Sheikh of Bornou--Arab Women--News from the Razzia--Procession of
newly-caught Slaves--Entrance of the Sarkee--Chained Slaves--My Servant
at the Razzia--Audacity of Bornou Slaves--Korgum--Konchai--Product of
the Razzia--Ghadamsee Merchants--Slave-trade--Incident at Korgum--State
of Kanou--A Hue and Cry--Black Character--Vegetables at
Zinder--Minstrel--Medi--Gardens--Ladies--Fanaticism--Americans at
Niffee--Rich People--Tuaricks Sick--Morals--Dread of the
Sarkee--Fashions.
_Feb. 1st._--It is said that we shall leave this for Kuka on Monday
next, whether the Sultan of Zinder returns from his razzia or not. It
certainly is a shame that I should be kept here waiting the pleasure of
a fellow gone to heat up for slaves to pay his debts.
The merchants from Kanou represent the power of the Fellatahs as very
strong, if not increasing. From Sakkatou to Kanou, and Kanou to Niffee,
Yakoba, and Adamaua, everywhere along these lines of towns and populous
districts, are found Fellatah chiefs or sultans. Bornou is, however, now
much stronger than during the time of the first expedition. The Sheikh
has two thousand muskets; so says the Shereef Kebir; whilst in the time
of Denham he had only fifty. Certainly two thousand muskets is a
progress beyond fifty. The Asbenouee Tuaricks carried away some
half-dozen Arab women when they slaughtered the Walad Suleiman. One of
these women has been seen, and the Sheikh and the Shereef Kebir are
trying to get her back. The Sheikh has sent word that all the Arab women
must be restored to their homes.
The Shereef Kebir says the powder of this country is all bad, but that
Haj Beshir and the Sheikh get English or American powder from Niffee.
Leaden bullets are scarce; they use zinc bullets: but these will not go
far, resisting the force of the powder; nor will they penetrate deep
when they hit a person. Nitre is found at a place one hour from Zinder,
called Kankandi.
It is supposed that the Sarkee, not having found slaves enough in
Korgum, has gone somewhere else. The Shereef Kebir would scarcely
mention the subject of the razzia to me for shame. At length a Moor
present said, "Fish eats up fish, so it is with the Sarkee." This
brought forth a laugh, and seemed to be thought a sufficient salve for
all their consciences.
A cry was raised early this morning, "The Sarkee is coming!" Every one
went out eagerly to learn the truth. It turned out that a string of
captives, fruits of the razzia,[19] was coming in. There cannot be in
the world--there cannot be in the whole world--a more appalling
spectacle than this. My head swam as I gazed. A single horseman rode
first, showing the way, and the wretched captives followed him as if
they had been used to this condition all their lives. Here were naked
little boys running alone, perhaps thinking themselves upon a holiday;
near at hand dragged mothers with babes at their breasts; girls of
various ages, some almost ripened into womanhood, others still infantine
in form and appearance; old men bent two-double with age, their
trembling chins verging towards the ground, their poor old heads covered
with white wool; aged women tottering along, leaning upon long staffs,
mere living skeletons;--such was the miscellaneous crowd that came
first; and then followed the stout young men, ironed neck to neck! This
was the first instalment of the black bullion of Central Africa; and as
the wretched procession huddled through the gateways into the town the
creditors of the Sarkee looked gloatingly on through their lazy eyes,
and calculated on speedy payment.
[19] Mr. Richardson interchanges the words _razzia_ and _gazia_;
the latter, I imagine, is the correct word, but the former
is better known to European readers.--ED.
In the afternoon I was informed that the Sarkee was really about to
enter the town.
Expecting to see other captives, and anxious to be an eye-witness to all
these atrocities attendant on the razzia, I went to see him pass with
his cavalry. After waiting ten minutes, there rode up single cavaliers,
then lines of horsemen, all galloping towards the castle-gates to show
the people their equestrian skill; then came a mass of cavalry, about
fifty, with a drum beating, and in the midst of these was the sultan.
There was nothing very striking in this cavalcade; a few cavaliers had
on a curious sort of helmet, made of brass, with a kind of horn standing
out from the crown; others wore a wadding of woollen stuff, a sort of
thin mattrass, in imitation of a coat of mail. Its object is to turn the
points of the poisoned arrows. The cavaliers thus dressed form the
body-guard of the Sarkee. Amongst these troops were some Bornou
horsemen, who rode with more skill than the Zinder people. The best
cavaliers resembled as much as possible the Arab cavaliers of the north.
