Chapter IX

General View of the Trade from Fezzan to Tripoli, Bornou, Cashna, and the Countries on the South of the Niger.

In the general description of Fezzan, an account was given of the various articles of native produce which supply the wants, or contribute to the trade of its people; but of their Foreign Commerce, for which, like the Dutch in Europe, they are eminently distinguished, the detail was purposely deferred: for till a previous account of the countries to which that commerce is established had been exhibited, no adequate conception of its nature or extent could be easily conveyed.

At the latter end of October, when the ardent heat of the Summer months is succeeded by the pleasant mildness and settled serenity of Autumn, the several caravans that are respectively destined for Tripoli and Bornou and Cashna, and the Negro Nations beyond the Niger, take their departure from Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan. The parties which compose them are generally small; for unless information has been received that the road is infested with robbers, ten or a dozen Merchants, attended by twice as many camels, and by the necessary servants, constitute the usual strength of the caravan; but if an attack is apprehended, an association of forty or fifty men, with muskets for their defence, is formed; and as none of the Africans to the South of Fezzan (the people of Agadez and the nations on the coast excepted) have yet possessed themselves of fire-arms, the collective force of such a number is sufficient to insure their safety.

Their store of provisions usually consists of dates; of meal prepared from barley, or from Indian corn, and previously deprived of all its moisture in an oven temperately heated; and of mutton, which is cured for the purpose, by the treble process of being salted and dried in the sun, and afterwards boiled in oil or fat; a process which gives it, even in that climate, a lasting preservation.

In all the principal towns to which they trade, the Merchants of Fezzan have Factors, or confidential Friends, to whose care, till their return, or till their instructions as to the market shall arrive, they consign such Negros as they purchase, perfectly assured that the slaves will be forwarded by the Agents according to the orders they receive; but their gold dust, as being more easily conveyed, and less dependent for its value on the choice of the market, is seldom entrusted to the Factor.

The caravans which proceed to Tripoli are freighted partly with trona, the produce of their native land, and partly with senna and gold dust and slaves, the produce of the southern countries with which they trade; and in return they bring back the cutlery and woollens (particularly red woollen caps) and silks, wrought and unwrought, together with the Imperial dollars, the copper and the brass, which are requisite for the consumption of those countries or for their own.

The caravans which travel to Bornou are loaded with the following goods:

Brass and Copper—for the currency of Bornou. The caravan which Mr. Lucas accompanied from Tripoli to Mesurata, had brought ten camel loads or forty hundred weight of these metals for the Bornou market: their value in Bornou is about four shillings sterling for each pound weight.

Imperial Dollars—which are called in Arabic Real Abotacia, and the value of which, in comparison with the dollars of Spain, is, at Tripoli, as 365 piastres to 340, or nearly as 16 to 15:

Red Woollen Caps,

Check Linens,

Light coarse Cloth,

Baize,

Barakans or Alhaiks,

Small Carpets of Turkey,

Small plain Carpets of Mesurata,

Silk, wrought and unwrought,

Tissues and Brocades—for the Royal Family and other persons of rank,

Sabre Blades,

Dutch Knives,

Scissars,

Coral,

Beads,

Small Looking-Glasses,

Gooroo Nuts—that grow on the South of the Niger, and are much valued in Bornou for the pleasant taste which they communicate to water.

Of the native produce of Fezzan the only article which is brought as merchandize to Bornou is a preparation of pounded dates, and of the meal of Indian corn, highly dried in an oven. It is called Tickera, and is valued, especially by Travellers, as a portable and highly salubrious food.

In return for the goods which they bring to Bornou the Merchants take back with them,

Slaves,

Gold Dust,

Civet—for the markets on the South of the Niger.

The exports from Fezzan to Cashna and its dependent States, consist of the following articles:

Cowries—a sea shell (in Arabic, called Hueddah) which constitutes the circulating specie of this empire, and of the Negro kingdoms, and which the Merchants procure from the Southern nations who border on the coast; 17,062 are considered in Cashna as equivalent to an English ounce (480 grains) of gold:

Brass—from which the Smiths of the country manufacture rings and bracelets for their women:

Horses,

Red Woollen Caps,

Check Linens,

Light coarse Cloth,

Baize,

Barakans, or Alhaiks,

Small Turkey Carpets,

Plain Mesurata Carpets,

Silk, wrought and unwrought,

Tissues and Brocades,

Sabre Blades,

Dutch Knives,

Scissars,

Coral,

Beads,

Small Looking-Glasses,

Tickera—a preparation of pounded dates, and the meal of Indian corn, which is manufactured in Fezzan:

Gooroo Nuts—which are brought from the Negro Countries on the South of the Niger.

The articles received in return, are—

Gold Dust:—of which an English ounce (or 480 grains) appears to be valued at 3l. 8s. 3d. though in Fezzan it seems to be worth no more than 3l. The Fezzanners, in all probability, make themselves amends by the price which they charge upon their goods.

Slaves—a male slave is worth in Cashna, from 3l. 10s. to 5l.—a female slave is worth two-thirds of the amount, or from 2l. 6s. 8d. to 3l. 6s. 8d.

Cotton Cloths—of various colours, principally blue and white, of which in the Empire of Cashna, and in the Negro States to the South of the Niger, great quantities are made:

Goat Skins—dyed red or yellow,

Ox and Buffalo Hides—for tents,

Senna from Agadez—a province of the Cashna Empire; the Agadez senna is worth at Tripoli, from fourteen to fifteen mahaboobs (4l. 4s. to 4l. 10s. sterling) per hundred weight; that which the Fezzanners obtain at Tibesti is only worth per hundred weight, from nine to ten mahaboobs, or from 2l. 14s. to 3l. sterling.

Civet.

To such of the various nations inhabiting the Country on the South of the Niger as they are accustomed to visit, the Merchants of Fezzan convey the following articles:

Sabre Blades,

Dutch Knives,

Carpets,

Coral,

Beads,

Looking-Glasses,

Brass,

Imperial Dollars,

Civet.

In return the Merchants receive—

Gold Dust,

Slaves,

Cotton Cloths—of various colours.

Goat Skins—red and yellow.

Ox and Buffalo Hides,

Gooroo Nuts—for sale in Cashna, Bornou, and Fezzan, where they are purchased at the rate of 12s. for one hundred pods:

Cowries—for sale in Cashna.

Ivory, though very common in the country to the South of the Niger, is not considered by the Merchants of Fezzan, as an article of profitable transport, the demand for it on the Coast being such as induces them to sell to the Negros who traffic there, the teeth which in the course of their journey, they often find in the woods.[34]

Such are the principal branches of the extensive commerce of the Merchants of Fezzan; from a view of which it appears, that, vast as their concerns are, they have little communication with any of the States that are situated to the West of the Empire of Cashna; a circumstance which the Shereef ascribes to the want of a proper conveyance for their goods; for the country on the West of Cashna furnishes but few camels, and even horses and mules are singularly scarce and dear.