Muslim want of Curiosity--Gossip on Meteors--A Family Broil--Rationale
of Wife-beating--Abominable Dances--Evil Communications--Dr.
Overweg--Kailouee Vocabulary--Windy Day--Account of Wadai--Madame
En-Noor--Profits of Commerce--The letter _Ghain_--Fellatah
Language--Introduction of Islamism--Desert Routes--Trade in Agate
Stones--A lively Patient--The Eed--A Visit _en masse_--Arrival of the
Boat--Butchers--Exchange of Visits with the Sultan--Diet--A Shereef--A
delicate Request--Information on Maradee--Tesaoua--Itinerant
Schoolmasters--En-Noor's Territory in Damerghou--Unpleasant
Communication--Amulets--The Foundation of a City in the
Desert--En-Noor's Political Pretensions.
_Oct. 10th._--My garrulous friend the Sfaxee has gone off this morning,
to bring his merchandise from Tintaghoda. The little fighi came, as
usual, to see me. I showed him the Arabic New Testament. He read a few
sentences, and then laid the book aside. I offered it to him, but he
refused to accept the inestimable present. He represents the feelings of
all the Muslims of these countries. They have not even any _curiosity_
to know the contents of the Gospel, much less the inclination to study
or appreciate them. They remain in a state of immovable, absolute
indifference. Even the beautiful manner in which the Arabic letters are
printed scarcely excites their surprise. En-Noor paid me his usual
morning visit, drank tea, and ate pickles and marmalade. We asked him
about meteors. He recollects the fall of many. One, he says, fell upon a
house, and terrified the inhabitants, who came running to him.
Afterwards they dug to the depth of a man, and found nothing, for it had
buried itself deep in the earth. According to him, a great profusion of
meteors denotes abundance of rain and herbage: but these phenomena exert
also a sinister influence like comets, signifying the death of some
great personage. I have no doubt that extraordinary meteors are very
frequent in this part of the Sahara. En-Noor was very condescending, as
usual: no change is observable in his manners.
It turned out that he had come with the intention of speaking on a very
delicate subject, but had refrained. We learned what it was afterwards.
Dr. Overweg was sent for in the course of the day to attend upon one of
En-Noor's wives, who had been frightfully beaten by his highness the
previous evening. This domestic broil formed the common topic of
conversation in Tintalous. Every scandal-monger has got hold of one
version of the story. From what we could gather, the great man was lying
down quietly, when suddenly, without any apparent provocation, he
started up, took a large stick from the fire, one of its ends still
burning, and with this terrific weapon belaboured his wife over the
face, striking especially at the mouth, and cutting the upper lip in
two. The poor woman is now very ill. No cause can be discovered for this
piece of brutality. En-Noor has, they pretend, two wives here, and one
on his estate at Damerghou; but he has only one son and three daughters.
No larger family has this great man, with all his wealth and slaves,
been able to bring up.
Beating a wife is so common in these countries, that, only when the act
is attended with features of unusual atrocity, as in this case of
En-Noor, does it excite any attention. There cannot be a question of the
fact, that our friend the Sultan is a great despot in every point of
view. Perhaps in no other way could he maintain any authority amongst
these semi-barbarian Kailouees. This, nevertheless, cannot excuse the
atrocity of beating his wife with burning fagots. Some say that the
exciting cause of his brutality was the eternal loquacity of the woman,
of which his highness began to be afraid. This may be true, or be only
an excuse invented by his courtiers. Supposing, however, the cause to
have been her _infidelity_, let us examine what can be reasonably
expected from these African women. They are not allowed scarcely to
believe themselves to possess souls; they have no moral motives to be
chaste, and certainly none of family and honour, being mostly slaves.
Then the greater part of the young girls of consequence are married to
old men, who are worn out by their sensual habits and indulgence with
innumerable concubines. These young women are thus left, though married,
like so many widows, without education or religious motives, and with
all their passions alive, to the first opportunity which presents
itself. We know what they do, and we cannot expect anything else from
them.
We have often dancing now of evenings. Yesterday, hearing the
tambourines and other instruments strike up, I went to the house of the
Sfaxee to see what was going on. They were dancing again their Mourzuk
dances before a number of delighted Kailouees, male and female; amongst
the rest Lady En-Noor herself. The whole beauty and appropriateness of
this exercise amongst the Moors consists, as is well known, in gross
imitations of natural acts. No further description or comment can I
permit myself. I have often thought that the present dance must be an
inheritance from very ancient times. There seems to be a part of our
nature to which it is adapted. The performances at European Operas are
often nearly as indelicate.