There were no captives with these horsemen; the slaves had only come in
to the number, it was said, of some two or three thousand during the
day. Although I wished to see them, I was, nevertheless, spared a
repetition of the misery and indignation which the sight in the morning
produced in my mind. I have been told positively that the poor old
creatures brought in with the other captives will not fetch a shilling
a-head in the slave-market. It is, therefore, a refinement of cruelty
not to let them die in their native homes,--to tear them away to a
foreign soil, and subject them to the fatigues of the journey, and the
insults of a rude populace, and ruder and crueller slave-dealers. Many
die on the road during the two or three days' march.
It is exceedingly painful to live in a place like Zinder, where almost
every householder has a chained slave. The poor fellows (men and boys)
cannot walk, from the manner in which the irons are put on, and when
they move about are obliged to do so in little jumps. These slaves are
ironed, that they may not run away. There are many villages and towns, a
few days from Zinder, to which they can escape without difficulty, and
where they are not pursued. It was exceedingly horrifying to hear the
people of Zinder salute the troops of the razzia on their return with
the beautiful Arabic word, _Alberka_, "blessing!" Thus is it that human
beings sometimes ask God for a blessing on transactions which must ever
be stamped with his curse. The Italian bandit also begs the Virgin to
bless his endeavours. It is evident that nothing but the strong arm of
power and conquest will ever root out the curse of slavery from Africa.
The slave whom Haj Beshir sent from Kuka to Zinder, to accompany me to
Kuka, went with the Sarkee, and took one of my servants with him. I did
not know anything about it until they were gone. But this evening, on my
return from seeing the Sarkee, I found a woman and child, a boy and a
young man, tied together, lying not far from my hut, in the enclosure
where we are residing. I was excessively indignant at this conduct of
Haj Beshir's slave, although certainly done in ignorance. These captives
were the fruits of the part he took in the expedition. I have not made
up my mind whether I will go to Kuka with this fellow, for it is not the
first time he has shown something like an insolent behaviour. As to my
servant, I had already discharged him, but the Shereef Kebir persuaded
me to let him go with the boat to Kuka, as he knew how to place it on
the camels better than the other servants. I scolded him well for going
with the razzia, because he himself was once in bondage, and had
returned free under our protection. But I fear my words will have little
effect; for in Zinder, at least, the great concern and occupation of the
black population is, to go and steal their neighbours, and sell them
into slavery. I repeat again, nothing but foreign conquest by a
non-slaveholding power will extirpate slavery from the soil of Africa.
I read Milton's "Comus" and other portions of his poetry, and find it a
great relief in drawing my mind a little off African subjects. I am
sorry I did not bring with me a copy of Shakespear. I have very few
books with me of any kind, and fewer maps. I received a visit of fighis
from the villages around, also from a sister and niece of the Sultan of
Zinder, and gave them all a bit of sugar and sent them off.
Around my house exists a swarm of fighis, who can copy charms and a few
passages from the Koran. I procured some of the _bona fide_ specimens of
their calligraphy. There are four different hands. These fighis are all
blacks of pure blood. They write sideways.
A courier arrived to-day from Kuka, bringing a despatch for the Governor
of Zinder, to the effect that, in the event of his finding any people of
Bornou committing misdemeanours of any sort, he, the Sultan of Zinder,
was at liberty to treat them as he chose. I am told that the Bornou
slaves, as well as the free people of that country, when they come to
Zinder, have the audacity to seize on whomsoever comes in the way, and
take them and sell them as slaves in the souk. This kidnapping is mostly
done in the villages around Zinder, but even in the city itself it has
been ventured; and the Sultan has hitherto been afraid to arrest these
Bornouese miscreants. What a glimpse into the state of the empire of
Bornou do such facts afford!
_2d._--This morning the slave of Haj Beshir came to declare that the
slaves which he brought here yesterday were not his booty, but belonged
to another person, a volunteer. There is no getting at the truth in
these countries. The theatre of the late razzia is westwards from Zinder
about two days. Korgum is one day from Tesaoua. Konchai is a
neighbouring country, about four hours from Korgum. The Sarkee attacked
four villages of Korgum, but got few slaves. The people, though without
their sultan, defended themselves well with their renowned arrows, and
when they could hold out no longer they ascended the rocks and escaped.
