French enterprise in Africa

by Hourst

THE MARIGOT OR CREEK OF TENDA.

The chief, perceiving that conversation was impossible, made me a sign to follow him, and we withdrew for our palaver to a court-yard surrounded with walls, a kind of stable where his horse was tied up. He shut the door behind him, but in an instant the walls were scaled, and there was as much noise and confusion as there had been before.

The chief then led me to a kind of store-room with a very narrow door, through which only one person could pass at a time, and that almost crawling on hands and knees. We filed in much as Esquimaux do into their snow-huts, and this time we were really free from intruders.

Yes, from intruders! but we were not safe from suffocation. The moment we were in our retreat, such a mass of women pressed up to the door, forming a kind of plug of human flesh, that we found ourselves gasping for breath and turning purple. We literally had to force our way out with our fists to get fresh air, and to drag the poor chief, who was already nearly insensible, out after us. He now declared that it was quite impossible to have a quiet talk with me in his village, but that if I would put off my start, he would come and see me on board the next day.

Meanwhile two horses had been brought out for us; we now mounted them and started for our camp. Unfortunately Arab saddles are rather hard. Moreover, mine had stirrups suitable only for the bare feet of the natives, and much too small for my shoes, so that I had to ride in a very uncomfortable position. Then once Taburet’s steed slipped into a hole, and the doctor took an involuntary bath, a complete one this time.

We still had twenty rifles and six pistols for presents to chiefs. Acting on my idea of trying to make Dendi rise as one man against the Toucouleurs, I resolved to give all these weapons to one person. The question was, who should that person be? I cross-examined our guide, the chief of the captives of Kompa, and by the exercise of a really marvellous amount of diplomacy, I managed to get a very true notion of the exact political condition of Dendi, discovering that there were two capitals, that is to say, two villages big enough and densely enough populated to dominate all the others. These two were Tenda, which I had just seen, and Madecali lower down-stream on the right bank.

The more powerful and therefore the one to which the term “capital” could be more justly applied, was perhaps Madecali. For all that, however, I decided on choosing Tenda, which was more exposed to the depredations of the Toucouleurs than Madecali, the latter being in a more sheltered position, and moreover at war already with Burgu. So Tenda got the weapons, and we passed the evening in getting out the boxes of grape-shot for the machine-gun, which, when taken to pieces, provided us both with powder and bullets for our friends.

Faithful to his promise, the chief came to see us the next day. He came down the rocks overlooking our camp to the sound of his war-drums, made of calabashes with skin stretched across them. His suite consisted of some thirty mounted men, and about one hundred foot-soldiers. There was a certain barbaric splendour about the equipment of the former which was far from displeasing, and the saddle of the chief’s son, covered with the skin of a panther, was really both handsome and curious.

I had had strong ropes fixed round the camp, and posted numerous sentinels to keep back the crowd. Thanks to these precautions, we were at last able to have a talk without being suffocated.

My aim here, as it had been at Kompa and Goruberi, was to bring about a friendly league between all the tribes which had anything to dread from the Toucouleurs, and to induce those tribes to give up the defensive to assume the offensive. I concluded my speech by giving the chief the twenty rifles and the six pistols, with powder, bullets, and matchlock-flints, but I made one condition before parting with them, namely, that the weapons should never be separated; they were to arm the twenty-six bravest warriors of Dendi, who were to go to defend any village threatened by the common enemy. All I required was promised, the chief and notables alike declaring that they accepted my conditions. I don’t know whether they will keep their word, anyhow I have done my best.