to reach before night the celebrated emporium of Central Negroland.
Kanó, indeed, is a name which excites enthusiasm in every traveller in
these regions, from whatever quarter he may come, but principally if he
arrives from the north. We thus started in the twilight, passing in the
bush some herds of cattle remaining out in the pasture-grounds, and
meeting several troops of travellers, which made us fancy the capital to
be nearer than it really was. We listened to the tales of our comely and
cheerful companion, the “babá-n-báwa” of Tágelel, who detailed to us the
wonders of this African London, Birmingham, and Manchester—the vastness
of the town, the palace and retinue of the governor, the immense
multitudes assembled every day in its market-place, the splendour and
richness of the merchandise exposed there for sale, the various
delicacies of the table, the beauty and gracefulness of its ladies. At
times my fiery Tunisian mulatto shouted out from mere anticipation of
the pleasures which awaited him.
Keeping steadily along, we reached, after about five miles, the very
considerable town of Béchi, the well-kept high clay walls of which
started forth suddenly from a most luxuriant mass of vegetation, where
we saw again the beautifully-feathered serdi fluttering about from
branch to branch.
The town is very remarkable, as exhibiting the peculiar circumstances of
the social state in this country; for it belongs partly to the Tawárek
tribe of the Itísan, whose búgaje or serfs—properly half-castes, born of
free mothers, but slaves from the father’s side—live here, cultivating
for their lords the fields around the town. Thus we see Tawárek
everywhere, not only as occasional merchants, but even as settlers and
proprietors. The town has but one gate; and a great many of the houses
are of the kind described above. Beyond the town the country becomes
less cultivated, and is mostly covered with the wild gónda-bush, which
bears a most delicious fruit, richly deserving to be called the cream-
apple. I suspected it for some time to be identical with the custard-
apple; but I afterwards assured myself that it is not. I call the
attention of every African traveller to this fruit, which affords the
greatest relief after a long day’s journey; but it does not grow on the
flat clayey plains of Bórnu Proper.
Beyond the little market-place of Budúmme we met the first strings of
empty camels belonging to the aïri with which we had been travelling.
They were returning from Kanó, where they had carried the salt, in order
to retrace their steps to good pasture-grounds, while their masters
remained in the capital to sell their merchandise. The drivers confirmed
the information we had already received, that our protector Elaíji had
not as yet arrived in the town. For he likewise possesses a large
property near Kazáure, whither he had gone after parting from me at
Kátsena. The country again assumed a more cheerful character; we passed
several villages, and even a máriná, or dyeing-place, and the path was
well frequented. Almost all the people who met us saluted us most kindly
and cheerfully; and I was particularly amused by the following form of
salutation: “Bárka, sanú sanú: hm! hm!” “God bless you, gently, gently;
how strange!” Only a few proud Féllani, very unlike their brethren in
the west, passed us without a salute. The villages are here scattered
about in the most agreeable and convenient way, as farming villages
ought always to be, but which is practicable only in a country in a
state of considerable security and tranquillity. All their names,
therefore, are in the plural form, as Tarauráwa, Jimbedáwa, Bagadáwa.
The idea of a great degree of industry was inspired by the sight of a
máriná near Jimbedáwa, comprising as many as twenty dyeing-pots; and
here also a little market was held by the women of the district. About
half-past one in the afternoon we entered the rich district of Dáwano,
which almost exclusively belongs to the wealthy Dan Mália, and is
chiefly inhabited by Féllani. There was here a large market-place,
consisting of several rows of well-built sheds, and frequented by
numbers of people. A few market-women attached themselves to our little
troop, giving us assurance that we should be able to reach the “bírni”
to-day, but then added that we ought to arrive at the outer gate before
sunset, as it is shut at that time.
