is arrows . But no,th is i s no fable ; i t has al l been l ived in our

notoriously prosaic n ineteenth century . Why should such a

glorious and amusing qu ip be fol lowed by so sinister an epilogue ?

The actors are the fi rst colum n and those same Touaregs

whom j ust now we left to the west of Timbuctoo . The story has

been written by M . Raille, one of th e garrison officers in

Timbuctoo, who collected the facts from the surv ivors .

The morning after thei r entry into Tim buctoo,Colonel

Bonnier,without further delay

,ordered the fifth company and a

platoon of the eleventh to set out and reconnoitre,that they

might rid the neighbourhood of the nomads infesting it , and

avenge,i f possible, the massacre of Midsh ipm an Aube .

At five o”clock in the morning,leaving the rest of the troops

under the command of Captain Ph ilippe,the colonel started with

the l ittl e colum n . He was accom panied by Comm ander Hugueny,Captains Regad , Livrelli, Tassard , Sensaric, and Nigote, Lieu

tenants Garnier and Bouverst, Sub-l ieutenant Sarda, Doctor

Colonel Gallas, the veterinary Lenoir, and interpreter A cklouck.

It was the 1 4th of January 1 894 . At two o”clock in the

afternoon Colonel Bonn ier learnt that the Touaregs were distant

only a m i le or two in front of the column . They continued

marching unti l eight in the evening,and then they saw some

flocks and a few armed men . After giving chase to the stragglers ,they encamped at a place cal led Taconbao

,which had j ust been


evacuated by the Touaregs . Every one was satisfied and

cheerful .

They encamped, as nearly as possible, in the form of a square,the men of the fifth company occupying the north

,and those of

the eleventh company the south side. Every one slept rolled up

in hi s blanket w ith hi s arms pi led near . On the other two sides

the captured flocks were picketed . The prisoners were installed in

the middle of the camp, while the staff formed a group in the

middle of the square towards the east side,where the colonel”s

quarters were .

Unti l m idnight the ofli cers of the staff were awake,and

laughing and j oking,having spent the evening gai ly . A t last

every one slept . It was a magnifi cent night,and the bri ll iant light

0 unti l she set towards fourof the m oon i lluminated everyth ing ,

o”clock in the morn ing. At half-past four only the sentinels,of

whom there were six,were awake. The colonel himself gave the

orders to have them placed at a short distance from the camp .

Suddenly,i n the m idst of the s ilence and darkness

,two reports of

fi rearms resounded through the camp,and the cry ‘To arms

was repeated everywhere . Immediately every one was up , hurried ly

seeking his arms . Alas it was too late

The Touaregs,some of whom had been seen straggling round

the camp the evening before, had assembled during the night .

Their cavalry,accompanied by running footmen and favoured by

th e darkness,flung themselves on to the French cam p in a furious

and irresistible charge. In the twinkl ing of an eye they had

capsized the pi led weapons and swarmed into the camp before any

one had had time to defend himself.

It was night indeed , and the frightful scene which ensued cannot

be depicted . It was a furious onslaught, an indescribable tumult .

Above everyth ing sounded th e warcries of the enem y, who were


striking and kill ing on all sides w ith lances, assegais, sabres ,poignards

,tomahawks

,etc . A few rifle-shots m ingled wi th the

clamour of distress,and that was all .

Our tirail leurs succumbed to this human avalanche . In a few

minutes it was all over .

Three European s,an officer and two non-commissioned ofli cers

(Captain Nigote, Sergeant-Maj or Baretti , and Sergeant Lalire) and

a handful of men succeeded in forcing a passage and reach ing

some bushes near the encampment . Captain Nigote collected the

fugitives in the midst of these unprecedented peri ls and d ifficulti es,and conducted them to the convoy wh ich had been left beh ind .

There they were able to reform .

Eighty-two of our men and two guides were missing . Nine

offi cers,incl ud ing the colonel, three non-commissioned oflicers (of

whom two were Europeans) , eight corporals,and sixty native

tirail leurs,had fallen before the enemy .

