The circulating medium at Timbuctoo is (tibber) gold dust, which is exchanged for merchandize, thus a plattilia is worth 20 mizans[213] of gold: a piece of Irish linen, of 25 yards, is worth 30 mizans: and loaf sugar is worth 40 mizans of gold per quintal.
Having in some measure explained the nature of the trade with Timbuctoo, we may now proceed to discuss the extent of its territory, and although this does not appear to have been ascertained, yet it may be said to extend northward to the confines of Sahara, or the Desert; a tract of country about ninety miles in breadth; the western boundary is one hundred and thirty miles west of the city, and the eastern extends to the Bahar Soudan, or the Sea of Soudan, which is a lake formed by the Nile El Abeede, whose opposite shore is not discernible; this is the description given of it by the Soudanees, who have visited it; on its opposite or eastern shore begins the territory of white people hereafter mentioned, denominated by the Arabs (N’sarrath) Christians, or followers of Jesus of Nazareth: south of the river is another territory of immense extent, the boundary of which extends to Lamlem, or Melli, which latter is reported to be inhabited by one of the lost, or missing tribes of Israel.
The city of Timbuctoo is situated on a plain, surrounded by sandy eminences, about twelve miles north of the Nile El Abeede,[214] or Nile of the Blacks, and three (erhellat) days journey from the confines of Sahara: the city is about twelve miles in circumference, but without walls. A ditch or excavation, about four cubits in depth, and the same in breadth, but without water, circumscribes the city. The town of Kabra, situated on the banks of the river, is its commercial depot, or port. By means of a water carriage east and west of Kabra, great facility is given to the trade of Timbuctoo, from whence the various articles of European, as well as Barbary manufactures brought by the akkabaahs from the north of Africa, are distributed to the different empires and states of Soudan, and the south. This great mart is resorted to by all nations, whither they bring the various products of their respective countries, to barter for the European and Barbary manufactures.
The houses of Timbuctoo have, for the most part, no upper apartments: they are spacious, and of a square form, with an opening in the centre, surrounded by a gallery similar to the houses at Fas and Marocco; they have no windows, as the doors, which are lofty and wide, opening in the gallery before mentioned, admit sufficient light to the rooms when thrown open. The walls of the houses are erected thus: they put boards on each side of the wall, supported by stakes driven in the ground, or attached to other stakes laid transversely across the wall, the intermediate space is then filled with sand, mud, and lime, and beat down with large wooden mallets till it becomes hard and compact: the cases are left on for a day or two; they then take them off, and move them higher up, until the wall be finished, which is generally erected to the heighth of eight or nine cubits.[215] Contiguous to the house door is a building consisting of two rooms, called a Duaria, in which visitors are received and entertained, so that they see nothing of the women, who are extremely handsome. The men are so excessively jealous of their wives, that, when the latter visit a relation, they are obliged to muffle themselves up in every possible way to disguise their persons; their face also is covered with their garment, through which they peep with one eye to discover their way.
In various parts of the city are spacious (fondaque) caravanseras, built on a plan similar to that of the houses, having a gallery round the area, the access to which is by stairs: the rooms which surround and open into the gallery are very numerous, and are hired by merchants and strangers for themselves and their merchandize. These are private property, and the rooms are let each for about twenty okiat, or two dollars per month; the agent of the proprietor of the fondaque usually resides in some apartment, in order to accommodate the strangers with provisions and other necessaries, having messengers, or porters, who perform the domestic offices of the house until the strangers become settled, and have leisure to provide themselves with domestics, or to purchase slaves from the market to cook their victuals, clean their rooms, and attend their persons, whilst they are employed in bartering and exchanging their commodities till they have invested the whole in Soudanic produce, which they endeavour to accomplish by autumn (September), in order to be ready for the akkabaah, either to proceed to Marocco, Cairo, Jidda,[216] or elsewhere.
The king, whose authority has been acknowledged at Timbuctoo ever since the death of Muley Ismael, Emperor of Marocco, is the sovereign of Bambarra; the name of this potentate in 1800 was Woolo; he is a black, and a native of the country which he governs; his usual place of residence is Jinnie, though he has three palaces in Timbuctoo, which are said to contain an immense quantity of gold. Many of the civil appointments at Timbuctoo, since the decease of Muley Ismael before mentioned, and the consequent decline of the authority of the Emperor of Marocco, have been filled by Moors of Maroquin origin;[217] but the military appointments, since the above period, have been entirely among negroes of Bambarra, appointed by the King Woolo; the inhabitants are also for the most part Negroes, who possess much of the Arab hospitality, and pride themselves in being attentive to strangers. The various costumes exhibited in the market-places and streets, indicate the variety and extent of the commercial intercourse with the different nations of central Africa; the individuals being each habited in the dress of his respective country, exhibit a variety both pleasing and interesting to every stranger who goes there.
The toleration in a country like this is particularly deserving of notice. The Diwan, or L’Alemma, never interfere with the tenets of the various religions professed by the different people, who resort to Timbuctoo for commercial or other purposes; every one is allowed to worship the great Author of his being without restraint, and according to the religion of his father, or in the way wherein he may have been initiated.
The police of this extraordinary place is extolled, as surpassing any thing of the kind on this side of the Desert; robberies and house-breaking are scarcely known; the peaceable inhabitants of the town each following their respective avocation, interfere with nothing but what concerns them. The government of the city is entrusted to a Diwan of twelve Alemma, or men learned in the Koran, and an umpire, who retain their appointments, which they receive from the king of Bambarra, three years. The power of the Alemma is great, and their falling into the mass of citizens after the expiration of the above period, obliges them to act uprightly, as their good or bad administration of justice either acquits or condemns them after the expiration of their temporary power. The civil jurisprudence is directed by a Cadi, who decides all judicial proceedings according to the spirit of the Koran; he has twelve talbs of the law, or attornies, attending him, each of whom has a separate department of justice to engage his daily attention.
Daggers and stillettos are generally worn: if any one disputes with his comrade, and becomes irritated, the daggers are drawn, and one stabs the other, without premeditation, whilst under the influence of passion. Revenge, or retaliation for injuries, is so precise, and so eagerly followed, as to become hereditary in a family. Thus if a man be killed or stabbed, it devolves on the next of kin to him to seek retaliation, and to obtain satisfaction, who accordingly seeks every opportunity of destroying the man who killed his brother or relation; when he dies the charge devolves on his next of kin. In the mean time, if the officers of police discover that any sanguinary assault has been committed, they pursue the aggressor, and oblige him to attend the wounded man, at his own expense, till he recovers; but if he dies, the aggressor is condemned, by law, to death, unless the next of kin to the deceased chooses to grant him a pardon, in consideration of some pecuniary compensation, regulated according to the circumstances of the aggressor.
There is but one prison in this extensive city, where the prisoner is not confined, but suffers the bastinado, or pays a fine, and is liberated. Robberies attended with personal violence, stealing cattle, or provisions, are capital crimes, and are thus punished by decapitation: