THE MOORS IN THE SUDAN
The prosperity of the Sudan, and its wealth and commerce, were known
far and wide in the sixteenth century. Caravans returning along the
coasts proclaimed its splendours in their camel loads of gold, ivory,
hides, musk, and the spoils of the ostrich. The Portuguese (always
the first traders of Europe), endeavoured at this time to enter into
relations with these countries of the Niger, whose magnificence had
become a proverb. ‘As tar cures the gall of a camel, so poverty finds
its unfailing remedy in the Sudan,’ was the saying of northern Africa.
So many attractions gathered together under one sky could not fail
to rouse the attention, and by-and-by the cupidity, of neighbouring
territories. Chief among these was naturally that country nearest to
the Sudan, Morocco. From the first their avarice assumed a harshly
definite character, for the people of Morocco had not, and never did
have, any desire to colonise and develop a commerce, nor even to
institute a religious propaganda. They looked upon the Sudan in the
light of a gold-mine, and their first aspirations, like their ultimate
efforts, were concentrated upon the mere drainage of this precious
metal. This covetousness of theirs was also the source of a new danger
to the Sudan, as it became the means of jeopardising its salt-supply.
The interior of the Sudan lacks this most necessary of products, and
salt represented, and always will represent, their principal article
of commerce. It was the true gold of the Sudanese, their most precious
commodity, and they obtained it from the mines of Thegazza, which were
situated in the heart of the desert. These mines were nearer to Morocco
than to the countries of the Niger, but Thegazza, as we have seen, was
the property of the Songhois, and possessed its representative Emir.
Hostilities commenced towards the middle of the sixteenth century. In
1545 Mouley Mohammed El Kebir, the sultan of Morocco, sent an embassy
to the king of the Songhois, claiming the mines of Thegazza, under
the pretext that they were situated on his frontiers. Askia Ishak I.
admitted neither the pretext nor the argument, and emphasised his
denial of the claim by an army of Touaregs whom he despatched to
pillage Draa, a town on the frontiers of Morocco, a plain intimation
that he was strong enough to defend his own, and was quite prepared to
do so should the sultan be inclined to dispute his rights.
This firm attitude gained a twenty-years respite for the Sudan, and the
question was not reopened until a later reign. It then assumed a new
form under Mouley Abdallah, who, instead of claiming Thegazza itself,
demanded a rent for the use of the mines. The Sudan was under the
rule at this time of Askia Daoud, who did not entertain the question
of tribute, but sent a very conciliatory message to the sultan,
accompanied by a present of ten thousand mitkals of gold (150,000
francs). The sultan was so overcome by the magnificence of this gift
that he made no further demands (1547).
The fatal moment approached, however, with the accession of the Sultan
El Mansour. A reform, of great importance under the circumstances, had
been instituted by his predecessor, who had greatly increased the
efficiency of the army by supplying it with firearms, cannon, etc.
From the beginning of his reign El Mansour had especially occupied
himself with the Sudan. He sent an embassy in 1583, ostensibly charged
with magnificent gifts, but in reality commissioned to reconnoitre
the roads and principal towns of Songhois, and make a study of its
army. Askia El Hadj II. received the embassy at Gao, and returned it
laden with gifts of still greater splendour than those it had brought.
This was fuel to the flames, and, too impatient to waste any time 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 himself with posting a body of two hundred musketeers at
Thegazza. Thereupon the Sudanese abandoned the place and its mines for
others recently discovered at Taoudenni, which for the future supplied
them with the precious produce.
El Mansour now had more salt than he knew what to do with, but no gold,
and the Sudan continued to occupy his thoughts. A new king reigning in
Songhois, he resuscitated the ancient pretext of tribute, and demanded
a mitkal of gold for every load of salt entering the Sudan. Askia
Ishak II. refused point blank, and, by way of expressing his whole
thought, accompanied the refusal by a gift of swords and javelins. He
should have gone still further, and followed 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 initiative.
Having convoked a grand council of his most experienced advisers at
Marrakesh, he explained his plans to them in the following words: ‘I
have resolved to attack the Sudan. It is an exceedingly rich country,
and will furnish us with large taxes, and we shall thus be enabled to
give greater importance to the Mohammedan armies.’
