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CHARACTER OF BA'MBARA.

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between Sarayámo and Timbúktu offering a great advantage. In conformity with these circumstances, on the third day of our stay here, El Waláti at length set out for the encampment of Somki, in order to obtain his protection to enable me to pass safely through his territory; and I sent along with him my faithful. servant, Mohammed el Gatróni, whom I had just cured of a severe attack of dysentery, although I could not expect that he would be able to control the proceedings of the crafty Arab, as he did not understand the language of the Tawárek. They did not return until the third day, and gave me in the mean time full leisure to study a little more accurately the relations of this place.

CHAPTER LXIV.

THE NET-WORK OF CREEKS, BACKWATERS, AND LAKES BELONGING TO THE NIGER.-SARAYA'MO.-NAVIGATION TO KA'BARA.

ON my first arrival at the town of Bámbara, I had not been at all aware that it formed a most important point of my journey, it being for me, as proceeding from the southeast, what that celebrated creek three days west from Timbúktu was to the traveler from the north during the Middle Ages, and which on this account has received the name of "Rás el má." The town of Bambara is situated on a branch or rather a dead backwater of the river, forming a very shallow bottom of considerable breadth, but a very irregular border, and containing at that time but little water, so that the communication with the river was interrupted; but about twenty days later in the season, for about four or five months every year, during the highest state of the inundation, the boats proceed from here directly, either to Díre by way of Gálaye and Káñima, or to Timbúktu by way of Délego and Sarayámo, thus opening a considerable export of corn toward that dependent market-place, which again has to supply the whole of the nomadic tribes of A'zawád, and the neighboring districts.

This shallow water is bordered on the west side by the hilly chain which I have mentioned before, and beyond there is another branch, which joins it toward the south. Such being the state of the water at present, there was no great activity, and two canoes only were lying here under repair, each of them being provided with two low chambers, or cabins, vaulted in with reeds and bushes,

as I shall describe farther on. Of course, when this basin is full of water, and navigated by numbers of canoes, the place must present quite another appearance, while at the time of my visit its shallow swampy state could not but increase the dullness of the whole neighborhood, which had not yet been fertilized by the rainy season. I was assured by the inhabitants that only one plentiful shower had as yet fallen. This was the reason that, instigated by the absurd rumor which had preceded me that my favor with the Almighty was so great that it had some influence upon the fall of rain, all the inhabitants, although Mohammedans, assembled on the second day of El Waláti's absence, and, headed by the emír, came to me in procession, and solicited my interference in their behalf for a good shower of rain. I succeeded this time in eluding their solicitations for a direct prayer, satisfying them by expressing my fervent hope that the Almighty would have mercy upon them. But I was so favored, that there was really a moderate shower in the evening, which did a great deal of good to the ground, although the air did not become much cooler, for it was excessively hot all this time, and sometimes almost insupportable in my narrow dirty hut. I remember in particular one miserable night which I spent here, when, not being able to obtain a wink of sleep, I wandered about all night, and felt totally exhausted in the morning. Notwithstanding the swarms of musquitoes, I afterward preferred sleeping outside my hut, in order to inhale the slight refreshing breeze which used to spring up during the night. Unfortunately I had, to the best of my belief, long before broken my last thermometer, and was therefore unable, or rather believed myself unable, to measure the heat with accuracy, but it could certainly not be inferior to the greatest rate we had experienced in Kúkawa. The whole country round about the village is very bleak, consisting chiefly of black argillaceous soil, such as is common in the neighborhood of large sheets of water, and scarcely a single tree offers its foliage as a shelter from the rays of the sun.

I had also sufficient leisure to pay full attention to the trading relations of the inhabitants, which, at this time of the year, are rather poor; for although a daily market is held, it is on a very small scale, and, besides sour milk and salt, very little is to be found. Even Indian corn is not brought regularly into the market, although so much agriculture is going on in the neighborhood, and I had to buy my supply from strangers who by chance

INTRIGUES OF EL WAʼLATI.

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were passing through the place, while for one of my oxen I got only as much as forty s'aa, or measures of corn: of rice, on the contrary, which is extensively cultivated in the neighborhood, the natives, even at this season, appeared to possess a sufficient supply. The standard currency consists of "tári," that is to say, cotton. strips two hands wide, of which, unfortunately, I did not possess the smallest quantity; it is only in purchasing sweet or sour milk that the inhabitants accept shells. Every thing that is sold in the market is measured and inspected by an officer, who does not bear the same title by which he is known in the eastern countries of the Fúlbe, viz., "lámido-lúmu," but is here called "emíro-főba."

A good deal of entertainment was afforded me by the daily turning out and bringing in of the several divisions of the five herds of cattle which the place possessed. Three herds returned early in the morning from their pasture-grounds, where they had been left during the night, in order to be milked; and the two remaining ones were then turned out, in order to return during the heat of the day. But notwithstanding the considerable number of cattle which the place possessed, the drought was so great that there was only a small supply of milk at the time.