As far as the survivors could j udge in the darkness and tumult,they had been attacked by about two hundred horsemen and

between two and three h undred foot-sold iers .

Twenty-five.

days afterwards,the second column

,commanded

by Colonel Jouffre, arrived at Taconbao and collected the skeletons

of the th irteen Europeans, bringing them back to Timbuctoo.

They were buried beh ind an enclosure of dead thorns at the foot

of the fort which was being bui lt to the south of th e town . The

last solemn honours were rendered them before the whole garrison

and the assem bled population , and modest mounds of sun-dried

bricks and simple black crosses were placed over the graves of

these unfortunate heroes . Then Colonel Jouffre turned his

thoughts to vengeance. He soon ascertained that the Tenguara

gifs had settled between the Lakes Faguibine and Fati,not far



vicissitudes,true to the word given on the fi rst day , We are for

you henceforth,

” and it i s easy to see that th is al legiance wil l never

be withdrawn .

After waiting for i t a year, the town received the sultan”s

reply. The sovereign of Fez wrote as follows

Pra ise be unto the one God .

May bless ings and salutat ions be upon our Lord Mahom et,upon

h is fam i ly, an d upon!

h is com pan ions .

‘ G reet ing to the ch ief of the town and the notable s . May God

acco rd you His favou rs, accom pan ied by His bless ings and H i sm ercy.

‘ I have pa id great atten t ion to the help and p rotect ion you ask

of m e . I am greatly d istressed . I should have responded to yourappeal and g iven you good suppo rt, but the great d istance betweenus com pe ls m e to be cautious . Your ne ighbours m ust com e to youra s s istance .

‘ I w i l l m arch upon the French and d r ive them away from you,

but you m ust first send m e proofs of your dependency on m y h igh

governm ent and my k ingdom . If you p os sess wri t ings em anat ingfrom your ancestors (those generous ones who are already in the

Land of the B lessed) , m an ifest and ser ious docum ents , send themto m e . W ith the ir he lp I w i l l de l iver you from eve ryth ing by the

power and grace of the Most H igh God,who suffices un to the

affl icted and who com fort s tho s e who suffer,for He is Al l-powerful .

Salutat ion .

MOULAY E L HASSAN .

’

And so faded their last and fondest i l lusions. As soon as

rece i ved , h is maj esty”s letter was put into th e hands of th e

commandant of Tim buctoo,who del icately placed i t in th e

archives .

Two large forts have replaced the im provised fortifications ,and thei r guns com m and every side of the town . Under thei r

protection the inhabitants are reviving. The long nightmare


of the Touaregs is being slowly dispelled,they are beginning to

repair and rebu ild their houses, to leave the doors aj ar, and to

resume their beautiful ly embroidered robes.

The town begins to show signs of European occupation . A

great,hercu lean negro plays the part of policeman

,and pro

menades the streets w ith a sabre at his s ide . An enterprising

merchant,Gaston Mery, has recently establ ished a counting

house,and he carries on an excellent business in the large and

comfortabl e house he has built there . Cardinal Lavigerie”

s White

A HOUSE : TYPICAL OF T I MBUCTOO RESTORED

Fathers have arrived , led by Father Hacquard (a man well known

in Algeria) , and, thanks to them , the town i s already endowed

with a ch urch (Our Lady of Timbuctoo) and a school.

2 n

has entered , and from which she will emerge more famous than

THE POLICEMAN AT TI MB UCTOO

ever ; for she possesses one thing which can never be destroyed,

and which ensu res her perpetual greatness—her unique geographical position on the threshold of the Sudan between theeastern and western Niger

, two arms which embrace the wholeof western Africa

.


I N D E X

A BDERRAHMAN SADi el Tim bucti , authorof Tart/e é S udan ,

l ife of, 31 2

-

31 3 ; the

plan of his work , 3 1 3-31 5, 31 6 .

Abou Abdal lah , 2 80-2 81 .

