medicines to natives to administer to themselves at home, I will relate
the following incident. Ibrahím told me one day that he wanted some
cooling medicine; and I gave him two strong doses of Epsom salts, to use
occasionally. He then complained the following day that he was suffering
from worms; and when I told him that the Epsom salts would not have the
effect of curing this complaint, but that worm-powder would, he begged
me to give him some of the latter; and I gave him three doses to use on
three successive days. However, my poor friend, though an intelligent
man, thought that it might not be amiss to take all this medicine at
once, viz. four ounces of Epsom salts and six drachms of worm-powder;
and the reader may imagine the effect which this dose produced upon a
rather slender man. Unfortunately, I had just taken a ride out of the
town; and he remained for full two days in a most desperate state, while
his friends, who had sent in vain to my house to obtain my assistance,
were lamenting to all the people that the Christian had killed their
companion, the pious pilgrim.
Besides these two men, there were many interesting strangers at that
time in Kúkawa, from whom I learnt more or less. Some of them I shall
here mention, as their character and story will afford the reader a
glance at one side of life in Negroland. A man who had performed travels
of an immense extent, from Khórasán in the east as far as Sansándi in
the west, and from Tripoli and Morocco in the north as far as Asiantí
and Jenakhéra and Fertít towards the south, would have been of great
service, if he had preserved an exact recollection of all the routes
which he had followed in his devious wanderings; but as it was, I could
only gather from him some general information, the most interesting part
of which had reference to Mósi or rather Móre, a large and populous
country known by name already, from Sultan Béllo’s curious
communications to Captain Clapperton, but always misplaced in the maps,
and its capital Wóghodoghó.
This enterprising man, who generally travelled as a dervish, had gone
from Sofára on the Máyo balléo or Niger, between Hamdalláhi and Ségo,
across a most unsettled country, to Wóghodoghó; but he was unable to
give me any precise details with regard to it, and I never met another
person who had travelled this dangerous route. He had also travelled all
along the pagan states to the south of Bagírmi and Wadáy, and advised me
strongly, if it were my plan to penetrate to the upper Nile (as, indeed,
I then intended, notwithstanding my total want of means), to adopt the
character of a dervish, which he deemed essential for my success. But
while such a character might, indeed, insure general success, it would
preclude the possibility of making any accurate observations, and would
render necessary the most painful, if not insupportable, privations. And
on the whole this poor fellow was less fortunate than I; for in the year
1854 he was slain on that very route from Yóla to Kúkawa which I myself
had twice passed successfully. He was a native of Baghdád, and called
himself Sheríf Ahmed el Baghdádi.
There was another singular personage, a native of Sennár, who had been a
clerk in the Turkish army, but, as malicious tongues gave out, had been
too fond of the cash intrusted to his care, and absconded. He afterwards
resided some years in Wadáy, where he had drilled a handful of the
sultan’s slaves, had come to this kingdom to try his fortune, and was
now about to be sent to Wadáy by the sheikh of Bórnu, as a spy, to see
if the prince of that country had still any design of recommencing
hostilities. From all persons of this description a traveller may learn
a great deal; and, intriguing fellows as they generally are, and going
from court to court spreading reports everywhere, prudence requires that
he should keep on tolerably good terms with them.
Most interesting and instructive was a host of pilgrims from different
parts of Másena or Mélle, partly Fúlbe, partly Sónghay, who having heard
of the white man, and of his anxiety to collect information respecting
all parts of the continent, came repeatedly to me to contribute each his
share. I used to regale them with coffee, while they gave me ample
opportunities of comparing and testing their statements. The most
interesting and best informed amongst them were Bu-Bakr, a native of
Hamdalláhi, the capital of the sheikh (sekho) Ahmedu ben Ahmedu, who
having made a pilgrimage to Mekka, had long resided in Yeman, and was
now returning homeward with a good deal of knowledge; and another
cheerful and simple-hearted old man from Sá on the Isa or Niger, between
Hamdalláhi and Timbúktu. Indeed, as the report of Ahmed bel Mejúb about
Adamáwa had confirmed me in my determination to sacrifice everything in
order to visit that country as soon as possible, so the manifold
information of these people with respect to the countries on the middle
course of the so-called Niger excited in me a most ardent desire to
execute the design, previously but vaguely entertained, of accomplishing
also a journey westward to Timbúktu.
