THE COMMERCE AND LIFE OF TIMBUCTOO
‘Timbuctoo is the meeting-place of all who travel by camel or canoe.’
This simple dictum of an old Sudanese chronicle excellently expresses
the commercial greatness of the city; the ‘canoe’ representing the
south of Timbuctoo (the Sudan), and the ‘camel’ indicating the Sahara
and the whole of northern Africa, Morocco, Algeria, Tuat, Tunis,
Tripoli, and, finally, Europe.
An intermediary of exchange between north and south having become
essential, Timbuctoo supplies the part, and serves to unite the Berber
and Arab with the Negraic world. This task is marvellously facilitated
by her unique situation. Placed as she is at the outlet of a labyrinth
of tributaries, creeks, and channels, at the point where the Niger
bends abruptly from the western to its eastern course, she offers an
easy point of concentration to north and south. Here the Sudan can
assemble her many different products, and satisfy all her clients of
the north at the same time. Timbuctoo is like a port with bonded docks
situated on the coast of an opulent continent, with a sea of sand
stretching before her upon which the fleets of the desert come and go.
* * * * *
The commerce of the desert and the organisation of its caravans were
established by the Moorish and Arabian tribes who dwelt on the confines
of the desert. The country in which they pitched their tents permits of
no cultivation, but favours the rearing of innumerable camels, and the
nomads offer the native merchants the hire of these useful animals[12]
in exchange for cereals and clothing.
On account of its proximity and its former conquest of the city,
Morocco has become the principal client of Timbuctoo, Tendouf, Souara,
Marrakesh, Fez, and Tafilalet being the points of departure of its
caravans. Algeria is only of secondary importance, as its relations
with the city are indirect, being established by means of Tuat; in the
same manner Tunis and Tripoli trade through Ghadames. The caravans
from the coast are chiefly laden with European stuffs, the principal
fabric being the indigo blue cotton called Guinea, which is imported
all over Africa. It is worth from fourteen to twenty-five francs the
length in Timbuctoo, and only seven in Senegal. White calico is also in
great request, and a few silks are numbered among the more luxurious
textiles. In a general way the odd medley of patterns and colours which
are in such demand upon the coast are despised in Nigerian Africa,
their place being taken by more sober designs of Arabian character.
Other articles of commerce are firearms, gunpowder, cutlery, paper
(sold on the Niger at twenty-five or thirty centimes a sheet),
scissors, needles, mirrors, silk, and seed pearls (for embroidery),
amber, coral, large pearls for necklaces, spices (principally cloves),
sugar, tea, coffee, perfumes, tobacco from Tuat, teapots, cups,
snuff-boxes, dates, carpets, fez, burnouses, caftans, etc.
The camels are only partly loaded on starting, for half-way the
caravans complete their freights with that unique article, salt. I
have laid stress upon the primary importance of this product in former
chapters, and it only remains for me to show how it is procured.
The long depression in the western Sahara bearing the name of El Djouf
is a vast mine of rock salt. We have seen that the supply first came
out of Thegazza, and that these mines were abandoned in the sixteenth
century for those of Taoudenni, situated nearer Timbuctoo.
[Illustration: A BLOCK OF SALT]
Little accustomed as they are to smiling pastures, Taoudenni, according
to the people of the desert, is one of the dreariest spots on the face
of the earth, possessing neither trees nor vegetation, while the little
water that is to be found there is salt. Shade, and water fit to drink,
must be sought at the wells of Oued Teli, distant a day’s journey. Not
even earth for the construction of dwellings is to be found, houses
and mosques being built of rock salt and roofed with camel skins. The
inhabitants of the town subsist upon the dates the caravans bring on
their way to Timbuctoo, and the cereals and other provisions they leave
behind on their return.
Under a thin covering of sand the mineral is found in clearly marked
layers. It is dug out in large lumps by slaves, and trimmed down to
blocks (about 3 ft. 7 in. by 1 ft. 3 in.), looking like bars of red
or grey-veined marble, and which, as they come out of the mine, are
stamped with the trade-marks of the different contractors. They are
worth from two to six francs, according to their quality, and a camel
can carry four or five at a time.
