MOVEMENTS OF THE FULBE. 319 lence, made an indirect attack upon me by putting in irons on the 27th some Arabs or Moors, on the pretext of having neglected their prayers, thereby protesting strongly enough against a person of an entirely different creed staying in the town. The Emír Kaúri himself, who, on the whole, seemed to be a man of good sense, was in a most awkward position; and when the kádhi informed him that, if he was not able to execute the order which he had received from his liege lord, he should solicit the assistance of the people of Timbúktu, he refused to have recourse to violence till he had received stricter orders to that effect and more effectual aid; for, in the event of his having driven me out, and any thing having befallen me, the whole blame would be thrown upon him, as had been the case with Sídi Bú-Bakr the governor, who, obeying the orders of Mohammed Lebbo, had obliged the Ráís (Major Laing) to leave the town, and thus, in some measure, was the cause of his death, that distinguished traveler having thrown himself in despair into the arms of Hámed Weled 'Abéda, the chief of the Berabísh, who murdered him in the desert. But, on the other hand, the emír endeavored to dissuade my protector, who was about to send a messenger to Alkúttabu,* the great chief of the Awelímmiden, to summon him to his assistance, from carrying out his intention, fearing lest the result of this proceeding might be a serious conflict between the Tawárek and the Fúlbe. However, from all that I saw, I became aware that the chance of my departure was more remote than ever, and that, at least this year, there was very little prospect of my leaving this place; for the messenger whom the sheikh was to send to the Tárki chief, and of whose departure there had been much talk for so long a time, had not yet left, and the chief's residence was several hundred miles off. I therefore again protested to my friend that it was my earnest desire to set out on my home journey as soon as possible, and that I felt not a little annoyed at the continual procrastination. Several circumstances concurred at this time to make me feel the delay the more deeply, so that notwithstanding my sincere esteem for my protector, I thought it better, when he again left the town in the evening of the 27th, to remain where I was; for after my * I will here remark, although I have to speak repeatedly of this chief, that the name seems to be an abbreviation, meaning probably, that is, "pillar of the faith." return from our last excursion, in consequence of the severe cold during the night, I had been visited by a serious attack of rheumatism, which had rendered me quite lame for a day or two. With regard to the means of my departure, the Waláti, whom I had sent out at a great expense to bring my horses and camels from the other side of the river, had brought back my horses in the most emaciated condition. As for the camels, he had intended to appropriate them to his own use; but I defeated his scheme. by making a present of them to the sheikh. This brought all the Waláti's other intrigues to light, especially the circumstance of his having presented a small pistol (which I had given to himself) to Hammádi, the sheikh's rival, intimating that it came from me, and thus endangering my whole position, by making the sheikh believe that I was giving presents to his rivals and his enemies. But my protector acted nobly on this occasion; for he not only warned me against the intrigues of the Waláti, and would not lend an ear to his numerous calumnies against me, but he even preferred me, the Christian, to my Mohammedan companion, the Méjebrí, 'Alí el A'geren, who was sometimes led, through fear, to take the part of the Waláti; and the Méjebri, who thought himself almost a sherif, and was murmuring his prayers the whole evening long, felt not a little hurt and excited when he found that the sheikh placed infinitely more reliance upon me than upon himself. In order to convince the sheikh how sensible I was of the confidence which he placed in me, I made a present of a blue cloth kaftan to Mohammed Boy, the son of the chief Galaijo, who had studied with him for a year or two, and was now about to return home by way of Hamda-Alláhi. But, unluckily, I had not many such presents to offer, and a nobleman of the name of Mulay 'Abd e' Salám, who had sent me a hospitable present of wheat and rice, was greatly offended at not receiving from me a bernús in return. Meanwhile, the Fúlbe or Fullán sent orders to Dár e' Salám, the capital of the district of Zánkara, that their countrymen inhabiting that province should enter Timbúktu as soon as the sheikh should leave it. The latter, in order to show these people the influence he possessed, decided upon taking me with him on an excursion to Kábara, which is the harbor on the river, where the Fúlbe were generally acknowledged to possess greater power than in Timbúktu, on account of the distance of the latter from the water. I followed him gladly, that I might have an opportu EXCURSION TO K'ABARA. 321 nity of observing the different aspect of the country two months after the date when I had first traversed it. In fact, the landscape had now a very different appearance, being entirely changed in consequence of the abundant rains which had fallen in September and October. The whole sandy level, which before looked so dull and dreary, was now covered with herbage; while that part of the road nearer the town had been a little cleared of wood, apparently in order to prevent the Tawárek from lurking near the road and surprising travelers. Farther on, when we approached the village of Kábara, all the fields were overgrown with watermelons, which form a considerable branch of the industry of the inhabitants. We dismounted, at length, close to Kábara, in the shade of a talha-tree, clearing the ground and making ourselves as comfortable as possible. A great number of people collected round us, not only from the village of Kábara, but also from the town; even the governor, or emír, Kaúri, came out to see what we were doing here. By way of making some sort of popular display, and showing his enemies the extent of his authority, my protector here distributed the presents which he had destined for Boy and his companions, who, before returning to their home in the province of Galaijo, were first going to pay their compliments to the Sheikho A'hmedu in Hamda-Alláhi. He also sent the He also sent the very bernús which I had intended