Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51 Volume Ii Part 14

On Friday, Yusuf paid his respects to the Sultan at noon, being the Sunday of the Muslims, when visits are made by true believers to the princes. He found his highness surrounded by his court, in a cloud of dust, which the people raised by throwing it in handfuls upon their heads, and thus doing homage to their prince. Yusuf and some other Moors obstinately abstained from such a grovelling mode of "rendering to Caesar the things which are Caesar's," and contented themselves with saluting his highness in the Moorish fas.h.i.+on. Yusuf observed, "Our religion does not teach this servility." The natives salute their Sultan by the cry of "G.o.d give you victory!" (i.e. over your enemies.) In Soudanee this phrase is "_Allah shabaka nasara_;" and in Bornouese, "_Kabunam sherga!_"

_18th._--I sent letters for Government and my wife _via_ Kuka, as caravans are expected to leave Bornou for Moursuk about this time. My rooms were full of visitors to-day. First came the commander-in-chief, Shroma. I showed him all my treasures, portable peepshow, kaleidoscope, &c. &c. He was marvellously pleased. I treated him also with sugar, but coffee he positively refused as too bitter. He brought with him some twenty of his troops and a chosen aide-de-camp. He is just the man for a negro commander, full of cunning and address, very active if necessary, and on familiar terms with his men, pleasing them by low fun and buffoonery. Afterwards came the sons of the Sultan, all of whom I treated with sugar and coffee: that is, as many as would venture to taste of it. Then followed a host of Fezzan merchants, with the son of the Kadi of Kuka--a very nice, pleasant young fellow, who writes pretty good Arabic. He is to make out for me the route from Zinder to Kuka.

I afterwards went to the Sultan himself, to show him my treasures, viz.

peepshows and kaleidoscope. These barbarians are nothing but great wilful children. I also took the compa.s.s. We entered the interior of the building, where we found a number of officers, courtiers and slaves, squatted together on the sand, chatting most familiarly on all subjects.

The building is all made of mud, mixed with large grains of granite.

They say all the buildings of Bornou are built in the same manner, and very few of stone, on account of the rain; for the stone, not being well cemented together, falls during the great rains of the tropics.

After we had been kept waiting about half an hour his highness made his appearance, the courtiers and slaves throwing dust on their heads, prostrating themselves on the ground before him, crying, "G.o.d give you victory over your enemies!" Whilst the Sultan took his seat upon the raised mud-bench, the slaves held up two wrappers or barracans, to s.h.i.+eld his highness from public view whilst he took his seat. All the floor of the apartment was covered with a dense ma.s.s of people, and amongst the number several Tuaricks, including the Sheikh Lousou, and Haj Abdoua, another distinguished Tuarick. Lousou is a tall thin man, of light complexion, with European features--a perfect Targhee. His manners were very mild, and indeed all this tribe are gentle enough here in a foreign country. The Sheikh shook me cordially by the hands. I then commenced business as showman to the prince and this ma.s.s of people. At first his highness was timid, and would not look through the gla.s.ses of the peepshows, but when the people began he followed, and acquired the knack of looking through in a very short time. My compa.s.s and watch and keys were then all examined, and produced great amus.e.m.e.nt. What pleased him much was the screw by which the compa.s.s was stopped. I was dreadfully frightened lest the watch should be broken as well as the compa.s.s, and indeed the former has received some damage: such machines should not be handled by these negro grandees.

Whilst this examination was going on, his highness, as if he had little time to lose, continued to administer justice. Several cases were settled whilst the worthy Sultan was looking through the peepshow and kaleidoscope. Among others, a man came forward in great agitation, and cried, "O Sultan! my wife will not live with me, and has run away to her father. I will give you three bullocks if you will fetch her back and make her live with me!" The Sultan smiled, and observed only, "Hem, your wife won't live with you! Well, what can I do?" Another man came forward and cried, "O Sultan! I am a thief, but you must pardon me. I stole this mat because I was a poor man" (holding up the mat). "I restore the mat."

His highness observed, "Leave it; I will see what can be done." A collection of stolen articles was restored also by another person. Then came a man more bold, and brought a present from a neighbouring village, consisting of two large bowls of ghaseb and a bundle of wood. The man made a great clamour, holding up the present. His highness looked at him, and said, "Good, good; put them down."

