return of the courier I despatched to Wadnoon with letters to Sheik
Beyrock is very meagre and inconclusive. In his letters no allusion
is made to the robbery and murder of Mr. Davidson, as having occurred
at different places, nor is the account of Jacob Ben Cohen supported
in this point by any of the reports which have come to my knowledge,
except the one received by my agent from his son at Morocco, which
states that Mr. Davidson had been robbed, and afterwards allowed
to proceed on his journey. I have no reason to suspect treachery
on the part of Sheik Beyrock, although the reports set afloat by
_Wold Isheme_ are intended to create such a suspicion. The falsity
of the report that Mr. Davidson had deposited a large sum of money
with the Sheik is evident.
“Considering there was a great probability Abou might have been
taken by the tribe of El Harib, and detained as a slave, I directed
the Sheik to procure his release, and to send him to me. By the
answer he has returned, he appears to believe that Abou had gone on
with the caravan, in which case there is not much likelihood of the
horsemen despatched from the station of the Tajacanths overtaking it.
“I beg to acquaint you I have not yet determined upon what steps to
take to collect further information, having only yesterday received
the letters from Sheik Beyrock. It is my wish to despatch a Moor
to proceed to Draha, to recover if possible everything belonging
to Mr. Davidson; the great difficulty is to select a person well
acquainted with the country, and in whom every confidence can be
placed. I attach considerable value to the notes Mr. Davidson may have
made on the route from Wadnoon up to the moment he met his untimely
fate. I have in view a Moorish trader who has travelled in many parts
of the Desert, and if I can come to an arrangement with him, I shall
despatch him to Draha, with directions to proceed to the very spot;
and everything I can do towards elucidating this melancholy affair,
be assured, will be done. I mourn for my friend.
“I remain, &c.
(Signed) “W. WILLSHIRE.”
“P.S.—I have omitted to state, that by the report of Jacob Ben
Cohen, Mr. Davidson met his fate on the 8th day of Ramadan,[184]
answering to the 17th or 18th of December last. Sheh Keya, near the
southern confines of the district of Eguedee,[185] sixteen days from
Tatta, and ten days from Toudeyny.
“E. W. A. Drummond Hay, Esq.”
“_Mogadore, March 7,_ 1837.
“The answer I have been looking so many days for from Sheik
Beyrock, in reply to a long letter I wrote to him, only reached me
this morning. In it he gives rather a different version from former
reports. At Eguedee, on the 18th day of Ramadan, Mr. Davidson and
a party of Tajacanths, twelve in number, were at a watering-place,
when a party of seventeen of the tribe of El Harib came up. It is
stated, more as a surmise than on certain information, that some of
Mr. Davidson’s party having gone to drink, leaving their muskets
behind, some of the Harib cut off the party thus divided, when two
of them immediately shot Mr. Davidson, and plundered the camels,
tearing and destroying all his books and papers. The Tajacanths,
who were plundered, and afterwards, with Abou, allowed to proceed
on their journey, and are gone on to Timbuctoo, do not appear to
have offered any resistance. The Sheik recalls the assertion made
in a former letter, that the traders of Tâfilêlt had bribed the
Harib to waylay and murder Mr. Davidson.
(Signed) “WM. WILLSHIRE.”
“E. W. A. Drummond Hay, Esq.”
“_Mogadore, March 14,_ 1837.
“SIR,—A trader of Wadnoon, named Sidi Ali Wold Ifkee, with whom
Mr. Davidson was on intimate terms during his stay at that place,
arrived two days from thence yesterday, called and gave me the
following relation of the melancholy fate of that gentleman, which
I believe can be depended upon, and is deserving of more credit than
any other. The substance is as follows:—
“Mr. Davidson and party were first met by some of the tribes of
Ilowbet and Ait Atta, who took from him some money, and allowed the
party to proceed. The party reached Swekeya,[186] where they rested to
wait for the caravan to come up. On the third day, a party of fifteen,
or more, of the tribe of El Harib arrived at the resting-place,
and after the usual salutations, inquired of Mohammed El Abd who
he was travelling with? when he replied, a shereef, who was going
to Gualata[187] on business. After some little conversation, the
head of the party of El Harib requested Mohammed El Abd to show him
the watering-place, who, leaving his musket behind, and the rest
of the Harib _sitting down_, accompanied him over the sand-hills,
and when out of sight, hearing a report of a musket, Mohammed El
Abd asked what had been done, when the Harib replied, his party had
shot the Christian; he complained bitterly, and said he would rather
they had murdered him. It is stated, that when Mohammed El Abd went
away, one of the Harib pretended to examine his gun, and seized the
opportunity to take aim, and shot Mr. Davidson, who was sitting on
the ground a short distance from the party, who immediately began
to plunder and seize everything belonging to Mr. Davidson, allowing
Mohammed El Abd to keep possession of what property belonged to him,
obliging him first to make oath on the Koran. That the caravan was
not met by the Harib, but has gone on to Timbuctoo, with which Abou,
the companion of Mr. Davidson, travelled.
