Life and Travels of Mungo Park in Central Africa by Mungo Park

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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.

Things were in this situation when, on the 29th of April, a messenger
arrived at Benowm, with the disagreeable intelligence that the Bambarra
army was approaching the frontiers of Ludamar. This threw the whole
country into confusion; and in the afternoon Ali's son, with about twenty
horsemen, arrived at Benowm. He ordered all the cattle to be driven away
immediately, all the tents to be struck, and the people to hold
themselves in readiness to depart at daylight the next morning.

April 30th. At daybreak the whole camp was in motion. The baggage was
carried upon bullocks, the two tent poles being placed one on each side,
and the different wooden articles of the tent distributed in like manner;
the tent cloth was thrown over all, and upon this was commonly placed one
or two women, for the Moorish women are very bad walkers. The king's
favourite concubines rode upon camels, with a saddle of a particular
construction, and a canopy to shelter them from the sun. We proceeded to
the northward until noon, when the king's son ordered the whole company,
except two tents, to enter a thick low wood, which was upon our right. I
was sent along with the two tents, and arrived in the evening at a Negro
town called Farani; here we pitched the tents in an open place, at no
great distance from the town.

The hurry and confusion which attended this decampment prevented the
slaves from dressing the usual quantity of victuals; and lest their dry
provisions should be exhausted before they reached their place of
destination, (for as yet none but Ali and the chief men knew whither we
were going,) they thought proper to make me observe this day as a day of
fasting.

May 1st. As I had some reason to suspect that this day was also to be
considered as a fast, I went in the morning to the Negro town of Farani,
and begged some provisions from the Dooti, who readily supplied my wants,
and desired me to come to his house every day during my stay in the
neighbourhood. These hospitable people are looked upon by the Moors as an
abject race of slaves, and are treated accordingly. Two of Ali's
household slaves, a man and a woman, who had come along with the two
tents, went this morning to water the cattle from the town wells, at
which there began to be a great scarcity. When the Negro women observed
the cattle approaching, they took up their pitchers, and ran with all
possible haste towards the town, but before they could enter the gate,
they were stopped by the slaves, who compelled them to bring back the
water they had drawn for their own families, and empty it into the
troughs for the cattle. When this was exhausted, they were ordered to
draw water until such time as the cattle had all drank; and the woman
slave actually broke two wooden bowls over the heads of the black girls,
because they were somewhat dilatory in obeying her commands.

May 3d. We departed from the vicinity of Farani, and after a circuitous
route through the woods, arrived at Ali's camp in the afternoon. This
encampment was larger than that of Benowm, and was situated in the middle
of a thick wood about two miles distant from a Negro town, called
Bubaker. I immediately waited upon Ali, in order to pay my respects to
Queen Fatima, who had come with him from Saheel. He seemed much pleased
with my coming; shook hands with me, and informed his wife that I was the
Christian. She was a woman of the Arab cast, with long black hair, and
remarkably corpulent. She appeared at first rather shocked at the thought
of having a Christian so near her; but when I had (by means of a Negro
boy, who spoke the Mandingo and Arabic tongues) answered a great many
questions, which her curiosity suggested, respecting the country of the
Christians, she seemed more at ease, and presented me with a bowl of
milk; which I considered as a very favourable omen.

The heat was now almost insufferable; all nature seemed sinking under it.
The distant country presented to the eye a dreary expanse of sand, with a
few stunted trees and prickly bushes, in the shade of which the hungry
cattle licked up the withered grass, while the camels and goats picked
off the scanty foliage. The scarcity of water was greater here than at
Benowm. Day and night the wells were crowded with cattle, lowing and
fighting with each other to come at the troughs; excessive thirst made
many of them furious: others, being too weak to contend for the water,
endeavoured to quench their thirst by devouring the black mud from the
gutters near the wells; which they did with great avidity, though it was
commonly fatal to them.

This great scarcity of water was felt severely by all the people of the
camp, and by none more than myself; for though Ali allowed me a skin for
containing water, and Fatima, once or twice, gave me a small supply, when
I was in distress, yet such was the barbarous disposition, of the Moors
at the wells, that when my boy attempted to fill the skin, he commonly
received a sound drubbing for his presumption. Every one was astonished
that the slave of a Christian should attempt to draw water from wells
which had been dug by the followers of the Prophet. This treatment, at
length, so frightened the boy, that I believe he would sooner have
perished with thirst, than attempted again to fill the skin; he,
therefore, contented himself with begging water from the Negro slaves
that attended the camp; and I followed his example; but with very
indifferent success; for though I let no opportunity slip, and was very
urgent in my solicitations, both to the Moors and the Negroes, I was but
ill supplied, and frequently passed the night in the situation of
_Tantalus_. No sooner had I shut my eyes, than fancy would convey me to
the streams and rivers of my native land; there, as I wandered along the
verdant brink, I surveyed the clear stream with transport, and hastened
to swallow the delightful draught;--but, alas! disappointment awakened
me; and I found myself a lonely captive, perishing of thirst, amidst the
wilds of Africa.