The sultan having thus, as a contemporary Moorish historian expresses
it, ‘emptied his quiver and purged his liver of its bile,’ did not find
his assembly particularly enthusiastic upon the subject. ‘Prince,’
they said, ‘there is an immense desert between our country and the
Sudan, which is devoid of water and vegetation, and so hard to traverse
that the very birds lose their way there.’ ‘If these are all your
objections,’ replied El Mansour, ‘I see no reason why they should
hinder my resolution. You speak of dangerous deserts and perilous
solitudes. 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, in groups or solitary? Cannot I do what these
caravans accomplish? I, who am in every way better equipped than they?
The conquest itself will be an easy one, for these Sudanese know
neither powder nor cannon, nor are they acquainted with the muskets
of terrifying sound. They are only armed with spears and sabres, and
what can they avail against us? Why should we make war against the
Turk, who gives much trouble and little profit, when the Sudan would
be an easy conquest, and is richer than the whole of northern Africa?’
The councillors allowed themselves to be persuaded by this eloquence,
saying, ‘Lord, God has inspired you with the truth, and we have no
longer anything to say against it. So true is it that the minds of
princes are the princes of minds.’
El Mansour took immense pains to organise an army, not great in
numbers, but carefully selected. From among his nomadic soldiers and
auxiliaries he chose the bravest and most devoted men, providing
them with strong camels and thoroughbred horses. In this manner
he collected an army of three thousand musketeers and a thousand
combatants (half cavalry and half foot) with side-arms. The supreme
command was intrusted to the Pasha Djonder, with ten subordinate chiefs
(or kaids), and the expedition left Morocco towards the end of the year
1590.
It entered the Sudan from the west, near the region of the lakes south
of Timbuctoo, and its fortunate arrival on the banks of the Niger was
considered in the light of its first victory, and was celebrated by a
great festival of rejoicing. It now turned towards Gao, the capital,
and when Ishak II. heard of the arrival of the Moors he assembled an
army of thirty thousand foot and twelve thousand horse, and opposed
them to the invaders. The battle took place in February 1591 at
Toundibi, not far from Timbuctoo.
El Mansour had not made a wrong estimate of the perfections of his
armament. The Songhois were routed almost without a blow being struck,
‘in the twinkling of an eye,’ it is said. The sudden shock of smoke,
noise, and the hail of balls so terrified them, that many, thinking
nothing could preserve them from such miracles, did not even attempt to
fly. They were found upon their shields with legs crossed, waiting for
the conquerors, and they allowed themselves to be killed without making
any movement in self-defence. The Moors pitilessly slew the demoralised
crowd, not even sparing those who cried, ‘We are Mussulmans; we are
your brothers in religion.’
The panic lasted as it had reigned during the battle, and spread
throughout the entire country. Ishak, who had gone to battle full of
confidence, surrounded by magicians and sorcerers, took to his heels
at the beginning of the action, and made no attempt to resist, even in
the capital itself. On receiving a command to evacuate it the monarch
sought refuge with the crowd, flying to Bornou in the south-east,
without attempting the chance of a second battle.
Djonder entered Gao without striking a blow, and Ishak hastened to
make overtures of peace, acquiescing in the demand of annual tribute,
and offering a present of a hundred thousand mitkals of gold, and one
hundred slaves in addition.
The pasha, judging these terms acceptable, transmitted them to the
sultan with a convoy of gold and slaves, and then turned his steps to
Timbuctoo, taking it without opposition, and settling there to await
the reply of his master.
El Mansour, however, would not hear of limiting himself to his original
claims. The success which he had so clearly foreseen intoxicated him.
‘He received so much gold-dust, musk, slaves, ebony, and other valuable
objects,’ says the chronicle, ‘that the envious are troubled and all
spectators are stupefied. He now pays his functionaries in pure metal
of good weight.’ From which it would appear that he had not been above
falsifying his coinage. ‘There were fourteen thousand smiths in his
palace employed in making the gold into coins, while other portions of
the treasure were converted into necklaces and jewels, and the name of
El Dékébi (the Golden) was given to the sultan.’
Great public rejoicings continued at Marrakesh during three days,
and deputations came from all parts to offer congratulations. Poets
wrote verses to celebrate El Mansour’s glory, inviting ‘the birds of
happiness to sing unceasingly in his honour,’ and calling him ‘the root
of glory to which all attach themselves.’ The triumph of the white over
the negro race was recorded in the following picturesque language: ‘The
army of the day hath fallen upon the army of night, and the whiteness
of the one hath destroyed the blackness of the other.’
It was not without reason that the Moors exulted over the conquest.