“Sidi Ali added, that he had reason to believe that the first
robbers gave intelligence of Mr. Davidson’s route to the tribe
of El Harib; and that had not Mr. Davidson stopped, he would have
reached Toudeyny before they could have overtaken him.
“I am most sorry to observe, that I do not entertain a hope of
receiving further or more correct particulars regarding the fate of
Mr. Davidson than what I have communicated. He was aware of the perils
and dangers of the journey; nothing could shake his determination,
and his valuable life has paid the forfeit; but his name will be
handed down to posterity, as one of the many victims who have nobly
fallen in the cause of science.
“I am, &c.
(Signed) “WM. WILLSHIRE.”
“E. W. A. Drummond Hay, Esq.”
[Extracted from the JOURNAL of the ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY of
LONDON:—
pp. 100—110. Vol. 6th.]
* * * * *
“My name is Abú Bekr es siddík: my birth place is Tumbut. I was
educated in the town of Jenneh (Genneh), and fully instructed in
reading and construing the Koran,—but in the interpretation of it
by the help of commentaries. This was [done] in the city of Ghónah,
where there are many learned men [’ulemá], who are not natives
of one place, but each of them, having quitted his own country,
has come and settled there. The names of these sayyids who dwelt in
the city of Ghónah were as follows:—’Abd-Allah ibn-al Hájj;
Mohammed Wataráwí; Mohammed al Mustafá; Fatík, the white [man]
[al abyad]; Sheïkh ’Abdäl-kádir, Sankarí, from the land of
Fútah Jálló; Ibráhim ibn Yúsuf, from the land of Fútah Tóró;
Ibráhím ibn Abí-l Hásan, from Sillá by descent, but born at
Járrah. These men used to meet together to hear the instructions
of ’Abd-Allah ibn-al Hájji Mohammed Tafsír.
“My father’s name was Karah Músá, the Sherif,[188] Weteráwí,
Tassír, _i.e._ of the royal family.[189] His brothers were named
Idrís [Enoch], ’Abdu-r-rahmán, Mahmúd, and Abú Bekr. Their
father’s name was Már,[190] al Káïd, O’mar ibn Sháhidu-l-muluk
[son of the King’s witness or chief law officer] in the cities of
Tumbut and Jenneh. He[191] was also called Ibn Abú Ibrahím (may
his grave be visited!) was of this country. He was their father’s
first-born, and for that reason my name was called by the name of
his brother Bekr.
“After their father’s death, there was a dissention between them
and their families, and they separated, and went into different
countries of the blacks.[192] _Idrís_ went to _Járrah_, and
married a daughter of Már, al-káïd Abú Bekr: her name was
Ummuyu,—and he dwelt there. _’Abdu-r-rahmán_ travelled as far as
_Kong_. He married the daughter of Abú Thaúmá ’Alí, lord of that
country, and dwelt there. The name of his wife was Sárah. _Mahmúd_
[travelled] to the city of _Ghónah_, and settled there. His wife’s
name was Zuhrá. _Abú Bekr_ remained at _Tumbut_ with the rest of
the family.[193] He was not married at the time I left our country.
“Before all these things happened my father used to travel about
[continually.] He went into the land of Kashinah and Bernú. There
he married my mother, and then returned to Tumbut, to which place my
mother followed him. It came to pass after this, that he remembered
his brethren, repented on account of them, and wept bitterly. He
then ordered his slaves to make ready for their departure with him
[on a journey] to visit his brethren, [and see] whether they were
in [good] health or not. They, therefore, obeyed their master’s
orders, and did so; and went to the town of Jenneh, and from thence
to Kong, and afterwards to Ghónah. There they abode and continued
to serve their master, collecting much gold for him there. In that
country much gold is found in the plains, banks of rivers, rocks,
and stones. They break the stones, and grind them, and reduce them
to dust. This is then put into vessels, and washed with water till
the gold is all collected under the water in the vessels, and the
dust lies above it. They then pour out this mud upon the ground, and
the gold remains in the vessels; and they spread it out to dry. After
that, they try it [on a touchstone], and make such things as they are
able. For money or exchange they use shells, called al woda’,[194]
gold and silver; they also barter goods for goods, according to the
measure of their value.