Abu Abdal lah ben Abderrah im , 2 87 .

Ahm adou Abdoulay , 1 39.

Ahm adou , last King of the Foulbes ,1 38, 1 39 , 1 40 , 340 .

Baba Boubakar , 3 1 0 .

Ahm ed Baba , l ife o f, 30 6-31 0 ; h is books ,

Ak i l , takes refuge in Oualata , 236 .

A lpha Moussa , 1 48.

Am ru , the A rabian conqueror , on E gypt,4 1

-42 .

Arabian language, spread of, in the Sudan ,

2 76-277 .

traders ofTini buctoo , 264-266 .

Archinard , Co lonel , 7 1 , 7 2 , 1 40 , 1 48, 1 72 ,

32 1 , 352 ; h i s m arch on Tim buctoo , 353A sk ia Bankouri , 1 1 8-1 1 9 .

Daoud, 1 20 .

E l Had) IL , 1 20 , 1 24 .

Ishak I . , 1 20 , 1 23, 1 2 4 .

Ishak IL , 1 20 , 1 24 . 1 26 , 1 27 ; deathof, 1 2 8.

Ism ael , 1 1 9-1 20 .

Kaghou , 1 2 8

Moham m ed , 1 09-1 1 7 : his devotion to

I slam ism , 1 09 ; pilgr im age to Mecca and

Ca iro , 1 1 0 ; conquests o f, 1 1 1 -1 1 3 ; ex

tent of his em pire , 1 1 3 Wise adm in istration of, 1 1 4

-1 1 6 ; deposed by his son ,

1 1 7 ; death of, 1 2 0 , 1 2 1 .

Moham m an Ban , 1 2 0 .

Moussa , 1 1 7-1 1 8 , 30 4

Aube E xpedition , graves of the , 1 99 .

BADOUMBA ,1 4

Bafing river, 2Bafoulaba , 2 , 4

Baga , o i ham am bz , or cheese-tree . 60 -6 1

Bakoy , 2 , 9

Bam barras , 1 29.

Bam m aku , Fort, 2 , 9 , 50 , 56 , et seq. ; i ts

principal articles of com m erce , 61 , 68,

32 2 .

Ban i r iver , 33, 50 , 51 , 1 43-1 45.

Bankouri , 2 89.

Barth , 36 , 89, 95, 98, 1 39 , 1 43 ,2 1 5, 3 1 2 ,

324 , 329, 337-344 ; as E ngl ish Am bassa

dor. 344-349 . 350 . 351

Berbers, the , 1 1 3 ; origin and h istory, 2 232 27 .

B irds of the N iger, the, 2 8-29.

Bo iteau , Lieutenant, 32 1 .

BonCi -Ba (‘

the great nam e givento Mungo Park , 36 , 32 2 .

Bon ier d isaster, the, 1 99.

Borgnis-Desbordes , Co lonel , 57 , 72 , 1 40 ,

32 1 .

Bosos or Som nos , the sailors of the N iger ,1 8 the ir origin , 1 9 their physical qualit ies , 2 2 -23, 38, 39 ,

80 , 81 , 82 .

Bourgoo , Poo l of, 51 .

Bossissa , on the results of the French conquest, 76-78.

Br ick-m ak ing in the Sudan , 1 48-1 50 .

Bruc , André , 32 1 .

CA ILL IE , RENE , 8 , 36 , 329 ; h is career, 330334 his host and h is house atTim buctoo ,

334-337 , 342 ~

Cam el , cost of h ire of, from Morocco to

Tim buctoo , 2 51 n .

Capta in N igotte'

s servant, ’5Chad , Lake , 1 95.

Cheikou Ahm adou , 37 , 68 , 1 34- 1 37 , 1 38 ,

1 39 ,1 56 ; his reasons for destro y ing the

great m osque at Jenne ,1 58—1 60 , 240 ,

tr ickery of, 30 4

Clarendon , Lord , letter from , to the She ikel Backay , 345

-346 .

Colbert , 32 1 , 352 .


