at present is almost entirely deserted, formed the oldest quarter, while
Katánga, or “báki-n-bírni,” seems to have been its northern limit.
Within these limits the town was about two miles in circuit, and when
thickly peopled, may have contained about thirty thousand inhabitants;
but after the northern quarter was added, the whole town had a circuit
of about three miles and a half, and may easily have mustered as many as
fifty thousand inhabitants, or even more. The highest degree of power
seems to have been attained before the conquest of the town by Mohammed
Áskiá in the year 1515, though it is said to have been a considerable
and wealthy place till about sixty years ago (reckoned from 1850), when
the greatest part of the inhabitants emigrated to the neighbouring towns
of Háusa, chiefly Kátsena, Tasáwa, Marádi, and Kanó. The exact
circumstances which brought about this deplorable desertion and
desolation of the place I was not able to learn; and the date of the
event cannot be made to coincide with the period of the great revolution
effected in Middle Sudán by the rising of the Jihádi, “the reformer,”
ʿOthmán da-n-Fódiye, which it preceded by more than fifteen years; but
it coincides with or closely follows upon an event which I shall have to
dwell upon in the further course of my proceedings. This is the conquest
of Gʿao or Gógo (the former capital of the Sónghay empire, and which
since 1591 had become a province of the empire of Morocco) by the
Tawárek. As we have seen above that Ágades had evidently been founded as
an entrepôt for the great trade with this most flourishing commercial
place on the Ísa or Niger, at that time the centre of the gold-trade, of
course the ransacking and wholesale destruction of this town could not
but affect in the most serious manner the well-being of Ágades, cutting
away the very roots through which it received life.
At present I still think that I was not far wrong in estimating the
number of the inhabited houses at from six hundred to seven hundred, and
the population at about seven thousand, though it must be borne in mind
that, as the inhabitants have still preserved their trading character, a
great many of the male inhabitants are always absent from home, a
circumstance which reduces the armed force of the place to about six
hundred. A numerical element capable of controlling the estimated amount
of the population, is offered by the number of from two hundred and
fifty to three hundred well-bred boys, who at the time of my visit were
learning a little reading and writing, in five or six schools scattered
over the town; for it is not every boy who is sent to school, but only
those belonging to families in easy circumstances, and they are all
about the same age, from eight to ten years old.
[Illustration:
1. House where I lodged.
2. Great mosque or Mesállaje.
3. Palace or Fáda.
4. Káswa-n-delélti or Táma-n-lókoy.
5. Káswa-n-rákoma.
6. Katánga.
7. Erárar-n-zákan.
8. Mohammed Bóro’s house.
9. House of the Kádhi.
10. Well Shedwánka.
11. Pools of stagnant water.
12. Kófa-n-Alkáli.
13. Masráta hogúme.
14. Suburb of Ben Gottára.]
With regard to the names of the quarters of the town, which are
interesting in an historical point of view, I was not able to learn
exactly the application of each of the names; and I am sure very few
even of the inhabitants themselves can now tell the limits of the
quarters, on account of the desolate state of many of them. The
principal names which can be laid down with certainty in the plan, are
Masráta, Gobetáren, Gáwa-Ngírsu, Dígi or Dégi, Katánga, Terjemán, and
Arrafía, which comprise the south-western quarter of the town. The names
of the other quarters, which I attempted to lay down on the plan sent to
Government together with my report, I now deem it prudent to withdraw,
as I afterwards found that there was some uncertainty about them. I
therefore collect here, for the information of future travellers, the
names of the other quarters of the place besides those mentioned above
and marked in the plan—Lárelóg, Churúd, Hásena, Amaréwuël, Imurdán
(which name, I was assured afterwards, has nothing in common with the
name of the tribe of the Imghád), Tafimáta (the quarter where the tribe
of the same name lived), Yobímme (“yobu-mé” meaning the mouth of the
market), Dégi-n-béne, or the Upper Dégi, and Bosenrára. Kachíy_u_ (not
Kachí_n_) seems to have been originally the name of a pool; as I was
assured that, besides the three ponds still visible, there were formerly
seven others, namely Kudúru, Kachíyu, Chikinéwan, Lángusú-gázará,
Kurungúsu, and Rabafáda,—this latter in the square of the palace.
The whole ground upon which the town is built (being the edge of a
table-land, which coincides with the transition from granite to
sandstone[193]), seems to be greatly impregnated with salt at a certain
depth, of which not only the ponds, but even the wells bear
evidence,—two of the three wells still in use having saltish water, and
only that of Shedwánka being, as to taste, free from salt, though it is
still regarded as unwholesome, and all the water used for drinking is
brought from the wells outside the walls. Formerly, it is said, there
were nine wells inside the town.
