Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51 Volume Ii Part 4

The other bottle I have stowed away in reserve for the Lake Tchad, to drink the health of Her Majesty when we launch the boat, if we are fortunate enough to arrive there.

I went to the wells to see the people get water this morning. A number of little children came,--some naked, and others with small pieces of leather round their loins: they all wore very large necklaces of charms sown up in leather bags.

CHAPTER IV.

Dr. Barth's Journey to Aghadez--Description of the Route--Tiggedah--Luxuriant Scenery of Asadah--Plain of Tarist--Beautiful Valley--Buddeh--Small Caravan--Aghadez--its Inhabitants--their Occupation--The great Koku, or Sultan--Asbenouee Revolutions--Election of a Prince--Interview--Ceremony of Invest.i.ture--Razzia--Intricate Political System--Account of Aghadez--Mosque--Environs--Women--Tribes of Asben--The Targhee Family--Population of the Ghat Districts--of Aheer--The Oulimad and Tanelk.u.ms--Tribe of Janet--Haghar--Sagamaram--Maghatah--Extent of Aheer--Connexion with the Black Countries--Mechanism of Society in Aheer--Chieftains--Tax-gathering--Food of the Kailouees--Maharees--Amus.e.m.e.nts--Natural Features of Asben--Vegetation--Cultivation--Manufactures--Bags for Charms.

Dr. Barth[6] has made a very interesting journey to Aghadez. He says the track lies either through fine valleys or over mountain-chains cut up by defiles. Here and there were charming spots, green with herbage and trees. In going, the shallow wells at Egh.e.l.loua were found to be full of water; but a month later they were all dry. Beyond is the Wady Chizolen, overlooked by a mountain that rises abruptly to the height of two thousand feet. Then comes the valley of Egh.e.l.lal, with its rivulet, and beyond swell the famous mountains of the Baghzem. The worthy Doctor seems to have been too much occupied in collecting geographical data to preserve many picturesque facts by the way. On the third day he encamped at Tiggedah, where numerous species of trees and bushes tufted the valley, which was clothed also, near the margin of its streams, with gra.s.s as fresh and green as any in Europe. At that time, however, the place, with the exception of the cooing of wild doves and the cry of a solitary antelope, seemed perfectly unvisited by man. Afterwards, it was found full of flocks and herds, and enlivened by the encampment of a salt-caravan, with a string of young camels bound for Aghadez. The tribe to whom the valley belongs are nomadic, and s.h.i.+ft from one place to another, as their fancies and necessities suggest. Amidst the trees, however, may be seen a small mosque, built of stone and roofed with palm-trees.

[6] See the papers read before the Geographical Society, in January and March 1851. It appears to me that Mr. A.

Petermann slightly depresses the importance of the part played by Mr. Richardson in this mission. However, this may arise from the fact that the communications on which his paper was founded were all from his German friends. It is not necessary to be grudging of notice to any of the three enterprising gentlemen who undertook this arduous journey; but we must always remember who planned the Mission, and who directed it with consummate prudence as long as life and strength lasted. In Mr. Richardson's MS. an outline is given of Dr. Barth's journey, and I therefore insert it, with corrections and additions, from the papers just alluded to.--ED.

This agreeable place prefaces the still more luxuriant scenery of Asadah, where the vegetation is so rich, and the path so shut up by branches, that it is difficult to keep on the camel's back. What a contrast to the naked deserts of Ghat! It was from between the rich foliage of this valley that Dr. Barth obtained his first glimpses of the majestic mountain-chain of Dogem, estimated to attain the height of between four and five thousand feet. It is the loftiest range in Aheer.

The plain of Erarer-en-Dendemu, which next succeeds, is covered with brushwood and low trees, and inhabited by lions--here called the Father of the Wilderness. Dr. Barth saw several, as well as a kind of ape about the size of a small boy, squatting in crowds on the lower hills. Beyond, overhung by the mountains of Anderas, is the rocky plain of Tarist, famous among the Arabs, as well as the Kailouees, on account of the remains of a mosque, indicated only by lines of stones on the ground. It was founded by a great saint called Sidi Baghdadi, and is a general resting-place for caravans. The basaltic formation here succeeds the granitic; and the plain is covered with loose black stones, about the size of a child's head.