One night, having solicited in vain for water at the camp, and being
quite feverish, I resolved to try my fortune at the wells, which were
about half a mile distant from the camp. Accordingly, I set out about
midnight, and being guided by the lowing of the cattle, soon arrived at
the place; where I found the Moors very busy drawing water. I requested
permission to drink, but was driven away with outrageous abuse. Passing,
however, from one well to another, I came at last to one where there was
only an old man and two boys. I made the same request to this man, and he
immediately drew me up a bucket of water; but, as I was about to take
hold of it, he recollected that I was a Christian, and fearing that his
bucket might be polluted by my lips, he dashed the water into the trough,
and told me to drink from thence. Though this trough was none of the
largest, and three cows were already drinking in it, I resolved to come
in for my share; and kneeling down, thrust my head between two of the
cows, and drank with great pleasure, until the water was nearly
exhausted, and the cows began to contend with each other for the last
mouthful.

In adventures of this nature, I passed the sultry month of May, during
which no material change took place in my situation. Ali still considered
me as a lawful prisoner; and Fatima, though she allowed me a larger
quantity of victuals than I had been accustomed to receive at Benowm, had
as yet said nothing on the subject of my release. In the meantime, the
frequent changes of the wind, the gathering clouds, and distant
lightning, with other appearances of approaching rain, indicated that the
wet season was at hand; when the Moors annually evacuate the country of
the Negroes, and return to the skirts of the Great Desert. This made me
consider that my fate was drawing towards a crisis, and I resolved to
wait for the event without any seeming uneasiness; but circumstances
occurred which produced a change in my favour, more suddenly than I had
foreseen, or had, reason to expect. The case was this; the fugitive
Kaartans, who had taken refuge in Ludamar, as I have related in Chapter
VIII., finding that the Moors were about to leave them, and dreading the
resentment of their own sovereign, whom they had so basely deserted,
offered to treat with Ali, for two hundred Moorish horsemen, to
co-operate with them in an effort to expel Daisy from Gedingooma; for
until Daisy should be vanquished or humbled, they considered that they
could neither return to their native towns, nor live in security in any
of the neighbouring kingdoms. With a view to extort money from these
people, by means of this treaty, Ali dispatched his son to Jarra, and
prepared to follow him in the course of a few days. This was an
opportunity of too great consequence to me to be neglected. I immediately
applied to Fatima, (who, I found, had the chief direction in all affairs
of state,) and begged her interest with Ali, to give me permission to
accompany him to Jarra. This request, after some hesitation, was
favourably received. Fatima looked kindly on me, and, I believe, was at
length moved with compassion towards me. My bundles were brought from the
large cow-skin bag that stood in the corner of Ali's tent, and I was
ordered to explain the use of the different articles, and show the method
of putting on the boots, stockings, &c., with all which I cheerfully
complied, and was told that, in the course of a few days, I should be at
liberty to depart.

Believing, therefore, that I should certainly find the means of escaping
from Jarra, if I should once get thither, I now freely indulged the
pleasing hope that my captivity would soon terminate; and happily not
having been disappointed in this idea, I shall pause in this place, to
collect and bring into one point of view such observations on the Moorish
character and country, as I had no fair opportunity of introducing into
the preceding narrative.

CHAPTER XII.

_Containing some further miscellaneous reflections on the Moorish
character and manners.--Observations concerning the Great Desert, its
animals, wild and domestic, &c. &c._

The Moors of this part of Africa are divided into many separate tribes;
of which the most formidable, according to what was reported to me, are
those of Trasart and Il Braken, which inhabit the northern bank of the
Senegal river. The tribes of Gedumah, Jafnoo, and Ludamar, though not so
numerous as the former, are nevertheless very powerful and warlike; and
are each governed by a chief or king, who exercises absolute jurisdiction
over his own horde, without acknowledging allegiance to a common
sovereign. In time of peace, the employment of the people is pasturage.
The Moors, indeed, subsist chiefly on the flesh of their cattle; and are
always in the extreme of either gluttony or abstinence. In consequence of
the frequent and severe fasts which their religion enjoins, and the
toilsome journeys which they sometimes undertake across the Desert, they
are enabled to bear both hunger and thirst with surprising fortitude; but
whenever opportunities occur of satisfying their appetite, they generally
devour more at one meal than would serve an European for three. They pay
but little attention to agriculture; purchasing their corn, cotton-cloth,
and other necessaries, from the Negroes, in exchange for salt, which they
dig from the pits in the Great Desert.