Evil communications corrupt good manners. One of our servants has
learned to act the Tuarick. He quarrelled with Yusuf, and on being told
to go away replied, "Yes. I will go; but when you get up to Damerghou I
will bring down the people upon these Christians, and they shall be
eaten up!"
_11th._--Zangheema, En-Noor's principal slave, came early this morning
for Dr. Overweg, that he might attend the "beaten wife." My privileged
friend went accordingly, and visited at the same time all the women of
the household. They received him in a very friendly manner: some of them
proved nearly white.
_12th._--This day I finished my Kailouee vocabulary, which contains
about a thousand words. I have never yet collected so large a quantity
of materials of any of the languages of Africa. I carefully packed up my
vocabulary for England, and got it ready, with other matters, to send by
the first opportunity.
Dr. Overweg has again visited the belaboured wife this morning, and
reports her to be improving. The Sultan seems now to repent what he has
done, and is endeavouring to obtain forgiveness by kind and courteous
behaviour.
There was a great deal of wind to day, but it did not come in puffs,
endangering our tents. I sometimes wonder, however, how the flimsy huts
of which part of Tintalous is composed are not swept away. They are made
of the dry stalk of that excellent herb bou rekabah, called in Kailouee
_afada_.
_13th._--No news stirring to-day; nothing said of razzias; so much the
better. We are living very quietly here, and the climate agrees with me
extremely well. Some of our people, however, are sick.
_14th._--The mornings continue cold; 65 deg. outside the tent, and a few
degrees higher inside. This fresh weather, no doubt, accounts for my
good health.
According to a Tibboo merchant now here, and going with our caravan, the
people of Wadai would receive a Christian well, and allow him to visit
their country. He represents Wadai as a very rocky region, like Aheer,
with two large rivers in it running from south to north--not season
streams, but continual. He says that the people are all blacks, and a
very tall race. They have a language of their own, which is difficult to
learn. Warrah is the capital. The natives drink a great deal of _bouza_,
and are nearly always intoxicated. Such is a summary account of Wadai
from the mouth of a Tibboo geographer.
This morning, Madame En-Noor sent me by Zangheema a pair of pewter
earrings, in exchange for some rings. It is extremely difficult to make
a good bargain with these people. With respect to our merchandise, it
all sells lower here than we paid for it at Mourzuk. The profits come
from the purchase of slaves. A burnouse of forty mahboubs will sell in
Soudan for little more than its cost, if dollars or money is to be
given; but if slaves are taken in exchange, three slaves, perhaps, may
be obtained, which, in Tripoli, may be sold at forty or fifty dollars
each. Hence the profit of the Soudan commerce. The article which yields
the greatest profit is loaf sugar, which, costing half a dollar in
Mourzuk, is said to sell for a full dollar in Bornou. To be sure there
is all the risk and the heavy freight of such an article, especially if
conveyed up during the rainy season.
I wrote yesterday a despatch to Government, requesting letters of
recommendation to be sent up to me in Kordofan, pointing out the route
of Egypt as the probable one by which I shall return to the
Mediterranean. I had a long dispute with Overweg about the letter
_ghain_, which he persists in pronouncing like a strong _k_. Yusuf was
called in, and declared that the _ghain_ was the letter which
distinguished Arabic from all other languages. In Kailouee Tuarick there
is no _kaf_ or _ghain_. These Berber dialects have, however, the hard
_g_ in a thousand words, and have also the _k_ in a great number of
cases, but the hard _g_ and the _t_ are the consonants most frequently
occurring. The Haussa has also the _g_ hard, as in _magaree_,
"good;" and a great number of words with the sound _tsh_, as _doutshee_,
a stone or mountain.
The Fellatah language is said to resemble the Kailouee; in other words,
to be a Berber dialect. If this be the case, the Fellatah people are
probably of Berber extraction, and not Arab, as they are vulgarly
supposed to be. This is a question requiring still further
investigation. Others, again, say that the Fellatah language is quite
different from the Tuarick. Overweg thinks Islamism was introduced into
Bornou by the Shoua Arabs, who are found in Bornou in great numbers. The
Fellatah, he thinks, received Islamism by way of Timbuctoo, from Moors
and Arabs trading to that city from Morocco. There is considerable
probability in both these opinions.
_15th._--Four or five days after the approaching Eed, or festival, half
the people of Tintalous will go for salt, and the other half prepare for
their annual journey to Soudan with En-Noor.
