There is no duty on goods, and, whether the camels are laden with rich burnouses or salt, it is all the same thing.
Camels are very cheap in this country, and the best of all will not fetch more than 40,000 wadâs, or about sixteen Spanish dollars. The Shereef is to purchase ours, four of them for 120,000 wadâs; they cost about three times the sum in Mourzuk. Horses are not quite so cheap; the best will fetch 100,000 wadâs.[14] The exchange here is the same as in Kanou; 2500 wadâs is the value of the large dollar, or douro ghaleet, as it is called amongst the Moorish and Arab merchants.
[14] See p. 216.
CHAPTER XII.
Presents from Officials—Mode of treating Camels—Prices—Cowrie Money—Shereef Interpreter—Visits—Harem—Houses—Grand Vizier—Picturesque Dances—Tuaricks at Zinder—Kohlans and Fullans—Province of Zinder—Account of its Rebellions—Trees—Details on the Slave-trade—Prices—Mode of obtaining Slaves—Abject Respect of the Sultan—Visits—Interview with the Sarkee—The Presence—Curious Mode of administering Justice—Barbarous Punishments—Hyænas—Gurasu—Fighis—Place of Execution—Tree of Death—Hyæna Dens—Dancing.
Jan. 17th.—The Sultan this morning sent me an ox. I made him my personal friend by giving him the powder and shot, in spite of the servant of Haj Beshir from Kuka. The Shereef is excessively generous; whether at his own cost or that of Kuka I do not know. I suppose the latter, as he had orders from head-quarters to supply us with everything. He sends rice, honey, fowls, eggs, milk, tomatas, and all things in abundance. I repeat, for the third time, that the world is turned upside down, so far as the supply of provisions and hospitality is concerned. It is true that the Tuaricks are desperately poor, and their generosity must always be very limited.
Our maharees of the salt-caravan went very well, and ate little on the road, so that much time was saved in this way. The Tuarick camels are far better travellers than the Arab, which sometimes are allowed to eat all day long. The females and the young ones are the most troublesome. I was much amused to see one of the Kailouee camel-drivers overcome the obstinacy of a young camel. The fellow actually bit the loose skin which hung over the muzzle of the rebel, and in this manner dragged it to the string, and there tied it to the rest. All the male camels are gelded, whilst many breeding maharees carry no weights, but follow their burdened kind with their foals.