Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51 Volume Ii Part 20

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 a.s.sist 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.

_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 Kad 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 quant.i.ty 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 pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sured 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 Sat.u.r.day next.

CHAPTER XVII.

News from Tesaoua--Razzia on Sakkatou--Laziness in Zinder--The Hajah--Herds of Cattle--More Tuarick Patients--Gardens--My Luggage--Adieu to the Sarkee--Present from his Highness--Start from Zinder--Country--Birds--Overtake the Kashalla--Slaves for Kanou--Continue the Journey--People of Deddegi--Their Timidity--Horse Exercise--Cotton--Strange Birds--Occupation of Men and Women--State of African Society--Islamism and Paganism--Character of the Kashalla--A Dogberry--Guddemuni--Cultivation--Beggars--Dancing Maidens.

A Shereef has come here to-day from Tesaoua, and reports that Overweg left that place for Maradee, about eight days since, with a Tuarick of En-Noor. The city of Maradee is but an hour from Gonder, and is about twice the size of Zinder. The whole occupation of these two cities is that of razzia, and their subsistence and riches are all derived from this source. These places also swarm with Tuaricks, Kilgris, Iteesan, and Kailouees, who join the blacks of Maradee and Gouber in their slave-hunting expeditions. A grand razzia is being perpetrated by the united forces of the Sultans of Maradee, Gouber, and Korgum, with the a.s.sistance of a thousand Tuarick horse, on the territories of the Sultan of Sakkatou. The cavalry of the marauders consists of some five thousand, and there are more than this number on foot. My informant says they will go near Kashna, perhaps to its very gates. So it seems the Sultan of Sakkatou, with all his power and his great cities, is unable to check, or apparently even to avenge, the depredations committed upon his most important provinces. It is said that the product of this razzia will be some of the finest slaves in this part of Africa, many of them almost white. We are to leave here to-morrow. Inshallah! It is too bad to be kept so long here, when Haj Beshir has sent orders for us to come immediately.

_7th._--The morning was cool; thermometer at sunrise, 58. I slept little, being angry at being kept here so long. I read Milton to divert my mind awhile from African subjects.

There seems to be little industry in Zinder. The education of the greater part of the males is to fit them for razzias, and this must be considered as the princ.i.p.al cause of the unfeeling manner with which the blacks hereabouts look upon, their captive brethren. These captives are their means of livelihood; they live on the products of the razzias, and, of course, the superior intellects with which they may come in contact countenance all their proceedings; for the foreign merchants are equally interested with them in their inhuman expeditions. Africa is bled from all pores by her own children, seconded by the cupidity of strangers.

All the Moors and Arabs whom I conversed with extol the power of the Sheikh of Bornou, and represent him as the greatest sheikh in Central Africa. Nevertheless, the Fellatahs are everywhere, far and wide, from Sakkatou to Adamaua, a dominant people, though few in number compared with the population of the subjected kingdoms.

One of the most remarkable women, perhaps the only remarkable woman in Zinder at the present moment, is a certain Hajah (i.e. a woman who has made the pilgrimage of Mekka). She is a native of Fezzan, and is now employed in the household of the Sheikh of Bornou. She is excessively free and easy with all men folks; and although such a saint, her chast.i.ty, I am told, does not rate high. She returns to Kuka with us--no great gain to our caravan.

Near our enclosure is a long s.p.a.ce full of bullocks and cows--some four hundred and fifty. These are distributed amongst the whole population by ones, twos, and threes. I have seen no herd but this, and if this is really the only one, it speaks little for the wealth of the people of Zinder. In fact, with regard to horses it is much the same,--the Shereef can hardly find me a horse to ride on in the whole town.

Apparently, Zinder is a wretchedly poor place. All are needy, from the Sarkee downwards, and when they get any property it all comes from the razzias. The system of living on rapine and man-stealing seems to bring its own punishment along with it.