[Illustration]
Before entering the Negraic countries they undergo a regular toilet
at Timbuctoo, where they are embellished with geometrical designs in
black paint, and the name of some venerated chief is written on them
in Arabic characters. Sidi Yaia, the patron of Timbuctoo, Abd’ el
Kader, the great Algerian chief, Cheikou Ahmadou, El Hadj Omar, etc.,
are honoured in this fashion. 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 manufacture of these
thongs occupies an entire branch of business from one end of the year
to another will give some idea of the importance of her salt trade to
Timbuctoo.
The densest and whitest blocks are the most in demand, those veined
with red being of an inferior quality. Their price in Timbuctoo varies
according to the greater or less security of the Sudanese routes.
‘There was a time,’ said the old men, ‘when these blocks cost only from
five to ten francs’; but during my sojourn there thirty or forty francs
more nearly represented the price paid for them. An exporter from Jenne
and Sansanding will purchase five hundred blocks at a time. Bought at
thirty francs, for example, and worth forty-five at Sarafara and double
at Jenne, they represent about seventy or eighty francs apiece at San
or Sansanding, increasing in value at the same rate until they reach
Mossi and the regions of Lake Chad. With such voyages in prospect the
advantage these bars of salt possess over our powdered substance is
sufficiently obvious. Hard as stone, and proof against injury from
moisture, they do not suffer from the loss and theft to which our sacks
of salt are peculiarly liable. The seller retails them in small pieces
proportioned to the demand. They often serve the traveller as a means
of barter, for the Sudanese who declines to sell his provisions for
cowries, silver, or even gold, will never refuse a small lump of salt.
[Illustration: RETAILING SALT]
* * * * *
Having completed its freight at Taoudenni, and paid one or several
tolls to the Touaregs, the caravan reaches Timbuctoo, if it has not
been entirely pillaged 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 the early settlement of Touaregs that gave birth to the
city of Timbuctoo.
The merchants accompanying the caravans lodge in the town, but the
camel-drivers find shelter in the Abaradiou. The camels are watered
at large pools lying near, and are pastured on the neighbouring
dunes, where the sober-minded animals find the camel-grass and other
miserable and thorny vegetation which form their chief delicacies.
[Illustration]
As one would suppose, the number and importance of the caravans vary
in direct relation with the security of the Sahara on the one side and
the prosperity of the Sudan on the other. The large caravans include
from six hundred to a thousand camels and from three to five hundred
men, their freight representing from six hundred thousand to a million
francs’-worth of goods. They generally arrive from December to January
and from July to August. Smaller caravans of sixty or a hundred camels
are arriving all the year round, the town annually receiving about
fifty or sixty thousand camels. In the year following our occupation
(evidently an abnormal one) the official returns only stated fourteen
thousand camels.
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE PORT OF TIMBUCTOO]
Like the burdens of the camels, the cargoes of the fleets comprise
two distinct parts. One portion, destined for Timbuctoo and the towns
and nomadic tribes of the Sahara, consists principally of matters of
alimentation, such as millet, rice, karita, manioc, arachides, honey,
kola nuts, neta and baobab flour, monkey-bread, tamarinds, onions and
tobacco (cheaper and inferior to that of Tuat), dried fish, and in
addition, soap, iron, antimony, cotton, straw hats, potteries, and
calabashes. The other is specially allotted to Morocco, Tuat, and
Ghadames, and comprises gold, ivory, ostrich plumes, raw leather, wax,
incense, civet musk, indigo, gum, etc., and includes a few slaves.
[Illustration]
The different methods of northern and southern transport being now
explained, the commerce of Timbuctoo appears in all its simplicity.
