THE VALLEY OF THE NIGER
The ancient renown of Timbuctoo, its boasted commerce, and its prestige
as a rich and powerful metropolis, warrant the assertion _à priori_
that the regions surrounding this city of the Niger must be remarkably
fertile. It could hardly have usurped such a reputation. History
affords no parallel of an error continuing to deceive the world through
four or five centuries.
The geographer, sitting in his study between a modern map of Africa and
the works of El Bekri, Ca da Mosto, De Baros, Léon the African, and
other travellers, would reason thus: With sand to the north-east and
west of it the huge market of Timbuctoo is situated on the threshold of
the desert. Yet it is 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 it, we should expect to find a
rich extent of territory in the south, an isthmus of fertility, as it
were, jutting into the sea of sand. We should anticipate this stretch
of land to be large, since it has maintained a great commerce for some
centuries, and supplied such varied markets as Morocco, Tuat, and
Tripoli, as well as the various nomad populations of the desert.
Do these fertile regions really possess the happy distinction of
being discoverable by mere force of logic, as certain stars are by
mathematical calculation?
The occupation of Timbuctoo 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 privation and at the mercy of
his guides, but available also for the traveller who lingers to gather
complete information at his ease.
This country lying to the south of Timbuctoo is the Sudan, otherwise
called the Valley and the Buckler of the Niger, a vast region,
traversed to an extent of nearly 2500 miles by one of the largest
rivers in the world.
Egypt was happily defined by Herodotus as being the ‘present of the
Nile.’ What Herodotus 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, gives the following complete and accurate description of it in
a letter to his master the Khalif Omar.
‘O Prince of the Faithful! Picture unto thyself an arid desert and
a fruitful country, for such is Egypt. A beneficent river flows
majestically through its midst. The rise and fall of its waters are as
regular as the course of the sun and the moon. At an appointed time all
the springs of the universe come to pay tribute to this king of rivers.
They cause its waters to swell and leave their bed, covering the
surface of Egypt with a fruitful mire, and when the waters cease to be
necessary for the fertilisation of the soil, the obedient river returns
to the limits prescribed to it by destiny, in order that the treasures
it has hidden 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
may be brought to prosperity by the munificence of the Supreme Being
who causes harvests to ripen. The most abundant harvests are succeeded
by sudden sterility; and thus it is, O Prince of the Faithful, that
Egypt offers successively the images of an arid and sandy desert, a
liquid 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 accomplished for the
Sudan. In the course of a year we witness the same striking and opposed
pictures. The cultivation is as facile as that of Egypt, and is due to
the same regular rise and fall of the river. But the Niger shows an
even greater munificence in its 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, it only carries fertility to some few hundreds or
thousands of feet; while the Niger, on the other hand, owing to its
immense plains, dispenses its benefits over an extent of more than
sixty miles without the intervening aid of man.
The prestige of Timbuctoo in the past, and its boasted commerce, are
now explained by finding it as we do upon the threshold of another
Egypt, equally favoured by nature, but infinitely greater in extent.
Its only disadvantages consist in not having been developed by four or
five thousand years of civilisation, and in not standing in the doorway
of Europe as does the Valley of the Nile.
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE VALLEY OF THE NIGER’S SOURCE]
The Niger rises in the mountain chain which extends from the country
of Sulima in the north to Kono in the south, and spreads to the Kissi
country in the east. Contrary to the generally accepted opinion, the
range is not, geologically speaking, a dependency of that Foota Jallon
upheaval which is considered the centre of a great movement whose
subordinate branches were pushed beyond the sources of the Niger. In
reality, the range of the Niger’s sources, or the Kouranko chain, forms
the true centre of the upheaval. Its altitudes, in the countries of
Negaya and Kono, attain to 3840 feet (sources of the Niger), and 4920
feet in the south, while the average elevation of the Foota Jallon is
not more than 2625 feet.