A _posse_ of Tuarick patients a.s.sailed me very early this morning. The Tuaricks, who have more intellect than the blacks, let loose their imagination to fancy they have all sorts of complaints. Thus I have more patients from them than from the people of Zinder, and am quite undeceived as to my having done with this tribe when I entered the gates of this town. There is, however, this difference now, that they treat me with the greatest respect, and are very quiet, bringing presents instead of demanding presents.

The Tuaricks of Gurasu, I hear, have a bad name, and are troublesome to the Sheikh.

I went to the gardens this morning and yesterday morning--it is an immense relief from the enclosure of huts in town--but have not observed anything new. I am told that the suburbs of Kanou are full of palms.

Zinder, if the people were industrious, could have its forests of palms, bearing luscious fruit twice a-year. But, alas! the excitement of the razzia destroys the taste for all rational industry. What bandit could ever settle down into a tiller of the ground?

_8th._--The people came this morning, in a great hurry, to take off the luggage, and afterwards pretended that I should go to-morrow, whilst the baggage must be forwarded to-day. This arrangement I positively refused to comply with, being determined to stop no longer.

I went to take leave of the Sarkee. His highness had nothing to say, and we as little to him. We just shook hands, and that was all. He is not very well pleased with his late man-hunt. He still owes twenty thousand dollars, which it will require a dozen such speculations to pay off. The castle outside was besieged with soldiers, all lounging and listening to two or three drummers. I am disgusted to see so many idle people. The only novelty was four or five singing-women, who sung choruses inside the walls to a drummer. All the soldiers in undress, or not going on razzia, are bare-headed, and also nearly all the inhabitants of the town. A few persons, mostly women, wear a piece of blue cotton cloth over their heads, tied tight, so as to have the appearance of a cap. The common sort of women go with their b.r.e.a.s.t.s bare; others, of higher rank, drag up their skirts to cover their b.r.e.a.s.t.s; and a few add a piece of cotton cloth, which they throw over their shoulders like a shawl.

The Sarkee has presented Yusuf with a horse, blind with one eye, and not much bigger than a jacka.s.s, in return for the present Yusuf made to him.

In fact, this potentate is now as poor as a rat, and has nothing to give away. When he has anything, he soon parts with it, being generous to prodigality. The t.i.tle Sarkee is used for men of inferior rank, and is something like Bey.

I waited till three o'clock, P.M., for my servants, and Sad of Haj Beshir, to come and bring the oxen for the rest of the baggage--the boat and the heavy baggage left in the morning; and seeing no signs of their preparation, I determined to be no longer duped by them, and told the servant of Haj Beshir that I would start to-day, be the consequence what it might. So off I went to the Shereef, and told him I must go at once, to follow the Kashalla, who had taken away the box in which was the chronometer, and I must go to wind it up early in the morning. He immediately informed the Sarkee, and asked for a soldier. A soldier was forthwith brought, and a message from the Sarkee, that the horse which had been sent for me to ride upon was a present from his highness to me.

This is the first present of the kind I have received in Africa; and after giving away about five hundred pounds sterling of Government money I have got in return, at last, a horse worth one pound fifteen shillings and fourpence, the current value of this country! The Sarkee of Zinder is miserably poor, but he was afraid to let me go to Kuka, to his master, without giving me a present.

I started from Zinder, riding my "gift horse," about an hour before sunset, and arrived at Dairmummegai, a very large village, where the Kashalla had pitched tent, after three hours' ride. Our course was due east, through a scattered forest of dwarf-trees, in which were fluttering about a number of strange-looking birds, that reminded me I was in a foreign land. One solitary bird excited my pity; its form was something like that of a small crane, but, verily, it was most disproportionally thin, with very long neck and shanky legs. It was wandering about as if it had lost itself in the world; and yet a bird losing itself in the world is a strange notion! We met a couple of huntsmen, on the shoulders of one of whom was coiled a fine bleeding gazelle. These huntsmen had only bows and arrows, and they had managed to get a gazelle, whilst we, with all our matchlocks and muskets, had never been able to shoot one of these animals during our eight or nine months of pa.s.sage through the desert. The Kashalla was exceedingly glad at my arrival, and got ready a bowl of new milk. He is a man of some fifty or sixty years of age, black, and with Bornou features, speaking a little Arabic. The greater part of the Bornou people know a few words of this language. The Sheikh sent him to bring the boat and our baggage. He is a friendly, quiet man, whilst the man sent by Haj Beshir, Sad, is an impudent slave, and only thinking of what he can get by his journey.