Escaping from this rough ground, the travellers entered a narrow valley, trenched by a broad watercourse, along the sides of which was a thick growth of palm-trees. There are two villages in this wady. Near one of them slaves were seen yoked to a plough, and driven like oxen, by their master. Further south the hoe replaces the plough in preparing the ground. This valley, inhabited by the Imrad (a Targhee tribe), is capable of producing not only ghaseb, but corn, wine, dates, and all kinds of vegetables. Fifty gardens adorn, it is said, the neighbourhood of Ifargen. But, in general, the rich soil is left uncultivated, and is covered by wild and sickly vegetation, which checks the progress of the traveller.

In Wadi Buddeh grows a p.r.i.c.kly plant called karengia; and a parasite (_griffenee_), producing a sweet but insipid berry of a red colour. A party of five lions were pursued like so many jackals. A small caravan of four persons, in Wadi Teffarrakad, were making use of four different modes of progression: one was on a camel, another on a buffalo, the third on a donkey, and the fourth used his own legs. In Wady Boghel were the signs of a field of ghaseb having existed last year. The ground was covered by a sickly wild melon; and in the thick foliage of the trees the guinea-hens were cackling. Here Dr. Barth saw the first specimen of the baure tree, the trunk measuring twenty-six feet in circ.u.mference, and the thick crown rising to the height of eighty feet. Here and elsewhere wild beasts were observed. The whole country, indeed, abounds in lions, wild boars, gazelles, ostriches, and monkeys.

On the seventh day the party reached Aghadez, which they entered about an hour after sunset, it being the custom in this country never to enter a town by day. Aghadez is situated on a hamadah, or lofty plateau of sandstone and granite formation. Around, although there is no arable soil, a good deal of herbage and wood is found in the depressions of the plain. It is not surprising, therefore, that this much-talked-of capital is nothing but a large village, as indeed are all the other places of Aheer, with the exception of Asoudee. Aghadez, which is mentioned by Leo Africa.n.u.s, is said by tradition to have been founded or enlarged by settlements from the north, consisting of a people called Arabs, but probably Berbers, since expelled by the Tuaricks. It serves as a sort of rendezvous between the Kailouees and the tribes to the south and west. A peculiar language (Emghedesie) is spoken by the inhabitants in their private intercourse; but Haussa is the idiom of trade. There are about seven hundred inhabited houses scattered among the ruins; and of fifty thousand people who must previously have lived within the walls, scarce eight thousand remain.[7] The inhabitants are partly artizans, partly merchants; but few caravans now pa.s.s on this route, and commerce with Timbuctoo seems altogether to have ceased. The trade that exists is entirely in provisions, princ.i.p.ally in ghaseb, or millet, which is imported from Damerghou. The system adopted is entirely one of barter--the Aghadez money consisting of turkedi,[8] or dark-coloured cotton for female clothing made in Soudan, Egyptian leather for sandals, English calico, white shawls, cloves, pepper, pearls, &c. All these objects are imported, the only manufactures of Aghadez being leather-work (sandals and saddles) and coloured mats. I do not know what materials are used in tanning. The Fezzanee gets a.s.sistance, according to my fighi, from four trees--the graut, the ethel, the pomegranate, and the essalan. The first and last are a species of acacia. Women and men work in their houses at the production of these articles, and merchants go and purchase _a domicile_, there being now no shops. There are three market-places or bazaars, where prices are very low.

