1st day. Farsha, a locality at the foot of a hill.
2nd. Mújerán, a lake in connection with the river, by means of the
branch which separates from the latter between Betagúngu and Toga-bango,
and encircled by hills. A short day’s march. Gúndam from here S.S.W. The
Kél-antsár of the Ígelád, whose chief is Tháher, encamp here.
3rd. Geléb el Ghánem, a fertile locality, with a high mount seen from
Gúndam, situated on the bank of a branch of the river. You pass between
nine and ten o’clock in the morning Abánko, a small place, inhabited by
slaves and a few Songhay.
4th. Ám-gunnán, a favoured spot, where slaves of the Tawárek cultivate
the ground.—“Ám” is not pure Arabic, but of Semitic origin.
5th. Rás el má, (“the head of the water,”) called “Áraf-n-Áman” by the
Tawárek, or Ímóshagh, the outlying creek, where the traveller from the
north, on his way to Waláta, seems formerly to have first reached the
river. This creek is stated by tradition to have been dug by the Bashá
Jódar and his musketeers, or “ermá.” On the south side of this basin,
already mentioned by El Bekrí[70], there are small villages, or
“ádabay,” (pl. “tadebít,”) inhabited by the Ídélebó, a poor Moorish
tribe, said to be related to the Shemman-Ámmas. It is an important fact,
that all the wheat consumed in Timbúktu is cultivated round the Rás el
má, and not brought from the north, as Caillié stated (Travels to
Timbuctoo, vol. ii. p. 20.).
From Rás el má, which appears to be a little S. from W. of Timbúktu, the
direct road to Waláta leaves the basin of the river and reaches that
place in seven good days’ marches, or even in travelling as a courier in
five, direction a little N. from W. In the dry season there is no water
along this road, but in the rainy season plenty of tanks, or “dhaye,”
are met with, so that at that time of the year some people prefer
travelling at their leisure, performing the distance in ten or twelve
days.
Our road keeps at some distance from the outlying backwaters of the
river and reaches, with a long march.
6th day. Ulákiás, a very deep well, about twenty fathoms deep. On the
way, you pass the locality “Tádemét,” called by this name from a group
of “tédumt,” as the baobab is called by the people of Timbúktu.
7th. Ádar, a well, with a small dwelling-place, or “ksar,” inhabited by
Songhay, and slaves of the Ídélebó.
8th. Bír e’ Selem, a well.
9th. Bú-Seríbe, a well; a long day’s march. You pass another well called
Zegzíg.
10th. Basikúnnu.
15th. Waláta, as the town is called by the Arabs and Tawárek, or Bíru,
as it is called by the blacks, especially the Azér, a section of the
Aswánek, who are the original inhabitants of the place. It is a
considerable town, consisting of houses built carefully of a good
species of clay, with a rough-cast of plaster, as it would seem. But the
situation of Waláta, at the eastern border of the district El Hódh, at
the foot of a range of hills called “Dháhar Waláta,” which encircle it
on this side, and a large valley, richly clad with trees, skirts the
north and east side, is considered as extremely unhealthy, and on this
account is called “kháneg el haye,” “the throat of the snake,” the
district El Hódh being considered as the snake. Thus, in this respect,
Waláta entirely resembles Ghánata, or the capital of the empire; but
besides being a hotbed of disease, the town is now also the seat of
poverty and misery, which Ghánata, at least during its prime, certainly
was not. For, as we have seen (Vol. IV., Chronolog. Tables, p. 594), in
the course of the fifteenth century, all the commercial importance of
that place was transferred to Timbúktu, and nothing remained except the
trade in provisions, especially Negro-corn, or “éneli.”
The inhabitants of Waláta are a mixed race of blacks and whites. The
former, at present greatly reduced in numbers and their moral standard
considerably lowered, belong to the widely scattered nation of the
Swanínki or Azér, the whites are Berbers and Arabs, the Arabs belonging
to various tribes, but especially to the tribe of the Méhajíb, who even
among themselves make use almost exclusively of the Azéríye idiom, this
being the indigenous language.
About one mile west from Bíru, are the ruins of an ancient place called
Tezúght, formerly inhabited by the Berber tribe of the Idáw el Háj, who
were the chief propagators of Islám over these parts of Negroland, and
ruled them for a long time. Among the ruins much gold is said to be
found occasionally at this very day. At that time Bíru was only
inhabited by the native blacks. All circumstances taken into account,
although the whole district called El Hódh was once thickly covered with
towns, or “ksúr,” it cannot be denied, that the double town of Tezúght-
Bíru is more fully entitled than any other place to be identified with
the celebrated capital of the Ghánata empire.[71] The distance of
Ghánata from Rás el má—the five days being taken at the rate of a
courier—and that from Amíma, or Míme, or, as the name is generally
pronounced, Maima, a locality still bearing this name, although the
place is at present deserted, a little to the west of Lére, correspond
exactly; the distance of three days from that place to the river (at
Safnakú or Safekú) does not harmonize exactly with the present state of
the country, the smallest distance of Waláta from the river being five
days; but it is not impossible that the outlying creeks, eight centuries
ago, approached a little closer the site of Waláta.
As for the distance of twenty days between Ghánata and Silla, which is
certainly the town on the bank of the Niger visited by Mungo Park, it is
to be considered at the rate of marching with loaded caravans. Silla was
a very important place, and gave its name to the Sillát, that section of
the Swanínki, or Aswánek, which is most distinguished on account of the
antiquity and purity of its Islám, but the town has recently been
destroyed in the wars between the Bámbara and Fullán.
There is a spacious mosque in Waláta, of high antiquity, but certainly
wrongly attributed to Sídi ʿUkba el Mústajáb.
Between Waláta and Árawán ten days are counted, in an east-north-
easterly direction, through the “Ákela,” the very name given to a
portion of the old Ghánata, Ákela being nothing but another form of the
name Aúkár, a district consisting of light isolated sandhills, full of
excellent shrubs for the camel, but entirely destitute of water, the
tribe of the Kóbetát, who are wandering hereabout, not less than their
camels, subsisting entirely on water-melons, which grow here in great
plenty, and contain a sufficient supply of the aqueous element.