The report is now current in Zinder, that the Sarkee is going, in the course of seven or eight days, to razzia some neighbouring place in the direction of Daura. They say, even, that he will not scruple to razzia some of the villages of Meria if necessary; that is to say, a part of the province of Zinder. My informants observed merely, "Oh, he must have slaves to pay his debts; and as the largest fish eat the little fish, so the great people eat the small people." Thus the protection of Islamism is now come to nothing, and the cry is,—"To the razzia!" without mentioning even the name of Kafer or Kerdi. In the end this will retard the progress of Mahommedanism; for the blacks see that it is now no protection for them against their more powerful neighbours and their periodical razzias.
I visited several personages this afternoon; first, the Shereef Kebir, with whom I ate some broiled fish brought from a neighbouring lake, and some fine Bilma dates, soaked in milk. I asked him how it was that the Sheikh committed to the governors or sultans of the provinces the awful power of life and death. "Oh," replied he, "the Sheikh has given them this power that he might not be bothered with their reports about criminals. It is far better to finish quick with these people." Where there are periodical razzias the sacredness of human life is unknown, and the Shereef has been, besides, many years in the camp of Abd-el-Kader, where a good deal of sanguinary work was carried on. He thought it, therefore, quite right that the Sheikh should not fatigue his sovereign conscience by deciding on the lives of criminals and other suspected persons, and that the sooner they were hung or slaughtered the better.
From the Shereef I passed on to the brother of the Sultan, a young man of mild manners. I entered the inner part of the house, where were the women. Verily the Zinder people have a strange love of dust, dirt, and bare mud walls. In the two or three beehive huts which I explored, there was not a single article of furniture, nor a mat to lie down upon. The brother of the Sultan was sitting by his sister, and both on the dust of the ground, without a mat. I am told, however, that they sleep on mats and skins, which are, indeed, cheap enough; two or three pence, or two or three hundred wadâs, would purchase a good one. The sister of the Sultan was coloured well with indigo, the dark blue of which replaces the yellow ochre of the ladies of fashion in Aheer. This Zinder lady had also the end of the tufts of her hair—I cannot call them curls—formed into clayey sticks of macerated indigo. For the rest, she had little clothing, her arms and bust being quite bare. All the other ladies with her were coloured in like fashion, and had their hair dressed in a similar manner.
Afterwards I visited an old Tripoline Mamluke, who has been up here twenty-two long years. He came alone, and has now a household of twenty-eight persons, including wives, children, and slaves. He is called Mohammed El-Wardi, knew Dr. Oudney, and even mentioned his name, recollecting it after so many years. He knew also the other travellers. Some of his family are in Kuka.
Various applications are made me for remedies to avert certain evils, and one man applied for a means to make him sell his goods quick: this was a Tibboo trader.
It would appear that some of the routes from Zinder to neighbouring places are not very safe; that from this place to Kanou, even, is somewhat dangerous for small parties, there being woods on the road, in which lurk banditti, who lie in wait for unprotected caravans. With good travelling, Kanou is only eight or ten days from Zinder, and Kashna four or five. It is not easy to get the route here by hours, for the people are ignorant of this way of reckoning the routes. By days, something may be done.
The Moorish merchants resident here pretend that the territory of Zinder contains no less than two thousand belad, or inhabited spots, towns, villages, and hamlets, and some of these are large towns—as large, or larger, than Zinder. Damagram is a populous place, more so than Zinder; but the whole of the province of Zinder has this name, the people being all Damagrama. The town of Damagram was once the capital of the province. The large towns are:—
- Damagram, one day and a-half south-east.
- Dakusa, five hours south.
- Termeni, three hours south.
- Washa, two days and a-half west.
- Goshi, two days east.
- Bidmuni, one day east.
- Andera, one day east.
- Jegana, one day south.
- Jermo, one day south.
- Guria, one-half day west.
- Meria, six hours south-east.
- Konchai, one day and a-half west.
- Gorgahn, one-half hour.
- Mageria, two days south-west.
- Fatram, two days south.
- Dalladi, six hours north.
All these are towns, some larger than Zinder.
I expect to see the great drum brought here, and to hear it beaten. It has led the people of Zinder to the razzia during the time of twelve sultans. The drummer, when he beats the drum in leading on the people to the razzia, repeats the perpetual chorus of Jatau chi geri—"The red (Sultan) eats up the country." He is afraid to mention the name of the Sultan, and so repeats the word red, as distinguishing royalty; but whether in the same way as purple distinguished the Roman emperors, or because kings delight in blood, does not appear.