CHAPTER XVI
Land near the Bara-Issa — Tuaregs — A salt caravan — Stalking hartebeest — Lake Niangaye — The village of Kanioumé — My runaway horse — Tracking elephants — Elephants bathing — A stampede of elephants — A wounded elephant — Cave dwellers — Sandstorms and rifles.
ON the 21st of March I left Saraféré. I had managed to buy a horse here, being glad to have my own mount at last. He was a little animal, a dark bay, about fourteen hands; not exactly the most suitable beast for the work for which I required him, but horses were not easy to buy. In any case, the price could not be called exorbitant. I paid the sum of seventy-five francs, or three pounds, for him, the saddle and bridle included!
I still had to be content with a native saddle and bridle, for European horse-gear was not to be had in the Western Soudan. His previous owner was a native clerk in the Resident’s office, who informed me that he was selling as he proposed closing his stables! Fortunately I was a light weight, and as he appeared to be a wiry little beggar in spite of his somewhat weedy looks, I came to the conclusion he would be good enough for what was expected of him. He was, of course, innocent of any knowledge of trotting. His only two paces were an amble and a walk. He could amble fast or he could amble slow, but had not much idea of galloping.
The country was very similar to that between Sébi and Saraféré. In the season of inundations it would not have been practicable to travel by road, as the existing track would have been several feet deep in water. The only mode of transport then possible is by canoe. Rice and millet are the products of this country, the land near the streams and backwaters of the Bara-Issa being eminently suited to the cultivation of these cereals. On the banks of these streams are the villages, but as soon as one strikes into the interior, away from the water, the country becomes more than ever desert-like in character, and human habitations are confined to a few isolated Tuareg encampments. The people in the villages are Fulanis, as usual possessed of big herds of cattle. The Tuaregs, on the other hand, owned sheep and goats, which seemed to thrive in a marvellous manner on the poor provender found in the sandy waste surrounding them. A coarse-looking grass, or mimosa scrub, formed their fare.
These Tuaregs are hardly the same class of that tribe as are found in the desert proper on the other side of the Niger. They are nomads, preferring the isolated life away from villages, it is true, but at the same time they do not so utterly shun all contact with mankind as do their brethren of the Sahara. I suppose being nearer to civilization and luxuries, they have begun to feel the want of these things, and have to a certain extent degenerated. Anyway, they would appear to be now less hardy than before. Their dwelling-places consist either of small tents made of sheepskins, or else of little huts made of branches of mimosa scrub and palm leaves. Hut is rather a dignified name to apply to these habitations. They are, perhaps, a dozen feet square, and so low that a man must always remain in a crouched position if he tries to stand up inside. It is strange how they succeed in getting their wives and families into this tiny space. Certainly their personal belongings are few, for they are very poor, and their wealth, such as it is, is all in their flocks of goats or sheep.
One day we met a large salt caravan coming down from Timbuctu, and en route to a place called Douentza, some days’ march south of Saraféré. The salt is carried in big rectangular bars, and, in this case, was laden on donkeys and bullocks. The loads are usually fastened into a kind of stout rope netting, like a bag. These nets are then fastened one on each side of the beast of burden, over a roughly shaped pack-saddle.
Women pounding rice at Tombola, French Guinea
Rice is pounded in a wooden bowl with a heavy wooden club. The women spend hours daily in preparing the rice thus, chanting the while.