Among my Bórnu friends at this time, the most instructive were Shitíma
Makarémma and Ámsakay. The former, who had been a courtier under the old
dynasty, and who had saved his life by his intrigues, was a very
intelligent old man, but an acknowledged rascal, to whom unnatural
vices, which seem in general entirely unknown in these regions, were
imputed. Nevertheless he was the only man who was master of all the
history of the old dynasty; and he spoke the Kanúri language with such
exquisite beauty as I have never heard from anybody else. He had two
very handsome daughters, whom he succeeded in marrying, one to the
vizier and one to his adversary, ʿAbd e’ Rahmán; but in December 1853 he
was executed, together with the vizier, but on totally different
grounds, as having long forfeited his life. Quite a different sort of
man was Ámsakay, a simple Kánemma chief, who has been represented in one
of my sketches. He had formerly distinguished himself by his expeditions
against the Búdduma, till those enterprising islanders succeeded in
conciliating him by the gift of one of their handsome daughters for a
wife, when he became half settled amongst them.
I had also some interesting pagan instructors, among whom I will only
mention Agíd Búrku, a very handsome youth, but who had undergone the
horrible process of castration. The abolition of this practice in the
Mohammedan world ought to be the first object of Christian governments
and missionaries, not merely on account of the unnatural and desecrated
state to which it reduces a human being, but on account of the dreadful
character of the operation itself, which, in these countries at least,
is the reason why scarcely one in ten survives it. With extreme delight
Agíd Búrku dwelt upon the unconstrained nudity in which his countrymen
indulged, and with great _naïveté_ described a custom of the pagans,
which is identical with a custom of the civilized Europeans, but is an
abomination in the eyes of every Mohammedan. He had wandered about a
good deal in the southern provinces of Bagírmi and Wadáy, and gave me
the first information about the interesting mountain-group near Kénga
Matáya.
But I must principally dwell upon my relations to the vizier el Háj
Beshír ben Ahmed Tiráb, upon whose benevolent disposition the whole
success of the mission depended, as he ruled entirely the mind of the
sheikh, who was more sparing of words, and less intelligent.
Mohammed el Beshír, being the son of the most influential man in Bórnu
after the sheikh, enjoyed all the advantages which such a position could
offer for the cultivation of his mind, which was by nature of a superior
cast. He had gone on a pilgrimage to Mekka in the year 1843, by way of
Ben-Gházi, when he had an opportunity both of showing the Arabs near the
coast that the inhabitants of the interior of the continent are superior
to the beasts, and of getting a glimpse of a higher state of
civilization than he had been able to observe in his own country.
Having thus learned to survey the world collectively from a new point of
view, and with an increased eagerness after everything foreign and
marvellous, he returned to his native country, where he soon had an
opportunity of proving his talent, his father being slain in the
unfortunate battle at Kúsuri, and Sheikh ʿOmár, a fugitive in his native
country, having much need of a faithful counsellor in his embarrassed
situation. The sheikh was beset by a powerful and victorious host,
encamping in the largest of the towns of his kingdom, while the party of
the old dynasty was rising again, and not only withdrawing from him the
best forces wherewith to face the enemy, but threatening his very
existence, at the same time that a brother was standing in fierce
rivalry to him at the head of a numerous army. Sheikh ʿOmár was
successful, the host of Wadáy was obliged to withdraw, and, abandoning
the purpose for which they had come, namely, that of re-establishing the
old dynasty, commenced a difficult retreat of many hundred miles at the
beginning of the rainy season; the partisans of the old dynasty were
entirely crushed, the last prince of that family slain, the residence of
the sultans levelled to the ground, and even the remembrance of the old
times was almost effaced. There remained to be feared only his brother
ʿAbd e’ Rahmán. ʿAbd e’ Rahmán was a good soldier, but a man of a very
loose and violent character. When a youth he had committed all sorts of
violence and injustice, carrying off young brides by force, to indulge
his passions: he was besides a man of little intelligence. Being but a
few months younger than ʿOmár, he thought himself equally entitled to
the succession; and if once admitted into a high position in the empire,
he might be expected to abuse his influence on the very first
opportunity.