Com m issar iat in the French Niger ian possessions , 1 2 -1 4 .

Convoy from Kabara toTim buctoo , 2 03-207 .

Cotton d isti ict of the Niger, 65.

Crocod i le-wors hip at Jenne, 1 81 -1 82 .

DA ! , 2 0 1 .

Pool of, 1 95, 1 96 .

Dakar, the port of Senega l , 1 , 70 .

Debo , Lake, 2 7 , 30 , 33 , 51 , 1 45.

Deltas of the N iger , 51 -53.

Diafaraba, 50 , 51 .

Dialliam an , 90 et seq. his successors , 99 .

Dia SobOi , 1 00 .

D iatigui , or land lord , h is duties , 260 .

Difli culty of procur ing books i n Tim buctoo ,

m y , 289,

Dioubaba, 2 , 5 j oui ney from , to Bam m aku ,

9-1 6 .

D i

’

oulas , 1 0 -1 1 .

B issas , 2 46 .

Dj ond ier, Pasha , 1 26 , 1 27 , 1 2 8

Doves , respect pa id to , at Jenne, 1 82 .

E GYPT, the present of the N ile,’ 4 1 .

influence of Anc ient, on the Sudan,

87-88, 95

-97 , 1 1 1 , 1 88.

E gyptian art, characteristics of, in the housesa t Jenne , 1 50

-1 53.

Custom s , d isappearance of, am ong the

SonghOis , 1 80 .

E l Backay , 1 39 ; h is house , 2 1 5, 343 337 ,

340 , 34 1 ; letters from Lord Clarendonand E ngl ish Con sul to , 345

-348 ; 349,

35°

Bekri , quoted , on funeral custom s , 1 94.

Dj ouf, 252 .

Hadj , 2 8 1 .

Om ar , 59 , 67 , 68 , 76, 1 38, 1 40 ,

I btz'

lzadj , 309 .

Mansour , Sultan , 1 23, 1 24 , 1 25, 1 26 ,1 2 7 , 1 30 , 307 .

Mouchali , on Sunn i Al i, 1 04-1 07 , 295 ;

his persecution of the Jews , 298-299 ;

influence Wi th the King, 299, 30 1 .

Oual Hadj , 31 , 51 , 1 91 , 1 93 ; m oundsat, 1 93

-1 95.

Zidan Sultan , 31 0 .

E ng land , efforts o f, to ga in a footing in

Western Africa , 325, 33 1 , 352 .

E ngl ish m ethods i n the Sudan , 345E ssoyout i , 1 1 0 , 1 36 .

FA lDHE RBE , Captain , his attem pts to

reach the N iger , 1 5, 7 1 .

General , Governor of the N iger, 350 .

Farannah , 1 4 .

Fatass i , the , 1 37 , 30 2 , 30 4 ; anecdote of,

30 3-30 4

Fi res the black m an's m ethod ofm anuring ,

39

Flatters Miss ion , the ,1 5.

Foe ta j al lon range , 9 ,2 9, 42 , 50 .

Fordm g the s tream to Tim buctoo , 2 0 5.

Foulbe dynasty , the ir d etestation of E uropean s

,1 39 .

Foulbes , the , 1 29, 1 33-1 34 , 1 35, 1 37 , 1 40 ,

French arm s , d isaster to , near Tim buctoo ,

365-366.

— influence in Jenne , beneficial resultsof, an old ch ief on , 1 72

-1 73.

GAO , cap ital of the SonghOi E m p ire, 94 ,

95, 98, 99 , 1 0 8 , 1 1 3, 1 24 , 1 26 , 1 27 ,1 33 ,

I 43. 1 47~

Gh i ngarabar, cathedral m osque of, 234 , 32 5,

326 .

Grey,Maj or , h is exped ition , 331 .

Guinea , the coin , nam ed from Jenne ,

’

1 72 .

HABA i S , the , 98.

Hacquard ,Father . 369 .

Ham dallai (E l-Lam dou-Li llah i ) , 1 59 .

