French enterprise in Africa

by Hourst

A FOREST ON THE BANKS OF THE NIGER.

We tried to avenge ourselves for our fright by doing a little fishing with petards of gun-cotton, but it was no good, the water was too deep, ninety or a hundred feet at least, and we had our trouble and wasted our gun-cotton for nothing.

At ten o’clock on the 19th we went up a little arm of the river, really merely an inundated channel, which brought us near the village of Kompa, and at one o’clock we received a visit from some envoys of the chief, who bid us welcome, and sent us three sheep. These men had not the crafty and false expressions of the people of Say, or of the Fulahs. They were fine-looking fellows, though rather wild, wearing turbans adorned with numerous grisgris, or a kind of cap, common on the Niger as far as Bussa, and rather like those worn by the eunuchs in the Bourgeois Gentilhomme. I did not conceal from them that we had been badly received at Say, and told them that their enemies the Foutanis were also ours. That broke the ice very satisfactorily, and I arranged to go and see the chief in the afternoon.

I went with Bluzet about four o’clock. We crossed an inundated track, where we took a good many foot-baths in the bogs.

We found Kompa surrounded by a wall and a little moat, a kind of defence we met with in all the villages of these parts, as far as Burgu. Here, however, wall and moat alike were in a bad state of preservation. Two trees served as drawbridge. Inside the enceinte were numerous mud-huts with pointed thatched roofs, reminding us of the homes of the Malinkes at Kita. The chief received us in a big hut with three entrances forming the vestibule of his house.

He was a little old man, half-blind, but with an expression alike benevolent and cunning. All the time he was talking to us he was plaiting straw for mats, and so were the various notables surrounding him. All the men of the country were constantly employed making these mats, and even go on working at them as they walk along, reminding us of the old women at home with their perpetual stocking-knitting. I reminded the chief of the danger his village was in from the Foutanis, and told him that Dendi, Kebbi, and Djerma ought to combine against the invaders; in fact, even pass from the defensive to the offensive. I also asked for guides to take me to the chief of Dendi, to whom I wished to say the same things, and to talk to on other matters, and I begged him to send us as many of his people as he could to be present at our palaver. I also wanted to see the brother of Serki Kebbi.

THE BANKS OF THE NIGER NEAR KOMPA.

Everything I asked was promised at once, and we were just about to return to the boats when we were overtaken by the rain. I had had the presents for the chief and his people got ready beforehand, and they were now brought to us. We were allowed to take refuge from the storm in the chief’s private apartments, but they were very soon invaded by a crowd, the people vieing with each other in trying to find something to give us pleasure; one offering a chicken, another some eggs, and so on, every one bringing out some little present, evidently offered with the best intentions.

We, on our part, distributed our merchandise, from which, however, the old chief deducted a tithe. It was a most amusing scene, for he could hardly see in the semi-obscurity of the hut, and so every one tried to slip off with his portion without paying toll, but he took up his position at the door, and all who went out were searched in the style of the Belgian custom-house officers. Then the cunning old fellow, with many a grimace, persuaded the owners to give up part of their riches with an apparently good grace. Sometimes he gave back what he had taken, praising up the beauty and the value of the beads or stuffs he did not fancy, but taking care to hide behind him all he really wanted, nodding his head all the time to emphasize his pretended admiration of the things he let those he had despoiled retain.