_Of the River Senegal and the Jalofs, with some Account of the Manners,
Customs, Government, Religion, and Dress of that Nation_.
Leaving Cape Branco, and the Gulf of Arguin, we continued our course
along the coast to the river Senegal, which divides the desert and the
tawny Azanhaji from the fruitful lands of the Negroes. Five years before
I went on this voyage, this river was discovered by three caravels
belonging to Don Henry, which entered it, and their commanders settled
peace and trade with the Moors; since which time ships have been sent to
this place every year to trade with the natives[1]. The river Senegal is
of considerable size, being a mile wide at the mouth, and of sufficient
depth. A little farther on it has another entrance, and between the two,
there is an island which forms a cape, running into the sea, having sand-
banks at each mouth that extend a mile from the shore[2]. All ships that
frequent the Senegal ought carefully to observe the course of the tides,
the flux and reflux of which extend for seventy miles up the river, as I
was informed by certain Portuguese, who had been a great way up this
river with their caravels. From Cape Branco, which is 280 miles distant,
the whole coast is sandy till within twenty miles of the river. This is
called the coast of _Anterota_, and belongs entirely to the Azanhaji or
Tawny Moors. I was quite astonished to find so prodigious a difference in
so narrow a space, as appeared at the Senegal: For, on the south side of
the river, the inhabitants are all exceedingly black, tall, corpulent and
well proportioned, and the country all clothed in fine verdure, and full
of fruit trees; whereas, on the north side of the river, the men are
tawny, meagre, and of small stature, and the country all dry and barren.
This river, in the opinion of the learned, is a branch of the _Gihon_,
which flows from the Terrestrial Paradise, and was named the Niger by the
ancients, which flows through the whole of Ethiopia, and which, on
approaching the ocean to the west, divides into many other branches. The
_Nile_, which is another branch of the Gihon, falls into the
Mediterranean, after flowing through Egypt[3].
The first kingdom of the Negroes is on the banks of the Senegal, and its
inhabitants are called _Gilofi_ or Jalofs. All the country is low, not
only from the north to that river, but also beyond it, as far south as
Cape Verd, which is the highest land on all this coast, and is 400 miles
from Cape Branco. This kingdom of the Jalofs, on the Senegal, is bounded
on the east by the country called _Tukhusor_; on the south by the kingdom
of _Gambra_ or Gambia; on the west by the Atlantic Ocean; and on the
north by the river Senegal and the Azanhaji[4]. The king who reigned in
Senegal in my time was named Zukholin, and was twenty-two years old. This
kingdom is not hereditary; but for the most part, three or four of the
principal lords, of whom there are many in the country, choose a king, in
the event of a vacancy, but always fix their choice on a person of noble
lineage, who reigns only as long as he gives satisfaction to these great
lords. They often dethrone their kings by force; who, on the other hand,
often render; themselves so powerful as to stand on their defence. This
renders the government unsettled, and is productive of civil wars;
similar to Egypt, where the Soldan of Cairo is always in fear of being
killed or banished.
The people are savages, and extremely poor, having no walled towns, and
their villages are entirely composed of thatched cottages. They use
neither lime nor stone in building, not knowing how to make the one, or
to form the other. The kingdom of the Jalofs is small, and, as I was
informed, extends only 300 miles along the coast, and about the same
distance inland. The king has no settled revenue; but the lords of the
country court his favour, by making him yearly presents of horses, which
being scarce, are in high estimation, together with horse furniture, cows,
and goats, pulse, millet, and other things. He likewise increases his
wealth by means of robbery, and by reducing his own subjects, and those
of neighbouring provinces to slavery, employing a part of these slaves to
cultivate the lands which are assigned to him, and selling the rest to
the Arabs and Azanhaji traders, who bring horses and other things for
sale; as likewise to the Christians, since they have established a trade
in these parts.
Every man may keep as many wives as he pleases. The king has always
upwards of thirty, and distinguishes them according to their descent, and
the rank of the lords whose daughters they are. He keeps them in certain
villages of his own, eight or ten in one place, each having a separate
house to dwell in, with a certain number of young women to attend her,
and slaves to cultivate the land which is assigned for her maintenance,
which they sow and reap, and to tend her cows and goats. When the king
comes to any of these villages, he brings no provisions along with him,
as his women are obliged to support him and his retinue whenever he
visits them. Every, morning at sunrise, each of his wives in the village
where he happens to reside, prepares three or four dishes of various
viands, such as flesh, fish, or other dainties, cooked in their fashion;
which are carried by the slaves to the kings pantry; so that in less than
an hour, thirty or forty dishes are provided, and when the king has a
mind to eat, he finds every thing ready at his command. When he has eaten
of such things as he likes best, the remainder is given to his retinue;
but as this, diet is never very plentiful, they are but poorly fed. He
travels about in this manner, from place to place, visiting his several
wives, by which means he has a very numerous issue and whenever one of
his wives happens to fall with child, he visits her no more. The lords or
chiefs of the country live in a similar manner.
