Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa

by Heinrich Barth

When this interesting procession had passed by, the monotony of the country was more intensely felt. The proud Kanúri of the towns mock the inhabitants of these districts, who have nothing but a few cattle and goats, with the verse: “Sémma bíllani—berí kaní” (“This is the whole of my town—cattle and goats;” or, in other words, “The town and moat, two cows and a goat”). The poor stunted mimosas had been cut down in many places, in order that the whole tract being changed into a quagmire or swamp, it might be sown with the peculiar kind of holcus called “másakwá” (Holcus cernuus); and then these black, dismal-looking plains become one field of life and wealth. This remarkable change in the aspect of the country, and this second harvest, which takes place in the middle of the cold season, and by which the fírki, or fírgi, becomes a fírgi mosogábe (másakwábe), I shall have to describe in another place.

We then entered a well-cultivated and thickly inhabited district called Yelé, where it was a novelty to be obliged to draw water from the well or barrem Yelé; for since reaching Ujé on our journey out we had constantly met waterpools or small rivulets, from which we took our supply, and even the well at Maira was rendered quite superfluous by a large tank close by. However, I have already had occasion to observe that the water from these stagnant pools is anything but wholesome, particularly after the rainy season, when they receive no further supply; and I have no doubt that the drinking of such water is the principal, if not the only cause of that dreadful and widespread disease (the “fárantít” or “ʿarúg”—“ngíduwí” in Kanúri—“the misery”) which disables the working man, and makes him a poor wretched being—the guineaworm, which is sure to be met with in at least one out of three persons who travel a great deal through the whole of Central Africa. I never met with an instance of this disease in a woman. It seemed to me, too, as if the pagans, whose nakedness exposed all their limbs to view, suffered less from it.

There seemed to be no superfluous supply of water in the district through which our road then lay, which appeared as dry as I had left it, only thinly scattered and lonely blades of grass shooting up here and there; but yet there was a favoured spot where the road from Márte to Alárge crossed our path, adorned with fine wide-spreading tamarind-trees, and rain-clouds were approaching from the east to fertilize the soil, and make it capable of production. We therefore hurried on, and took shelter in the village Mʿallem-Shíshi, in order to let the storm pass over; our hut, however, was so incapable of resisting heavy rain, that as soon as the storm broke out we were almost swamped. The carelessness with which the houses of the natives are built in this region is an unmistakable evidence of the difference of the climate; on the other side, we have seen the neat huts of the people of Fúmbiná, and we shall see those of the despised pagan natives of Músgu. The people assured me that this was the first regular rain which they had had this year, the first preparatory shower having fallen thirty days ago, and the second two days ago.

The clouds having taken a southerly direction, we started forth in the afternoon, after some hesitation, but had scarcely been an hour on the march, and were just in the middle of a wide dismal-looking ghadír or fírki, when the clouds, having gathered again over our heads, poured down violent torrents of rain, so that in a few moments the whole country looked like a lake, and our progress was excessively difficult. At length, after an hour and a half, in the most uncomfortable state we reached the village Kiryúmmuwa, where I was quartered in a rather magnificent but as yet unfinished hut of clay, and endeavoured to dry my wet clothes as well as I could.

We were now only one day’s march from Kúkawa; and we started early the next morning, in order to reach home before night. The neighbourhood of the capital had been sufficiently indicated already during the last day’s march by the dúm-bushes, which, with the melancholy Asclepias gigantea, might well decorate the scutcheon of Kúkawa—with more justice, indeed, than the kúka, or monkey-bread-tree, from which the name was taken, but of which but a few poor stunted specimens are to be seen in the courtyard of the palace in the eastern town.

We had scarcely gone a mile when we met the first body of Shúwa, men and women, who were returning with their unloaded pack-oxen from the great Monday market of the capital; and then the string of market-people on their way to their respective homes was almost uninterrupted. While our people followed the road, Bíllama and I turned off a little to the left, in order to pay a visit to the mayor of Múnghono and obtain a cool drink; for since I had had the fever I suffered greatly from thirst, and the water from the wells in general, as preserving a mean temperature of about eighty degrees, was quite tepid. The place lies in an elevated position; and on its south side there is a hollow, where wheat and onions are cultivated after the rainy season, while another cavity surrounding it on the north and east sides, and where at present only small separate water-pools are collecting, forms, later in the season, one continuous lake. There is a great deal of iron-stone, “kau súwa,” hereabouts; and it is used by the native blacksmiths, though it affords but an inferior sort of metal—far inferior to the excellent iron, the “sú-búltu,” of Búbanjídda. While passing through the place, I was greatly struck with the variety which the roofs of the huts exhibited, and made a slight sketch of them (see previous page).

Múnghono, which is likewise the name of the whole district, has been a place of importance from early times, and is often mentioned in the history of the Bórnu kings. After the richness of natural forms which I had beheld in Ádamáwa, the country seemed extremely monotonous, there being nothing whatever to cheer the eye except the blossom of the mimosas, which spread a sweet scent all around. We encamped during the hot hours of the day near the well of Káine, where we had great difficulty in supplying ourselves with water from the well, while a little later in the season a large lake is formed here: for Africa is the region of contrasts as well in nature as in human life.

When we set out again from this place, people from the town, who had been informed of our approach, came to meet us; and I heard, to my great satisfaction, that the crafty Arab Mohammed el Mughárbi, whom I had already met in Gúmmel, had at length arrived with the merchandize confided to his care, the nominal value of which was one hundred pounds sterling, so that there was at least some hope of being able to carry on the mission on a small scale.

But I could not but feel pleased with my reception on returning to headquarters in this part of the world; for when we approached the southern gate of the town, three horsemen, who were stationed there, came galloping up to me, and having saluted me with their spears raised, placed themselves in front, and in stately procession led me through the town to my house, where I was soon regaled with a plentiful supper sent by the vizier. I afterwards perceived that he had expected me to pay him my respects the same evening; but, as I felt very weak, I deferred the visit till the next morning, when, on his return from an early visit to the sheikh, he gave me an audience in the presence of all the people. Having expressed his sorrow at my reduced state, and having inquired how I had been received in Ádamáwa, he entered, with apparent delight, into a long conversation with me respecting the form of the earth and the whole system of the world. On being asked what I now intended to do, I replied that it was my design, after having made the tour of the lake, to try to penetrate into the regions south of Bagírmi. He immediately expressed his doubts as to the possibility of going round the lake as far as the Bahar el Ghazál, but promised to further my plans as far as possible, although he thought that I had done enough already, and should rather think of returning home safely with the results of my labours; for seeing me so weak during the first rainy season which I was spending in these regions, he was afraid that something might happen to me.