CHAP. LXXIII.

ABORTIVE ATTEMPT AT DEPARTURE FROM TIMBÚKTU.

I had been obliged to leave the town on the 17th of March, in consequence of the brothers of the Sheikh having deemed such a step essential for the security of the town, and advantageous to their own personal interest. Since that time my departure had been earnestly discussed almost daily, but nevertheless, amidst infinite delays and procrastinations, the 19th of April had arrived before we at length set out from our encampment, situated at the head of the remarkable and highly indented creek of Bóse-bángo.

Notwithstanding the importance of the day, my excellent friend the Sheikh El Bakáy could not even then overcome his habitual custom of taking matters easy. He slept till a late hour in the morning, while his pupils were disputing with the owners of the camels which had been hired for the journey, and who would not stir. At length my friend got up, and our sluggish caravan left the encampment. There were, besides our own camels, a good many asses belonging to the Gwanín, and laden with cotton strips. It was past eleven o’clock, and the sun had already become very troublesome, when we left the camp. The chief was so extremely fond of his wife and children, that it was an affair of some importance to take leave of them. I myself had become sincerely attached to his little boys, especially the youngest one, Zén el ʿAbidín, who, I am led to hope, will remember his friend ʿAbd el Kerím. But, notwithstanding my discontent at my protector’s want of energy, I could not be angry with him; and when he asked me whether he had now deceived me, or kept his word, I could not but praise his conduct, although I told him that I must first see the end of it. He smiled, and turning to his companion the old Haiballah (Habíb Allah), who had come from Ázawád to spend some time in his company, asked him whether I was not too mistrustful; but the event unluckily proved that I was not.

The vegetation in the neighbourhood of Bóse-bángo is extremely rich; but as we advanced gradually the trees ceased, with the exception of the kálgo, the bush so often mentioned by me in Háusa, and which here begins to be very common. I was greatly disappointed in my expectation of making a good day’s march, for, after proceeding a little more than three miles, I saw my tent, which had gone in advance, pitched in the neighbourhood of an encampment of Arabs belonging to the tribe of the Ergágeda. Here we stayed the remainder of the day, enjoying the hospitality of these people, who had to pay dearly for the honour of such a visit; for the pupils of my friend, who had capital appetites, required a great deal of substantial nourishment to satisfy their cravings; and besides a dozen dishes of rice, and a great quantity of milk, two oxen had to be slaughtered by our hosts. These Arabs, who formed here an encampment of about twenty-five spacious tents, made of sheepskins or fárrwel, have no camels, and possess only a few cows, their principal herds being sheep and goats, besides a large number of asses. They have been settled in this district, near the river, since the time when Sídi Mukhtár, the elder brother of El Bakáy, established himself in Timbúktu, that is to say, in the year 1832.

Although I should have liked much better to have made at once a fair start on our journey, I was glad that we had at least set out at all, and, lying down in the shade of a small kálgo tree, I indulged in the hope that in a period of from forty to fifty days I might reach Sókoto; but I had no idea of the unfavourable circumstances which were gathering to frustrate my hopes.

The whole of this district is richly clothed with siwák, or ʿirák (Capparis sodata), and is greatly infested with lions, for which reason we were obliged to surround our camping-ground with a thick fence, or zeríba; and the encampment of the Sheikh, for whom an immense leathern tent had been pitched, with his companions, horses, and camels, together with the large fires, presented a very imposing appearance. I was told that the lion hereabouts has no mane, or at least a very small one, like the lion of Ásben.

Thursday, April 20th.The first part of this day’s march led through a flat country, which some time before had been entirely inundated. Even at present, not only on the south side of the path, towards the river, were extensive inundations to be seen, but on the left, or north side, a large open sheet spread out. Having passed numbers of Tawárek, who were shifting their tents, as well as two miserable-looking encampments of the Shémman-Ámmas, whose movements afforded some proofs of the disturbed state of the country, we ascended the higher sandy bank, where I first observed the poisonous euphorbia, called here “abári e’ sebúwa,” or “táboru,” which generally grows in the shade of the trees, especially in that of acacias, and is said frequently to cause the death of the lion, from which circumstance its name is derived. Pursuing our easterly course, and keeping along the sandy bank, with a deep marshy ground on our right, we then reached a group of two encampments, one belonging to the Ídenan, and the other to the Shémman-Ámmas, and here halted during the hot hours of the day. Both the above-mentioned tribes are of a degraded character; and the women were anything but decent and respectable in their behaviour.