The camels transfer their burdens to the canoes, and the vessels
confide their cargoes to the camels, Timbuctoo being the place of
trans-shipment. The city is merely a temporary _dépôt_, situated
between the borders of the desert and the copiously watered valleys of
the south, and is so completely a town of warehouses and docks that
none of its merchants possesses either camel or boat. What part, then,
do its people play if they are neither exporters nor importers? They
are brokers, contractors, and landlords. ‘The guest is a present from
God,’ says an Arabian maxim much in vogue in Timbuctoo, where there are
no caravansaries. The inhabitant offers gratuitous board and lodging
to the stranger merchant for the first three days, and interprets
the noble precept in a disinterested and elevated manner. There is a
perfectly straightforward understanding that at parting on the fourth
day the guest shall hire one of his host’s houses (some own as many
as ten or fifteen) for the remainder of his stay. These dwellings
are similar to the one I occupied, and are large enough to serve as
warehouse as well as habitation. Moreover, the part of _diatigui_ or
landlord does not end there; he is expected to instruct the stranger
on the current prices, the abundance or scarcity of the product he has
come to buy or sell, the standing of any client who may offer himself,
and also to assist his guest in making his purchases, the price of
lodging thus including the benefits of brokerage.
[Illustration: UNLOADING CAMELS]
I too made use of my landlord according to custom, asking him to
advise me in the choice of tradespeople, and appealing to him in all
my business transactions. I requested him to conduct me about the town
as though I were some merchant of Mossi or Tafilalet, and he led me
through the markets and showed me the interior of those crumbling
wrecks of houses which had so deceived me on my arrival. To my great
surprise I found well-provided shops under these ruins, stored with
the most varied fabrics from all parts of Europe and the Sudan, and
containing every description of native product. We pursued the same
dilapidated road I had followed on the first day. Under the low roof of
a hut, open to the four winds, we found a tailor and his nine workmen,
whose needles were flying through blue-and-white stuffs, while an old
greybeard in spectacles read verses of the Koran to them through his
nose. Some were making pantaloons and the ample robes of the Sudan,
while others were ornamenting them with elaborate Moorish embroideries.
These embroidered robes (Timbuctoo’s chief 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, Bammaku, and Gao, and cost from three to four thousand francs
apiece. They are marvels of taste and delicate workmanship, with roses
and arabesques on the back and front, embroidered in shining silken
threads that stand out in brilliant whiteness from the raw silk of the
fabric.
Shoemakers formerly employed a similar art upon the wonderful leather
of the country, the true marocco, fine, supple, and light, which is
made into boots embellished with green and yellow embroideries, and
into slippers, cushions, 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 merchant, and before its closed
and barricaded door my guide recited the accustomed discourse; in spite
of the several months of our occupation, the old habits of precaution
have not entirely disappeared. Having passed the second armoured
door, we found ourselves in a courtyard shaded by a large verandah,
whose arched galleries ran round its four sides, like the _patio_ 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 marvellously clean and well kept, and after the
_Lasciate ogni speranza_ of the exterior it seemed a paradise.
[Illustration: THE GARDENS OF TIMBUCTOO]
Carpets and cushions were scattered about under the galleries, for
this court is the reception-room, and it is here that all business is
transacted. A panther skin was offered me for seat, and we were served
with tea and sugar and the delicious dates of Tuat. After that we
visited the shop, which ran across the entire 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 side 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 the official brokers or _taifa_,
who specialise in certain products, such as salt, gold, cattle and
textiles. They go from house to house, offering their services,
showing samples, and explaining prices. On asking the number of the
specialists, I am told, ‘There are about three hundred who carry on the
profession from father to son, but all, even the women and children,
are brokers in Timbuctoo.’
If he is provided with the necessary capital, and sees the moment to be
propitious, the native of Timbuctoo is not above speculating on his own
account, and his operations are very similar to those of our Bourse.
At certain periods of the year, when the great caravans are expected,
the rich merchants buy up all the chief articles of commerce, salt,
cereals and textiles, thus causing an artificial rise in price, which
they maintain until their agent signals the approach of caravan or
fleet. They also buy large quantities of karita, kola nuts, onions, and
other stores, which are sold by children and slaves in the markets and
streets.