Hondas ,M . , 31 5 n .

IBN BABOUTA , 96 ; quoted , 2 68-270 .

Chaldoun ,quoted , 2 23.

Ferhoun , 309 .

Im bert, Paul , so ld as a s lave, 32 1-32 2 .

Inundations of the Niger and Bani r ivers ,1 43

-1 45Is lam ism , appearance of, in the Sudan , 96 .

Irregenaten , 24 1 .

JENNE , 39, 67 , 80 et seq. ; 1 0 0 , 1 0 2 , 1 1 3,

1 40 , 1 46 ; its S ituation , 1 46-1 47 ; descrip

tion of the houses at, 1 50 -1 53 the grandm osque at, 1 54

-1 56 ; com m erce a t, 1 651 67 ; boat-bu i lding at, 1 67-1 68 ; cost of

travel at , 1 68 influence of, on the

Western Sudan , 1 69-1 70 ; the founder of

I‘

im b uctoo , 1 70 ; contrasted wlth Timbuctoo , 1 70

-1 72 under the Toucouleurs ,

1 72 ; results of French occupation , 1 72



QUEEN of the Sudan , the , 2 08 ,2 4 1 , 275.

37 1

RA iLLE ,M. ,

h is narrative of events in

Tim buctoo , 364-

366 .

Region of the three de ltas of the Niger , 53.

Rice the staple food of the SonghO is , 1 84 .

R ichardson’s E xped ition to the Sudan , 337 .

Roger , Baron , 332

Roum as , the , 1 33,238, 239, 2 40 , 338.

Rusfisk , town o f, 1 .

SAHARA , the, and Niger , struggle between ,

1 95.

St. Louis , 1 Schoo l ofHostages at , 7 1 .

Salt, the true go ld of the Sudan ,1 23 , 1 70

Sam ba-Marcalla , 32 2 , 323.

Sam ory, 57 , 59 , 1 40 .

Sana , 51 .

Sankore, Un iversity of, 237-238, 275 ci sea

Sansanding, 29, 50 , 65, 72 , 1 65.

Sarafara ,2 7 , 31 , 1 65, 1 91 , 1 95.

Segu, 1 4 , 26 , 29, 33, 50 , 65, 67-70 , 1 65, 32 2 .

Senegal , the tem perature of, 1 .

river , 2 , 9 , 1 4 .

S idi Abdal lah Chaber , 334Moktar el Kab i r, 338, 339 ; h is suc

cessors , 339-

340 .

Yaia , l ife of, 2 81 -282 ; descr ibed , 2 862 87 .

S igu i ri , 1 4.

Sofara , battle at , between the forces of E lHadj Om ar and Ahm adou Ahm adou ,

-1 38.

Songhois , the, the ir origin , 89-

90 ; first kingof, 90 ; the ir exodus , 93-95 ; their language , 97 ; their physical type , 97 ; capitalof, 98 their race of kings , 99, 1 2 1 the irem p ire invaded by Moors , 1 2 1 , 1 48 , 1 50 ;writings of, 1 81 sweetness of dispositionof, 1 83 custom s and habits of, 1 84-1 85 ;kingdom , extent of, in 1 496 ,

2 37 ; character of, 30 0 .

Sotouba , barr ier of, 50 , 6 1 , 63.

Spitz er , M . , 1 39

Sudan , the , 5, 6 , 4 1 ; French conquest of,how organised , 58 n . ; story of Frenchconquest , 1 40 , 1 4 1 , 352

-

37 1 .

Sudanese , the, character of, 300 ; MO

ham m edans and fet ich ists , 300 ; out

bursts of fanaticism am ong , 30 1 .

Sunn i Ali , 1 00 , 1 0 1 ; his conquests , 1 0 2 ;

h is oppressions , 1 0 3- 1 0 4 ;

‘ l iberties Withthe Faith ,’ 1 0 4 ; tra its in his character ,

1 0 7 , 1 09 , 1 47 ,1 80 , 236 , 2 37 , 30 4 , 306 ,

31 6 .

