At this marabout's I found the agents of Hamet-Dou, who had been to St. Louis to receive the customs which the government annually pays to that prince. They were delighted to hear that it was my intention to embrace Islamism, congratulating me at great length upon it, and encouraging me to persist in my resolution. They also promised to serve me as guides in my journey to their king; but, on the 1st of September, when they set out, they refused to take me along with them, alleging that the camp was ten days' march distant, and that I should not be able to support the fatigue of the voyage. I guessed the motive which induced them to act thus: I offered two gourdes[12] to Boubou-Fanfale, the chief of the party; he agreed to take me with him and we started at eight in the morning.
We went back down the Senegal for two miles, towards the factory of the Cock or the Braknas. At the call of my guides, a negro brought us from the opposite bank a large canoe, into which the merchandise was put; we then went on board ourselves, ten in number. They made the bullocks swim after us, pulling them along by the cord passed through their nostrils; in this manner we reached without accident the right bank of the river. The bullocks were reloaded, and about eleven we were ready to resume our journey. The two negroes accompanied us to the marigot of Koundy. Our road lay through a black clayey soil, enriched by the relics of vegetables which cover it. Large mimosas form a thick wood under which the zizyphus lotus grows in abundance. This soil would be extremely fertile if it were cultivated.
Having reached the marigot the negroes began to look for their canoes which they had sunk in the water for concealment: they were very small, and could not carry the baggage across in fewer than six trips, which greatly delayed our journey.
When the negroes left us, the Moors would have obliged me to return with them, hoping no doubt to extort from me a fresh present: but I was firm, and reminding Boubou-Fanfale of the engagement which he made when receiving my two gourdes, I persisted in going along with them. At two o'clock we resumed our journey. We halted two miles N. E. of Koundy, on a pretty hill covered with verdure. The soil consisted of a reddish sand, and the ground was quite open. The bullocks there found abundant pasturage, and they were suffered to graze till five o'clock, when we resumed our route, proceeding N. E. ¼ N. We travelled in the night: the bullocks were already extremely fatigued, and one of them lay down. The Moors, unable to make it rise by blows, had recourse to a method which I have frequently seen used since, and which is always successful: they bound a cord tight round the muzzle so as to prevent respiration and left the animal to itself. It struggled for a moment, and then jumped upon its legs: the cord was immediately removed, its load replaced, and it followed the others. After we had gone nine miles in the same direction, we halted at eleven at night.
We were threatened with a storm: the firmament was on fire in the east quarter, and the thunder rolled incessantly. The Moors dug large holes, into which they put their goods to preserve them from the rain which seemed likely to be very heavy. The wind blew with violence from the east, and raised clouds of sand, which, falling again, annoyed us exceedingly. At length, the wind having ceased, the storm dispersed without rain.
The weather having become calm, the Moors prepared our supper, which consisted of a little couscous, which we took without salt, my guides having forgotten to procure a supply at Podor; but, having eaten nothing all day, appetite compensated the want of seasoning. The soil was of the same nature as at our preceding halting place.
September 2nd. At five in the morning we resumed our route proceeding N. E. Our road led through a delightful country. The ground, diversified by hills covered with verdure, presented, with its numerous valleys, rich in vegetation, a prospect of the most pleasing kind. Game is here very plentiful; the woods abound in wild boars and antelopes. I saw a wild cat, which on perceiving us, set up a loud cry, and then scampered away. The generally received opinion that ferocious beasts are numerous in the desert is erroneous; for, neither did I see any during my residence among the Braknas, nor did I ever hear of any accident indicating their presence. I have since remarked, during my journey to Timbuctoo, that these animals are not more numerous in the interior. It is the inhabited tracts, or those contiguous to the lakes and rivers, which are the haunts of lions and leopards; it is there that they attack cattle, and sometimes, but very rarely, men.