Falsification and fraud, as well as speculation, have long been known
and practised in Timbuctoo. An old writing of the time of Askia the
Great devotes several pages to the denunciation of false weights and
measures, the admixture of copper with virgin gold, the aëration of
meat, and the baptism of milk, etc.
It is sufficiently obvious that the great firms of Morocco, Tuat, and
Ghadames would, like Jenne and Sansanding, seek to relieve themselves
of the onerous intervention of the native broker. All these towns, in
fact, possessed property in Timbuctoo, and their representative, a
relative or confidential slave, was installed there, the heads of the
firm paying an annual visit in order to verify accounts and control
the inventory. Occasionally the merchants of north and south would
establish themselves in the city, returning to their native country as
soon as their fortunes were made. All these people bought and sold
directly from the caravan.
[Illustration: TRADERS FROM THE COUNTRY OF MOSSI]
The Arabian traders formerly constituted the most numerous,
enterprising, and richest element of the city. They introduced a system
of banking, and the traveller could procure from them letters of
credit for the whole of northern Africa. They also gave credit to the
_dioulas_, or travelling negro merchant. All this required considerable
courage, for there are no police in the Sudan, and two or three years
had often elapsed before they saw their debtors again. Frequently they
never reappeared at all, owing not so much to intentional dishonesty,
as to the numerous wars and the frequent insecurity of the different
routes. The quarters occupied by the Arabs were called the Baghinde,
and the population, natives of Morocco, Tuat, and Tripoli, formerly
numbered about three hundred. They formed a colony which was known by
the name of ‘the community of white men,’ and was analogous to the
European colonies of Eastern cities. They had a deputy at their head,
occupying a similar position to our consul, who was called ‘head of
the whites,’ and who was always a member of the town council. On our
entry into Timbuctoo, our officers found the ‘head of the whites’ to
be a Tripolitan named Milad. He was a man of exceptional intelligence,
and having had intercourse with Europeans in his own country, he
was enabled, by his advice and other good offices, to give material
assistance to our occupation.
[Illustration: STREET IN THE ARABIAN QUARTER]
Like the native population, this Arabian colony fell to pieces under
the unbearable tyranny of the Touaregs; but for all that it would
be a mistake to suppose that Timbuctoo was ever a very populous
city. I should calculate the town to have possessed a population of
only forty or fifty thousand inhabitants, even at the time of its
greatest splendour. The absence and impracticability of any local
industry explains a figure so inconsiderable when compared with other
great places of Mussulman commerce, such as Cairo and Damascus, but
sufficiently important when we realise that the entire population lived
by, and was occupied with, commerce alone.
Seen in this light, the following figures will not be surprising. In
January 1895 the statistics show a turnover of 460,000 francs, and
at the time these figures were stated to me those who computed them
assured me that they hardly represented a third of the actual sum.
No serious effort has ever been made to obtain an accurate knowledge
of such things. The captain of the port of Timbuctoo has not even an
interpreter at his service. One has to be satisfied with the voluntary
declarations made by the merchants to the military authorities and the
native police superintendents of Kabara and Timbuctoo. Even less than
his European _confrère_ does the African merchant like to let the whole
world into the secrets of his affairs.
[Illustration: GOLD MERCHANTS]
It is necessary to mention the markets that since our occupation have
been established by the timid or intractable upon the Lower Niger.
Two of these markets, viz. Keirago and Bamba, now possess a traffic
and population almost as important as those of Timbuctoo itself. All
these causes of fluctuation must be taken into account before we can
accurately estimate the capabilities of Timbuctoo. I believe it will
not be long before the city will increase her annual commerce by twenty
millions, that is to say, double the amount computed in 1893 for the
entire colony of the French Congo.
Not only was Timbuctoo the great commercial centre, it also represented
a city of pleasure to the whole of western Africa, and especially to
the Arabs.
