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FOREIGN COMMERCE.-GOLD.

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dámes on the other. In all this commerce gold forms the chief staple, although the whole amount of the precious metal exported from this city appears to

be exceedingly small, if compared with a European standard. It probably does not exceed an average of £20,000 sterling per year.* The gold is brought either from Bambúk or from Búre, but from the former place in a larger quantity. The gold from the country of the Wángaráwa does not reach this market, but, as it seems, at present is directly exported to that part of the southern coast

M. Gråberg de Hemso estimates the export of morocco manufactures to Negroland at one million dollars, and the import to Morocco from Nigritia at from three to four millions.-Specchio di Morocco, etc., p. 146.

which on this account is called the Gold Coast. The species of gold from Bambúk is of a more yellow color; that from Búre is rather whitish; and that from Wangara has a greenish hue. Most of this gold, I think, is brought into the town in rings. I do not remember to have seen or heard of gold dust, or "tibber," being brought to market in small leathern bags, such as Shabíni and other people describe, containing about one ounce, equal to twentyfive dollars in value. But, nevertheless, a considerable amount of this article must come into market, as most of the gold dust which comes to Ghadámes and Tripoli passes through Timbúktu, while another portion goes directly from Sansándi to A'rawán.*

It was evidently in consequence of the influence of the Arabs. that the scale of the mithkált was introduced in the trade in gold; but it is a very general term, which may signify very different quantities, and thus we find various kinds of mithkáls used in Negroland, especially those of A'gades, Timbúktu, and Mango, the Mandingo place between Yendí and the Niger, the former of which is the smallest, and equal, as I have stated in the proper place, to 1000 shells of Háusa standard, although in the present decayed state of the town of A'gades, where all the gold trade has ceased, it possesses rather an imaginary value. The mithkál of Timbuktu contains the weight of 24 grains of the kharúb-tree, or 96 of wheat, and is worth from 3000 to 4000 shells. is equal to 1 of that of Timbúktu. some ornaments are worked of gold; most of this workmanship comes from Waláta, which is still celebrated on this account.§

The mithkál of Mango Besides rings, very handbut, as far as I could learn,

The next article that forms one of the chief staples in Timbúk tu, and in some respects even more so than gold, is salt, which, together with gold, formed articles of exchange all along the Niger

M. Testa, in his "Notice statistique et commerciale sur la Régence de Tripoli, 1856," states the imports of gold dust into Tripoli to be of the value of 240,000 francs.

† Whether it be true, as some maintain (among others M. Prax, "Commerce de l'Algérie, 1849," p. 13), that the name mithkál is a corruption of "medical," a term used to denote the small weight used for medical purposes, I am not able to decide. I always thought that it was derived from

ثقل

M. Prax, p. 12 of the little pamphlet just mentioned in the preceding note, is totally wrong in supposing the mithkál of Timbuktu equal to half a duro, or Spanish dollar, or two fr. sixty cents. The very lowest price is just double.

§ There are some interesting articles of gold represented by Lord Fitzclarence in the work above mentioned.

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from the most ancient times.* It is brought from Taödénni, a place whose situation has been tolerably well established by M. • Caillie's journey,† and the mines of which have been worked, as we know from A'hmed Bábá, since the year 1596, when the former mines of Tegháza, situated some seventy miles farther to the north, were given up. These salt-mines of Tegháza appear to have been worked from very remote times, or at least before the eleventh century; and there can be little doubt that the mines of Tátentál, described by the excellent geographer El Bekrí as situated twenty days' journey from Sijilmésa, and two from the beginning of the desert, are identical with Tegháza. Even at that time both Sijilmésa and Ghánata were provided from here, while at least the eastern and original portion of Songhay was supplied at that early period from the mines of Taútek, six days from Tademékka.‡

In Taödénni the salt, which covers a very extensive tract of ground in the district "El-Jóf," is formed in five layers, or "úje," the uppermost of which is called el-wára; the second, el-bentí; the third, el-hammamíye; the fourth, el-káhela, or the black one; and the lowest, which is embedded in the water, el-kámera, or elbédha. The upper of these layers are of little value, and the most in request is the fourth layer, or el-káhela, the color of which is a most beautiful intermixture of black and white, like a species of marble. The ground is let out by the "káíd," who resides here, and whose name at the present time is Zén, in small portions, where the diggings are made, and he levies a tribute called the khomús from each hofra, or hole, the rest being sold by the work

men.

The largest pieces of salt which are dug out here measure 3 feet 5 inches in length, 13 inches in height, and 24 inches in thickness, but they are of very unequal size, varying from 50 to 65 lb. in weight; this, however, is only half of one layer, each layer being *See El Bekrí, ed. de Slane, p. 174:

يبدل المليح فيها بالذهب

و تجارة اهل بلد كركوا بالملح و هو تقدهم

In another passage (p. 183) he describes the commerce of Gógó in the words:

"The commerce of Gógó consists of salt, and salt is their standard currency." + See Caillie's Travels to Timbuctoo, ii., p. 119; and about Tegháza, or, as he writes, Trasas, or Trarzas, p. 128.

