At All Events, His Want Of Education And Defective Observation
Prevent Him From Laying Any Claims To Accuracy.
M. Caillie travelled along with a caravan of Mandingoes through a steep
and rocky district, diversified however, at intervals, with picturesque
views, and in many places in a state of comparative cultivation.
At the
village of Couroussa he first saw the Niger, which was already about ten
feet deep. He remained a month at Kankan, which contains about 6000
inhabitants, and has a well-supplied market. To the north of it lies the
district of Boure, which abounds in gold. He then came to Time, the
country around which is fertile, producing many different species of
fruits and vegetables. M. Caillie was here detained by illness for five
months. After which he accompanied a caravan for Jenne; and on the 10th
March crossed the Niger, which appeared to be about 500 feet broad at
that point. On the 23rd March he embarked on the Joliba, in a
slight-built vessel, fastened together by cords, and of about 60 tons
burden. On the 2nd April they came to the place where the river widens
into the great lake Dibbe. They then passed through a country thinly
peopled by Foulah herdsmen, and bands of roving Tuaricks. In a few days
he came to Cabra, the port of Tombuctoo, which consists of a long row of
clay huts, thatched with straw. It contains about 1200 inhabitants, who
are solely employed in conveying merchandize from the vessels to
Tombuctoo.
On the 20th April M. Caillie entered Tombuctoo. His feelings at the sight
of this celebrated city were those of disappointment. Perhaps in his
wanderings he had fed his imagination with dreams of a flourishing and
splendid capital reared amid the waste. He thus describes it: - "The
spectacle before me did not answer my expectation. At first sight it
presents but a heap of houses, neither so large nor so well peopled as I
expected. Its commerce is less considerable than is stated by public
report, a great concourse of strangers coming from every part of Soudan.
I met in the streets only the camels coming from Kabra. The city is
inhabited by negroes of the Kissour nation. They form the principal
population. The city is without any walls, open on all sides, and may
contain 10,000 or 12,000 inhabitants, including the Moors." The houses
are built of brick; and there are seven mosques, the principal one of
great size, having a tower fifty feet high. The city depends exclusively
on trade, which is entirely in the hands of the Moors. The chief article
of commerce is salt, which is dug out of the mines of Sahara; but other
articles, both of European and native manufacture, are likewise sold. The
goods are embarked for Jenne, and bartered for gold, slaves, and
provisions. The city is surrounded with plains of moving sand. "The
horizon is of a pale red. All is gloomy in nature. The deepest silence
reigns - not the song of a single bird is heard."
On the 4th May, M. Caillie departed from Tombuctoo, and in a few days
arrived at Aroan, a town containing 3000 inhabitants, on the route to
which neither herb nor shrub was seen; and their only fuel was the dung
of camels.
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