As Queen Fatima had not yet arrived, Ali proposed to go to
the north, and bring her back with
Him; but as the place was two days'
journey from Benowm, it was necessary to have some refreshment on the
road; and Ali, suspicious of those about him, was so afraid of being
poisoned, that he never ate anything but what was dressed under his own
immediate inspection. A fine bullock was therefore killed, and the flesh
being cut into thin slices, was dried in the sun: and this, with two bags
of dry kouskous, formed his travelling provisions.
Previous to his departure, the black people of the town of Benowm came,
according to their annual custom, to show their arms, and bring their
stipulated tribute of corn and cloth. They were but badly armed:
twenty-two with muskets, forty or fifty with bows and arrows; and nearly
the same number of men and boys with spears only: they arranged
themselves before the tent, where they waited until their arms were
examined and some little disputes settled.
About midnight on the 16th, Ali departed quietly from Benowm, accompanied
by a few attendants. He was expected to return in the course of nine or
ten days.
April 18th Two days after the departure of Ali, a Shereef arrived with
salt and some other articles from Walet, the capital of the kingdom of
Biroo. As there was no tent appropriated for him, he took up his abode in
the same hut with me. He seemed to be a well informed man, and his
acquaintance both with the Arabic and Bambarra tongues enabled him to
travel, with ease and safety, through a number of kingdoms; for though
his place of residence was Walet, he had visited Houssa, and had lived
some years at Tombuctoo. Upon my inquiring so particularly about the
distance from Walet to Tombuctoo, he asked me if I intended to travel
that way; and being answered in the affirmative, he shook his head, and
said, _it would not do_; for that Christians were looked upon there as
the devil's children, and enemies to the Prophet. From him I learned the
following particulars; that Houssa was the largest town he had ever seen;
that Walet was larger than Tombuctoo; but being remote from the Niger,
and its trade consisting chiefly of salt, it was not so much resorted to
by strangers; that between Benowm and Walet was ten days' journey; but
the road did not lead through any remarkable towns, and travellers
supported themselves by purchasing milk from the Arabs, who keep their
herds by the watering places; two of the days' journies were over a sandy
country, without water. From Walet to Tombuctoo was eleven days more; but
water was more plentiful, and the journey was usually performed upon
bullocks. He said there were many Jews at Tombuctoo, but they all spoke
Arabic, and used the same prayers as the Moors. He frequently pointed his
hand to the south-east quarter, or rather the east by south; observing,
that Tombuctoo was situated in that direction; and though I made him
repeat this information again and again, I never found him to vary more
than half a point, which was to the southward.
April 24th. This morning Shereef Sidi Mahomed Moora Abdalla, a native of
Morocco, arrived with five bullocks loaded with salt. He had formerly
resided some months at Gibraltar, where he had picked up as much English
as enabled him to make himself understood. He informed me, that he had
been five months in coming from Santa Cruz; but that great part of the
time had been spent in trading. When I requested him to enumerate the
days employed in travelling from Morocco to Benowm, he gave them as
follows; - to Swera, three days; to Agadier, three; to Jiniken, ten; to
Wadenoon, four; to Lakeneigh, five; to Zeeriwin-zeriman, five; Tisheet,
ten; to Benowm, ten; in all fifty days; but travellers usually rest a
long while at Jiniken and Tisheet; at the latter of which places they dig
the rock salt, which is so great an article of commerce with the Negroes.
In conversing with these Shereefs, and the different strangers that
resorted to the camp, I passed my time with rather less uneasiness than
formerly. On the other hand, as the dressing of my victuals was now left
entirely to the care of Ali's slaves, over whom I had not the smallest
control, I found myself but ill supplied, worse even than in the fast
month. For two successive nights they neglected to send us our accustomed
meal; and though my boy went to a small Negro town near the camp, and
begged with great diligence from hut to hut, he could only procure a few
handfuls of ground nuts, which he readily shared with me. Hunger, at
first, is certainly a very painful sensation; but when it has continued
for some time, this pain is succeeded by languor and debility: in which
case, a draught of water, by keeping the stomach distended, will greatly
exhilarate the spirits, and remove for a short time every sort of
uneasiness. Johnson and Demba were very much dejected. They lay stretched
upon the sand, in a sort of torpid slumber: and even when the kouskous
arrived, I found some difficulty in awakening them. I felt no inclination
to sleep, but was affected with a deep convulsive respiration, like
constant sighing: and what alarmed me still more, a dimness of sight, and
a tendency to faint when I attempted to sit up. These symptoms did not go
off until some time after I had received nourishment.
We had been for some days in daily expectation of Ali's return from
Saheel (or the north country) with his wife Fatima. In the meanwhile
Mansong, King of Bambarra, as I have related in Chapter VIII, had sent to
Ali for a party of horse to assist in storming Gedingooma. With this
demand Ali had not only refused to comply, but had treated the messengers
with great haughtiness and contempt; upon which Mansong gave up all
thoughts of taking the town, and prepared to chastise Ali for his
contumacy.
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