I saw, as I pa.s.sed through the streets of Zinder this morning, a number of slaves chained together, going to the market of Kanou; so that this place is the great central depot of this merchandise. These were some of the fruits of the Sarkee's last razzia.

_9th._--The morning was cool, and we started early, and made six hours and a-quarter in a general south-east direction, through a continuation of scattered forests, with open s.p.a.ces, the wood being broken in upon here and there by a scanty ghaseb cultivation. Amongst the trees, some rose with giant arms and all the characters of tropical vegetation. The country was undulating, with ranges of low hills. Blocks of granite were scattered on the surface of the ground; in the deeper valleys lay stagnant water of the last rains, fast drying up; and here were water-fowls, waders, and some large, strange, black-and-white geese, with necks of enormous length.

After three hours and a-quarter we came to the considerable village of Deddegi, where, on our appearance, all the inhabitants fetching water or tending cattle ran away. This I may remark, as the first time that the people ran away at our appearance amongst them. Hitherto we have always had the population pressing upon us for curiosity, or to attack and plunder us. Things change. But the flight of the people of Deddegi is easily explained. We were soon recognised as a Bornou caravan, and the Bornouese in coming to Zinder,--the Sheikh's people especially,--have been in the habit of plundering these villages, or carrying off the people and their cattle, the former into slavery. Recently the Sarkee has complained of this, and the Sheikh, to do him justice, has ordered the Sarkee to seize any Bornouese committing these misdemeanours, and execute what justice he pleases upon them. The Sarkee, now, will not be slack to obey his master's commands. Still it is not surprising the people ran away from a Bornou caravan.

We encamped at the group of villages called Dairmu. My "gift horse" had given me most excruciating pain in riding, and I was obliged to dismount for half an hour. The saddles are very bad, and cut you raw before you are accustomed to them. But I must submit to this fatigue, for now I must ride horses and put away the camel, which is too slow for travelling in Soudan, where water and herbage are found for the horses every two or three hours.

After I was somewhat recovered, I went to see the village, and found all the people working upon cotton; some cleaning it, some winding it into b.a.l.l.s, and others weaving the gubaga, or narrow strips of cotton cloth, with which the greater number of the population are clothed. A small portion of the cotton-twist is dyed with indigo, and with this and the undyed a species of check-cotton cloth is woven; but all very rude. The Sheikh of the place supplied the caravan with bazeen. For myself I purchased a couple of fowls, which cost just twopence farthing in English money: they were, however, small; and I may remark that all fowls are small in this country, and most of the domestic animals, like horses, sheep, dogs, cats, &c. are diminutive when compared to those of Europe. The bullocks, however, are of a good size, with branching horns.

The sheep have no wool, or rather, the wool takes the appearance and substance of hair, like that of a dog; and their tails, too, are like those of dogs; but, indeed, the Soudan sheep are well known. No fruit or vegetables are found in these villages: not even onions, common in most places. The birds have all a strange appearance. I am no naturalist, and wonder when I should examine. That filthy species of vulture, the scavenger of Zinder, is seen in twos and threes. The woods abound in turtle-doves. I gave the Kashalla a ring for himself and his female slave, or wife, as it may be. Very few men of this sort have wives: all their women are slaves. He was greatly pleased with the present.