The wounds of arrows, though poisoned, are not always fatal, and often
cured by the remedies known in these countries.
The villages of Korgum are called Tangadala Agai. Not getting many
slaves there, the Sarkee attacked two or three villages of Konchai. This
province contains some three hundred villages. Ganua and Tanbanas were
the places razzied. From the latter place six hundred slaves were
obtained, nearly half of the whole captured. The total product of the
razzia is about fifteen hundred; a thousand for the Sultan's share, and
five hundred for the troops and volunteers. It is said this thousand
will not suffice to pay the Sultan's debts, and it was on account of the
fewness of slaves the Sarkee was obliged to bring with him the halt, the
blind, the maimed, and the aged, stooping to the earth with age. Besides
human beings, the Sarkee captured eight hundred and thirty bullocks, and
flocks of sheep; seven hundred bullocks he gave to the troops and
volunteers, and one hundred and thirty have been reserved for himself.
Four men were killed, and one hundred horses, belonging to Zinder; but
the enemy are said to have lost a good number. All the villages made
resistance but one, where the poor people were busy cooking their
suppers; when the Sarkee and his famished crew rushed upon them, seized
them, and carried them into captivity. This, at any rate, is the report;
but, according to others, the results of the expedition are much less
important.
All the country razzied is nominally subject to the Sheikh of Bornou, so
that this Sarkee of Zinder has been pillaging the Bornou territories,
and carrying off their inhabitants, who are subjects of the Sheikh, to
raise money to pay his debts. A certain enmity exists, it is said,
between Konchai and Zinder, which formerly was subject to the province
of Konchai.
According to one authority, the booty of the razzia is greatly reduced,
even to more than half of what was reported. The share of the Sarkee is
four hundred slaves, and one hundred and twenty slaves he gave to his
troops. Seven places were attacked, but the people had news of the
movements of the Sarkee, and were prepared to receive him: they shot
their arrows through their stockades, thick and fast, upon the Sarkee
and his people, and then retired to the rocks and behind the trees,
which are abundant. Only one country was fairly razzied. Also but few
beasts were taken, the people having secured all their cattle and flocks
beforehand. The Sarkee got about one hundred bullocks. He took with him
no less than two thousand horse, a collection from all the petty
governments in the surrounding provinces, with their chiefs. All these
forces did little more than beat the air. The capture of five hundred
slaves will not pay the expenses of the expedition, but these people
never sit down to count the cost. Their reckoning-days are few and far
between.
There is a report here that the Sultans of Maradee, Gouber, Korgum, and
Tesaoua, have all gone together on a razzia to the territory of
Sakkatou, and a few of the people of Zinder have gone with them; and
this is the reason given for horses being now scarce in Zinder.
Haj Beshir has sent a message from Kuka, that I am to quicken my steps
thitherward. The kafila from Mourzuk has arrived, and many Arabs from
the north.
Of gubaga, called by the people of Zinder, ferri, four draas are sold in
Zinder for one hundred wadas, about twopence. This native cotton cloth,
when doubled, makes tents impervious to the summer rain.
There are about fifty Ghadamsee merchants in Kanou and Boushi, capital
of Yakoba, the principal of whom (here described as Maidukia) are:--
Haj Mohammed Bel Kasem.
Haj Tahir.
Mairimi.
Haj Mohammed Ben Habsa.
Hemed Basidi.
Kasem Ben Haiba.
Haj Ali.
Mohammed Makoren.
Haj Hoda.
Haj Abdullah.
There are some merchants of consequence from Fezzan, viz. Basha Ben
Haloum, Mohammed es-Salah, the agent of Gagliuffi, Sidi Ali, and Fighi
Hamit, who always goes to Goujah (_blad_ of the gour-nuts). This country
of the gour is distant three months' travelling, making small stages
south-west by west. Morocco, Tuat, and the countries of the west, are
scarcely represented by merchants in Kanou--there being one or two of
them at most. Nor are there any from Egypt or the East.
According to my informant, a small merchant, but well acquainted with
these parts, not more than one hundred and fifty or two hundred slaves
pass through or from Zinder annually to the north, and about five or six
hundred go by the route of Tesaoua to the north, i.e. Tripoli, and a few
to Souf. After all, the great slave-market is Central Africa itself.