Having here decided that it was better to go ourselves and fetch the rest of our party whom we had sent in advance from Bóse-bángo, instead of despatching a messenger for them, although the place lay entirely out of our route, we started late in the afternoon, leaving our camels and baggage behind. Returning for the first mile and a half, almost along the same road we had come, then passing the site of a former encampment of the two chiefs named Mushtába and Rummán, whom I have mentioned before, we entered the swampy ground to the south along a narrow neck of land thickly overgrown with dúm-palms and brushwood, and thus affording a secure retreat to the lion. In the clear light of the evening, encompassed as the scenery was on either side, by high sandy downs towards the south on the side of the river, and by a green grassy ground with a channel-like sheet of water on the other it exhibited a very interesting spectacle highly characteristic of this peculiar watery region.

Having kept along this neck of land, which is called Temáharót, for about two miles, and reached its terminating point, we had to cross a part of the swamp itself which separates this rising ground from the downs on the bank of the river, and which less than a month previously had been impassable, while at present the sheet of water was interrupted, and was only from three to three and a half feet in depth at the deepest part. We then reached the downs, and here again turned westward, having the low swampy ground on our right, and an open branch of the river on our left.

This whole tract of country is of a very peculiar character, and presents a very different spectacle at various seasons of the year. During the highest state of the inundation, only the loftiest downs rise above the surface of the water like separate islands, and are only accessible by boats during the summer; while the low swampy grounds, laid bare and fertilised by the retiring waters, afford excellent pastures to innumerable herds of cattle. Even at present, while the sun was setting, the whole tract through which we were proceeding along the downs was enveloped in dense clouds of dust, raised by the numerous herds of the Kél-n-Nokúnder, who were returning to their encampment. Here we were most joyfully received by the followers of the Sheikh, who had been waiting already several days for us, and I received especially a most cordial welcome from my young friend Mohammed ben Khottár, the Sheikh’s nephew, whom I esteemed greatly on account of his intelligent and chivalrous character. He informed me how anxious they had been on my account, owing to our continued delay. Having brought no tent with me, a large leathern one was pitched, and I was hospitably treated with milk and rice.

The Kél-n-Nokúnder are a division of the numerous tribe of the Ídenán, and although in a political respect they do not enjoy the privileges of full liberty and nobility, yet, protected by the Kunta, and the Sheikh El Bakáy in particular, they have succeeded in retaining possession of a considerable number of cattle. All of them are tolba, that is to say, students; and they are all able to read. Some of them can even write, although the Ídenán cannot now boast of men distinguished for great learning as they could in former times.

All these people who come under the category of tolba, are distinguished by their fair complexion, and do not possess the muscular frame common among the free Ímóshagh. Their fair complexion is the more conspicuous, as the men, with scarcely an exception, wear white shirts and white turbans. All of them took a great interest in me, and looked with extreme curiosity upon the few European articles which I had with me at the time. After some little delay the next morning we left the place, and at that time I little fancied that I was soon to visit this spot again. It is called Ernésse, or Núkkaba el kebíra, the great (sandy) down.

Having this time excellent guides with us who knew the difficult ground thoroughly, after leaving the sandy downs, we struck right across the swampy meadow grounds, so that we reached our encampment on the other side of Amalélle in a much shorter time than on our out journey, while by continual windings we almost entirely avoided the swamps; but, without a good guide, no one can enter these low lands, which constitute a very remarkable feature in the character of the river. One of the Kél-n-Nokúnder, of the name of Ayóba, whom I had occasionally seen in the town, and who was not less distinguished by his loquacity than by his activity, here received a small present from me, as well as some of the Ídenán, who, during my absence, had treated my people hospitably.

Starting in the afternoon, after a march of about eight miles, at first through a low swampy country, afterwards through a sandy wilderness with an undulating surface and with high sandy downs towards the river, we reached an encampment of Kél-úlli, the same people who had repeatedly protected me during my stay in the town, and, on firing a few shots, we were received by our friends with the warlike demonstration of a loud beating of their shields. The hospitable treatment which they exhibited towards us in the course of the evening really filled me with pity on their account, for, having no rice or milk, they slaughtered not less than three oxen and twenty goats, in order to feast our numerous and hungry party, and make a holiday for themselves. Thus, having arrived after sunset, great part of the night was spent in revelling, and the encampment with the many fires, the numbers of people, horses, and beasts of burden, in the midst of the trees, formed a highly interesting scene.