Sheikh ʿOmár, therefore, could not but choose to confide rather in the
intelligent son of his old minister, the faithful companion in the field
and counsellor of his father, than in his own fierce and jealous
brother; and all depended upon the behaviour of Háj Beshír, and upon the
discretion with which he should occupy and maintain his place as first,
or rather only minister of the kingdom. Assuredly his policy should have
been to conciliate, as much as possible, all the greater “kokanáwa” or
courtiers, in order to undermine the influence of ʿAbd e’ Rahmán, whom
it might be wise to keep at a respectful distance. But in this respect
the vizier seems to have made great mistakes, his covetousness blinding
him to his principal advantages; for covetous he certainly was—first,
from the love of possessing, and also in order to indulge his luxurious
disposition, for he was certainly rather “kamúma,” that is to say,
extremely fond of the fair sex, and had a harím of from three to four
hundred female slaves.
In assembling this immense number of female companions for the
entertainment of his leisure hours, he adopted a scientific principle;
in fact, a credulous person might suppose that he regarded his harím
only from a scientific point of view;—as a sort of ethnological
museum—doubtless of a peculiarly interesting kind—which he had brought
together in order to impress upon his memory the distinguishing features
of each tribe. I have often observed that, in speaking with him of the
different tribes of Negroland, he was at times struck with the novelty
of a name, lamenting that he had not yet had a specimen of that tribe in
his harím, and giving orders at once to his servants to endeavour to
procure a perfect sample of the missing kind. I remember, also, that on
showing to him one day an illustrated ethnological work in which he took
a lively interest, and coming to a beautiful picture of a Circassian
female, he told me, with an expression of undisguised satisfaction, that
he had a living specimen of that kind; and when, forgetting the laws of
Mohammedan etiquette, I was so indiscreet as to ask him whether she was
as handsome as the picture, he answered only with a smile, at once
punishing and pardoning my indiscreet question. I must also say that,
notwithstanding the great number and variety of the women who shared his
attention, he seemed to take a hearty interest in each of them; at least
I remember that he grieved most sincerely for the loss of one who died
in the winter of 1851. Poor Háj Beshír! He was put to death in the last
month of 1853, leaving seventy-three sons alive, not counting the
daughters, and the numbers of children which may be supposed to die in
such an establishment without reaching maturity.
But to return to his political character. I said that he neglected to
attach to himself the more powerful of the courtiers, with whose
assistance he might have hoped to keep the rival brother of Sheikh ʿOmár
at some distance; indeed, he even alienated them by occasional, and
sometimes injudicious use of his almost unlimited power, obliging them,
for instance, to resign to him a handsome female slave or a fine horse.
If he had possessed great personal courage and active powers, he might
have mastered circumstances and kept his post, notwithstanding the ill-
will of all around him; but he wanted those qualities, as the result
shows: and yet, well aware of the danger which threatened him, he was
always on his guard, having sundry loaded pistols and carbines always
around him, upon and under his carpet. Shortly before I arrived, an
arrow had been shot at him in the evening, while he was sitting in his
courtyard.
I have peculiar reason to thank Providence for having averted the storm
which was gathering over his head during my stay in Bórnu, for my
intimacy with him might very easily have involved me also in the
calamities which befell him. However, I repeat that altogether he was a
most excellent, kind, liberal, and just man, and might have done much
good to the country, if he had been less selfish and more active. He was
incapable, indeed, of executing by himself any act of severity, such as
in the unsettled state of a semi-barbarous kingdom may at times be
necessary; and, being conscious of his own mildness, he left all those
matters to a man named Lamíno, to whom I gave the title of “the
shameless left hand of the vizier,” and whom I shall have frequent
occasion to mention.