An affecting incident is told of the people of Korgum during the late
razzia. The Sultan of Zinder besieged one town four days, and would not
allow the people to drink water. They then sent word that "they did not
know either God, or the Prophet Mahommed, or the Sheikh of Bornou, only
him, Sarkee Ibrahim of Zinder, as their ruler and lord, and prayed him
to give them water and peace." The Sarkee replied, "When my brother fled
to you, you also would not allow him to drink, nor will I now permit
you; therefore surrender into our hands." The people of the town held
out these four days, and then during a night they all fled to the rocks
and escaped.
There are but few places to make razzias upon around Zinder, except on
the Sheikh's provinces, unless the Sarkee will go to Maradee, and there
he is now in friendship, or else is afraid to move in that direction. In
the account of the booty, it is to be understood that all of it was not
brought to Zinder, some having been distributed amongst the troops and
volunteers of the rest of the province. I am told that the greater part
of the slaves will be sent to Kanou for sale. It has already been
observed, that only a few slaves go to the north in comparison with the
numbers captured. The bulk of the slaves of the razzias are employed as
serfs on the soil, or servants in the town. In Kanou, a rich man has
three or four thousand slaves; these are permitted to work on their own
account, and they pay him as their lord and master a certain number of
cowries every month: some bring one hundred, some three hundred or six
hundred, or as low as fifty cowries a-month. On the accumulation of
these various monthly payments of the poor slaves the great man
subsists, and is rich and powerful in the country. This system prevails
in all the Fellatah districts.
At dusk, there was a hue and cry near our house. I ran out to see what
it was: the noise and stir was nothing less than an attempt of a slave
to escape. The poor fellow was surrounded by a mass of men and boys, all
anxious to seize him and deliver him to his master, to obtain the
reward.
My sympathies certainly begin to cool when I see the conduct of these
blacks to one another. The blacks are, in truth, the real active
men-stealers, though incited thereto frequently by the slave-merchants
of the north and south. It must be confessed, that if there were no
white men from the north or south to purchase the supply of slaves
required out of Africa, slavery would still flourish, though it might be
often in a mitigated form; and this brings me to the reiteration of my
opinion, that only foreign conquest by a power like Great Britain or
France can really extirpate slavery from Africa.
_3d._--The sky never gets clear here till late at night. I read several
pieces of Milton's poetry. I went to the gardens to see the wells:
people fetch water from the wells of the gardens, where the supply is
sufficiently abundant. I observed in the gardens the henna plant, the
cotton plant, the indigo plant, and the tobacco plant. All these appear
to be commonly cultivated in the gardens of Zinder. There are scarcely
any other vegetables but onions, and beans, and tomatas; but the people
cultivate a variety of small herbs, for making the sauce of their
bazeens and other flour-puddings. The castor-oil tree is found in the
town and in the hedges of the gardens in abundance.
A Tuarick woman was brought here to-day for me to cure. She had been in
an ailing, wasting state, for the last four years; the husband said that
the devil had touched his wife, and reduced her to this state. Another
woman was brought with an immense wen upon her abdomen. I have given
away nearly all my Epsom salts, and now supply emetics. It is necessary
to purge these people immediately, in a few hours, or they think you do
nothing for them, or will not or cannot do them any good. Many Tuaricks
come from the open country. We have also frequent cases of ophthalmia,
mostly from the villages around.
This evening I was charmed by the vocal sounds of a strolling minstrel,
attended by two drummers with small drums, called _kuru_, and a chorus
of singing-girls collected from the neighbourhood. The chorus-singers
sang like charity-school girls at church. Altogether the singing was
more pleasing than the monotonous, plaintive sounds of the Arabs.
It seems difficult to get off. Everybody is making preparations for our
journey, from the Sultan to the lowest slave sent from Kuka to assist in
the transport of the boat and our baggage, and yet nothing is done!
I parted with my new acquaintance, Medi, to-day, a soldier and slave of
the Sarkee. He has been occasionally my cicerone in Zinder. He had been
captured from a child, and is now past middle age, and knows little of
the loss of home. He was a friendly chap, and gave me all the
information he could make me understand in Soudanee and Bornouee.