[7] This is Dr. Barth's statement, which I have introduced from his own account. It will have been seen that Mr. Richardson (see vol. i. "Note on the Territorial Division of Aheer,") makes a much lower estimate. I may here remind the reader, that even when in his diary Mr. Richardson inserts two different and contradictory statements, I do not undertake to select one and suppress the other, except in the case of an obvious slip of the pen. Nor have I thought it necessary to burden the page by indications of slightly different a.s.sertions. A diary must necessarily abound with imperfect observations, which correct or complete one another; and perhaps the general impression left on the mind of the reader--who accompanies, as it were, the writer in receiving its various elements--is more like truth than it would be after the perusal of one absolute dogmatic statement.--ED.

[8] As an ill.u.s.tration of the previous note, I will observe that this word is spelt in several different ways in the MS., and I do not know which is the correct one.--ED.

The Sultan of Aghadez, the great Koku Abd-el-Kader, does not receive any direct contribution towards his revenues, from the people of Aghadez, but levies a kind of _octroi_ of ten mithkals on every camel-load of goods that enters the town, provisions being exempt. He has property of his own, however; receives presents at his installation; and can always raise a sum by making a razzia on any neighbouring freebooters.

It is a fundamental law in Aheer, that the Sultan of Aghadez shall belong to a particular family, which is said to derive its origin from Constantinople. Therefore when, in consequence of some discontent, Abd-el-Kader was deposed last year, the malcontents chose a relative, Hamed-el-Argau; but he also displeasing, a rival was set up in Makita, also of the same family. This caused great confusion, and the Walad Suleiman took the opportunity to make forays against Aheer. The prudent then resolved to restore the old Sultan, and succeeded, as I have already said, in their endeavours. When Dr. Barth arrived in Aghadez, the invest.i.ture was about to take place. The Sultan is chosen by the Kilgris and Iteesan tribes, who nourish a deadly hatred against their kindred, the Kailouees. On the present occasion, however, a marabout proclaimed peace and good-will between these ancient enemies. It was necessary, indeed, that some understanding should be come to, as after the election the ratification of En-Noor and Lousou is required.

En-Noor, especially, is greatly respected by the people of Aghadez, as the grand supporter of authority in Asben. The new Sultan is usually brought from Sakkatou in state by the tribes Iteesan and Kilgris. A vast crowd of them, with their families and flocks, had marched up and occupied a camp near the town; but they departed on the same day that Dr. Barth arrived--even before he entered.

Early in the morning, Dr. Barth paid his respects to the Sultan. He was a stout man, about fifty-five years of age--benevolent-looking, as far as could be judged in spite of his face-wrappers. He sat in a large room, supported by two ma.s.sive columns, and received his visitors kindly. The presents pleased him, and were acknowledged by the counter-present of a fat ram, and by meals sent every day.

The ceremony of invest.i.ture took place on the 16th of October, and seems to have been an imposing spectacle. Certain intricate forms are used to express the combination of various Tuarick tribes in choosing this foreign sultan. Succeeding it was the great festival, on which a procession took place, in which the new chief, wearing the burnouse which I had sent him, took part, with a great number of Tuaricks in their best array. Immediately afterwards a razzia (of which both we and Dr. Barth heard various conflicting reports) was agreed upon against the tribes of the north, especially those who had molested our expedition--the Fadeea. It was highly successful, and may perhaps be useful in procuring respect for future travellers. Two thousand men went out upon this foray, in which Abd-el-Kader was accompanied by Astakeelee, the Sultan of the Kailouees. Some, indeed, say that the latter only acted. Very little resistance was made, and I hear of only one man being killed. The fellow who stole Barth's maharee was compelled to restore him. Dr. Barth, however, though well-pleased on the whole with his reception, did not venture to present the treaty. He obtained some letters of recommendation to Soudan. Many of the distinguished persons of Aghadez visited Dr. Barth during his stay, and altogether his reception was satisfactory.