From what I have said above, it may be concluded that the commerce of
Ágades is now inconsiderable. Its characteristic feature is, that no
kind of money whatever is current in the market, neither gold, nor
silver, nor kurdí nor shells; while strips of cotton or gábagá (the
Kanúri, and not the Háusa term being employed in this case, because the
small quantity of this stuff which is current is imported from the
north-western province of Bórnu) are very rare, and indeed form almost
as merely nominal a standard as the mithkál. Nevertheless the value of
the mithkál is divided into ten rijáls or érjel, which measure means
eight drʿa or cubits of gábagá. The real standard of the market, I must
repeat, is millet or dukhn (“géro” in Háusa, “éneli” in Temáshight,
_Pennisetum typhoïdeum_), durra or _Holcus sorghum_ being scarcely ever
brought to market. And it is very remarkable, that with this article a
man may buy everything at a much cheaper rate than with merchandise,
which in general fetches a low price in the place; at least it did so
during my stay, when the market had been well-stocked with everything in
demand, by the people who had come along with us. English calico of very
good quality was sold by me at twenty per cent. less than it had been
bought for at Múrzuk. Senna in former times formed an article of export
of some importance; but the price which it fetches on the coast has so
decreased that it scarcely pays the carriage, the distance from the
coast being so very great; and it scarcely formed at all an article in
request here, nor did we meet on our whole journey a single camel laden
with it, though it grows in considerable quantities in the valleys
hereabouts.
Ágades is in no respect a place of resort for wealthy merchants, not
even Arabs, while with regard to Europe its importance at present
consists in its lying on the most direct road to Sókoto and that part of
Sudán. In my opinion it would form for a European agent a very good and
comparatively healthy place from which to open relations with Central
Africa. The native merchants seem only to visit the markets of Kátsena,
Tasáwa, Marádi, Kanó and Sókoto, and, as far as I was able to learn,
never go to the northern markets of Ghát or Múrzuk, unless on a journey
to Mekka, which several of them have made. Neither does there seem to
exist any intercourse at present with Gágho or Gógo, or with Timbúktu;
but the Arabs of Azawád and those parts, when undertaking a pilgrimage,
generally go by way of Ágades.
I here add the prices of different articles, as they were sold in the
market during my residence in the place:—
Mithkál.[194] Réjel.
Dukhn “géro” (_Pennisetum_), or durra “dáwa” 1 0
(_sorghum_), twenty zekka, being equal to
forty of the measure used in Tin-téllust
Rice, ten zekka 1 0
Camel, a young one, two years old, not yet 18 0
fit for carrying loads
Ditto, full grown 25 0
Horse, a good strong one 100 0
Ditto, a fine one, of Tawát breed 1000 0
Ass 6 to 8 0
Ox 8 0
Calf 4 0
Ram 1 5
Sandals, a pair of common ones 0 1
Ditto, a pair of fine ones 0 5
Camel-saddle (or “rákhla” in Arabic, “kígi” 10 0
in Temáshight)
Ditto, a common one 5 0
Leather bag, of coloured leather, for 1 0
containing clothes
Mat, a fine coloured one 0 6
English calico, ten drʿa or cubits 1 0
Subéta, or white Egyptian shawl with red 1 0
border
Kórnu, or the fine Egyptian coloured 1 0
sheep-leather, a piece
Túrkedi, or the dark-coloured cotton cloth 2 0
for female dress of Kanó manufacture, common
Ditto, of finer texture 3 to 5 3
I must here add, that I did not observe that the people of Ágades use
manna in their food, nor that it is collected in the neighbourhood of
the town; but I did not inquire about it on the spot, not having taken
notice of the passage of Leo relating to it.
My stay in Ágades was too short to justify my entering into detail about
the private life of the people, but all that I saw convinced me that,
although open to most serious censure on the part of the moralist, it
presented many striking features of cheerfulness and happiness, and
nothing like the misery which is often met with in towns which have
declined from their former glory. It still contains many active germs of
national life, which are most gratifying to the philosophic traveller.
The situation, on an elevated plateau, cannot but be healthy, as the few
waterpools, of small dimensions, are incapable of infecting the air. The
disease which I have mentioned in my diary as prevalent at the time of
my sojourn was epidemic. Besides, it must be borne in mind that the end
of the rainy season everywhere in the tropical regions is the most
unhealthy period of the year.[195]
[Footnote 166: Sultan Bello’s “Enfák el Misúri fi taríkh belád el
Tekrúri,” in Denham and Clapperton’s Travels, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 162.