The evening was warm; a most pestilential sort of mist usually covers
the ground at dark. After an hour or so it clears off--a few meteors now
and then.
_4th, Dies non._--It is said we shall probably leave this to-morrow.
Read Milton all day. Weather sultry hot; did not go out. Thermometer in
the evening, at dark, 80 deg..
_5th._--I had a visit from a number of Tuarick ladies from the villages
around, all of whom put their hands to their stomachs, and pretended
they were mighty ill. I gave them all round a cup of tea. The renegade
Jew came this morning, and gave me a list of all the things sold in the
market of Kanou.
I went in the afternoon to see the Kaid of Haj Beshir of Kuka, called
Abd-el-kerim. He had a female slave afflicted with the leprosy, and sent
for me to come and see her. He gave me some gour-nuts, and I found him a
friendly man. Denham represents the Bornou people of his time as very
fanatical. At present I have seen nothing of this. But we are in a
province where there are many Hazna, or pagans; and the people of Zinder
are but lukewarm Muslims. I have yet had no instance of fanaticism,
either from people of Kuka or from residents here.
I was amused by the relation of Haj Mohammed Ben Welid respecting his
intercourse with an American vessel at Niffee.[20] He first describes
the vessel as very large; the sides being ascended by a ladder. Then
these Americans (English they were called) had a black interpreter, who
spoke Arabic. Through this black fellow they inquired of the man of
Ghadamez from whence he came. He replied, "Ghadamez,"--this they did not
know; then "Trablous,"--this they did not know; then "Tunis,"--nor was
this place known; and, finally, "Malta." "Ah!" they cried, "we have
heard of this place." They then asked him what he traded in, and gave
him some tobacco and rum. They were full of goods of every
description,--calicoes, powder, shot, rum, tobacco, dollars, and _wada
yaser_ (a great quantity of cowries), &c.
[20] See the Appendix. This Haj appears to have given some
useful information to Mr. Richardson.--ED.
My room has been an hospital all this day, full of the sick, with
various disorders. They come mostly from the villages around Zinder, and
amongst them are a great number of Tuaricks, these people being more
exposed to the weather, or more delicate, or more fanciful in their
complaints. These poor devils all bring something--a little cheese, or a
little milk; and I have received more of these trifling presents from
them during the twenty days that I have been in Zinder, than in all the
five or six months which I spent in their country. The reason may be,
that in Asben they have nothing (or next to nothing), whilst here reigns
abundance. Our servants say now that the Tuaricks always bring
something, and the townspeople of Zinder nothing. Some of the Tuaricks
are not sick; they come only to see the Christian, and stop, and look,
and stare, and watch the minutest action of the said Christian,--more
especially the women, who would never leave my room if I were not to
drive them away.
_6th._--I am told by a well-informed person, that morals are much
relaxed here. To-day a black man came from the country to beg for his
wife, who had been taken away from him and given to a Moor, who was
about to send her to the coast for sale. She is to be restored to the
man in exchange for two young girls, whom he has fetched from the
country (probably kidnapped). The woman, however, has been given over,
in the first place, to Shroma, the commander-in-chief; and after she has
passed two or three days with him, she will be allowed to return to her
husband. This woman was first kidnapped by the Sultan, and belonged to
the Sheikh's dominions, to a village near Zinder, and was taken in a
razzia. The Sultan gave or sold her to the Moor. This is a sample of the
transactions daily going on there. I am also assured that the three
hundred wives of the Sarkee himself are at almost everybody's disposal,
two or three gour-nuts being the utmost which these ladies ask. But this
is not all; for these women, wives of the Sultan, have intrigues with
the slaves of the Sultan, with the brothers of the Sultan, and even with
the sons of the Sultan. Whatever may be said of the Tuaricks and their
freebooting, they do not practise such revolting immoralities as these.
The Sarkee of Zinder is feared both by Fellatahs and Tuaricks,
especially on account of the barbarous nature of his executions, which I
have described. It may be supposed that a better system, both of
government and morality, is practised in Kuka, and the more connected
Bornou provinces.
A man came to me to beg or buy some large beads for his wife; he said
his wife was very anxious for them, to wear round her loins. Various are
the caprices of fashion. Europeans show their finery, but here children
and women wear beads round their loins under their clothes.
It is now said we shall leave Zinder positively on Saturday next.