We accordingly pressed on with our varied little caravan, consisting of
a very lean black horse, covered with coarse wool-like hair, worth four
dollars, or perhaps less; a mare, scarcely worth more in its present
condition; a camel, my faithful Bú-Séfi, evidently the most respectable
four-footed member of the troop, carrying a very awkward load,
representing my whole travelling household, with writing-table and
bedding-boards; a sumpter-ox, heavily laden; then the four human bipeds
to match, viz. one half-barbarized European, one half-civilized Góberáwi
Tunisian mulatto, a young lean Tébu lad, and my stout, sturdy, and grave
overseer from Tágelel. As we then entered some fields of sesamum, or
“nóme” (quite a new sight for me in this country, but which was soon to
become of very common occurrence), Gajére descried in the distance
between the trees the top of the hill Dalá, and we all strained our eyes
to get a first glimpse of this hill, which is the real landmark of Kanó.
The country hereabouts exhibited a new feature, some of the fields being
enclosed with a bush which I had not seen before, and which was called
by my intelligent guide “fidde serewukka.” In Múniyo, where I afterwards
saw it used for the same purpose, it is called “mágara.” It is a kind of
broom, growing to the height of ten or twelve feet, and has a milky
juice, which is slightly poisonous, but by some people is employed as a
cure for wounds caused by thorns. A little while afterwards we saw the
first single date-palm, a tree also most characteristic of Kanó; and
now, the country becoming clear, we obtained a full sight of both the
hills, Dalá and Kógo-n-dútsi, which rise from the flat level of the
plain; but nothing was as yet visible of the town, and we had but faint
hopes of reaching it before sunset. However, we went on, though a little
disheartened, as we had some foreboding that we should incur the
displeasure of the governor; and passing through the gate, in front of
which part of the aïri were encamped, without stopping, as if we were
natives of the country, went on across open fields. It took us forty
minutes to reach the house of Báwu from the gate, though this lies near
the very outskirts of Dalá, the northernmost quarter of the town.
It was quite dark, and we had some trouble in taking possession of the
quarters assigned to us by our host.
Kanó had been sounding in my ears now for more than a year; it had been
one of the great objects of our journey as the central point of
commerce, as a great storehouse of information, and as the point whence
more distant regions might be most successfully attempted. At length,
after nearly a year’s exertions, I had reached it.
[Footnote 14: Leo, l. i. s. 12. When he says that the inhabitants of
Wángara (Guangara) likewise spoke Háusa, he falls into the same sort of
error as when he says that the people of Mélle spoke the Sónghay
language.]
[Footnote 15: See above, Vol. I. Ch. XV.]
[Footnote 16: There is evidently some relation between the Háusa, the
Berber, and the Coptic languages, not in the general vocabularies, but
chiefly in the demonstratives, such as “me,” “hakka,” and the
prepositions, such as “ná,” “dá,” “gá,” “dága,” “garé.” See the
excellent analysis of the Berber language by Newman, in Zeitschrift für
Kunde des Morgenlandes, vol. vii. a. 1845, pp. 268, 277, 278; (on the
feminine forms “ita,” “ta,”) pp. 282, 291, 296. Many more specimens,
however, may now be added.]
[Footnote 17: It is also a very remarkable fact, that Dáura claims the
glory of having had an apostle of its own, Mohammed ʿAli el Baghdádi;
and with this fact the circumstance, that the holy place which I noticed
on my tour from Tin-téllust to Ágades is called by some “msíd Sídi
Baghdádi,” may probably be connected. Whether Dáura be identical with El
Bekri’s Daur, or Daw, is a question of some importance, since, if it
really be so, it would appear to have been a considerable place at a
very early period; but I prefer not to enter here upon the slippery
ground of comparative geography.]
[Footnote 18: Vol. I. p. 386.]
[Footnote 19: In Timbúktu I was enabled to peruse a long letter from
Maghíli to Is-hák about points of religion. This is the only work of
Maghíli, which I was able to discover in Negroland. There were two
Sónghay kings of the name of Is-hák—the first, who ruled from A.H.
946-956, and the second, who was the last king of the dynasty, when
Gógho or Gógó was conquered by the Basha Jodár the 17th Jumad e’ tháni,
999; but there is no doubt that the first is meant. What I have said
about the grandson of Maghíli’s dispute with Is-hák is the common
tradition in Negroland, and, I think, deserves more confidence than what
M. Cherbonneau has made out in Constantine. See Journal Asiatique, 1855.
He says, “Après cet horrible massacre, El Mʿrili quitta Touat pour
s’enfoncer dans le cœur du Soudan. Il parcourut successivement Tekra (?