The principal summits of the Kouranko range are: Mount Bondi, Mount
Ma, Mount Keina, Mount Konko-Kourawa, the two Kolas, the two Soullous,
Mount Kokonante (sources of the Niger), Mount Darou, the needles of
Kinki, the Songoula, the Banka, Fingui, Soofoa, Tinki, Owaloo, Kora,
and the Toumba (the four last are in the country of Kono).
[Illustration: THE SOURCES OF THE NIGER TEMBI]
In the Kissi country two rivers, the Paliko and the Tembi, flow towards
the north, pursue a parallel course, and, meeting at Laya, unite in one
bed to become the Niger or Joliba. The most important of the two rivers
is the Tembi, considered by the natives as the Father of Joliba. It
rises in a little hill to the east of Mount Kokonante, and not far from
the foot of Mount Darou. The hill from which the Tembi flows is in no
way remarkable from a topographical point of view. Bare at its summit,
it is covered a little lower down with a vegetation which, growing
thicker as it descends towards the waterway of the valley, proclaims
the presence of water.
About a hundred feet from the summit of the hill is a little basin,
about three feet in diameter and a foot in depth, full of clear water,
and called by the natives Tembi-Kuntu, or Head of Tembi. A hundred feet
further down is another and larger basin, which is not easily found on
account of the thick vegetation, the inextricable confusion of thorny
canes, trees thrown down by storms, tangles of creepers and tree ferns,
in which it is hidden.
The water of this little creek flows through the wood, and reappears
656 feet lower down in the valley. At this point the Tembi is a mere
rivulet; 875 yards from its source it has become, at the village of
Tembi-Kuntu, a gentle stream, increasing rapidly in size and depth as
it flows towards the north. At Nelia, eight miles from the source, it
is eighty feet wide, and at Farannah, sixty-two miles from the source,
it has attained a breadth of nearly 328 feet.
The wood from which the Tembi springs is reputed sacred, and is the
subject of innumerable legends and superstitions. Access to it is
denied to the profane; terrible misfortunes overtake any one uttering
a word or touching anything there, and warriors and all who have shed
blood die on approaching this spot. Its waters are believed to express
the judgments of God. If a man is accused of some crime which he denies
he is forced to drink of them, and if he is guilty his sin is proved by
an inflation of the stomach, followed by instant death.
[Illustration: THE TEMBI IN THE SACRED WOOD]
The natives say that in the centre of the little creek of Tembi is
a rocky islet. This little island is the abode of the Spirit of the
Spring, and the mysterious retreat of the High Priest who represents
the deity to mortals. He takes up his residence there by plunging into
the water and approaching it invisibly. According to the legend there
is a golden dwelling at the bottom of the lake, and his acolytes, the
minor prophets, profess to have heard the noise he makes in opening and
shutting the doors of his supernatural home. High priests and lesser
priests unite in jealously guarding the approaches to the spring, and
the mystery they make of it confers great distinction and authority
upon them throughout the country. The neighbouring kinglets refer to
them before undertaking a war or other act of importance, and the
common herd consult them on all occasions of weight. The Spirit of the
Spring, being eminently practical, will only condescend to attend to
them through the medium of sacrifice.
These ceremonies are not very ferocious, merely oxen being offered, and
not human victims, as in neighbouring Dahomey. The oxen, however, must
be young, as the Spirit likes his meat to be tender. The immolations
do not take place at the spring, but in the village of Nalia, where
the priests live with their wives and families. When the animal is
slaughtered the best portions are cut off, and naturally go to the
ministers of the Spirit and their families. The head and legs are left
adhering to the skin, which is then stuffed, sewn up, and thrown into
the river as it flows past the sacrificial spot. A few paces further
on the stream momentarily disappears through a subterranean passage.
The stuffed ox disappears with the Tembi, to reappear later on, its
head proudly erect, as, apparently overflowing with life, it rears and
plunges, appearing and disappearing with the bubbling of the current.