‘They found that the Sudan,’ says the _Tarik_, ‘rivalled the countries
most favoured by God, in the abundance, prosperity, security, and
health of all its territories, and all these benefits resulted from the
blessed reign of the Emir of the true believers, Askia El Hadj. But
from this time everything was altered; security became fear, prosperity
was changed into ruin, health into sickness and anguish, and men began
to fight and pillage among themselves.’
* * * * *
Dissatisfied with the moderation of Djonder, El Mansour removed him
from the supreme command and instantly despatched another pasha, named
Mahmoud, to the south. He was instructed to pursue Askia Ishak to the
death, and make the Sudan a Moorish province. On reaching Timbuctoo,
Mahmoud garrisoned it and departed with the army in search of the king
of the Songhois. The latter, hearing that his terms were rejected
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 circumstances (already sufficiently critical), the Songhois
enfeebled themselves still further by internal dissensions. Half the
army proclaimed Askia Kaghou king, and Askia Ishak was too demoralised
to make any effort to regain the supremacy. He disappeared from the
scene in a manner that, if not heroic, was at least tragic. ‘Having
resolved to yield the power to his rival, he gathered together the
officers of that part of the army which had remained faithful to him,
and collecting all the insignia of royalty, they burned them in a place
called Tera. The king and his officers then took leave of one another,
weeping and begging mutual forgiveness; and this was the last time they
saw each other.’ Ishak shortly afterwards died, obscure and abandoned,
at Gourma (1592).
The pasha now proceeded to a conquest and pacification which have
become legendary. The usurper, Askia Kaghou, having given himself up,
he and his retinue were crushed (by order of the pasha), by the fall of
the house in which they were imprisoned. Eighty-three members of the
royal house suffered death in various ways, some being beheaded, while
others were drowned or crucified.
Timbuctoo, which had rebelled against the harsh treatment of the
garrison, was cruelly punished. Two of its chief personages were
mutilated by having their hands and feet cut off, and were then left
to die. Many were massacred, and all the learned men, those marabuts
who had been the pride of the great city, were imprisoned or taken to
Morocco, from whence very few returned.
With the fall of the Songhois many of their conquered provinces
revolted, pillaging and destroying in the south and east of the empire.
Half the kingdom fell a prey to anarchy. Foulbes, Touaregs and Bambaras
distinguished 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 kingdom, in Hombouri and Dandi, where a few Songhois
had taken refuge with Askia Noé.
In 1595 the conquest was complete, and the Moors, realising that the
Niger was the key to the Sudan, fortified 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 the title of pasha. He was nominated
by the sultan, sent from Morocco, and exercised the civil power only.
The chief command of the troops devolved upon a kaid, and there was
also a hakim, or kahia, who filled the offices of treasurer and
prime minister. The sultan further instituted two emirs, who were
comptrollers for the crown, and resided, the one at Timbuctoo, and
the other at Jenne. These two towns, with Gao, were the great centres
of occupation, Jenne and Gao finally ceding the position of capital
to Timbuctoo. The latter town, situated on the high-road to Morocco,
was the residence of the governor; the greater part of the troops
were quartered in it, while reinforcements arrived at and expeditions
started from there.
This represents the Moorish side of the colony, but it still preserved
a native one. Mahmoud, after establishing the prestige of the
conquerors by the cruelties we have just witnessed, soon realised that
the administration of the country would be impossible if he destroyed
the whole of its organisation. Some members of the royal family had
joined him since the invasion, and he distinguished one among them,
Askia Soleiman, by making him king under his tutelage, and giving
him a residence at Timbuctoo. Askia the Great’s distribution of the
country into viceroyalties and governments was preserved, the pasha
retaining the nomination to these posts. Touaregs, Foulbes, Songhois,
and feudatories were recruited to form auxiliary troops, and when the
musketeers departed on an expedition they were accompanied by native
contingents, commanded by their king, or viceroy, under the orders of
the kaid.
For twenty years the constitution worked pretty well; then, in
consequence of events that occurred at Morocco, disintegration set in.
El Mansour died from poisoning in 1604. His successors, occupied with
palace intrigues and intestinal struggles, took no further heed of the
Sudan than to look for its convoys of gold, and interested themselves
little, if at all, in what went on there.