Sunn i Barro ,1 0 8.

Ta z'

fa , the official brokers , 262 -263.

Ta liba , or student , 2 89-290 ; h is schoo l

routine , 290-294 ; openings forthe . 294

-295.

Taoudenn i , salt-blocks of, 253-2 55 ; the ir

va lue, 255 salt caravan s of, 2 56 .

Tura ifa Koubm , 338.

Tar zh 2 S udan ,quoted or referred to ,

87 ,

90 , 9 1 , 93, 1 0 0,1 2 0 , 1 28 , 1 53 ,

1 60 , 1 85, 2 32 , 2 80 , 30 4 , 31 0-31 5 ; its style ,

31 5 ; the Ho z ier of the Sudan , 31 6 , 32 0 ,

343

Telegraph , the ,in the Sudan , 70

-7 1 .

Tem b i-Kuntu , 50

Tem b i r iver , 44 , 45 ,superstitions asso

c iated With , 45-47 .

Tenguaragifs , 2 4 1 , 357 , 366 .

Thega z z a ,salt m ines o f, 1 23 ,

1 24 , 2 52 .

Tid iana, 1 40 .

Tim buctoo ,1 4 , 2 6, 32 , 37 , 39, 40 cl sea ,

1 00 , 1 1 3, 1 24 , 1 33, 1 40 contrasted WithJenne , 1 70 -1 72 , 1 95, 2 00-2 1 1 ; m arket of,2 1 1 -2 1 2 ; bui ld ings in , 2 1 3

-2 1 6 ; l ife am ong

the ru in s of, 2 1 6 ; im pressions of, 2 1 6-2 1 8 ;m y l ife in ,

2 1 8-2 2 2 ; decadence of, 240 ;

in possession of tyrants , 241 -245 disastrous results , 245-249 com m erce and l ifeof

, 250-2 74 ; art icles of com m erce , 252 ;

the caravans and fl eets of, 257 ; hospita l ity of inhab itants to strangers , 259-2 60 ;the shops and shopkeepers , 26 1 -262 the

traders,262 -266 ; statistics , 266 -267 ; the

City of pleasure forWestern A fr ica , 2 69 ;

m anners and custom s of the p rople, 2 702 74 ; fashionable l ife in , 2 72

-2 74 ; a re

ligious , seientific , and l iterary centre , 2 73276 ; in its days of greatness , 3 1 9-32 0 ;the necess ity for French occupation , 352

353 ; the capture of, 353-

355 ; attitude of

the population , 355-360 ; the future of,

369-

37 1

Tom boutou (‘The m other With the large

navel 232

Touaregs , the , 5, 3 1 , 1 1 5, 1 23; 1 29 ,1 33,

1 34 , 1 4 1 , 1 43, 1 98, 1 99, 2 0 3, 2 06 ; the irindustries, 2 2 7

-2 2 8 ; head-dress of, 2 2 8 ;

the ir nom ad ic habits , 2 2 9 ; theft the ir natural industry, 2 29 ; rel igious bel iefs of, 231proverb concern ing , 2 31 ,

2 31 et sea , 256 ,

367 .

I N DE ! 377

Toucouleurs; the, 77 , 78, 1 38 , 1 40 , 1 72 ,1 73 ; V E NUS ANADIOME NE S , the , of the N iger ,

invas ion by , 349 .25, 26 .

Tou l im and io ,2 9 ,

63 V oyage from Jenne to Tim buctoo , m y ,

Tound i ti , battle between Moors and Song 1 89-2 07 .

ho‘s a t’ 1 26 ' 1 2 8° U NIQUE PEARL of his Tim e ,

’

the, 30 6 .

Tr ibes ofWestern A fr ica , 89.

Turner , Genera l Charles , 333.WHITE FATHERS at Tim buctoo , the , 369

Printed by T and A . CONSTA BLE ,Printers to HerMaiesty

at the E dinburgh University Press

The Mysterious - Forgotten Books

Documents