Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51 Volume Ii Part 2

The Fellatah language is said to resemble the Kailouee; in other words, to be a Berber dialect. If this be the case, the Fellatah people are probably of Berber extraction, and not Arab, as they are vulgarly supposed to be. This is a question requiring still further investigation. Others, again, say that the Fellatah language is quite different from the Tuarick. Overweg thinks Islamism was introduced into Bornou by the Shoua Arabs, who are found in Bornou in great numbers. The Fellatah, he thinks, received Islamism by way of Timbuctoo, from Moors and Arabs trading to that city from Morocco. There is considerable probability in both these opinions.

_15th._--Four or five days after the approaching Eed, or festival, half the people of Tintalous will go for salt, and the other half prepare for their annual journey to Soudan with En-Noor.

The inhabitants of Damerghou are reported to be half "_Kohlan_," blacks, and half Kailouees. It is the Kailouees in the neighbourhood of Damerghou who infest the borders and routes of Bornou. En-Noor is now very quiet, and there is a chance that he will not come down upon me for more money.

According to the Fezzanees, Tuat is thirty days from Aisou and thirty-three from Taghajeet (short days). Ghat is forty short and thirty long days from Tintalous or Asoudee. Bilma is fourteen long and seven short days from Tintalous or Asoudee. There is no direct route from this (Tintalous) to Timbuctoo; from Sakkatou there is, however, a short route to Timbuctoo, and it is said to be a safe one. The number of days here mentioned are merely general numbers; they vary according to the good state of the camels, or the disposition of the people, or certain accidents on the road.

The evening of the feast of the "Descent of the Koran from Heaven," all good Muslims ought to sit up all night to read the Koran, through and through again.

There is a curious commerce of yamanee, or agate stones, in Soudan. These yamanee are originally brought from the eastern coast of Africa, from and near Mombas (Mozambique), where they pa.s.s as money, like the cowries. From Mombas they are carried, by the Muscat traders, to Yamen, and thence to Mekka; in which place they are blessed, and rendered doubly precious. From Mekka they are brought to Egypt, and from Egypt to Mourzuk; from which point they are distributed all over this part of Africa, and the souk of Kanou is stocked with them. They are much esteemed by all cla.s.ses of the inhabitants of the interior of Africa, and are worn equally by the men and women.

In this commerce we see the round-about-way in which some articles are conveyed for sale. If there were a road from Mombas direct to Bornou, this agate would be cheap enough. But then, perhaps, it would not be esteemed or valued at half its present cost. It would not be blessed at Mekka, and so lose all its talismanic and mysterious power. The name is derived from Yaman, evidently from the first country in Arabia, to which they were brought originally from Africa.

According to Overweg, Madame En-Noor is still very unwell with her lip.

It is cut right across under her nose, penetrating to the gums; she is, nevertheless, very lively, and is always pestering Overweg to read the fatah with, or marry a young girl, one of her relations. She endeavours to warm my worthy friend to comply with her match-making wishes by luxurious descriptions of the beauties of the proffered bride.

As soon as the people hear I have a wife in Tripoli, they begin to ask how many children I have got. On receiving for answer, "None," they are greatly astonished, and ask me the reason of so strange a matrimonial phenomenon.

This evening another fine meteor appeared in the south-east. Its head was like a blazing star, and it left behind it a train of sparkling light and flame. There were also numbers of smaller meteors.

_16th._--The morning of the Eed. According to the Fezzanees, prayers are soon ended; because, they say, "these Kailouees know nothing of their religion."

The Fezzanees asked me to hoist the British flag; to which I replied, "No; the flag belongs to the Queen, but I will give you a little powder for your matchlocks." All these Mahommedan feasts are celebrated on the northern coast of Africa by the discharge of gunpowder.

No certain information can be obtained of the route from Zinder to Sakkatou, in this place. The people only say the present Sultan is not so strong as was his father; thereby intimating that the routes are not so secure as formerly.

It is usual for the inhabitants of Tintalous to visit those of Asarara on the morning of the present feast. About sixty men, natives of this place, accompanied by a dozen Moors from Tripoli and Mourzuk, went, accordingly, to Asarara this morning. Then a number of the people of Asarara returned with them. Yusuf remarked, with some surprise, that even the women went out to pray, about forty in number. So that it would seem the Kailouees educate their women in religion more than the Muslims of the coast.

The most interesting event to us, however, this morning, was the arrival of the boat from Seloufeeat. Our servants were very quick in their return. They came all night, to avoid any further attempts to carry off the camels. They were all alone. I welcomed the return of the boat as I would that of an old friend.

There was no firing this evening, as was expected, En-Noor being very unwell-suffering rheumatism and fever.