In 1613 the governor of the Sudan was no longer nominated from
Morocco, but was chosen by the troops from among their kaids. Up to now
the soldiers had been periodically reinforced. In 1605 twenty-three
thousand Moors had been sent to the Niger, but these supplies gradually
dwindled, and ceased altogether in 1620. The sultan only manifested his
care and attention when some embezzlement was brought to his notice,
or when the transports of gold did not equal his expectations; and on
these occasions he would give orders to hang and drown a certain number
of persons interested. For the rest, he left the colony to disentangle
its affairs as it best could, which it occasionally accomplished by
tying them into tighter knots than before. The kaids deposed one
another and disputed the title of pasha among themselves, settling
their rivalries by force of arms. The pasha of to-day beheaded or
imprisoned the pasha of yesterday. In a period of thirty years, 1620
to 1650, twenty governors may be counted. Some enjoyed the power for a
mere six or eight months, and later on their reigns are to be counted
by weeks and days, some by a day only, and occasionally there was no
pasha at all. In spite of the disputes concerning this ephemeral and
generally tragic dignity, its prestige as a position was still enforced
among the natives, and any revolt always found the Moors united against
it.
[Illustration: A STREET IN JENNE]
It was not long, however, before this solidarity was shaken. The
garrisons mutinied, and offered battle to the troops of the pasha;
rivalries spread among the soldiers, as they had among their chiefs.
They divided into parties, of Fez, Marrakesh, and, in the south, Moors.
These different elements were not existing on their arrival in the
Sudan, but had grown up in the various garrisons and the jealousies
that arose among them. Little by little they gained independence and
formed small governments, ruling the neighbouring countries. The
governor of Timbuctoo retained the title of pasha, but it became a
purely nominal one, and his authority was only recognised in his own
region. The single remaining tie between the colony and Morocco was the
tribute to the sultan, and that was paid as irregularly 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 Songhois,
and had increased and multiplied abundantly, their descendants being
called Roumas, after El Mansour’s musketeers, who had made such a
terrible impression on their first appearance in the Sudan. The native
organisation, Askia’s viceroys and koïs, had disappeared, and many
territories had asserted their independence under the government of
local chiefs. The Roumas retained principally those banks of the Niger
on which their forefathers had settled. Each group only concerned
itself with its own region, and had no relations, beyond occasionally
hostile ones, with neighbouring groups. Profiting by all this, two
elements of confusion established themselves and augmented the general
anarchy, viz. the Touaregs and the Foulbes.
The Touaregs were the first to exploit the situation. They crossed the
river, exchanging their position in the sands of the Sahara for the
opulent plains in the north of the valley. In 1770 they had taken Gao
from the Roumas, and Timbuctoo in 1800. The constant rivalries of their
distinct tribal divisions delayed the organisation of their conquests.
It was not so, however, with the Foulbes.
Contrary to the opinion that obtains among the Europeans of the Sudan
and Senegal, and is accepted to this day by the numerous books of
travel, the Foulbes did not enter the Sudan from the east. Neither did
they come by the valley of the Nile, as some, identifying them with
the Fellahs, believe: there is 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 white
race, as are the Touaregs, and like them are pastoral nomads.
The Foulbes were probably forced back towards the Sudan when the Moors,
driven out from Spain, invaded Adrar. This exodus towards the east was
not an emigration, nor an invasion, nor a conquest. It was for these
shepherds and their flocks a mere changing of pasture. A great number
of them settled amid the fertility of Massina, and it is there that we
see a powerfully organised empire arise in 1813.
[Illustration: JENNE]
Cheikou Ahmadou, its founder, not only ousted the Roumas, but made war
upon the Touaregs and captured Timbuctoo from them, accomplishing all
this in the space of twenty years.
He had been a petty chief reigning in the country of Noukouna (Massina)
under the name of Ahmadou Lobo. He spread about the report that he was
of the family of the Prophet, one of his ancestors having married a
daughter of Mahomet; and he was, like all the Foulbes, a fanatically
zealous Mussulman. In Africa, in the countries of the Niger and the
Nile, fanaticism can be carried to all lengths, and his zeal was, in
fact, the origin of his fortunes. His history is sufficiently curious;
for us, practical masters of the Sudan, it is full of instruction.
An Arabian work, found at Timbuctoo, revealed his history to me. It
was a little pamphlet of propaganda, written and disseminated by an
influential marabut at the instigation of Cheikou Ahmadou. The author
pompously addresses himself to the whole of Africa; ‘to the sultans of
Morocco, Tunis, and Algiers, to the Andalusians’ (a Moorish tribe which
had sought shelter in western Africa after their expulsion from Spain),
‘to the populations living near the great salt sea (Atlantic), and to
all people who are followers of Islam.
‘The twelfth of the regenerating Khalifs, he after whom the Mahdi
comes, is born. He is the Sheik, the Emir of the Faithful, Ahmadou
ben Mohammed, who is risen to restore the faith of the Lord and to do
battle for God in the Sudan.’