for 'Abd e' Salám to 'Abd Alláhi,* the uncle of the young Sheikho A'hmedu of Hamda-Alláhi. While the emír walked up and down, at some distance from the spot where we had taken up our position, in order to have a look at me, we were treated hospitably by the inspector of the harbor (a cheerful old man of the name of 'Abd el Kásim, and of supposed sherif origin), حمد الله * I will give, in this place, some particulars as to the court of Hamda-Alláhi; the name is written by the natives. Mohammed Lebbo ruled from Á.H. 1241 to 1262; his son Sheikho (pronounced also Seko) A ́hmedu, till 1269. This is the chief whom M. Faidherbe (Revue Col. 1857, p. 279) calls Balógo, a Mandingo name, which means nothing but "war-chief." Sheikho A'hmedu, in spite of the opposition of a strong party, was succeeded by his young son A'hmedu. All the members of the royal family live together in one and the same court-yard, which has something of a round shape, the yard of the chief himself forming the centre, and those of the four surviving sons of Mohammed Lebbo, viz., 'Abd Alláhi, 'Abd e' Salám, Hámidu, and 'Abd e' Rahmán, lying opposite each other around the wall. Of these uncles of the sheikho, 'Abd Alláhi is the richest, and is said to possess a great amount of gold, 1700 slaves, 1900 head of cattle, 40 horses, and 20 boats on the river. VOL. III.-X with several dishes of excellent kuskus, one of which fell to my share: and I was delighted to see that, notwithstanding the decline of every thing in this distracted region, the old office of an inspector of the harbor still retained a certain degree of importance. But I lamented that I was not allowed to survey at my leisure the general features of the locality, which had entirely changed since my first visit to this place. The river had inundated the whole of the lowlands, so that the water, which had before only formed a narrow ditch-like channel, now presented a wide open sheet, affording easy access to the native craft of all sizes. Having then mounted in the afternoon, after a pleasant ride we reached the town; but instead of directly entering the dilapidated walls we turned off a little to the west, toward a small plantation of date-trees (marked 9 in the plan of the town), of the existence of which I had had no previous idea; for, small and insignificant as it was, it claimed considerable interest in this arid tract, there being at present only four or five middle-sized trees, rather poor specimens of the hájilíj or balanites, inside the town, although we know that before the time of the conquest of Songhay by the Moroccains the city was not so poor in vegetation; but the inspector of the harbor having fled on that occasion with the whole fleet, the Bashá Mahmúd cut down all the trees in and around the town for the purpose of ship-building. The little oasis consisted of three nearly full-grown date-trees, but of small size, only one of them bearing fruit, while around. there were about ten very young bushes, which, if not well taken care of, scarcely seemed to promise ever to become of any value. The plantation, poor as it was, owed its existence to the neighborhood of a deep well of immense size, being about thirty yards in diameter and five fathoms deep, wherein the water collects. Having loitered here a few moments, and visited a small and poor plantation in the neighborhood belonging to the Tawáti, Mohammed el 'Aísh, we turned off toward the Jíngeré-bér, or "great mosque," which by its stately appearance made a deep impression upon my mind, as I had not yet had an opportunity of inspecting it closely. It was here especially that I convinced myself, not only of the trustworthy character of Caillie's report in general, of which I had already had an opportunity of judging, but also of the accuracy with which, under the very unfavorable circumstances in which he was placed, he has described the various objects which fell under his observation. I was only permitted to GROUND-PLAN OF TIMBU ́KTU. 323 survey the outside of the mosque; as to the interior, I was obliged to rely upon the information which I received from the more intelligent of the natives. The mosque is a large building, but a considerable portion of it is occupied by an open court-yard, wherein the larger tower is inclosed, while the principal part of the building includes nine naves of different dimensions and structure; the westernmost portion, which consists of three naves, belonging evidently to the old mosque, which, together with the palace, was built by Mansa Músa, the King of Melle, as is even attested by an inscription over the principal gate, although it has become somewhat illegible. The chief error which Caillié has committed in describing this mosque relates to the smaller tower, the position of which he has mistaken, and the number of gateways on the eastern side, there being seven instead of five. Caillié also states the greatest length of the building to be 104 paces, while my intelligent friend Mohammed ben 'Aísh assured me that, after measuring it with the greatest accuracy, he found it to be 262 French feet in length, by 194 in width.* If this building, which stands just at the western extremity, and forms the southwestern corner of the town, were situated in the centre, it would be infinitely more imposing; but it is evident that in former times the mosque was surrounded by buildings on the western side. The city formerly was twice as large. While we were surveying this noble pile, numbers of people collected round us-this being the quarter inhabited principally by the Fúlbe or Fullán; and when we turned our steps homeward, they followed us along the streets through the market, which was now empty, but without making the least hostile manifestation. On the contrary, many of them gave me their hands. Soon after my arrival in the place I had sent home a small plan of the town. This I now found to be inaccurate in some respects; and I here therefore subjoin a more correct plan of the town, although on a rather small scale, the circumstances under which I resided there not having allowed me to survey the greater part of it accurately enough for a more minute delineation. The city of Timbúktu, according to Dr. Peterman's laying down of it from my materials, lies in 17° 37′ N. and 3° 5′ W. of * I recommend the reader who takes any interest in the subject to read the whole passage of Caillié relating to this mosque, English ed., vol. ii., p. 71. The Tawáti took the measurement with my line. |