“My father collected much gold in that country, and sent much
to his father-in-law; together with horses, asses, mules, and
very valuable silk garments brought from Misr, with much wealth,
as a present to him. He was my mother’s father; his name was Al
Háij Mohammed Tafsír, of the countries of Bernú and Kashínah,
both inhabited by his family.
“After this my father fell ill of a fever, and died in the city of
Ghónah. He was buried there, and his brothers went and made a great
lamentation for him. At that time I was a child; I knew nothing of
this, but all these things were told me by some of our old men. They
[my father’s brothers] returned afterwards to their own dwellings,
and Mahmúd [alone] was left in the city of Ghónah.
“My mother’s name was Nághódí, that is, in the Haúsá
tongue; but her real name was Hafsah.[195] Her brothers were named
’Abd-allah Tafsír, As-sifá, Ya’kúb, Yahyà, Sa’ad, Hámid
Bábá, Múmin, ’Othmán, and ’Abdu-lkerim. Her sisters were
Habíbah, Fátimah, Maryam, and Maïmúnah. Their father was named Al
Hájji Mohammed Tafsír, of the cities of Kashínah and Bernú. With
respect to my mother, she was born in the city of Bernú. Her father,
when he went to perform the pilgrimage [to Mecca], left her mother
suckling her, on which account her name was called Nághódí.
“My brothers were named ’Omar, Sálih, Sa’íd, Músá
Bábà, Múmin, ’Abd-allah, Suleïmán, Mustafá, Yúsuf, and
’Abdu-r-rahmán; but my mother’s side, Sálih only. My sisters
were ’A’yishah, Aminah, Selímah, Hawái [Eve], and Keltum;
but Aminah only on my mother’s side. These men and these women
issued, all of them, from the stock of the Sheïkh ’Abdu-l-kádir,
the sheríf, and their family name is Mór.
“About five years after my father’s death, I asked my instructor,
who taught me the Koran, to go with me to the city of Ghónah to
visit my father’s grave. He answered, ‘Yea, Abú Bekr assiddík,
if it please God, I will do that thou dost desire.’ He then prepared
himself, and sought for provision for the road; and he was followed by
a large company of his disciples,[196] who bewailed him. We reached
the city of Kong, and afterwards went on to the city of Ghónah;
and abode there a long time, reckoning that country as our own. We
found protection[197] in that country. Two years after our arrival
in Ghónah, it entered into my teacher’s heart to set out on the
pilgrimage; and while he was making diligent enquiries from people
who were going to perform the pilgrimage, some men told him of the
business of Mohammed Keshín and his brother ’Omar, and Adam, of
the land of Buntukhú. He then began to make inquiries of the people
of Buntukkú, and they told him that Omar and Mohammed Keshín had
departed, and had left Adam behind; that he was not [now] going,
but wished to go. My master made haste to seek for him in some of
the towns, and left me in the city of Ghónah with my uncle Mahmúd.
“At this time we heard the news of the business of Adingharah,
Sultán of Buntukkú, after the Sultán of Bandah, or Inkoransá,
who was named Afwá, had been killed. They say Adinkarah wished
to kill Kujóh, governor of Kolongzhwí, a town belonging to
the Sultán of Ghónah. He wished to kill him, because of what
happened between him and Dikkì, his deputy [who had been killed
by Kujóh]. Adinkarah, therefore wished to put the latter to death
by way of retaliation. Adinkarah, Sultán of Buntukkú, sent to
Kujóh, requiring him to pay a great deal of gold as a ransom for
his life,[198] and Kujóh sent what he required; but he refused to
accept it, and said to Kujóh’s messenger, ‘Return to thy master,
and say to him, “Unless thou increase it by 200 times as much,
I will not accept it; but my sword shall take his head from off his
neck; thou shalt die a swift death.” When this messenger came to
his master, and told him these words, Kujóh stretched out his hand,
took back the gold, and kept it; and likewise sent a messenger to
the Sultán of Ghónah to tell him what had happened.