After this, it is necessary to prove that our friend is the twelfth
Khalif. ‘If I am asked for the proof of this,’ says the devout marabut,
‘I reply, the proof is to be found in the _Fatassi_, a history of our
country written by that learned man of law, Mahmoud Koutou (or Koti).’
The author, under the pretence of quotation, now proceeds to very
neatly relate his client to all the most celebrated Songhoi princes,
and even to Askia the Great. He thus serves a double purpose, shedding
upon the unknown the prestige of a popular sovereign’s glory, and
securing the sympathy, if not the concurrence, of the Songhois
populations. He dilates at great length upon the renown, goodness, and
wisdom of the great Askia, details his pilgrimage to Mecca, announcing
that he became Khalif, but adding that he was only the eleventh of
those Khalifs whose coming had been foretold by Mahomet.
So far he is accurate enough and fairly approximates to history,
but after this we enter the region of fable, the mythical facts of
interested trickery. After recalling the fact that Askia conversed
with and became the friend of Essoyouti at Cairo, the author of the
pamphlet makes the famous sheik deliver himself of the following
prophecy. ‘After thee,’ he announced to the king of the Songhois, ‘the
Sudan shall behold a twelfth Khalif, who will 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 Mohammed, of the tribe of the Ulemas of Sonkor, and shall manifest
himself in the island of Sibre-Massina. He shall inherit the Khalifat
from thee, and shall have abundance of smiles, moral beauty, and
victory, and he shall be established in all his designs. Thy greatness
shall be surpassed by his, for he will have studied the sciences, while
thou knowest only justice, prayer, and the elements of the faith. Such
shall be the twelfth Khalif announced by Mahomet.’
No one but Askia would have persisted in the face of such very
unpleasant predictions, but (according to the pamphlet) the great
king desires to know more concerning the successor who is to have no
connection with his family but is to surpass him in glory.
‘Will this new Khalif find the faith prospering?’ he asks. ‘No,’ the
oracular sheik replies. ‘He will find religion destroyed, but Ahmadou
shall be as a spark among dry grass. God shall give him the victory
over infidels, and will prosper all who aid him. Those who see this
Khalif and follow him shall be blessed as were the followers of
Mahomet, and all who render obedience 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 _Fatassi_, but was invented to assist the cause of
Cheikou Ahmadou and the Foulbes. It is as well, however, to bring the
document to light, as it was probably in the same manner that the Mahdi
of the Egyptian Sudan was accredited fourteen years ago. It was thus we
recently saw El Hadj Omar and Samory rise, and it will undoubtedly be
in the cause of religious fanaticism that the country will be roused to
revolt against our dominion in the future.
Our Sudanese possessions are peopled with divers races owning so
little in common with one another, that it would always be possible
to bring one tribe to reason with the assistance of another, on the
condition that the religious influence, which alone could subdue the
jealousies and dissensions of these different nations and unite them in
a dangerous whole, must be at once and totally crushed.
* * * * *
Cheikou Ahmadou died in 1844, and was succeeded by his son Ahmadou
Cheikou. Even during the lifetime of its founder this hastily
constructed empire had shown signs of failing, for the Foulbes,
rapacious and cruel to co-religionists and infidels alike, were kept
constantly defending their supremacy. So great was their unpopularity
that the inhabitants of Timbuctoo did not hesitate to call a third
element to their assistance, 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 insignificant
origin, the son of a marabut, he too traded on a reputation for
holiness. He made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and called himself El Hadj
Omar. Like Cheikou Ahmadou, he put the whole of the southern Sudan
to fire and sword under the pretext of a divine mission against the
infidels--‘the infidels’ being all those who were unwilling to submit
to his authority. Having pillaged and destroyed the south, he turned
to the north and west, to attack the Foulbe empire 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, with a few faithful
spirits, took flight in canoes, hoping to reach Timbuctoo.
Learning the direction taken by the fugitives, the king of the
Toucouleurs commanded him to be pursued and taken alive. The wounded
man would have offered some resistance on being overtaken, but the last
of the faithful fled across the fields leaving Ahmadou alone, face to
face with El Hadj Omar’s people. On hearing the order that had been
given to them, Ahmadou Ahmadou replied, ‘I will not return to Omar. I
will never see him in this world again.’ He returned to the canoe, and
taking his valuables from it he placed them upon the ground. Putting
on a white garment he knelt and made salaam, then, having finished his
prayer, he turned to the Toucouleurs and said, ‘I will never be Omar’s
prisoner. Fulfil now my last request, and do that which is pleasing to
God. Kill me, and all these things will I give to you in recompence,
and you shall say to Omar he died of his wounds.’