Tirka), Kachène et Kanou. Dans les deux premières villes il enseigna
publiquement la science du Koran; dans l’autre il fit un cours de
jurisprudence. De là il passa à Karou (ou Tchiarou, suivant la
prononciation locale), et fut invité par el Hadj Mohammed, qui en était
le gouverneur, à rédiger une note sur différentes questions de droit. Il
était depuis peu dans cette ville, lorsqu’on vint lui apprendre que son
fils avait été assassiné par les juifs de Touat. Il repartit et mourut
presque au moment de son arrivée.”]
[Footnote 20: “Hábe,” plural of the singular “Kádo” is a general term
now applied by the Fúlbe to the conquered race; but in this instance the
application is different. It is not improbable that the conquerors
extended the meaning of this term, which originally applied only to one
dynasty, to the whole conquered nation.]
[Footnote 21: This name, in the corrupted form “Kilinghiwa,” Mr. Cooley
has connected with the Berbers, in his excellent little work on the
Negroland of the Arabs.]
[Footnote 22: For the names of the quarters of the town, which are not
destitute of interest, see Appendix I.]
[Footnote 23: It was most probably a king of Kátsena, whom Makrízi
entitled king of Áfunú. (Hamaker, Spec. Cat. p. 206.), remarking the
great jealousy with which he watched his wives, although the name Mastúd
which he gives to him, does not occur in the lists of the kings of
Kátsena which have come to my knowledge, and does not even seem to be a
true native name. The power of the prince of Kátsena towards the end of
the last century (Lucas, Horneman) seems to have been rather transient,
being based on the then weakness of Bórnu.]
[Footnote 24: Among the places of which a list is subjoined, certainly
not less than fifty have about 4000 inhabitants, while about 100,000
people are distributed amongst the rest and those smaller hamlets which
have not been named.]
[Footnote 25: For the names of the chief places in the province, see
Appendix II.]
CHAP. XXV.
RESIDENCE IN KANÓ. — VIEW OF ITS INTERIOR. — ITS HISTORY AND PRESENT
STATE. — COMMERCE.
Kanó for us was a station of importance not only from a scientific but
also from an economical point of view. Instead of being provided with
ready cash, we had received in Múrzuk, on account of the British
government, merchandise which, we had been assured, would not only be
safer than money, but would also prove more advantageous for us. In
consequence of the heavy extortions to which we were subjected on the
road to Aïr, and of our long delay in that country, we had been deprived
of the small articles which we carried for barter, so that we were
entirely thrown upon the merchandise which we had forwarded in advance
from Tintéggana; and I for my part, on my arrival in Kanó, had to
liquidate a debt of not less than 112,300 kurdí: viz. 55,000 for the
carriage of this very merchandise from Tintéggana to Kanó; 8300 as my
share of the presents or passage-money given on the road; 18,000 to
Gajére, as hire for the mare and bullock; and 31,000 to a man of the
name of Háj el Dáwaki, on account of Abú-Bakr el Wákhshi, for the
articles bought from him in Kátsena, in order to satisfy the governor of
that place. Besides, I was aware that I had to make a considerable
present to the governor of Kanó; and I was most desirous to discharge
Mohammed e’ Túnsi, whom I had discovered to be utterly useless in these
countries, and who, besides his insupportable insolence, might bring me
into trouble by his inconsiderate and frivolous conduct.
These were material calls upon my encumbered property. On my mind, too,
there were claims of a not less serious character; for, from my very
outset from Europe, I had steadily fixed my eyes upon that Eastern
branch of the Kwára, or so called Niger, which Laird, Allen, and
Oldfield had navigated for the distance of some eighty miles, and which
the former (although he himself did not penetrate further than Fánda)
had, with reasons decisive in my eyes, and which could not be overthrown
in my opinion by Captain William Allen’s ingenious but fanciful
hypothesis, concluded to have no communication whatever with Lake Tsád,
but to proceed from another and very different quarter.[26]
I had therefore cherished the hope, that I should be capable of
penetrating from Kanó in the direction of ʿAdamáwa, a country wherein I
was sure that the question respecting the course of the river would be
decided; but obviously such an undertaking could not be engaged in
without pecuniary means, and all therefore depended on my success in
selling advantageously the merchandise with which I was provided.