The inhabitants of Damerghou are reported to be half "_Kohlan_," blacks,
and half Kailouees. It is the Kailouees in the neighbourhood of
Damerghou who infest the borders and routes of Bornou. En-Noor is now
very quiet, and there is a chance that he will not come down upon me for
more money.
According to the Fezzanees, Tuat is thirty days from Aisou and
thirty-three from Taghajeet (short days). Ghat is forty short and thirty
long days from Tintalous or Asoudee. Bilma is fourteen long and seven
short days from Tintalous or Asoudee. There is no direct route from this
(Tintalous) to Timbuctoo; from Sakkatou there is, however, a short route
to Timbuctoo, and it is said to be a safe one. The number of days here
mentioned are merely general numbers; they vary according to the good
state of the camels, or the disposition of the people, or certain
accidents on the road.
The evening of the feast of the "Descent of the Koran from Heaven," all
good Muslims ought to sit up all night to read the Koran, through and
through again.
There is a curious commerce of yamanee, or agate stones, in
Soudan. These yamanee are originally brought from the eastern
coast of Africa, from and near Mombas (Mozambique), where they pass as
money, like the cowries. From Mombas they are carried, by the Muscat
traders, to Yamen, and thence to Mekka; in which place they are blessed,
and rendered doubly precious. From Mekka they are brought to Egypt, and
from Egypt to Mourzuk; from which point they are distributed all over
this part of Africa, and the souk of Kanou is stocked with them. They
are much esteemed by all classes of the inhabitants of the interior of
Africa, and are worn equally by the men and women.
In this commerce we see the round-about-way in which some articles are
conveyed for sale. If there were a road from Mombas direct to Bornou,
this agate would be cheap enough. But then, perhaps, it would not be
esteemed or valued at half its present cost. It would not be blessed at
Mekka, and so lose all its talismanic and mysterious power. The name is
derived from Yaman, evidently from the first country in Arabia, to which
they were brought originally from Africa.
According to Overweg, Madame En-Noor is still very unwell with her lip.
It is cut right across under her nose, penetrating to the gums; she is,
nevertheless, very lively, and is always pestering Overweg to read the
fatah with, or marry a young girl, one of her relations. She endeavours
to warm my worthy friend to comply with her match-making wishes by
luxurious descriptions of the beauties of the proffered bride.
As soon as the people hear I have a wife in Tripoli, they begin to ask
how many children I have got. On receiving for answer, "None," they are
greatly astonished, and ask me the reason of so strange a matrimonial
phenomenon.
This evening another fine meteor appeared in the south-east. Its head
was like a blazing star, and it left behind it a train of sparkling
light and flame. There were also numbers of smaller meteors.
_16th._--The morning of the Eed. According to the Fezzanees, prayers are
soon ended; because, they say, "these Kailouees know nothing of their
religion."
The Fezzanees asked me to hoist the British flag; to which I replied,
"No; the flag belongs to the Queen, but I will give you a little powder
for your matchlocks." All these Mahommedan feasts are celebrated on the
northern coast of Africa by the discharge of gunpowder.
No certain information can be obtained of the route from Zinder to
Sakkatou, in this place. The people only say the present Sultan is not
so strong as was his father; thereby intimating that the routes are not
so secure as formerly.
It is usual for the inhabitants of Tintalous to visit those of Asarara
on the morning of the present feast. About sixty men, natives of this
place, accompanied by a dozen Moors from Tripoli and Mourzuk, went,
accordingly, to Asarara this morning. Then a number of the people of
Asarara returned with them. Yusuf remarked, with some surprise, that
even the women went out to pray, about forty in number. So that it would
seem the Kailouees educate their women in religion more than the Muslims
of the coast.
The most interesting event to us, however, this morning, was the arrival
of the boat from Seloufeeat. Our servants were very quick in their
return. They came all night, to avoid any further attempts to carry off
the camels. They were all alone. I welcomed the return of the boat as I
would that of an old friend.
There was no firing this evening, as was expected, En-Noor being very
unwell-suffering rheumatism and fever.
The most agreeable sight in all these Mahommedan feasts is to see all
the people dressed out in their finery. The merchants have appeared in
splendid burnouses, all more or less in good humour. The slaughtering of
the sheep to-day was the dirtiest part of the business. All here on such
occasions play the part of butchers-men, women, and children; and all
attack, stab, skin, and maul the poor animals, in a way frightful to
behold. The environs of the town were turned into dirty
slaughter-houses.