Thus was the tale of the death of the last king of the Foulbes told
me at Jenne. El Hadj Omar vowed undying hatred against Ahmadou’s
family and slew eight of its members, two of Ahmadou’s nephews alone
succeeding in saving themselves. One of these two, Ahmadou Abdoulay,
retreating to the east of the valley, became a small chief, and founded
a dynasty that rules the little country of Fiou to this day.
[Illustration: JENNE]
The Foulbe dynasty was particularly distinguished, from one point of
view, by its detestation of Europeans. It was at the instigation of
Cheikou Ahmadou that Major Laing was killed on leaving Timbuctoo.
Later, in 1834, Ahmadou persistently sought the death of Barth, who
gives a very full account of the dangers he escaped, and of how it was
to El Backay, the Kounta sheik, that he owed his life. This hatred was
again manifested quite recently. In 1891 a lieutenant of the marines,
M. Spitzer, sent as ambassador to Ahmadou Abdoulay, was very nearly
assassinated in the capital one night; it was entirely owing to the
swiftness of his horse that he escaped. This kinglet, alarmed by our
unceasing progress, has since humbly implored pardon and paid tribute.
The death of Ahmadou Ahmadou was speedily followed by that of his
conqueror. El Hadj Omar was scarcely installed in the capital of his
foe before he was attacked by an army of Foulbes, accompanied by a
reinforcement of Kountas. The Toucouleur held out for several months,
but the town was finally captured. He succeeded in escaping to the
neighbouring mountains of Bandiagara, and there he learned in his turn
to know all the desolation of defeat which had been suffered by Ahmadou
Ahmadou. His death, not so heroic as that of his victim, came about in
the following manner. Being pursued by his enemies he sought refuge in
a cave, which they surrounded and blew up with gunpowder, and El Hadj
Omar perished in its ruins (1863).
The Toucouleurs, under the government of Tidiani, a nephew of the late
king, still remained masters of the north of the valley. Tidiani was
succeeded by his son, who was opposed by his brothers in a series of
civil wars which terminated in 1877, leaving Ahmadou sole ruler.
A new prophet entered the scenes about this time, he too massacring and
pillaging in the name of God. He was Samory, that scourge of the valley
and of the left bank of the Niger.
But little by little, under the directions of General
Borgnis-Desbordes, our forts advanced towards the great river, and we
were installed upon its banks at Bammaku in 1883. Our gunners made
us known in the north while our columns pursued Samory in the south.
Colonel Archinard continued our march along the course of the Niger,
and the capture of Segu marked the termination of the Toucouleur
dominion in 1892. We reached Jenne in 1893, and before the end of the
same year the tricolour flag waved over Timbuctoo.
These few pages of history, and the fresh information they contain, are
not necessary only to explain Jenne and its Egyptian architecture, they
have another claim on our attention.
They serve to show that we have taken possession of the Sudan at
an exceptionally favourable moment as far as ease of conquest is
concerned. But they also show that we arrived after two hundred years
of its worst misfortunes, and at a time singularly unpropitious to the
prosperity of the country.
The Moors were the first cause of the work of disintegration, which
steadily increased during the two centuries of their reign, to reach
its maximum in the present day. The history of this disruption is a
tissue of accumulated misery and desolation.
We find the country in a most abnormal political and economical
position, a position which is general, not localised and partial. From
north, east, and south Touaregs, Foulbes, Toucouleurs and Kountas have
flung their starveling herds into this promised land. They appear in
the light of some monstrous association eager to destroy the happy
privileges nature showered upon these rich territories, and labouring
to annihilate the benefits of an ancient civilisation in the triumph
of their native barbarism. And all this in the name of the one God!
Cheikou Ahmadou, El Hadj Omar, and Samory were not the only devastating
prophets. I have pruned numerous other fanatic and sanguinary meteors
from these pages who account for a lesser share of the great sum of
evil.
During all this time agriculture was interrupted and commerce
destroyed. The river was deserted of its canoes, and the traffic of
the caravan became impossible. The markets were empty, the population
decimated by slavery and famine, and entire countries were depopulated
by emigration.
The negro race is so prolific, however, thanks to polygamy, and the
earth is so fertile, thanks to the inundations of the Niger, that all
these evils will be repaired in a few years owing to the peace and
organisation we have introduced in the country.
[Illustration]