“Then was Adinkarah very wroth; and he ordered all his captains
to gather all their soldiers together, and follow him to make
war against Kujóh, and to kill him, that they might avenge the
death of his servant Dikkí. When the Sultán of Ghónah heard that
Adinkarah, Sultán to Buntukkú, and his army, had come against them
to kill them, he and all his host, together with Kujóh, rose up to
meet them, and marched against them as far as the town of Bolóh,
choosing to attack them there; and there they fought from mid-day till
evening. Then they separated, and returned to their own places. Seven
days afterwards, they again gathered themselves together, and engaged
in battle, at the town of Amvighóh. It was a hard fought battle,
and many souls perished on that day. Thus did Adinkarah overcome the
King of Ghónah, and take the town of Amvighóh. The people of Ghónah
fled, and some of them passed on [as far as] to the city of Kong.
“On that day was I made a slave. They tore off my cloths, bound me
with ropes, laid on me a heavy burden, and carried me to the town
of Buntukkú, and from thence to the town of Kumásí, the King
of Ashantí’s town. From thence through Askumá and Ajimmakúh,
in the land of Fantí, to Daghóh, near the salt sea.
“There they sold me to the Christians, and I was bought by a certain
captain of a ship of that town. He sent me to a boat, and delivered
me to the people of the ship. We continued on board ship, at sea, for
three months, and then came on shore in the land of Jamaica. This was
the beginning of my slavery until this day. I tasted the bitterness
of slavery from them,[199] and its oppressiveness; but praise be
to God, under whose power are all things, He doth whatsoever he
willeth! No one can turn aside that which he hath ordained, nor can
any one withhold that which He hath given! As God Almighty himself
hath said:—Nothing can befal us unless it be written for us (in
his book)! He is our master: in God, therefore, let all the faithful
put their trust!
“The faith of our families is the faith of Islám. They circumcise
the foreskin; say the five prayers;[200] fast every year in the month
of Ramadán; give alms as ordained in the law; marry [only] four free
women—a fifth is forbidden to them except she be their slave; they
fight for the faith of God; perform the pilgrimage [to Mecca]—_i.e._
such as are able so to do; eat the flesh of no beast but what they
have slain for themselves; drink no wine—for whatever intoxicates
is forbidden unto them; they do not keep company with those whose
faith is contrary to theirs,—such as worshippers of idols, men who
swear falsely by the name of the Lord, who dishonour their parents,
commit murder or robbery, bear false witness, are covetous, proud,
insolent, hypocrites, unclean in their discourse, or do any thing
that is forbidden: they teach their children to read, and [instruct
them in] the different parts of knowledge; their minds are perfect
and blameless according to the measure of their faith.
“Verily I have erred and done wickedly, but I entreat God to guide
my heart in the right path, for he knoweth what is in my heart,
and whatever [can be pleaded] in my behalf.
“Finished in the month of August, on the 29th day, in the year of
the Messiah
1834 [1835].”
From this narrative we collect that the writer of it was born at
Tumbuktú, about the year 1794; that his grandfather ’Omar was an
al-káïd, or magistrate, in that city and in Jenneh on the Jálibá
or Niger, and son of the king’s witness, one of the principal
law-officers of the state. Kong, where his uncle Abdu-r-rahmán
settled, is the place in the chain of mountains running parallel
with the southern coast of Africa, the position of which was pointed
out to Mungo Park. Its distance and bearing with respect to Jenneh,
as far as Abú Bekr could give any notion of them, appear to agree
nearly with the position assigned to it in Mr. J. Arrowsmith’s
Map of Africa. Ghónah, the residence of Mahmúd, another of Abú
Bekr’s uncles, is about eight days’ journey east or south-east
of Kong. That place he believed to be mid-way between Jenneh and
Ashantí. But as the distance between Ghónah and Ashantí is twelve
days’ journey, that capital, the position of which is known, must
be about twenty days’ journey distant from Kong, and forty from
Jenneh. Abúr Bekr was two months on his way from Jenneh to Kong,
but he thought the journey might be completed in fifteen days; twenty
days, therefore, gives a fair mean, and confirms his supposition
that Kong is just midway between the Jálibá and Ashantí.