I talked at Senegal with one of those Moorish traders who form a very
active and wealthy colony at St. Louis. Being _en route_ for Timbuctoo,
I naturally did not forget to ask him what he knew, or rather had
heard, of the city, for he had never visited it. ‘Ah! you are going to
Timbuctoo!’ he cried, with sparkling eyes. ‘Oh! at Timbuctoo there are
ladies, very many and very beautiful!’ To his mind the city seemed to
represent a gallant life rather than business. After gold, ivory, and
ostrich feathers, the principal attractions of Timbuctoo for the people
of the north are undoubtedly the easy manners prevailing in the Sudan.
This is also confirmed by ancient geographers.
Léon the African contents himself with saying, ‘The inhabitants of
Timbuctoo have gay natures, and dancing goes on every evening until an
advanced hour.’ He was writing for the Vatican, which may explain his
reserve. Ibn Batouta is more explicit. He observes on his arrival in
the Sudan that ‘these people have very singular manners. The men are
not in the least jealous concerning their women-folk. The latter are
not at all embarrassed in the presence of a man; and although they are
very devout in their prayers, they go about with unveiled faces. They
have friends and companions among the men, and the men on their side
have friends among the women. Thus it often happens that a man, on
returning home, finds his wife entertaining a friend. Having received
permission from the kaid of Oualata to visit him, I presented myself
at his house one day, and found him with a woman who was young and
beautiful. I was about to retire upon seeing her, when, without showing
the least shame, she went into fits of laughter at my embarrassment.
“Do not go,” said the kaid. “It is only a good friend of mine.” I was
thunderstruck at seeing a jurisconsult, a scholar, and a man who had
made a pilgrimage to Mecca, behaving in such a manner. I learned later
that he had applied to the sultan for permission to make the pilgrimage
that same year in company with his good friend! Upon another occasion
I visited a man, and found him seated on a rug while his wife occupied
a chair and was conversing with a man who was sitting beside her. “Who
is that woman?” I asked. “She is my wife,” he replied. “And who is
the man sitting beside her?” “That is a friend of hers.” “How can you
suffer such a thing?” I indignantly asked; “you who have lived in our
countries of the north, and know the rules of the Koran.” “With us,” he
replied, “women have friendships that are in every way honourable, and
no suspicion is ever aroused, for our women are not like those of your
country.” I was so disgusted by his folly that I instantly quitted his
house, and have never set foot in it again.’
It was towards 1350 that Ibn Batouta was so scandalised by the manners
of Oualata, and history has shown us that Timbuctoo was developed by
the immigration thither of the people of the former town. Merchants
and scholars would naturally import their manners as well as their
commerce, wealth, and science.
In a chapter entitled, ‘All that I found of evil in the conduct of
the blacks,’ the same author continues, ‘The slaves, male and female,
and the young girls, appear in the streets quite nude. I saw a great
number thus even in the month of Ramadan. It is the custom for all
great personages to break their fast with the sultan, and for this
purpose they send parties of twenty or more young slaves to carry the
provisions to the palace. They appear before the sultan quite nude, and
his own daughters do the same. The evening before Ramadan I saw several
slaves with food leave the palace accompanied by two of the sultan’s
daughters, and they likewise wore no clothes.’
Ibn Batouta was a highly cultured man, as pious as he was learned, and
deeply imbued with the veiled manners of Islam. Such customs could but
shock and move to wrath a mind thus educated, but their effect upon
the vulgar, the merchants and their clerks and camel-drivers, would
probably be different. Bred in the Arabian world, in which men and
women lived absolutely separate lives, and in which the latter disguise
not only their form but even their features under heavy draperies,
the spectacle of such manners must have been to them both novel and
curious. They would not experience the repulsion of the learned Ibn
Batouta, but would mix with this life and enjoy the new customs that
in their own countries would raise a blush to their cheeks. Timbuctoo
would soon be surrounded by a halo in their minds as being, upon earth,
one little corner of the paradise promised by Mahomet. Askia the Great,
having observed the Mohammedan practices of Egypt, attempted several
reforms. The women were compelled to drape themselves from head to
foot and adopt the life of the harem. He also established a ‘body of
men charged to exercise a constant surveillance, and to arrest and
imprison any man found talking to a strange woman after nightfall.’