For all these reasons, nothing could be more disagreeable and
disheartening to me, though I was not quite unprepared for it, than the
information which I received the very evening of my arrival in Kanó,
that the price of merchandise such as I had was very low. In the next
place, I soon found that Báwu, Mr. Gagliuffi’s agent, whom in compliance
with his recommendation we had made also our commissioner, was not to be
implicitly relied on. He was the second son of Háj Hát Sáleh, the man so
well known from the narrative of Captain Clapperton, towards whom he
seems to have behaved with honesty and fairness, and by this means
perhaps he had recommended himself to Mr. Gagliuffi; but Báwu was not
the right man to be entrusted with discretionary power over the property
of a foreign merchant residing at a great distance, and belonging even
to another religion, or to be the commissioner for European travellers.
Young and ambitious as he was, he had no other object but to insinuate
himself into the good graces of the governor at the expense of those who
had been foolish enough to trust themselves into his hands. Besides, he
had upon his hand a host of younger brothers, who all wanted to “eat.”
Though Háj Hát Sáleh seems to have been a respectable man, he must have
paid very little attention to the education of his children.
It will scarcely be believed that this man, although he had two camel-
loads of goods of mine in his hands, yet left me without a single shell,
“ko urí gudá,” for a whole fortnight, so that I was glad to borrow two
thousand kurdí—less than an Austrian dollar, from Mohammed e’ Sfáksi, in
order to defray the most necessary expenses of my household.
Besides, this agent urged the absolute necessity of making a
considerable present not only to the governor, which I was quite
prepared to do, but another of nearly the same value to the ghaladíma or
first minister, who happened to be the governor’s brother, and enjoyed
quite as much authority and influence. The consequence was that I was
obliged to give away the few articles of value in my possession merely
for being tolerated and protected. The second day after my arrival, the
governor received a message from Mr. Richardson, forwarded from Zínder,
intimating that, after he should have received new supplies from the
coast, he would not fail to come to Kanó; whereupon he sent me word that
I had done very wrong to enter his town without giving him previous
information, whereas my countryman had already forwarded a notice that
at some future period he was likely to pay him a visit. Besides
concluding from the fact that I was not mentioned at all in that letter
that I was travelling on my own account, he made also greater
pretensions with regard to a present.
Being lodged in dark, uncomfortable, and cheerless quarters, which I was
forbidden to leave before the governor had seen me, destitute of a
single farthing in cash, while I was daily called upon and pestered by
my numerous creditors, and laughed at on account of my poverty by an
insolent servant, my readers may fancy that my situation in the great
far-famed entrepôt of Central Africa, the name of which had excited my
imagination for so long a time, was far from agreeable. Partly from
anxiety, partly from want of exercise, in the course of a few days I had
a very severe attack of fever, which reduced me to a state of great
weakness. Fortunately, however, I mustered sufficient strength to avail
myself of a summons which called me at length into the presence of the
governor, on the 18th of February; and by sacrificing what few things
remained to me, I paved the road for my further proceedings, while the
degree of exertion which was necessary to undergo the fatigue of the
visit carried me over my weakness, and restored me gradually to health.
The distances in Kanó, though less than those of London, are very great;
and the ceremonies to be gone through are scarcely less tedious than
those at any European court.
Clothing myself as warmly as possible in my Tunisian dress, and wearing
over it a white tobe and a white bernús, I mounted my poor black nag,
and followed my three mediators and advocates. These were Báwu, Elaíji
and Sídi ʿAli. Elaíji had arrived three days after me from his estate,
and had continued to show me the same disinterested friendship which I
had experienced from him before. Sídi ʿAli was the son of Mohammed, the
former sultan of Fezzán, and last of the Welád Mohammed, who was killed
by Mukni, the father of Yusuf, Mr. Richardson’s interpreter.
This man, whom it would have been far better for us to have employed as
our agent from the beginning, had testified his interest in my welfare
by sending me a fat ram as a present, and now accompanied me most
kindly, in order to exert his influence in my behalf with the governor.