_17th._--I have determined to purchase no more things from the Sfaxee at
present. He makes me pay double price. It will be better to wait and see
what can be done at Zinder. An infidel traveller, who is known to be in
possession of any property, is sure in these countries to be looked upon
as a milch-cow. Does not "the book," according to the vulgar opinion,
authorise the faithful to take our lives? "Our purses are more lawful."
The festival being over, I went to pay my respects to Sultan En-Noor. He
is much better in health than yesterday, but has still a bad cold, and
continues to blow his nose and wipe it--pardon the _naive_
statement--with the sole of one of his sandals! The action struck me as
rather uncleanly and undignified in a prince; but Kailouees are not
punctilious.
Mr. Gagliuffi had mentioned to me that he had given assistance to some
shepherds who were begging their way to Soudan. One of these poor
fellows had come to see the Sultan. He seemed, indeed, miserably poor,
but tried to hide the fact, saying to them and Yusuf: "I have news for
you; now I am your friend, as I was a friend to the Consul in Mourzuk."
He was quite a young man, and excited my compassion.
In the afternoon I received a visit from En-Noor, with a whole train of
his people. The Shereef was absent. The Sultan came especially to see
the boat, the pieces of which were put together that he might know its
shape and size. Yusuf then drew for him a ship with all sails set, on a
piece of paper. It was very well done; and excited the applause of my
visitors. I treated them, as usual, with pickles, marmalade, and tea.
Among other things I showed En-Noor the broad arrow, or government mark,
on many of our things; as the guns, and pistols, tent, bags, and
biscuits, which greatly surprised him.
The Sheikh was in good spirits, and was pleased with his visit. I sent
him during the day a piece of dark blue cotton print for a pillowcase.
This little present delighted him much. I am much hampered with the
"princesses," who first sent to buy sugar, and then to beg, forgetting
to buy.
We have a Tuat Tuarick changing camels for slaves now in Tintalous. This
man belongs to the tribe called Sgomara, if I have caught the name
correctly.
_18th._--I rose early, having had a bad headache during the night
through eating meat in the middle of the day. Whatever is eaten in the
middle of the day must be taken very sparingly. I believe the greater
part of the diseases with which foreigners in these countries are
afflicted arise from want of sufficient attention to diet. We must take
great care of our health just as we are entering Soudan. The weather is
still cool, especially in the morning. The prevailing wind during these
last twenty days has been E.N.E., which is very refreshing. The Moorish
merchants pretend that in Soudan it is now very cold.
I received a visit from the young Shereef, whose conversation smacked a
good deal of a disagreeable curiosity respecting my movements and
intentions in Central Africa. I therefore gave him a very ordinary and
cool welcome. This fellow has been here some time, and never offered to
pay us a visit before. En-Noor has been feeding him during his stay. He
displayed a good deal of shrewdness, and is well acquainted with the
Christians of the Mediterranean. He is going to visit his brother in
Zinder, and then returns to Tripoli by the way of Bornou and Mourzuk.
Like all these shereefs, or marabouts, he pretended that had he been
with us, or had we travelled with him from Mourzuk to Tintalous, no one
would have dared to molest us; an assertion wholly false, for the
Tuaricks care little for marabouts when they are bent on plunder.
A young woman has just arrived from a distant village, with the express
object of procuring from the Taleb (Overweg) a medicine to produce
abortion: she says she has been gadding, "barra" (out of her mother's
house), and is frightened lest she should get a good beating. On
Overweg's refusing to give her any such medicine she burst out into a
pathetic lamentation, and talked loudly of what her parent would do to
her. Young ladies often think of their mothers a little too late under
these circumstances.
A slave of the Sultan of Aghadez arrived this morning, in six days from
the capital, to inquire after the health of En-Noor. He brings no
particular news, but says he saw Barth at Aghadez.
"Man is to man the surest, deadliest foe," has been quoted from the poet
as most applicable to the moral and social state of Africa. It may truly
be said to be our case, for hitherto we have suffered little in this
town except from men. Looking also around us, the people suffer less
from the arid country which they inhabit than from the violence which
they inflict one upon another.
I learned from Yusuf yesterday evening, that for every dollar I take
from the Sfaxee, if I pay in Mourzuk, I must give two. I was greatly
afflicted at this positive declaration, but scarcely believe it; if it,
however, prove to be the case, I must by all means find money in Soudan.
It will be a hard fight, indeed, to keep down the expenses of this
expedition; however, every effort must be employed to effect this
desirable object.