I have already mentioned that the Sultan of Aghadez, though elected and controlled by a kind of aristocracy of sheikhs of various tribes, is invested with the power of life and death. He is said to have a frightful dungeon, into which guilty persons are thrown upon swords sticking upright in the ground. In his warlike expeditions he is regarded, however, as chief of some tribes only. The Kailouees have a sultan of their own, and encamp apart. The Sakonteroua, or Sheikh of Aghadez, exercises considerable influence. He is obliged annually to accompany the great salt-caravan, which sometimes numbers ten thousand camels--Saharan statistics--to Sakkatou.

The town of Aghadez was formerly divided into a variety of quarters, the names of which still remain, although the s.p.a.ce they occupied--three miles in circuit--is now princ.i.p.ally filled with ruins. With the exception of five or six rubbish-hills, the whole s.p.a.ce is level. The houses are s.p.a.cious, with large rooms and court-yards. They are of mud, whitewashed, and furnished with flat terraces. Doves, children, and young ostriches, enliven the streets. There are some mosques, but none of imposing architecture. One, however, has a lofty tower, almost pyramidal in shape, supported on a bas.e.m.e.nt of pillars, and rising to the height of about ninety feet. There is a kind of ladder inside; but Dr. Barth was not allowed to ascend, being told that the entrance was walled up.

The land around the town is slightly undulating, and covered in the depressions with the _Acacia Arabica_. Herbage and good water abound.

There are no orchards near, except in Wady Ameluli; but El-Hakhsas, three hours distant, produces melons, cuc.u.mbers, and melochiyeh, and supplies the whole town.

The women of Aghadez are reported to be free and easy in character, and let loose tremendously as soon as the Sultan had departed on his razzia.

Dr. Barth had some difficulty in keeping them at a distance. There are more children, however, to be observed in Aghadez than in most Aheer towns.

This journey of Dr. Barth's has considerably extended our acquaintance, both with the geography and the political state of Asben or Aheer. We see now that it is strictly a portion of the Sahara, intersected with fertile valleys, that towards the south begin to a.s.sume quite a tropical character. The inhabitants are various in origin and in name; but it is difficult to describe their subdivisions with any accuracy. According to the natives, there are only two great tribes--the Kailouees, which division includes the Kailouees proper, the Kaltadak, and the Kalfada; and, secondly, the Kilgris, including the Kilgris proper, the Iteesan, and the Ashraf. But, in questions of detail, numerous other names appear which it is difficult to arrange under any proper head. The Kailouees are, I think, of genuine Targhee origin, although, as I have already mentioned, with a mixture of the Soudan races. The Kaltadak and the Kalfada seem to be identical with the borderers who attacked us on our first entrance into this country. The Kilgris are located southward, beyond Aghadez, along the Sakkatou route, and even far into Soudan, where the influence of the Targhee races seems to be rapidly on the increase.

According to some of the Tanelk.u.m Sheikhs, the following are the names of the princ.i.p.al Targhee tribes scattered over the desert of Sahara, excluding the inhabitants of Aheer:--

1. Ouraghen family of Shafou.

2. Emanghasatan " of Hateetah.

3. Amana " of Jabour.

These are Ghat Tuaricks--Azghers.[9]

4. Aheethanaran, the tribe of Janet.

5. Hagar (Ahagar), pure Hagars and Maghatah, who stand to them somewhat in the relation of the Kourglouss of Algiers to the Turks. They occupy the tract between Ghat, Tuat, and Timbuctoo.

6. Sagamaram; located on the route from Aisou to Tuat.

7. Oulimad; tribes surrounding Timbuctoo in great numbers. In conjunction with the Berebisheers, a tribe of Arabs, they shut up the road between Aghadez and Timbuctoo by their predatory character.

8. Tanelk.u.m, located in Fezzan.

[9] The three tribes of Ghat are called Azgher, in contradiction to the Hagar. A Tanelk.u.m explained the meaning of this last word (which I have usually written Haghar) to mean "wandering" or "wanderers." The word is sometimes written Hogar.