On my second visit to Kanó on my return from Timbúktu, in the latter
part of 1854, when I was still more destitute than in 1851, I placed
myself directly under his protection, and made him my agent at the
moment when the state of my affairs rendered considerable credit
desirable.
It was a very fine morning; and the whole scenery of the town in its
great variety of clay houses, huts, sheds, green open places affording
pasture for oxen, horses, camels, donkeys, and goats, in motley
confusion, deep hollows containing ponds overgrown with the water-plant
the _Pistia stratiotes_, or pits freshly dug up in order to form the
material for some new buildings, various and most beautiful specimens of
the vegetable kingdom, particularly the fine symmetric gónda or papaya,
the slender date-palm, the spreading alléluba, and the majestic rími or
silk cotton-tree (_Bombax_)—the people in all varieties of costume, from
the naked slave up to the most gaudily dressed Arab,—all formed a most
animated and exciting scene. As far as the market-place I had already
proceeded on foot; but Báwu, as soon as he saw me, had hurried me back
to my lodgings, as having not yet been formally received by the
governor. But no one on foot can get a correct idea of an African town,
confined as he is on every side by the fences and walls, while on
horseback he obtains an insight into all the courtyards, becomes an eye-
witness of scenes of private life, and often with one glance surveys a
whole town.
Passing through the market-place, which had only begun to collect its
crowds, and crossing the narrow neck of land which divides the
characteristic pool “Jákara,” we entered the quarters of the ruling
race, the Fúlbe or Féllani, where conical huts of thatchwork, and the
gónda-tree, are prevalent, and where most beautiful and lively pictures
of nature meet the eye on all sides. Thus we proceeded, first to the
house of the gadó (the Lord of the Treasury), who had already called
several times at my house, and acted as the mediator between me and the
governor.
His house was a most interesting specimen of the domestic arrangements
of the Fúlbe, who, however civilized they may have become, do not disown
their original character as “berroróji,” or nomadic cattle-breeders. His
courtyard, though in the middle of the town, looked like a farm-yard,
and could not be conscientiously commended for its cleanliness. Having
with difficulty found a small spot to sit down upon without much danger
of soiling our clothes, we had to wait patiently till his Excellency had
examined and approved of the presents. Having manifested his
satisfaction with them by appropriating to himself a very handsome large
gilt cup, which with great risk I had carried safely through the desert,
he accompanied us on horseback to the “fáda,” “lamórde,” or palace,
which forms a real labyrinth of courtyards, provided with spacious round
huts of audience, built of clay, with a door on each side, and connected
together by narrow intricate passages. Hundreds of lazy, arrogant
courtiers, freemen and slaves, were lounging and idling here, killing
time with trivial and saucy jokes.
We were first conducted to the audience-hall of the ghaladíma, who,
while living in a separate palace, visits the “fáda” almost every day,
in order to act in his important and influential office as vizier; for
he is far more intelligent, and also somewhat more energetic, than his
lazy and indolent brother ʿOthmán[27], who allows this excessively
wealthy and most beautiful province, “the garden of Central Africa,” to
be ransacked with impunity by the predatory incursions of the serkí
Ibrám of Zínder, and other petty chiefs. Both are sons of Dábo and
Shékara—the latter one of the celebrated ladies of Háusa, a native of
Dáura, who is still living, and has three other children, viz. a son
(Makhmúd) and two daughters, one of them named Fátima Záhar, and the
other Sáretu. The governor was then eight and thirty, the ghaladíma
seven and thirty years of age. They were both stout and handsome men,
the governor rather too stout and clumsy. Their apartments were so
excessively dark that, coming from a sunny place, it was some time
before I could distinguish anybody. The governor’s hall was very
handsome, and even stately for this country, and was the more imposing
as the rafters supporting the very elevated ceiling were concealed, two
lofty arches of clay, very neatly polished and ornamented, appearing to
support the whole. At the bottom of the apartment were two spacious and
highly decorated niches, in one of which the governor was reposing on a
“gadó,” spread with a carpet. His dress was not that of a simple Púllo,
but consisted of all the mixed finery of Háusa and Barbary; he allowed
his face to be seen, the white shawl hanging down far below his mouth
over his breast.