I pressed upon the vizier the necessity of defending the northern
frontier of Bórnu against the Tawárek by more effectual measures than
had been then adopted, and thus retrieving, for cultivation and the
peaceable abode of his fellow-subjects, the fine borders of the
komádugu, and restoring security to the road to Fezzán. Just about this
time the Tawárek had made another expedition into the border-districts
on a large scale, so that Kashélla Belál, the first of the war chiefs,
was obliged to march against them; and the road to Kanó, which I, with
my usual good luck, had passed unmolested, had become so unsafe that a
numerous caravan was plundered, and a well-known Arab merchant, the
sheríf el Gháli, killed.
I remonstrated with him on the shamefully neglected state of the shores
of the lake, which contained the finest pasture-grounds, and might yield
an immense quantity of rice and cotton. He entered with spirit into all
my proposals; but in a short time all was forgotten. He listened with
delight to what little historical knowledge I had of these countries,
and inquired particularly whether Kánem had really been in former times
a mighty kingdom, or whether it would be worth retaking. It was in
consequence of these conversations that he began to take an interest in
the former history of the country, and that the historical records of
Edrís Alawóma came to light; but he would not allow me to take them into
my hands, and I could only read over his shoulders. He was a very
religious man; and though he admired Europeans very much on account of
their greater accomplishments, he was shocked to think that they drank
intoxicating liquors. However, I tried to console him by telling him
that, although the Europeans were also very partial to the fair sex, yet
they did not indulge in this luxury on so large a scale as he did, and
that therefore he ought to allow them some other little pleasure.
He was very well aware of the misery connected with the slave-trade; for
on his pilgrimage to Mekka, in the mountainous region between Fezzán and
Ben-Gházi he had lost, in one night, forty of his slaves by the extreme
cold, and he swore that he would never take slaves for sale, if he were
to travel again. But it was more difficult to make him sensible of the
horrors of slave-hunting, although, when accompanying him on the
expedition to Músgu, I and Mr. Overweg urged this subject with more
success, as the further progress of my narrative will show. He was very
desirous to open a commerce with the English, although he looked with
extreme suspicion upon the form of articles in which the treaty was
proposed to be drawn up; but he wished to forbid to Christians the sale
of two things, viz. spirituous liquors and bibles. He did not object to
bibles being brought into the country, and even given as presents; but
he would not allow of their being sold. But the difficulties which I had
to contend with in getting the treaty signed will be made more
conspicuous as my narrative proceeds.
The most pressing matter which I had with the vizier in the first
instance, after my arrival, was to obtain some money, in order to
settle, at least partly, the just claims of the late Mr. Richardson’s
servants, and to clear off debts which reflected little credit on the
government which had sent us. I could scarcely expect that he would lend
me the money without any profit, and was therefore glad to obtain it at
the rate of 1000 cowries, or kúngona as they are called in Bórnu, for a
dollar, to be paid in Fezzán; and I lost very little by the bargain, as
the creditors, well aware of the great difficulty I was in, and
acknowledging my desire to pay them off, agreed to receive for every
dollar of the sum which they claimed, only 1280 cowries, while in the
market the dollar fetched a much higher price. Indeed it was most
grateful to my feelings to be enabled, on the 13th of April, to
distribute among the eight creditors 70,000 shells; and it was the more
agreeable, as the more arrogant among them, seeing my extreme poverty,
had assumed a tone of great insolence towards me, which I found it
difficult to support in silence. Being now relieved a little in
circumstances, I immediately rid myself of the carpenter, the
grandiloquent Son of Jerusalem, and sent him away. He died on the road
before reaching Múrzuk—a fact which the natives attributed to the curse
which I had given him for having stolen something from my house.
My household now became more comfortable. Already, on the 10th of April,
late in the evening, I had removed my quarters from the large empty
courtyard in the eastern town, or billa gedíbe, to a small clay house in
the western, or billa futébe.
This dwelling consisted of several small but neatly-made rooms, and a
yard. Afterwards we succeeded in obtaining in addition an adjoining
yard, which was very spacious, and included several thatched huts; and
all this together formed “the English house,” which the sheikh was kind
enough to concede to the English mission as long as anybody should be
left there to take care of it.
Its situation was very favourable, as will be seen from the plan a few
pages further on, being situated almost in the middle of the town, and
nevertheless out of the way of the great thoroughfares; the internal
arrangement is shown in the annexed woodcut.