I am told his highness is much feared by all the people of the provinces. He has the character of being impartial. But the way in which he carries out capital punishment is truly terrible, and beyond conception barbarous. He neither hangs nor beheads. This mode of punishment is too mild for him. No; he actually cuts open the chest, and rips out the heart! or else hangs up people by the heels, and so inflicts upon them a lingering death. I am astonished that the Sheikh of Bornou permits such barbarity, but imagine that the Sheikh is still afraid of his va.s.sal, and shrinks from endeavouring to deprive him of this awful power. Here, then, we have a specimen of the negro character, with all its contradictions; soft and effeminate in its ordinary moods; cheerful, and pleasant, and simple, to appearance; but capable of acting, as it were without transition, the most terrible deeds of atrocity. Say what you will of the barbarism of the Tuaricks, such a mode of inflicting capital punishment is unknown amongst them. I took leave of his highness, promising to come again another day and bring other things.

This evening we were disturbed by the cries of the hyaena; a large one had come down upon the calves belonging to a drove of bullocks, and carried off one as big as itself. The brute seizes its prey by the throat, and so prevents the animal from giving intelligence to its pursuers. The place of execution is near my house, and when the Sultan executes any criminal the body is left unburied. At such times, troops of hyaenas, old and young, come down in the night, from the rocks and open country, and devour the body in a few minutes. The jackal does not visit this place, but is found in the open country. There are also many lions on the road between this and Kuka.

A very simple mode of salutation is prevalent here in Zinder, said to be the custom of Wada--that of merely clapping the palms of the hand together; the hand being held forward flat, not edge-ways.

Gurasu is an interesting Tuarick territory, three days' journey north-east from Zinder, and two days from Minyo. This country consists of a number of small villages, scattered upon the rocks, or mountains.

The inhabitants are especially those banditti who, from time to time, plunder the caravans on the route from Bornou to Mourzuk. Gurasu is seven days from Kanem, and Kanem is three days from the Bornou route.

Kanem is mostly a desert country, and has now only a few inhabitants.

Gurasu and Damerghou are the only Tuarick countries adjoining the provinces of the Sheikh of Bornou, and Gurasu is the last country east in this part of Africa. There is but very slight communication between it and Zinder; and little is known of the people, except that they are Tuaricks.

_19th._--I again entertained visitors, who are still numerous, of all cla.s.ses; and also paid a visit to the Shereef, and took with me the kaleidoscope, as he expressed a wish to see its revolving glowing beauties.

Zinder is full of half-crazy fighis, who can just write the Arabic alphabet. They go about the streets begging piteously, with a calabash inkstand and reed-pen in their hands. I have been pestered with two or three every day since I came here. They also wander through the country parts of Damerghou. Bornou is the nursery of these silly pedagogues, in whom learning and madness are most cordially united; but, as I have already mentioned, it sends out a few instructed ones to redeem the reputation of these ignoramuses.

In the afternoon I went to see the place of execution, and found it covered with human bones, the leavings of the hyaenas, whose dens are close by. Proceeding a little further I came to the Tree of Death! a lonely tree springing out of the rocks, some forty or fifty feet in height, and of the species called here _kanisa_. My guide would not approach it very near, for he a.s.sured me that if any person went under its boughs, there must instantly come an order from the Sultan to put him to death, or hang him heels upwards upon its branches. "Don't you see the place is swept clean underneath its boughs? This is done every day, and by the executioner alone: no other person dare go there, for if he do he must die!" I certainly began to feel sick myself at the recital of various horrors perpetrated at this place by the executioner, and don't know whether, if any one had offered me some great reward, I would have ventured to place my feet upon this accursed spot of mother earth.

Never in my life did I feel so sick at heart--so revolted at man's crimes and cruelties. The tree itself was a true picture of death--a tree of dark, impenetrable foliage, with a great head, or upper part larger than the lower one, and this head crowned with fifty filthy vultures, the ministers of the executioner, which eat the bodies of the criminals! The number of executions here performed is very great--some two or three hundred in a year. Since we have been here a man has been butchered in the night, scarcely a hundred yards from my house; so that I am in a pleasant neighbourhood, what with the executions and what with the hyaenas. The people pretend that for a small offence the Sultan inflicts capital punishments: for example, merely speaking bad language.

Turning from these disagreeable scenes, we went to see the dens of the hyaenas, which are beneath the rocks, extending far under ground. Here we saw bones and dung enough. The scavengers of Zinder are, therefore, the vultures and hyaenas: the former wing the air and dart on their prey by day, and the latter prowl the streets by night.

In the evening we refreshed our fancies by witnessing the kanga, or drums beating to the dances of the maidens of Zinder. It is always the same thing, two or three fellows thumping upon their drums, dancing round them occasionally themselves, and the maidens approaching these drummers with timid steps. To-night they had a sort of hopping-dance, on one leg, keeping time to the beating of the drums. These coy maidens soon approached, or rather ran at me, and touched me with the hand; this done, they claim the right of a present. It is considered a favour to be so distinguished.