At length, on the evening of the third day after their setting out, my two companions, whom I had sent to Somki, returned, and El Waláti would fain have made me believe that that chief had at first most obstinately refused to receive the presents, and had peremptorily demanded that I should make him, in addition, a present of one of the horses; but the fact was, that he had persisted in representing that those presents did not come from me, but had employed them in order to make his own peace with that powerful chief, and to conclude some bargain with him. After all this, he had the insolence to propose that I also should go to that chief, in order to surrender to him some more of my property as his own; but I could not prevent it, and my only object was necessarily to get over my difficult situation as well as possible.

Thursday, August 25th. Having, after the return of my friend from his important embassy, still been obliged to stay another day in this miserable place, and having had the misfortune to lose my best ox of burden, which El Waláti had sold to the Tawárek who came along with us, pretending that it had been stolen, I at length set out on my journey to Sarayámo. But just as we were about to start, a circumstance happened which might have proved fatal to my farther proceedings; for, at the moment of departure, there

arrived an Arab, a native of Tisít, who, besides having visited St. Louis, had made the pilgrimage to Mekka, and knew something about Europeans as well as about the Arabs of the East; and as I asked a great many questions about the ancient and celebrated town of Bíru, and the modern Waláta, he began to make some stricter inquiries concerning my native home, and the places from whence I had gathered my information; for not having found any one on his journey toward the East who knew any thing about the seats of these Western Arabs, while the general name of Shingíti is given to all of them, he was not a little astonished to find that I knew so much about his countrymen. However, my whole appearance inspired him with such confidence, that he continued to take great interest in me. He had already, the previous evening, sent me a fat sheep as a present, and he now accompanied me for a while, mounted on a beautiful white mare; but, as his company prevented my laying down the route with accuracy, persuaded him not to give himself any farther trouble.

I

Having crossed a small water-course, we soon reached a larger one, which formed a running stream, carrying the surplus of the shallow creek of Bámbara toward a larger sheet, which, at the distance of a mile, we saw expand on our right. The surface of the country was undulating, with granite cropping out here and there, and with a good supply of stunted mimosa, besides the poisonous euphorbia; but, about two miles beyond the open water, we descended into a more level tract, covered with nothing but dry and short herbage, and abundance of the obnoxious feathery bristle; but this is very favorable ground for the cattle, for they are not less fond of this bristle than their masters themselves are of the seed, called "úzak," which from the most ancient times* has constituted one of their chief articles of food. We passed, also, the sites of several former Tawárek encampments.

Having then entered a district where more dúm-bush appeared, we ascended a sandy ridge, from whence we beheld in front of us an extensive sheet of water, stretching out to a distance of sev eral miles, its surface agitated by a strong breeze, and with tall reeds forming its border. It is called Nyéngay by the Fúlbe, and Isse-énga by the Tawárek, and is in connection with the branches of Bambara and Káñima, winding along from here by way of

* See El Bekrí's "Description of Africa," ed. de Slane, p. 181.

تنيته الارض من غير اعتمال و عيشهم من اللحم واللبن ومن حـ

LAKES NYE'NGAY AND GERRU.

253

Gálaye to the latter place, and from thence by way of Délego to Sarayámo, and thus opening an uninterrupted navigable canal, at least during the highest state of the inundation; but it is said to be dreaded by the boatmen of the frail native craft, who never dare to cross it in a storm. It seemed, in a southwesterly direction, from six to eight miles across, but toward the northwest it became contracted in such a manner that at the narrowest place only two canoes can sail abreast; after which it turned away, and could not be farther surveyed from this point.

Having followed the border of this fine and imposing sheet of water, where numbers of people were catching fish, for about a mile and a half, we ascended the sandy downs on our right, and soon reached the encampment of Mohammed, the chief of the Kél-e'-súk, who a few days previously had paid me a visit in Bámbara. Here I had to give away several more of my effects, but we were treated most hospitably, and even sumptuously, and besides two enormous bowls full of rice and meat, swimming in an immense quantity of butter, a whole ox was slaughtered for us. The site of the encampment was very beautiful, and I walked for a long time about the downs, which were adorned with a rich profusion of trees of the acacia kind, and offered an interesting prospect over the lake; but the ensuing night was most miserably spent on account of the numerous swarms of musquitoes which infested the encampment.

August 26th. We were very early in motion, but a heavy thunder-storm, which gathered from the southeast, delayed our departure, although, taking into account the slow rate at which I was here obliged to travel, it was a matter of total indifference whether we started early or late, as I was quite in the hands of my friend the Waláti, who stopped wherever he had any business to transact, and did not set out again until he had concluded his bargain. The rain-clouds then taking a more northerly direction, we at length set out, pursuing our track over the hilly country, and while we lost sight of the Lake of Nyéngay on our left, soon discovered on our right another but smaller sheet of water called Gérru. The Nyéngay is said to be full of water all the year round; but the Gérru becomes dry in summer, when the inhabitants of Sarayámo repair hither in order to cultivate their ricefields, the rice ripening with the rising waters, and being cut shortly before the river attains the highest state of inundation.

Having left these interesting sheets of water behind us, we

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