The natural barrenness of the country is such, that it furnishes but few
materials for manufacture. The Moors, however, contrive to weave a strong
cloth, with which they cover their tents; the thread is spun by their
women from the hair of goats; and they prepare the hides of their cattle,
so as to furnish saddles, bridles, pouches, and other articles of
leather. They are likewise sufficiently skilful to convert the native
iron, which they procure from the Negroes, into spears and knives, and
also into pots for boiling their food; but their sabres and other
weapons, as well as their fire-arms and ammunition, they purchase from
the Europeans in exchange for the Negro slaves, which they obtain in
their predatory excursions. Their chief commerce of this kind is with the
French traders on the Senegal river.

The Moors are rigid Mahomedans, and possess, with the bigotry and
superstition, all the intolerance of their sect. They have no mosques at
Benowm, but perform their devotions in a sort of open shed or inclosure
made of mats. The priest is at the same time schoolmaster to the juniors.
His pupils assemble every evening before his tent, where, by the light of
a large fire made of brushwood and cow's dung, they are taught a few
sentences from the Koran, and are initiated into the principles of their
creed. Their alphabet differs but little from that in Richardson's Arabic
Grammar. They always write with the vowel points. Their priests even
affect to know something of foreign literature. The priest of Benowm
assured me that he could read the writings of the Christians: he showed
me a number of barbarous characters which he asserted were the Roman
alphabet, and he produced another specimen equally unintelligible, which
he declared to be the _Kallam il Indi_, or Persian. His library consisted
of nine volumes in quarto; most of them, I believe, were books of
religion; for the name of Mahomet appeared in red letters in almost every
page of each. His scholars wrote their lessons upon thin boards; paper
being too expensive for general use. The boys were diligent enough, and
appeared to possess a considerable share of emulation; carrying their
boards slung over their shoulders when about their common employments.
When a boy has committed to memory a few of their prayers, and can read
and write certain parts of the Koran, he is reckoned sufficiently
instructed; and with this slender stock of learning, commences his career
of life. Proud of his acquirements, he surveys with contempt the
unlettered Negro; and embraces every opportunity of displaying his
superiority over such of his countrymen as are not distinguished by the
same accomplishments.

The education of the girls is neglected altogether; mental
accomplishments are but little attended to by the women; nor is the want
of them considered by the men as a defect in the female character. They
are regarded, I believe, as an inferior species of animals, and seem to
be brought up for no other purpose than that of administering to the
sensual pleasures of their imperious masters. Voluptuousness is,
therefore, considered as their chief accomplishment, and slavish
submission as their indispensable duty.

The Moors have singular ideas of feminine perfection. The gracefulness of
figure and motion, and a countenance enlivened by expression, are by no
means essential points in their standard: with them, corpulence and
beauty appear to be terms nearly synonymous. A woman of even moderate
pretensions must be one who cannot walk without a slave under each arm to
support her; and a perfect beauty is a load for a camel. In consequence
of this prevalent taste for unwieldiness of bulk, the Moorish ladies take
great pains to acquire it early in life; and for this purpose many of the
young girls are compelled by their mothers to devour a great quantity of
kouskous, and drink a large bowl of camel's milk every morning. It is of
no importance whether the girl has an appetite or not, the kouskous and
milk must be swallowed: and obedience is frequently enforced by blows. I
have seen a poor girl sit crying, with a bowl at her lips, for more than
an hour; and her mother, with a stick in her hand, watching her all the
while, and using the stick without mercy whenever she observed that her
daughter was not swallowing. This singular practice, instead of producing
indigestion and disease, soon covers the young lady with that degree of
plumpness, which, in the eye of a Moor, is perfection itself.

As the Moors purchase all their clothing from the Negroes, the women are
forced to be very economical in the article of dress. In general they
content themselves with a broad piece of cotton-cloth, which is wrapped
round the middle, and hangs round like a petticoat almost to the ground:
to the upper part of this are sewed two square pieces, one before, and
the other behind, which are fastened together over the shoulders. The
head-dress is commonly a bandage of cotton-cloth, with some parts of it
broader than others, which serve to conceal the face when they walk in
the sun; frequently, however, when they go abroad they veil themselves
from head to foot.