Maradee, I learn, is three days west from Tesaoua; and this latter
place is two from Zinder. There is another village, called Gazawa, one
day south of Tesaoua. The inhabitants of these places are half
Mahommedans and half pagans; the latter do not offer human sacrifices;
their religious rites consist principally in worshipping trees, to which
they sacrifice at certain seasons. The Fellatahs are always at war with
the people of Maradee, but Gouber is at peace with Sakkatou. In
Maradee there is one large stone-and-mud house for the Sultan; all
the rest of the houses are bell-shaped huts. The place has a numerous
population. Tesaoua is also independent and self-governed, as are most
of the places hereabouts.
I had a visit from two itinerant schoolmasters, natives of Bornou. From
these I learned that there does exist a little education amongst the
Kailouees. There is a village near called Amurgeen, three hours from
Tintalous, where children are sent from all the places around, so that
it forms a species of college or university. It is to this college that
En-Noor sends his sons and grandsons. These itinerant pedagogues are
negroes; and it is certainly a curious circumstance that from Central
Africa instruction should migrate northwards. But the Kailouees have
little pride in this respect; although boasting of the name of Tuaricks,
and accounting themselves _white_ people, or allied with the whites,
they do not scruple to receive education from the negroes of Bornou,
whilst certainly it would be very easy to have Kailouee schoolmasters.
I heard from my friend Tibbaou that En-Noor's territory in Tesaoua is
simply a village at some distance from the medeeneh, or city, where
there is a native and independent sultan of some power. His territory in
Damerghou is also a mere village. Nevertheless, the possession of these
places extends the political influence of the Kailouees in Soudan. The
neighbourhood of Damerghou, especially the western side, seems
celebrated for a tribe, or factions of tribes, consisting of bad
Tuaricks. This race is evidently spreading in Soudan; there are great
numbers in Gouber and the countries near.
I purchased from the itinerant pedagogues of Bornou two of their
ink-bottles, which are made of small calabashes. They wrote for me some
specimens of their penmanship, a charm, _fatah_, or first chapter of the
Koran. They wrote and formed their letters sideways, as some lawyers'
clerks do in England.
Dambaba Makersee took the liberty of informing me to-day, as if I did
not know it before, that all the things of us Christians were considered
by the Kailouees generally as common property, and that whoever could
lay hold of any ought to do so without qualm or scruple; but, he added,
when you arrive in Zinder, all will be changed. Let us hope so,
_Inshallah_!
Strings of charms are worn by the men occasionally under the arm, or
suspended over the shoulders, as well as round the neck. The charm or
armlet of the Moors and Tuaricks corresponds with the _Fetish_ of the
ancient Kohlan, people of Soudan, and of the present negro races on the
western coast.
I finished the statistics of the towns and villages of Asben--after all,
a very imperfect affair. Nevertheless, it is the best which I could make
from my materials.
En-Noor paid me a visit in the morning, and stopped gossiping two hours.
From him I learnt that the Fellatah language has no relation to the
Arabic or Tuarick, but is quite a language peculiar in itself. He also
informed us that the Gouberites were still at war with the Fellatahs of
Sakkatou; that they were united with the people of Maradee, ancient
Kohlans like themselves, and that this united force had been lately
gaining their lost ground against the new Muslim powers in Soudan.
En-Noor seems to favour the re-establishment of these people against the
Fellatahs. The latter he naturally hates, on account of their attempts
on the independence of the Kailouees, and their perpetual intrigues at
Aghadez.
With regard to Tesaoua, En-Noor pretends that he founded this city. His
statement is singularly suggestive and picturesque in its simplicity. He
says that he met, on the spot where Tesaoua now stands, a forlorn man,
with only two slaves.
"What are you doing?" he said to the man.
"Nothing," the man replied. "What can I do, naked as I am, with myself
and two slaves?"
"Oh!" rejoined En-Noor; "stop a minute, and I will bring you a multitude
of people, and we together will make a large city." En-Noor kept his
word, and brought a multitude of Kailouees, Kohlans, and their slaves.
Now Tesaoua is a mighty city, and En-Noor has got a small town of his
own near it, mostly peopled by his dependants. Such is the foundation of
many African cities; these places springing up as mushrooms, and
disappearing as soon.
En-Noor also pretends, that through his father he is heir to the thrones
of the ancient Kohlans, about Kashna, Gouber, and Maradee, and that he
ought to come into possession after the death of the present occupants.
This, I should think, is incorrect; but his highness has undoubtedly
great political influence in those countries. We learn that several of
the men of Tintalous have wives and families in Damerghou and Tesaoua,
but none of them have large families--only one or two children.