Through Timbuctu and across the great Sahara /

by A. H. W. Haywood

The next house to be seen is that of Lenz, an Austrian, who journeyed from Morocco to Dakar in 1880.

The interior of these houses, as of nearly all the houses in the town, is of Moorish design. There are generally an inner and an outer courtyard, on a very small scale. Most of the houses have two storeys, and all are built of sun-dried bricks, made of the clay which is found under the sand in the desert. The streets are narrow and tortuous. They twist and wind in such a curious manner that a guide is necessary for some time before it is possible to find one’s own way in the place. At one or two points great clay ovens are to be seen in the street; these are public property, and here the local bread is baked. It is a curious sight to watch a crowd of people round an oven in the daytime, each one putting in his or her loaf to be baked. This bread is made of a wheat grown at Gundam, near Timbuctu, and is black. The wheat is, I believe, the same as is grown in many parts of North Africa, making a very wholesome and nourishing food, which is the staple diet of the inhabitants.

The history of the mosques brings me to discuss the origin of the greatness of Timbuctu.

Timbuctu was originally the capital of a great black empire. The inhabitants were Sonrhais, whose territory extended practically all over the Middle Niger. The Sonrhay kings were men of great influence, and the town was the centre of a large trade. For many years Moors from the north and the black races from the south, east, and west used to bring their wares to its markets. The Sonrhay Empire was far the most powerful in Western Africa, continuing to be so till the Moorish invasion in 1482. The Moors defeated the Sonrhais, driving them to take refuge on the other bank of the Niger, in the “Bend.” They were in turn driven out of the town by the Tuaregs about the seventeenth century, and the Tuaregs remained in possession until the French finally captured the town at the end of last century.

Timbuctu was the centre of the traffic in slaves in this part of Africa, and there is no doubt that at that time it was a far larger place than it now is. The remains of old houses are frequently discovered under the sand at some distance from the existing boundaries of the city, while it seems very probable that the Niger once flowed past its walls.

The Sonrhais certainly extended in olden times from Djenné, in the south, to Es-Souk, in the north. The latter place is now right in the Sahara, about the 21st parallel north latitude. But now this once powerful race has greatly degenerated. Since their conquest by the Moors, and then by the Tuaregs, they have been in perpetual slavery; thus their spirit appears to have become quite crushed, and the race has been split up into little groups. We have met them in fractions all over the “Bend” of the Niger, and they are again to be found in small parties lower down that river. They have intermarried a good deal with their last conquerors, the Tuaregs, whom they frequently resemble in features. The negroid type of the pure Sonrhay has in many cases almost disappeared, while they have become paler in complexion, although they are still much blacker than the Tuaregs.

The mosques date from the eleventh century, and have curious pyramidical minarets. During the sixteenth century they had arches of Moorish design added to them by the Moorish chief Mali, who then occupied the town. Here the remarkable influence of the desert sand is noticeable, for, to get to the arches which are inside the mosques, a descent of three or four feet from the level of the street outside has to be made. This shows that sand to the thickness of several feet has gradually become heaped on to the ground outside, thereby heightening the level of the surface.

The chief trade of the city is salt. This is brought by large caravans periodically from the desert mines of Taudény, 300 miles north of the place. The salt is cut in rectangular bars, or flat slabs, weighing each about sixty pounds. When the caravans arrive, from November till March, the price of salt is down to five francs a bar, but it rises rapidly as the hot weather goes on, so that by the month of August a bar of salt will often cost twenty-five francs. These salt caravans are frequently attacked by desert highwaymen. Desert bands have been known to travel immense distances in order to attack one of them. Frequently they make a descent from South-west Morocco, over 800 miles of the Sahara, with the object of looting the camels of the “Azalai,” as the big caravan of November is called.

At Timbuctu one experiences the true Saharan sirocco, a violent wind blowing from the north-east. This wind is said to originate in the sand-hills, called the “Great Erg,” south-west of Tunisia. It blows straight across the desert for over 1800 miles, driving clouds of sand in front of it. There is nothing to obstruct its progress, for no mountains of any consequence lie across its path. Hence this wind appears to be gradually pushing the Sahara further south in the vicinity of Timbuctu. It has probably been the means of isolating the town from the Niger, for it has caused the desert to encroach on the left bank of the river converting the land here into a sandy waste. The sand I had experienced hitherto was nothing compared to the sand at Timbuctu. The streets are several inches deep in soft sand, it is nearly always blowing gales of sand; and as a result of all this every corner of a house and all one’s possessions are invaded by sand. But on account of this dry atmosphere Timbuctu is a very healthy place; sickness of any sort is uncommon, and the natives are said to be remarkable for their longevity.

The only domestic animals seen in the town are camels, horses, and donkeys. There are no cows, sheep, or even goats, for the simple reason that there is nothing for these animals to eat. Camels never stay long at Timbuctu, but are sent out to pasturage some distance away, where there is more desert vegetation. Donkeys seem to live on what they can pick up at Kabara, where they go most days to carry loads. Horses are fed on imported forage.