El Bekrí, p. 171. In the time of Ébn Haukál (A.H. 960) the salt was brought from Aulil to Aúdaghost.

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sawn into two slabs. The price of these slabs of course varies greatly at different times, but, as far as I became aware, in general does not reach such an exorbitant price as has been mentioned by Leo Africanus, Mr. Jackson, General Daumas, and others. When lowest, the price of each middle-sized slab does not exceed 3000 shells; and the highest price which was paid during my residence in the town was 6000, the price always rising toward spring, when the salt caravans become scarce on account of the number of bloodflies which infest the town and the neighborhood of the river. Of course, when this great highroad is shut up for a long period in consequence of feuds between the various tribes, the price may for a time rise much higher, but such cases must be quite exceptional. The trade in salt on a large scale, as far as regards Timbuktu, is entirely carried on by means of the túrkedí, or the cloth for female apparel, manufactured in Kanó; the merchants of Ghadámes bartering in the market of A'rawán six túrkedí, or "mélhafa," for nine slabs, or "hajra," of salt, on condition that the Arabs bring the salt ready to market; or twelve, including the carriage to Taödénni. If they themselves then carry the salt to Timbúktu, they sell there eight slabs of salt for six mithkál of gold; but if they carry it to Sansándi, each slab of salt fetches two mithkál.

But the expense of this journey up the river is very great, on account of the boats being obliged to unship their merchandise at the islands of Jafarábe, whence it is taken to Sansándi on the backs of asses, and on account of the 'ashúr, which is levied by the Fúlbe, the expense is equal to about thirty-three per cent.; so that, out of every six slabs of salt transported to Sansándi, two are required for covering the expense of transport. Thus, each túrkedí bought in Kanó for about 1800 shells fetches two mithkál of gold when sold in Sansándi, while in Timbúktu it fetches from one to one and one sixth. This certainly, when we take into account the price of gold in Ghadámes and Tripoli, is a considerable profit; but the road which this merchandise takes from Kanó to Ghát, thence to Tawát, and from that place to Timbúktu, is very circuitous and expensive, and requires the agency and co-operation of several persons, no single merchant undertaking the whole of the traffic.

I have already remarked, in the proper place, that Libtáka, or rather Dóre, forms the market-place for the salt for supplying the provinces to the southeast of Timbúktu. It is transported thither by a direct road by way of Tósaye or Gógó, without touching at

GURO NUTS.

363. Timbúktu; while, with regard to the region to the southwest, Sansándi is the great entrepôt for this commerce. The trade in this article, which, in countries where it is wanting entirely, becomes so precious, and the more so the greater its bulk, is, as I said before, of very ancient date in this western part of Negroland. But the salt was brought at that period, not from Taödénni, but from the neighboring salt-mines of Tegháza; and, in the former period, found its entrepôt in Ghánata and Waláta.

The gúro, or kóla nut, which constitutes one of the greatest luxuries of Negroland, is also a most important article of trade. Possessing this, the natives do not feel the want of coffee, which they might so easily cultivate to any extent, the coffee-plant seeming to be indigenous in many parts of Negroland. The gúro which is brought to the market of Timbúktu is imported from the provinces of Tangréra, the town which was touched at by M. Caillié on his journey from Sierra Leone to Morocco, and of Teuté and Káni, to the south of Timé; while the gúro which is brought to the market of Kanó is imported from the northern province of Asanti; and the trees which furnish these different kinds of kóla nuts do not belong to the same species, being distinguished as Sterculia acuminata, or the red kóla nut, and Sterculia macrocarpa, or the white kóla nut; although the variety appears merely to apply to the seed, the fruit of the latter kind being generally of larger size, while both flower and leaf are quite identical.

But there is a good deal of variety in the character of the gúro nut of each of these two species; and in Kanó four different kinds are distinguished, according to the size of the fruit; namely, the guríye, the largest fruit, which often measures an inch and a half, and sometimes even nearly two inches in diameter, and is sold at a very high price; secondly, the marsakátu; in the third place, the sára-n-wága; and fourth, the ménu. But this is not all. There is a farther distinction of three kinds, according to the season when the fruit is gathered: first, the já-n-karágu, the first gúro, which is collected about the end of February, but spoils easily, like the takdúf among the dates; secondly, the gammagári, collected at a later season, when the greater part of the fruit is ripe, and remaining from three to four months on the tree, being regarded by the Arabs as corresponding to those kind of dates called tásfirt; and lastly, there is the náta, the rest of the gúro, and of small size, which does not spoil.

As for the gúro sold in Timbúktu, I had no opportunity of

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