These measures fell into disuse under the sons of the great king, and
the manners of the country relapsed into their accustomed freedom.
Ibn Batouta’s description of Timbuctoo being amply sufficient, I
prefer to speak of the women of the city, that is to say, those of
its aristocratic families. By reason of continual intermarriage with
the Berber and Arab races, their features have become more regular
and considerably refined. Although they are black in colour they
approximate more to the Aryan type than the Negraic; the flatness of
the nose and mouth is much less noticeable, and the whole face is
pleasantly lighted by wonderful eyes, whose gentle, intelligent glance
seems to enfold you.
[Illustration: A LADY OF TIMBUCTOO]
These natural charms are supplemented by the arts of coquetry. Their
foreheads are charmingly adorned with bands of pearls and sequins, and
the most accomplished hairdressers arrange their tresses in wonderful
top-knots interspersed with ornaments of golden filagree. Ear-rings of
the same precious metal dangle from their ears, and necklaces of gold,
coral, or amber are wound round their throats; they also embellish
their nails with henna and darken their eyes with antimony. Above all,
they know how to drape themselves tastefully in the various kinds of
stuff which are to be found in Timbuctoo--European, Arabian, and native
fabrics.
Unlike her negro sister, the woman of Timbuctoo plays the part of great
lady. She transfers the household work and the care of her children
to slaves, contenting herself with seeing that her orders are carried
out. She employs her time in reading and playing upon the violin (whose
sole string is made of camel’s hair), visiting her friends and--smoking
pipes, for no one is perfect.
Over and above these _mondaines_, Timbuctoo possesses her
_demi-mondaines_, who imitate the former in all things. The following
is an account of fashionable life given me by one of its members:--
‘Business here allows of plenty of leisure; we have to wait until
certain articles have arrived, or until others have diminished or risen
in price. The stranger merchant, in order to amuse himself, gathers
his friends together at mid-day, or in the evening by preference,
and offers them a repast. They eat fat sheep, pigeons, kuss-kuss,
dates, kola nuts, wheaten biscuits, and honey-cakes. They drink tea,
and sometimes coffee. Marabuts (to whom some present has been made
beforehand) are invited, and delight the assembly with their old-world
histories. Each guest also tells some tale of his native country, and
it is by these means we know so well, not only what is passing in
Morocco, Tuat, and Tripoli, but all that is going on in Europe and
France also. These little _fêtes_ have become less frequent in the
present time of misfortune. Formerly one used to receive an invitation
nearly every day. Many Arabs from the north lived in Timbuctoo
then, and one might have built houses of lumps of sugar, such great
quantities of it were brought here by the caravans. The people of
Ghadames, Tunis, and Fez liked to live 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 quantities of attar
of roses were sprinkled about the houses that you were seized with
headache on the doorstep.
[Illustration: A BAKEHOUSE IN THE STREET]
‘The most costly _fêtes_ were those given to the women. The people of
Jenne, Sansanding, and Bammaku rivalled the Arabs, but the people of
Tuat were the most extravagant. On the other hand, the Mossi did not
squander their money in this fashion, but left the town as soon as
their business was concluded.
‘Those who had mistresses gave feasts which lasted many hours, much
intoxicating liquid was consumed, and the men became as drunk as the
idolatrous Bambaras. Musicians were sent for, dancing began and was
prolonged through the night. Men would spend two or three hundred gold
pieces in disputing a mistress with a rival. A merchant of Sansanding
is said to have made his lady a present of five hundred blocks of salt.
This man lived near the mosque, and having passed the night in feasting
he wished to sleep during the day, and had the audacity to say to the
muezzin who calls the faithful to the five daily prayers, “I am very
tired, your voice will disturb 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 prolong their
visit for months and years, detained either by the agreeable life of
the town or some passion; and many who arrived with a fortune returned
home ruined.’
[Illustration]