Travels Through Central Africa to Timbuctoo: And Across the Great Desert, to Morocco, Performed in the Years 1824-1828, Volume 1

Front Cover
H. Colburn and R. Bentley, 1830 - Africa, Northwest - 1005 pages
 

Contents

I
19
II
47
III
77
IV
109
V
138
VI
166
VII
189
VIII
216
X
278
XI
299
XII
319
XIII
343
XIV
359
XV
383
XVI
406
XVIII
421

IX
243
XIX
441

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Page 303 - I tried to discover whether they had any religion of their own; whether they worshipped fetishes, or the sun, moon, or stars; but I could never perceive any religious ceremony amongst them...
Page 463 - They generally make two meala a day ; all sitting round one dish, and each taking out a portion with his hand, like all the inhabitants of the interior. Their houses are not furnished. They have leather bags in which they put their things ; these bags are sometimes hung to a line put up across the apartment. The people always sleep on bullocks' hides, or mats, spread upon the ground.
Page 357 - ... of dough. To ascertain whether it is sufficiently manipulated, warm- water is thrown over it, and if greasy particles are detached from the dough and float, the warm water is repeated several times until the butter is completely separated, and rises to the surface. The butter is collected with a wooden spoon and placed in a calabash. It is then boiled on a strong fire, being well skimmed, to remove any pulp that might remain with it.
Page 460 - Jenuii there is a mosque built of earth, surmounted by two massive but not high towers ; it is rudely constructed, though very large. It is abandoned to thousands of swallows, which build their nests in it. This occasions a very disagreeable smell, to avoid which, the custom of saying prayers in a small outer court has become common.
Page 157 - If, however, the family of the accused consent to pay au indemnity, the unhappy patient is excused from drinking any more liquor ; he is then put into a bath of tepid water, and by the application of both feet to the abdomen, they make him cast up the poison which he has swallowed. This cruel ordeal is employed for all sorts of crimes. The consequence is, that though it may sometimes lead to the confession of crimes, it also induces the innocent to acknowledge themselves guilty, rather than submit...
Page 302 - ... dogs' flesh eaten in Wassoulo, as in some parts of Bambara. The country is generally open, and diversified by a few hills; the soil very fertile, and partly composed of a rich black mould mixed with gravel: the country is watered by the Sarano, and by many large streams, which fertilise the soil; it brings forth in abundance every thing which is necessary for man in an unsophisticated state. The inhabitants are gentle, humane, and very hospitable, curious to excess, but much less teazing than...
Page 463 - Jenne' live very well : they eat rice boiled with fresh meat, which is to be procured every day in the market. With the fine millet they make couscous; this is eaten with fresh or dried fish, of which they have great abundance. Their dishes are highly seasoned ; they use a good deal of allspice, and salt is common enough to enable every one to get it. The expense of maintenance for a single individual is about twenty-five or thirty cowries per day. Meat is not dear in this place: a piece which costs...
Page 154 - I have been told, they are sometimes barbarous enough to kill them. The young persons thus initiated lead this idle and vagabond life for seven or eight years; this period, it is said, is necessary for their instruction. When the parents are desirous of getting them back from the woods, they collect all the pagnes they can, and make with them a fine girdle, which they adorn with copper bells, and send it to their children with a present of tobacco and rum for the master. It is only at such times...
Page 461 - He named itEl-Lamdou-Lillahi (to the praise of God), the first words of a prayer in the Koran. At this place there are public schools in which children are taught gratuitously. There are also schools for adults, according to the degrees of their information. This devout chief is brother to the king of Massina...
Page 460 - I do not know. The population of Jenne includes a number of resident strangers, as Mandingoes, Foulahs, Bambaras, and Moors. They speak the languages peculiar to their respective countries, besides a general dialect called Kissour, which is the language currently adopted as far as Timbuctoo. The number of the inhabitants may be computed at eight or ten thousand.

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