The employment of the women varies according to their degrees of
opulence.--Queen Fatima, and a few others of high rank, like the great
ladies in some parts of Europe, pass their time chiefly in conversing
with their visitors, performing their devotions, or admiring their charms
in a looking-glass. The women of inferior class employ themselves in
different domestic duties. They are very vain and talkative; and when any
thing puts them out of humour, they commonly vent their anger upon their
female slaves, over whom they rule with severe and despotic authority;
which leads me to observe, that the condition of these poor captives is
deplorably wretched. At daybreak they are compelled to fetch water from
the wells in large skins called _girbas_; and as soon as they have
brought water enough to serve the family for the day, as well as the
horses, (for the Moors seldom give their horses the trouble of going to
the wells,) they are then employed in pounding the corn, and dressing the
victuals. This being always done in the open air, the slaves are exposed
to the combined heat of the sun, the sand, and the fire. In the intervals
it is their business to sweep the tent, churn the milk, and perform other
domestic offices. With all this they are badly fed, and oftentimes
cruelly punished.

The men's dress among the Moors of Ludamar differs but little from that
of the Negroes, (which has been already described,) except that they have
all adopted that characteristic of the Mahomedan sect, the _turban_,
which is here universally made of white cotton-cloth. Such of the Moors
as have long beards display them with a mixture of pride and
satisfaction, as denoting an Arab ancestry. Of this number was Ali
himself; but among the generality of the people the hair is short and
bushy, and universally black. And here I may be permitted to observe,
that if any one circumstance excited among them favourable thoughts
towards my own person, it was my beard; which was now grown to an
enormous length, and was always beheld with approbation or envy. I
believe in my conscience they thought it too good a beard for a
Christian.

The only diseases which I observed to prevail among the Moors were the
intermittent fever and dysentery; for the cure of which, nostrums are
sometimes administered by their old women; but, in general, nature is
left to her own operations. Mention was made to me of the small-pox, as
being sometimes very destructive; but it had not, to my knowledge, made
its appearance in Ludamar while I was in captivity. That it prevails,
however, among some tribes of the Moors, and that it is frequently
conveyed by them to the Negroes in the southern states, I was assured on
the authority of Dr. Laidley, who also informed me that the Negroes on
the Gambia practise inoculation.

The administration of criminal justice, as far as I had opportunities of
observing, was prompt and decisive. For, although civil rights were but
little regarded in Ludamar, it was necessary, when crimes were committed,
that examples should sometimes be made. On such occasions, the offender
was brought before Ali, who pronounced, of his sole authority, what
judgment he thought proper. But I understood that capital punishment was
seldom or never inflicted, except on the Negroes.

Although the wealth of the Moors consists chiefly in their numerous herds
of cattle, yet, as the pastoral life does not afford full employment, the
majority of the people are perfectly idle, and spend the day in trifling
conversation about their horses, or in laying schemes of depredation on
the Negro villages.

The usual place of rendezvous for the indolent is the king's tent; where
great liberty of speech seems to be exercised by the company towards each
other; while in speaking of their chief they express but one opinion. In
praise of their sovereign they are unanimous. Songs are composed in his
honour, which the company frequently sing in concert; but they are so
loaded with gross adulation, that no man but a Moorish despot could hear
them without blushing. The king is distinguished by the fineness of his
dress; which is composed of blue cotton-cloth, brought from Tombuctoo, or
white linen or muslin from Morocco. He has likewise a larger tent than
any other person, with a white cloth over it; but, in his usual
intercourse with his subjects, all distinctions of rank are frequently
forgotten. He sometimes eats out of the same bowl with his camel driver,
and reposes himself, during the heat of the day, upon the same bed. The
expenses of his government and household are defrayed by a tax upon his
Negro subjects, which is paid by every householder, either in corn,
cloth, or gold-dust; a tax upon the different Moorish Korrees, or
watering places, which is commonly levied in cattle; and a tax upon all
merchandize which passes through the kingdom, and is generally collected
in kind. But a considerable part of the king's revenue arises from the
plunder of individuals. The Negro inhabitants of Ludamar, and the
travelling merchants, are afraid of appearing rich; for Ali, who has
spies stationed in the different towns, to give him information
concerning the wealth of his subjects, frequently invents some frivolous
plea for seizing their property, and reducing the opulent to a level with
their fellow citizens.

Of the number of Ali's Moorish subjects, I had no means of forming a
correct estimate. The military strength of Ludamar consists in cavalry.
They are well mounted, and appear to be very expert in skirmishing and
attacking by surprise. Every soldier furnishes his own horse, and finds
his accoutrements, consisting of a large sabre, a double-barrelled gun, a
small red leather bag for holding his balls, and a powder-horn slung over
the shoulder. He has no pay, nor any remuneration but what arises from
plunder. This body is not very numerous, for when Ali made war upon
Bambarra, I was informed that his whole force did not exceed two thousand
cavalry. They constitute, however, by what I could learn, but a very
small proportion of his Moorish subjects. The horses are very beautiful,
and so highly esteemed, that the Negro princes will sometimes give from
twelve to fourteen slaves for one horse.

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