CHAPTER XIII.

Brother of the Sultan--Trade of Zinder--Prices--The Sarkee drinks Rum--Five Cities--Houses of Zinder--Female Toilette--Another Tree of Death--Paganism--Severity of the Sultan--Lemons--Barth and Overweg--Fire--Brother of the Sarkee--Daura--Shonshona--Lousou--Slaves in Irons--Reported Razzia--Talk with the Shereef--Humble Manners--Applications for Medicines--Towns and Villages of Zinder--The great Drum--Dyers--Tuarick Visits--Rationale of Razzias--Slaves--"Like Prince like People"--French in Algiers--The Market--Old Slave--Infamous System--Plan of the great Razzia.

_Jan. 20th._--I received visits as usual, and one from a younger brother of the Sultan, whom I treated with coffee; and I also gave him a cotton handkerchief and a ring, so that he went away highly satisfied. He had a numerous train, all of whom had a peep at the show and a bit of sugar.

This brother of the Sultan is a pleasant-looking fellow, a very different character from the man in power. He asked for saffron to colour charms with; but I had none to give him.

Those who expect to find Zinder a great commercial depot will be much disappointed. The princ.i.p.al merchants here are the Sheikhs En-Noor and Lousou, and the other Tuarick of Asben, whom I have mentioned, called Haj Abdoua. Of Zinder merchants there are but two of consequence, the Morocco Shereef, Konchai, and Haj Amurmur, a Tibboo. The latter is always resident; but Abd-Effeit, or Shereef Konchai, goes abroad and trades. Both these are foreigners. There are, besides, a number of small traders, Tibboos and Fezzanees, who drive a few hard bargains with the Governor. At the present moment his highness has no money. All the specie is quickly carried off to Kuka. The Tuaricks have the goods and the money, and often make their own prices; but as they always demand ready cash, are obliged to wait long before they can dispose of their goods. Burnouses alone bring a great profit; for these are sold to sultans, who require a credit of several months. I am afraid I shall have to give a very poor account of the commerce of this portion of Africa, with reference to its being profitable to Europeans. The greater part of the goods in Kanou are cheaper than those found in the markets of Fezzan, or even Tripoli. The only way in which this commerce pays the Moorish merchants is by the purchase of slaves; and this, from casual circ.u.mstances _en route_, frequently turns out a loss. All the traders found on this road are mostly poor fellows, with small capitals: there is no equal to Waldee.

Here is a statement of the prices of provisions in the market of Zinder:--

An ox, 10,000 wadas (for riding).

A cow, for food, 8000.

(N.B. Cows only are eaten, bullocks being used for riding and carrying burdens.)

A sheep of the first quality, 1500 wadas.

A goat of the first quality, 1000.

A good fowl, 100.

A horse (of the best kind and condition), 1,000,000.[15]

An a.s.s: he, 8000 wadas; she, 6000 wadas.

A zekka of ghaseb: large, 10 wadas; small, 6 wadas.

(N.B. When there is but little rain, a zekka of ghaseb consists only of two handfuls.)

A pound of samen, 40 wadas.

A pound of honey, 60 wadas.

A zekka of wheat, or one handful, 10 wadas.

A zekka of rice, or about six handfuls, is 20 wadas.

A canto of salt, of the weight of about a quarter of a cantar, is now sold for 1200, because the salt-caravan has just arrived; but after two or three months it will fetch 2500 wadas.

[15] 83_l._ 6_s._ The price mentioned in a former page, viz.

1000,000 wadas is evidently erroneous.--ED.

His highness the Sultan expressed the most ardent desire to see and make himself acquainted with the rum, and other strong drinks of the Christians, having heard from his son-in-law and interpreter, the little Shereef, that I had a supply of these liquors with me. After resisting some time, I delivered up to his highness half a bottle of mastic, with which retiring to his innermost chamber, and taking with him his son-in-law, he made himself very merry; so much so, that he was unable to make his appearance in public or justice-hall all this day.

The immediate territories of Bornou contain five large and important capitals, viz. Zinder, which belongs to Haj Bes.h.i.+r, the prime minister.

Mashena, belonging to Mala Ibrahim, second minister.

Minyo, belonging to Abd-Er-Rahman, brother of the Sheikh.

Yumbi, belonging to the mother of the Sultan.

These capitals are the centres of large populations and provinces.

The taxes are appropriated by the various personages to whom they are given by the Sheikh, but these personages are expected to give up to his highness the greater part of the funds which they derive from them.