We have been making inquiries of the Tanelk.u.ms about the population of Ghat and its deserts. The Tanelk.u.ms say, that ten or twelve years ago Khanouhen brought up about ten thousand maharees against the then masters of Mourzuk, the Walad Suleiman, headed by Abd-el-Galeel. The ten thousand maharees were the whole force and strength of the Azgher, Khanouhen having called out every male; for every man of the Azgher is a warrior. The Arabs, seeing the number of the Tuaricks, deemed it expedient to make peace. From this circ.u.mstance, it would be supposed that the Azgher may number from five to ten thousand families, nearly all located west of the Soudan route, along the lines of the Ghadamez and Tuat routes; where, it is said, there are fertile valleys, in which dates and corn are cultivated. But at Ghat I could never learn anything of these wadys. During my last visit I had no time, and the people there had no inclination to give me information about this fertile portion of the Azgher desert. On the former occasion, I learned from Haj Ahmed that there was a running stream, on the banks of which corn was cultivated, at about four days west of Ghat. This is probably the locality of Janet.

For myself, I do not believe the Azgher Tuaricks number more than two thousand families.

Of the population of Aheer I have been able to learn nothing definite; that is to say, nothing which I can absolutely depend upon. Some make it reach above fifty thousand souls. There are, however, only forty towns, exclusive of Aghadez; and about twenty places where people live in tents. I wrote down a second list of them, with their directions, and some guess at the number of male inhabitants. The son of the Tanelk.u.m Sheikh considers the Kailouee warriors to amount to about fourteen thousand; which, indeed, will make the whole population above sixty thousand. The accounts I have received, therefore, seem to be sufficiently exact for general purposes.

The Tanelk.u.m Sheikh says there are no other tribes of Tuaricks but those enumerated above. The largest and most powerful tribe is that in the neighbourhood of Timbuctoo, the Oulimad, answering, perhaps, to the Sorghou of Caillie; and the smallest and weakest, the Tanelk.u.m. But the Tanelk.u.ms, if small in number, are great in pride, and consider themselves a race of marabouts. They certainly make long prayers, and several of them can write a little. The Turks treat the Tanelk.u.ms with great consideration, and every year the Pasha of Mourzuk gives their Sheikh a fine burnouse and other presents. They pay no impost, though living in the Fezzan valleys. They are devoted to peaceful pursuits, and are camel-drivers and small merchants. Formerly they were powerful; and gave a sultan to the town of Ghat. About a century ago, their Sheikhs and the greater part of the Tanelk.u.ms were destroyed by a razzia of the Tibboos. They had then a town, which was situate in the Wady Esaiyen, where there are still ruins to be seen, and which we pa.s.sed near Berkat.

Of the Oulimad I know but little, except that they are exceedingly turbulent, even ferocious, in the neighbourhood of Timbuctoo. They also extend their razzias from Timbuctoo to the south-western frontiers of the Asbenouee territories. A very short time ago they made a foray on the Soudan route, between this and Damerghou. The Ghat Tuaricks I have pretty well described.

The tribe of Janet has been mentioned frequently in this journal, from the circ.u.mstance of their attempting to get up a razzia against the expedition.

The Haghar are well known, even in Europe, for their freebooting propensities. They lie between the Oulimad and the Azgher tribes surrounding Tuat, and are some of them engaged in commerce.

The Sagamaram (or Sgamara) are an interesting small tribe, located in the rocky valleys, along the line of the route from Aisou to Tuat. They are mostly dressed in leathern clothes, and trade with Tuat, taking their cloths and a fragrant herb called _debau_, which they exchange against dates, &c. They likewise come to Aheer and Soudan, and fetch slaves and goods for the souks of Tuat. They are a very pacific tribe, not unlike the Tanelk.u.ms, but carrying on more commerce.

The Maghatah (or Maratah) are a thievish race, and have the vices of their mothers, those peculiar to Soudan, as well as the more ferocious traits of Berber bandits. Several of these people are in Janet.