These negroes profess me Mahometan religion, but are not even so well
instructed in it as the tawny Moors, more especially the common people.
The lords have always about them some Arabs or Azanhaji for this purpose,
who inculcate on their minds that it would be disgraceful for men of
their quality to live in ignorance of the laws of God, like the common
people who have no religion. They have become Mahometans merely by means
of their intercourse with the Azanhaji and Arabs; for since they became
acquainted with the Christians, they are by no means so fond of the
Mahometan faith. The generality of the negroes go quite naked, except a
piece of goat skin before; but the lords who are able to procure such,
wear cotton shirts, which are spun and manufactured by their women. Their
webs are only a span in width, as they have not sufficient art to
construct and use wider looms; so that they are obliged to sew five, six,
or more of these webs together, when it is required to make any large
piece of work. The shirts reach half way down the thighs, and have wide
sleeves which; cover only half of their arms. They wear also cotton
drawers, reaching to the small of their legs; and these drawers are made
preposterously wide, being often thirty-five or forty palms in
circumference; so that, when tied on, they are full of plaits, and though
like A sack before the hinder part trails on the ground like the train of
a large petticoat. Thus, though making a most ridiculous appearance, they
think nothing comes up to their dress for elegance, and they often ask
the Europeans if they ever saw a finer dress. Their women, both married
and unmarried, go naked from the waist upwards, and wear a piece of
cotton which covers them from the waist to the middle of the legs. Both
sexes go barefooted, and have no coverings to their heads; and weave and
tie their hair, though short, into neat tresses. The men often employ
themselves in womens work, such as spinning, washing clothes, and such
like employments.
This country is extremely hot, the month of January being not so cold as
it is with us in Italy in the month of April; and the farther we went to
the south, the weather became so much the hotter. Both men and women wash
themselves four or five times a-day, and are very cleanly in their
persons; but are by no means so in regard of eating, in which they
observe no rule. Although very ignorant, and extremely awkward in any
thing, to which they have not been accustomed, they are as expert as any
European can be in their own business, and in all things with which they
are acquainted. They are full of words, and extremely talkative, and are
for the most part liars and cheats. Yet they are exceedingly hospitable,
and charitably disposed, as they will most readily give a dinner, or a
supper, or a nights lodging, to any stranger who comes to their houses,
without expecting any remuneration or reward. The chiefs of these negroes
are often at war against each other, or against the neighbouring tribes
or nations; but they have no cavalry, for want of horses. In war, their
only defensive armour is a large target, made of the skin of an animal
called _Danta_, which is very difficultly pierced; and their principal
weapons are _azagays_ or light darts, which they throw with great
dexterity. These darts are pointed with iron, the length of a span, and
barbed in different directions, so that they make dangerous wounds, and
tear the flesh extremely when pulled out. They have also a Moorish weapon,
much-bent like a Turkish sword or cimeter, and made of iron, without any
steel, which they procure from the negroes on the river Gambia, as they
either have no iron in their own country, or want knowledge or industry
in working it. Having but few weapons, or rather no missiles, their wars
are very bloody, as they soon come to close quarters, and their strokes
seldom fall in vain; and, being extremely fierce and courageous, they
will rather allow themselves to be slain as save themselves by flight;
neither are they disheartened by seeing their companions slain. They have
no ships, nor had they ever seen any before the Portuguese came upon
their coast; but those who dwell upon the river Senegal, and some who are
settled on the sea coast, have _zoppolies_ or canoes, called _almadias_
by the Portuguese, which are hollowed out of a single piece of wood, the
largest of which will carry three or four men. They use these almadias
for catching fish, and for transporting themselves up or down the river.
The negroes of this country are the most expert swimmers in the world, as
I can vouch from frequent experience of their dexterity.
[1] Cada Mosto is incorrect in the chronology of this discovery, and even
de Barros is not quite decided as to the first discovery of the
Senegal. He says that Denis Fernandez _passed_ it in 1446, and that
Lancerot _discovered_ it in 1447; the latter of which is eight years
before the visit of Cada Mosto.--Clarke.
[2] The northern mouth of the Senegal is in lat. 16° 40'. The southern in
15° 45', both N. so that the distance between them, or the length of
the island mentioned in the text, is about sixty-two miles.--E.
[3] This fancy of all the great rivers in Africa being branches from one
principal stream, is now known to be entirely erroneous.--Astl.
[4] Although the first kingdom, or kingdoms of the Negroes lies on the
Senegal, Senega, or Sanaghas, and others along the Gambia, yet there
were not properly any kingdoms of these names. On the north, indeed,
of the Sanagha, lay the country of the Sanhaga, Azanaghi, or Azanhaji,
from whence the river seems to have taken its name; but was divided
among various tribes of people, and not under any one sovereign.
Geographers, however, have since continued to propagate this first
error.--Astl.
The Jalofs and Foulahs inhabit the country between the Senegal and
Gambia, on which latter river the Feloops reside. What is meant by
_Tukhusor_ in the text does not appear, unless it may obscurely
indicate Karta.--E.