In the course of the evening I received a visit from my protector. I had promised him another handsome present as soon as he should have fairly entered with me upon my home journey, and he now wanted to know what it was. I informed him that it consisted of a pair of richly ornamented pistols, which I had kept expressly for the occasion: but instead of at once taking possession of them, he requested me to keep them for him till another time; for he himself was no doubt fully aware that our journey was not yet fairly begun; and its abortive character became fully apparent the following day, when, after a march of less than seven miles, we encamped near the tents of Téni, or E’ Téni, the first chief of the Tarabanása.

The locality, which is called Téns-aróri, was of so swampy a character that we looked for some time in vain for a tolerably dry spot to pitch our tents, and it had a most unfavourable effect upon my health. Here we remained this and the two following days: and it became evident that as this chief persisted in his disobedience to his liege lord Alkúttabu, the other more powerful chief, Ákhbi, whose mutinous behaviour had been the chief reason of the former not coming to Timbúktu, would certainly follow his example. The fact was, that, irritated against their superior chief, or more probably treating him with contempt on account of his youth and want of energy, after the death of his predecessor, E’ Nábegha, they had fallen upon his mercenaries, especially the Shémman-Ámmas, and deprived them of their whole stock of cattle.

This was the first time that I saw these more easterly Tawárek in their own territory; and I was greatly astonished at their superior bearing in comparison with the Tademékket and Íregenáten, both in their countenance and in their dress. They were also richly ornamented with small metal boxes, made very neatly, and consisting of tin and copper: but it was in vain that I endeavoured to obtain some of them as a curiosity. They wore also a rich profusion of white rings, which are made of the bones of that very remarkable animal the “ayú,” or Manatus, which seems to be not less frequent in the western than in the eastern branch of the Niger. As a token of their nobility and liberty, all of them carried iron spears and swords, the degraded tribes not being allowed to make use of these manly weapons.

The encampment consisted of about thirty leathern tents, of great size; and, besides the Tarabanása, a party of the Kél-hekíkan of Zíllikay were encamped. This was a less favourable circumstance; for, while as yet I had been always on the best footing with these Tawárek, the latter proved rather troublesome: and I got involved in a religious dispute with one of their chiefs named Ayúb, or Sínnefel, against my inclination, which might have done me some harm. On his asking me why we did not pray in the same manner as themselves, I replied that our God did not live in the east, but was everywhere, and that therefore we had no occasion to offer up our prayers in that direction. This answer appeared to satisfy him: but he affected to be horrified when he heard that we did not practise circumcision, and endeavoured to excite the fanatical zeal of the whole camp against me. I, however, succeeded in partly effacing the bad impression thus caused, by making use of a Biblical expression, and observing that we circumcised our hearts, and not any other part of our body, having expressly abolished that rite, as it appeared to us to be an emblem of the Jewish creed.

I also told them that if they thought that circumcision was a privilege and an emblem of Islám, they were greatly mistaken, as many of the pagan tribes around them, whom they treated with so much contempt, practised this rite. This latter observation especially made a great impression upon them; and they did not fail to remark that I always knew how to parry any attack made against my creed. But, in other respects, I was very cautious in avoiding any dispute, and I was extremely lucky in not having anything to do with an arrogant relative of the Sheikh, of the name of ʿAbd e’ Rahmán Weled Síd, who had lately come from Ázawád to stay some time with his uncle, and obtain from him some present.

With the small presents which I made to each of the Tarabanása, I got on very well with them; but as for their women, who, as was always the case at these encampments, came in the evening to have a look at me, and, if possible, to obtain a small present, I left them without the least acknowledgment. Among the whole tribe I did not observe one distinguished in any manner by her beauty or becoming manners.

The chief behaved so inhospitably that my companions were almost starved to death, and I had to treat several of them; but, in acknowledgment, I received some useful information.[25]

Tuesday, April 25th.At length we left this uncomfortable and unhealthy camping-ground, and had some difficulty in turning round the swamp which is here formed, and further on in traversing a dense forest which almost precluded any progress. Having then passed along a rising sandy ground, we had again to cross a most difficult swampy tract, overgrown with dense forest, which at times obliged us to ascend the high sandy downs that bordered the great river on our right, and afforded a splendid view over the surrounding scenery.

Gradually we emerged from the dense forest upon the green border of a backwater which stretched out behind the sandy downs, which were enlivened by cattle. Marching along this low verdant ground, we reached a place called Taútilt at eleven o’clock. Here Wóghda, the father-in-law of Wóghdugu, had just pitched his tents, and part of his luggage was, at the moment of our arrival, being carried over from the island of Kóra, where the chief Sául had encamped, and the shores of which were enlivened by numerous herds of horned cattle.