_10th._--My thermometer remains behind with the baggage at Zinder, expected to-day. Here we wait for it, and the rest of the caravan. I oiled myself well last night with olive oil, and feel much better this morning. During a walk through the villages, I observed that two-thirds of the male population, as in Zinder, are quite idle, lounging about, or stretched at their full length upon the dust of the ground. A third find something to do, either in working on cotton, or making matting, or in the gardens, where tobacco, pepper, cotton, and indigo are grown. These are the staple products of the gardens in this part of Africa. The women have always something to occupy their time, suckling their children, fetching water, cooking, or else picking cotton. All the males, I imagine, at some seasons of the year, find occupation, when the ghaseb is sown and when reaped. But, nevertheless, what powerfully solicits the observation of the European in looking into these villages is the downright livelong idleness of the male population.

We begin, at length, to regard this region merely as the nursery-ground of slavery--of the system which takes away the idlers to perform their share of the curse p.r.o.nounced on Adam, that in the sweat of his brow he should eat and earn his bread. Again it is to be observed, that the wants of these people are very few: they live on ghaseb and milk, eating little meat; these come to them almost without labour. The ground is tilled by burning the stubble of the previous year, or by burning the trees on new land. The seed is thrown in when the rain begins, and nothing more is done till the grain is ripe for the sickle, when it is gathered in. It is collected under small sheds made of matting, and eaten as it is wanted. The cattle are mostly driven to graze and to water, and this is all the attention they require. The cotton furnishes a scanty clothing, deemed sufficient; all the children go naked till they are ten years old, or only wear a piece of cotton, leather, or a skin round their loins. The men of some consequence buy a tobe brought from Kanou or Niffee; the women purchase a few beads and other ornaments with their fowls or ghaseb. The bowls or household utensils are made from gourds, in shape like a cuc.u.mber, but straight, with a k.n.o.b at the end; they are slit in two, and thus form two spoons, the concave head of the gourd serving as the bowl, the other part as the handle. These calabashes, some of which are pretty, are hung up within the huts as ornaments. On peeping into these huts, nothing is seen but these said calabashes, except the strings or nets by which they are suspended on the sides of the huts. As you enter there is always a part.i.tion-wall on your right hand, and a round entrance at the further end of the hut to this part, part.i.tioned off. This s.p.a.ce, so divided off, is the sleeping-place, where there is a raised bench of mud, or a bedstead made of cane or wickers. A few utensils for culture, an axe and a hoe, may be mentioned, all made by native blacksmiths, of the rudest description.

Iron is found in the native rocks of Soudan, and is not imported. The greatest skill of the African blacksmith is, alas! shown in forging the manacles for slaves. I must mention that many of the huts have walls of clay, and roofs only of thatch or matting. The grain-stacks are also raised a foot or two from the ground, on stakes, to prevent the ghaseb getting wet during the rainy season. Thus it is that these children of Africa live a life of simplicity little above pure savages, and I may add, a life of comparative idleness, and perhaps happiness, in their point of view.

Yesterday our Kashalla made a move to say his prayers. He was surrounded by the people who came with him from Zinder and Bornou, and the inhabitants of Dairmu. He prayed, but prayed alone, none following his example! It is quite clear that all the black population hereabouts are only nominal Muslims, and remain in heart pure Hazna, or pagans. Those who do pray, pray very little indeed; there is no sensual charin or allurement in Mahommedanism for the African mind, whilst its fasts and commands of abstinence from strong drinks deter thousands from embracing the religion of the false Prophet. It cannot allure the African by polygamy, because the African has as many women as he pleases by the permission of his native superst.i.tion. Islamism, therefore, takes no hold of the native African mind. There are a few Tuaricks scattered amongst all this population, but living generally out of the villages by themselves; they are all subjects of the Sheikh, and have escaped the desert to lead an easier life in Soudan. It is strange that some of the Tuarick women are enormously corpulent, whilst a corpulent woman is not found amongst the blacks. I must add, that the morality of these black villages seems of a much higher and purer kind than that of the Tuarick villages of Asben. Here they do not look upon woman, as in Asben, simply in the light of an instrument of pleasure: but I fear this will soon change. What morality, indeed, can there be without higher and more binding motives?