The most agreeable sight in all these Mahommedan feasts is to see all the people dressed out in their finery. The merchants have appeared in splendid burnouses, all more or less in good humour. The slaughtering of the sheep to-day was the dirtiest part of the business. All here on such occasions play the part of butchers-men, women, and children; and all attack, stab, skin, and maul the poor animals, in a way frightful to behold. The environs of the town were turned into dirty slaughter-houses.

_17th._--I have determined to purchase no more things from the Sfaxee at present. He makes me pay double price. It will be better to wait and see what can be done at Zinder. An infidel traveller, who is known to be in possession of any property, is sure in these countries to be looked upon as a milch-cow. Does not "the book," according to the vulgar opinion, authorise the faithful to take our lives? "Our purses are more lawful."

The festival being over, I went to pay my respects to Sultan En-Noor. He is much better in health than yesterday, but has still a bad cold, and continues to blow his nose and wipe it--pardon the _nave_ statement--with the sole of one of his sandals! The action struck me as rather uncleanly and undignified in a prince; but Kailouees are not punctilious.

Mr. Gagliuffi had mentioned to me that he had given a.s.sistance to some shepherds who were begging their way to Soudan. One of these poor fellows had come to see the Sultan. He seemed, indeed, miserably poor, but tried to hide the fact, saying to them and Yusuf: "I have news for you; now I am your friend, as I was a friend to the Consul in Mourzuk."

He was quite a young man, and excited my compa.s.sion.

In the afternoon I received a visit from En-Noor, with a whole train of his people. The Shereef was absent. The Sultan came especially to see the boat, the pieces of which were put together that he might know its shape and size. Yusuf then drew for him a s.h.i.+p with all sails set, on a piece of paper. It was very well done; and excited the applause of my visitors. I treated them, as usual, with pickles, marmalade, and tea.

Among other things I showed En-Noor the broad arrow, or government mark, on many of our things; as the guns, and pistols, tent, bags, and biscuits, which greatly surprised him.

The Sheikh was in good spirits, and was pleased with his visit. I sent him during the day a piece of dark blue cotton print for a pillowcase.

This little present delighted him much. I am much hampered with the "princesses," who first sent to buy sugar, and then to beg, forgetting to buy.

We have a Tuat Tuarick changing camels for slaves now in Tintalous. This man belongs to the tribe called Sgomara, if I have caught the name correctly.

_18th._--I rose early, having had a bad headache during the night through eating meat in the middle of the day. Whatever is eaten in the middle of the day must be taken very sparingly. I believe the greater part of the diseases with which foreigners in these countries are afflicted arise from want of sufficient attention to diet. We must take great care of our health just as we are entering Soudan. The weather is still cool, especially in the morning. The prevailing wind during these last twenty days has been E.N.E., which is very refres.h.i.+ng. The Moorish merchants pretend that in Soudan it is now very cold.

I received a visit from the young Shereef, whose conversation smacked a good deal of a disagreeable curiosity respecting my movements and intentions in Central Africa. I therefore gave him a very ordinary and cool welcome. This fellow has been here some time, and never offered to pay us a visit before. En-Noor has been feeding him during his stay. He displayed a good deal of shrewdness, and is well acquainted with the Christians of the Mediterranean. He is going to visit his brother in Zinder, and then returns to Tripoli by the way of Bornou and Mourzuk.

Like all these shereefs, or marabouts, he pretended that had he been with us, or had we travelled with him from Mourzuk to Tintalous, no one would have dared to molest us; an a.s.sertion wholly false, for the Tuaricks care little for marabouts when they are bent on plunder.

A young woman has just arrived from a distant village, with the express object of procuring from the Taleb (Overweg) a medicine to produce abortion: she says she has been gadding, "barra" (out of her mother's house), and is frightened lest she should get a good beating. On Overweg's refusing to give her any such medicine she burst out into a pathetic lamentation, and talked loudly of what her parent would do to her. Young ladies often think of their mothers a little too late under these circ.u.mstances.

A slave of the Sultan of Aghadez arrived this morning, in six days from the capital, to inquire after the health of En-Noor. He brings no particular news, but says he saw Barth at Aghadez.

"Man is to man the surest, deadliest foe," has been quoted from the poet as most applicable to the moral and social state of Africa. It may truly be said to be our case, for hitherto we have suffered little in this town except from men. Looking also around us, the people suffer less from the arid country which they inhabit than from the violence which they inflict one upon another.

I learned from Yusuf yesterday evening, that for every dollar I take from the Sfaxee, if I pay in Mourzuk, I must give two. I was greatly afflicted at this positive declaration, but scarcely believe it; if it, however, prove to be the case, I must by all means find money in Soudan.

