The boat touched land, and the third person in it turned out to be really a Kunta, whilst the Tuareg was Madidu’s blacksmith.
Why had this blacksmith come? Because in the Sudan the blacksmiths form a regular caste, which has attained very great influence over the negro chiefs, and the Tuaregs of the river districts followed the example of the negro potentates in listening to their counsels.
Not all the blacksmiths, it must be explained, follow their nominal trade. They are many of them the familiar friends and advisers of the chiefs; in fact, it is they who often wield the real authority, for, as often happens in Europe, the prime minister is more powerful than the king.
Ceremonial greetings having been exchanged we all sat down. My fingers were cold, my throat felt parched, but I managed by a strong effort at self-control to appear perfectly calm and indifferent.
I began the speech already resolved on. The Kunta knew Arabic, so that I was fortunate enough to be able to employ Father Hacquart as interpreter. He repeated in Ta-Masheg every word I addressed to the blacksmith.
“I greeted Madidu, the Commandant of Timbuktu greeted Madidu, and the Sultan of the French greeted Madidu. We were the white people who, two years before, had driven the Tenguereguif and the Kel Temulai from Timbuktu. We had already come twice in boats to cement our friendship with the people of the country, and to trade with them, without any idea of conquest. The Tuaregs had received us badly, insulted and provoked us; we had attacked, beaten, and punished them. Allah had given us their city; we were there, and there we meant to stay.
“But the Tuaregs of Timbuktu had nothing in common with the Awellimiden, they were indeed their enemies. Between Madidu and us there had never been war.
“Now that we were neighbours, the Sultan of the French thought it would be wrong for us to remain any longer unknown to each other.
“If we succeeded in making friends, nothing but good would result to both parties. They would come to Timbuktu to sell their oxen, their sheep, and their gum, receiving in exchange stuffs, beads, and all the goods the white men know how to make.
“To remain longer without making friends would be to leave gunpowder close to a fire. The day would come, through no fault of theirs or ours, when some misunderstanding would lead to a scuffle first and then to war.