We halted an hour near a pool, by which stands a large baobab ( adansonia digitata); the water was so muddy, that it was scarcely possible to drink it: the Moors, to render it less disagreeable, mix with it a little treacle. This forenoon we travelled nine miles. At three o'clock we stopped for prayer, and continued our journey for the space of twelve miles to the N. E. over a tolerably rich soil, covered with zizyphus lotus and a species of the gramineous tribe, the prickly seeds of which adhere to the clothes and run into the flesh; I had my feet full of them, and they caused me the most acute pain. This plant abounds in sandy soils; the negroes on the Senegal call it khakhame. No person ever visited the environs of that river without having been cruelly tormented by it. Fatigue, however, made me forget my sufferings, and I slept soundly.
September 3rd. About one in the morning I was awakened to take a little sangleh,[13] and two hours afterwards commenced the preparations for departure; at five we started. The heat during the day was excessive, augmented as it was by a scorching east wind. My thirst was insupportable; perceiving a group of trees, I ran to them, thinking to find water, but was disappointed; and I must have been quite knocked up had I not met by the way with abundance of grewia, the yellow fruit of which, of the size of a pea, is very glutinous, though far from agreeable to the taste. I kept continually chewing it, which relieved me much. At length, about one o'clock, we reached a pool, where we rested ourselves till three. Here I quenched my thirst, and my companions bathed: we had travelled nine miles to the N. E. ¼ N. over an absolutely sandy soil.
Having resumed our route to N. E. ¼ E. we came to solid ground, covered with small flints of a bright red which incommoded us much. We saw several ponds; and I remarked one on the banks of which were six baobabs of prodigious dimensions. At ten we came to a ravine where there was water: here we halted for the night. We were more fortunate in the latter part of the day than we had been in the morning; for there was no want of water, and we found in abundance a plant which I took for an anona, a foot high, and bearing extremely green foliage: its fruits is of the size of a pigeon's egg, and contains several seeds; the pulp, slightly acid, is very good to eat. The Moors fell upon this fruit with avidity and devoured it; I followed their example and experienced great benefit from it, for it is an excellent thing for cooling and allaying thirst.
This day's journey had greatly fatigued me; the sharp flints on which we had to walk, had cut my feet sadly. In vain did I entreat the Moors to permit me to ride for a short time on one of the bullocks; none of them would give up his place to me, so that I was obliged to follow on foot. Accordingly, the moment we halted, I threw myself on the ground, and slept in spite of the storm which came on.
September 4th. An hour before sun-rise we set out, directing our course eastward, and after proceeding three miles we found traces of a camp which appeared to have been left the same morning. We travelled about a mile to the south, to visit a small camp occupied by slaves of Hamet-Dou's, who had been sent to this place to cultivate millet. In a moment I was surrounded by the inhabitants of this camp, who thronged round to examine me, being the first European they had ever seen. An old marabout, who appeared to be the chief of these slaves, ordered them to retire, and asked me numerous questions respecting my conversion to Islamism: after making me repeat some words of the Koran he directed sangleh to be made. Each family brought us a small calabash full; but had we not been so hungry as we were, we could not have eaten it, for, it was not only without salt, but the poor creatures had not even milk to mix it with. The appearance of the camp gave no high opinion of the magnificence of the prince to whom it belonged: the huts were small and ill built, and they scarcely afforded shelter from the sun. Two very shabby tents were no doubt the dwellings of the marabouts appointed to superintend the slaves, whose only garment was a sheep-skin, which covered them from the waist to the knees: they were about fifty in number and lived in fifteen huts.
A Wolof[14] slave having heard me speak her language came up to me and inquired if I was acquainted with her country: I availed myself of this opportunity to learn some particulars concerning their occupations. She informed me that the wealthy Moors send out slaves every year to sow millet, and that after the harvest they return to the camp of their masters. I went to look at their fields and found them badly cultivated. The negroes were busy weeding the millet; they merely scratched the surface of the ground, which, from its clayey compact nature ought to be turned up to some depth and broken.
At two o'clock we pursued our route to the E. ¼ N. E. and, having proceeded eight miles, crossed a rivulet in which the water was up to...