I was much pleased with the condescension of the Kashalla in furnishing me with information on routes, and gave him a head of sugar. He is a man of great generosity, and immediately divided it amongst his people. He says he never leaves the Sheikh's presence, and it was solely on account of me that the Sheikh sent him to fetch me from Zinder. If this be true, their sovereign has paid a high compliment to the Mission.

The only character whom I could discover in Dairmu was the constable, or general police-officer. This was an ill-looking fellow, with one eye damaged,--a most unamiable Dogberry. He approached the Kashalla twice, keeping, however, at a timid distance, kneeling down and throwing the dust in handfulls over his head, in the most abject manner. Yet this man was the dread of the whole neighbourhood! The exercise of all disagreeable employments seems to debase man. Before his superiors he crouches and grovels in dust; with the people he commands, he is a very tyrant!

_10th._--I was joined yesterday evening by the rest of the caravan, Sad, and Moknee, and my new interpreter. Sad brings goods for Haj Beshir. We started early, and made seven hours; our route varying between east and south-east, through a fine wavy country, rising at times into high hills, with few trees in comparison to what we have hitherto had, and a good deal of cultivation, all ghaseb. The sandy soil is well adapted for this kind of grain. A ridge of quartz rocks strikes up through the sand. The rocky hills are mostly granite. The atmosphere was cooled by an easterly wind. We pitched tent, or rather halted, at a cl.u.s.ter of villages of considerable size, the princ.i.p.al of which is Guddemuni. They are all placed on hills. In the deep valley near is a large lake, towards the east, about two hours long and half-an-hour wide. In the dry season the people cultivate, by irrigation from the lake, a quant.i.ty of wheat, which they export to Kanou. Besides wheat, they raise ghaseb on the hill tops; and in the gardens, cotton, indigo, tobacco, onions, pepper, dates (bearing twice a-year), henna, potatoes (_dankali_), the palm (_geginya_),--bearing a large fruit (_gonda_), like the mealy melon,--gourds, rogo, and gwaza; which last are two species of potatoes. Some large trees are planted like the kuka, the fruit of which is used for sauce.

To-day the Kashalla rode up to several men wandering in the fields, hunting, and attempted to impose some labour on them. This was a signal for a general stoppage of all foot-pa.s.sengers, who were met by his people, for one purpose or another, either to take from them any little articles, or to vex them. They did not, however, stop two people we met, but gave them full leave to pa.s.s. Who were these? One was a man who, by disease, had become all over of a light flesh-colour, his black skin peeling off. It was a perfect phenomenon--a man with strong negro features, entirely white, or of a light dull-red colour. The other man was a miserable, filthy, blind fellow, whom the first invalid was leading. They were, in fact, a couple of mendicants going to Zinder on speculation, having come from Kuka, begging through all the towns and villages. The trade of begging is coextensive with man, civilised or uncivilised, in towns or country. Africa has a good number of this industrious cla.s.s of people.

The language of this cl.u.s.ter of villages is Haussa, like that of Zinder, the "Haussa of the North," as it is called: it varies a little from the pure Haussa of Kashna and Kanou. The people of this place were all excessively civil. I walked out in the evening, and saw about thirty of the maidens of Guddemuni (one of the villages) encircling a female dancer, who kept pacing to the sound of a rude guitar. At the sight of me they all made off. The poor blacks in these villages always expect that the white man comes to bring them into slavery. Afterwards I went to salute the Sultan. We saw him during two minutes; he kept rubbing his hands, as if he were cold. He was a sinister-looking man, dressed in a white tobe; he had not the least suspicion of what a Christian might be.