Every one then retires satisfied; the Spirit of the Spring and his
ministers pleased with the prospect of some first-rate meals, and the
people, who had defrayed the costs, charmed by the gambols of their ox.
[Illustration: A WATERFALL IN THE VALLEY OF THE NIGER’S SOURCE]
This Kissi region lies in the ninth latitude, where the last
ramifications of the Foota Jallon mountains join the first buttresses
of the Kong chain. The source of the Niger is to be found there, and
it is _par excellence_ the land of heavy rainfalls. From February to
July the water falls from the skies in veritable torrents. The gentle
slopes of the mountain ranges are channelled by innumerable cascades,
rivulets, brooks, and rivers, that carry off the heavenly overflow. It
is not surprising, therefore, that at Kouroussa, although the river has
received only three tributaries of importance, it has already acquired
an imposing bed. The further it advances, the larger and more numerous
become the waters by which it is swelled. These supplies cease
abruptly above Bammaku, and from there to Diafaraba the river is almost
solitary.
[Illustration: MAP OF THE NIGERIAN REGIONS AS FAR AS TIMBUCTOO]
It is between Tembi-Kuntu and Diafaraba that we meet with the first of
a homogeneous series of naturally irrigated zones. The left bank is
narrow, and descends in a gentle slope to the Niger, the Foota Jallon
range closely bordering and not quitting it until after Koulikoro.
The right bank, however, is free, and forms a large plain, which is
splendidly watered by the crowd of tributaries that run parallel to the
great river.
The latter does not squander its miracles on this first zone, which is
already so richly dowered with precious waters that its co-operation
would be superfluous. These countries of the Upper Niger are radiant.
Tropical vegetation spreads over them with the utmost prodigality,
its orange, citron, kola, and banana trees delighting the eyes of the
European.
The Niger is accumulating its forces as it crosses this region, and its
inundations are unimportant, scarcely overflowing the banks by half a
mile. The giant is reserving his strength that he may transform into
opulent plains the immense stretches of sand that await his coming
from here to Diafaraba. The river pauses for a moment below Bammaku,
in 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 plenitude of its strength it rushes on towards the north, passing
Nyamina, Segu, and Sansanding on its way.
Having cleared Diafaraba, it arrives, towards September, impetuous
and swollen, at Mopti, where it is joined by a monster tributary, the
Bani, with a mass of waters as formidable as its own. With such a
reinforcement, the army of waters has grown immense, infinite. Its bed
is now too narrow, it stifles between the banks. In front, behind, upon
all sides, it seeks outlets, hurling itself into the least depression,
and invading the smallest passage. And now takes place what I shall
call the intoxication of the Niger.
Happy intoxication! if such it be. The river flings itself headlong
over the entire low-lying region between Diafaraba and Timbuctoo,
covering it and swamping it, until a steppe of barren sand becomes one
of the most fertile spots in the universe. It has for centuries drifted
a beneficent vegetable mud into these low-lying countries, effacing the
sand and transforming this region into a granary of plenty. We find
there not one delta, as in Egypt, but three.
The first is from Diafaraba to the approaches of Lake Debo. On its left
bank, having found two auspicious outlets, the Niger forms the pools of
Diarka and Bourgoo. Its principal branch runs in a parallel direction,
and flows with its two arms into the Debo. Its waters are still so
abundant, in spite of this distribution of its forces, that the three
streams communicate with one another by means of natural channels. The
Bani connects itself with the Niger in the same manner on the right
bank.
Thus a most thorough and complete system of irrigation is formed, to
which man has not needed to put his hand; and fertility is spread over
thousands of square miles. The rise and fall of these waters is as
regular as those of the Nile, and an infinitely greater distance is
covered. At Mopti, for example, you can calculate in September ninety
miles from east to west inundated to a depth of eight or nine feet.
The countries of Sana, Bourgoo, Massina, Jenneri, and Kunari are
situated in this delta.
The second extends from Lake Debo to El Oual Hadj. Here the Niger
again divides into three branches. The least important, the Koli-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 joins the Black Niger at Sarafara, the latter being in its
turn united with the White Niger near El Oual Hadj.