I myself have a copy of the same extracts from this work of Bello.]
[Footnote 167: Marmol, Descripcion dell’ Africa, vol. iii. fl. xxiv. b.:
“Agadez es una provincia . . . ay en ella una ciudad del proprio nombre,
que a sido edificada de ciento y sesenta años a este parte.”]
[Footnote 168: Leo Africanus, l. vii. c. 9.: “Edificata dai moderni re
(?) ne’ confini di Libia.” The word “re” is very suspicious.]
[Footnote 169: See the extracts of Bábá Ahmed’s “Taríkh e’ Sudan,” sent
by me to Europe, and published in the Journal of the German Oriental
Society, 1855. This statement agrees exactly with an interesting passage
in Sultan Bello’s “Enfák el Misúri,” which has been unaccountably
omitted by Saláme in the translation appended to Denham and Clapperton’s
Travels.]
[Footnote 170: Bello took an erroneous view of the subject in supposing
all the five tribes to have come from Aújila. Only one of them was
originally from that place; and the names of the five tribes as
mentioned by him are evidently erroneous. (See the following note.) The
error in deriving all these five tribes from Aújila originated,
probably, in the general tradition that the whole nation of the Berbers
had spread over North Africa from Syria by way of the oasis of Aújila.]
[Footnote 171: Bello, in Appendix to Denham and Clapperton’s Travels,
vol. ii. p. 160. Indeed in this passage he does not mention distinctly
Ágades, but speaks in general of the province of Ahír (Aïr); it is
clear, however, that the five tribes mentioned here as having wrested
the whole country from the hands of the Goberáwa are identical with
those settled in Ágades. Bello, in this case, was evidently ill-
informed, for Amákitan seems not to be the name of a tribe, but of a
man; Ajdaranin is the name of a section of the Kél-gerés; the Agdálar
seem to be identical with the Íghdalén. Certainly the Aújila were a most
celebrated tribe; and it appears from Edrísi’s report (Jaubert, vol. i.
p. 238.), that even at so early an age as the middle of the 12th century
of our era they carried on intercourse with Kawár and Gógo by way of
Ghadámes.]
[Footnote 172: Áhmed Bábá, in relating this most interesting expedition
of the greatest hero of his historical work, is most provokingly brief;
but the reason is, that he was well acquainted only with the countries
near Timbúktu.]
[Footnote 173: In the Report which I sent to Government from my journey,
and which has been printed in the Journal of the Royal Geographical
Society, I stated, that according to Leo’s account the Háusa language
was spoken at that time in Ágades; but it was a mere lapse of memory.
From no passage of his can any conclusion be drawn with regard to this
subject.]
[Footnote 174: “E questa città è quasi vicina alla città dei Bianchi piú
che alcun’ altra _de’ Negri_.”]
[Footnote 175: Leo, l. vii. c. 9., et l. i. c. 10. near the end.]
[Footnote 176: What Leo says, l. vii. c. 1., of Abubakr Ischia (that is
to say, Mohammed ben Abú Bakr el Háj Áskiá)—“Acquistando in anni
quindici appresso molti regni, e poichè ebbe reso pacifico e quieto il
suo, gli venne disio di andar come pellegrino a Mecca”—is very confused;
for Mohammed Áskiá, having ascended the throne on the 14th of Jumád II.
898, began the pilgrimage in Safer, 902, consequently in the fifth year
of his reign; yet Leo received information of his expedition against
Kátsena and the adjoining provinces, which was made in 919.]
[Footnote 177: See itinerary in the Appendix.]
[Footnote 178: See Appendix.]
[Footnote 179: Ebn Khaldún, ed. Slane, Alger. 1847, tom. i. p. 267. Ebn
Khaldún evidently says that the chief of Tegídda had friendly
intercourse with Wárgela and Mzáb, although Mr. Cooley (Negroland, p.
65.) has referred these expressions to Músa, the king of Sónghay.]
[Footnote 180: Ebn Batúta in the passage referred to above. It is
curious that both these writers give the exact distance of Tegídda from
Búda, in Tawát, and from Wárgela, both distances as of seventy marches,
while they omit to mention its distance from Gógo.]
[Footnote 181: El Bekri, “Notices et Extraits,” tom. xii. p. 649.]
[Footnote 182: Ebn Batúta repeatedly calls it the largest, handsomest,
and strongest of all the cities in Negroland.]
[Footnote 183: Leo, l. vii. c. 7.]
[Footnote 184: Navigazioni di Aloise Ca da Mosto, c. 13.: “La prima
parte di loro va con la carovana che tiene il cammino di Melli ad un
luogo che si chiama Cochia.”]