It will be a hard fight, indeed, to keep down the expenses of this expedition; however, every effort must be employed to effect this desirable object.

Maradee, I learn, is three days west from Tesaoua; and this latter place is two from Zinder. There is another village, called Gazawa, one day south of Tesaoua. The inhabitants of these places are half Mahommedans and half pagans; the latter do not offer human sacrifices; their religious rites consist princ.i.p.ally in wors.h.i.+pping trees, to which they sacrifice at certain seasons. The Fellatahs are always at war with the people of Maradee, but Gouber is at peace with Sakkatou. In Maradee there is one large stone-and-mud house for the Sultan; all the rest of the houses are bell-shaped huts. The place has a numerous population. Tesaoua is also independent and self-governed, as are most of the places hereabouts.

I had a visit from two itinerant schoolmasters, natives of Bornou. From these I learned that there does exist a little education amongst the Kailouees. There is a village near called Amurgeen, three hours from Tintalous, where children are sent from all the places around, so that it forms a species of college or university. It is to this college that En-Noor sends his sons and grandsons. These itinerant pedagogues are negroes; and it is certainly a curious circ.u.mstance that from Central Africa instruction should migrate northwards. But the Kailouees have little pride in this respect; although boasting of the name of Tuaricks, and accounting themselves _white_ people, or allied with the whites, they do not scruple to receive education from the negroes of Bornou, whilst certainly it would be very easy to have Kailouee schoolmasters.

I heard from my friend Tibbaou that En-Noor's territory in Tesaoua is simply a village at some distance from the medeeneh, or city, where there is a native and independent sultan of some power. His territory in Damerghou is also a mere village. Nevertheless, the possession of these places extends the political influence of the Kailouees in Soudan. The neighbourhood of Damerghou, especially the western side, seems celebrated for a tribe, or factions of tribes, consisting of bad Tuaricks. This race is evidently spreading in Soudan; there are great numbers in Gouber and the countries near.

I purchased from the itinerant pedagogues of Bornou two of their ink-bottles, which are made of small calabashes. They wrote for me some specimens of their penmans.h.i.+p, a charm, _fatah_, or first chapter of the Koran. They wrote and formed their letters sideways, as some lawyers'

clerks do in England.

Dambaba Makersee took the liberty of informing me to-day, as if I did not know it before, that all the things of us Christians were considered by the Kailouees generally as common property, and that whoever could lay hold of any ought to do so without qualm or scruple; but, he added, when you arrive in Zinder, all will be changed. Let us hope so, _Inshallah_!

Strings of charms are worn by the men occasionally under the arm, or suspended over the shoulders, as well as round the neck. The charm or armlet of the Moors and Tuaricks corresponds with the _Fetish_ of the ancient Kohlan, people of Soudan, and of the present negro races on the western coast.

I finished the statistics of the towns and villages of Asben--after all, a very imperfect affair. Nevertheless, it is the best which I could make from my materials.

En-Noor paid me a visit in the morning, and stopped gossiping two hours.

From him I learnt that the Fellatah language has no relation to the Arabic or Tuarick, but is quite a language peculiar in itself. He also informed us that the Gouberites were still at war with the Fellatahs of Sakkatou; that they were united with the people of Maradee, ancient Kohlans like themselves, and that this united force had been lately gaining their lost ground against the new Muslim powers in Soudan.

En-Noor seems to favour the re-establishment of these people against the Fellatahs. The latter he naturally hates, on account of their attempts on the independence of the Kailouees, and their perpetual intrigues at Aghadez.

With regard to Tesaoua, En-Noor pretends that he founded this city. His statement is singularly suggestive and picturesque in its simplicity. He says that he met, on the spot where Tesaoua now stands, a forlorn man, with only two slaves.

"What are you doing?" he said to the man.

"Nothing," the man replied. "What can I do, naked as I am, with myself and two slaves?"

"Oh!" rejoined En-Noor; "stop a minute, and I will bring you a mult.i.tude of people, and we together will make a large city." En-Noor kept his word, and brought a mult.i.tude of Kailouees, Kohlans, and their slaves.

Now Tesaoua is a mighty city, and En-Noor has got a small town of his own near it, mostly peopled by his dependants. Such is the foundation of many African cities; these places springing up as mushrooms, and disappearing as soon.

En-Noor also pretends, that through his father he is heir to the thrones of the ancient Kohlans, about Kashna, Gouber, and Maradee, and that he ought to come into possession after the death of the present occupants.

This, I should think, is incorrect; but his highness has undoubtedly great political influence in those countries. We learn that several of the men of Tintalous have wives and families in Damerghou and Tesaoua, but none of them have large families--only one or two children.

CHAPTER III.