[Illustration: THE REGION OF THE THREE DELTAS]
Like the Bani and the Niger, like the Niger and the pools of Diarka and
Bourgoo, these three branches communicate with one another by means of
winding channels, and we find everywhere the same system of irrigation
accompanied by the same wonderful fertility. Nor is this all. On the
left bank, at the extreme limit of inundation, the river finds a new
formula for its gifts in an admirable series of lakes, twelve in
number, and separated by chains of hills. The following are the names
of eleven of them, counting from south-west to north-east: the Kabara,
Tenda, Sumpi, Takadji, Sanaki, Horo, Fati, Goro, Dauna, Tela, and the
Faguibine.
The floods fill these lakes by means of gullies more or less wide.
Those of the Fati, Horo, and Takadji 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 small canoes. The borders of
these lakes, like the banks of the river they rival in fertility, are
alternately flooded and left bare for a distance of some hundreds of
yards.
The lakes of Tela, Faguibine, and Dauna form depressions to a depth
of thirty-three feet below the mean level of the Niger. They are fed
by means of gullies and subterranean infiltration. At the height of
the floods, by simply scraping the ground with your hand, you can find
water anywhere on the surface between the river and the lakes.
This chaplet of lakes forms an ingenious system of reservoirs for the
formidable masses of water discharged by the Niger and Bani united.
They return a portion of their water by means of gullies and channels
as the floods subside. To the second delta belong the countries of
Guimbala, Farimanka, Aoussa-Kattawal, Seno Krou-ku, Fituka, and
Sobundu-Samba.
The third delta occupies the valley extending from El Oual Hadj to
Khabara, the port of Timbuctoo. After El Oual Hadj the river pursues a
solitary course to its mouth.
This zone of irrigation is formed in the following manner:--Numerous
natural channels connect the Tela and Faguibine lakes with the left
bank of the river, the most important of them going by the name of the
Pool of Gundam. On the right bank a new series of lakes and the Pools
of Guaki and Kuna are scattered over the north-east of the valley.
Unfortunately these lakes are only known by name, but according to
the latest information they are twenty-three in number; among them
are the Kangara, Dinaguira, Doumba, Labou, Hongonta, Fatta, Tahetant,
Tibouraguina, Do, Gakora, Tengueral, Titoulawina, Agwabada, Garo,
Haribongo, Kherba, Tibouraghina, Dadji, Fankora, and the Marmar.
This delta comprises Kissou, Killi, Surayamo, Aribinda, and Gurma.
Retarded thus by innumerable and remote digressions, by liberalities
great and small, it is not until January that the Niger reaches
Timbuctoo. Driven back there by the sands of the Sahara, it takes a
sharp turn to the east, the dunes closely following it on the left bank
and preventing it from spreading to its full width. On the right bank,
however, the country is once more favourable for inundations, and the
Niger makes its fertilising power manifest in channels and lakes which
irrigate the country by natural means and give this Bamba region a
widespread reputation for wealth.
The course of the river to the east is now suddenly arrested by the
granite range of Taosay. It forces a narrow passage for a while, and
then, wearied with struggling against these rocky masses, it makes
straight for the south. Here again the left bank proves inhospitable,
while the Niger continues its customary marvellous transformations
on the right. Its progress is so greatly retarded here that it is
not until the middle of July that it arrives at Say with its full
complement of water, and it finally reaches the mouth in September.
Nearly a year therefore has it taken this immense mass of water from
the regions of the Upper Niger to reach, considerably lessened in bulk,
the Atlantic Ocean.
* * * * *
We have now seen that Nature has neglected nothing to make these
southern lands fit to maintain a commerce so important as that of
Timbuctoo. Cattle-rearing and agriculture attain to an extreme degree
of perfection, and one fondly pictures the wealth that might be drawn
from a country so marvellously constructed.
[Illustration]