[Illustration:
1. Segífa, or “soró chínnabe,” into which a person coming from the
small yard before the house first enters through the principal gate.
In the corner there is a spacious clay bench, “dágali,” raised three
feet from the ground.
2. Small open courtyard, with a very fine chédia or caoutchouc-tree
(3.), in which we had generally a troop of monkeys, while at the
bottom a couple of squirrels (_Sciurus_) were living in a hole.
4. A second courtyard with a henhouse. (5.)
6. Inner segífa, where, in the beginning, the servants loitered, and
which was afterwards changed into a simple dining-room. Here generally
the water-jars were kept.
7. Small courtyard, with water-jar.
8. Inner room, where I used to live, and afterwards Mr. Vogel.
9. Inner large courtyard, where, in the corner, the kitchen was
established.
10. Room with a large claybank, where Mr. Overweg used to recline in
the daytime.
11. Bedroom of Mr. Overweg, and afterwards of the Sappers, Corporal
Church and Macguire.
12. Small back courtyard.
13. Storeroom.
14. Outer enclosure of great courtyard in the beginning of our
residence in Kúkawa. This wall we afterwards pulled down, when we
obtained a very large yard for our horses and cattle. We, at times,
had six horses and five or six cows.
15. Very large well-built conical hut, with clay wall and thatched
roof. In the interior there were two spacious raised claybanks of the
kind called “dágali.” and “zinzin,” and in the background a raised
recess, separated by a wall two feet high, for luggage or corn. This
hut I occupied during my last stay in Kúkawa after my return from
Timbúktu, when I built in front of it a large shed with that sort of
coarse mats called síggedí.
16. Hut occupied by Maʿadi, a liberated slave, first in the service of
Mr. Richardson, afterwards in that of Mr. Overweg, and lastly, Mr.
Vogel’s head servant. Having been wounded in the service of the
expedition, a small pension has been granted to him.
17. Hut occupied by another servant.
18. Place for our cattle.
19. A well. The sandy soil, as I have said, obliged us to change the
place of our well very often, and we had great trouble in this
respect.
20. A clayhouse which, during the latter part of our stay, fell to
ruins.]
I immediately took possession of the room No. 8., which, although very
small, was altogether the best, and was very cool during the hot hours
of the day. Mr. Vogel too, when he afterwards arrived, immediately fixed
upon this room. There was a most splendid kórna-tree in the neighbouring
courtyard, which spread its shade over the terrace of this room, and
over part of the small courtyard in front of it. In our own yard we had
only a very fine specimen of a chédia or caoutchouc-tree (in the first
yard, No. 3.), which was afterwards a little damaged by Mr. Overweg’s
monkeys, besides two very small kórna-trees in the great yard around the
huts Nos. 16 and 17. Having thus made myself as comfortable as possible,
I began without delay to dig a well in the small court before the house,
as we had to fetch the water from another well at some distance, which
was much used by the people. My attempt caused some amusement to the
vizier, who soon heard of it, and recognised in it a feature of the
European character; for digging a well is no small undertaking in
Kúkawa, although water is to be found at only nine fathoms depth; for
the ground, consisting of loose sand under an upper thin layer of clay,
is very apt to fall in, while the slender boughs with which the shaft is
upheld, offer but little resistance. We had a great deal of trouble with
our well, not only in constantly repairing it, but in the course of our
stay we were thrice obliged to change the spot and dig a new well
altogether. We should have been glad to set an example to the natives by
building up our shaft with bricks; but with our scanty means, or rather
our entire want of means, we could scarcely think of undertaking such a
costly work. At a later period Mr. Overweg found a layer of shell lime
in a spot of our courtyard, and got our house neatly whitewashed. The
great point in this place is to protect oneself against the countless
swarms of fleas which cover the ground, the best preservative being
considered a frequent besmearing of the walls and the floor with
cowdung. The large white ant too is most troublesome; and sugar
particularly is kept with difficulty from its voracious attacks. Our
rooms swarmed also with bugs, “bermáde,” but I am almost afraid that we
ourselves imported them with our books. The bug, however, in Bórnu is
not regarded as that nasty insect which creates so much loathing in
civilized countries; on the contrary the native thinks its smell
aromatic.