[Footnote 185: We shall see, in the further course of our proceedings,
that there is another direct road from Gógo to Tawát; but this, in
ancient times, seems not to have been frequented, on account either of
the difficulties of the road itself, or the dangerous character of the
tribes in its vicinity.]
[Footnote 186: Leo, l. vii. c. 1.: “E rimase debitore di centocinquanta
mila ducati.”]
[Footnote 187: Whether the story which circulates among the people, that
this family originally came from Stambúl or Constantinople has any
reasonable foundation, I am unable to decide.]
[Footnote 188: This seems also to have been the most important income in
the time of Leo: “Riceve il re gran rendita delle gabelle che pagano le
robe de’ forestieri.”]
[Footnote 189: In the Sónghay language “koy” means master, and is not
only employed in other compositions, such as kút-koy (the shepherd),
bír-koy (the marksman), but even as title for a governor, such as
Túmbutu-koy (the governor of Timbúktu), Jínni-koy (the governor of
Jínni). I therefore conclude that kó-koy means the master of the
masters, or greatest master—the king of kings, like the Háusa “serkí
sárakay.”]
[Footnote 190: Perhaps some might conjecture that this word geré-geré
has some connection with the Gér-geri of Ebn Batúta (see above); but I
think there is none.]
[Footnote 191: “Turáwa” is the plural of “ba-túre.” “Túre,” or “túri,”
is an old word, already mentioned by Ebn Batúta (Journal Asiatique,
1843, tom. i. p. 201.): “Les hommes blancs, qui professent les doctrines
sonnites et suivent le rite de Malik, sont designés ici (dans le royaume
de Melle) par le nom de توري.” The word, therefore, seems to have been
introduced into the Háusa language at a later period as designating the
white people, and I think has connection with the word “túra” (to pray)
in Fulfúlde, the language of the Fúlbe. I have only to mention that it
never refers to any but Arabs or Europeans.]
[Footnote 192: “Kókoy kaina” properly means the little master, a very
appropriate term for a eunuch in an Oriental court. The homonymy of
bába-n-serkí, the chief eunuch, and babá-n-serkí, the great lord or
king, in the Háusa language, is really provoking.]
[Footnote 193: Unfortunately I was unable to ascertain the elevation of
the locality by observation, as I could only take a common thermometer
with me on this trip; but, considering the whole ground along the road
from Tintéllust, I think it can scarcely be less than 2500 feet.]
[Footnote 194: The mithkál of Ágades is equal to 1000 kurdí, 2500 of
which make a Spanish or Austrian dollar.]
[Footnote 195: In an appendix will be given some routes which connect
Ágades with other places, and, radiating from it in various directions,
serve as rays of light to discover to us districts not yet visited by
any European.]
CHAP. XIX.
DEPARTURE FROM ÁGADES. — STAY IN TIN-TÉGGANA.
[Sidenote: Wednesday, October 30th.]
We at length left Ágades. I felt as if I had enjoyed a glimpse of a
totally different world, a new region of life, many relations of which
were as yet obscure to me. Timbúktu, which was in the background of
this novel and living picture, seemed an almost unattainable object.
An acquaintance with it would not fail to throw light upon this
advanced post of Sónghay nationality, and its state of civilization;
but at that time I little expected that it would be my destiny to dwell
a year in that mysterious place, and I had even reason to doubt the
possibility of reaching it from this quarter. All my thoughts were bent
on the south; and although at present retracing my steps towards the
north, yet, as it carried me back to our head- quarters, whence I might
soon expect to start for the southern regions, I regarded it as a step
in advance.
But the commencement of the journey was most abortive, and made me
rather regret that I had not spent the day in the town. Hámma was unable
to find some of the asses belonging to the caravan, for the simple
reason that our friend Zúmmuzuk had sold them; and the whole day was
lost, so that we encamped after a march of scarcely two miles and a
half. Here we were joined by Ibrahím and by a very amiable, intelligent
Kél-owí of the name of Rábbot, who informed me that to the east of the
valley Tefárrakad there were several other valleys not at all inferior
to it in exuberance and variety of vegetation. As the most important
among them, he named to me Ámdegra, Édob, Téwarni, Tíndawén, and
Aságatay.