In concluding these imperfect general observations on the state of Aheer or Asben, I will only add that the country extends from north to south eleven days' journey, or about two hundred and twenty miles (twenty miles to the day); and east and west, eight days, or one hundred and sixty miles. Aghadez, the largest town or city, stands, as has been seen, alone; and may be considered as a kind of connecting link, politically and otherwise, with the black countries to the south. I have already endeavoured to explain the singular const.i.tution of society in this large but thinly-peopled tract. We observe there a curious combination of the monarchical and patriarchal states, with a dash of democracy into the bargain. Several times I have been reminded of Homer's heroic age. The princes and the people seem alternately to appear on the scene, exercising sovereign sway. The great Sultan is elected from out of the country; but he is compelled to seek the ratification of the chiefs, the elders, and the populace within. Then there is the great chief of the Kailouees, whose town or camp is at Asoudee; with Sultan Lousou, a most influential man; not to speak of the great En-Noor himself, who has, perhaps, personally, the greatest political weight of them all. Each of these great men is perpetually surrounded by an army of retainers, dependants, and slaves; and public affairs are transacted, partly according to some old routine, difficult for a stranger to understand, partly after the fas.h.i.+on of "Arabian Nights," kings meeting casually at the head of great armies in some poetical wilderness. All these chieftains are both pastors and merchants. One of their chief articles of traffic is, I am sorry to say, their unfortunate fellow-creatures. They are the greatest slave-dealers in the Sahara; two-thirds of the whole commerce is in the hands of the Kailouees. The Sultans levy duties likewise on the caravans that pa.s.s through their territory--duties which, to our cost, we know to be neither regular nor moderate; but they have no right to apply taxation to their quasi-subjects. Sometimes, when they are "hungry," they make a razzia on a distant tribe, and find both slaves and cattle at their disposal.

As might have been expected, the Kailouees--princes and people--are not very refined in their ideas or luxurious in their habits. Their food consists princ.i.p.ally of the grains ghaseb and ghafouley, or guinea-corn.

They have also flocks and herds of sheep, camels, and bullocks; but the bullocks are used chiefly for draft, and to carry goods from Aheer to Soudan. a.s.ses are exceedingly numerous, and likewise go to Soudan to fetch guinea-corn. The population of Aheer, being scattered about in small towns and villages, a few hours journey apart, these animals are found very useful for the transport of the persons and effects of the poor. The richer people have camels of the maharee species, like all the Tuaricks; and in some respects it is the possession of this splendid animal which distinguishes the Kailouee population from the people to the south. For example, all their sports and pastimes would be exactly Soudanese, were it not for the introduction of the maharee. On the celebration of a wedding, the Kailouees ride round the groups of guests on their silent-treading camels, which measure their movements to the sound of a big rude drum. Such scenes would otherwise be perfectly Nigritian. The men dance, flouris.h.i.+ng their lances; and the slaves both dance and sing. But I have already noted down all that I observed remarkable in manners, and need not here repeat myself.

The great natural features of Asben, also, are doubtless by this time impressed on the mind of the reader. They consist of a series of naked granite rocks or mountains, some of them rising to upwards of three or four thousand feet, ranging in every direction, with many isolated peaks; and of picturesque valleys winding along between steep precipices--threads of green, in which the tholukh and all species of mimosa and acacia, with the souag and other trees, flourish in immense growth, sometimes adorned by garlands and festoons of luxuriant parasitical plants. Wild animals of various kinds range at will in unfrequented places, but do not seem to excite much terror. There are gardens and cornfields in the neighbourhood of some of the towns and villages, the cultivation being kept up during the dry months by irrigation; but only a few of the inhabitants, mostly slaves, cultivate the soil. Besides the grains I have mentioned, a few vegetables, princ.i.p.ally onions, are produced. Date-palms bear fruit, which is good, but will not keep.

I have already mentioned the chief manufactures of Aheer. They flourish to the greatest extent in Aghadez; but Tintalous also has its artizans.

Working in leather was very popular during our stay, in consequence of the presence of a noted charm-writer--bags being necessary. A good many cunning blacksmiths ply their trade in various places.