When only two years old, his father removed to Jenneh from Tumbuktú,
or, as Abú Bekr generally called it, Tumbuttú, or Tumbut;[201] of
that place, therefore, he had no recollection. When only four years
old he lost his father; and five years afterwards, when he was in the
tenth year, he went to Ghónah to visit his father’s burial-place,
stopping one year at Kong on the way. On the supposition, therefore,
that he remained three years at Ghónah, he was in his fourteenth year
when he fell into the hands of the Ashantís, and was sent as a slave
to the West Indies either in 1807 or 1808. Amvíkoh, the place where
he was seized by the people of Buntukkú, is fifteen or twenty miles
to the south of Ghónah, and nine days’ journey south of Kumásí,
the capital of Ashantí. Daghó, the place on the coast where he was
put on board ship, is mentioned by Protten, the Danish missionary,
as not far from Winnebá, one of the British forts. (Adelung,
Mithrid., iii. 188.) From Daghó, or rather Cape Coast, Abú Bekr
was carried to Jamaica, in which island he passed about twenty-seven
years of his life, first as the slave of a stone-mason named Donellan,
subsequently on the estate of Mr. Haynes, and finally as the property
of Mr. Anderson. Donellan was a very kind master, and when he told
his slaves, about a year after Abú Bekr was purchased by him, that,
as his mother wished to see him, he must return to England, after
selling his property in Jamaica, they all shed tears. Mr. Haynes,
it appears, was not himself resident on the island; and it was by
his order that Abú Bekr, and the rest of the slaves on his estate,
were baptised. In what manner they were prepared for baptism, it was
difficult to ascertain; certain it is, as we learn from Dr. Madden,
that the Mohammedans still retained their faith in the divine mission
of Mahomet. It was at his baptism that Abú Bekr was named Edward
Donellan. Mr. Haynes’s benevolent intentions cannot be doubted;
but, as is too often the case where the planters are not residing
on their property, his overseers and agents did not faithfully
execute his orders, for “it was then,” says Abú Bekr, in a paper
written on his voyage home, “that I tasted all the bitterness of
slavery.” On the 6th of September, 1823, Mr. Haynes’s property
was sold, and Abú Bekr was purchased by Mr. Anderson, who, having
discovered his steadiness and honesty, employed him to take an
account of all that came or was issued from his slave yard. He put
down everything in negro English and in the Arabic character, (for
he never had an opportunity of learning to read or write English,)
and read it off to the overseer in the evening. His cyphers they
perhaps could read themselves, and therefore prove his sums; but as
he is well acquainted with the first rules of arithmetic, and very
careful, they were probably satisfied with the sum total that he gave
in. After his liberation he continued in the same employment, but his
condition could hardly be said to be improved, as his employer merely
gave him his board, and appears to have withdrawn most of the former
indulgences, without substituting wages in their stead. Nor, but for
the kind and determined assistance of Capt. Oldrey, would he have
been suffered to come to this country, or indeed to leave Jamaica.
Of the kindness of his present master he speaks in terms of the
warmest gratitude; and Mr. Davidson, on his part, fully appreciates
his merits. Should that enterprising traveller be so fortunate as
to reach Tumbuktú in safety, he will find—independently of the
rank which, it seems, Abú Bekr’s relations there hold—that so
faithful, affectionate, and intelligent an interpreter is a treasure,
the value of which cannot be too highly estimated.
As the veracity of Abú Bekr’s narrative has received an unexpected
corroboration from the testimony of persons whom Mr. Davidson saw in
Morocco, it may appear superfluous to enlarge upon the circumstances
which justify our reliance on the truth of his statements; but a
brief mention of a few will perhaps be considered as an appropriate
conclusion to this paper.
We may say, then, that his general good character, his years as
indicated by his face, and the cessation of the slave-trade in
March, 1808, are all so many evidences in favour of his statements
respecting the age at which he was carried to the West Indies. His
knowledge of the Arabic language is another very cogent proof of the
truth of his statements. Though far from being able to write it with
strict grammatical accuracy, or possessing the command of an abundant
stock of words and phrases, his power of expressing himself in that
copious and difficult tongue, and the clearness and facility with
which he writes its characters, are truly surprising when his peculiar
circumstances are taken into account. He could scarcely have completed
his fifteenth year when taken away from Africa; was two years in the
West Indies before he could obtain the use of pen, ink, and paper;
and, with the exception of two or three negroes,—one fortunately
on board the slaver which carried him off,—had no means of reviving
his remembrance of what he had learned, till a very late period.