When at length, on Thursday morning, we fairly began our journey, we
followed entirely our old road, Hámma being anxious to get home; but
nevertheless, as the mountains and ridges which characterize this region
now met the eyes from the other side, the scenery was a good deal
varied, and I had frequent opportunities of completing my map of this
part of the country. Besides, we chose our encampments in new
localities; and many little incidents varied our journey, the most
interesting of which was the approach of a party of five lions in the
valley Búdde, when Hámma called us to arms. He, Rábbot, Mohammed, and I
advanced to meet them, but they soon turned their backs, leaping over
the rocky ground towards their mountain-retreat. The lion of Aïr does
not seem to be a very ferocious animal, and, like those of all this
border-region of the desert, has no mane—that is to say, as compared
with other lions. The maneless lion of Guzerat is well known, but a
similar species seems also to occur in Sind and Persia. The lion of
Central Africa, at least of Bórnu and Logón, has a beautiful mane; and
the skin of a lion of that region, which I took with me on my journey to
western Sudán, excited the admiration of all who saw it.
The valley Tíggeda had now a very different aspect from that which it
wore when we were going to Ágades; for while at that time, beautiful as
it was, it was not enlivened by a single human being, now at its very
head we met a considerable caravan of Kél-owí laden with salt, and
accompanied by a herd of young camels to be bartered in the market of
Ágades for corn, and further on we found a herd of from sixty to seventy
head of cattle, and numerous flocks of goats, indulging in the rich
herbage which had previously excited my astonishment. Our minds likewise
were here excited by the important news that the old chief of Tintéllust
had started for Sudán, not only with my fellow-travellers, but with the
whole caravan; but while my fiery and frivolous Mohammed heaped
conjecture upon conjecture, meditating how we should be able to reach
them, Hámma, who knew his father-in-law better, and who was conscious of
his own importance and dignity, remained incredulous. We had some very
pretty mountain-views from this side, especially when we approached
Mount Eghellál, behind which the Búnday and other mountains rose into
view.
On the morning of the 5th of November, which was to be the day of our
arrival in Tintéllust, it was so cold that we started rather late, Hámma
simply declaring that the cold did not allow him to go on— “Dári yahánna
fataúchi.” Having started at length, we made a long day’s march; and
after eleven hours and a half travelling reached the well-known sand-
hill opposite Tintéllust, where our encampment had stayed so long, not
by the great road along the valley, but by “The Thief’s Passage,” in
order to observe before we were observed.
But the residence of the great chief Ánnur was buried in the deepest
silence; the courtiers, the blacksmiths, all the great men and ladies,
had gone away. Hámma went to see if anybody remained behind, while we
cooked our rice, and prepared to make ourselves comfortable for the
night. That, however, was out of the question, for when he returned, he
ordered us to decamp at once; and though nothing is more dreadful than a
night’s march, particularly when it succeeds to a long day’s journey,
yet in the enthusiasm awakened by the thought of going southwards, I
with all my heart joined in the exclamation “sé fataúchi sé Kanó” (“no
rest before Kanó”—properly, “nothing but travelling, nothing but Kanó”)!
It was ten o’clock in the evening when we started again along the broad
valley, taking leave for ever of “the English Hill;” but I soon began to
suffer from the consequences of fatigue. In order to avoid falling from
my camel in my drowsy state, I was obliged to drag myself along, great
part of the night, on foot, which was not at all agreeable, as the
ground was at times very rugged, and covered with long grass. Having
crossed a rocky flat, we entered, about four o’clock in the morning, the
wide plain of Tin-téggana, stumbling along through the thick cover of
bú-rékkeba and other sorts of herbage, till dawn, coming on with rather
chilly air, revealed to our benumbed senses the encampment of the
caravan. Having therefore made repeated halts, to give the people time
to recognize us, in order not to occasion any alarm, as our leader Hámma
was not with us, but had lain down at the roadside to get a few hours’
rest, we made straight for the two European tents which showed us
precisely the residence of my fellow-travellers. The old chief Ánnur was
up, and received me with great kindness—more kindly, I must say, than my
colleagues, who apparently felt some jealousy on account of the success
which had attended my proceedings.
Having once more taken possession of the well-known home of our little
tent, I preferred looking about the encampment to lying down; for
sleeping after sunrise is not agreeable to me.
The valley Tin-téggana, wherein Ánnur, with his people, was encamped, is
in this place about three miles broad, being bordered towards the east
by a low range of hills with the small cone of Ádode rising to a greater
elevation; towards the west by the Búnday and some smaller mountains;
towards the south, where the ground rises, it is lined by more detached
peaks, while on the north side an open view extends down the valley as
far as the large mountain-mass which borders the valley of Tintéllust on
the north. Altogether it was a fine open landscape, embracing the
country which forms the nucleus, if I may say so, of the domain of the
old chief, whose camels pasture here the whole year round, while he
himself usually takes up his residence in this place about this season,
when nature is in its prime, and the weather becomes cool, in order to
enjoy the country air.