Such is the remarkable mode of life adopted by these southern sections of the mysterious veiled rovers of the desert. Totally metamorphosed as they are by the character of the new region of which they have taken possession, they wander about and remove their encampments from one island to the other, and from one shore to the other, swimming their cattle across the river. They have almost renounced the use of the camel, that hardy animal, which afforded their only means of existence in those desert regions which had formerly been their home.

It was a highly interesting camping-ground. This branch of the river, which was about two hundred yards broad, and at present from six to eight feet deep, was enlivened by several boats, together with a good number of cattle, apparently rather averse to entering the water, which in summer usually dries up; the Tawárek busily arranging their little property and pitching their tents, or erecting their little boothlike huts of matting; then behind us the dense forest, closely enveloped by climbing plants. The principal branch of the river is from two to three miles distant.

We had scarcely arrived, when the cheerful little Wóghda started from his tent with a sudden bound, worthy of a public exhibition, in order to receive his friend the Sheikh El Bakáy. We encamped in the shade of the large trees, close to the border of the water, where we were soon visited by several Songhay people, who inhabit a small hamlet on the island of Kóra, where they cultivate tobacco. This article constituted in former times the chief branch of cultivation all along the river, but at present, since the conquest of the country by the Fúlbe, it has become a contraband article, so that the people from Timbúktu come stealthily hither, in order to buy from these people their produce with cotton strips or tári.

This chief, Wóghda, had been present, when quite a boy, at the attack which the Igwádaren at Égedesh made upon Mungo Park, whom all the old men along the river know very well, from his large strange-looking boat, with his white sail, his long coat, his straw hat, and large gloves. He had stopped at Bámba in order to buy fowls, of which he appears to have endeavoured to obtain a supply at every large place along the river. Wóghda further asserted that it was on this occasion that the Tawárek killed two of the Christians in the boat; but this seems to be a mistake, as it appears evident that two of the four valiant men, who, solitary and abandoned, in their boat, like a little fortress, navigated this river for so many hundred miles in the midst of these hostile tribes, were killed much lower down.

The people have plenty of asses, and a sword-blade of the commonest German or Solingen manufacture fetches every where two of these animals, which are sold for at least 6000 shells each in the town. But the more conscientious Arabs do not trade with the Tawárek, whose property they well know, for the greatest part, to be “harám,” or forbidden, because taken by violent means.

It had been announced that we were to start in the afternoon, but there was no reason for hurrying our departure, and we quietly encamped here for the night, when we were visited by a great number of the Welád Molúk, whose encampment was at no great distance from ours. They were short, thick-set men, with fair complexions, and expressive prepossessing features, but some of them were suffering dreadfully from a disgusting disease, which they attributed to the bad quality of the water. One or two of them, at least, had their nose and part of their face entirely eaten away by cancers, and formed altogether a horrible spectacle.

Much more agreeable was a visit which I received from the Tawárek chief, Sául, the leader of the Kél-Támuláit, a very stately personage, who remained the greater part of the night with us, engaged in animated conversation with the Sheikh. The following morning, while we were arranging our luggage, he, and another chief of the name of Khasíb, came to pay me their compliments, and sat for a long time near me, in order to observe my habits.

At length we were again on our march, following the windings of the river, which at times spread out to a fine sheet of water, but at others became hid behind sandy downs. On our left we had a well-wooded country, now and then changing into a low swampy ground, and enlivened by guinea-fowls. In this place we met a fine tall Tárki, mounted upon one of the highest “mehára” I had ever seen. It was Wóghdugu, the most valiant of all the southern Tawárek, Awelímmiden, Igwádaren, and Tademékket taken together, and a sincere and faithful friend of the Sheikh El Bakáy. He was a fine, tall, broad-shouldered man, of six feet four or five inches, and evidently possessing immense muscular strength, although he was by no means fat at the time, and even pretended not to be in the enjoyment of good health.

Numerous deeds of valour are related of this man, which remind one of the best age of European or Arab chivalry. He is said, at the time when the Tawárek conquered the town of Gúndam from the Fúlbe, to have jumped from his horse upon the wall of that place, and catching upon his shield the spears of all the enemy who were posted there, to have opened a way for his comrades. A few days before, he had been surprised, when quite alone, by a party of from ten to twelve of his private enemies, the followers of E’ Téni, but he succeeded in defending himself against them, and catching upon his shield all their iron spears, he reached the river, and made good his retreat in a boat.

Led on by this interesting man, and by a brother of his of the name of Mohammed, we soon reached a place named Izéberen, so called from two sandy downs rising from a flat shore, and at times entirely insulated. Inland, a large swampy backwater leaves only a narrow neck of land dry.